Summer Farmer's Market Season Has Begun

I love summer farmer's markets. In fact, I love them much more than winter farmer's markets .  The produce selection is much happier and the locations are amazing.  Not to mention there are many different locations to choose from, each with its own individual personality.  Did I mention I really like summer farmers markets? 

 

Not only was today my first summer farmer's market day, the boys opted to go to the store for popsicles, which left me to my own devices at the farmer's market.  Not always a good plan for them, but for me it was wonderful.  The only instruction they gave me was to get something that would go with dinner.  Pass by the lady with the greens: check that one off my list.  Now on to my own shopping. 

 

First off, replace the sad tomato plant that is on its last leg; check.  Next stop by the wine table, sample some wine and pick the perfect selection for the evening.  Now what goes with wine?  Vegan gluten free cheese cake?  Why not?- the sample tastes pretty good.  Time to go home?  Nope, not until I buy some of the wonderful looking strawberries on my way out.  You know, because they will be a nice complement to the wine and cheesecake.  I love summer farmer's markets. 

Contrasting Weather

This past week has been one of torrential rains, roads were washed away, school was canceled, the temperature dropped to the 40's and in some places there was snow. Then along comes today 60's and sunny, just in time for Memorial Day.  We can finally enjoy the great outdoors again. 

There was not a drop of snow on this mountain a week ago. 

Autumn

Autumn does not get much press these days, so I thought I would a least post a picture of her.

My Pooh Bear

If you have ever read "The Story of Pooh," you know that in one of the many stories, Pooh Bear invents a new game.  In this game, Pooh and his friends are on a bridge dropping sticks into the water below.  Once the sticks have landed in the water, they race to the other side of the bridge to see who's stick makes it there first.  We own this book and there is a park we frequent with a covered bridge.  To access most of the park, you have to cross the bridge.  Rarely are we able to cross the bridge without playing Pooh's game.  Thus we have my own little Pooh Bear. 

Vermont Authors

We are blessed to live in a state with many amazing authors and a culture that supports that (if only I could get the amazing writer in the house to write a book).  Recently, it has become amazingly apparent to me just how big of a culture it is in our state.  I had to read a Graduation Challenge(our senior project) paper on Vermont and Vermont-inspired authors and it heightened my awareness on the subject.  Along with that, one of the other readers for this particular paper also has several published works himself and went into a whole history lesson as we critiqued the paper we were reading.  While there were moments I zoned him out so I could concentrate on the paper, it became very apparent to me, just how many Vermont or Vermont inspired authors there are.

 

Then  two weeks ago one of Little Man's favorite authors (who also happens to live up the street from us) hosted a "Bob's Birthday Bash" down the street from out house.  Now in the event that you have never heard of Bob, he is a chicken in a story by Tracy Campbell Pearson.  Not only is he a character in her story, we found out that his inspiration came from one of the houses between our house and the birthday bash.  We ran into the farmer on our way to the bash and he told us all about the original Bob.  It was really neat to be able to connect with a book in such a personal way. 

After we had  enjoyed all of the birthday activities such as coloring chickens, signing Bob's card, getting our picture taken with bob, face painting and all the other little activities; we followed Tracy out to the town green.  Hung on all of the trees in the town green were pages of the book.  As the kids ran from page to page (they were numbered) Tracy read them to the kids.  Where else can you do a story walk with the author of the book?  It was a lot of fun and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. 

The only problem I have found with having local authors around you, is that at times the connections are a little too deep.  You see, that same author wrote a book about the local snack bar.  I am pretty sure every kid in town owns this particular book and stalks the local snack bar in the early spring months waiting for its opening day.  Why do I think this you ask?  Because the weekend the snack bar opens, every mother and child in town is standing on the steps of this local establishment.  That, and one of the first words my child learned how to read was the word OPEN without being taught. There are drawbacks to having so many local authors......




Amazing Park Challenge

This past weekend, in a split second decision, I managed to get myself talked into doing The Amazing Park Challenge though one of the local rec departments. My friend was very convincing.  In short, you receive a passport book and adventure pack(snack, water bottle, bandana) for each "team" and have 10 parks you need to go to during the summer to complete various challenges.  Challenges range from building a rock formation to finding clues and completing the tasks listed on them. My friend was on the way to the kick off party and decided that she wanted company on her excursions this year.  I apparently looked like the most willing participant.  Anyway, at the park there were challenges that needs to be completed that ranges from making a pine cone bird feeder to Zumba.  Yes, I did zumba in a public park where people could see me. Once you had finished all six of the challenges you received credit for that park and were entered into a raffle.  Actually in all, it was pretty fun and I am looking forward to exploring the parks with out friends this summer.  So, thank you Lisa for dragging us out of the house on Sunday. 

My Fruit Trees

Sadness is when the rain comes and washes away my apple and cherry blossoms.

Frogs

Little Man has been studying frogs and tadpoles at pre-school this past week.  We have desperately been searching for them at our favorite spot but alas it is still a little too cold for tadpoles.  So far, we have only managed to find one and he was too fast for either one of us.  He is a large Northern Lepard Frog and not only is he hard to catch, he is hard to find.  We have managed to catch a few Easterns Newts though (because Mommy is such an awesome newt catcher). Hopefully the mass of frogs we can usually find at the pond will arrive. 

Vermont Wild Flowers

I love walking in the woods where we live, there are so many beautiful wild flowers at your feet.  I took the pictures below while walking in the woods last weekend.  I am not sure what the top one is, but the bottom is a trillium, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite wildflowers.  They can also be found in pink and white, but the red ones are my favorite.  I'll post more flowers we find in the woods this year, since I have someone who is much closer to the ground then I, and will often find them for me. 

Weeds

They may be weeds, but they are beautiful.

Another Montpelier Road Trip:Mother's Day

We celebrated Mother's Day a day early with a trip to Montpelier to meet with with Grandma and a few other family members.  We decided to leave a bit early and wander around Montpelier (that and both of my parents tend to run on the early side). So off to Montpelier we went.

 

Since it was raining when we first arrived, we slipped into Bear Pond Books and I learned something interesting about my husband who is an avid reader.  This particular bookstore is in an old building, creaking wooden floors, the rolling ladders that run along the bookshelves and an old door with a bell on it.  In my mind, the classic old bookstore.  My husband, avid reader, son of a librarian, did not like it because of the creaking floors.  Really! who would have thought. (Every little twitch or shifting of weight, and the floors creaked like an old haunted mansion! Can't focus on books with all that noise!) 

 

Upon leaving the bookstore with the creaking floors, we headed over to Onion River Sports for my Mother's Day gift; a new day pack for hiking.  My old pack is at least 15 years old(possibly older) and the fabric is wearing so thin that I can no longer ignore the holes. Once again, your classic small town outdoor store, but this one did not appear to bother Andy all that much.(No creaky floors - just a tiny old store jam-packed with awesome hi-tech outdoor gear! And, did I mention? No creaky floors!) Of course on Mother's Day we went for a hike to test it out. 

While we were paying for my new pack, the rest of the family called to let us know they had arrived at the Mad Taco. Not your typical Mother's Day lunch, but it is what my mother chose for lunch. (It is good though and many of the ingredients used are fresh and from local farmers.) I am pretty sure my uncle thought my mom was crazy for choosing this as her Mother's Day lunch, and I am not 100% sure he has ever eaten real Mexican food before - judging by the look on his face as he looked at the menu. It was good though and my uncle survived the slightly spicy blackened fish taco.

Once our bellies were full we went for a walk down to the Capital building to enjoy the flowers and climb on the cannons.  Some day we may actually go when it is open to the public and go inside.  It was a nice way to end our time with family and walk off some of those calories.  On to the next adventure!