Well now what?

Well the summer of 2011 has rounded the bend.  Over in Middlebury they are post-Field Days to be followed quickly by back-to-school shopping.  The Tweed River Music Festival has come and gone (without me) and the last camper left yesterday around 1:00 PM (without me).

It has been a summer that turned out much differently than I had envisioned.  Plans of learning to play the guitar (2 new chords-that’s it), running every day (once around the lake) and making a gazillion grilled cheese sandwiches (accomplished that one) were squashed by work.

My romantic life was on hold.  Basically a summer of celibacy.  My laundry getting mixed up and delivered to one of the female counselors’ cabins by mistake was as close as I got to love.

Showering after work tonight and I’m down to one bar of Ivory the size of a dime.  Enough for one armpit which means I have to stand sideways when ever I converse with anyone so’s not to offend.  So I figure I can put a little adventure in my life, a little change, a little shake-me-up and take care of Mr. B.O. at the same time.  I’m going soap shopping!

I’m going soap shopping and after 30 plus years of loyalty I’m planning on coming home with something different than Ivory.  

First stop is aisle 9 at Kinney’s Drug Store.  Aisle 9.  Hosiery, Cosmetics, Implements (huh?), Facial Essentials, Shower and Bath and Skin Care.  This is not going to be as easy as I had hoped but I remain determined. Mantra: change is good, change is good.  No it’s not.  Change is scary, can’t I just get my Ivory and go home?

Apparently there have been several changes in the soap world in the past 30 years.  Who knew cucumber, lemon verbena, shea butter, exfoliation and micro beads were an essential part of being clean.  There may be a panic attack in my future.  And nothing against the Irish but I’ve known a few and they haven’t got a lock on freshness.

Oh this is interesting.  Down on the bottom shelf all in a row.  Boraxo, Lava and Kirk’s Castile.  This is the section for people who don’t mind scrubbing off an arm in the name of cleanliness.  I think I might have gone too far and work my way back up.  

My final answer Regis?  Zest.  I’ve heard of it.  Serious questions about the Ocean Energy and the Scent Caps System that promises to release long lasting clean scents.  But it’s right next to the Ivory so I don’t feel as though I’ve strayed too far.   Take a deep breath and head quickly to the cash register.  And we’re done.    

That was actually liberating.  Almost exhilarating.  But exhausting.  I’ll say goodnight.  I’ve got to get to bed so I can wake up and take a shower.  

Love you all.  Peace.  Peter

Today I got out of the kitchen

and got to go for a hike with Don MacIntosh and a group of eight year olds.  The tripping department is wonderful about putting these hikes, canoe trips and overnights together and once and awhile you can tag along.  After about a 20 minute ride, oh wait a minute...Everett put on your seatbelt...we made it to the trailhead for the Wright Mountain Trail.  The hike includes a sidetrail to the Devil's Den caves where we won't get to go in but we can look in because four people have gone in and not come out and they never found their bodies.  Ooh, like I'm really scared.

We learned that before heading out on any hike it's important to get rid of any excess weight and check the trail map one last time.

Trip Leader

Hiking with 8 and 9 year old boys at first seems like a nightmare.  And it is.  But you can learn a lot by being patient and just lending an ear.  Did you know that the typical human swallows 12 spiders during their lifetime?  While they are sleeping.  And you probably know this too but if you hold a match to your  butt and fart it will explode.  Jason's brother did it.

We stopped for gorp, water and a quick rest after about 10 minutes.  No Wilem we are not almost there.  

The boys.

I'm sorry you spilled your water, I bet you'll be more careful next time.  

Cows fart with their eyes closed.

About half an hour later we stopped for lunch.  (This is not going to be a long hike.)  We had lunch at this great cabin with a wonderful view.

Wonderful view

Cabin and the boys

After lunch we had a wonderful time doing what is called rest period.  I don't know at what age we stop this ritual but I for one would vote in favor of a mandatory 1 hour nap after lunch.  It was actually a very nice time.  The boys settled down, the clouds over head floated peacefully by and the breeze gently worked its way through the beech tree canopy.  Until James farted.  Which he did not do on purpose.  Did so.  Did not.  Did so.  Ten minutes of suppressed giggling and we're on our way.

Anyway.  If Gandalf and Frodo and the smallest transformer fought against the spells of Voldemort it would be a tie.  Would not.  Would so.  I think I sprained my ankle can someone carry me?

Heading down the trail towards the caves things started getting real quiet even though everyone knew there is no such thing as the devil and he wouldn't be hanging out in a bunch of not really scary caves in Vermont and what was that noise and maybe I should wait here to guard the water bottles.  Did you know that if you fart in a cave it will echo for eternity?  True.

I didn't get any pictures of the caves.  None of them came out for some reason.  Ooooh.

We made it down and back to camp for dinner which was.  No.  Yes, Mexican night.  Well that will be good for my heart.

Next week I'm signed up to go to Eagle's Bluff with a group of 11-12 year olds.  I'm looking forward to being with a more mature group.  I heard these guys can make armpit farts and one of them saw the nurse's boobies when she bent over to tie her shoe.  Did not.  Did so.

Love you all.  Peace.  Peter

TODAY I FOUND...

East Bumfuck, VT.  It is just north of Victory before you get to Granby.  I went for a motorcycle ride out of camp in search of the point where Vermont, New Hampshire and Canada all come together.  Thought I would take the back way so as to see a part of Vermont I had never seen before.  Which is now that part of Vermont I hope to never see again.  The road from Rt 2 in North Concord that winds up and through Victory, East Bumfuck, Granby, Guildhall finally connecting with Rt. 102 turns out is gravel.  Which turns out to not be the best road surface for motorcycle tires that should have been changed about 2000 miles ago.  An interesting side note: Guildhall gets its name from the Abenaki word for “place you can’t nor would you want to get to from here”.

Guildhall Doublewide Trailer

I finally made it to the right neck of the woods but narrowing down what I thought would be a pretty big tourist draw (I mean we’re talking not just about the Northeast Kingdom, this is the actual Northeast Corner of Vermont) was a little more of a challenge than I had foreseen.  Almost crossed into Canada at Beecher Falls.  Headed up the New Hampshire side of the Connecticut looking for a place called Happy Corner, NH.  Sounded promising but nothing.  I finally tracked down a stone marker that indicated that an institution of no less importance than the United States Supreme Court Boundary Commission had determined that the spot I was looking for was 314 feet to the east at the low water point of the edge of the Connecticut River.

You thought I was kidding?

That’s it!  Get your toes wet and you’re in New Hampshire.

On the way home I had lunch in this quaint little restaurant named after the farmer who had a farm, EIEIO.  And on that farm he had some animal parts, EIEIO.  With a quarter pounder here...

Actually it was a great ride.  It’s always good to get out of camp for a little break.  I did see some signs of wildlife.

Unfortunately also signs that man is starting to encroach on this quaint corner of Vermont.

I did have a close call on the way home when I came around a corner and there were these slow children ahead playing teeter-totter in the road.

Luckily I had retained my muscle memory from playing the windmill hole at miniature golf so many times and sped under the port side just as she went up.  Another interesting side note:  Teetor-totter comes from the Greek.  Teetor meaning fat boy and totter meaning move closer to the fulcrum.  There you have it.

Next week I think will explore the path of 5 or 6 of Vermont’s fine micro-brewed beers as they make their way from fine hops and grains to my refrigerator and beyond.

Love you all.  Peace.  Peter

too many bratz...

wrote this post about 2 weeks ago, but it didn't post for some reason. anyway, here it is, a brief update.

"Bratz" of course being the name of the awful, over-sexualized, plastic dolls that little Megan owns about 30 of, and not little Megan herself (most of the time). I spend every day with Megan and Sam and sometimes their cousins Anna and Charlie. While Sam and Charlie play legos, Megan, Anna, and I play Bratz. For hours. Of course, I have to do all the voices and make up all the characters and stories, so esentially I play Bratz while the girls watch. The other day I found myself lying on the carpet surrounded by doll-sized mini-skirts and tank-tops and stilettos making Denise tell Michelle about her horrible breakup with her boyfriend Gil (they've been dating since high school) while Sierra drove them to the mall to meet Jazmine and Jules where they were all going to pick out prom dresses ("Pretend Jazmine was the prettiest and they were all jealous of her prom gown, ok?"). I had a moment of panic for my future. What skills can I offer to potential employers? "I may not know how to make a spreadsheet or write a grant, but if you need someone to create and remember the lifestory of 30 characters, I'm your gal!" ohhh dear.
I've taken to bringing them swimming whenever I can (the kids, not the dolls). Branbury, Button Bay, the College Pool--if there's water, we'll be there. Unfortunately 2 of the 4 kids hate swimming. Yes, I have the only 2 kids on the face of the earth who would rather sit inside on a 95degree day complaining about how bored they are than go to the pool. So instead of happy, excited kids, I'm dragging cring, disgruntled kids around town with me. And it takes about 45min to get out the door, with all the begging and pleading and demanding and manipulating I have to do to get them into the car. what fun!

My days off aren't much more thrilling. Meghan and I (big Meghan, the one who is living with us over the summer) spend most of our time watching movies or TV and eating ice cream at night, and hiking/beaching on weekends. Last weekend we drove to NYC. She was visiting her boyfriend and I was visiting Grady. We had beautiful weather, and a great time! We walked around Prospect Park, had lunch, had our nails done, met Tiffany in Manhattan for shopping, then went to our friend Sylvana's birthday party. At 4:00 Sunday morning the party was over and Grady and I made our way back to Brooklyn (after stopping at Dwayne Reade to purchase the two ugliest pairs of sandals ever sold for $2.99...we just couldn't stand the heels anymore). Sunday was brunch with Tabby and Sarah in Manhattan, cupcakes at Crumbs bakery, a visit with the kiddies, and then back to VT for me. Back to the grindstone. The Bratz missed me.
probably not as much as I miss all of you though! hoping we can get together sooner than later! Daddy, I love reading your stories about camp. The more I hear the more I wish I was at summer camp, too! But we all wish you would hurry up and come back home.
love you!
Cailin

The summer of 2011

is quickly passing.  Although everyday at camp seems like 4 or 5 days I am realizing that the end of camp is about as close as the beginning.  So far it has been a great combination of long hours of work that is much harder than I imagined and an environment of wonderful people, love and caring and sharing and almost enough alone time.

The camp is truly a magical place that reminds me everyday of what Hogwarts must be like.  Kids are allowed to escape and be themselves no matter if that means wearing your shorts pulled up almost to your boobies or breaking your arm because you jumped out of a swing that was going just a touch too high.  Counselors are encouraged to make fools of themselves which makes fitting in for me quite easy.  The other night I got to go on an after-dinner treasure hunt with the Brookside Unit which is the set of tents and cabins filled with 9 and 10 year olds.  The boys were explained to that the point of the hunt was to get the unit to work as a unit and that we were going to walk as a team not run as a bunch of individuals after each clue was read and figured out.  It took about 3 clues for the counselors to figure out that while the ears of 9 and 10 year old boys hear walk, and their brains understand walk, and they know they are supposed to walk it is just impossible for the legs to not run as fast as possible (team? what team?) to the next clue.  Because, well there is no because, that's just the way it is.  Has been since 1922 when the camp started and will be in 2022 when the camp will be 100 but the boys of Brookside will still be 9 and 10.

We served 750 grilled cheese sandwiches yesterday with 25 gallons of homemade tomato soup.

Wednesday night is the final game of the summer baseball tournament and the kitchen is responsible for a hot dog and hamburger bbq.  It should be great fun and very tiring and we'll get up the next day and do it all over again.

4 Things I won't miss hearing.
1. What's for lunch today?  (What do you care kid you're not going anywhere.)
2. Do you have any apples?  Not the green ones, I like red.  (No kid, today's fruit are bananas.)
3. The upper dining room milk machine is empty.  (Try the one in the lower dining room kid.)
4. What's for lunch today? (You're the 217th person to ask me that today.  You win a set of hands around your wind pipe.  Just kidding, now get out of here kid.)

The music at camp is great and at times borders on divine.  The piano in the upper dining room is often used by campers who just feel like playing and makes great accompaniment for kitchen prep work. You can walk around a corner and run into a bunch of counselors playing guitars and singing.  One of our counselors is the top recorder player in the country.

On Sunday the choir was heading out to sing at the Bradford Congregational Church. (Parishioners 20 / Boys Choir 60) Before they left they were in the barn just off the kitchen warming up so I went and sat on the steps just outside the door and listened while I drank a cup of coffee.  As beautiful as their music was the sound that their 8 counselors who were working on an a cappella hymn produced, was about as close to heaven on earth as I've been.

Well I best go.  I've got to figure out what to serve for lunch tomorrow.  And suggest that Jackson wear his shorts just a little lower.  A 10 year old boy's boobies need to breathe.

Love you all.  Peace.  Peter

Where in the world is everybody?

Family that I love! Another apology for not keeping in touch very well. I miss everyone. It's been about four months since I've been back to VT and some of you I haven't seen in longer, BOOOO. I am hoping to get home for like two weeks in august, but we'll see what my schedule is like. I have to find a new job in august because freyja and katla are going back to playschool and I'll need to have a job at school, so I've been applying for waitressing jobs, so far to no avail. I actually bought a wig, hahaha, and am going to wear it on my next job search, to see if perhaps people are taking one look at my majorly awkward hair length (I knew growing it out would be tedious, but i had no idea it would be this bad) and deciding against me. Haha, just a little social experiment, I'll keep you updated on how it goes. If nothing else, it is SO FUN to be able to flip my hair over my shoulder again.

In other news, Baldur's oldest daughter Hekla, who is twelve, has just arrived on American soil, straight from Reykjavik, and she has been spending days with Katla and Freyja and me. She's great, she cracks me up. In her own words, "there aren't a lot of alive things in Iceland", so she LOVES going to the park, and I am getting more intimately familiar with squirrels than i ever thought I would... we have been examining them with such thoroughness I wonder if we might have some insight for biology's general benefit. She also plays guitar (or Gee-tar), as she pronounces it, and has been serenading us all week. She's quite good actually, I'm very impressed. She speaks English quite well, but her vocabulary is fraught with slang and swears, which makes me think that they don't carry the same weight as adopted in Iceland: she really is the sweetest, most gentle little girl, and I'm always a little taken aback when she says something like "I think there is an ice cream shop on 12th street or some f*cking thing."

Our cousin Samantha, who graduated from college this year, just moved to the house where her mom grew up, in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and is living in the apartment on the top floor. I have been sleeping over there for several nights because she has air conditioning, haha, and of course because it's great to have a friend with whom to order chinese food and watch lifetime original movies. Tabby, Hannah, Samantha, Ellina's college roommate Lauren (who I have gotten to know through Ellina and has had a few job interviews in the city, and so has stayed with me several times) all went to the Bryant Park Summer Film Festival the other night and saw "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" with Marilyn Monroe, and it was as sexist and ridiculous and absolutely fantastic as I expected it to be. The park was packed, we got there at 6:00 and brought a big picnic, thinking that since the movie didn't start until 9 (when sun sets), three hours would be plenty of time. But even then we only got seats on the gravel, all the spots on the lawn had been taken. But our picnic was great anyway and it was so great to see the movie outside on this huge screen and look up occasionally and see the empire state building to the south and the New York Public Library to the East. Quite the experience.

I am going to Bikram Yoga tonight, and am so excited. It's supposed to be one of the most amazing workouts, because there is a furnace in the studio so it's always above one hundred degrees, and therefore your cardiovascular rate goes way up. I've just been getting so bored running on the treadmill at the gym, I'm excited to change it up. Also it is supposed to be like a complete cleanse for your body because you sweat all your toxins out, so I have this image in my mind of walking out a whole new person-- though realistically I'll be walking out with sweaty bangs plastered to my forehead, makeup dripping, smelling like I just went for a twenty mile run...

I went running with Aunt Lauren on Sunday in Central Park, and it was a really nice run. She always says she's needs to have an easy jog but I wind up huffing and puffing to keep up, hahaha... we'll see, maybe after a couple weeks of bikram yoga she will be struggling to keep up with me haha.

Hope everyone starts writing again, I need to be updated on people's lives!

Love you and miss you! See you soon I hope!

xox

Sooooo good to hear from you, Peter!

Dad and I were just saying at supper how much we miss you in Addison County, even though we weren't in your company all that much. How often will you be able to get to the Fairlee Free Library for Internet connection - or have you found another place to plug in? Your reports from the library were great fun.

Thanks for the photos. That's a spick and span kitchen 260 eaters! I'll be thinking of you.

Are you homesick? Do you remember the story about Patty's first time away at camp? a week at Tamarack Notch, a Girl Scout camp in Mendon. This is the one letter we had from her:

"Please send Kleenex.
The girl next to me gets a letter every day."

It was tortuous, I guess. She had a terrible cold, for one thing.

I know I said I was going to be better at tending to posting to this blog once the Rhubarb Festival was history, and I regret not having made good on that promise. The Festival was a huge success. When it was over I realized how much energy and time I had put into it. Now I've gone into resting mode, enjoying freer time.

We have been expecting to see or at least hear from Elena and haven't any clue as to what has detained her. She is supposed to be on the Aloha staff in some capacity and Marusa was to be a full-time camper at Hive. The last I heard from her she was off to be the keynote speaker at a conference in China - Shanghai, I think - but would be getting to this country 6/24, 25 for the summer at camp.

We are anxiously awaiting to hear that the sale of this house will go forward. We should have that word by the end of the week. We had supper on the deck tonight and couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic as we took in the views. Speaking of homesick! But change is all about opportunity, right?!

Also, missing the grands. Four of them are in Addison County, at least. They aren't posting here either, so I'm not going to suffer from too much guilt.

Love and hugs,
Mom

Camp Start Tomorrow

Tomorrow's breakfast is our last meal for just counselors.  Campers arrive tomorrow after breakfast and we are expecting to serve 260 for lunch tomorrow!  I think we are ok but it will probably take a couple of days worth of mistakes to figure everything out.  We had a wonderful get together last night with the staff from all the camps.  It takes place at Aloha Hive which is the young girls' camp down the road a piece from us.  After a chicken picnic everyone gathers and sings camp songs and listens to the directors talk about the history and the magic behind the camps.  I stood in line for dinner with a girl who just graduated from Middlebury, (she had seen my Middlebury Crew hat earlier).  She said she kind of knew you Cailin because she had a friend on the crew team.  One of the captain's maybe?  Her name was Jamie Rosenfeld and she is going to be doing an internship at the Whitney Museum with the woman who is the mother of the twins who are coming to camp for the first time who Renee asked me to write to to reassure and also got Grady her art teaching job.  Small world!

Tonight Don MacIntosh has invited me to go along with some of the senior staff for dinner at a restaurant in town.  Everyone has the night off before the start of camp.  It should be fun.

Yesterday I was able to swim 100 yards and tread water for 5 minutes so I am allowed to jump in Lake Morey.

The day before Don had to give me the road test to allow me to drive camp vans if need be.  It went something like this.
Don:  See that van?
Me: Yeah.
Don: Kick the tires.
Me: Like this?
Don: Yes.  You pass the road test.

Here are some more pictures showing my kitchen, some of the campers tents and some of the counselors helping with a chicken and ribs barbeque we had a couple of nights ago.

Stewart is from Australia

Andrew is from Oklahoma

Not sure where Ross is from but he likes corn.

Trey is from Brooklyn.  Maybe you know him Grady.

Don Macintosh and Addizu Hodes.  Addizu is from Ethiopia and is the one whose father is good friends with the author of Cutting For Stone.

I think it's only been a week since I've been gone but it seems like forever.  Looking forward to seeing Cailin, Connor, Patty and hopefully Bo and Marley on the Fourth!!

Love you all.  Peace.  Peter.

All Charged Up

So here I am back at the Fairlee Free Public Library.  What is Fairlee Free?  You only have to pay sometimes?  Just what seems right?  And who decides?  Anyway it being Saturday they closed an hour before I got here.  Luckily the bench out front ain't too hard and is close enough to the Whistlestop Cafe's internet signal that I am able to broadcast and try to get up to date.

All the kitchen staffs from all the camps got together this morning to go over policies and procedures.  Definitely have fun.  Definitely do not clean the slicer with your hand while it is running.  I met my staff which consists of my Asst. Chef Chris who is nice enough but a little jumpy-everything cool-I'm down with that-can we get a CD player for the kitchen kind of guy.

Then I have 4 college-age kids from overseas who have little or no experience in the kitchen. (The cheese goes between the two slices of bread for a grilled cheese sandwich?)  I will fill in more details as I get to know them but for now they are Alan from the U.K.  Maybe you know him Cailin?  Ekaterina from Russia.  Anita from Hungary.  And Olga from Ukraine.  Beet soup for everyone!  We start tomorrow with a dinner called the Big Kahuna which is a gathering of all the unit and department heads.

Some pictures.

Conn Man- Not at camp, I just miss him.  (Pre haircut!)

My cottage.  Pretty rustic here at old Camp Lanakila.

The view from my front porch.  Are you sure this is a camp?

The backside of the mess hall.

Some of the tents and clubhouse of the Brookside Unit.  8,9 and 10 year old boys.

My room.  Just as rustic inside.

A beautiful rainbow over Lake Morey.  Aaaah.

Well that's it for now.  I better go check on my charges.  Olga stop!!  Turn the mixer off before you scrape down the sides.  No Alan, sugar is not the same as salt.

Love you all.  Peace.  Peter

Hello Madda, Hello Fadda

Here I am Camp Lanakila.  There is no internet access at camp so my posts may be few and far between.  Right now I am sitting in the Fairlee Free Library surrounded by a gazillion books and 4 little old ladies getting ready for a book sale.  Thinking I'm all set to get caught up on my blogs and e-mail and online bill paying and Facebook and I realize I'm down to 12% power and no power cord.  I'll try to type fast.

So far camp has been basically me.  People will start coming in tonight and tomorrow.  The only real thing I've done in the klitchen is make myself a salami and American cheese sandwich.  And put an order away. I meet my staff tomorrow and we start cooking on Sunday.

Some pictures.  And then I'm afraid I will be out of power.  Well this is ridiculous, my camera is also out of charge.  I stink at this.  Going home to recharge.  I will try again tomorrow.  If the book sale doesn't get in the way.  Ladies, ladies ladies.  It's OK if Abraham Lincoln's Biography gets stuck in with History.

Love you all.  Peace.  Peter

Yay!

Thanks Peter for that wonderful post! Thanks everyone for coming to celebrate with us! I can't wait to hear about all of your adventures Peter. (and everyone else too of course!)

Well Let The Games Begin

So as probably everyone knows, my days in the employ of the Middlebuy Inn have come to a close.  Tiring of the long hours I have decided to go in search of adventure.  My immediate plans involve going to camp for the summer.  Well actually that's it.  I have no plans other than my immediate plans.  So I guess my immediate plans should include making long term plans.  Long term for me as most of you know is 3 months from now.  But I get ahead of myself.  Must remember to live in the moment.

Those of us within shouting distance of Cider Mill Road, Cornwall got to attend Marley Mi's graduation party on Saturday.  Dad, Patty and I set the tent up on Friday without checking the directions more than 4 times.  (That's 2 long poles made up of 3 short sections and 8 short poles made up of 2 long sections and 10 stakes.  Whack the livin' bejeezus out of the stakes and stick the ends of each pole in a hole.  Pray for no wind.)

Me whackin' the livin' bejezzus out to the stake.

Patty yelling directions across the tent.

Dad supervising.

Marley and a few of her friends were there to help as well.  But first they had to decorate their caps.  

Marley, Jane and Mariko

Mariko on the left, Jane on the right.  I think.  You can tell them apart by their giggles.

A shot of the girls helping set the tent up.  Oh darn, must have had my lenscap on.

The next day it rain.  And rained.  And rained.  But no one cared because it was a wonderful day and 8 or 9 or 10 graduates and their super wonderful families all came and had a wonderful time at Patty's house.  Even Bo and Bob who got assigned to parking cars and keeping out the riff-raff had fun.

Slicker than...

Even the veggie burgers got along with the real thing.

Congratulations!!!

I was supposed to spend today, Monday moving all my stuff to storage but all the storage companies that are open on Monday are full.  I have to try tomorrow.  If that doesn't work we've got a problem.  Maybe I should have done a little more planning last week.

Love you all.  Peace.  Peter

Grady, how do you make a gin ricky?

Revived!

Thank you, Peter and Grady! Great writing, reading and photo-ing! When the Rhubarb Festival is accomplished this Saturday, I will return to the land of the living, too. Now I must go make another pie.

Love to everyone,
GrAnn

Hello everyone! It has been toooooo long. My big news, that I'm sure everyone has heard: I GOT INTO NYU!! There were doubts for awhile there, as to whether I would make anything more of myself than a child tender, but it seems that after all I will be pursuing a higher education! I'm so excited! I have decided on political science as a major... I will probably be registering for classes within the next couple of weeks, I can't wait. I don't really have any details yet about where I will be living or anything but I should be finding that out soon as well. In the meantime, I am still with the kids. Katla is going to be a year old on July 1! I can't believe it, I have been with her almost every day since she was a month and a half old, it's amazing how she's developed, it's like watching her grow into a little person overnight.

at the opposite end of the spectrum from my pseudo-motherhood: I have registered for bartending school! My first class is next monday, the 6th of june. They go from 6pm to 10pm monday through friday for two weeks, then i even get a diploma, haha... but the best part is that Authentic Bartending (really original name) has a relationship with a bunch of bars and clubs and hotels around the city, so their graduates feed right into the system, so that will make a job search much easier. I am keeping my babysitting job, obviously, this would just be part time in the evenings and i think it will be especially good to have in the fall when I'm in classes all day and can't have a day job. I'm just excited for some interaction with people my own age. It looks like it will be a lot of fun. I went in the other day to pick up my workbook, which is a telephone book sized manual of drink recipes and bartending terms-- go on, ask me how to make a gin ricky.

it's been so brutally hot here, my apartment doesn't have air conditioning and it's about 120 degrees in my room. luckily KC and Baldur have AC in their apartment, that's a lifesaver.

Cailin was here to visit me last week and we had all kinds of fun. we walked across the brooklyn bridge one day, making the mistake of wearing stylin' shoes rather than functional kicks and no sooner were we in manhattan than we had to go to a shoe store and get some different footwear. Aside from that discomfort, we had a great day-- we went to the Met and met up with our friend Tiffany, who's on the crew team with Cailin. She lives in Queens, so hopefully I will be seeing a lot of her this summer. There are actually quite a few midd kids in nyc for the summer, so chances are better that I'll have some social interaction, although I doubt my abilities to function properly in an adult conversation given my everyday company.

Cailin and I also went to Tabby's bachelorette party. Having never been to a bachelorette party i wasnt really sure what to expect, but was a little frightened considering certain stigmas of such events. It was so much fun though, we did a lot of eating and a lot of dancing. As a testament to the extent of our dance floor action, Cailin and I had to hit the 24-hour drug store on our way home, once again for a change of shoes, as our 6-in heels would not have taken us back to Brooklyn in one piece, if at all.

We also got to see Aunt Lauren, which was great! She introduced us to a wonderful pizza place in the city which I'm glad to know exists, although my wallet and my waistline would beg to differ. I'm hoping to rack up a bunch of addresses and go-to destinations for the fall as a tactic for luring potential friends who are new to the city.

Let's keep this blog going! Miss everyone, love everyone! xxox

Where Is Everyone

It has been way too long since we got in touch.  Shame on all of us.

Cailin, Connor and I went to see Brett Dennen at Higher Ground this past Thursday.  It was a wonderful time.  I picked them up at 542 Market Road (got to see Tanny!) and we headed to Burlington in a wicked storm.

Tanny Boy!

Tanny and his Boy!

We decided to eat at The Sky's The Limit, a new burger restaurant in Burlington that lets you build your own burger.  We parked in the parking garage near the top of Church Street and headed for the restaurant which turned out to be at the bottom of Church Street.  By the time we found it we were soaked.  Got inside and the first thing the waitress asked us was if we would like some water.

Great burgers.  Not enough towels.

The show was great.  

Brett Dennen

6' 5" with great red hair.

We made it home and I got back to Ripton for one of the best lightening storms I've ever been in.

Love you all.  Peace.  Peter

race coverage

Here's a link to the footage from our race, for those who missed it, or would like to watch it over and over and over again (or is that just me?)...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgmPPs53hak&feature=youtube_gdata_player

listen at :37 seconds! you can hear "M-I-D-D" being chanted in the background!

race coverage

Dad Vails

Thank-you all for watching the race, and for all your support!! We had the most amazing weekend of races, with two wins, the fastest 4+ qualifying time of the weekend, and a silver medal! There's too much to write about, I want to tell you all about them in person. But I will tell you, this was the first time in Middlebury history that a boat has medaled at Dad Vails! It felt increible to row over to the awards dock after our race and have Noel and the rest of the team cheering from the stands as we accepted our silver medals. It was Meghan and Elise's last race with Middlebury and our last race as a boat, so a wonderful note to end on. Here's a picture of us with our medals, the two girls who raced the pair, and Noel. Many more pictures to come, and hopefully some video (Noel biked along the course videotaping most of it).

One more day until summer officially begins!!! Hopefully I'll see most of you sooner than later. Love you!

This isn't my news but I could not wait!

It's Friday afternoon.  I just heard from Cailin that she and her crew of 4 won their heat at today's Dad Vail race in Philadelphia.  And had the fastest time of all 30 boats in their class!  They row tomorrow morning early.  If they do well there will one more race tomorrow afternoon.  For all the marbles.  Woo hoo!!

Midd Crew Practice

Wow.  What a great day.  I got to ride along with Noel the Middlebury Crew coach on Lake Dunmore today.  It was absolutely beautiful, slightly windy and chilly but very sunny and absolutely beautiful.  So much fun getting to see the rowers at sea level rather than having to wait at the finish line.  The wind chopped the water quite a lot so the boats cruised back and forth along the north shoreline.  They go to Philadelphia on Friday and Saturday for the Dad Vail which is the last race of the season.

Thanks Cails, I had a blast!

Love you all. Peace. Peter