field trips

its been a long time...

we've gotten into a habit of only leaving the house (via car -- we still go outside and walks) once a week. so, its not the most exciting blog content, but we are being really productive.

before the big snow squall we got two weeks ago (another foot and a half two days ago), we decided to take a nice long drive to some southern parts of vermont. it was nice to just cruise - listen to tunes and wind up and down the snowy scenes.

we went down to weston to the vermont country store and spent lots of time in there. trying on rabbit fur hats, sampling mustards, picking out candy, and checking out the latest union suits. here we are in the kid's section trying on some masks....

cleopatra + old sailor

next successful outing was this week when we went to Norwich VT (home of king arthur flour).

its a really sweet town, and we had breakfast at their inn and went to their farmers market,

there was also a band playing, they were all over 60.

I bought some beeswax candles.

Afterwards, we went over to Hanover, New Hampshire just over the connecticut river and home to Dartmouth college. we strolled their main street, went to the Hood Museum, saw 'slumdog millionaire' and stocked up at their epic grocery store. When you don't go to restaurants, food shopping has a whole new glamor.

Then yesterday we went on a great snow shoe hike. Our neighbor, Bernie has befriended dylan and took him on this 5 hour walk through the mountains and valleys that border our property. So dylan took me to this hunting stand where you look out onto a huge pasture and lake. still haven't seen any animals. only tracks.

bald mountain peak

pink mountaintop on the right is Mount Washington

winter4eva

ruby and lukas arrived in vermont on the coldest night of the year, thirty below! and if those stakes are high enough.... they got in at midnight (so had to hike in to the house in pitch black), got lost with an almost empty tank of gas (but were saved by a friendly vermonter named johnson, who also directed them to our road), and had no cell phone reception to communicate these things. but we found them! ready to brave the elements and get into winter.

here they are looking right at home amongst the cat tails

there was a lot of  snow walking and birch bark collecting, game nights, steep sledding, cooking, and ice skating,  and one big hippy outing to the winter's farmer's market, our favorite restaurant in montpelier, and a planetarium show.  ruby had the best skating style - no big deal kind of prance strut - graceful as the ballerina she is!  dylan and lukas would skate really fast (canadians).  and i was wearing dull ice skates that were too big for me and took a huge spill that really hurt.  

ruby and baby stream peeking  out from under the snow

sledding crew (-1)

cooking crew

oh- skating crew killed the cooking crew at team card games

we laughed ourselves through the pain and humiliation!

this is when we built a mini bon fire on the pond

they skated, i snow angel-ed

thank you pals for the big trek and the best times xoxoxo

now to add to my romanticized, new found magical take on winter, i'm reading mark helprin's 'winter's tale'. Its amazing. one of the lead characters is a flying white horse and it takes place in old new york filled with master thief plots and snowdrifts, and all through a very dreamy, fantastical lens -- highly recommend!

next, i want a little leopard

taking a little breather from recording and writing today.  i had the best time with ruby and lukas who just visited for four days (i'll post pics tomorrow).  and now i'm just organizing all the work that i've done so far, and all i have yet to do.   we've been busy here.  shot my music video that dylan has just about finished editing and we're also re-doing my website.  aka my internet presence is getting a make over. 

its strange to think about leaving here.  i like the pattern of these days.  maintaining the fire, preparing food, allowing my mind to be relaxed and my creativity focused, reading every word. its slow living.  i actually feel responsible for my days, as  i'm directly connected to everything that happens or doesn't.  also creepy how i never realized how out of control power-hungry new york can make one feel.  not that the city is an evil or unhappy place, i just don't need it as much as i used to.  i guess i'm just trying to figure out the balance...and right now, vermont is restoration.

sometimes when i'm killing time, i think of the next animal i want or i google image puppies of my favorite breed, maybe because i won't be bearing child anytime soon, i dunno. SO  i wanted to share my new obsession. your heart will explode.  meet my new bengal kitten, quince? or moccasin? whisper?

little leopard on your lap!

frosty forest and other delights

getting cozy with ida who is ALWAYS cozy

her new nicknames are beyonce (because shes so beautiful and also full figured), little garfield (because shes lazy and loves to eat) and baby otter (see below)

and heres dylan trying out his new batch of kombucha tea.

he is very methodical and diligent with it. i like this lighting because  it looks like hes drinking swamp water!

tomorrow is going to be a record low of -20! i hope i don't turn into an icicle.

brothers here

eliot and evan drove up from new york for a mini-stay last week.  we went on an evening snow shoe walk the night they got in, and eliot kept bailing because his snow shoes weren't fastened too well (cause he put them on in the dark obviously!) it was funny.  they were psyched to be in nature.

there were lots more snowy times....

And my favorite series:

eliot and i also got to play some music together, which was key.  he brought up his new fender guitar and we began work on the new songs.  we've been talking ideas for the next record ever since.  the first seeds are exciting!

baked still life

i've made this bread a few times now. its adapted from the no-knead recipe that involves very little yeast and a long rising time.  i do half whole wheat, half unbleached all purpose flour, add a little more salt than she does, and i let let it rise for at least 22 hours.  Yummers

No Knead Bread

and this is the mother load of coconut almond granola i made for my breakfasts.  i like to add sesame seeds and wheat germ with the oats too.  i also make a honey granola with dried cherries and flax seed, but this one is my fave so far.

soooo now that i've just blogged about my baking, i'm going to swear like a pirate all day and find somewhere to drink tequila and gamble all night (that is - after i go ice skating again!)

also, i really want to see a moose on this property. i've seen tracks in the snow 3 times!  until i go vegetarian hunting for my real moose, here i am with a stuffed one at the fairbanks museum. their legs are so skinny, and body so fat!

end the year outside/start the year outside

oliver, dylan and i had a small feast, drank pink bubbly and played card games until 11:58, at which point we went outside and counted down to "happy new year!" that we shouted to the starry sky and snowy mountain abyss.  it was ten below.

the next morning i made them blueberry pancakes and we all went ice skating and sledding.  

i think we started (and ended) things just right.