Jack – Page 7 – The Dackel Princess

What I Did This Past Weekend

Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend! After all, you never know when you will need an alibi!

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The weekend was a good one. Rather exciting, yet quiet and then just plain enjoyable. A nice mix of happy things.

As I mentioned Hubby and I went out on Friday to celebrate his service to our country as a Veteran. We went to a nice place and found they were having another special. It was their 40th year in operation, so they rolled back the dinner prices to 1971 prices.

Hubby had the Shrimp Scampi and I had the Chicken Kiev. Both meals came with salads, bread, mashed potato, and a healthy serving of zucchini and summer squash! Hubby felt like having a beer, so I had a glass of red wine.

Just as I am sipping the wine, I look up and see a woman waving at me! One of the ladies from Weight Watchers! I’d been busted! We spoke for a while and I knew she felt as guilty as I did, being caught with such yummy food!

For all Veterans that night they served them a free dessert. Hubby ordered this creme puff trio.

Even though he had to pry my hands away, we eventually shared this delicious dessert!

On Saturday I went to all the Christmas Craft Fairs, which I wrote about in my last post, and then on Sunday I made my curried butternut squash soup! It came out well, and I ended up making a triple batch!

I watched a few movies over the weekend and enjoyed the mindlessness of these chick flicks. It gives me something to listen to while I am working on other things. I almost never actually watch TV. Usually I am listening, while doing something else.

Just call me a multitasking TV Listener!

So as you begin yet another week, I wish you much happiness and good health!

Thunder……

Monday, it was back to real life. I’m home, and Hubby and I worked hard making tomato sauce. This sauce we will can and put up on the shelf for use in things like lasagna, or perhaps my new eggplant casserole recipe. Which, after making it three times, I have finally gotten down to a science. The next time I make it, I will have Hubby take pictures to share with you all. This is a super healthy, very easy recipe.

I went to bed very early on Sunday night, as I was exhausted from my travels. The dackels came with me, and curled their little bodies into mine and soon I was fast asleep. I slept well, as I felt my body relaxing in it’s own bed, when suddenly, about 4:30 AM I heard terrible thunder, and since it was so close, I figured it was nearby. I got up, shut down all our computer systems, the satellite system and unplugged the TV. Then I was walking back to our bedroom when I saw at least three bolts of lightening hit the lake in front of our house!

I returned to bed, and snuggled again with the dogs and Hubby and then…crash…boom…thunder…and Fritz was suddenly in bed with us too! Now I know we have a king sized bed, but suddenly, it was very crowded! I tried to get him down and since we now had 75 pound Fritz in the bed, Hubby woke. He was calm and spoke to Fritz with such tenderness, that I nearly started to cry. It was that sweet.

Eventually, he did get him off the bed, and we all settled down and slept until 8:30. However, the day has been filled with rain and humidity and storms.

But, as I sat here thinking of all the places I would like to be, being at home sure is a great place, even if I am sometimes overcome with the dackels and Fritz, for their love is irreplaceable!

What I Did This Past Weekend

Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend! After all, you never know when you will need an alibi!

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It’s amazing how much of the weekend was spent getting ready for the Hurricane that never was. On Friday I went to the grocery store and picked up the last few things that we might need, and on Saturday I was looking forward to the calm before the storm, attending the Craft Fair.

Now I have to say, I understand why so many people stayed away, both Vendors and Tourists, but it was disappointing none the less.

Sunday the dogs let us sleep in. I was a little perplexed about it, until I got up and found that the rain was simply pouring down! In fact, the dogs did not want to go out at all! They stuck their noses by the door and ran in the opposite direction!

So I took each one of them and brought them to the door and gave them a little encouragement. They quickly ran out, did their business and ran in. Fritz, God love him, was resolute, and I was proud. The rain was coming down that hard!

We lost our power for the blink of an eye. Just enough to have me resetting clocks all around the house! However, we only had 25 mile an hour winds, and got 5.1 inches of rain. A fair amount, for sure, but nothing that damaged the fruit.

One thing Hubby and I noticed was that with the enforced isolation in the house, by the end of the day, we were driving each other crazy. Hubby is used to being out in the yard with the fruit trees, and I am used to time alone.

The day ended with a nice dinner, a friend calling to let us know that he is okay, and me switching pocketbooks for what seemed like the millionth time this month. After all I am three days away from my trip to see my sister and enjoy my Nephew/Godson’s wedding!

Busy? Yes!

Saturday found Hubby and I continuing our busy pace. After breakfast, we worked out in the garden. Sadly, I worked pulling the dead vines of some of my summer squash and zucchini, while Hubby picked tomatoes. We had Fritz outside with us while we worked, as he is the most trust worthy of dogs! The other three like to roam around, and since I worry, I get nothing done. So, while I work, they are safely inside.

When the work was done, they ran all around the yard, hither and yon, and had a marvelous time! They really are good pups. It’s just me, being a worry wart.

In the afternoon after our lunch we began working on the peaches! Dip in boiling water for 25 seconds, Toss in a cold water bath. Peel off skins. Hubby does that. Then I take the peach, cut it in half and pit the fruit, after which I chop up and toss in the pot. We do this until we have 4 pounds of peaches done.

Then I mash peaches; place in large sauce pan. Add sugar; mix thoroughly. Peel orange; cut rind of 1 orange into very thin slices (or use food processor). Squeeze juice from both oranges; remove seeds. Add orange rind and orange juice to peach mixture. Add cherries. Let rest overnight. Tomorrow will be cooking day!

By the time we got our dishes cleaned up, I was beat, but somehow made dinner and got that cleaned up too.

Saturday is nearly over now, and a new day will dawn, and along with it, two more batches of Heavenly Jam to be cooked up and canned. Life is good in our orchard right now.

Reunion Part 3

On Saturday we woke and wanted to get over to the campus for Choir Rehearsal, but it turned out that the time was wrong on our sheet, so once we saw the music offering (My father, a church organist most of his life, would have been ashamed.) The music was overly difficult, full of dirges and hymns with discordance’s. After rehearsal, Hubby and I decided not to sing in the choir.

After that we walked around the campus, with Hubby recalling days gone by, while I limped along. My left knee was bothering me after the hike the day before, and the only reason I mention it, is that later the silly knee will become relevant.

They had a Memorabilia Sale and I got a great blanket for my chair. Then we continued our walk, in the bright sunshine. We were so lucky to have had such nice weather.

Soon it was time for lunch and once again we ate in the Campus Cafeteria. I put together a salad and Hubby had your traditional Campus Junk Food! Hot-dogs, French Fries and Onion Rings!

After lunch we decided to take a ride out to The Morgan Horse Breeding Farm.

There we took a tour of the facilities and also got to see these beautiful creatures up close!

June 4 11 039

She was the sweetest horse.

Do you see how she loves this girl?

Another horse being groomed.

A new foal!

We stayed until we knew we needed to change for the dinner that night. So we headed back to the Inn, changed, and when I went to put on my shoes, I couldn’t get my feet into them. My feet had swollen from all the hiking! It was also sore, so I was limping a little.

I had some black flat sandals and I slipped those on while still wearing hose, and off we went. The event was quite grand and lovely. First we had the marching of the classes up to the chapel, where we listened to the College President and the Alumni Representatives tell us about each of the classes, and the donations that they’d made. This is called Convocation.

Our “Midd Kids”! They were just super!

The classes lined up for Convocation.

After this we were off to the last banquet dinner. I was limping a lot at this point, but I didn’t want to complain, because I was surrounded by people older than myself and they were all doing great!

We drove to the Gymnasium and Arts Center, and in back they had several tents set up for the parties. Hubby got me a glass of red wine, but it was only partly filled, so I went back after I finished it to get another. I was walking on cobblestones in those slippery sandals, and hose, with my bad knee, when while carrying my empty glass, I slipped and started to fall! I wavered, but eventually regained my balance, only to notice that I looked positively drunk!

I regained my balance (and what little dignity I had left) returned to Hubby and sent him to get me a refill!

We stayed until well after dark and then returned to the Inn for our last night. In the morning, after breakfast, we loaded up the car, headed over to the campus for a church service and then off we went across the mountains back home.

The Reunion…Part 2

Friday morning, Hubby and I woke after a great night sleep. The funniest thing happened on Thursday night. Hubby and I share a King Size bed here at home, but the Inn’s bed was a Queen Size. In the middle of the night, Hubby started to push me over towards the edge of the bed! He claims he thought I was a dachshund!

We had breakfast at the Inn. Both of us had eggs and toast and I had the local sausage and Hubby had bacon, and we had lots of coffee!! Then we headed over to the campus Chapel for a Class Memorial Service. Most every one of Hubby’s classmates made the effort to come and we remembered the lives gone from this earth. One especially made me cry, because I knew him and his wife quite well.

After this, the Class met on the steps of the church and they had the class picture taken.

Here is my sweetheart! I took a ton of pictures and got several good ones of him.

Lunch was what I would call campus food. I tried to eat salad and stay true to the diet, but it was a challenge. After lunch we went on the hike.

Up, up, up, we hiked to an overlook of the town of Middlebury. Going up wasn’t so bad, but my knees rebelled going down and I wanted to cry out in pain, but I looked at those 72 and 73 year olds and I refused to complain!

After the hike we went back to our room and I changed into a nice skirt and top and we went to the Breadloaf English Center, where they had things set up for our dinner meal.

Our friends from Cape Cod had arrived by then, and so they sat with us at dinner. Courtney and Carolyn have been friends with Hubby since their college days, and Courtney was an usher at our wedding.

After the dinner, Hubby and I headed back to the Inn where we were able to get another good night sleep. One thing I learned is that you can definitely do too much on a Reunion Weekend. Next time, I plan to go slowly. Perhaps savoring things a bit more.

This is the end of Part 2.

What I Did Last Weekend…Part One

On Thursday morning June 2nd, Hubby and I finished packing everything we could possibly use at Hubby’s 50th College Reunion into our car. I’d made a thermos of coffee, and had two bottles of juice, and we had two fried egg sandwiches to eat in the car for our breakfast! The trunk contained two suitcases, two duffel bags, two suit bags, two computer bags, a shoe bag and a camera bag. I’d also tossed in an iron, some diet soda and snacks. Oh yes, and a couple of umbrellas, jackets and the GPS!

So, off we went, up and over the mountains from New Hampshire to Vermont. It’s funny how different the two states are. Our roads tend to be twisting and turning and up and down, and in Vermont, they have miles of flat pasture land with the mountains on either side. We did our fair share of driving the Vermont Mountains to get to Middlebury though and they sure have a number of challenging mountain roads!

We arrived on campus about 1 o’clock in the afternoon, taking us just over three hours to get there. We checked in, got our name tags, folder of information and parking placard for the car, before we left and headed to The Middlebury Inn to check in there. Since we had a TON OF STUFF with us, we asked for help filling up our room. A very nice man got the luggage cart, and brought us up in the elevator. After that we took the grand staircase, as it was truly a lovely thing to do.

The old Inn, founded in 1826 has so many finely carved wooden shelves, stairs, bars and registration areas.

Our room was beautiful and best of all…quiet. I slept like a baby.

Tea was served every afternoon, making me think lovingly of my grandmother. In fact the Inn itself, made me think of her.

Hubby and I sat down and had lunch before heading back over to the college to meet up with Hubby’s friends from the class. There were meetings and events and a lot of joking around before we returned to the Inn to change into our evening clothes.

You all will recall that I was worried about finding a dress for this event. I even fretted that the dress I bought was not good enough, or the right look. Well, I needn’t have worried as most of the women wore slacks or even jeans. Hubby and I were surprised at how casual the entire Reunion was. Not to worry, I looked great and that helped me with my confidence.

Of course the saddest thing is, I don’t have one picture of me in my dress! It just didn’t work out. You see, it was Hubby’s weekend, so all the pictures are of him. I was the cameraman! The picture below is the only one of Hubby and I from the weekend!

The first night we met with the President of the college and his wife for a cocktail party. It was quite lovely, held in the garden of their home, under a tent. The President and his wife seemed very nice, but were shockingly young! He is only one year older than me!!!

After the cocktail party we all were driven to the Atwater Dining Hall. It had been specially decorated for the event and the meal and the short and sweet speeches made it a lovely night. The food was good, and the company at our table also quite nice.

Hubby and I headed back to our room at the Inn.

End of Part 1

We’re Back

I realized on the way home today, that I had not posted anything on the Blog! This never happens, but honestly, when we got back to the Inn last night I was exhausted! Those 72 & 73 year olds wore me out. I’ll write a more detailed post tonight for tomorrow, but I didn’t want anyone to worry or to think I’d dropped off the face of the earth!

This was half way through our four mile hike UP HILL! I made it both up and down, and I admit I worried a little, but I made it, and only limped a little afterward!

Middlebury Reunion

Ah, Saturday was one of the most splendid days we have had in New England in a while. It was sunny, in the upper sixties, and had just the gentlest breeze blowing.We enjoyed a lazy breakfast at the Middlebury Inn.

Then, we headed over to the campus for a Memorial Service for those classmates who have passed away.

After that they gathered the class on the steps of the Chapel and took the class picture. I was out in front with the photographer taking multiple shots of this occasion.

You can see Hubby in the back right row. His Class had the most attendees of any 50th Reunion Class, and their commitment to supporting the college is also greater than any other class.

Our lunch was at one of the cafeterias. It was good, but very unlike what I am used to. Gone are trays to place your food. Gone are lines, you pick up a plate, to to that station and help yourself. That was fine, I made myself a Cobb Salad.

After lunch we went on a hike with two of the young students assigned to host our class. It was a four mile hike mostly up hill and it gave us a lovely view.

We had to hustle to get down the hill and back to the bus to return to campus. Jack and I needed to change into our dinner clothes, so we came back to our room, and relaxed for a bit before changing and going out to Breadloaf which is a writer’s conference center, best known for Poet, Robert Frost’s love of the area. It is a special spot and I encourage you to visit the website and learn more.

But it was Joseph Battell, a wealthy breeder of Morgan Horses, who purchased more than 30,000 acres of forest and farmland in the mountains, and in 1915, willed all of it to Middlebury College.

We had an amazing buffet dinner and enjoyed the company of our friends and Hubby’s former classmates once again.

Thursday Thirteen

Here are some fast facts about Middlebury College.

Founded in 1800, Middlebury is a top-tier liberal arts college.
About 2,350 undergraduate students
Located in the Champlain Valley of central Vermont, with Vermont’s Green Mountains to the east and New York’s Adirondacks to the west
Renowned for leadership in language instruction and international studies
Graduate and summer programs: Summer Language Schools (10 languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish), Bread Loaf School of English, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Monterey Institute of International Studies
More than 850 courses in 44 majors
9:1 student-faculty ratio
Most classes are small; the mean class size is 16
All courses are taught by faculty members (rather than graduate assistants)
29 NCAA championship teams since 1995: men’s hockey-8 titles (’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99, ’04, ’05, ’06), women’s lacrosse-5 (’97, ’99, ’01, ’02, ’04), men’s lacrosse-3 (’00, ’01, ’02), women’s cross country-5 (’00, ’01, ’03, ’06, ’08), women’s hockey-5 (’00, ’01, ’04, ’05, 06), field hockey (’98), men’s tennis (’04), men’s soccer (’07)
Hubby graduated in 1961 with a Bachelors Degree in Economics.
He ran track, played soccer, participated in cross country and downhill skiing, and ski jumping.
In Hubby’s sophomore year he lettered in three sports, Track, Soccer, and Skiing.

So we will stay at the historic Middlebury Inn, and enjoy this golden celebration of Hubby’s graduation from college!