Archive for the 'Vermont' Category

Sightseeing Sunday

July 6, 2008 | Summer, Travel, Vermont

crossposted to New England Mamas

This week, SciFi Sunday is pre-empted. Instead we bring you Sightseeing Sunday

Yesterday was my birthday, and to celebrate we drove over to Burlington — about 80 minutes from the house in Barnard — to see the Mary Cassat: Friends and Family exhibit at Shelburne Museum. For dinner, we boarded the Spirit of Ethan Allen III for a dinner cruise on Lake Champlain.  Then today, we went on the “Hidden Spaces, Unique Places” tour at the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller mansion in Woodstock. Last summer, Douglas, my mom and I had toured the mansion, but it always bugged Doug that we couldn’t see the 3rd floor. This tour resolved that dilemma. Plus Dave didn’t come last year so he’d never seen the mansion.

In order of events

I always enjoy Shelburne Museum because it has such a great mix of things that appeal to adults and children. This visit was no exception. Douglas patiently (mostly) waited while we enjoyed the Cassat paintings and then he had the opportunity to act as tour guide for his Dad on the Ticonderoga paddlewheeler.

Cassat was an exceptional artist. Possibly the best known American Impressionist painter and best known woman Impressionist, Whistler and Berthe Morisot notwithstanding. But what made this exhibit so exceptional was the way it highlighted the personal friendship between Cassat and Louisine Havemeyer, the mother of Electra Havemayer Webb, founder of Shelburne Museum.

The exhibit will be at Shelburne through October 26th and then at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC from November 21 through January 25, 2009. If you are near either place and you like Impressionist art, I urge you to check it out.

The dinner cruise on the Spirit of Ethan Allen III was fun. The food was perhaps just a notch above typical buffet food, although I would suggest having at least one fish entree that isn’t sauced, but the service was excellent. And the atmosphere — Lake Champlain at sunset — cannot be beat.  I got a special treat as well. Douglas plotted with the DJ and sang Happy Birthday to me — microphone and all — during dessert. I imagine more than a few mums envied me for that brief moment –  that my kid would do that for me. I had a few tears in my eyes.

Then today, we went on the Hidden Place, Unique Spaces tour of the Marsh-Billings Rockefeller mansion. They offer this tour about once a week, give or take, during the summer, and it is well worth it, although the regular tour is excellent as well.

On the Hidden Places tour, you see the third floor of the mansion, the servants’ quarters, a room in the Belvedere (basically the pool house, but what a pool house!) and the Bungalow, a cottage on the property, none of which are included in the regular house tour. I’d recommend either tour.

I do have pictures from all of the above, but the connection here is slower than at home so I’ll try to get them up tomorrow on Flickr.

Technorati Tags: Mary Cassat, Shelburne Museum, Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Park, Spirit of Ethan Allen III, Burlington, Vermont, Woodstock

Up up and away

June 17, 2008 | Summer, Travel, Vermont

Last weekend we went to the Quechee Balloon Festival. The Festival runs from Friday evening through Sunday, and the balloons are scheduled to go up at 6pm and 6am every day. We went Saturday but the ascension was rained out so we decided to stay in Vermont and go Sunday evening.

Meant getting up at oh dark:30 on Monday to get Douglas to school on time but it was so worth it. Dave and I had been about 12 years ago, but I had forgotten how amazing it was to see so many balloons going up at once.

Here are some favorite pictures from the weekend. More on Flickr.

Technorati Tags: balloon festival, Quechee, Vermont, hot air balloon

SciFi Sunday: Pre-empted for holiday weekend

May 25, 2008 | Science Fiction, Vermont

SciFi Sunday is pretty much pre-empted for the holiday weekend. We are up at our house in Vermont this weekend and have been doing a little site seeing. Douglas and I went to Billings Farm’s Sheepshearing Days yesterday and today all three of us went to Fort Ticonderoga.

I also attempted to get some pictures of the space station as it moved over us just past 9pm Eastern. The squiggles? That’s me moving the camera before the shutter closed. Yeah, I know, they suck. Oh well.

Next week, new episodes of Sarah Jane and Battlestar, plus we are planning to see Indy 4 on Tuesday night so there will be lots to talk about.

Request for help: I am putting together a panel on Social Media and the Writers Strike for a conference this fall. If you know anyone in either the WGA or the fan community who was actively engaged in creating videos for online distribution during the strike, please give me a shout. I’ve got some good panelists lined up, but I’d like one or two more.

Technorati Tags: Billings Farm, Fort Ticonderoga, space station

A different perspective

March 30, 2008 | Animals, Vermont, Winter

Last weekend in Vermont there was still quite a bit of snow. Here’s Cash getting a different perspective on the field behind our house.

Technorati Tags: scotties, scottish terrier

New pictures: Snowshoeing, skiing and a rainbow

March 2, 2008 | Douglas, Family, Travel, Vermont, Winter

February vacation was a bit bittersweet because of the dog, but we managed to have a little fun too. I’ve finally put up a bunch of pictures on Flickr from a 2 hour snowshoe hike we did on Mount Tom. There are also some new pictures of the ridge, including a great one that Dave shot with my camera of an early morning rainbow, and some pictures from this afternoon’s backyard skiing lesson.

Aren’t they cute?

The only editing I did on this picture was to increase the saturation a tad, to pop the blue and the rainbow a bit.

It’s all downhill from here…

Technorati Tags: skiing, Mount Tom, Vermont, rainbow

The ridge in Barnard, Late Fall

November 15, 2007 | Photo Contests, Vermont

We went up to the house in Barnard Vermont for Veteran’s Day weekend. We didn’t do much, but it was nice to get a change of scenery. And I was able to get some shots of the ridge behind the house in late Fall for my series. See the earlier shots on Flickr.

New interviews have been posted in the Photographic Memories series, and don’t forget to checkout my sidebar for the latest HP Photo Books giveaways and contests from the mom bloggers. New this week:

• Due to a shipping error, Maya at The Laurent Files got an extra Photosmart A626 compact photo printer which she is giving away in her contest.
• Mir over at WantNot.net is also giving away some HP Photo Books this week. Entries for her random drawing end tomorrow.

Finally, if you are struggling over what to get your favorite child or Mum this holiday season, checkout the Cool Mom Picks Holiday Gift Guide.

Tags: HP Photo Books, Photographic Memories, photography, mommy bloggers

Autumn in Vermont

October 10, 2007 | Vermont

Waiting for you…

The view from my “office” window in Vermont

More pictures on Flickr

Doug’s View on Vermont

September 9, 2007 | Animals, Douglas Says, Travel, Vermont

Douglas is developing quite a photographic eye. Some of his pictures, I wonder, but others, I think wow, only 7 years old.

He loves his HP digital camera. It is easy to use and brand new when he got it — not a hand-me-down from mum or dad. That makes a difference, and I urge parents to consider that when getting their kids started with photography. I think it is better to get your child his or her own really simple, inexpensive camera, versus giving them one of your old ones which may have more options and buttons than they are ready for. Plus, all kids like it when they get it new, not hand-me-down.

The camera he has, courtesy of my client HP, the HP Photosmart M537, retails for about $130, and uses AA batteries. No need to even fuss about charging, just make sure you have a spare pair of batteries in your pocket or purse for when your kid says “my camera is out of juice.” Happened to us and I had to let him use mine for a few shots of poisonous frogs.

Here are some of the pictures he took during our stay in Vermont last month:

At Shelburne Museum

The boiler of the Ticonderoga

Statuary

At the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller mansion and gardens. He has quite an eye for flowers.

And finally a video of some fish at VINS

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

September 5, 2007 | Photo Contests, Travel, Vermont

So, we are back from two weeks in Vermont, school has started and there is a decidedly fall-ish nip in the air in the evenings. I ended up working a wee bit more than I wanted, but at least I wasn’t paying some outrageous hotel bill for the privilege.

Before I forget, I want to once again thank the great folks at Photojojo for their prize donations for A Little Perspective. We wanted a little something extra for our second prizes and Photojojo donated mailable photo frames. So, if you haven’t already checked out Photojojo, do it today. They have neat photo accessories and a great newsletter.

I won’t bore you with every single detail of our vacation. You can see all 200 or so photos I took on Flickr if you are so inclined.

But here are some of the highlights.

The Annual Scottish Festival in Quechee.

You can’t be Scottish and not tear up a bit when you hear the pipes. Especially Scotland the Brave.

Shelburne Museum, just outside Burlington. Be sure to check out the new green exhibit.

VINS, the Vermont Institute for Natural Science. Don’t miss the live raptor shows. Here, Doug is experiencing how hard it is to fly.

Billings Farm, one of Doug’s favorites, but I suspect it is for the picnic lunch of cheese, crackers and apples that you can buy as much as for the exhibits. Here, he is helping build a split rail fence.

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. Especially the tour of the house and the walk to the Pogue from Prosper Road.

The “house”

The Pogue

Cheese and maple syrup tasting at Sugarbush Farm in Woodstock.

The views from Mount Peg and Mount Tom. Here the view from the top of Mount Peg, a short hike that Dave and I did with two of our scotties, Reva and Sabrina.

The Alpine Slide at Pico, but don’t feel bad if you don’t feel like going down the slide. I didn’t and neither did my mom. Instead we rode the chairlift back down and got a most interesting perspective on the view.

Tags: A Little Perspective, Vermont, Billings Farm, Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, Pico, VINS, Sugarbush, Scotland, Scottish Festival, bagpipes,

If this is Tuesday, it must be….

August 20, 2007 | Photo Contests, Travel, Vermont

In the last week, I have been in Massachusetts, Vermont, and California, with two one-hour layovers in Cleveland Ohio and multiple drive-throughs of New Hampshire. How does the joke go? “I just flew in from the Coast, and boy, are my arms tired.”

We are back in Vermont until Labor Day. Douglas is enrolled in day camp at the Vermont Institute for Natural Science this week, and next week my mom joins us and I will be taking some time off.

Some good opportunities for photos though. Check out my Flickr sets to see Douglas swimming at Silver Lake in Barnard VT near our house, some views of San Francisco, Sausalito and Petaluma California that I took on last week’s business trip and the Billings Farm Antique Tractor Parade last Sunday, my perspective and Doug’s.

The winners of A Little Perspective, the photo contest I am doing with Tracey Clark and Sheri Reed, will be announced on the 24th. Stay tuned to hear who has won the neat PhotoJojo camera cases, HP ballcaps, pens and notebooks, Fruity Cheerios and ClubMom water bottles.