Flower at Camp

Friday was a quiet day, starting out sunny and then clouding over. We headed over to Colebrook for supplies and to buy some hanging baskets. As we arrived we lucked into an outside market across from Le Rendevouz. Picked up two dozen ears of corn, one for the house and one to take back to Atlanta where there is no decent corn to be had.

We also got three hanging baskets and some annuals to fill the barrel. Very late in the year for annuals up here so it looks like no porch planters this year.

The day lilies in the yard have been very beautiful and it seems like there's a greater variety of them than there had been in years past. Or maybe it's just that I haven't been here when they were blooming. Here are some shots of the yard.

Sad goodbyes, glad kayakings

Alas, the day dawned and it was time to take Hardy to the Burlington airport. Boo! Of course, he and Alan first had to head over to Quimby's to show Ray and Kevin pictures of his fish -- they were appropriately impressed. And who wouldn't be....seriously.

As everyone knows, fish tales take a long time so it wasn't until 9:30am that the boys were back to camp to pick me up for the ride to Burlington. It's a 2.5 hour drive so....should be fine. We did not, however, get any luck from traffic, behind one truck after another. Still, we made it at a little after noon for a 1pm flight and he made it. In our flustered attempt to get him in the airport, however, we lost our parking ticket which meant that we had to pay $10 for about 10 minutes of parking time. Oh well.

Lunch at the Vermont Sandwich Co down the road was mixed -- I didn't like my hummus and veggie wrap but Alan loved his turkey. And then we headed home, this time via St. Johnsbury where we stopped to do a little shopping. Great bookstore named Boxcar and a Caboose. They have an on demand book printing machine -- first I've seen, very cool. They call it the Espresso Book Machine. Neat!

We debated an early dinner at the Burke Cafe, which we love but haven't been to in years, but then decided to head home to Averill for a boat ride. Got in about 6pm, fussed with the boat motor for 40 minutes unproductively, and then decided to do a kayak ride instead. Great call. The lake got progressively calmer as we paddled south, eventually reaching the southern point (which we called Merganzer Pt since we always see them here). We crossed the lake to paddle lakeshore on the eastern edge heading into the sun as it lowered in the sky. Sun setting in the north, moon rising in the south, absolutely calm lake, a scattering of hexes on the water. Magic.

What Lies Beneath

Morning dawned early for Alan and Hardy as they were up at 6:30am so as to meet Bill at Solomon's at 7:30am for a full day's float. Misty driving en route with early morning coffee fueling the journey. Met Bill at the canoe put in next to Solomon's, air was 54 degrees, water even colder. Let's go.

The start of the day was slow, maybe it was the coffee, maybe it was the lack of breakfast, maybe it was getting off the river last night at 9pm and eating dinner at 11:30pm. Who knows. Regardless, fishing was a bit slow despite some gorgeous water that presented itself early in the float. Alan started the day off with a nice rainbow on a Caddis and got a few more fish that way. Hardy switched to a Woolybugger with a nymph dropper and immediately hooked into 3-4 native browns by the recycling plant.

All in all, it was a good morning's fishing, followed by a lovely Bill lunch of steak, grilled veggies, pasta salad, cheese, crackers, olives -- the most excellent lunch you would expect when out with Bill. Refueled and ready for an afternoon's adventure, little did we know what lay beneath. We hit a number of very productive pools, catching numerous 12" healthy, fat rainbows and browns, along with the occasional brook.

Alan continued to plug away with Bill's hexagraph while Hardy plumbed the depths with Bill's Helios. Around about 2pm, Hardy sent a cast into a pool underneath a tree, fouling line around his feet as he did so. Gathering up the extra line allowed the sinking line to sink even more. There was a thud and a flash and all of sudden, it wasn't about managing errant line. Hardy yelled, "I think it's a big one." Bill looked knowingly at Alan and measured something out close to 12" with his hands. In light of said skepticism, Hardy began stripping in line quietly. It was only when it stopped coming in that others became convinced.

Keeping pressure on the line and adjusting the drag correctly, Hardy hunkered down to play the fish. It was about at this time that Bill looked back at Alan and said, "It's a monster." Staying calm and focused, Hardy kept this trout on the line for more than 20 minutes. After that, it surrendered to Bill's waiting net.

First, we put him on the cooler to see how big he was. Bill's cooler is 24" and he frequently uses it to bring a measured perspective to "fish talk." Hardy's Monster almost filled the length and Bill's estimate was 20" in girth. At 22"L x 20"G x 20"G, that brings us to 11lbs. Woot!

After many photos, we released this beautiful trout back into the Connecticut River where we hope it will live for many more years.

Vermont Summer 2010

For this summer's week in Vermont, we once again had Hardy with us. We met up in the Detroit airport for the flight to Manchester, NH where we picked up a rental car and headed north. For this trip, all the travel gods were in accord, flights on time, car ready and waiting, no traffic to speak of. By 8:20pm, we were pulling up to Papelousu for dinner with Henri, Lisa, Strite and the kids. After dinner as we rocked on the porch, Hardy entertained us with some of the original music he wrote in the last year.

After a swim Sunday morning, Henri and clan departed, followed by Strite. Alan and Hardy journeyed over to the Connecticut River. They promised to return "early" in time for dinner. Luckily for me, I've been around long enough to realize that would never happen on an evening as beautiful as this one, so I enjoyed a solo meal on leftovers from Henri's stay and watched the end of Love is a Many Splendored Thing. My, movies have changed. About 10pm, the Explorer came racing down the driveway and out hopped a happy Hardy and Alan. Hardy then proceeded to whip up a delicious impromptu Mexican meal. Dinner at 11pm -- awesome. Both fishermen had success, catching 20+ fish, mostly native bows, browns, and brooks. As the evening came to an end, the sun was descending in the sky with Mt Monadnock looming in the distance and a huge blue heron coasted down the calm river. Gorgeous!

Yesterday was Canadian shopping day, starting off at the farm stand where we got corn, tomatoes, peaches, blueberries and raspberries plus a maple cream pie -- yum! Exiting the farm stand, we just had to go to the Laitrie to sample what Priscilla had advertised as maple-toffee ice cream. It wasn't on the menu but the girls behind the counter knew what they were talking about and Alan and Hardy were soon licking enormous cones. I settled for a bite of Alan's -- delicious but sweet, sweet, sweet. While we stood there licking, a local gentleman came up and started talking to us. He was from Quebec but shopped both sides of the border for the best deals and was familiar with northern Vermont. In fact, he was going to Quimby's for dinner that night to celebrate a friend's birthday who worked at QC 50 years ago! Small world, small world.

From there, on the to IGA for some of that wonderful Quebecois pork, a carton of maple ice cream, and some cheese. We decided to wander the countryside a bit, going over to cross the border at Beecher Falls so we could stop at the farm stand. The country around here is dotted with small, perfectly maintained farms; it truly looks like an idyllic lifestyle. At the Beecher Falls border crossing, we got a very serious trainee who asked us everything and looked at everything. We even overheard him asking his trainer, "The corn is on the cob -- should I inspect it?" Giggle. But they let us back in the country, even though we had tomatoes.

Lettuce, spinach, and shallots at the farm stand and then home for Hardy to make his wonderful pork ribs (recipe on the blog from July 2007) which were outstanding. Following a great dinner of ribs, corn, salad, and tomato slices, we headed over to Quimby's for the annual shareholder's meeting. It was an interesting affair that revealed the complexity of managing a jointly owned property with many different generations of owners and differences of opinion. We're trying to make changes to QC to keep it operational but, as always, change is hard. Finished up the evening hanging with Warren and Boone in Hare's Ear.

Tuesday we waited for the plumber to get here (he was late); he showed up just in time to witness us finishing a spinach-potato frittata courtesy of Hardy (truly, I could get used to this). Then we headed down to the ponds to try out some rods -- me on Pinky, Alan on his dad's Leonard, and Hardy on his grandfather's Phillipson Pacemaker. We all got little native brookies out of the upper pond -- beautiful little fish.

Tuesday afternoon we headed to Lopstick to hook up with Bill for a wade on the Connecticut. After a brief consult, we were off to the trophy section below first dam where water flows were a mellow 150cfs. As soon as we hit the water, the skies opened for a brief but convincing downpour -- we were drenched to the bone. I started off the day with a beautiful rainbow and then continued on to get two more rainbows plus a small salmon. Alan and Hardy ended up with several rainbows each and Hardy hooked a beautiful 12" brookie. All on Caddis with a nymph dropper, fish taking both flies.

About 5:30, we returned to Lopstick to purchase dry shirts and to get cash to buy much-needed sandwiches from Young's. Suitably restored, we entered the arctic waters below Murphy Dam where the temperature stays a cool 53 degrees. Incredibly beautiful evening on the river produced only two fish -- Alan got a fat 12" rainbow on a streamer and Hardy got a small brookie on a dropper off the Caddis. I got nothing but enjoyed the gorgeous evening. As the sun's last rays were disappearing, the adjacent fields were clouded with mist and there was insectlife galore, especially Caddis. This bounty appears to have been ignored by the resident trout below Murphy Dam who must dine on more sophisticated delicacies because there was not a rise in sight.

Finished the evening by a little after nine, arrived back at camp at 10:05pm, catching glimpse of three moose by Priscilla's on the way. Hardy rallied to whip up a delicious pork schnitzel, along with salad, corn, and new potatoes. Finishing dinner as we speak at 11:25pm. Surely this qualifies us for Russian-level sophistication. The laugh is on Alan and Hardy because in fewer than eight hours they will be on the river again for an all-day float with Bill starting at 7:30am. Ha ha ha!

Garden Update

All the tomatoes but one in as of this weekend. Brussel sprouts moved to the compost pile after not performing and starting to get eaten by what I suspect are the same green wormies that ate the collards last year.

I planted the cuke that Thomas grew from seed and also one zucchini. We'll see if Alan can stand them fresh from the garden.

I am excited about some new varieties of tomato planted this year, including something called a Park's Whopper that promises big, meaty 4" fruit. That one's out front with some Greek columnar oregano. The celebrity is the last one to plant. I may pull the swiss chard and do it in there. The chard never really grew and neither did the spinach, despite both wintering over.

Also repotted three hibiscus that were on sale at Pike's. They're really beautiful, two red and one a beautiful peach color.

I also planted the coneflower I'd gotten two weeks ago at Habersham. We'll see if it lives -- nothing else has in that location.

First tomatoes are in

Got the first tomatoes in tonight. Four that I purchased from the Emory Farmer's Market a couple of weeks ago.

In order, they are:

Burpee Supersteak in Pike's container soil (10-8-4)
Beefmaster in Fafard Organic Potting Mix (10-5-4)
Juliette in Fafard complete container mix (18-6-12)
Grapette in Fafard complete container mix

Probably too much nitrogen in the Fafard container -- didn't look at that prior to planting.

One more Celebrity to plant and then I'm sure there will be other tasty items making their way here. I can't see that peppers are worth it as they rarely produce much. I have some brussel sprouts in but I doubt they produce anything as it's starting to get warm. Some of the lettuce is going like gangbusters -- under Alan's office -- if it gets going, we should at least get one crop.

Walk in the rain

One of our favorite things to do in Zug is to walk. In the old town, down the Bahnhofstrasse to the station past the shops, and, of course, along the lake. My personal favorite is to hike up the hill behind Nan's until you reach a pedestrian path that parallels the lake. It's a beautiful walk with great vistas of the lake and through green gardens and a few last farms.



Today dawned gray and rainy and we decided to hunker down for dinner to have a prototypical Swiss meal, fondue! Ferdi and Suzi had a fondue pot so we were in luck. Hot cheese, crusty bread, a big green salad -- we're in! If we were truly Swiss, we would add boiled potatoes to the meal but thankfully we are not, as I've had more potatoes in the last week than I usually do in a month. We did cheat a bit and got the prepackaged cheese mix from the refrigerator section (versus compiling the cheese blend ourselves) but it's going to bubble over a flame and the label is in German, so that's got to be authentic, right?

Along about 5:45 the light was dwindling and my legs were itching for a walk, so despite the rain, I headed out on my favorite walk. Up the hill, over the fields, and down to Oberwil, then back home. There were brussel sprouts growing in the fields and sheep still on a plot of land that I understand will eventually become housing.... I hope they save some of the open, historic space.



The evening was beautiful in spite of, or, because of, the rain: the air was moist and soft, with low gravid clouds hanging over the lake, and the soft lights of Rotkreuz in the distance. The fog was creeping down the flanks of the Zugerberg (it will enclose the house by early am).

No camera taken because of the rain, so we'll have to make due with shots from last time.