Post by Ella. “Which of you is the fly fisher?”, the grey bearded, robust man boomed as we walked into the American Museum of Fly Fishing in Manchester, Vt. “Um, neither of us fish at all, we just wanted to see what fly fishing is all about”. “Okay, let me get you started”, he said…
Author: Ella
Sculpted art
Post by Ella. The Southern Vermont Arts Center, along with its galleries, event venue, theater, and extensive trail systems has also a sculpture garden set on the rolling lawns and tucked into forest niches. Some were of the scrap metal ilk rusted by the elements, some wood carved, and of course there was the time…
Art as joy
Post by Ella. At the Southern Vermont Arts Center today. A tranquil setting. I was transfixed by the two special exhibits: Ashley Bryan and Sally Mavor. Sally Mavor has perfected the art of embroidery to stitch together her creations. Mixed media with exquisite needle work. Sally illustrated a children’s book written by Rebecca Bond, “My…
Fine dining in a furniture store
Post by Ella. And it’s not IKEA’s Swedish meatballs. Depot 62 in Manchester, VT bills itself as a furniture store with a central dining area. You can eat lunch or dinner and shop for a sofa or rug. We walked up the creaky wooden steps and into a blast of warm spice aroma with the…
Mapling at the Sugarbush Farm
Post by Ella. Maple trivia: In Vermont, sugaring season begins sometime in February to mid-March. When temps dip below freezing (ideally 20°-30°), sap is pushed up from the roots, coursing through the veins of the tree. As the temperature rises during the day, the sap flows back down and conveniently some flows into the metal…
Southward: Our route today
Heading into the last days of our trip. Today, from Burlington, Vt. To Sunderland, Vt. Although we’ve mostly been staying off the Interstates in favor of the less traveled roads, today we wanted to make a detour to Sugarbush (Maple syrup and cheese farm) and Woodstock (historical buildings, traffic jam rivaling Stowe and maple creemees)…
About that old printing press
Grubb wrote about the printing demo we saw at the Shelburne Museum where a cast iron platen was cranked down on a frame pressing paper onto a carved and inked wood block. Chinle, who lives in Silver City, NM sent a photo from the Southwest Print Fiesta held just last week. Here’s how they do…
The superhighway of swamp trails
Post by Ella. Yesterday, one of our stops was the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge. When we saw that the Discovery Nature Trail was mowed grass leading to a raised bridge of planks leading to crushed gravel…who could resist such a cushy hike. More like a stroll on the superhighway of swamp trails. After the Discovery…
For my two favorite Vermonters
Post by Ella. Holly from Stowe and Mary from Burlington, now both residing in Albuquerque, both spent time at University of Vermont in Burlington. Today, we went to the Fleming Museum of Art on campus and then walked around getting the feel of the place. First the museum. It took us a minute to find…
A country drive
Post by Ella. Yesterday we took an old fashioned country drive through the islands of Lake Champlain. We pulled into Knight Point State Park for a gander at the shoreline. We gave consideration to taking a ferry over to Plattsburgh, NY but opted to continue through Lake Champlain. We stopped at a modern version of…
A potpourri of photos
From the Shelburne Museum’s collection of old Americana with a little new thrown in. Children’s hankies Bandboxes Textiles Now that’s a cabin, not a cottage Covered bridge My favorite from the Webb Gallery
A thousand decoys
Post by Ella. 756 carved wildfowl decoys. A few hundred more in storage. “Night at the Museum” (the film where all the creatures on display come alive to cause havoc at night) flashed through my brain. Roughly carved ducks, swans, geese, herons, egrets and more filled the glass display cases crowded into the small rooms where…
Maple everything
Post by Ella. Maple sugar, maple filled chocolate, maple syrup, maple creemee, maple covered pepitas, maple infused olive oil, maple gin, maple chipotle hot sauce. Vermont’s state motto should be “No such thing as too much maple”. Late in the afternoon today we ducked down to the Church Street Marketplace in downtown Burlington to browse…
Life in Randolph
Post by Ella. Sometimes I am lucky enough to meet an AirBnB host who is not a property management company, who has not asked us to strip the sheets or take out the garbage, and who genuinely seems to care if we enjoyed our stay. Whether owned by a person or a company, most AirBnB…
Slow in Stowe
Post by Ella. “There is a 10 minute slowdown in three miles. You are still on the fastest route.”, Google Maps chirped happily as we neared Stowe, Vermont yesterday. Just 1/2 mile from the town, we joined the stop-and-go line up on the one lane Route 100 heading into Stowe. No road construction, no accident….