Living in the northeastern United States for all of my life, I've learned to take the four distinct seasons in stride, not expecting too much too soon. So even though March has begun, I remember very well what last March looked like. And if I do forget for a moment, I have pictures like this one above to remind me: The month of March charges in like a lion, roaring all the way!
Hang in there, friends!
P.S. You might've missed these like-minded posts from early on:
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Last week, my family went skiing in Killington, Vermont--or to be more specific, my husband and daughter went skiing, my son went snow-boarding, and I went off in search of things to do in Vermont as a non-skier who has absolutely ZERO interest in careening down a mountain!
I did, in fact, find lots of non-skiing things to do in the Green Mountain State--towns and landmarks to explore with my camera. Granted, they were all about an hour's drive away from where we were staying in Killington! But I learned that's just how it is in Vermont: towns are sparse and spread out. You can drive for ages and see only a couple of other cars on the road. It was very peaceful, though--lots of time for quiet reflection, plus Bach's Cello Suites (perfect soundtrack for the picturesque landscape).
Here's what else I learned about Vermont during my week up north:
1. NO BILLBOARDS!Vermont banned billboards in 1968. It's so refreshing to drive around a state that's advertising-free and just admire the natural beauty. Mountains and forests, unblemished by splashy slogans and sales pitches.
View from Hildene, Manchester
2. The unofficial colors for houses and barns seem to be white, brick-red, and rustic wood. Occasionally, you might see a yellow house, but any other color is rare. It sort of feels like a private school with uniforms--very neat and buttoned-up!
3. "New England Manners" are in full effect. Staff members at restaurants and hotels are super-friendly, gracious, and helpful, but otherwise, Vermonters pleasantly keep to themselves. If you happen to pass a person on the street, he or she might smile a little, but rarely are "hellos" exchanged. (I'm from Connecticut, so it wasn't that odd for me.)
The Old Tavern, Grafton
4. The winter weather is NOT fooling around! You don't know what "cold" is until you're checking into a hotel in the mountains at night when it's -12 degrees F and a gale wind is hitting you in the face with ice crystals. Toughens you right up!
5. The Northshire Bookstore in Manchester is a must-visit stop! It's now my second favorite bookstore in the whole wide world (right after Strand Books in New York City). Ten thousand square feet of books (some secondhand--very green!), handcrafted gifts, frequent author events, a cafe, artsy parents reading to their precocious children on big, comfy couches... heavenly!
6. Main Streets are mainly deserted. You can walk right down the middle of Main Street in quiet towns like Grafton (pictured below) and hear yourself breathing. Little to no traffic!
7. The Ben & Jerry's Factory in Burlington doesn't make ice cream on holidays or weekends (we were there on President's Day), but you can still take the factory tour and get a free ice cream sample at the end. (We sampled triple caramel chunk--triple YUM!!!)
8. Abraham Lincoln's son, Robert Todd Lincoln, had a very grand summer home in Manchester, called Hildene. (That's an upcoming post--just too many gorgeous photographs of Hildene to squeeze in here!)
9. President Calvin Coolidge's grave (in Plymouth Notch) is in a cemetery across the road from the house where he was born. (How many people, famous or not, can you say that about?)
10. The icicles in Vermont can run from the roof to the ground!
11. You'll see signs in Vermont that you just won't see further south, such as "Moose Crossing" and this one:
12. Sub-zero temperatures don't stop Vermont residents. Snow plow crews seem to be perpetually out on the roads, and Vermonters just bundle up and go on their merry way. I adapted to that mindset during our stay. Although I had no burning desire to go outdoors in -8 degree weather on one of our vacation days, I pushed myself to do it and found three quaint covered bridges in Bennington. (Worth fighting the fear of frostbite!)
Henry Bridge, Bennington
Here are a few more fun things to do in Vermont if you don't ski--all of which I did this past week while my family was on the slopes:
Visit the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe. (See where "The Sound of Music" kids ended up in real life, after their time in Austria.)
See Robert Frost's house in Shaftsbury. (It's closed for the winter season, but I still wanted to see where one of my favorite poets lived. He wrote "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" at this house...in the summer!)
Tour the campus of Bennington College. (A mix of colonial and super-slick modern architecture in a rural setting.)
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Hot mulled cider with cinnamon sticks... Hot cocoa with mini marshmallows... Homemade chicken soup, wafting from the stovetop... Herbal tea in a big mug, while reading a good book under the thickest throw blanket in the house...
We all have our favorite little rewards to congratulate ourselves for making it through the chilliest winter days. What are yours?
P.S. Next post: My favorite snaps from picturesque Vermont!
P.P.S. Two recipes to warm you up are included in the "Related Articles" section below--don't they look yummy?!
This past week has been a topsy-turvy one for me! The kids had a snow day (always seems to happen on the busiest days--funny how that works!). I had a TON of paperwork to wade through (amazing how in this digital age, we still have so much paperwork). And then, my son was home sick for two days. (Parenting tip: Do NOT give your sick child a little bell to ring from his bed if he needs anything. By the end of the day, you will cringe at the slightest clink of that bell!) So, the blog schedule here was thrown off. You're seeing below what would've been Wednesday's post. (I hope your week was smoother sailing!)
Delightful Books for Frightful Weather
The weather here has been so "blizzardy" lately that even this die-hard nature girl is having a hard time leaving the coziness of the house (except to take a certain velvety-eared companion for her walks). But one upside of dastardly weather is that it's the perfect excuse to curl up with a good book. Here are a few books I love, just right for the next time you're snowed in.
Cookbooks are just so cozy by nature--reading about whipping up steamy things in the kitchen always makes me feel a few degrees warmer. And Nigella Lawson is the queen of cozy cookbook-writing (despite her seductress TV persona). It helps that I'm an anglophile, but her British witticisms are so charming, I end up reading her cookbooks straight through for the writing alone. I have too many cookbooks to count, but these ones (pictured above) are my favorites for pure reading pleasure:
What We See When We Read by Peter Mendelsund. (A fascinating look at how our imaginations conjure up characters and scenes at lightning speed.)
In deepest, darkest winter, I like to reach for books that show me the warm, golden light at the end of the icy tunnel--books with springtime visions of flowers, trees, and blue skies with fluffy white clouds. Here are some of my favorite books that fit the bill (pictured at the top of the post):
Winter is also the perfect time to check out a stack of travel books from the library. Choose guides to some tropical islands or just places you'd like to explore in real-life or fantasy, and go on a little armchair vacation! (It's also fun on snowy days to go through your photo albums of your favorite vacations.)
The books pictured below have nothing in common except that I loved them and learned from them:
Ethan Frome and Summer by Edith Wharton. (Fiction, obviously.)
The Philosophy of Andy Warhol by Andy Warhol. (Master of the sound bite!)
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
When you're snowed in, it's the perfect time to actually look through your coffee tablebooks instead of just using them to catch the dust. Choose ones with the most beautiful, intricate pictures and really study the details on each page. Some of my favorites are pictured below:
The Garden Book by Phaidon Press
The Golden Age of Sailing: Classic Yacht Photographs by Beken of Cowes
Girl with a Pearl Earring: Dutch Paintings from the Mauritshius by Lea Van der Vinde
Finally, the following three books represent the past and the future for me. I think winter is a great time to go back to your favorite childhood books and read them anew. (Now that's cozy!) It's also a great time to make a reading resolution. Here's mine: I'm going through an Anne Lamott kick lately, so my goal for the near future is to read all of her books!
That's my winter reading list--hopefully, it will tide you over 'til warmer days are here!
How 'bout you? I'd love to hear what you're reading and loving right now--please share!
P.S. Some of these books have links to Amazon so you can take a peek at them, but my first (and greenest!) recommendation is to check them out at your local library. My second recommendation is to buy them at a secondhand bookstore. Happy reading!
If you're up for a photography challenge, I've got a good one for you: BIRDS!
Those little fellows are not easy models...
...especially the smaller variety of flittery-jittery birds...
...when they're flying in and out of a bird-feeder for snacks...
...on a very windy, snowy day!
Winter is an ideal time for bird photography--the leaves are off the trees, making the birds easier to spot. But I didn't realize it was so difficult to get good, clear, close-up shots of birds until I set out to do it earlier this week. After some trial and error, I did manage to squeeze out a few decent shots, so here's what I recommend if you'd like to give bird photography a try:
1. Have LOTS of bird seed handy. Think of yourself as the craft services table during the photo shoot--you've got to keep the performers well-fed and happy!
2.If you're shooting from indoors, remove the window screens for the clearest shots. (Don't forget to wipe off any smudges on the panes.)
3. Some birds prefer to eat off the ground instead of from a feeder, so scatter some seeds in a few strategic spots. I noticed this ground-flocking behavior with one of my favorite types of birds, Juncos, and when I looked them up in my "Birds of New Jersey" field guide, it said exactlythat: They're most comfortable on the ground.
4. Be patient. Really, reeeeeally patient. Once you fill up the feeders or scatter the seeds, the birds won't just start flocking to them. They take their sweet time to scout out the scene and make sure it's safe from predators.
5. You might need to haul out your extra camera equipment for the quickest or the darkest birds. It was hard for me to capture the details of the jittery Juncos until I started using my telephoto lens mounted on a tripod.
6. Hold your breath when you're ready to shoot. It helps to really slow down your breathing and relax while photographing birds, because they're already giving little twitchy movements--you don't want to add your own!
7. Two photographers are better than one. It's not easy to capture the perfect shot with birds, who flutter away at the slightest sound or motion. If you miss a good shot, your shooting partner might have caught it. My son (who got a new camera for his birthday) took the following two photographs and I gave them the finishing touches in editing. (Didn't he do a great job?)
Tufted Titmouse
White-Breasted Nuthatch
All in all, it was a fun few days of bird-watching with my son, and I think this is just the beginning of our bird photography jaunts. Sometimes, it's good to fly out of your comfort zone and learn a thing or two!
How 'bout you? Have you ever tried your hand at bird photography? Feel free to share or link to your own bird pictures in the comments section--I'd love to take a look!
Here's my little chip-off-the-ol'-block! My son asked for a "serious camera" for his 11th birthday, and naturally, we were happy to oblige. Now he's out and about with me, grabbing his camera for the "Golden Hours", studying his shots afterward to see what he's captured. It's lovely, really, to have a protege. A partner on the trails. A camera comrade.
My daughter (who is 7) has asked for a camera for her birthday, too...which isn't until summer. The next generation of family photographers is stepping up to the plate!
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Well, here we go again: The weathermen all predicted a veritable doomsday of a blizzard, so school was cancelled the night before, morning came and...there was barely any new snow! Somehow, this always happens on the days when I have the most to do. (Funny how that works, huh?) But I wouldn't let the snow day get the upper hand--here's how I kept the kids happily occupied, while keeping my own sanity...
1. Cooking up a creative meal together. The kids are slightly obsessed with the show "Master Chef Junior" (which I fully endorse, since it has the double-benefit of making them more helpful in the kitchen and more willing to try new foods), so we whipped up a french toast breakfast buffet, complete with pomegranates, clementines, powdered sugar, chocolate coins, and syrup. (Mornings are the one time when I don't mind if the kids eat some chocolate because it gives them a little wake-up boost but won't keep them up when it's bedtime. I just pretend that we're French, eating pain au chocolat!)
2. My son asked for a "proper camera" for his recent birthday, and we were happy to oblige! So, activity #2 involved a photo shoot of our breakfast. If your kids don't have cameras, why not lend them your phone to take some snaps?
3. Swimsuits on, bath-time for the dog! Delilah hates bath-time...
...but she loves it when we dry her off!
4. My daughter had the idea to make paper dolls. For added sturdiness, we pasted them onto cereal boxes before cutting them out, and then backed them with pretty decorative paper.
5. Legos! Need I say more?
6. Dress-up time with the grown-ups' stuff: Hats, jewelry, scarves, boots...the works!
7. Write and illustrate a book.
8. Musical instrument practice time!
9. This one involves pre-planning: When you hear forecasts for snow, make sure to hit the library for a new stash of books!
10. And finally...get out there in the snow and go wild!
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We're really in the thick of it now: Snow Friday night. Snow Saturday. Snow Monday. Snow Tuesday. It's a snow-white world out there, with the occasional dusty-rose sky. Stark and beautiful, and very, very "January."
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Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr! It's been hitting the single digits here for the past week, and everywhere I look, there's ice.
That means two things:
1. I'm walking around outdoors like I'm about 50 years older than I am, hobbling ever so sloooooowly along, so I don't wipe out. (I've done that, and it's no fun.)
2. I'm taking more pictures than ever. (I can't help it--I'm a sucker for things that sparkle!)
Confession time: I took the shot above while lying down on my stomach in the driveway (it's a photo of the ice on it). Yep, that's right, I'm crazy like that when it comes to getting the shot I want! Wet clothes can be changed whenever I come back indoors, but there are only a few precious minutes to get the right shot before the daylight changes. (Note to my photography students: Recognize the bokeh effect in the shot above?)
All of this glittery, sparkling wonderment outdoors is helping me notice things indoors that are catching the light in lovely ways, too.
Perhaps with some people, they'd just see a piece of toast and a pair of glasses, but really, it all depends on how you look at it, don't you think?
I put a vote on Facebook for my photographer friends: Should we be called "photoptomists" or "optimographers"--we of the breed who are making the best out of winter with our cameras? The vote was nearly unanimous: Photoptomists we are!
Sure, I wouldn't mind if it were a good forty degrees warmer. But right now, I'm seeing the world through very sparkly, frost-covered glasses.
How 'bout you? Are you making the best out of winter, or are you just barely muddling through? I'd love to hear!
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Well, now that's a hopeful sight, isn't it? Even in the coldest, darkest days of winter, even in the very thick of it, when springtime is just a wish and a memory, you can still find plants that are forming tiny little buds, just waiting to bloom.
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