Some Local Scenery

I meant to sneak out of the house this morning BEFORE the kids were awake so I could take a quiet walk with Maisy up on Jay Peak. The sun is coming in earlier and earlier and the floor boards get creakier and creakier with the predictable result that kids woke up and said they wanted to come too. Not that I don't like to have them along, of course, but when I am planning a real walk they tend to cramp my style. After about 20 minutes this morning on the lovely Jay golf course (they are still skiing at Jay but golf will be coming soon) the Understudy slipped into Goth-Tween mode and complained loudly that she was starving.

Amazing what the dark looks of an 11-year-old can do to bright mountain scenery...


So, the walk was short, but it had its rewards.




Hot chocolate in the cafeteria was restorative...


A Little More Snow...

And on Thursday, we had one of the Vermont versions of "April Showers". That would be snow showers. The snow was gone by 11 AM, but it looked nice for my return to the Recreation Path in Stowe. This is Mount Mansfield, the highest mountain in Vermont, where they are also still skiing, at least for a bit longer.



It still looked a lot like Christmas, briefly.



I should really take a picture of the dusty dashboard of my car as that is the local scenery I see most often lately. Somehow, our lives have been contorted into a shape that has lately required me to drive at least 3 hours a day. (There are two, count 'em two, nag lights lit up now on the old dashboard - "Check Engine" and "Maintenance Required" - I was going to get some black tape and cover them up but I am getting really good at ignoring them. My carbon footprint must be like Godzilla's. Sorry about that. We're trying to make a new arrangement.)

I manage only because I can get out of the car and walk around periodically.