Hey John…

It was nice to have this week to talk to you as you slowed down from one life into another.  I’m glad you were able to get some work done and connect in a calmer way to so many people before you officially unplugged.  Now you are gone.  Tonight will be your first night.  I am thinking of you and sending love and light your direction.  Enjoy the crescent moon tonight and the beautiful star right below it…if you have stars where you are.  Know that we don’t need telephones to connect.  We just will know.

This morning was quiet.  I like it that way.  I woke to 10 degrees after the wet warm day yesterday.  I thought I would need to break the ice just to get the garage doors opened.  Yesterday I was shoveling water out from the garage.  All was okay though.

I went for a dog walk with Tim & Jen.  I’ll spare you more dog photos.  They were cute as ever and we had grass to walk on for a bit.  I love those walks and talking to our friends.  I also like the calm sleepy dogs afterwards.

Tyler and Tom stopped in to say “hi”.  They were sorry they missed you.  Tyler is on school break just planning on sleeping for the next few days.  Tom came back to get his car.  He is loving Colorado.  Gabe just may have to take a trip out there in the next few years.  We may lose him to the powder.  That is okay…I bet we would love to snow shoe those mountains.  I loved visiting with them.  We ate chocolate covered strawberries and hot chocolate.  I think I would be happiest just feeding people.  Maybe I had a soup kitchen in a previous life or maybe it is the Italian genes expressing themselves.  They took some SamStones. 

I found a heart shaped water mark on the counter.  Can you see it?  It is right in front of the salt container.  You have to pay attention to those things in life.  There are messages everywhere.  We just need to notice.

I went up to Jen’s to get some iron oxide to do some SamStones tonight.  I saw Garrett’s new car nicely decorated.

Jen was skyping with Debra.  We sat and talked with her for about an hour.  I’m glad it is cheap to skye to Chile!  All is well.  The conversation ended with talking about food and we all realized we were hungry so we went to Bridge Street.  This is the kids table.

Tim reminded me that we can watch movies instantly with Netflix.  We grabbed Will on the way home and set up a cozy movie night.  We are not too TV deprived now. 

Well, I have some fresh bread just out of the oven.  I made Maple Oatmeal for the dinner we did not have here.  I am heading downstairs to cut into it with Gabe & Will.  I wonder what you are eating tonight.  You will have to tell me because I am sure you will remember the first night.

Sleep well.  love….d

Friends.. I just got the call. I'm heading out in 10 min, wish me luck ! I love you all . Love you sam

-ne

Dear John…

Okay I just did what you always do.  I lost the blog.  It was all complete and I went to get a tag from an email and then poof it is all gone.  Bummer.  I probably needed that experience to remind me to post and then go add something in edit.  So here I will go and save now.

Okay I’m back again.  So the next thing I did like you was I forgot the camera for the morning.  I had all these shots that I had to just let go of.  So I will create the visuals for you with words…no I am not going to make those little stick people.  That is way too hard and it is midnight.

Well the morning started off with a breakfast for snowboarders, cream cheese/chocolate chip stuffed french toast for Gabe & Dylan.  Not much talking…just grunts ever so often.  I felt that the camera would be intrusive at this point.  Plus I think Gabe is getting tired of me taking pictures.  I feel I need to…how many dog pictures can one handle?  We may now have more Chai pictures than baby pictures of Gabe.

I did bring the doggies with me to Stowe.  They were most excited.

On the way to Stowe I needed to stop at the Mobile station on rt 100.  I missed the entrance and had to enter the Shaw’s side.  Good thing too because I pulled up next to Brit F.  I rolled down my window and said “I was thinking of you yesterday and wanted to email you and never did”.  She said “I almost stopped in yesterday with a friend on our way back from Burlington”.  So those who don’t know, Brit & Sam were an item for a bit.  Her mom passed about 4-5 years ago.  She is someone who I can easily talk with about life and death, and she is just 16/17.  She is beautiful as ever and doing well.  It is funny because it was actually Oscar the Grouch that popped in my head.  That is her email address and I associate Oscar with her.  I think the last time I had contact with her was almost a year ago.  We really don’t need telephones. 

We arrived at Stowe.  Here is a picture of the gondola.  

I then took the dogs to Smugglers Notch road.  This road is closed for half the year due to the narrow mountain pass.  It actually was used to smuggle liquor during prohibition.  Today there were just plenty of dogs and people using the pass.  I saw many skiers and riders hiking out.  Apparently they take the gondola up and then go off trail down through those steep woods.  I must say they all had smiles on their faces so it must have been fun.  Soon the trail cleared out and it was just me, the dogs and the great boulders next to the road…or the boulders that redirected the road.  We walked for about 2 hours.  The girls were tired and no snowmobiles today.

I went back to the lodge and read my book, “The Devil in the White Cite” by Erik Larson.  It is quite good (thank you Leah).  The nonfiction story is about the World’s Fair in Chicago.  You would like the Tesla/Edison connection.  There was so much happening at that time.  Here this great fair is underway and banks and businesses are failing.  People really needed the fair.  This book is full of little tales.  I like the  snippet about one carpenter on the project who just loved the experience.  His son Walt Disney truly grew up at the right time in the right place.

I saw Kat C. in the lodge.  She is doing well…having fun with her friends with all the snow.  They declared 11:00 beer time.  They too were resort hopping.

Here is a shot of Sumner, Gabe, Charlie & Dylan.  They had fun riding together.   

Gabe & I left about 2:30.  Gabe was exhausted.  I actually just had to turn off his light, as I am writing this, because he fell asleep across his bed with the light still on.

Kristin came over for dinner.  We had veggie sheppards pie and salad.  Yum.  Debra called about 10:00.   It was good talking with her.  The kids are with their Dad in Argentina right now.  Brit is with her finishing school work.  She will be back here in April.  I offered our house to her and her friends.  I feel weird in this big house with just Gabe & I.  We have 2.5 baths and 5 bedrooms just for us.  If our septic worked I would be inclined to fill the house with who ever needed a place.  Of well. 

I finished my blubird of a day yesterday by receiving an email from someone who does not know us…or sam.  She does have people in her life who love sam and so she felt connected to him.  She had climbed the fire tower and took a picure of the sam stone you nailed up there.  The scenes are of climbing the ladder and looking around.  Take a look at the slideshow at this link.  I hope it works from this blog.  If not, copy/paste it into a browser.  Here is the link.  

http://web.me.com/flask/flask/photos/Pages/from_the_tower.html

much love…diane

Friends,
    Not sure when my last chance to blog will be. I think I have a day or two more. I’ll keep writing as long as I can. That said, there’s not much I can relate about the last two days other than they’ve been really fun.. and really interesting. The folks around this project seem great.. though we haven’t really gotten a chance to get to know one another yet. That will come in time.   All I have for pictures from my day are the views from my hotel window..

not bad.. but I’m itching to get outside.    I’m getting really excited about this project.. I’m also already really missing my family. It feels different already than a business trip.. I know how long I’ll be away.
   I guess I should stop writing before I say something I shouldn’t . I can’t wait to share the stories from this place.. but that will have
to wait until fall. For now, I’m sending you all my love.  Gnite friends.. Gnite Diance, Max, Gabe I love you.. Love you too Sam
-me