All That I Appreciate

Posted by Barbara Techel

As vacation winds down I’m thinking about all that I appreciate about vacation and as I head home soon.

I appreciate:

-Not cooking for almost two weeks.

-Making home cooked meals.

-Not having to make the bed.

-Sleeping in my own bed.

-Not cleaning the shower.

-A warm soak in my own bathtub.

-Not having to feed Kylie.

-Feeding (and hugging and loving) Kylie!

-Viewing a new landscape.

-My own beautiful backyard.

-Time with my hubby.

-Time to myself.

Vacation is wonderful… but so is going home again.  Tomorrow will see the mighty and powerful Niagara Falls which I am sure will take my breath away.  Then the final trek home. First thing on the agenda when I walk through my front door?  Hug my Kylie girl!  Hang on sweet girl, I’m on my way!!

BTW:  Fall colors are pretty much peak as we make our way north again.  I feel so blessed to have hit full autumn colors during our whole trip!  I’m on autumnal overload, which is a very good place to be.

The Vermont Country Store- & Fartless Black Bean Salsa

Posted by Barbara Techel

What a fun experience going to The Vermont Country Store today in Weston, VT.  And it was quite the popular place as it was packed with people!  They truly do have just about everything!  It was fun eating our way around the cheese/sausage/pepperoni open freezer tasting all the great little morsels of samples.

I picked up this cute little bone shaped braided rug for Kylie’s food dishes.  Her blue rug has seen better days, besides no longer matching our kitchen, so I hope she will enjoy her new “dining area.” Also got a bar of goat’s milk soap, maple leaf shaped bottle of Vermont maple syrup, and Rhode Island Soapworks essential bath salt in patchouli and sweet orange blend.  Plus had to have a bag of spicy Cajun mix.

And the potato ricer?  Well, I had hoped to find one at the Vermont Country Store after picking up Tasha Tudor’s cookbook at the museum yesterday.  Reading some of her recepie’s last night (of which she was taught to spell them receipts) she swore by rice potatoes– never made any other kind.  John LOVES potatoes riced as his mom has always made them this way, too.  Believe it our not the country store did not have one!  So as we made our way back home we stopped at the Kitchen Supply store for the third time since being here (love the store!) and found a potato ricer.  Yippee!

Now for the Fartless Black Bean Salsa!… and Fartless  16 bean soup and chili mix….oh my!  Well that just cracked us up when we saw the display, so John insisted on having his picture taken.

Tasha Tudor. Covered Bridges. Mountain View Lunch.

Posted by Barbara Techel

Posing in front of one of the covered bridges that is so Vermont.  A little over 100 still exist when over 900 existed at one time.

Today was about as perfect as could be.  Really the first day of full sun, along with warm temps that peaked at 72 degrees.   We started with a visit to the Tasha Tudor Museum in West Brattleboro, VT.  It is housed above the historical society with two small rooms dedicated to this most eccentric, delightful woman with much to teach us modern day people rushing here and there trying to accomplish all that we can.

Though the museum was small, Tasha’s life was big in richness of joy, living authentically, and truly living to the beat of ones own drum.  This was told in the 45-minute documentary that Tasha did– the only one she allowed anyone to interview her or to be in her home.  I was utterly fascinated and lost in the documentary, hanging on Tasha’s every word.  I loved how she said that her whole life has been a vacation.  She didn’t have any regrets. Though she lived as if she was from the 1800’s, dressed in frocks and without electricity, I really think she knew how to truly live.  She also talked about how getting older is such a joy, as well as she said that death she felt would be “quite exciting.”  She also had plans that when she died of going back to live in the 1800’s, married to a sea captain, sure of that is where she was before.  I have no doubt she did when she passed at the age of 92 in 2008.  Even John said he enjoyed learning about Tasha and that was just icing on the cake for me.

Then off we went to find a place to eat lunch, which was kind of an adventure in itself.  The town was quite busy but we couldn’t find a place where we could eat and enjoy an adult beverage.  Well, the walk and the wait was worth it when we found the Bier Garden up on the roof top that looked over the river and the mountain as the back drop.  I have photo album of it on Facebook.

Then as we traveled back home we made sure to stop at at least one covered bridge.  After visiting the Covered Bridge Museum yesterday I was eager to see a piece of this most nostalgic part of history up close and personal.  More photos on Facebook of two covered bridges we stopped at.

We have been traveling 1 1/2 to 2 hours every day to various places, so tomorrow we are going to stick close to home and just explore whatever we run across.  Though we will take a half hour ride to The Vermont Store that promises to be a step back in time where they sell everything and anything– the hard to find– the things of yesterday– the practical– and fun.  I have a feeling I can spend a few hours there!