Posted tagged ‘family’
Protected: foot surgery
September 1, 2022Our’s Forever #34
October 3, 2021Celebrating our anniversary today, from way back in 1988 — it seems like a lot of years ago. But, in other ways… just a blink of an eye; the time flies. And, yeah… we have been having fun!
For this year’s anniversary, some of our celebration ideas centered on hiking — and, specifically on Vermont’s Long Trail “LT”. There are sections of the LT near Rutland that we have talked about for a while but never have gotten a chance to visit: White Rocks Ice Beds (near White Rock peak) and the gorge at Clarendon — both, are just south of Rutland on Routes 140, and Route 103 respectively.
For our weekend plans: to go camping (in Vermont State Parks — we snagged a “lean-to” in the VT Park’s Reservation system), we’ll go canoeing, relax a bit, eat out, see some historic sites and yeah: include some hiking! As it turned out, we did a fair bit of driving as well. With an “extra day” by taking time off from work, it meant we can enjoy a more relaxed pace, and still be staying at the State Park when most of the regular crowd has gone back to work. The Park Staff really was closing up for the season as we left (most VT State Parks close for the season after Oct 12th).
Some of the hiking was directly along the LongTrail “LT” route. And, some was in nearby paths of interest (the WhiteRock ice fields) that we’ve been meaning to explore for a while.
A few favorite photos and images, from our weekend:
The VT Parks location we chose was near Rutland, a bit north and just past Bomoseen on Rt30 (near Hubbardton’s battleground) and close enough for some LongTrail exploring.
On the way home, we stopped at Yellow Deli, in Rutland.
We also made a detour over to the VT State Park, called Taconic Ramble — the name, is indicative of the Taconic Mountains which seem like part of VT’s Green Mountains but that really are related to the string of mountains which tie into mountains in New York. It’s also a name based on the Rambling trails and walking gardens and waterfalls features which you can explore near a 800 acre property which had been donated to the state of Vermont. It’s an experience, and a beautiful location.
Grape Jelly
September 1, 2020I never would have thought a grape from our back yard would have been tasty enough for our own homemade grape jelly.
These were what we started with…
And, ok… it’s not a large bowl full– but, boiling down (after smashing with a potatoe ricer) and removing the seeds with some cheese cloth. The result was pretty pleasing.
A 1:1 ratio of mush to add in sugar; and the boiling to bring it to 219 degrees (or 220) was pretty straightforward compared with our experiences with maple syrup. The last step was to leave it to sit overnight, so the sediment at the bottom doesn’t get added to the jelly. (we filtered it one last time, from boiling before sealing the 1/2 pint jar) and letting it cool on the stove.
The result:
I though it looked as good (and tasted as good) as Smuckers!
Covaid-19 Corona Virus or Chinese Flu – maybe a pandemic
March 13, 2020As a wake up call – we maybe realized we need to be more careful about hand washing.
Maybe we realized we are not immune from COVID-19 hype. The US maybe has better healthcare compared to some other countries; and, we have more diligent media channels (or is it that media fervor that fuels the public apprehension).
But, let’s say – we can all be more careful about disseminating germs. our grocery stores and retail shops may be sharing diseases more than we know. And, traveling on planes (and, who knew — cruise ships!!!) maybe sharing a lot of diseases across the globe.
The Vermont Statehouse seems to be a focus of our attention given to proper procedures — stay home if you are sick.
More locally, my brothers and I shared info about family dermatology – why did it just so happen that we’d each chose to
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