We’re here!

Well hello there. Long time no see!

It’s been a bustling, beautiful fall that we packed full with things to do and accomplish but, obviously, not much blogging.

So what have we been up to?

We visited Brooklyn

and Vermont

and the wonderful Quabbin Garlic Festival

I finished my dissertation proposal, which feels like an incredible coup.

We’ve been totally stateside this fall, which has been dreamy, but we’re both starting to feel itchy feet.

We wrapped up our garden just before the first snow.

We lost power for a week in October, but survived just fine.

Our favorite tree did not.

We each turned a year older.

We made use of our local bike trail. A lot.

We ate well. Very well.

I’m enjoying two days of staycation, and our living room is a Christmas factory at present. Our goal of an almost completely homemade Christmas is becoming a reality! We counted our wares yesterday – 118 jars of canned goods (salsa and pickles and jam, oh my!) and over 100 bottles of homebrewed beer, with hard cider on its way.

I’ve been knitting like a fiend and even working on my very first quilt (a lap quilt, destined for my mama). We’re also taking a cue from Amanda Blake Soule and making our own fabric wrapping this year. We love it. All of it. Updates to come.

Happy Monday to you all. It’s nice to be back!

{this moment}

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember ~ Amanda Soule

{this moment}

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember ~ Amanda Soule

{this moment}

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember ~ Amanda Soule

{This moment}

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember ~ Amanda Soule 

 

 

{this moment}

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember ~ Amanda Soule

Liz:

Christopher:

vermont.

It has broken our hearts this week to watch Vermont and Vermonters suffer the effects of Hurricane Irene. Communities that we know and those that we’ve yet to explore have endured tragic flooding this week, which seems to have devastated towns but brought communities together. We’ve seen these impulses in crises abroad, but it is no surprise to us to see it among communities in Vermont.

We have such beautiful memories of small swimming holes and meandering long walks, and especially of the kind, generous and always authentic people we seem to meet there at every turn. Travelers with whom we’ve shared campsites, locals who are always happy to point us to the best river for swimming, artists happy to open their studios and share their talents, and again and again, Vermonters who carry such well deserved pride in their state – its farms, its beer, its food, its land – and especially their neighbors.

Of all of the destinations in that state that we’ve come to love, the Alchemist Pub and Brewery in Waterbury has become our very favorite and it was one of those ruined by flooding last week. Each summer, we camp just down the road from the pub, and night after night we seem to find ourselves back at the Alchemst during that visit.

It exemplifies so much of what we love about brewing beer, about gardening and eating, and about Vermont, too. Their brews are wonderfully creative, small batch beers. I was crazy this summer about their sour beer, the Wild Child, while Christopher adored their delicious Heady Topper. We devoured sweet potato fries, the season’s first heirloom tomatoes on flatbread, and blackened tofu and beans. It’s always packed, but we always manage to squeeze our way to counter seats, happy to chat with their ever-friendly bartenders, who treat you like regulars and beer lovers from the moment you arrive, local brewers who’ve come by for a pint, locals who come night after night, or other travelers on annual pilgrimages to that great state.

Entirely flooded out, the Alchemist has had to close its doors, suffering less than others in its community, but devastated all the same – a loss for a great business and for the neighborhood that loves them. The pub promises to rebuild and we’ll be there when it does. Hang in there, Vermont. We’re rooting for you.

all clear.

That wasn’t so bad.

We’d stocked up on candles, filled pots with water, harvested what we could from the garden, prepared projects and even baked a hurricane cake, but in the end, Irene caused us little trouble aside from a few downed tree limbs and a day spent inside. Christopher caught up on the Economist and made us spicy beans for lunch. I made bread and read and cut fabric pieces for a quilt (my first!).

By late afternoon, under blue(ish) sky, we walked down to see the swollen river and then picnicked outside until dusk.

At night, we lit candles just for the fun of it.

Irene.

Judging by the rain lashing our windows this morning, it would seem that the leading edge of Hurricane Irene has finally reached Massachusetts.  Our larder is stocked, water stored in every spare pot, and We still have power.   In fact, we managed to brew fresh tea and coffee this morning, and we have a loaf of emergency bread baking in the oven.  We expect things to get worse through the morning and into the afternoon, but hardly as bad as we feared earlier this week.

But what a week it has been.  The house shook beneath our feet on Tuesday, just as Elizabeth learnt over twitter that an earthquake had shaken DC only moments before. And through twitter, we struggled to understand the tragedy unfolding for the citizens of Tripoli as the conflict in Libya erupted in the capital, while a very different type of protest continues to take shape in Syria – both crises that carry significant implications for the region.  Our hearts broke when we heard the United Nations house in Abuja had been attacked, while this week, people from at least five countries in the Horn of Africa struggle to get through one of the worst famines in living memory.

We’re so grateful for what we have, and fortunate to live where we do–hurricanes and earthquakes notwithstanding.  And as we cozy-up for the storm, our thoughts are with our friends and fellow members of the human family facing down much greater challenges elsewhere–in Haiti, the Mid-Atlantic, Damascus, Mogadishu, Dadaab and beyond.

~Christopher

{this moment}

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember ~ Amanda Soule

Liz:

Christopher: