September 15, 2012 Bradford, VT

We spent the day with Patty seeing life in Vermont.

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We helped Patty stack firewood in the am. She goes through 4-5 cords of wood a winter heating her house, with a propane hot water heat in the basement. The AAA guide book said that the average temps here in January are 28 degrees for the high and 7 degrees for the low. Winter starts in Oct and ends in April.  In Vermont you get next years wood this year, stack it up to dry, burn the dry wood you stacked last year.  The wood is a full time job. After that we went to the recycle center. Vermont is very big with recycling. A caterpillar.

Our host, Mike owns the lot we are parked in and the dairy barn and house here and a few other near by properties.  His barn is full of high end car parts, he has an automotive parts business. Here are a couple trees starting to turn. Very early this year because of the early hot summer.

We went to the Perfect Pear brewery. It is in a lovely old mill building by the river. Under the sign above is the library for Bradford. John sent his perfect pear beer back because he did not like it, the first time I have ever seen him do that, and exchanged it for another brand.

The deck was so wonderful in the sun we decided to have lunch there. Patty and John at the table.  Lunch was delicious.

I wanted to take a photo of John’s mussels, and I got his muscles also.  He   had mussels with French fries on top covered with garlic aolie and cheese curd sauce.  A French Canadian  dish.  After lunch we went to the farmers market.

John and Sue and the pumpkins at the market, and the dairy next door owned by the farmers market.

We crossed the Connecticut River that divides Vermont and New Hampshire to get some apples and cider. New Hampshire owns the whole river, not just to the middle like most rivers.  We stopped at a few garage sales, John did not want to be seen with me.

Downtown Bradford, Vermont. I felt like we had stepped 50 years back in time.  Fading light on a barn.

The bus by the river, Mikes house in the evening light.

 

Patty’s house. Lots of space, wood and big beams. Large windows to view the valley below.  John and Patty  in the kitchen. We had roast chicken that she raised and sweet corn on the cob, carrots in maple syrup sauce, squash with maple syrup, butter and cinnamon. All the veges were fresh from the farmers market.  Yum.