#114672

This year I exchanged holiday gifts with complete strangers, part of reddit Secret Santa.

Daughter Jenna nudging me on once again, I signed up and became Secret Santa number 114,672 in what is now known as the world’s largest online gift exchange.

The matches are random. The” giftee” is known to the "gifter" only by a bio and maybe a “wish list” along with an address.

The real fun was studying the bio I received and trying to figure out the perfect gift(s) that I hoped would be appreciated. I even wrapped the gifts in her favorite colors. And this for someone I don’t even know!  

It truly was an experience of the joy of giving. Whatever I would receive from my Secret Santa, to me that just would be like an extra bonus. I wasn’t going to expect much.

So I shipped a carefully chosen, carefully wrapped Secret Santa present off to North Carolina, AND soon after, I received a gift sent from Pennsylvania. 

Wow, here’s what I received:

The newest novel from my favorite Vermont author and a Smithsonian travel book on Costa Rica!

I checked reddit to see if my giftee in North Carolina posted anything. She did. And she said she was "in awe" of her gift. In awe... I couldn't be more pleased.

What I entered into with some skepticism turned out to be a remarkable holiday experience. 

Merry Christmas, everyone. 

50 in 52 ~ Redo

As we are now in the final month of 2013, I’m beginning to look ahead to 2014. New year, new adventures.

I recall that a few years ago one of our daughters inspired me to list what I’d like to do or accomplish during the new year. So I decided to come up with 50 items on my checklist for the 52 weeks of the year. I actually found it challenging to come up with 50!

It’s time to come up with a new list for 2014.

What works for me is to keep the list, for the most part, simple and fun: picnic by the lake, plant a tree, discover a new author, dine by candlelight, do an anonymous good deed, etc. The list is limited only by one’s courage and imagination.

Well, Jenna, I’m taking up your challenge once again. It's 50 in 52 ~ Redo!.

OOPS!

'Tis the season for cranberries. There's a package of cranberries in the fridge, so why not bake a cranberry dessert? I had a cranberry orange pudding dessert recipe I've been wanting to try.

It was easy enough to put together, and all goes well until it was baking in my 325 degree oven. OOPS!  (Well, I knew that filling the baking dish to the top would be risky, but I decided to take my chances and see what would happen.)

And here- is- what- happened!

The pudding runneth over.

I sampled what ran over the baking pan, and it's delicious! So here's the recipe:

Cranberry Orange Pudding

For the fruit:
1/2 stick butter

4 1/2 cups cranberries

3 Tablespoons sugar

For the batter:

1 1/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 stick butter, melted

splash of orange juice

1/3 cup pecans (or walnuts, or slivered almonds)

Brown sugar for topping

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Melt 1/2 stick butter in a saucepan, add cranberries and 3 T. sugar. Cook until cranberries begin to pop. Remove pan from heat

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar in a large bowl. Add eggs, melted butter and orange juice. Pour half of the batter in a deep dish pie plate. Cover with cranberry mixture and top with the remaining batter. Sprinkle with nuts and brown sugar. 

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until the top is golden brown and set.

Make sure the baking pan is large enough so the dessert does not bubble over!

Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

Serves 6

A Day at Plymouth Notch, Vermont

It was just the beginning of foliage season when Geo and I took a drive to Plymouth Notch, the birthplace and boyhood home of our 30th President Calvin Coolidge. This historic site is unique among Presidential sites because it has changed very little since the time he grew up here. The buildings are restored and preserved with original furnishings. There is no other development in the area except for the new museum and education center.

The surroundings are rural and very scenic. 

The home where Calvin was born was attached to a general store.

Here's the first floor bedroom where he was born.

When he was four years of age, the family moved to the residence across the road.

The views from inside the home were especially beautiful on this early autumn day.

When Vice President Calvin Coolidge was visiting his father in early August 1923, news came that President Warren Harding had unexpectedly died. At 2:47AM on August 3, Calvin's father administered the Presidential Oath of Office to his son who then became President. It all happened in the dimly lit sitting room of a country home in the little state of Vermont.

The room is preserved to look just as it did at the time.

Across the road is the church where the family 
worshiped.





A very short walk took us back to the general store. The upper floor of the store - a multipurpose room for storage, Grange meetings and dances - became the "summer White House."

Across the road from the store are cottages where President Coolidge's staff would stay. The cottages were very simply furnished, each one with a bed, a table and a chair. (The outhouse can be seen on the left.)

Before leaving, we drove a short ways to the cemetery to visit the gravesites of President Coolidge and his family.

President Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States.

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Our Tour of Mosaicultures International 2013 in Montreal

We left the rain behind as we crossed into Canada and over the Champlain Bridge into Montreal.

Today we were going to the Botanical Gardens for the Mosaicultures exhibit. This is an international competition held every three years in a different country - and this year it's Canada in Montreal.

The theme for 2013 is "Land of Hope" to highlight the protection of biodiversity on planet Earth. The theme serves as inspiration for artists from around the world who created living sculptures of hundreds of thousands of plants. The plants need care and pruning as they grow. We viewed about 50 sculptures in the Botanical Garden.




 

Here's an example of a design and the finished horticultural work of art.  



"Mosaiculture" is a true art form. Most of the ones we saw were HUGE and amazingly intricate.

 This shows some of the detail that was being pruned: 

Each one was so fascinating, I really could not pick a favorite. But I especially liked the realism of the sculptures in the water.

No doubt about it, Geo's fave was a Japanese exhibit, Hachiko the Loyal Dog.

An entry from the United States was Farmers: the People who Feed the World.

Here are other sculptures we saw as we walked through the gardens.

I took a close-up of one of the deer.

More pruning:

The animals were fun.

Another photo (Mother Earth) seen here with the waterfall is truly spectacular:

Here's another view:

Another amazing one, symbolizing harmony with nature:

Here's one from a Canadian exhibit:

And this is only a small sampling of what we viewed...  

Art Hop and Preservation Burlington Walking Tour

The South End of Burlington, Vermont, historically had been an industrial hub. This area is now emerging as Burlington's art district. During the weekend of the annual Art Hop, Geo and I took the Pine Street walking tour offered by Preservation Burlington. (Hmm, anyone notice an error on the sign? Clue: Check the date!) 

Burlington, on Lake Champlain, imported huge amounts of lumber in the early days from Canada. A cottage manufacturing shop not far from the lake employed about 150 people in making furniture. The wood frame building with the red rock foundation still stands. The iron buttresses were added sometime during the 1980's.

This building housed Burlington's former coal company.  

Directly behind it is the site of the current Barge Canal Market.

Burlington's Street Department was located here. It's now home to artist studios.

If you look closely, you can still see the original sign.

Dorn's Venetian Beverages were bottled on Pine Street. We saw some of the original bottles. We learned that ginger ale was popular during Prohibition because the beverage had "zing" to it. It was also added to "moonshine" to improve flavor. When Dorn's sold out, Coca Cola bottling took its place. We saw some of the original Dorn beverage bottles.

This building is now a lighting store.

There was also a laundry on Pine Street. It boasted of its sanitary conditions and invited people of the time to take tours. There were huge windows to let in the maximum amount of light.

One of the most impressive buildings is the Maltex (still called that today). This is where cereal was made - like Wheatina and Maypo.

Our guide showed us what it looked like years ago.

Today it's one of the popular happening places for the Art Hop. Last night this is where the Vermont Jazz Ensemble played (and not far from where the Ben and Jerry's truck parked for free scoops of ice cream for everyone). 

After our tour we headed to the Burlington Farmer's Market where Geo had a Peruvian pork slider from one of his fave vendors.

We found a bench in City Hall Park. These guys were quite entertaining. (Burlington's Got Talent!)

We learned a lot about the history of this active former industrial part of Burlington. Now it's primarily a thriving place for the arts, as well as other businesses. It's all part of the South End Arts and Business Association. The walking tour was a pleasant part of the weekend celebration.