Final Friday!

This is the view right from our front porch.

It's our final Friday in Vermont!!

I have mixed emotions, sad but glad at the same time.

My plans for today were to walk down to the beach/river area to get some final Vermont sun.

Look what I saw on the way there...

Yes, faithful readers, it's a new sign!

With the added words, "Don't Change History".

Well, folks, I just was informed of what's going on by my husband who doesn't read our own blog and has no clue about the signs....of course.

This planter, in the middle of a street 4 way intersection, is a water tub.  What's a water tub you ask? 

It originally was filled with water for horses! (I'm assuming when we had horses to ride vs. cars to drive).  Nick found a petition in one of the stores in downtown SoRo to keep this historical water tub instead of removing it.  So the petition explains the weird signs. The sign planter wants it to stay as well.  Mystery solved!

My beach/river trip was short lived.  

But I did notice a very interesting butterfly gathering...

If you look closely at the last picture, you can see about 6-8 butterflies gathered around, having a party.  Not sure what they were doing, I'm assuming eating some seafood (lol).

But I didn't stay long to observe, the sky clouded up after being by the water for about an hour so, off to home I went.

Nick heard from someone at VLS (Vermont Law School for our new readers...lol, again) about a new brewery in Tunbridge, about 20 minutes away.  This is across the Chelsea Street bridge in a direction we haven't been, so why not check it out.

This is what we found....

Kid you not, readers, this is a brewery...not an old, run down house/plane crash.  A functional brewery! Who would have thought?  I wish I took pictures of the road leading up to this place, then maybe you would have understood a little better our surprise.

Here's the inside too...

Yes, that is our guest blogger sitting right there.

We tried a few brews, then bought a growler of some very local pale ale and were off.

Almost....

Took us awhile to get around the mud and the dog...who did not move one inch while Nick was driving by.  Btw:  the beer we bought was name after this dog, Stack O' Lee (I know, right?).

Even though I'm poking fun, the brewery was delightful and the beer was very good.

So, onto dinner.

We stopped a highly recommend tavern called Fox Stand.

Here's the inside...

Very quaint, very old building with a limited menu.  We were thinking typical bar/tavern food. 

No, not at all.  They asked if we had reservations!  Which, we did not but we got a table on the "tavern" side.

Nick ordered some kind of meatball appetizer, which were like a Swedish meatball, not what we're used to, for sure, nevertheless, they were good.

I ordered a pulled chicken dish, Nick ordered hake, which was a fish.

As you can see, I took the picture a little too late, because Nick's hake is already gone.  

He said it really didn't have a taste.  

Looking at my pulled chicken bowl (yes, I said bowl), I felt like I was at Midevil Times and needed to eat with my hands and wipe my mouth with my arm.  It all came together in one big stew, kinda sorta, pile.  It was good, but not something I would rave about.  So far, Nick said his favorite meal here was the hot dog from the Lake Sunapee Bank customer appreciation day.  Then I reminded him of the Worthy Bomb (double grass fed burgers with the fried chicken in the middle) and he changed his mind :).

But then guess what happened!

This people....

Do you recognize who it is??!!

It's our pickle guy, Gizmo!

(His name is really Verne, Gizmo is his parrot...no joke.)

I feel like we were in the presence of a celebrity (not really, but kinda). 

As much as I bought off of him yesterday, I paid for that dinner he's eating!!

As for his dinner partner, the pictured lady owns the Royalton Bed and Breakfast and makes the quiches at the SoRo Farmer's Market and they share the stand together.

This all seems a little sketchy to me, especially since I saw them TASTING EACH OTHERS FOOD! I mean, who does that if you're not on a date or married??

But, I don't know all the details, so I'm not going to make assumptions, even though he told me last week his wife was in California "buying spices".  Go figure.

Love and miss you all,

tomorrow is our last day here, come back to read all about it,

XOXO,

Nick and Christina

Last Farmer's Market Thursday!

Since I did not blog last night (our wonderful guest blogger, Nick Boudreaux had the honors) I want to share a picture I took yesterday on the way to the gym.

The sign reads, "I'm happy here, learn to drive, let me survive."  I actually saw the guy sticking the sign in the ground!   I'm guessing a lot of people hit this planter, which I will say, is in a weird location.  Right in the middle of a no stop sign 4 way intersection. No wonder it keeps getting hit!

But today on my way to the gym, I saw this sign in the planter, (minus the homemade sign)...

Looks like this has been a habitual problem!

Our Thursday pictures are of Valley Fest, right in SoRo's town square.

This is not the high school Memorial Day band, this is the South Royalton town band, directed by an 80 year old gentleman...

I didn't get to see all of the vendors under the tent (insert sad face) however, I did get to stop at our favorite pickle guy and pick up lots of treats to take home and disperse!

So Nancy, mom and dad, you're getting some good treats as soon as I get home!

Dinner tonight was compliments of 5 Olde Tavern and Grille.

Even though I love our home cooked dinners on the porch, I do not love doing the dishes.  The very thought of cooking and doing dishes tonight was just not making me happy (it got very warm here today, like 80...lol), so we decided on our favorite corner spot.  I will have to say, I'm going to miss all the craft beers on tap.

Tomorrow the weather looks like a promising warm and sunny day, so I'm heading off for the river/beach, which means, no gym (insert happy face)!!

Love and miss you all,

leaving Sunday,

XOXO

Nick and Christina

The Guest Blogger Unleashed

Everyone,

So the guest blogger has been unleashed. For those of you who have been waiting patiently, but on pins and needles its here.

The guest blogger is.... "This Guy!"

 

 

Some of you may have seen this face floating around the Pittsburgh Office recently, but it never gets old.

For the last 2 weeks people have been reading about Christina's day and how we're making it in the land of hippies and big beers. For the "Record" we've had some amazing beers while we've been here. Here's a new flavor that we've just found.

Ironically, the label states all the reasons we're here. Lawyers, Guns, and Money. (For those of you who don't know, I have been using the Oxford comma recently.) I had to add the star spangled beer coozie for 'Merica.

So let's go through a normal Nick Day.....

My day begins early answering emails. We've recently implemented a new tick policy and it is starting to cost a lot of money. I'm currently on a project team and the tick takes up 3/4 of my day. it's a tick and we could be losing work with Exxon in China over a tick. Yes this is true.

Then I walk to class. Its a great walk. Its about half the distance that I normally walk from the parking garage in Pittsburgh, to my office. Its also much safer.

Start from the right side of the pic, hang a 45 degree right hand turn on the path through the park beneath the American Flag and school is at the end of the path.

Its very comfortable here. Currently, I'm finishing the legal aspects of energy transmission and generation. not so comfortable. Here's a pic of the building that I spend most of my day in.

It's called Debevoise Hall (pronounced Deb-Vahhh-seeee). The building was constructed in 1903 and was the elementary and secondary school for about 20 years. The building has been the site of many different educational institutions until 1973. In 1973, Vermont's youngest Attorney General purchased the building to become the hall mark of legal education for environmental stewardship.

Debevoise was the founder and first Dean of the Law School. Some of you may know that the Vermont Law School has a mascot(s), the fighting swans. Christina has already bought the shirt. The fighting swans mascot was an idea that was stolen from the Debevoise Family Crest.

So the emblem in the center of the Schools stamp is a take from the family crest. Since it's a law school they have to throw Latin in there. Anyone know what it means? Think hard, but fast. The answer is in the next paragraph.

This is the library. its small, but packed with books, tables, and charts I'll never understand (I used the Oxford comma again). There's the Latin again. If you haven't figured it out the statement reads "Law for the community and the world." Pretty deep. The library and the adjoining buildings were a farm. I'm not sure of the history of the farm, but it's pretty neat. lots of upgrades to make the building fire code official and at the same time try to add some panache that makes it a law school.

The Law school is very small and has been hit by the cyclical trend that the rest of American Law schools are having, low attendance. VLS has a different approach. They have no electric or heating bill!!! The school has inked a deal with a New Hampshire developer, and will receive 7.5% payment for the energy they do use. My current professor is very proud of the achievement and I thought I should pass it on.

This is where the learning happens, and there's my current professor. Its called the Map Room. All of the maps have been donated by various individuals. The man in the right side of the pic is Glenn Berger. He's the professor for the class. He was an attorney for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that wrote the laws that implemented Jimmy Carter's wonderful idea PURPA. I'm not a fan.

So after a long day of reading and hearing about federal energy policy, I come home to an amazing wife. Not consumed by the hustle and bustle of individuals looking to get to the top of the feeding chain. Just perfect. After we talk for a while and see how the day has gone for me and where she is in the book she's reading that day, our front porch becomes our favorite restaurant.

Tonight's menu.... Spaghetti, garlic bread, salad and wine. The forecast calm, no chance of rain, and a comfortable breeze in a laidback corner of the world.

We hope everyone is having the time of their life. We will always have adventures and we appreciate all the support we have in each of them. Take care and good night.

Ho Hum Monday

I have bad news faithful readers, the Guest Blogger is not able to blog this evening, so it's just me!

Sorry, maybe they'll be able to work something out tomorrow.

And I feel so bad because I have no pictures tonight because I wasn't planning on blogging.

The weather today was yuck, barely 70, windy and cold.  

I heard the weather described to a T here just the other day...Vermont has 2 seasons, 4th of July and Winter.  Yep, that's about right.

The only pic I have to share today is dinner...old time favorite, pizza and wine.

This time the Screamin' Italian had meatballs and pepperoni.  I was actually pretty good, the meatballs had me a little leery but the were not that bad!

Hopefully you'll come back and read tomorrow!

Love and miss you all,

XOXO,

Nick and Christina

THE Perfect Sunday

Today was the best day in Vermont.

Perfect sunny but not too hot weather.  Both of us got to sleep in and relax.  Nothing too pressing going on, so we made the snap decision to golf 9 holes at a course recommended to us by a local.

Beautiful, beautiful, course.  

Not too big, bot too small, easy to navigate.

Here's Nick's buddy, Colonel Reb, from Ole Miss, representing the South!

They take their sand traps pretty serious up North..

^^^^^^^The above hole, best view I've seen in Vermont! ^^^^^^

Amazing views from each and every hole, my phone camera does no justice to the pure beauty of the sights we saw today.

So for dinner, we splurged......

Worthy Burger!

I cannot explain to you, faithful readers, the awesomeness of these burgers.  I do not eat pink meat, steak or anything that is NOT well done;however, I am a changed woman with the burgers from this place.  I had a burger (totally pink in the middle, with blue cheese, bacon and caramelized onions) Nick had a Turducky (turkey with duck confit, jalapenos, roasted red peppers and chevre cheese).  

He said the chevere totally made his burger well worth it, it was made by a local Vermont dairy farmer, btw.  

The fries are amazing as well, hand cut and fried in beef tallow.  

That beats the leftovers we were on planning on having!!

Special Announcement:  tomorrow, I have a GUEST BLOGGER scheduled to blog with you all and explain another side of SoRo!!

I'm very excited and hope you guys are too!!

Love and miss you all,

XOXO,

Nick and Christina

Simple Saturday

I find it hard to believe we've been here, in South Royalton, Vermont, for two weeks.

With only one week left!

The day started off cold and windy.  The sun finally peeked out but with the wind, it was still a cold 65-68 degrees all day.  

Here's a pic of the town square, complete with flowers, on my way to meet Nick after his library studies today...

We watched some golf, live from the Memorial (one of my favorite tournaments, yeah Beth!!) in Dublin, Ohio.

Remember, no cable here at the house, just internet and phone.  So live TV is nice every once in awhile.

All I have to say about the golf today is this...

Tiger Woods...DFL (yeah, Beth, dfl!).  Dead last.  I watched the replay of his golf today and I could of swore that was me playing...as a guy...with darker skin.  He played sand to sand, just like me!  

Here's a picture of our lovely steak dinner..

with baked potato, garlic cauliflower, salad and rosemary garlic bread.  Good stuff.

That's a wine called Sawbuck, which was a crossword puzzle clue I had last week.

(Did I tell you faithful readers I'm like a crossword savant since I've been here?) 

Here's the sunset pics I took on the walk home from the wine run...

Other than the pics posted above, not much else going on today.

Come back and read tomorrow...I have a special surprise I'm announcing tomorrow!  (You'll love it Lori Joyce, we've talked about it all day!!)

Love and miss you all,

XOXO,

Nick and Christina

Hot Dog Friday!

It's a rough life when your day starts out like this...

organic apples for breakfast and

a gluten free mango coconut muffin.

I know, right?

The Mcintosh apple I chose was delicious...the mango muffin, not so much.  Thought it was going to be sweet but I took one bite and Nick ate the rest later.

Speaking of Nick...what does he do in Vermont all day?? Here's a quick snapshot...

All day people...all day. Or he's on the phone (thanks again, Dad) pacing around the house, everywhere.  Outside, inside, outside, inside...all the while talking on the phone.  Love you honey!

As I walked to the infamous co-op for my breakfast apple, I noticed the SoRo (slang for South Royalton) bank was setting up for customer appreciation day.  And we all know what that means....free hot dogs! (Hot dogs are Nick's most fav food in the world, no joke).

Before I headed off to the gym, I picked up a hot dog, two cupcakes, a mini bag of chips and a lemonade (aka: Nick's lunch).

Thanks Lake Sunapee Bank!

The gym was well, you know, the gym.  You'd think I would have lost 10 pounds by now, waling around this town and now heading to the gym 3 days in a row. no such luck people, look....

I look terrible! 

I have put on makeup and fixed my hair all of two times in two weeks.

We took our selfie on the way back from the after dinner store run.  I wanted to prove my husband was still alive and kicking.

Speaking of dinner. one of our all time favorites tonight!

Carbonara (with our own twist) and rosemary garlic bread.  Best dinner here so far (except for Worthy Burger last night).  Carbonara typically calls for eggs and bacon with pasta but we substitute bacon for hot Italian sausage.  And lots of cheese. Good stuff.

Not sure what's on tap for tomorrow, our brewery trip has been put on hold.

Just make sure to check back tomorrow!

Love and miss you all,

XOXO,

Nick and Christina