Monthly Archives: October 2022

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Let’s play.

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It won’t take much time.

I promise.

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This is an easy one for me. Calves liver with onions. My parents were fans, but I’ve been known to run screaming from the room at the mere sight of it. Basically any organ meat will elicit a similar reaction, but my mother cooked this on a regular basis so I had lots of practice avoiding it.

Liver tonight? Gee mom, I can’t. Softball practice.

Liver? Sorry mom, art club meeting.

Dessicated cow organs? I’d love to… but the circus is in town and they need a new elephant handler.

Any excuse would do. But she got wise after a while and decided to force me to eat it one night. Silly woman, thinking she could out stubborn 10 year old me.

She served dinner… I ate the potatoes and vegetables and left the liver untouched. She told me I would eat it. I told her I would not. She said I couldn’t get up from the table until it was gone. I said no problem and settled in for the night. If I wouldn’t eat it freshly cooked and hot did she really think I’d eat it cold and congealed?

The war of wills had begun, but after an hour and a half my father… ever the peacemaker…. let our notorious food stealing beagle in the back door and I ( accidentally, of course ) dropped my plate on the floor.

Bye bye liver.

My mother lost that battle and never tried to force me to eat it again. She did continue to serve it though.

🤢

How about you? What meal haunted your childhood dinner table…

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The last Notch drive and a little shopping.

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Heading back to the resort for the last time it looked like there was a hole in the sky…

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And before long we were approaching the Notch.

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These signs are on both entrance sides to the road and it took me a few minutes to figure out what they were talking about.

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TT’s won’t fit?

How odd.

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As we entered the Notch, rain. I swear the mountains make their own weather.

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Godzilla barfing?

No, just falling rocks.

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Not sure if you can tell from the photo, but the road is positively pink. Vermont has the oddest color tar in places. Perhaps it’s mixed with Ben and Jerry’s Strawberry Shortcake…?

Since our neighbor was caring for Lord Dudley Mountcatten… as well as feeding the fox and deer.. a thank you gift was required. This meant dragging my husband shopping and you know if it isn’t antiques he isn’t happy.

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A bottle of local Vermont wine…

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And some Vermont chocolates were perfect, but then I lost the husband in the store.

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You knew he’d find something vintage, right?

He actually collects these old gas station oil bottles and was thrilled to find a complete set with the holder. He was less than thrilled to find they were being used as decoration and not for sale.

He was so grumpy about that he wouldn’t let me go back and purchase this special maple syrup.

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Which in hindsight was probably a good thing…

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Because as soon as I saw they had various Dog liquor I wanted one of each.

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But at nearly $200 for the pair it’s a good thing they were under lock and key.

😬

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The one in which Lord Dudley Mountcatten attempts to climb a tree….

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Dudley does well on his harness/leash and knows his limitations, which in actuality is 30 feet. His chest to my wrist. His Lordship chooses the direction and we walk, stroll, sit and occasionally sprint. What we don’t do is climb trees.

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Until the other day when he sat at the base of the Bradford pear watching a bird one minute….

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And jumped onto the bark the next. Problem is, his lordship does not have any tree climbing experience and literally just hung there.

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He scooched a little farther up, with me trying hard not to laugh …

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And finally made it up on a lower branch. Which is when he looked at me as if to say, what the Hell do I do now?

One aborted climb later..

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It was over before it really begun.

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I give him an A for effort, but a D for technique.

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Another scenic drive.

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Fortified with a wonderful meal, we continued our aimless wandering through Vermont.

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It’s hard to take a bad photo there, especially in the fall. Mountains, trees, and cows.

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Mountains, cows, and farms.

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Every once in a while you’ll pass through a town.

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Then it’s back to mountains, trees, and cows.

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And a very serious porch lover.

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Also, there were fish.

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I have no explanation for random fish, but they were delightful all the same.

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Explanations needed.

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So help me out here as I’m not a coffee drinker.

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What kind of puck are they sucking, and why?

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I read the description and still have no freakin’ clue.

Another question – have we entered into a Mad Max universe? Because I didn’t get the memo.

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As seen at a stop light in Lewiston, Maine.

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Granted Lewiston isn’t the nicest city in my beautiful state, but this seems a little extreme, even for them.

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One of our favorites.

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As we were randomly driving around Vermont we hit Montpelier, the capitol, and remembered there was a fabulous high end restaurant we’d enjoyed on previous trips.

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Welcome to J. Morgan’s Steakhouse.

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A fabulous place that’s actually part of a hotel. It has a very retro, 1920’s, prohibition era type feel….

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And we hit it at the perfect time since you can rarely get in without reservations.

Apple cider mule?

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Don’t mind if I do.

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It was 3:00pm… but since we hadn’t eaten since breakfast, we decided to be tacky (really) early birds and go straight to dinner. Do not pass go. Do not collect two hundred dollars. Which kind of sucked because this place can be pricey.

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A marvelous wedge salad with maple bacon and homemade blue cheese for me, the prerequisite French Onion soup for the spouse.

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The rack of lamb was tempting but I opted for the jumbo shrimp scampi instead.

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Good call. It was scrumptious, with just the right amount of garlic and wine.

And because we were in a steakhouse?

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The filet mignon with burgundy reduction for the husband.

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We basically had the whole place to ourselves, just a few customers scattered here and there. And those amazing lights?

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Made sure the rare filet my other half ordered was definitely that.

If you’re ever in Montpelier? Be sure to stop here. You won’t be disappointed.

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Products that make me glad I’m old.

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I used to love shopping at Victoria’s Secret when I was younger, not to mention thinner. They always had beautifully sensuous lingerie and a nice selection of comfy pajamas in wonderfully soft fabrics.

Now that I’m a menopausal woman of a certain age, my desire for the secrets of Victoria have waned and I haven’t visited one of the stores in at least a decade.

This is probably why their ad on my Facebook page came as a bit of a surprise. And from the look of the items they’re offering now? I’m actually glad to be 58.

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Seriously, who the Hell would wear this? In my opinion it’s not the least bit attractive, no less sexy. And damn, for $1.98’s worth of electrical tape you could pretty much make one at home.

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And speaking of tape…

🤣

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Robert Frost was right.

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Seeing that we were in Robert Frost country, we followed his example and took the road less traveled.

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In Vermont that means one minute you’re passing open fields and meadows…

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And the next you’re driving a road cut through a mountain.

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My car was straining on some of the inclines, I can’t imagine bicycling up it.

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Or down it in the drizzle and fog.

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That pretty much describes the way we travel. I pick a spot of interest and we explore at will along the way.

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You never know what you’ll find.

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Like this sweet little riverfront park in the middle of nowhere.

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With a touching memorial rock.

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And some funky flora.

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Required selfie.

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And more heartfelt rocks.

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Rock snot!

Proof positive you really do learn something new every day.

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Miscellaneous nonsense.

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Autumn in New England. The pumpkins, the apples, the brightly colored foliage. You really can’t beat it.

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Nice try Florida, but you’re not even close.

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The poor man has been eating tofu burgers and kale sausage… can you really blame him?

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Gee, here’s an idea…. how about cleaning the litter box you freakin’ idiot.

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I think the parent foxes have booted the kids out of the den. They’re here every evening now.

💕

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Vermont… lovable and quirky.

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At times Vermont feels like another world. The pace is slower, the air is cleaner and we didn’t see a single McDonalds or Dollar General the whole time we were there. Talk about refreshing.

The residents are independent, hardy New England stock and while that might be off putting to some, it just means you have to dig a little deeper to find the sense of humor lurking beneath.

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Like this farm store where they welcome you with pumpkins..

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And provide some interesting alternative modes of transportation.

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Think Santa’s sleigh… but with cows.

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Everywhere we looked? Something made me laugh.

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Good to know. Thanks.

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Yes, it’s a trash can.

Nothing funny there, but…

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A trash can you’re not supposed to use? Funny.

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Nothing funny about the subject, but I laughed all the same.

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I really wanted to buy this tee shirt. But apparently so did everyone else because there was only one left, size extra small… and to be honest I doubt I was even born that size.

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