No power (again)

After a night of strong winds and heavy rains we awoke to find we had no power. Time to start up the generator.

Best of 2012 Christmas Cards

We are pleased to announce the winners of our "Best Christmas Card of 2012" competition.  Each year we select the cards that made us smile the most, for no particular reason.  We hope that you enjoy them too.  Interestingly this year two of them are from the UK, and this seems to confirm Sheri's long-held belief that the cards on sale in the UK are the best out there.

Cold start to the day

We awoke to a temperature of 3-degrees F / minus 16 C at Hangman Hill today. Brrrrrrrr!  That's pretty cold when you live just a few miles from the beach. 

Ice Cream You Scream

For Christmas Santa brought us an ice cream maker.  We have finally recovered enough from the holiday culinary exploits to have the desire for homemade ice cream.  We started with a simple vanilla recipe, and it was fantastic with Gooseberries from the garden that were harvested last summer.  It is amazing that all you need is cream, sugar, vanilla and a pinch of salt to make really good ice cream.  Perfect for a cold snowy January evening!

Avalanche!

Last weekend we travelled to Mt. Washington in New Hampshire to take a course on safe winter travel in the backcountry.  The focus was on predicting avalanche risks, rescue techniques, and diagnosing winter snow conditions.  More details can be found here.   The pictures below show us on the way up to Tuckerman's Ravine, digging snow pits, doing 'column tests', and conducting Rutschblock tests.

Meet Hank

Over the Christmas holidays we took a few days to look for a replacement for our trusty 10-year old Subaru Outback.  After many test drives we opted for a Toyota Highlander, mostly to give us a little more space when we go on long trips to explore the great outdoors.

If you know anyone who is in the market for a carefully used 2002 Subaru Outback, please let us know!

Vermont in Early January

For the past few years, we have spent the first weekend after the Christmas holiday in Vermont searching for snow.  This year we didn't have to look too hard.  We joined friends from the Thames Ski Club for the weekend, and enjoyed playing in some fresh powder on our snow boards.

We also tried out our new "split boards" in preparation for a trip to Colorado later in the season.  The pictures below show us skinning us the sledding hill in Woodstock, Vermont to make sure our bindings and skins were working as expected.

New Year's Day Hike

We stepped into 2013 with a hike on the Narragansett Trail to Green Falls Pond with a group of friends which included human (9) and canine (3) for a total of 12.  We first did this walk on January 1, 2012 and enjoyed it so much, we decided a repeat was in order.   The trail starts at the Rhode Island and Connecticut Border and winds through open forest land, over and around large boulders and along the shores of Green Falls Pond.  The recent snow fall brought a new experience to the trail, and in a few places made for some exciting footwork.  We enjoyed mild temperatures, warm camaraderie and hot drinks to keep us warm half-way along our route.  Thank to everyone for joining us, we really enjoyed sharing this special place with friends.  Happy New Year!

Visit to Raleigh

We spent the remaining days of the year in Raleigh, NC visiting DiAnn (Sheri's mom) and Mike for an extended Christmas celebration.   We explored some of the local sights including the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences which was featuring Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition.  Our "Boarding Passes" allowed us to learn about the inspiration for and design of the Titanic, to see 3-D video coverage of the ship's remains,  and some interesting bits of history that were recovered.  We saw the film Lincoln which we enjoyed and highly recommend.   While we enjoyed several dinners out with Mike and DiAnn, our favorite meals were brunch and dinner that DiAnn made at home.   The unusually cold temperatures were well suited to some games that make our Christmas Holiday season complete, oh and a few more Christmas cookies too.