Why Would You Take an Old Bride on this Path?

Our vacation adventures continue with us spending some time at the Cottage and simply enjoying time away.  As I shot the photo below I thought, “why would I take another picture of the same thing?” and then I said to myself, “…it’s because I never get tired of this view…and every time it is a little different.”

 

We have enjoyed some time by the quiet lake, having some beach fires and enjoying each other’s company.

Every year we say we should take the time to hike in the White Mountains and this year we made a point of setting a day…of course it rained on that day so we moved our plans to the next day—as if the weather forecasters really knew what they talked about. 

Our mini-adventure meant heading out from the cottage at 9 am and heading north to Franconia Notch.  We parked at the Lafayette Trailhead site and bundled up into our long sleeved shirts and sweatshirts.

As a teenager I hiked this area and this trail many times.  In those days we often found that by the time we reached the summit, the conditions we experienced at the base had cleared out completely.  Our thoughts were along those lines…if only the same were true now.

I did take the opportunity—or actually the result of my not packing my boots—to get a new pair of hiking “shoes”.  These are really more like very sturdy running shoes with a vibram sole, waterproofing partially up the sides and very light.  They are very comfortable and ended up being a great investment for future adventures.

In the photo you can see that some water was on the trail.  Actually, when hiking in a cloud, what is often not considered is the simple physics of being in an environment of fully saturated air…100% relative humidity.  All that is needed to create rain is a temperature difference that super-saturates the air (the temperature drops) or particles and objects that are at a slightly lower temperature than the cloud…for example trees and leaves that were out all night and have not had sunlight to warm them.

 

In effect, we were hiking in very cool but humid air—that is sweating from the humidity while leaving a base camp that is only 51 degrees—and being dripped on by the trees…and the random passing rain shower.  Within 30 minutes I had the sweatshirt off and sweat was running down my back under the backpack. We were damp…somewhat warm (except for Cheri’s hands)…and actually having a good time…even if we had no scenic vistas.

The trail we were taking from the base to Greenleaf Hut is called the Old Bridle Path.  It was around this time that I asked Cheri, “Why would you bring an old bride up this type of path.”

“That’s not what they mean,” was all she said.  So, being rather glib—as I am told I can be—I came back with, “if you can have bridal parties and bridal showers for brides, then why not a bridle path for brides?”

"It’s not that kind of bride!”…accompanied by some rolling eyes.

I should have stopped there, but instead said, “maybe it’s the same thing…only they haven’t taken to the bit yet…”.  This is when the stern look was shot my way…along with, I’m sure, a few comments from others regarding this post.

Either way, we were still talking and in good spirits when we arrived at Greenleaf Hut—an hour and a half after we started…not too bad for 2.9 miles on a wet trail. 



The hut was still in the clouds when we arrived and their weather station indicated it was 38 degrees with the wind at about 15 – 20 knots.  This was a good chance to get in out of the clouds and wind, and put on some of the dry clothes we’d carried in the backpack.



We also brought a lunch of fruit, peanut butter crackers and sugary things along to enjoy at this point.  Cheri’s hands were so cold that she had trouble opening the zip-lock bag for the crackers.  The dry clothes, a little snack, some warm cocoa and coffee…it was all enough to tell us that we shouldn’t attempt the 1.1 mile trek to the top of Lafayette—the hut is at 4,200 feet and the summit is just over 5,200.  It wouldn’t be a tough climb, but we’d see nothing but the trail, we’d get our dry clothes wet with nothing else to change into, and looping around the ridge to go down the Falling Waters Trail in this kind of weather didn’t make sense.

Once we felt warm and rested enough, we donned our sweatshirts (did I mention it was 38 degrees) and headed back down the Old Bridle Path.  The trip down looks about the same as the trip heading up…only it was slippery enough that Cheri took one spill (you can see her shorts are a little muddy). 


   
It took us almost two hours to get down…although it takes less energy, you have to concentrate more on almost every step.  We made it back to the cottage a little tired but warm and ready for another day.

Saturday my dad joined us for a few days at the cottage and he brought with him the best weather we have had so far on this vacation.  We were able to sit in the sun for quite awhile, do some sailing and then as the sun went down we started a beach fire to keep any late summer chill away.


We then tucked into a little surf-and-turf and you can see the before and after pictures below.


Then it was back out to sit by the fire for just a little longer…a pleasant end to this part of the vacation adventure.

Laboring on Labor Day

As we start some vacation time I struggled with the thought of doing a day-by-day synopsis of our activities—a la our trips to London and Ireland—or wait until the end for an all encompassing post—another 39 Feet of Separation.  Day to day without some major travel or sightseeing involved seems a little narcissistic…I mean who really wants to read about what is happening every minute (for that you can go to Facebook or join Twitter)…and writing at the end may result in my forgetting something (or someone), or through procrastination not happen at all.


So, narcissism aside, I am attempting to hit somewhere in the middle…a little bit about our Labor Day weekend and then…who knows what.


Saturday was a good day to get some things done around the house—pick up chainsaw and hedge-trimmer from the service shop, trip to the transfer station, start filling in foundation holes before small animals attempt to move in for the winter, detail the outside of Cheri’s car.  But, the real highlight of the day started when we were joined by Steve and Lindsey Tosi for a trip out to the Golden Lamb Buttery.



The Golden Lamb has been a bit of a tradition for us—although we seem to have skipped a year until this weekend.  We often go there with our friends Jack and Stephanie Gosselin, but it is always fun to expose new people to this experience.

When you arrive at The Golden Lamb you are met by a hostess who introduces you to your waitress for the evening—they seem to always know where you are and literally wait on you ‘hand and foot’.  You are then free to explore the large post and beam barn that has been converted into a restaurant, lounge, museum and gift shop.

Another guest offered to capture a photo of the four of us…for posterity.

We had a cocktail out on the deck overlooking a portion of the 1,000 acre farm that makes up the estate.

Then we went on a hayride along with an accompanist…since there is only one seating for dinner the hayride is used to spread out the guests and helps to allow the waitresses to time their services.

The table was ours for the evening and we slowly worked our way through soups—corn chowder, borscht, chilled pear & pineapple—and salads before we got to the main course.  There are only four entrees to choose from and you can’t go wrong with any of them—slow roasted duck, chateaubriand, rack of lamb, salmon—but it seemed that Steve, Lindsey and I were on the same page with the chateaubriand and only Cheri stepped out with having the lamb.  Accompanying vegetables are served more family style and we tried them all.  Desserts went the way of entrees with the same three of us having the apple/blueberry crisp and  Cheri having a lemon tart-like dessert.


It was a wonderful evening of conversation, food, and the accompanist from the hayride made the rounds performing requests table-side.  She was very good and topped off the evening.  In the past we have often finished the evening with a nightcap back on the deck, but we thought it made more sense for us call it an evening—we did have wine with dinner and we all had to drive back home—and what a great evening it was.


Sunday we laid a little low.  My back was bothering me from some of the ‘around the house’ work on Saturday, so we limited activities…or at least I did.  Cheri had many activities she wanted to get done before we headed out to the Cottage later in the week.


Monday, Labor Day was our day to work at our church’s Chicken Barbeque booth at the Woodstock Fair (held every year over Labor Day weekend).  This year I was breaking in as the Day Manager—overseeing the Booth for supplies, heating and serving, and the pit crew for chicken preparation and timing—under the tutelage of John Cimochowski and Bob Donahue. 


Cheri worked for an extended shift in the booth serving barbeque chicken, potato salad, pulled pork sandwiches, pulled chicken sandwiches, foot long hotdogs (and some people wanted to know the exact length), and drinks.  It was a full day of activities and judging the flow of customers and food preparation. 


Sometimes a flurry of action followed by lulls of conversation…a great time.



The Woodstock Fair is what most New England Fairs have become—moving from diary, agriculture, 4H events with a midway to large midways and vendors with some agriculture and dairy events.  We didn’t see much of it…actually I stayed at the Booth and Cheri got around a little bit…but it still had a fair feel to it.  From our position it was fun to just do some people-watching as well.



It was a full day and a wonderful way to spend time with friends.  We were tired by the end and knew that we would wake up to actually be on vacation….


More adventures to follow….
              

A Marathon Weekend

Never ones to step away from a challenge…we had a marathon weekend of adventures—Showers, Sunny Days, Reunions, Eating In, Music Out.  If we could do it this weekend…then we scheduled it.

For the last couple of years we have tried to frequently get together for dinner with Dave and Mary Richardson—Dave is my second cousin and was in our wedding.  These dinners are always a great time to catch up about family and share a few laughs. 

Since we always seem to have a good time we thought it would only be better if we could get other family members to join-in.  Friday night Bill and Sheila drove down to Worcester to join us at an Italian restaurant (Dave and Karen were unable to make this rendezvous, but possible a future time).

When it finally came time to look at the menu…and it took some time since the conversation kept going and going…it turned out that Dave had forgotten his reading glasses—this is getting to be a little bit of a habit for our get-togethers with them.  Fortunately Cheri had a nicely stripped pair with her.  Never wanting to miss a blog photo opportunity I quickly got my blackberry off my hip and fired away.

Since the camera was out we also got our waiter to capture a group shot of us around the table…although the photo does show the shortcomings of a phone/camera/personal organizer…we’re not really that fuzzy…



Friday night got us to through a couple of the marathon water stops and then it was on to Saturday…

Although we had some recovery by not having to get up too early…we did take advantage of the morning time to either run (Cheri for four miles) or bike (me for 35 miles).  I did a little three state jaunt and if you have any interest (and really, who would) you can see the route and climbs at this link:   http://www.mapmyride.com/route/detail/22267700/

With that out of the way, we cleaned up, dressed up and headed out the door to continue the next leg.   I dropped Cheri off at a Country Clun in Lynn, MA to attend a baby shower for Alexis—a separate guest blog is coming to fill in the details on that little soiree—and then headed on to NH to run some errands and spend a little bit of time with my Dad at Bill and Sheila’s house (Bill was off golfing and Sheila was obviously at the shower with Cheri).

  Guest Blogger Section (Woo Hoo)!  

We are all excitedly anticipating the arrival of the next Swenson generation.  Our Nephew Eric and his wife Alexis are due the beginning of October.  Busy people that they are it was difficult to schedule time for a shower so it was decided to have one gigantic shower to include both sides of the family, friends and co-workers.  About 80+ people gathered for a nice luncheon.  Her sisters and Mother did an awesome job decorating the tables and the room.  Here is a picture of the “diaper” cake decorated in her nursery theme of a bunny with earthy colors.  They had empty box favors at each setting where we could wander over to the candy table to fill our boxes with our own choice of candy all of course color coordinated with her nursery  colors.  MMMMMMMM!  We enjoyed a delicious buffet meal with open bar and then sat back to watch Alexis open her gifts.  Good thing Eric works for FedEx because he needed their services to move everything home!  Us more experienced Moms enjoyed seeing what was new and “needed” to raise a baby.  Things sure have changed.  There was also an Advice Book being passed around so we could all impart our pearls of wisdom learned after successfully raising our own children.

It was great to see Alexis’ family and to catch up with some of the Swenson related family that I hadn’t seen in a while.  Shelia put the nurses together at one table and it was fun visiting with her co-worker and her sister Sandy.  It was a fun afternoon.  Alexis looks great with six weeks to go.  I am anxious to get my hands on this little one!

   Back to Your Regular Muse…

Cheri got a ride back to Loudon with Karen (and Kevin came along for the ride…he had been keeping Eric company during the shower).  She got to Bill and Sheila’s just in time to change clothes again and we headed back to Concord.

This weekend had been scheduled as the 35th year reunion for my high school class and we were some of the “out of towners” in for the event.  We graduated about 150, from what I heard four are no longer with us, and the reunion brought 22 of us together along with Susan McCellan, a teacher to which we had dedicated the yearbook—getting children off to college on this weekend may have kept several of my classmates away.

We sat at a table with Cheri’s cousin Les—one of my best friends in high school and he helped in getting Cheri and I together—along with Lisa (formerly Stevens) who he dated in high school and college—they reconnected about 18 months ago.   It was also great to see another great friend, Jay LeClair, who I haven’t seen in at least twenty-five years.  He lives in Loudon now (Boscawen when we were growing up) on the village road not far from Dad’s house.

We also spent time with Alison Richardson (formerly Goodrich) and her husband Dave who was in the class ahead of us.  We always enjoy their company—even though it seems we have five years in between our chances to  get together.

I was prepared, in the words of George Will, to be a pessimist about the whole event, that way, “…you are either proven right, or pleasantly surprised.”  Fortunately it was very pleasant and we had a great time. 

For any of my classmates that didn’t make it, see if you can figure out who is who in the photo…

 
We stayed until almost eleven pm before heading up to the cottage for the evening.

Sunday morning was another break in the marathon…at least for some coffee, omelets and brief time sitting by the lake…and then we got on the road heading back to Connecticut.  We got home with enough time to do some quick things around the house—actually Cheri did some quick things and I took a twelve minute power nap—and then out the door heading for Jack and Stephanie Gosselin’s house in North Stonington (near Mystic).

We caught up with the Gosselins, climbed into their car together, and headed for the Jonathan Edward Vineyard in Stonington.  Throughout the summer the vineyard puts on Thursday night concerts under a tent, and four times during the year they have some special events on Sunday…this was one of the Sundays—Ben Taylor, James Taylor’s son, was performing.

The tent is set up on a grassy area next to active vines.

 
One of the great things about the concert series is that they allow you to bring a picnic dinner …and they sell you their wine (imagine that)…and they provide the glasses.

Some other friends of the Gosselins—John who owns the building where Jack’s office is located, Sarah (who in Facebook jargon is ‘in a relationship with’ John), Eden her daughter and her parents Don and Sally—joined us and we settled into a perfect spot just outside the warmth of the tent.

We had a great spread of food, which everyone contributed to and participated in….pastas, chicken and an outstanding antipasto sandwich.  It was all great with the wine and seltzer water to help wash it down (we didn’t drink wine the whole time).

Then, as it got darker, the entertainment started at the far end of the tent.  The warm up group—Brothers McCann—was great and Jack ended up getting one of their CD’s.  Ben Taylor was only OK…of course with his lineage we probably over-expect his performance, but it was only mediocre.

Overall the event was a fundraiser for Chikumbuso - a women and orphans project in Zambia.  Half of the ticket saies as well as some silent auction items and other merchandise sales were all going to this program to support microenterprises and education in Zambia.

It was a wonderful evening and we have decided to try and make it to more of these concerts next year.
The concert was over around 9:30 so we were still able to get home at a reasonable time.  The end of a marathon adventure…every part of it well worth it.

The Blogger Question of the Day (leave your answers in Post a Comment...because comments are always welcome)...

The Guest Blogger should:

A.  Be a more regular contributor to the blog.

B.  Should be the regular writer and let the other guy be the guest writer.

C.  Start her own Blog since she is so good!

D.  Do just as she's doing...contributing at times.

E.  Other...(again comments are welcome and we applaud creativity).

Some More of those Brickin’ Chick’n

Jess and PJ went from the wedding in New Jersey to a week a the cottage…one of the best weather weeks there this summer.  What better way to end the stay than to have a family party...since we were together with the Whitney-Fenton connections last week, it only made sense to have this week be the Swenson-Fenton connection…plus a few friends.

Cheri and I headed up on Friday night and stayed with Nana and Papa for the weekend—a comfortable bed where we could retire when the partying got late….not that it ever gets to late for any of us…it was just in case.  We got up fairly early on Saturday morning to get in some exercise—thereby justifying any over-indulgence later in the day…or possibly several days.  Cheri headed out with Kristina for five mile run / walk—she meant to run the whole time, but on her way back in along the rail trail she ran into (figuratively, not literally) Aunt Beth walking, so she walked and visited for a while as well. 

My plans included having Willis Ingram join me for a bike ride—we have both given up on most of our running and are focusing our energies on cycling instead.  By 9:30 I felt it necessary to call Willis (Kristina gave me his cell phone number) about our 9:00 ride.  He had experienced a “brain-freeze” about the whole event and was unable to make it so I headed out on a 30 mile loop around Franklin-Boscawen-Salisbury and back by myself…I was then ready for anything…including a nap (which never happened.)

Once we were all back, and showered we headed over to the cottage to start the day’s festivities.  Thomas and Robert Morris had shown up earlier in the morning and Kevin and Ashley had arrived just ahead of us.  It didn’t take long before people were enjoying the water.

Meanwhile, I sat with my closest friends  and began contemplating the afternoon’s barbeque. 

Before we knew it, the crowds were settling in to visit and keep an eye on the cooking.

It wasn’t too long before Willis showed up and joined my circle of empty chairs.

Being so successful the first time we tried it we decided to make some more Brickin' Chick'n for this crowd. This time I doubled the amount being made by deboning and butterflying eight whole chickens. I did this all on Thursday night, made a Tuscan-style marinade, placed them in individual gallon size freezer bags, and froze the birds in the marinade for travel. Saturday morning while I was out cycling Jess took the bags out of the cooler so they could properly thaw. Some time on the two grills—under a brick—and we had Brickin' Chick'n.

A little lesson learned...although it seemed that all of chicken was done and there were clear juices coming from the joint areas, the uneven heating of the grills meant I should have checked all of the chicken. As it was only one drumstick and one thick breast were undercooked...and we had plenty that was fully cooked, so those pieces went back to become part of a future salad (after a little more cooking time).

Everyone seemed to get their fill of Brickin’ Chick’n  and it wasn’t too long before evening started to settle in.  Since it was cooling off a little, and still a beautiful evening we decided a beach fire was in order.

As it got later we headed our separate ways to retire…as noted earlier.  Those remaining at the cottage played euchre—a card game—well into the morning hours, but it was generally a quiet evening.

Sunday morning we brought a ham and egg casserole to the cottage for breakfast and then…too soon…it was time for us to all pack up and head out.  We got PJ and Jess on to their flight to Denver and Cheri and I then went home to recover from another week of Adventures.