Sledding

One of the things that I've discovered during my winter here in Vermont is my strange enthusiasm for sledding. I blame deprivation as a kid. Growing up in Eastern North Carolina was pretty darn good, but it was lacking in the sledding department. Mostly because there were very few hills and it never was cold enough to snow. That's not entirely true, it snowed enough once in 1989 to actually have some accumulation and everyone was was SO excited. It seemed like a ton of snow to me, but since I was only 5 at the time my perception may be a little off. We went outside and made snowmen and I think we even went sledding in metal bowls down a little hill. It hasn't snowed that much since then and probably won't for a while to come. Everyone still remembers the snow of '89 and looks back on it in slight wonder-or at least I do. So that winter was one of only a few other times that I ever went sledding before I came to Vermont. I have to blame my friend, Cindy, for my infatuation with sledding. She was the one who invited me, my visiting brother and 3 of his friends to go with her one afternoon. We spent the entire afternoon trudging up a gigantic hill and sliding right back down. It was the most fun I had had in a long time. Maybe a little lame, but I can't help it! I've been several times since and every time I get ready to push off the top of the hill I feel like a little kid. I'm not sure that any of my other friends here share the same excitement for sledding that I do, but they are usually pretty easily convinced to come along. I think it has been one of my favorite things here so far!

On a completely different note I was just thinking about one summer back home after a hurricane. The hurricane had come in on a high tide which means that the water levels are always higher than normal and the street near our house flooded. It was probably a couple of feet of water so we got our kayaks out and played around kayaking in the road. Good times, right?

Swept Away

is one of my favorite songs. It's on the Mignonette cd by the Avett Brothers and you should check it out if you haven't heard it before.
I never realized how close everything is up in New England. I'm live in Vermont and within 5 minutes I can be in New Hampshire, within 2 and 1/2 hours I can be in Boston, within 4 hours I can be in Maine and within 4 and 1/2 hours I can be in New York City. I can drive for 8 hours in NC and not leave the state. Having small states makes you feel like you have traveled so far!
It's been about 3 weeks since I've found the bike in the garage here and I still haven't gone to get a helmet for it. Maybe that is a sign that I'm not really going to like biking and I shouldn't even bother to get the helmet. It's going to be cold in a few weeks anyways, I think.
I saw the Bourne Ultimatum yesterday with Andrew and some of his co-workers. It was pretty good. We tried to go the night before but it was sold out so we went and played putt putt instead. For the most part I don't like putt putt. I went anyways because I flat out rejected their offer to go see Transformers and to go bowling and I still wanted to hang out with them. I lost the putt putt game so needless to say, I've found that I still don't like putt putt. We did go get some ice cream afterwards that made the whole putt putt experience a little better. The course was a lot different than the courses at home. I was expecting huge plaster animals or buildings (like lighthouses) and lots of water with more animals and I was very surprised to find that there were no animals and no funky buildings. There was some water, but it wasn't the focal point of the course. It was a lot like a regular golf course with fake sand traps and roughs and then a random rock thrown in there. Pretty boring course if you ask me. I did manage to hit my ball straight into the water on one of the holes though so that was exciting.
I think this week I am going to go blueberry picking. There is a place up the road that has a sign out and I think it might be fun. Maybe I can do it with Manda and Joey when they come up on Sunday! Yay! I can't wait!

Vermont

I've fiddled with the colors and settings on this thing enough so here's a real post.

Vermont is quickly becoming one of my favorite places. Today after work I stopped at a farmer's market between KAF and my house. The market had fresh produce, meat, dairy products and arts and crafts. There was a yarn booth set up and looking at the yarn there made me want to start knitting an afghan. There is a yarn store in Norwich so I think I will go and see what they have tomorrow and ask about going in for help if I need it. I bought some fresh garlicky pasta and some peach jam at the market and they are both delicious!

a blog at last

After months of putting it off, I've been inspired to create my own blog. Now all I have to do is remember to write on it:)