Christmas tree

New Car and Snowy Adventures

We got our new Subaru just in time for the real start of winter. Here are some picture of it and us walking through the Town Forest near our house.

LT Pix... thanks to Townes

Is it a kitty seat or a people seat?

This past weekend we got a new bench for storage and extra seating at our dining room table. I'm not sure who likes it more, us or the cats...

And he's back in the woods...

Jason left Monday for another hiking trip in New Hampshire with Townes, and they will be hiking over 20 miles of the Appalachian Trail this week.

Recent pie baking

Museum of Science Signature Event, "The Science Behind"

Friday night we attended a fun event at the Museum of Science, thanks to free tickets from my employer. Jason and I got an early view of the new Harry Potter exhibit which is full of props from the movie. We got sorted by The Sorting Hat, saw the Goblet of Fire, Hagrid's hut, the head of the Hungarian Horntail, Buckbeak, one of the spiders from The Forbidden Forest, and loads more. It was really cool to see all of these items up close, and also to have a night out all dressed up. You can see Jason above in front of the knight Ron rides during the game of wizard's chess in the first movie.

What we've been up to...

Last weekend we went hiking and camping with some friends in the New Hampshire White Mountains. We hiked in 4.5 miles, slept at the Imp Shelter off the Appalachian Trail, then hiked about two miles to the top of Mt. Moriah, then another 4.5 miles down. As you can see, Day 2 of the trip treated us to our first New England snow as we reached the top of the mountain! (Thanks to Mark for passing along these photos. My camera has been acting up lately, so we haven't been using it much recently.)

Last weekend was a pretty grand adventure, but we've also been keeping busy with smaller things like checking out a cranberry bog near Cape Cod, visiting Plymouth and seeing the Plymouth Rock (kind of a letdown), and picking apples at an orchard in New Hampshire. This week we started winterizing the house by covering the windows in plastic. It's made a big difference, and just in time -- we had a bit of snow (that didn't stick) the day after putting up the plastic.

This weekend we're laying low. Friday night we spent in REI taking advantage of their fall sale. On our camping trip I realized that my sleep pad was too short to be useful at this time of year. Luckily REI has a fantastic return policy, so I was able to exchange it for a new one. We also got some new winter gloves, and Jason's going back today to get a zero degree sleeping bag. His 25 degree one was a bit too cold for camping at this time of year. He's planning to go on one last trip next week with Townes (the guy he hiked The Long Trail with) so a new sleeping bag is a must.

Yesterday we made a new recipe: baked ziti in pumpkin sauce with sage breadcrumb topping. It was pretty good and we took it to a potluck at my boss's house. It was fun hanging out with people from work and getting to meet their families. And in about an hour I'll be making another new recipe: almond biscotti. Perfect for having with tea on this rainy snowy, cold day.

Preview of Mt. Moriah Adventure

And... He's Done!

Jason called, and he has finished The Long Trail.  He's staying at a B&B tonight, and one of the owners is giving him a ride to Burlington tomorrow.

Updates from J^2

As you can see, my update involves using up the garden goodies.  I've made a lot of pesto to use up our basil, and our tomatoes have been sauced for pizza.  I'm still trying to decide if it's time to pick the sweet potatoes, onions, and jalapenos.   More than likely I'll just leave everything alone until Jason gets home.   I wouldn't want him to miss out on any gardening fun.

Which brings me to Jason's update.  He called me this afternoon to say that he is 12 miles from the end of The Long Trail!  He and his hiking buddy, Townes, will finish tomorrow, and then one of Townes's roommates will pick them up and take them back to Burlington, VT.  Tuesday Jason plans to hang out in Burlington and do some laundry so that he doesn't completely gross out the other bus passengers when he takes the Greyhound home.  He's planning to be home sometime this Wednesday, and I can't wait!  Townes has been taking lots of pictures, so I'll post a link to those when I get it.  

Have a great week!

Lazy Weekend

Welcome to day 2 of my cloudy, quiet weekend. I feel like I have been running around doing so much each weekend for the past who-knows-how-long. So I've really enjoyed staying home, relaxing, enjoying the rain, and slowly working my way through some To Do list tasks.

Jason's still out on the trail hiking in Vermont. He stopped at a small inn/hostel near the edge of the trail at Killington on Thursday and Friday to take a break, but as far as I know he is back out there. I'll post again when I hear where he is. He seems to be traveling with another nice group of folks, so no need to worry. The tentative plan right now is for me to drive up next weekend to meet him. I may pick up my friend Erin along the way as this week she's moving to Canterbury, NH. I'm hoping she'll come camping with us so she and Jason can finally meet.

Friday night I met up with a grad school friend for happy hour after work. Then yesterday I enjoyed the light rain that fell all day long. What a wonderful, "busy" day:

• watched The Changeling,
  
• baked two batches of zucchini brownies to use up all the zucchini gifts from the neighbors (hopefully they'll go over well at work, or I'll be eating a LOT of brownies in the coming week),
• used some garden basil and all the tomatoes that are ripening at the same time to make a fresh, no cook pasta sauce for dinner,
• did laundry
• watched a marathon of cheesy ABC Family TV shows that Jason won't watch with me,
• and read more of Wizard's First Rule (Jason's getting me hooked on Terry Goodkind.

So far today is going just as well. It's still overcast, which I love on lazy-at-home weekends. And this morning when I turned the compost heap I found that we have some fantastic soil on the bottom of the pile. It's making me excited to start planning for next year's garden.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Until next time...

Jason's on The Long Trail

He's passed mile marker 100!!! He'll be back on the trail either tomorrow or Sunday near Killington, VT.

Manchester, Vermont & Stratton Mountain

Friday afternoon I drove up to Manchester, Vermont to meet up with Jason. We stayed at a cool guesthouse in town that night, and I got to meet some of the people he had been hiking with recently.

Saturday we drove to the base of Stratton Mountain, and hiked a loop that was about ten miles. We went up the mountain and took some great pictures on the fire tower at the top. Then we walked down the other side to Stratton pond, and back to the car along the (relatively boring) pond trail.

We had intended to camp that night, but instead we decided to just drive home. We stopped in Bennington, Vermont for Mexican food and ice cream at dinner time, and managed to arrive back in Natick around midnight. So far we've just spent today relaxing, cleaning, and organizing. Later on I'll be doing some baking for work tomorrow.

Once a month my group celebrates the month's birthdays by having baked goods during our team meeting. I took over baking duties just last month, so I'm excited to try a new recipe. I'm using this as motivation to explore the baking section of my cookbooks more, since I tend to make the same recipes over and over. On tap for tomorrow are vegan blueberry brownies, and molasses-spice cookies. Enjoy the pictures!