Today Sheri received her new winter sleeping bag in the mail. She is now ready for anything that the snow gods can throw at her!!
Ready for winter…
Progress on the kitchen in New Hampshire
Bug season is in full swing in New Hampshire, so we have been focused on the kitchen renovation and only making short trips out into the wilderness. Hence, the kitchen is coming along quite nicely and should be completed before the next ski season!
In early June we received a shipment of cabinets – over 50 boxes in total!
After re-routing some wires and cutting a hole in the outside wall for the extractor fan ducting we were ready to get started.
We had help installing the new tiles while we were at work in Connecticut.
We began (and got warmed up) by installing the wall cabinets.
The new hood and the base cabinets were installed next…..
Of course this involved cutting holes in the new cabinets…..
…and making sure that they are attached firmly to the walls…
..and to the floor.
Not forgetting, of course, to keep everything perfectly level at all stages of the installation!
Next trip up north we will be building an island and a buffet in anticipation of new counters which should arrive in early July.
Hopefully we will be able to reclaim our dining room and living room soon, and we may even be able to graduate from eating off paper plates to real dishes before the summer is over!
Soft fruit season is upon us
Fruit and nuts
Here at Hangman Hill we have a bumper crop of strawberries. The two cookie sheets worth (or half bushel?) were picked picked after a weekend in New Hampshire. Stop by for poundcake (DiAnns’s recipe) and berries!
Fruit
Meanwhile, progress on the kitchen at the chalet continues. We have a new tile floor, cheerful yellow walls and a few cabinets on the wall. It was a perfectly sunny weekend with mild temperatures, perfect for arranging cabinets. Actually as lhe black fly season is in full swing, it was a good weekend to be inside.
Nuts
Let the season begins…the first strawberries are in!
Harvesting arugula
Recent rainfall has helped things to grown in the garden. This year may be year of arugula. We are thinking of having a highly exclusive farm stand that only sells arugula.
The peonies are popping too!
Gardening season
One of our pressing projects for 2015 was to rebuild the raised beds that we have been using to grow our summer veggies. The original wooden ones had started to rot away, so we decided to upgrade to a more long lasting solution made with stackable concrete blocks.
The blocks were delivered and we employed two local lads to move them up to the garden (to save our backs).
Then we had the fun of moving around the old rotten wooden beams, shoveling lots of the dirt, and building the replacement beds.
So far we have completed about fifty recent of the project and we are taking a well earned rest.
Finally, we installed a drip irrigation system to ensure that the plants are well watered. And of course it rained for the next three days….
Memorial Day Weekend: Part 2
To complete a short but action-packed stay in Madison, we toured Eric and Jo’s new condo in Madison which is just of the capital square. It is a fantastic location with views of the lakes and of the Capital. We look forward to hearing about their renovations and ultimately staying with them in Madison once Jo retires.
In Milwaukee we took many walks, including a walk to a city park on Lake Michigan for a kite festival. It was nice to relax and enjoy the sunshine. We also did a morning walk on Sunday that offered glimpses of Lake Michigan and plenty of flowers. Milwaukee has an amazing number of parks, with a great deal of access to the waterfront One of the best uses of the local parks is turning them into beer gardens. The beer gardens are sprinkled throughout the city and only a short drive (or bike ride) from where Jo and Eric live. On a sunny Saturday of Memorial Day weekend we found the first garden to be teaming with thirsty cheeseheads, but the second garden was quiet and relaxing.
The best part of our visit to Milwaukee was just spending time with Eric and Jo, we miss having them in CT. They are wonderful friends, and it was nice to have a time with them to enjoy life’s simple pleasures. They are also fantastic hosts. Eric cooked dinner two evenings, apparently his has been honing his culinary skills since his retirement. One night for dinner he made the best ribs we have ever had , and a fantastic pasta dish the other night. Jo sent us home on Monday with our bellies full of Creme Brûlée French Toast. We enjoyed relaxing walks, card games and just catching up our future travel plans, families and of course the ever-present topic of when “Bruno and Sheri are moving back to Madison”.
Memorial Day Weekend: Part 1
Bruno teaches a course every May at the UW School of Pharmacy in Madison, WI. Sheri tagged along this trip so we could spend time with friends in Wisconsin. We started the weekend with an action-packed 24 hours in Madison.
Eric and Jo, friends we made through Pfizer who now live in Milwaukee, joined us in Madison. They took us to the World’s Largest Brat Fest where enjoyed live music, brats (even veggie brats), and a virtual tour in the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile. This is a classic event that everyone should experience! We were lucky to be there early in the day, it was relatively quiet and we strolled around enjoying the sunshine with lake Monona shining in the distance.
In the afternoon we relaxed on the terrace at the Memorial Union Terrace on campus at UW. There we met Niels, Julie, and Drew, Sheri’s former housemates at “The Brown House”. Julie’s family, Craig, Henry and Emma came along too. It was was a perfect day on the terrace and a great way to catch up with dear friends.
We had a really nice dinner with Joann’s sister Kathy and her partner John who live in Fitchburg, just south of Madison. Then, we finished off the day at the New Glarus Music Festival, an annual event in the quaint town of New Glarus. We arrived just as VO5 came on stage, with Sheri’s friend Drew playing bass. We enjoyed a full set of the best disco tunes played live by a talented group of muscians from the Madison area.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of the weekend.
The Weinermobile
Jo and Sheri pretending to be bratwurst
Julie, Sheri and Niels
Sheri and Henry
Drew just before the start of the VO5 set
VO5 under the tent at the New Glarus Music Festival
Purple Season at Hangman Hill
It is the season of purple at Hangman Hill. It is nice to have everything in bloom and a welcomed transition after a long white winter (not that we are complaining!). We captured a few highlights during our afte- work-walk in the evening this week. It has been very dry here, and we hope the rain that fell on Tuesday will bring out even more color very soon!
First iris
Look closely, one of the goats is dressed in purple
not quite purple lilac
azalea
Just outside the front door
Here at Hangman Hill 
