Category Archives: Uncategorized

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I’m festive damn it!

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Since 2014, I haven’t done much holiday decorating. My mother adored our house when it was decked out in red, green and gold, but the year she died my heart just wasn’t in it. The following year we started traveling for Christmas… a different destination each time… and there didn’t seem to be any reason to decorate an empty house.

It doesn’t look like we’ll be hitting the road in 2022 and after hearing how much the neighbors missed our displays, I caved and decided to put out a few things to get into the spirit. Wreaths on the windows and doors, white candles and snowflake lights, a lighted deer and tree on the front lawn.

Outdoor finished, I only planned on dressing up the tables. Dining room with Charlie Brown Christmas tree….

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And kitchen with mini tree and snowmen salt and pepper shakers.

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I thought I was done, but I bought a poinsettia.

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And then I thought why not put that garland with the pinecone lights on the kitchen shelf? And while you’re at it add a few reindeer.

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And if I dragged that garland out, I might as well decorate the mantle too.

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And if I did the mantle, I should probably do the hearth.

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So much for just a little decorating.

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A snowman Christmas card box, a few randomly scattered reindeer, tea towels in the guest bathroom, a red jingle bell heart wreath on the kitchen door and I was finished. Yes. Definitely.

Well, except for my line of rampaging, pitchfork wielding snowmen.

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But that was it, really… I was done. Until the husband walked in, looked around and said now we need a tree.

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Lord Dudley Mountcatten was ready.

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But once the tree was in the house … I began to worry.

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Please note the little devil is literally licking his lips. That can’t be good.

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Shiny colored balls? Please mom, hang them now!

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Alternating white, red and green lights. Alternating garlands of gold leaves and weeds. Red, green and gold ornaments, a star on the top and it was done.

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I can’t swear to it … but I think Lord Dudley was waiting for us to go to bed.

Day tree –

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Night tree-

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Decorating the tree this way takes a lot of time and effort. But I’m always pleased with the results…

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The problem is…

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So is Lord Dudley.

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And now I’m wondering if I can stay awake every night until the New Year when it’s time to take it down.

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More awesome Ausable…

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We were really enjoying this hike alongside the chasm.

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There was something stunning around every corner.

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Though at times my knee strongly disagreed.

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Here’s the husband.

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He might be a senior citizen, but he was still upset he couldn’t cross that rope bridge.

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The path that’s cut into the rock alongside the chasm is spectacular.

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And I was loving every minute of it.

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Surrounded by towering rocks. How could I not?

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This open metal bridge was a little hairy. And while I’m not afraid of heights, looking straight down through it was a tad stomach flipping.

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Onward…

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The Chasm… part two.

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Continuing on the marked path, we came to a fork. We could take the easier, stairless Rim Walk on the left…

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Or the harder, your bad knee will be screaming and make you pay, Inner Sanctum trail to the right.

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You knew there was only one right answer.

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Stairs? Oh yeah. Hundreds of them.

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But the views were totally worth it.

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The farther down you go, the louder the roar of the water.

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And once again I was glad the adventure trail was closed. I love to climb on rocks… but generally need a little more than string when it comes to a bridge.

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Me. Loving the rocks.

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The Inner Sanctum is the only way to see this chasm up close and personal.

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It was truly stunning.

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Christmas things you probably don’t need.

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But if you do need them? You know who to thank…

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I don’t need this dangling from my tree, but if you do? I’ll try not to judge.

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I love me some chickens, but Santa rooster bowling shirt? Pass.

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Though I admit this one does makes a statement.

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Is this a thing? Have I missed yet another trend….

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Saw this in Wal Mart but did not make the mistake of pressing the button.

Nope. Not me.

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Ausable Chasm… it was awesome!

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Our day trip destination in New York was the little town of Keeseville, home to the Grand Canyon of the East.

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We’d driven by this place on a previous vacation and vowed if we were ever back in the area we’d stop and explore.

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In case you can’t zoom in, one of the best tourist attractions of the Adirondacks is under the C in Lake Champlain. Au Sable directly translates to “of the sand” which makes sense since the chasm is a giant sandstone gorge.

Looking forward to taking some good pictures, I was extremely glad cameras are smaller and lighter than they used to be.

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After buying tickets and taking a quick look at the little history museum, we headed out over the bridge which was impressive in and of itself.

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Entering the site, it felt like they knew I was coming.

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There are multiple paths and trails but they all start here.

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And like good tourists, we followed the yellow brick road.

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Okay, we followed the yellow wooden squares… so sue me.

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The first open outcropping looked back toward the bridge. And after that?

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I knew my knee would not be happy.

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It’s a shame they even have to post warnings like that, but you know some bozo bonked someone on the head down below at one time or another.

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This was our first look at the chasm.

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And I have to say I was hooked.

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I was also glad it was off season and the “adventure trail” was closed.

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Because that’s a bridge I had no interest in crossing.

😳

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Random nonsense and something for Mark…

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Because there’s never a lack of ridiculous things to talk about.

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Do I need to color rainbow animal poop? I do not, but speaking of pooping animals…

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The required new Lord Dudley Mountcatten shot.

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Another item has been added to the husband’s man cave display of torture implements old tools. A hobbler as seen on the upper left. He says it’s for cows, I’m wondering if it will fit in my purse so I can use it on him the next time we go antique shopping.

And lastly, something for Mark…who has a thing for flamingoes and likes to decorate for Halloween.

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I’m always thinking of you buddy.

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🤣

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Day two: Truck envy, The Champlain Islands and cows.

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On our second day in Vermont we headed for New York. Seems crazy, but stick with me … it was worth it.

Of course we didn’t make it very far before my husband had to turn around and check out an old Ford truck.

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It looked just like his… same year, same color except this was a 250 instead of a 150. Price tag, for a truck made in 1994? $22,000. That is beyond insane (and made me want to list his for sale as soon as we got home).

Back on the road, we pointed the car towards the Champlain Islands.

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If you’re unfamiliar with this area, Lake Champlain is large. 107 miles long, 64 foot deep. There’s often talk about adding it to the Great Lakes but nothing ever comes of it.

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There are a few ferries that cross it from the Vermont side, but the ride is pretty and we weren’t in any rush.

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South Hero, North Hero….

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And Grand Isle.

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Miles and miles of nothing but farms, mountains and lake. (spellcheck changed lake to kale. No one wants miles of that!)

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Peaceful doesn’t begin to describe it.

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And hey, look….

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COWS!!

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How did we ever do it?

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The husband asked me to find an old picture from his Marine Corps days last week.

You know, the one from the Pleistocene Era before digital photography… when you bought film, loaded it into a camera, took 24 pictures, unloaded the film, drove the film to a processor, waited a week to find out if any of your pictures turned out well and put the ones that did in a photo album.

As you’ve probably realized from my photo heavy blogs, I take a lot of pictures. Granted I took less then than I do now thanks to that glorious little delete button… but even back in the day I took a lot. So when the husband asked me to find that one special photo?

It would not be an understatement to say I was less than thrilled.

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Our house is positively stuffed with photo albums. They’re in the cupboards….

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On the corner of desks..

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In the drawers….

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And yes, stacked on the floor.

I combed through 72 photo albums before I cried Uncle and told him if he needed it that badly he could search the rest himself.

I think you know how that turned out.

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Dinner, extreme stickering and cows.

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On our first night back in Vermont we headed to a little grocery store to pick up some staples and saw this…

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Clearly someone takes their stickers seriously.

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Well, I suppose it’s cheaper than a new paint job.

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COWS!

Because I have to.

Next up was dinner at an old restaurant down the road from the resort.

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Martells Red Fox has apparently been there forever and is a favorite with locals.

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I can’t say I was overly impressed with the interior…

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But the fox looked happy, so how bad could it be?

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The cocktail menu was interesting. But as much as I love the band, I wanted to walk out under my own power and settled for a cranberry gin fizz.

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This fabulous piece of art was directly over our table and after admiring the creativity, I pestered a few waitresses for information. Turns out it was custom made for the late owner by a local woman but no one knew her name or if she had a gallery. Missed opportunity there. She should have a plaque with her name and number underneath.

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Dinner? It was fabulous. Pork tenderloin Marsala with garlic mashed potatoes and roasted broccolini. I’ve made chicken and veal Marsala, but never thought of pork. It was wonderful.

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