Inside the Kingdom, and out...

Startlingly, yesterday it was above 40 degrees most of the day! The snow on our front porch (and the furniture therein) had melted away! It seemed so warm that when I got home I had the feeling that I would spend the evening whiling away with a brewski on the porch... For the first time. Of course, reality sank in that 40 is still a bit cold to comfortably max out of doors... And then today it was back down to 20. But it was a sign!

I do look forward to using the porch. Yesterday I actually contacted a Realtor about looking at some houses in town! Now I doubt that we will pursue this in the near future, as we still have some financial tidying to do. But I have, yet again, mixed feelings about it. I love this little house (though it is too small for us), but I don't think that there is any chance of the owner wanting to sell it... And we cannot decide if it would be best to live out our days out here in the rurality of East St Johnsbury (quiet, secluded, safe, rural) or in town (less of all of those). Mainly it involves Elinor. Growing up in the country seems very peaceful, but I dream of living on the hill in town where we all could walk to films at Catamount Arts, to the Fairbanks museum, to the Athenaeum... Oh, who knows. But with reasonable houses available at under the 100k mark, it seems a pity to just keep renting.

In other news, I am enjoying a three day weekend due to being done with my duties at the White Market on Thursday and not starting work at Hunger Mountain (as the Scan Coordinator if I haven't mentioned it) until Monday. I am somewhat over the regret's of leaving White's (assuming that I can keep in contact with the folks I like who I met there) and I am getting exciting about being around natural foods again and working with databases again. In some ways, this move to Vermont is working out just as we hoped! It will be nice to have basically the same workweek and shifts as Caitlin and being able to drive to and from work with her! Though we think that once her Temp gig with the state is up, she will look for something part time around here (we spend too much time away from Elinor and, though she has grandfolks out here to watch her who do a wonderful job we want to do most of the raising ourselves). At that point, I think I will actually be able to take the bus to Montpelier, which would be a long trip (about 35-40 miles each way), but might actually be quite nice.

Also, we took an excursion today. Friday I took I-91 up to Barton (a great, great town) and I really liked the trip. Very beautiful. Today we took that route again but went all the way to Newport, where I hadn't been before. A nice little town on the shore of Lake Memphremagog and just a couple of miles from Canada! We liked it there. About the same size as the rest of these little towns, but with a yarn shop, a bookstore, a nice old fashioned natural foods store (complete with a cafe with a small, but tasty looking, vegetarian buffet) and actually a tavern that looked interesting. We may try going back again and checking it out some more.

tgif?

Another Friday. I am still, even though I be in Vermont, quite the procrastinator. I was really looking forward to this weekend, just for its own sake and also to do those darn tax things that I always put off. But now I can't get around to anything except for hanging out with Elinor and wishing that we had some decaf around here!

Anyway, in more Vermonty news. We got a nice layer of snow last night, to make all of this sad old snow that's covering everything look a bit fresher... And just to counter my old fears of trying to get a job around these parts, I gave notice at my current job as I have accepted another one. I will now keeping Caitlin company on her commute to Montpelier everyday.

We are really missing Elinor though. Currently she spends about 10 hours a day, 4 days a week with the in-laws. now it will increase to about 11 hours a day 5 days a week. I think we have a good solution for further down the road, but for the time being we will just have to deal with it.

Speaking of Elinor, here she is...

A new dawn

Today marks Caitlin's first day at work! As she is working in Montpelier (about 40 miles east) and she has to be at work at 7:30, we are starting a few new ways today. Monday through Thursday I will (for the time being at least) be getting a ride to work from the in-law's who will then be watching Elinor from 7:30 until 5:30.

This will be a big switch as Elinor has always spent the majority of her time with one or both of us and now that won't really be the case. A bit startling right now, but I imagine that the transition will seem normal as pie.

Today is also the first day that Elinor has worn Chuck Taylor's! She put up quite the stink when we put them on her, but now she seems fine with them. We did double knot them so she couldn't take them off, though... Here she is, a bit foggy, due to leaving the camera out in the sub-freezing car for a week.

A not so permanent vacation after all...

This week Caitlin and I both got jobs. She doesn't start hers until Feb 2nd, but mine starts Monday. While I think that the job will be fine, enjoyable even... It's working for a small, local chain of three (non-natural foods) grocery stores. After spending 7 years at the big bookstore, I've been thinking about getting back into the grocery thing to put a bit of spring back into my step. And, I've kind of been assuming that it is was I would be best off trying out here anyway.

But aside from that, what's really been stuck in my head in the day since I found out that I got the job, is that I have had such a great time with Caitlin and Elinor these last five weeks. Not that that is any change from the previous years, but after the three of us being together generally all day long everyday, I will really miss it. Little Elinor has been such a charmer, and and her age (three months shy of her 2nd birthday) seeing her all of her waking hours has been quite a bonus to this move, as you get to see something great and new every day. Returning to the deal of seeing maybe an hour or two of her for 5 days a week will be tough transition. But like I said, that's the state of things regardless of where one lives, and it has been very nice for our family to spend this time together.

On the positive side, this is the step that I needed to really feel that I have moved. To actually have to deal with getting to work and getting established should help do away with the peaceful, easy feeling of no time constraints or responsibilties I've had this last month. It's made the move feel somewhat unreal and I'm ready to get grounded in this new reality.

Just for fun...

Here is the air temperature forecast from today's paper... It's funny to me that this no longer leads me to dismay:

Wednesday night:
Lows 10 to 16 below

Thursday:
Highs from 7 below to zero, lows 18 to 27 below.

Friday:
Highs 0 to 5 below, lows 15 to 25 below zero.

Snowed...

Well well well. Yesterday my little brother-in-law and I took a snowshoe trip around the property that we're staying on. It was really quite nice, and I found some parts I hadn't know about before, including a really nice and snowy meadow. I didn't take any pictures, but I'm sure that Caitlin and I will set out that way soon and I'll be sure to get some that time.

I did get some pictures of the house and such...

The house, with Elinor being too upset about the snow to pay any attention to it, or to the fact that she has dropped one of her mittens!



Here is the driveway, which is the view that you look at all day from the kitchen/dining area...



Here is that front view, without the trees...



Here is the back area, we showshoed up through those trees...



Anyway, we still love it up there. I feel very relaxed and at home there and when we drop by our house, it sure seems very small. Delightful yes, and like home, but still very small. Also, it has been snowing for the last 10 hours or so. Probably 8 inches are on the ground. It is very very nice.

Here and there

It is an interesting time. Sort of like being on vacation (both due to not working, and due to being somewhere fairly unfamilier), but also there is that unvacationy feeling of being unsure of what's next. While we did start more substantial job hunting last week (waiting for the holidays to be over and all) we also had a little suprise that will once again act to instill the vacation feeling. We live a couple of miles from a house that is one of the most important homes in Caitlin's life. Not one that she lived in, but the home of one of her best friends from high school and still the home of that girl's mother. Caitlin loves this family, and this great home, its wonderous views and location and the land... In the non-winter months, there is even a pond, one that is possibly Caitlin's favorite place ever and where we had originally planned on having our wedding.

On Tuesday (I think... maybe Monday), we got a phone call from Pam (the homeowner) asking if starting Thursday (yes, yesterday) we wanted to house sit for three weeks! Of course, we jumped at the opportunity. It seemed a bit odd to pack up and move a few miles down the road, as I had barely been living in our new place for three weeks but it's such a great place and it is really fairly close. I'm not sure where we are... In my mind it's between St Johnsbury, Concord and Lyndon, but I think it might be some other town hidden in there.

Anyway, it's a wonderful house: lots of space, great layout, secluded with lots of land and nothing out the windows but snowy fields and trees and a great wood stove. There is also an outbuilding that is a sauna! It is so nice to have room in the house for Elinor to run around, to have enough rooms that Caitlin has somewhere to knit and put the project down for a day without having to worry about Elinor tearing the needles out, and many comfortable places to read. No more of the one room living that we've been doing for, well, two and a half years. I'll put up some pictures, but I forgot to bring the cable for the camera...

Of course, we will probably still go back home every day. I always need that kind of home connection, plus we have to check the phone messages for any job opportunities that might arise!

Country Stroll

Breaking in the new snowshoes (I got some for Christmas and then Caitlin got herself some this week), we went on the VAST trail (a public right-of-way that goes all over the place in the wilderness of Vermont) for some snowshoeing. The VAST trail goes through the in-laws property across the street so we started there. Here is a picture of Mom's upper pasture, her house and off to the right, the village of East St Johnsbury in the background.



And here is my sweetie pointing out the same.



At the far corner of Mom's land, the VAST trail splits and, oddly enough, there is a directional advertisement pointing snowmobilers to the local store, Pettyco Junction. I especially like the green highway sign with a snowmobile inside and outline of Vermont.



We followed the path into the town of Waterford, towards Pettyco Junction and on the way I came across an old truck, which I liked.



We didn't end up going all the way to the store, but I think we got to maybe a quarter mile of it. This is right about where we stopped and it is a zoomed-in view of East St Johnsbury behind us. The barn on the right also appears in the first picture, it is somewhat hard to make out but it is right above Mom's farmhouse.



Anyway, all in all we walked for a bit over an hour and it was very nice. We only saw snowmobilers once and did not see anyone else at all. The snow was quite excitingly littered with animal tracks and it was just a very nice morning. I think that we shall be doing this quite regularly!