Just like riding a bike...

Two birthdays, twelve pizzas!

To celebrate two birthdays (mine and Dad's) we worked hard and played even harder on a beautiful fall weekend in Vermont. For Dad's 60th birthday, he got a wood-fired outdoor oven, a.k.a. "the boob," and we christened it with some artisan birthday pizza making. It was beyond delicious! Kevin and Gerrit Pottmeyer also came over to enjoy the feast and celebration.

Andy mixing the pizza dough

Dad taking a pizza out of the "boob" oven. It gets to about 900 degrees, and pizzas take less than 2 minutes to cook! Faster than the microwave and WAY better!

Mom spared no expense with the array of toppings and we each made several small pizzas. This one is apple, maple sausage, cheddar, and carmelized onions.

And then on the work part of the weekend... we made at least a slight dent in the giant pile of wood outside the sugarhouse that needs to be split into very small pieces and stacked up before winter hits. That way, when sugaring season begins in March, everything is ready to go. We have to split an even mix of hardwood and softwood (the latter burns hotter and faster in the wood-fired evaporator). Time is of the essence as Dad's recovery from rotator cuff surgery will soon make it impossible for him to split wood for many months.

Me working at the pneumatic wood splitter; Andy splitting the old fashioned way

Gerritt and Aiden reading in the sun

No visit to VT is complete these days without an obligatory torture of the chickens. Percy, Reba, Dolly, Loretta, and ? (can't remember the last one's name) are pretty good sports after you catch one of them, but they don't like it if you enter their kingdom without bearing gifts. They love fresh greens, apple cores, and basically anything in the compost bucket. In return they are each laying an egg a day, and Gerritt and Aiden did the honors of collecting them on Saturday.

Andy trying to befriend a chicken

Squeeze!

Becky admitted to turning her head to the side in case the chicken mistook her eyeball for a grape.

Collecting eggs...

Later we went over to Shelburne Orchards and picked two huge bags of Cortlands and Macs... we had just about finished the bag of apples we picked two weekends ago, so I guess it was time to refill! We also could not resist cider donuts right out of the vat, and giant jugs of home-brewed apple cider vinegar. I love having a birthday in September :)

Apples and cider donuts

Assorted Fun

We had a busy week last week with visits from friends and family. On Friday Jason and Julie, our old friends from Vermont Law School, came over for dinner with their 2 boys Colin (2.5) and Bryce (4 mos). Aiden and Colin bonded over trains and tools, while we all had a nice meal and reminisced about South Royalton, VT. Seems the most vivid memories include breakfast at Eaton's SugarHouse, wednesday wings and #9 at the Crossroads, and feet and feet and feet of snow. But then again, I didn't actually do the law part, so I didn't even have to block that out. Jay and Julie and the boys then headed over to VLS for reunion weekend, while Andy and I were each stuck working parts of Saturday.

Aiden and Colin

Julie and Bryce

But, later on Saturday, HaPa and Grandma came over to spend some time with us and their favorite 3 year old. We hit Spring Ledge Farm for an heirloom tomato tasting including 40 varieties of red, yellow, green, striped, cherry and/or husked tomatoes. It was wonderful to actually sample all those varieties that we peruse each winter in the seed catalogs - of course the catalog descriptions all make them sound scrumptious - and learn what we really prefer in a tomato! Our favorites included Golden Milano, Striped German, Yellow Brandywine, Green Zebra, and Sungold cherry tomatoes. Aiden was a big fan of the husk cherries (a.k.a. Cape Gooseberries) and I had to keep him from husking and swallowing them all up before anyone else could taste them.

Then we were off for a little dragonhunting at Philbrick-Cricenti Bog and Low Plain. Dragonflies are scarce this time of year, except for the large and impressive Darner family. Darners are like the B-52 Bombers of the insect world. They're huge and colorful and really fun to catch, so it doesn't matter that there's not much else to find. As always, we put each captured dragon on Aiden's finger to release it, and he loves it when they stay awhile and recover so he can get a really good look and study them. Darners are especially good for this! We're discovering that dragonhunting is actually a lot more interactive for Aiden than birdwatching, and though our big year list is suffering, we are still having a lot of fun.

Cotton Grass at PC Bog

Aiden with a Canada Darner

Larch in the bog

Bog coolness

Spider web at Low Plain

Labor Day Weekend

In addition to the whale watch, we had some other fun over the Labor Day long weekend. I escaped for one night and scooted down to North Andover, MA to see good friends from college including Allison & her new baby daughter Harper who were visiting from DC for a few days. We went out for drinks and mad tapas, including mini lobster burgers and several amazing dishes of lobster mac-n-cheese. Yum! It was great to see everyone, and as usual the Downer household was buzzing with activity & fun.

Tim and I


Allison and The Baby Harper

Nicole and Becky

Then we indulged in a luxury few around here can manage this year, thanks to the late blight which has ruined tomato local crops. We made homemade tomato sauce from scratch! How did we do this? Well, it started with a giant bag of homegrown Long Island tomatoes from Andy's Dad that we were desperately trying to eat through (apparently L.I. escaped the blight). And then we splurged on a box of canning tomatoes at the farmer's market. Don't ask me how they existed - I'm not sure I want to know - but we washed them well and added them to Andy's dad's crop and went to work. By the end of a long day of peeling and chopping and simmering, mostly simmering, we had 3 varieties of sauce canned and freezer-bagged: double olive, smoky chicken sausage, and spicy caper. Aiden helped with the stirring and herb picking.

And finally to round the weekend off with one final wholesome activity, we went apple picking at Carter Hill Orchards in Concord. The Macs were juicy and crisp, and hanging off the branches in dense clumps. It took us about 5 minutes to fill two bags to overflowing, and I know we'll be eating apples any way we can think of for weeks to come.

Tale of Whales

The weather in New England has been absolutely beautiful for about two weeks now, almost making up for the soggy gray summer we had going for the last several months. While it lasts, we decided to take advantage and treat Aiden to his first whale watch ever. Most of the whale watch boats that leave from coastal NH or MA go out to Jeffrey's Ledge, which is a long, shallow, rocky shelf that runs offshore from Maine to Mass. The abrupt shallowness creates an area of upwelling, where currents bring up lots of krill and plankton and other delicious marine organisms from the depths. So whales congregate there to feed. And guess what? So do pelagic seabirds! As my brother Micah said when I told him we were taking Aiden on a whale watch.... "we both know it aint whales you and Andy will be watching!"

But Aiden was looking for whales. One of his favorite books right now is "The Whale and the Snail" which Aunt Chris and Uncle Preston brought him from Nova Scotia. It's a cute story about a snail with an itchy foot that hitches a ride on the tail of a grey-blue humpack whale... he travels the world on that tail and sees shimmering ice and coral caves, shooting stars and enormous waves... and ends up saving the whale's life later in the story. Point being that every time a humpback was spotted, Aiden shouted "A great big grey-blue humpback whale! And a snail on his tail!!" It was priceless. And impressive, that he could see the snail. His eyesight must be better than mine ;)

Atlantic Queen out of Rye Harbor, NH

Seabrook Beach, before the whale watch

Greater Shearwater

We even got one life-bird out of the deal, a Cory's Shearwater. We saw Cory's, Greater, and Sooty Shearwaters, missing the shearwater grand slam by one (Manx). And besides humpacks we saw Fin Whales, Minke Whales, Atlantic White-Sided Dolphins, and Harbor Seals. All in all it was a terrific day. The only bummer was that the Downer clan was supposed to come with us but missed the boat due to a major traffic snafu on I-95. We can't wait to do it again though, so hopefully next time...

Atlantic White Sided Dolphins

Humpback Whale

Fin Whale

Rye Harbor


Dinner in Rye after the whale watch- YIKES, don't watch!