Getting Ready for Spring

 Back home in Virginia, March has arrived on schedule with hints of  warmer temperatures and blowing winds. To me, it seems the entire winter has been windy even including a few power outages. 

I walked around the yard and took stock of what needed pruning, what needed feeding, painting, etc. It began to feel overwhelming. I acknowledged that I would rather continue to focus on the indoor projects and not have to be doing yard work yet. I went back inside and told myself it was too windy to work outside today. 

 Our order from the polartcenter.com arrived in the mail today! Tess said she wanted to dye more Pysanky eggs this year so I ordered the dyes. (We already have the kistkas,and beeswax needed to create the decorated eggs.) This will be a good transitional project to take us from winter to spring. It is also another diversion away from the yard work for a little while longer.

I decided to schedule parameters of what I need to accomplish before I can turn to the yard work. I need to bind the quilted tree skirt I sewed, paint the living room bookshelves, and help Steve get started on the upstairs bathroom refresh. I am mentally prepared to start checking things off. Ready or not, spring and all of it busyness is barreling toward us, carried by this wind, no doubt.

Some of our pysanky eggs from years past.

Playing in a Snow Globe- Lake Morey, Fairlee, VT

 

Lake Morey skating trail

Our trip to Lake Morey, Vermont was so magical last year that I longed to go again. Our group would be a little bit different this year. Last year I took our four daughters and eldest granddaughter. This year we included husbands and grandchildren. Unfortunately, Claire and her family couldn't come because they had already made other travel plans. But, Audrey and Tess made plans to fly up from Virginia with their families while Steve and I planned to drive. Chelsea and her family would drive over from their home in New Hampshire and join us for two days. The plans were made months ago and it was finally time to go!

 We had so much fun on the ice! In previous years, Lake Morey Resort took charge of clearing the skating trails on the lake. This year, the town of Fairlee took over the task. They still had a four mile trail cleared around the perimeter of the lake and they had two ice hockey rinks cleared. There weren't as many little, loopy trails in the center of the lake like last year, but it was still great. There was also more snow on the ground this year and the temperatures were equally as cold. 

The family coming along the trail

Seven year old granddaughter turned out to be an excellent skater. One vision that will remain with me always is of her arms windmilling to keep her balance as she zipped along. She loved the outdoors and kept right up with the grown ups. 

Night skating

On Saturday night we decided to go back out onto the lake at dusk. Snow was gently falling as we walked to the shoreline. Violet was being pulled in the sled and twinkle lights adorned the trees. All the day skaters were gone and we had the entire lake to ourselves. Steve and Audrey took flashlights and decided to skate the four mile lake perimeter. The rest of us played on the hockey rink, walked and skated some paths, threw snow, and made snow angels while Violet amused us. It was a memorable evening. As cold as it was outside, I never felt cold. The air was invigorating and I had heaps of energy. When Audrey and Steve returned to us, we made our way back to the inn for dinner. We repeated this outing on Saturday night. It was so peaceful and quiet on the lake with snow falling gently down. All of us preferred the quiet moments when the crowds were gone. We decided if we ever came back again, we would choose a week that was not Winter Carnival week. We like the quiet.

A couple of fun places we visited when it was too windy to be outside or we were tired of skating: King Arthur Flour was only twenty minutes away. We had lunch there one day and the food is fabulous. I use their flours and bake ware too. We also visited Quechee Gorge Village where there is the Vermont Antique Center, a brewery, and gift shops. We also stopped in at Chapman's General Store, right in Fairlee, VT. They have lovely jewelry, gifts, a large toy room, and much more. I must mention that on our drive to Vermont, Steve and I stopped at Ted's Fish Fry in Troy, NY., home of our college alma mater and where we met forty-six years ago. We love a good fish fry!

Tess and Steve

Walking to the lake shore.

In order to remind myself of the reality of this trip, I will make mention of the hard parts. They in no way overshadow the wonderful memories, but let's be real: Chelsea's three boys all came down with the flu the week of our trip. They could not come to the lake to play. But Chelsea was able to come and spend one entire day with us by herself while her husband stayed home with the boys. The snow. While snow is gloriously fun to play in, it is not fun to drive in. Our drive away from Vermont to go home was white knuckle for the first four hours. Cars were off the road, it was slippery and we went through a gallon of windshield washer fluid from all the dirty slush and ice that sprayed up from the road. One family's flight in was canceled due to weather. Luckily they were able to find another flight and all was well, but it was momentarily stressful. One of us caught covid and another the flu as we traveled home. It happens. I have a strong feeling we will still go back again one day. Those frozen lakes are magical and they draw us to them. 

Lake view from the inn.

Popovers, Winter, and Keeping Busy

 

Claire gave me a popover pan for Christmas. I love the texture, flavor and simpleness of a popover. They contain only four ingredients: eggs, milk, flour, and salt. They are crispy on the outside and hollow in the middle. The texture inside the shell is a little bit custardy. I eat mine with only butter. You can fill them with anything your imagination desires. Like a crepe, you could use fruit and whipped cream or jam. Or, you could eat them savory with a sausage and gravy. I think of popovers as comfort food so we have been having them fairly often.

We had another beautiful snowfall yesterday. It accumulated about six inches before it turned to freezing rain. I went out and shoveled and then walked down to the mailbox. It felt good to get outdoors and breathe the cold air. I thought there was almost no need to travel to Vermont to experience winter when we are having a good winter right here at home. But the ponds and lakes don't freeze here so for ice skating, Vermont it is! 

We have had so much fun going to youngest granddaughter's basketball games. The all girls team is comprised of seven and eight year olds. They are mostly sweet and timid little things and it is interesting to watch them play. They see them hesitate for a brief moment before grabbing a ball or blocking a player, like they are not sure if it is really okay to be aggressive. I think they will learn a lot about the game of sport and how to work as a team. 

While I was putzing around the house yesterday, my phone rang. It was our twelve year old grandson on the line. It was so fun to hear his happy voice, just calling to chitchat. He had just hung up from calling his cousin and then decided to call me. Although I knew he called out of boredom, it was still very sweet. I told him to call me any time.

ShabbyFabrics Bargello Christmas Tree Skirt and a Sleepover

Kay and Pat came over for a mini sleepover retreat while Steve was away. It was a lot of fun! Kay and I purchased the Bargello Christmas Tree Skirt Kit from ShabbyFabrics. We decided we wanted to sew the skirts now rather than put it off when life might be busier. Since Steve was going to be away, we jumped at the chance to sew the project alongside one another. Pat joined us using her own stashed fabrics. All she needed to buy was the special batting for the project which she got from a quilt shop she frequents. 

ShabbyFabrics sells the kit in a couple of different fabric combos. There are also multiple ways one can piece the strips. There is also the option of simply using fabrics cut into the wedge shapes and not using pieced strips at all. In addition, there is a Youtube sew-along video to aid in the sewing process. Somewhere we heard mention that this is a quick project. Kay, Pat and I are experienced quilters and we found this to be more of a two day project. It took one afternoon to cut all the pieces. We started sewing the pieces together that evening and finished piecing the following day. Another day is needed to sew the wedges to the batting and add the binding. 

Most of the fun was in having a sleepover while we sewed. We stayed up sewing until almost midnight. We took breaks for meal but otherwise felt happy sewing and chatting away. We had three sewing machines, three cutting mats, rotary cutters, etc. all going at the same time. We worked in comfy clothes (or pajamas) and encouraged one another through any challenging parts. At one point, my wedges were not fitting the template size as they should. After much trial and error, we found that it was my ironing board cover that was distorting the pieced wedges when I ironed them. I switched to ironing on a wool mat and all was well.

All-in-all, this is a fun quilt to make. The kit made it super simple by having all the desired fabrics chosen for us. Even better is that the kit includes backing fabric, binding fabric, the marked batting and the plastic cutting template. I hope to finish sewing it up today. When it is done, I will tuck it away to use next Christmas.