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Posts Tagged ‘Vermont’

Karin thanks the big bad world of baskets

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

basketville

As a tried and true consumer of everything, I wasn’t too worried that I would find a few things to buy in small town Vermont. And I certainly did, but they have erred on the practical side like snowboarding gear, maple syrup, and everything printed with a picture of a covered bridge. You know, must haves. But when I walked out of the snow and through the doors of Basketville in Putney, VT, all that changed.

I have absolutely never in my life seen so many baskets. And I have been known to attend an embarrassing amount of craft fairs. Basketville had baskets for food, clothes, laundry, animals, people, baskets to sit on, baskets to hang from the ceiling, baskets for love letters and hate mail, baskets for every single occasion. If it had been a store full of clothes or food, I would not have been impressed, but a humongous store devoted to one strange item is mighty impressive. Why aren’t there more of this type of store? A whole emporium devoted to paperclips. A warehouse for shoehorns. After Basketville I really see the appeal of product specific shops.

There were some tough decisions to make in Basketville, but I had to make them quick because I was headed to the great outdoors and wearing five pairs of pants. The first decision I made was to follow the strange intoxicating aroma in the fishing basket aisle. It turned out to be a sound choice as my bloodhound nose led me to a counter for Putney Mountain Winery which is made right inside Basketville. Yes, baskets and alcohol, an absolutely genius pairing! I had a few cups of every wine they make, which really helped make my basket buying decisions easier. I went away with a basket that I can actually sit inside of, a picnic basket, and three other just in case baskets. Plus a few bottles of wine to keep the cold out of my bones. Vermont consumerism has started to rival Madison Avenue. Next one stop shop – Santa land, where it’s Christmas 365 days a year. Amazing!

Including craft fairs and Amish communities, I have never ever seen so many baskets. I went bananas. I now have baskets to store things I don't even own.

Including craft fairs and Amish communities, I have never ever seen so many baskets. I went bananas. I now have baskets to store things I don't even own.

Tags: Basketville, crazed consumerism, Putney, vacation, Vermont
Posted in Boyfriend, Travel | No Comments »

Karin thanks her partner in crime

Friday, January 1st, 2010

New Years Day! A time for laundry lists of resolutions you won’t keep, two a day gym sessions, and declarations to weigh the same as your birth weight.

Over dinner in tiny town Vermont, I made the most absurd resolution list of 20 things I will definitely not keep including giving my life savings to charity, becoming fluent in Spanish and reading a dictionary-sized book a day. I also vowed to go to the gym 100 times a week, publish a dozen books and learn to play the clarinet. Why the clarinet? I don’t know. All of a sudden, in the heat of champagne and a geriatric Vermont jazz band, the instrument really appealed to me.

With resolutions meant to be broken fresh on the brain, there is no one on earth with whom I have made more resolutions than my friend Mary-Alice. We were joined at the butt in college, and still are as much as adult life will allow. Over the years we have promised to do a laundry list of things so ridiculous that some of them have come true. We’ve gone on diets where we only ate condiments, diets where we drank cheap vodka, attempted to travel solely by boat, tried to sprint the Great Wall of China, etc, etc. Mary-Alice is amazing in so many ways, but one of my favorites is that she is a doer to the nth degree. If I suggested we try space travel, she would frolic over with some moon boots and oxygen.

We traveled all over the world together and I hope 2010 allows us to do a little more exploring. We still need to test the limits of international waters and brush up on our international clog dancing act.

As I break almost every resolution I made tonight, I will think of Mary-Al and all the promises we made and broke together. Considering all the fun we had, they amount to nothing. Here’s to an antic-filled fun-loving 2010.

: This is “Kathryn Stacey” Mary-Alice’s and my love child that we made on a morph your mug site. What a beauty!!

: Ah, college. Only the finest wines were consumed, as evidenced by this photo where we fell on the ground drunk, my hair became a mustache and my boob fell out.

A sort of recent photo where we are trying to become one with our oval heads. We decided that this is the best camera pose for people with spud-like heads. I can't wait to see the antics 2010 inspires for us.

A sort of recent photo where we are trying to become one with our oval heads. We decided that this is the best camera pose for people with spud-like noggins. I can't wait to see the antics 2010 inspires for us.

Tags: college, drunken behavior, Mary-Alice, New Year's, Vermont
Posted in Alcohol, Friends, Travel | 1 Comment »

Karin thanks the vacation angels

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

toyota

I’m lying in bed alive and well while Craig watches the Nebraska football game. But! Without Durand Toyota of Bellows Falls, VT we would probably be dead, frozen solid, and half eaten by wolves on the shoulder of Route 91. Maybe archeologists would discover us 50,000 years from now like Lucy the prehistoric woman and declare us miracles of science. Thanks to Dennis and Curtis and the wonderful folks at Durand, we will avoid making headlines in 52,009 AD!

It was a morning that started off like any other. I put on five pairs of pants, four pairs of socks, six shirts, two coats, two pairs of gloves, ear warmers, a neck warmer, a hat, a helmet, goggles, and boots. It was after all THREE degrees in Vermont when we woke up for a day of snowboarding. Then, outfitted like a human snowball, Craig rolled me to the car and we got ready to master the slopes. Now I would have thought nothing much was wrong with Craig’s car, but he declared it a state of emergency, something about “no throttle response.” Sounds sexual to me, but Craig assured me it was vehicle related.

The Nebraskan started to panic, flicking on the hazards and driving on the shoulder of the highway. I was busy doing some limbering stretches for my half pipe mastery so I just wanted him to take the car straight to the slopes and leave it to die near the mountain. But no! The car wouldn’t have it, barely puttering to exit five and rolling into the magically placed Durand Toyota.

Now I would never have guessed that the nicest man angels, mangels if you will, worked at a Toyota dealership in Vermont, but what do I know. When we walked into Durand, they immediately assured us they would fix whatever problem our sad car was ailing from and gave us a brand new Prius to use right away so we could make our snowboarding lesson on time. All this while also greeting regular customers who they knew by name, asking about children and ailments and the like. It was amazing to watch.

If we had broken down in my beloved Washington this is not what would have happened. In DC, frowning employees would have told us that our car had two days to live unless they replaced the entire chassis, the wheels, and repainted it. They would also remind us that the master mechanic was out of town and we had to wait two weeks for anything to be done. Thank god this all happened in Vermont.

All snug in our Prius, Craig and I made it to our snowboarding lesson and happily butt planted all day long while seven-year-olds jumped over our limp bodies. I owe my bruises to Durand Toyota – hurrah! Tomorrow, back to the hills!

Tis I! The queen of falling on the left buttock. It really is attractive to have an arse that is half white and half blue.

Assistant Service Manager Dennis Pearce not only gave us a shiny Prius to drive and make sure we got to our snowboarding lesson on time, but he actually cared that we were stranded in 14 layers of clothing and didn't want to thumb it to the ski resort. No one would be this nice in Washington DC. I love Vermont!

Assistant Service Manager Curtis Green kept me in stitches while Craig babbled words I don't understand like "car" and "problem." While we were there a few other customers came in and Curtis knew them all by name! It was like having a car repaired in Friendly-ville.

Assistant Service Manager Curtis Green kept me in stitches while Craig babbled words I don't understand like "car" and "problem." While we were there a few other customers came in and Curtis knew them all by name! It was like having a car repaired in Friendly-ville.

Tis I! The queen of falling on the left buttock. It really is attractive to have an arse that is half white and half blue.

Tis I! The queen of falling on the left buttock. It really is attractive to have an arse that is half white and half blue.

Tags: butt, saviors, snowboarding, Toyota, vacation, Vermont
Posted in Boyfriend, Exercise, Travel | 4 Comments »

Karin thanks the land of cheddar cheese

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

grafton

It is 12:01 am and I am currently made of cheese. Yes, I think my entire body consists of curds of milk and maybe a cracker or two. Word of warning, don’t come to Grafton, Vermont unless you are prepared to morph into a dairy cow. It’s like being in France or Wisconsin. You just can’t say no to the sharp smooth goodness of Grafton cheddar cheese.

Today, after strolling around the incredibly picturesque town of Grafton, visiting the graves of revolutionary soldiers, and Underground Railroad houses in the nearby town of Chester, Craig and I paid a visit to the Grafton Village Cheese Company where they not only sell you hunks of delectable dairy, but you can also watch them make the salty goodness. They’ve been a direct cause of cellulite since 1892 and are still tempting tourists with their amazing cheddar.

Upon entering the store, Craig and I ate every single one of the 50+ cheese cubes they had as samples along with some gourmet mustard and a bucket sized jar of fig jam. It was getting embarrassing when the staff suggested we break the crackers in half so we would have more to use.

We of course bought a few tons of cheddar cheese from the store, which you think would have satiated us, but no. At dinner tonight, at the Old Tavern at Grafton, we actually ordered the cheese plate like it was some new gourmet find. Tomorrow, thank god, we are going snowboarding and might be able to melt away the 700 pounds we put on this afternoon. 500 downhill runs and lots of butt bruises – here I come!

Hello nothing! Maybe it's growing up in a city but there is something about wide open spaces that I can't get enough of. Vermont is perfect for this intrigue. I get a real kick out of running onto other people's land and snapping some artistic shots like the world is mine.

Hello nothing! Maybe it's growing up in a city but there is something about wide open spaces that I can't get enough of. Vermont is perfect for this intrigue. I get a real kick out of running onto other people's land and snapping some artistic shots like the world is mine.

Grafton, Vermont is a postcard town. It is so damn charming, it looks fake! I kept having to touch the buildings to make sure they were real.

Grafton, Vermont is a postcard town. It is so damn charming, it looks fake! I kept having to touch the buildings to make sure they were real.

Tags: charming, cheese, fat, Grafton, Vermont
Posted in Boyfriend, Food | No Comments »

Karin thanks her magnificent scanning device

Monday, December 28th, 2009

cannon

As I write this from the car, Craig and I just battled three hours of traffic to get around New York City and are in hour nine of our drive to Vermont. Craig, the even-keeled Nebraskan, almost lost his mind in the New York traffic and I coolly took the wheel for about 15 minutes until I went mentally insane and ate an entire bag of chocolate goo balls with lard frosting that his grandmother sent from Nebraska and nearly crashed into a median. But now we are cruising towards the Connecticut/Massachusetts border happy as clams.

There is so much stuff in the car that I suggested we stop at a weigh station or two to avoid paying a fine, but the Nebraskan brushed me off with some ridiculous Midwestern wisdom about sheep and patience.

I think the car is so heavy because I’m toting about 15 pounds of stationary up to New England. I have an entire suitcase packed with my computer, my amazing beloved scanner, pens, envelopes, stamps I stole from the office, past blog entries I have to mail, etc. etc. It’s like the pony express in here.

I have a vision of Vermonters being very benevolent people so I imagine I will have a heck of a lot of thank you notes to write and scan in while in the idyllic state. First I will have to write to the maple syrup people, then the folks who sell me charming sweaters with pictures of cows on them, then the guy who maintains the covered bridge, the chief foliage tracker, the lad that drives the Zamboni, and then of course the doctor who patches Craig and I up after we break all our limbs snowboarding. Vermont is going to give me carpel tunnel with all its charm. Only 111.5 miles to go!

With my precious CanoScan at a gas station in Connecticut. I was surprisingly the only person carrying a scanner while refueling. So un-tech savvy up here.

Tags: Craig, driving, road trip, snowboarding, Vermont, Zamboni
Posted in Boyfriend, Exercise, Travel | 2 Comments »