home exterior: February 2011

My New Hiking Blog!

I've mentioned here that I have a new passion! HIKING! I've gone hiking every weekend for the past 8 weeks now. I'm officially hooked so I started a hiking blog! I'll still be blogging here but I hope you come over and visit me at my new blog, Liking Hiking! (click on that to visit).

Home again

Arriving home after one week is a pleasure, settling in with all the goods from Vermont...
Sitting down this morning to a cozy breakfast was a delight. We recalled the last days, discussed the progress the children have made during the last weeks skiing, the wonderful time we had in our clearly most beloved home away from home: Vermont!

There is maple smoked cheddar cheese and goat cheese from Cabot, maple syrup and a delicious blended honey maple spread, dill pickles from a local farmer in Eden and plum preserve from Grafton,VT!

We enjoy the local made foods and appreciate the pride people have in their home made goods. The Vermonters are special in this indeed. We felt they are incredibly self-reliant, from dairy products to baked goods, meets and sausages, wool and felt products, they have kitchen gardens and everywhere you can find hand made things, tastefully done. The land is well cared for and even in the depth of winter one can feel the love for the land and homes.
One of the beautiful crafts next to furniture making is glass blowing and in many small places you can find a glass blower with his wonderful ware. The most well known of course is Simon Pierce, but there are many more.

This time we brought home a gorgeous glass vase, created by the lovely woman Toby at Hot Glass Works in Jamaica, VT.

She and her husband have been there for over 30 years, hand blowing the most colorful glass. I found her shop purely coincidental while visiting Jamaica, VT. I admired her stained glass windows, small oil lamps and vases of all shapes and sizes.

Blue glass, dipped in silver!

It is wonderful to be home! There is sunshine outside and the temperatures are mild: 46 degrees , we checked, Vermont is still only 26 degrees!!! I promise to catch up with all of you, miss your posts!

Tonight is Oscar Night! Are you going to watch it?
Hope your Sunday is wonderful!

xx
Victoria

All images by V.Zlotkowski.

Sudden snow

The covered bridge in Woodstock.

Last night brought us a surprise: Fresh snow! And a wonderful day, walking the town and the small hills around into a snowy land, covered with a fresh sheet of white! The snowflakes were dancing around us and we delighted in the beauty of it!
This was yesterday:

And this is today:

And a few more impressions from this lovely place!

See the bride through the window? A winter wedding, today was the perfect day for it. I saw her in the hotel this morning!

What can one do when not skiing? Looking at fun places, having some tea, shopping for cheese and checking out those design stores...
And looking at some wonderful artwork capturing the Vermont winter perfectly!

And then there is the local psychologist...

Tomorrow we are coming home! We recharged our batteries and now feel ready for the coming weeks ahead!

xx
Victoria

All pictures taken by V.Zlotkowski, except painting via google image.

Show and Tell Friday!

First off I have to say that this week I feel like a kid! I'm absolutely giddy over the fact that we may get snow Friday night! I know many of you are probably sick and tired of snow at this point but we haven't had snow here in 35 years! I'm going to be really disappointed if the weatherman is wrong!
Okay...on to Show and Tell Friday! This week I'm sharing "BLUE"! haha! People always tell

A little more Vermont

The Ottauquechee River, here in Woodstock!

Having been in Vermont for a couple of days, I am in love again!

I feel the atmosphere, the wonderful mix of landscape, winter sports, the pride of local food, locality, artists and craftsman, the alternative to the lifestyle I experience every day at home.

Time runs slower here, people seem to have more of it, there is time for listening and talking and time for quiet contemplation.

There are so many beautiful houses, immaculately kept. In small towns, villages and in the mountains.

I have spoken to many people around here: A man making furniture from branches.

And Elaine Beckwith, a gallery owner from the small village of Jamaica,VT with an absolute wonderful art collection...Thanks Elaine for introducing me to all these artists!

Painting by Ingrid Fromel Buckley.

Paintings by Jack Broderick.

Portrait by Hariett Wiseman. Interior painting by Ingrid Fromel Buckley.

Still Life by Jerry Caron.
I was blown away by the treasures in Elaine's collection. You can read her blog here!

Grocery store Vermont style...

I found again so much to look at and always feel the Vermonter's keen sense for environment, nature and history.

The name "Vermont" is derived from the French, les monts verts, "the green mountains." When peace was made with the French in 1760, the Green Mountains were quickly opened to settlement. In 1791, Vermont was the first state added to the US Union.
We have finally decided to come back here in summer time...

Into the green mountains!

Well, there is so much more I want to show you, I guess another post is in order soon!

xx Victoria

Brrrr it's cold outside!

It's been really cold here in Northern California this past week! I know some of you will laugh at what we call cold but there have been days where it doesn't get out of the 40s and that is COLD for us!
There is snow in the hills all around us and it's so pretty! They say the snow level will get really low, down to 500 ft elevation Friday night/Saturday morning! I'm so hopping we get snow in

Have a seat

I fell for this chair!

And this chair is so gorgeous!

There is a little more where this comes from....
Wonderful opportunity to be green and environmentally responsible! Old pieces restored to fresh beauty! It doesn't get any better than that!

xx
Victoria

Image via Etsy seller Wildchairy.