[misc] I'm dreaming... of a white... Halloween

It started like:

And then the next day, it was like:

And then it was like:

I woke up Sunday morning wondering, "Why do I feel the urge to be opening Christmas presents? Why is there no hot cocoa in the house? Why is it so f'ing freezing? Why am I shoveling in October?"

Ugh, snow snow go away, come again in approx 50 days.

[misc] Sleepless in Vermont

4:21 am

AMY: Psst.

DOLLAR: zzzz

AMY: Hey... Hey, are you up?

DOLLAR: zzzz

AMY: shakes DOLLAR

DOLLAR: Hm... whut... 

AMY: Hey... I think I know why the electric bill went up so much.

DOLLAR: ...

AMY: I think it's the weed whacker- the battery for the weed whacker. You were doing a lot of weed whacking last month and charging the battery every day.

DOLLAR: Yeah... I thought of that.

AMY: Oh. Well. I think that that's what it was. It must be...

DOLLAR: ... zzzz

AMY: What do you think Santana?

SANTANA: I want breakfast.

AMY: It's too early. I'm not getting up.

SANTANA: But I'm awake and I want food. Now.

AMY: ... zzzz

SANTANA: Just you wait, human... just... you... wait... 

[misc] Pumpkin

I forced my house-guest to carve me a pumpkin while he was here:

Looks nice! 

After about a week, the face is starting to dry and cave in on itself. But I do like having a pumpkin to light at night:

SpOOoooOOOooooOOOooky.

[travel] 2011 Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival

I did go to the Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival this year, during the less-rainy day (Sunday).

I bought some very nice, interesting new fibers to spin. I visited my favorite vendor Fantom Farm and got some special, sparkly fiber. 

ME: Do you have any spinning fiber with Angelina or Firestar in it?

FF VENDOR: Over here, here's some.

ME: peering closely Yeah. Yeah, I guess that has some sparkle. sigh

FF VENDOR: You like sparkly fibers?

ME: Yes.

FF VENDOR: looks left... looks right... Listen, I got some fiber that isn't out because it's so sparkly-

ME: I'll take it.

FF VENDOR: goes to the back of his area, moves stuff aside, opens a tub, pulls out a bag, reveals a ball of brown fiber blended lots of copper sparkle.

ME: SPARKLEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

FF VENDOR: blinks

ME: Ahem. Sparkly. Weight it. I'll take the whole ball.

###

My sister and I and a friend wandered the festival but didn't stay too long. There's one food vendor there that has consistently served sub-par food, year after year. I avoided them but our friend got a cold, inedible sausage. Poor thing, I shared my sandwich with her. And when we got back to my house, I made some fried rice. My advice is to bring your own food to the VT S&W. The food there really isn't good and it's way overpriced.

[travel] Cannon Mountain

Just a few pictures from our drive up and over to Franconia Notch in the White Mountains. We stopped at Beaver Pond to stretch our legs.



We walked the Flume then went to Cannon Mountain to take the tram to the top. The views and foliage were so amazing all day.

 


I think we could see all the way to Canada, Vermont and Maine.

[misc] Santana has her bed back

Oof, two weeks of being incommunicado. I had house guests last week and was busy hosting, entertaining, touring, etc. We did almost everything that VT and NH has to offer: apple picking, the Flume at Franconia Notch, the tram up Cannon Mountain, Quechee Gorge, VINS, Ben & Jerry's, Cabot, Stowe... I cooked as much New England-y food as possible: clam chowder, shepherd's pie, apple pie, blueberry crisp, maple muffins. We had breakfast at Eaton's Sugarhouse and lunch at FireStone's. (Why is FireStone's in Quechee always empty- it's one of the few places that I like and will eat out at. The food is very good!) We ate nice cheeses, drank lots of beer. It was a very fun week and they were awesome guests.

Now to get back into real life- house, bills, work, ... sigh.

[misc] Murderface Monday

My faaaaaaavorite thing to do during the weekend is bother hang out with Murderface. I realize that he sleeps WAY too much, I need to go to his curled-up body on the bed and kiss his head and nuzzle his side and scratch his cheeks, etc etc etc. He can't get any rest when I'm around all weekend:

That's his "why do you wake me up?" face.