Trains & Boats & Planes

I lied, just boats. This is our hot new canoe! It's a Mad River Canoe from...uhm...the 90's, we think . One of Geo's clients used to be a canoe rep and apparently still has a fairly large stock pile of canoes. Among them George sniffed out this sweet gem which his client kindly traded him some work for. George spent the weekend sanding and oiling all the cross bars and acquiring a new set of seats. He even braved a tanning salon to get his hands on some UV protectant for the hull. We'll have to wait until next weekend to take it out for a spin though, the skies are threatening rain and it's getting a little chilly. I see this canoe being one lean, mean, adventuring and picnicking machine.

This is especially exciting since we'll be returning to the North East in the near future for ... good? the long haul? a while? serious? For serious. We're returning to the North East for serious and the North East happens to be chock full of bodies of water - ponds, lakes, rivers and we'll be navigating them all in our canoe.

Whew

I'm sorry we didn't go post crazy while we were in the north.  It had been my intention to document the trip with great detail and oodles of pictures - this plan, pretty much, immediately failed.  There are some pictures and even a couple of videos.  As for narrative, the plot of our trip was eventful in all the wrong ways.  I know what you're thinking: "But, Jenne, those are the best stories - hilarious, heart-warming, something-you'll-look-back-on-and-think-is-just-too-funny!"  Yeah, but, no.  Let's work chronologically.   

After we left Boston we had an uneventful trip through New Hampshire and a familiar trip up I-89 to our home-sweet-surrogate-home of Montpelier.  If you're driving that route yourself, I recommend stopping at the Sharon rest area - not only is it home to the Vietnam Memorial, but it's a green rest area.  It uses a "living machine" to recycle waste water, among other things.  (One of the other reasons it's awesome, especially in winter, is it's big, bitchin' greenhouse for the living machine.)

New Year's ended up being less a new beginning and more a rerun of classic instances: bad weather, good friends, video games,  car breaking down.  

We did some sledding, we drove the various routes we always drive, we visited our favorite shops and resaurants, and we saw people we missed.  

Now that we're home we're overwhelmed, which is really what I wanted to convey to you.  We're offically moving into the other house at the end of the month and while we were gone the need for bigger repairs was discovered.  The Asheville job market has not improved since we left (as I dearly hoped it would have.)  I may or may not be returning to VT at the end of the week to help out while my grandfather is unexpectedly in the hosptial.

The overwhelmed isn't all stemming from stress, we've also managed to come up with a ton of new and exciting ideas.  They're so exciting and new that we don't even know where to begin, we just know they're going to be awesome.  

Pictures from the trip will show up soon, we'll lead you on about the exciting ideas for a while, and we'll strive to post more regularly. (Promises, promises.)  

Bean town

We've made it to Boston. The drive, flight, T ride, and short car ride were all painless and efficient. There were bagels for breakfast. In case you didn't know: New England is old, dirty, worn. It's okay with itself, it has accepted it's identity, it is what it is. This makes it comforting.

Being in the north is also exciting due to good friends, good family, and good food. Again, the NY Times is talking about central Vermont's cuisine, apparently it's all the rage these days. Fresh ingredients? Lovingly prepared? Who would've thought?

Progress

Garden
Originally uploaded by average lavender

It's a little late to be starting a full garden, but somehow I maintained some misplaced confidence that we'd be able to find a few cherry tomato starts around here. We managed to round up four pepper plants (two banana, one green, one yellow), brussel sprouts, broccoli, squash and seeds for kale, carrots, beets, basil, and chives. We also found some thyme and parsley. I mean, it's not my dream garden (no little tomatoes, and no, sniff, cucumbers), but at least we'll have some edible things.

It sounds like George will be headed north in the beginning of August, to see Jesse who's visiting home from China, to see his family, to go to some dude's wedding in Maine, and (hopefully) wrangle up some furniture and plants that'll fit in the car. Meanwhile... I'll be staying in Asheville to play with my consolation prize: the new scooter we haven't got yet! Which will take me to be trained at: my new job I haven't started yet! I've managed to land a part time gig with City Bakery & Cafe making bread; I start Tuesday.

The cats are way happier here than they were in California. They have a yard to play in, so Boy isn't getting chased by dogs and stuck in trees, and Girl is comfortable and not always slinking around afraid. They spend their afternoons sleeping and the late evenings being pissy because they're not outside.

George is washing the car.

Update

I didn't go to Asheville today as planned. We decided that it would be okay not to because a) I was too stressed about finishing up everything here and b) it wasn't absolutely necessary because we've already found a place to live which was the trip's original purpose. I called our new landlord and she was completely understanding (as opposed to those landlords who're mostly understanding,) seriously, this woman is great. One of the best parts about not leaving today is the resulting three-day weekend for yours truly. And we both get to pick James up at the airport! Hooray!

Friday was the best beach day ever. Liz, Yannick and I headed out around noon, grabbed some bad iced coffees on the way, stopped by Yannick's house for cheese and snacks, then went straight on to Shell Beach where it was cooler than town (which was about, oh, 100 degrees) and perfect for beach sitting and even...swimming! We swam out to the raft, we sat around, we ate the food, Liz and I read US Weekly, Yannick slept with a towel over his head, and we took three great pictures. Just three. Then we stopped by the Bovine Bakery (where my boss used to work) and got some cookies (Liz is crazy about the Lemony Snickett), then we stopped at the Olema Farm House for oysters and a beer then came back to town where it was still about 90 degrees at 6pm.

Summer is upon us

The National Weather Service tells me that it's going to be 101 degrees in San Anselmo on Thursday. !!!! Holy crap! This is news that makes me appreciate two things: a) our apartment stays relatively cool due to the lack of sun and b) that I won't be in San Anselmo on Thursday! Ha! Liz and I are driving up to Portland to see Liz and Mike! Originally George and Yannick were going to come along but George can't tear himself away from the railing-building and I think Yannick flat out forgot and probably doesn't want to come if George isn't going (there are few people who would want to spend ten hours in a car with Liz and I.)

Tomorrow (only 90 degree day) is the day our veggie conversion kit is slated to arrive! George is pretty excited.

The carpal tunnel is subsiding, the nightly bracing seems to be helping, even if it chaffing the inside of my thumb raw. My panic is subsiding as well.

On flying.

Please, parents, people charged with small children, anyone, do not bring kids on red eye flights. Seriously. Our hopes for the flight from SFO to JFK went down and up and down and down and down. Getting to the airport a good two and half hours early we killed some time drinking soda and water and watching all the people on the level below us in front of what happened to be our departure gate. This is when I spied the woman with the dog: big woman, tiny barking dog. After boarding we discovered the plane was fairly empty and that we had all three seats to ourselves! During take off and, oh, ninety percent of the flight the two kids behind us shreiked and screamed and kicked and howled...at the absolute top of their lungs. It was one of the worst flights we have ever been on. EVER.

After a few more hours waiting at JFK we boarded for the fifty minute flight to Burlington, which was also pretty empty and also pretty child-free.

We're at our respective homes now, tired and achey.

Homeward bound

Depart SFO: January 14 11pm
Arrive BTV: January 15 11am

Depart BOS: January 23 11am
Arrive SFO: January 23 2:40pm

That's right! We finally bought our plane tickets, the trip is pretty short, and we're flying out of Boston on the way home!

scrappins and mitch

last weekend my boss made a big cake that looked like a wine bottle and had tons of cake scraps leftover, so i took them and made scrappins the polar bear cake.



george thought he looked silly without a mouth, so he gave scrappins one. at first the cake was going to be a tower, then a panda, and finally a polar bear, but he looks most like a dog. regardless it's pretty delicious.

yesterday as i went out to do the laundry this little bird started making noise at me and fluttering around and i figured i'd just spooked him. later when i went out to put the laundry in the dryer boy and girl were harassing him in front of our neighbors house. i picked him up with a towel because it looked like they were more toying with him and less eating his flesh at that point.



after calling george and george calling susan we took mitch (i named him mitch) inside and cleaned up his feathers with rubbing alcohol which really woke him up and he started flappin' around. we put him back in the area where i'd first seen him, up in a box that houses electric meters and gave him a little food. i checked on him later and he was up and walking around making noise...and being stalked by the neighbor cat, rusty. i didn't bother to move him or shoo rusty because unless mitch jumped he would be safe. hours later i went to check on him again...and.. he...was face down in the dirt with flies around his head. i blame rusty.

in less morbid news, at the end of the month i'll be going to north carolina! hope and her husband are buying a house in west asheville and she'll be going down to do the closing and some cleaning and invited me along!. i'm looking forward to some time away from here and the adventure of travel and new places.