complete randomness

It's Friday -

and that means it's time for a little randomness with Nancy at A Rural Journal

My little suburb is just a few miles outside Boston and until a couple of weeks ago this electrical box was sporting gang symbols. I'm liking this look much better.

Pretty cute - yes?

This week Greg and I celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary

:-)

I just finished The Paris Wife and enjoyed it much more than I expected to.

Last weekend we bought freshly picked apples from the orchard. If I enjoyed baking, I'd make some apple pie, apple crisp, apple cake...

But - I don't - so I just pin the recipes instead.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend in Vermont. Saturday is the dam release for whitewater rafters (I'll be watching - not participating) -

and the annual Peru Fair where I'm hoping to pick up some beeswax candles.

That's it for me - have a great weekend!

you can get anywhere from here

Many of you are probably familiar with the old Maine-ism

"You can't get there from here"

Which pronounced with the proper drawl is more like

Ay-yup, you can't get they-a from hee-a

Anyway - that is apparently not the case from this little village crossroads

in rural Vermont.

I love that this sign is right outside this little schoolhouse.

These lucky students have the whole world right at their doorstep.

I am joining Madge from The View From Right Here for Rurality Wednesday. Click on over for more rural scenes from around the world.

hawk watch - take 2

Saturday was one of those bea-u-ti-ful New England Fall days,

and after hearing about the hundreds of hawks sighted over the last week, 

we decided to head back up to Putney Mountain for the hawk watch.

So - hawk watch take 2 - bust...

As soon as we arrived at the top of the mountain, we were treated to the sight of a hawk gliding the thermals.

I didn't grab my camera because -

 1) I was enjoying just watching and

2) I had no way of knowing that would be the only hawk we'd see all day.

So - what to do when there are no hawks to be seen?

Well - there's always watching the other hawk watchers....

and of course, enjoying the scenery, 

... and reading the count of all the birds I didn't see over the past week...

- and then there's the little maple stand in Putney where we consoled ourselves with a

maple creemee - (Vermont's very delicious version of soft serve)

If you've never had one, I'd suggest you get into your car

- right now -

and drive to Vermont. Yep, they're that good!

So if you happened to be keeping score -

Putney Mountain Hawk Watcher: 4,011

Me: 1 (plus a maple creemee)

Yeah, I'll call it a draw (smile)

Our World Tuesday

random thoughts

After the last few days of disgustingly sticky weather, last weekend's apple picking at Green Mountain Orchards seems like a distant memory.

I made my first batch of soap, and it's looking pretty fantastic

- except -

in my attempt to save the environment for the orangutans, I accidentally ordered sustainable palm fruit oil which is bright red-orange. Yep, my soap is looking a bit like pumpkin pie.

On the upside, according to Dr. Oz, red palm oil is a "miracle solution" - "an amazing fat that helps stop the signs of aging inside and out". Well - yippee for miracles because I have enough of this stuff to halt the aging of an entire village.

This morning my bus failed to show up, leaving me standing in the rain for 30 minutes to wait for the next one. All the while I'm thinking to myself - really? I gave up driving to work in the comfort of my own car for this?

Why is it that the auto-correct on my iPhone makes all sorts of random "corrections" that I don't want, yet completely misses the obvious mistakes? I sure do spend a lot of time correcting auto-correct.

Have a great weekend!

Random 5 Friday

rurality - bellows falls, vermont

Saturday afternoon, after a little apple picking and not quite ready to

call it a day, we headed over to nearby Bellows Falls, Vermont.

It's been years since I last visited this little town.

As we wandered through town, Simon and Garfunkel  ran through my mind.

 "I'm sittin' in the railway station

Got a ticket for my destination

hmmmmm

...And each town looks the same to me,

the movies and the factories

And every stranger's face I see,

reminds me that I long to be

Homeward bound..."

When Greg and I were in college, we used to drive up here to have breakfast at the

Miss Bellows Falls diner (although it was probably more like brunch
or rather - breakfast-for-lunch).

We had a great time last weekend meandering through town - poking in and out of shops.

And many thanks to nearby-apartment-daughter for unwittingly posing for the shot 

that had me humming for the rest of the afternoon.

Rurality @ The View from Right Here

barn charm - getting back into the groove

With those lazy hazy crazy days of summer essentially behind us,

I'm beginning to think it's time to get back into the groove of things.

I sure have been feeling lazy and hazy -

as in - major slacking...

Fall has always felt like the real start of a new year to me.

So - anyway

We had the pleasure of spending Labor Day with family in

Central Pennsylvania.

Rural and hilly and beautiful like Vermont

yet, oh, so different.

We enjoyed meandering over the winding back roads,

among the peaceful farmland.

I'm not sure why summertime seems to throw me off my normal rhythm,
but I'm looking forward to Fall

and getting my groove back.

How about you - does summer seem to throw you off your normal patterns?