Home again, home again ........

(Taken in front of the Shelburne Farms Museum by Mike MacDonald)

Where to begin?  We are back from a wonderful week in New England and trying to play catch up with farm and house chores.  Yesterday was an all day marathon of laundry and mowing,  so today I can leave a quick note to tell you part of what we've been up to.

We were in Vermont for a family wedding and had the opportunity to rent a house on Lake Champlain and share it with Mike's son, his son's wife and Mike's daughter.  It was so beautiful there, I wish we had made arrangements to stay in that one spot longer.  The lake was clear and cold (no swimming for me - just dipped my toes in) and quiet.  Probably because it was after the Labor day holiday,  there weren't many people around and that made it even more relaxing.  The wedding was lovely and the reception was all good food, fun people and a great band.  We danced more than we ever have in public!  ( We're more of the "dance around the kitchen" kind of people. )  We left the lake house on Monday and hit the road for "Mike's Marathon Tour" of as many New England states as you can see in a few short days!  ( We are the same people who,  fourteen years ago,  after flying all the way across the country,  drove something like 3000 miles around Washington state and Oregon on our honeymoon.  The man likes to keep moving! )  We saw a little bit of everything from the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory to the Annie Leibovitz exhibit at the Concord Museum to the Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House.  We even got a sunset view of Walden Pond.  In between all the places on Mike's agenda, I got to stop at many different yarn shops.  I bought a skein of local yarn at nearly each place,  because I saw many that I liked and because I wanted to support other fiber people,  who, like me, are growing their own.  We visited Bennington Pottery,  Stonewall Kitchen,  King Arthur Flour,  two different Shaker communities and had lunch and bought maple syrup at the Burlington Farmer's Market on two different Saturdays.  And much, much more .........

I have tried for more than an hour to upload some pictures, but am having no success,  other than the one above.  ( Windstream strikes again. )  I have lots more to share,  but suppose I will be making the trek to Starbuck's before I can continue.

Besides all my recommendations for yarn shopping in New England,  there was a near tragedy averted at the farm while we were away,  I'm thinking about which ewes I'm going to introduce to the ram soon and plans are underway for the Yarn at the Farm day,  plus more pictures than you'll probably want to see from up East.  I'll be back soon!