Phoebe and Haley had their first visit to Parishville this month, a Dean family milestone if there ever was one. After a year hiatus, we returned to our annual pilgrimage up north for the opening weekend of musket season. The usual drill goes like this: the boys (sans Aiden) wake up at an ungodly hour, don lots of clothing, slurp down some oatmeal, and trudge out into the woods with their guns to sleep under (or in) a tree for four hours. They then trudge back to the farmhouse right about 9 am, numb-butted and frozen-toed, to find that the ladies have made them a fabulous and hearty dutch oven breakfast and a giant pot of strong black coffee. This scene repeats itself for the three days we're up there, and we all have the routine down really well. Which is why when the boys returned from the woods a mere 20 minutes after they had left the house, they had us all befuddled and confused. It turned out that just after sitting down under his tree, Andy had two deer pass very close by him- he shot one and it dropped like a brick right in front of him. An hour later it was dressed and driven to the butcher to be made into roasts, steaks, and (my favorite) venison sweet sausage. All before dutch-oven breakfast at 9 am.
Safety orange in the woods this time of year
The rest of the weekend we passed with walks in the woods, trips to Birchbark Books (both locations) and hours watching the two baby girls kick and whack each other while sharing a playmat on the floor (so cute). Little Miss Pheebs is the happiest baby on the planet, I think. She had a miserable cough from a daycare cold and was still smiling at anyone and everything. Once in a while we can squeeze a smile out of Haley-doo too! Dad's new sauna was up and running, so most of us gave that a try too- it's pretty sweet to have a sauna with windows looking out on a beautiful view of the farm and poplar covered hill. Aiden even tried it out a few times for quick 5-minute stints. And of course we made some delicious dutch-oven meals- venison roast stuffed with apple and onion dressing, roasted root vegetables, spicy seafood chowder, and a yummy apple crisp. We always eat well in p-ville. And it looks like we'll be eating well this winter too, with a freezer full of venison!
Haley and Phoebe "playing" together
In the sauna with Uncle Micah (not for long with that much clothing on!)
Dutch Oven Apple Crisp
Scenes from the farmhouse...
1 comment:
Phoebe is adorable. (Of course so is Haley). I can see both Micah and Becky in Phoebe's face. By the way everyone was dressed, I guess it was pretty chilly up in Parishville. The sauna must have felt pretty good.
Grandma Chris
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