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Interesting

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I couldn’t pass up this emblem on the side of a van in Wellington, NZ.  Apparently it’s a town in NZ and is the hub of the kiwi fruit.  Perhaps the town name has kept tourists away.

Yuck

This handsome fella was at a zoo we visited.  He is some sort of hairy hog.  You can see the food we purchased from a machine and tossed into his enormous mouth.  He didn’t bother to chew, just waited for more.

Sydney Harbor lights

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Here’s a random photo from my trip to Australia.  I realized I haven’t posted the pictures yet primarily because of my slow internet connection. So I will trickle them into the internet cybersphere slowly.   I love Sydney.  The harbor is full of activity day and night.  And it was spring.

We’ve had the predictable January thaw, the river overran the banks and ice floes backed up.  Tim heard it rushing all night while I was away visiting family and friends. We remained high and dry.  We may win the battle with the cluster flies. Tim found nests and got rid of them and then sprayed insecticide in the windows.   But now the carpet beetles may feast on the dead cluster flies – could this be a problem if we don’t have carpets – and they will get fat and happy and attack my woolens!!!!   OHHH NOOOOOO.

Rainbow Cloud

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Ice Climbers, Otis Mountain

Barred Owl, Tupper Lake

Bird feeder back in business

The birds have returned.  After a two-week absence, they suddenly returned.  I thought they left because word was out that the feeder was too close to the house and they were bumping their little heads on the windows when they flew off in the wrong direction.  So after a very brief vacation elsewhere, they came back.  Maybe that’s their memory attention span.  After the first couple of collisions when they returned, I moved the feeder.  This was no easy feat with the ground frozen and almost a foot of snow on the ground.  With the trusty sledgehammer,which takes two hands to hold, and a January thaw, I repositioned it off an angle of the house.  Now they have cleared flight patterns in 3 directions and only a rare bird bumps into the house.   And I get to watch birds all day.  We tried to put water outside too but it froze in about 30 minutes.  We’re counting on them finding the mighty Boquet River, down the road.

Magic Hat(s)

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How lucky are we?  The Magic Hat Brewery is located just across the Lake in South Burlington, VT.  We learned about tastings when we lived near the Blue Point Brewery but now we were able to sample beer that included Number 9!  Andre filled a growler of Howl for us and we brought it home to enjoy.  A growler holds about 6 pints of fresh brewed beer that needs to be drunk in one setting for the best experience.

Tim and his new hat in the Magic Hat tower

My new favorite handspun hat

Winter Snow Flower – Askew

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The temperature has plummeted again.  We went in the hot tub last night when it was 4 degrees F outside.  Luckily the water was 104 but quickly cooled to 100.  Still very nice. The air was crisp, the sky was so clear that there were so many more stores visible than usual and we both saw several shooting stars.   The problem is that it’s been so cold, I’ve been a couch potato.  I snowshoed a couple of times last week and will probably venture out today.  We’re waiting for our replacement rowing machine so we can workout indoors when we feel like it.
Morning view from the road

There are many fiber projects in the works.  I finished this hat for Tim last night, complete with a spiderman placemat as a brim.  He’ll be a superhero.  It looked good on him in the hot tub!

New Hat for Tim

My warped loom

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Everyday is a fiber adventure.  I may have hit my scarf capacity.  Weaving is a super fast way to make scarves and with a luxury yarn, they are beautiful.  This is my second scarf, warped.  Both woven scarves were with yarn I purchased during my trip to New Zealand.  Warping the loom is the time consuming process where you have to thread individual strands through small eyes.  Once it’s set up though, the weaving flies.  You need a lot of space to get started as shown above.  Now I’m on to placemats and towels.  So little time.

Boucle Scarf

Hiking Philosophy

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Now that we have easy access to the great outdoors in the Adirondack Park, I have been thinking about  2 camps of hiking.  I love to be outdoors, just moving my legs and enjoying the sights and sounds.  Everything is too frozen this time of year to offer any scent – well mostly, except that sometimes there’s a bad smell on the porch and people get falsely accused.  My goal is to burn calories in an enjoyable way so I can consume 3X the same amount of calories later.   Somehow that seems to maintain the balance even if the math doesn’t work out.
Camp in the Woods

Sometimes to the disdain of the others, one can be very happy snow shoeing or cross country skiing on a golf course or in their own backyard.   The second camp wants a destination, a peak or pinnacle as a goal for the hike.  Even better the view from the top should be enjoyed standing on the edge of a cliff.  Generally, same amount of calories burned but greater fear factor.

Camp at the top

hmmmm, who took this picture

Fun and Games

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Yeah, it’s the holidays and family is starting to arrive.  Cooper and Liz were our first guests and we had a great visit.  I felt like a tourist at home.  We wanted to see ski jumping but it was 0 degrees F and the wind was blowing too hard – some things never change – and the event was postponed.  No worries.  We had our own events.  We went to the Olympic Museum,  went ice skating, tested beer and played darts at a microbrewery, soaked in the hot tub and played Cranium.  Oh yes and ate nonstop.
I’ve owned Cranium for years but never played it. My first game made me own up to my aging eyes and admit that I need to wear reading glasses.  I thought the sculpture clues were particularly hard when I had to sculpt UPS.  I moaned  and worked the clay.  Cooper and Liz looked at each other like I was nuts.  I made a truck, a package, an envelope, opened the envelope and then my time was up.   Liz said she could have made the clue, LIPS, in seconds.  No point for the home tea m.  Doesn’t UPS look just like LIPS?
The Weary Travelers
On the Ice at Lake Placid

Cubs at the pub

A fine example of a well cropped photo discreetly shot. The real subject was Liz to the right.

Icing on the cake

I think I need to Zumba

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I’m finding it hard to exercise here.  First of all the days are short but I think we turned the corner a few days ago.  Sunset is currently around 4:30 and I often don’t have my act together by then. Need to eat, drink water, can’t be too full.  Yesterday we took a nice walk in the woods with snowshoes.   I’m very particular though.  Temperature has to be just right, I don’t like going out to play when it’s 0 F.  Snow is OK but I don’t like it to rain on my activity.  The hike shouldn’t be too easy but can’t be too strenuous.  If skiing, no sharp turns on a downhill.  And I shouldn’t see too many dismembered body parts along the way like we did yesterday.  We came across a deer, sans head and coat.  Further along, I spotted an arm bone (humerus) and wing bone (scapula).  Tim says all i do is complain.  It looked like it was being cleaned by the local coyotes.  The Zumba form of exercise is becoming more and more appealing.

Woodie in the Woods

Snow Flower