Here at Hangman Hill

During our latest trip to New Hampshire we spotted a flyer from a local art gallery that promised an evening of fun by learning to paint whilst enjoying a glass or two of wine.  What could be better?!

So after saying goodbye to our guests (Eric and Jo; see previous blog post) and before heading home to Connecticut, we spent an evening at the Jackson Arts Studio polishing off a bottle of wine and trying to paint a local woodland scene.

The instructor took us through several stages that can bee seen below, including masking off an area for the trunks of the trees, painting the background, creating a few tree ‘forms’  in the mid-ground, and finally adding details to the trees in the foreground.  The class was a lot of fun and everyone ended up with a very respectable painting to take home.

If you have the chance to try this in the future we’d thoroughly recommend it!

We spent the very last week of July on vacation in New Hampshire with our good friends Eric and Jo.   They travelled all the way from Wisconsin to stay with us at our mountain chalet (many thanks!) and to enjoy all of the fun activities in the area.

We started off on the first day with a short hike up to Black Cap mountain to enjoy the views, on a bug-free sunny day.  This was followed by dinner out at our favorite Mexican restaurant.

The next day was a little rainy so we went out for breakfast in North Conway, caught up on news, did a jigsaw puzzle, drank cocktails, made several trips to the hardware store, and planned the rest of the week’s activities.

Once the weather cleared we had fun taking a zip-line ride and a gondola trip to the top of Wildcat Mountain (we clearly need to return with snowboards later in the year).  The day was completed by taking the easy way to the top of Mount Washington (by driving) and eating ice-cream at the Willey House near Crawford Notch.

By this point in the week we were fully warmed up, so we hiked the Moat Mountain ridge finishing up at a local waterfall (Diana’s Baths) for a cool swim (for Kokee mostly).  We ate lots of blueberries on the way and enjoyed fantastic views.

A rest day followed, with homemade blueberry pancakes, another trip to the hardware store (!), re-stacking for the firewood left over from last winter, and a few games of cards in the evening.

We finished up the week with a great hike to Arethusa Falls via the Frankenstein Cliff path, and a round of golf at the local mini-golf.  For the record, we all played under-par rounds and Kokee got to come along with us (although she wasn’t allowed on the greens).

In amongst all of this we found time to take a yoga class, explore numerous local bagel shops, and finished installing a downstairs bathroom sink.  Overall, it was a very relaxing week and a real treat to spend time in the mountains with good friends.

Renovations at the chalet in New Hampshire have been progressing at a steady pace with help from numerous local tradesmen and handy-people.  The latest big happening is that we now have a finished floor in the main living area and we have some furniture to sit on.  Thankfully all this happened about 24 hours before our friends Eric and Jo arrived for a vacation stay at the chalet (more of this in a separate blog post).

What a great way to start the day! Maybe this is the year of the cabbage at Hangman Hill?

Sheri

We spent the last week in New Hampshire working on renovations at the chalet. We tackled a variety of jobs, for example:

– fixing a leaky shower in a cavity wall (see picture below)

– assembling an Ikea bed

– installing an invisible dog fence for Kokee

– re-hanging four doors to stop them sticking

– installing three towel rails and some hooks in the upstairs bathroom

– cleaning out the junk/storage room so we could find our hiking gear

– hanging four closet doors

– building the casing for a custom bathroom cabinet

– installing a dehumidifier

– cleaning the stained tiles around the woodstove

– shopping for table lamps and ceiling lights, and installing them

– measuring for mirrors and window screens

We also explored several local restaurants including the Shovel Handle pub and a very nice Mexican eatery. Later in the week we rode our our first hurricane (Arthur) and found all of the places that water can come in during a storm!

Yesterday (July 5th) was a splendid day, so after a big breakfast (of bacon and eggs) we hiked to the top of Iron Mountain. The views were great (see pictures below) and we had a picnic at the viewpoint (including a thermos of tea). Kokee found lots of muddy puddles too, so everyone was happy.

In the evening we attended the Independence Day firework show in nearby Jackson. It was a great show and we were smart enough to take the back-roads so that we could avoid the traffic jams.

This week we are back to real work and we will be enjoying life at Hangman Hill Road.

We are celebrating the independence day holiday dodging the rain showers associated with Hurricane Arthur.  We started the day with a pancake breakfast at home, followed by a yoga class, a trip to the hardware store, and a visit to the transfer station to de-clutter things at home.  It doesn’t get any better that that on a rainy day in New England! We hope you are celebrating in style too.

It's the first day of July, so “Happy Canada Day” to all of our readers.

We are thinking of our many Canadian friends and relatives, and hoping that you are outside somewhere enjoying yourselves in the fresh air and sunshine.