11

Oct

It’s Fall Already?

How did that happen? It’s October? Okay then — Here’s what’s been happening since the last update in August.

When we last left you, Art and Carly had just come home from a lovely summer vacation in the Adirondacks.

For my birthday we repainted (yeah!) and re-organized the front room of the house! It’s the first time we’ve painted downstairs since we moved in 5 years ago! It’s now “Vanilla Scone” and the trim is a dark purple.

Rearranged Living Room       Re-arranged living room       Re-arranged Living Room

Art of course then had a couple of shows. The first was in Alexandria, and then back to Solomon for Annmarie Gardens and then down to Crozet, just this past weekend.

The Booth at Alexandria Arts Festival       Art's New Live Edge Shelves       Photo0045.jpg

Of course, being us we’ve been hitting the farmers’ markets and other local farms in search of seasonal local goodies.

Pick a Peck!       Hmmmm...squash       Goat

Then of course it was time for Holly’s wedding, so we were off to Philly! Not only did we get to enjoy being back in Philadelphia, but also getting to see the whole Drauglis clan in one place — including our young nieces. You can see lots of pictures from our adventures in Philly at Flickr.

Basset's Ice Cream       Art and his cheesetake       Self Portrait

Riley       Lucy       Philly Mural

2047 days ago Short URL Comments

City Life/Grand Adventures/Travels

25

Aug

Our Summer Vacation

We’re back from our trip to the Adirondacks. We went up to Heart Lake again and stayed in a lean-to at the Adirondak Loj. Yes that is spelled correctly. The people who started the lodge were very into the “simplified spelling” movement.

Our shared vacation was very short, but fabulous. The only bad part was that the weather was about 20 degrees colder than usual. It was fine during the day, but dropped into the 30s at night. It was really freaking cold! We did some hiking. We hit Cascade Mountain and hiked to Marcy Dam together, and Art took a solo hike so I could rest.

Of course, we also found a artisan cheesemaker to visit. We visited Nettle Meadow Goat Farm, where they tell you that “happy goats make good cheese.” I have to admit, those were some darn happy looking goats and some pretty tasty cheese. The people were very nice to us, and we even got a great tour of the farm, and met the goats up close and personal!

Here are a few pictures, you can see the rest at Flickr (Vacation 2006 Slide Show).



[tags]adirondacks, heart lake, adirondak loj, vacation[/tags]

2094 days ago Short URL Comments

Grand Adventures/Travels

02

Jul

Charlottesville or Bust!

Saturday, June 24
After many weeks of careful consideration about how far the car could go, we just drove to the Charlottesville area to go hiking in Shenandoah National Park. Unfortunately, the car decided that it was done. We started up the mountain the transmission started to fail. We tried to make it to the parking area, but realized it just wasn’t going to happen. Thankfully, we were able to pull over to the side of the road and let the car cool for a little while.

We tried to get a little hiking in near where we pulled over — but it was wet, buggy, and gross. After about 20 minutes we gave up and went back to the car. We did see two box turtles on our aborted hiking attempt. We coasted down the mountain and it turned into a scene from the Blues Brothers. We were going 30mph on the highway — just hoping we’d get somewhere. We put something like 4 quarts of transmission fluid into the car — all with a helpful local watching and chatting with Art. The fluid didn’t help particuarly, so we decided to try and make it over to the C-ville airport and rent a car to get home. Thankfully, the long-term parking was pretty cheap.

horton winesSince the hiking was a bust, we decided to still have a little fun and continue on the second half of the weekend’s adventure. We headed over to Horton Vineyards. It’s a terrible website, but a nice winery. Acutally, they are considered one of the best winery/vineyard’s on the East Coast. Art had brought home a bottle of their Pear Port when he did the Crozet Show — and it was so fabulous I wanted more. We did quite the tasting (it’s free) and then bought a few bottles to take home. Besides the Pear Port we also really liked the Vintage Port and the Viognier Reserve (2001).

Sunday, June 25
Now, back to the dead car issue. We knew the car was dying — and actually had already arranged for a car loan and done lots of research on what kind of car we were going to get. So on Sunday we checked a bunch of auto dealer websites and got a list of all the people selling Honda Elements in our area at the price and mileage range we wanted. We headed out with list in hand to buy a car. Note — always bring the list with you. I don’t think the dealer would have given us the car at the price if we hadn’t waived the Web page with the car and price in front of him. Plus, when he played the, “you won’t find this car for this price any where else game,” — we said, “Oh — really….”.

Now we are the proud owners of a 2004 blue Honda Element (I guess it’s water?).

Saturday, July 1
Back to C-ville! We ended up having to keep the rental car all week and return it to C-ville – or pay penalties. So off we went. We returned the car and moved the wagon to a parking lot where the people we are donating it to could get it. It did actually make it under its own power. Then we picked up lunch at a bakery we read about in the Washington Post. They definitely didn’t disappoint — both the lunch and pastries were great. We headed back to the mountain that killed wagon for a picnic and hiking.

It was a nice 6-mile hike along the AT, from Swift Run Gap to South River in the Shenandoah National Park. The highlight was two bear sightings! We saw a larger bear with one (or two) yearlings ambling through the woods, and then joined a whole group of people on the side of the road later to watch a mama-bear and two adorable cubs! We also had a great encounter with a deer and fawn. The fawn did some adorable frolicking for us. Oh — and we saw a toad. Toad’s a bit anti-climactic, I know — but we actually saw it first.

Sunday, July 2
I think we’re off to the National Portrait Gallery today. It’s re-opened after many years, and I want to go and see it. It’s a pretty big deal here in DC. We were going to the Folklife Festival, but I just can’t get into it any more. I think the Smithsonian has just done a rotten job the past few years, and taken it in a terrible direction. Between the tourists and the heat — I don’t feel like going if it’s not going to be good.

[tags]charlottesville, cville, shenandoah, at, patc, hiking, bears, horton vineyards, wine, food, bakeries, element, honda[/tags]

2148 days ago Short URL Comments

Bears/Critters/Dining/Pleasures/Potable/Trails/Travels

19

Jun

A Grand Adventure Weekend

We had quite the grand adventure weekend. As a matter of fact, it might be one of the grandest in some time.


On Saturday morning we hopped in a Volvo S40 we got from Zip Car (our car is starting to die, so we’re not taking long trips in it) and headed off to the Lavender Festival. The S40 is one of the fancy sport-sedans that Volvo makes these days. It’s definitely a nicer ride than a beat-up Sable wagon! The drive to festival was really nice. We stopped at a market with a big picture of pie on the sign and it turns out that they did have fresh and frozen pies., and the festival was a good excuse to hit the road. It’s not very big, but there was a lot of lavender and a lot of bees! We had a good time walking down the rows of lavendar and smelling all the different kinds. We bought some new plants for the garden from the nursery that sponsors the event, including lavendar — of course, and ate some lavender-laced foods. We also briefly listened to a lecture on herbal bonsai, which was an interesting idea.

Once we finished at the Lavender Festival, we jaunted off to our PATC cabin! I was very excited to actually have a little weekend away. We stayed at the Gypsy Spring cabin, which has nice modern amenities like toilets and electricity. We went for a little hike that night, and then had a dinner of chorizo, salad, and Dancing Deer cookies. Art had a good time reading the cabin log book and I finished a book I brought with me and did a little embroidery. Aren’t we just the most exciting people?

The next morning we did a short 4-mile hike. It was really nice. It started to get super hot just as we were finishing. We headed back to the cabin to clean up and then left for Rock Hill Orchard for our annual sour cherry picking extravaganza. We picked about 30 lbs of cherries!

We got home to happy bunnies, who had been well cared for by a friend, and had dinner and a cherry cobbler for dessert! Let the sour cherry maddness begin!

[tags]lavender festival, volvo, zip car, patc, hiking, sour cherries[/tags]

2161 days ago Short URL Comments

Pleasures/Travels/Uncategorized

16

Apr

Nature Calls

Quite the nature-filled weekend. After two seders and before
Easter dinner, we needed some exercise. On Saturday morning we
got up early, and left for the Shenandoah Valley. We planned on
a nice long hike to search for ramps, which are in season now.
We’d found a few on protected land, so we wanted to go find some
we could actually take home for dinner.

We went to Great North Mountain, which is in the George Washington
National Forest. It was a beautiful day, but totally the wrong
kind of environment to find ramps. So — we just enjoyed the hike.
I took lots of pictures on the new camera-phone, which you can
find on Flickr. They are the shots labeled 4-15-06 Shenandoah Hike.

Today we went over to the Arboretum and wandered through the
lilacs. We also hit the bonsai museum, which is another favorite
spot. Pictures of that start here.

[tags]bonsai, arboretum, nature, flowers, shenandoah, hiking[/tags]

2225 days ago Short URL Comments

Pleasures/Trails/Travels

20

Aug

Cheese Report

Hiking the Cheese Trail — The Cheese Report
The summary
of the trip, the cheese report, and a photo album. The cheese
report is in progress, and we’ll update as we re-sample the cheeses
we purchased. We got our pictures back a couple of days ago, so
photos will be posted soon.

Dairies in Chronological Order of Visit

The number in parentheses are the numbers on the cheese
trail map.

Three
Owls Sheep Dairy

Dorothy
The cheese maker told us that he names his cheese after his
kids, which is where the name of this cheese came from. As Art’s
grandmother’s name was also Dorothy, it made for some interesting
moments while eating it. This is one of the first cheeses we
sampled on our trip, and it was really good — so we purchased
a nice chunk. It’s a hard sheeps milk cheese with a natural
rind. The rind was pretty sketchy looking, but we were assured
we could eat it, if we liked — although the cheesemaker himself
did not. The cheese is hard and moist. It’s a touch crumbly,
but the consistency is really quite pleasing. The flavor is
strong, pungent, and earthy. That may not sound tasty — but
it really is.

We also give really high marks to the overall experience of
visiting this cheesemaker. They were actually closed, but when
he saw us pull in he came out and not only let us taste cheese,
but also gave us a tour of the farm.

Grafton
Village Cheese Company

Retreat Farm Vermont Farmstead Cheddar Cheese
This is just a nice little cheese. That’s not to say anything
bad about it, but it’s not flashy or showy. It’s a white cheddar
that tastes like one of its parents might have been a mozerella
and the other a cheddar. There’s a little bit of a sour bite
that I didn’t notice during our initial tasting. It seemed smoother
from start to finish then, but I had also been tasting a variety
of sharper, aged cheddars too. The bite only lasts a second
or two, and then finishes really smoothly.

4-year Old Cheddar
This cheese has bite and flavor. You think you’ve had sharp
cheddar? Hah! I say. The flavor is very intense, so it’s better
suited to a salad or on a rich, buttery cracker. I’m not sure
I’d mix it with anything else that has a strong flavor or that
is too salty. Try it with some cucumbers and tomatoes on a good
piece of fresh. bakery whole-wheat bread. There’s nothing shy
about this cheese!

Consider
Bardwell Farm

Mettowee – Hard Goat Milk Cheese
This really is a great cheese. It’s no wonder that William Sonoma
will be carrying it in upcoming catalogues. Generally, with
goat cheese I think of soft spreadable chevre. This cheese has
the same subtle creamy flavor, but is has a hard, chewy rind
and a soft, creamy center. The flavor is very smooth, and fresh,
with just a hint of tartness. The first taste I had at the farmer’s
market, I just thought, “wow this is really good.”

Crowley
Cheese Inc.

Muffaletta
This was the only Crowely cheese we really felt was unique enough
to take home. Crowely is the oldest cheese maker in Vermont,
but it’s no longer family owned. Now it’s owned by “investors.”
It’s a little sad. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to be able
to keep up with the artistry of their competitors. Most of the
cheese was good, but quite average. The majority of it was flavored,
and neither of us could get too excited about the choices. The
muffaletta as pretty unique as a flavor, and the savor mix of
olives, tomatoes, and spice with the cheddar worked very nicely.
It’s has a satisfying savory flavor, and the cheese is soft
but with a good texture.


Woodcock
Farm

Sheep Milk Feta

Damn this is good feta. I mean really, it’s just good. Art and
I just looked at each other after having a sample. There was
just no question we would be going home with some. It’s got
a great texture (not too crumbly) and great flavor. We’ve used
it an omlette — just the feta. It was fabulous. We’ve also
used it on a feta and tomato pizza, which was also smashing.

[tags]cheese, vermont, new york, sheep, cows, feta, small batch, vacation[/tags]

2464 days ago Short URL Comments

Pleasures/Travels

20

Aug

Hiking the Cheese Trail

Hiking the Cheese Trail

Well — here’s the quickie version. I’m working on a much more
extended one for the website, but it’s taking longer than expected.
Here’s the beginnings of the cheese
report, which we’ll update as we re-sample the cheeses we
purchased. We got our pictures back a couple of days ago, so photos
will be posted soon.

It was great. Lots of hiking, lots of cheese, some actual resting
and such.

The 3 days in the Adirondacks were great. We stayed up at the
Adirondak
Loj at Heart Lake in a lean-to (which
looks like this). Yes, I camped for three days. We hiked up
two peaks in the Adirondacks, Mt. Hoevenberg and Mt. Joe. We actually
went up and over Mt. Hovenberg twice on our way to and from the
Lake Placid Olympic park where we did the bobsled right. 40 seconds
of heart stopping maddness!

We spent one night at a farm in Woodstock, VT called Shepherds
Hill. It was quite nice. Came back with some great organic, free-range
lamb sausage. I almost had a job interview in Woodstock, but the
woman got the flu and had to cancel.

Then it was on to Grafton and the beautiful cabin at Larks Meadow
Farm. It was exactly like we remembered it. Too beautiful for
words. It was really weird seeing the real place again, because
I use that place as the entry to the otherworld when doing pathworkings
and journeys. It’s really one of the most enchanted places on
earth.

We hit about 10 dairies with varying success and hiked two more
mountain trails, Mt. Putney and Black Mountain. No wild blueberries
on Mt. Putney — but hit the mother load at Black Mountain. We
also found lots of wild raspberries. We found a few great letterboxes
and even picked up a hitch-hiker box. It was our first one in
ages. I love searching for the boxes while we’re out hiking. There
were a few fabulous custom stamps in the log books and the Elephant
Tree and Piliated Woodpecker stamps were just amazing! Both of
those were by the same people and placed in Putney Forest.

Anyway — it was a grand adventure!

[tags]cheese, hiking, adirondaks, putney, letterboxing, vacation, vermont[/tags]

2464 days ago Short URL Comments

Travels

31

May

Big Sky….

We just got back from our first trip to Montana! There are quite
a few entries on this site about our trip, so follow the links
to get the whole story! Art’s cousin Amy, who lives in Bozeman,
MT, got married on May 29 — which is why we went out there. The
ceremony was at a beautiful location just outside of Bozeman called
the Spring Hill Pavilion. Crazy weather aside (hail, rain, snow,
etc.), the wedding was lovely and lots of fun! I’ll post some
pictures when we get them!

Bozeman is a really cute town of about 35,000 people. It sits
in a valley and is ringed by mountains. It was absolutely beautiful.
The main street area has lots of great little shops, and the Montana
Ale Works quickly became a favorite to quite a few of the guests.
Moose Drool Beer
— hmmmm…..beer.

Thanks to Art’s mom, we also got to spend a couple of days at
Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone was incredible. We actually
got to stay at the Old Faithful Inn (Photo
Gallery, PBS
Story), and it’s definitely worth the hype. We all (Ella and
Sexton joined us in Yellowstone) thought the Inn was amazing.
It’s steps away from the Old Faithful Geyser. It snowed our first
night at Yellowstone, so sight seeing the next day was an act
of endurance, especially for Ella, who’s five months pregnant!

I think we all liked the Paint
Pots the best of the geysers and thermals, the pictures really
don’t show how cool it looks. The most amazing site was the Grand
Canyon of Yellowstone. It was absolutely incredible. I don’t think
any of us expected Artist Point to be that breathtaking.

Of course we also saw lots of animals. We didn’t get to see any
bears, but lots
of other amazing furry and feathered creatures.

Another amazing adventure that Art and I had on this trip was
white water rafting! I was really nervous about this, but it turned
out to be a real blast! The Gallatin River is beautiful and our
guide, Dennis,
was great. If you are up Big Sky way, check out Montana
White Water and go rafting!

Yellowstone National Park

  
Yellow Bellied Marmot

Yellow Bellied Marmots		 Yellow Bellied Marmot
Vicious Looking . . .Isn’t it!

Elk – pretty….

Time for lunch!

Gimee your lunch . . .
Quoth the raven

no…really…give me your lunch

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Amy and Brett’s Wedding

  

The father of the bride.


The Bride and Groom (and cattle)

Scottish Highland Cattle

Or, as we like to call them – Montana Yaks

Another Shot of the Happy Couple

2545 days ago Short URL Comments

Travels

07

Feb

Red-headed Woodpecker Sighting

We saw quite a few birds on our weekend adventures. We did a little eagle
watching and saw three or four eagles. The write-up about the places we
went made it sound like there would be so many eagles that you would practically
be fearing for your life.

Not quite.

We also saw a red-headed
woodpecker, a first for Carly. Along with the red-headed woodpecker,
we also saw a kinglet,
an eastern
bluebird, and several hawks – along with many other more common birds
like geese, cardinals, and sparrows. Don’t mistake me, I love seeing cardinals
in the winter. That flash of bright color always makes me happy!

We also went to Luray Caverns
— it was pretty great!

[tags]bird watching, birds, woodpecker[/tags]

2658 days ago Short URL Comments

Critters/Travels

07

Feb

A day in Luray

We went to Luray Caverns this past weekend, and I have to say
it was well worth the price of admission. The tour took about
an hour and allowed for a pretty leisurely pace along the 1.25
mile path. The caverns really were quite incredible. My favorite
place was the “Dream Pool.” I’m sure that it’s the favorite
place of many, many people. Sadly there isn’t a good picture on
the Luray Cavern’s website to show you — but it gives you something
to look forward to.

Luray
Caverns (Luray, VA)

[tags]luray caverns, caverns, va[/tags]

2658 days ago Short URL Comments

Travels

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