So Much Snow!

It's been snowing regularly since we came back to Chocorua.

 

Everyday we go out and shovel, making deeper and deeper snow paths.

Tulip has trouble navigating outside the paths, but here she made a trail of her own.

 

Then last night, the snow got heavy and stuck to the trees.  Fortunately we didn't lose power.

 

The willow in eerie splendor.

 Gwen's Curly Girls

After seeing this girl with cascading hair that Gwen created and Rachel put on her blog

I looked at this picture by Gwen on our refrig sent to Toby (Gwen and Rachel's handwriting) and was struck by the curviness of both drawings.  Maybe it's the influence of having wild, red curly hair?

Love the artwork that's emerging from the grand kids!

Sleek House / Messy House

 

 

Yesterday we left a cleaned-out, ultra neat, very bare house in Barrington  to our new realtors to, hopefully, sell!

 

 

 

And we came up to Chocorua to what's become in the last month a very disorganized house as Ned and Myles work on the library/pantry project and Gus, the electrician, delves into all odd corners to put in needed outlets.

 

 

 

Toby settled right down to make order out of his study.

 

 

 

Despite the mess, we're happy because we think the work being done is shaping up really nicely.  Here are the new book shelves at the end of the dining room. 

 

And we're happy to be back here because it's such a cozy house.

Sweet Grand Kids

(though I'm missing a picture of sweet Max):

 

 

 

Maddie's picture of the rainbow girl (love that hair!).

 

Simon and Gwen watching TV in princess gowns (Simon, like Max, drawn to what his sister wears. Max has moved on to other important pursuits like hockey--he's a HUGE hockey fan).

Simple Things...

 

a few delights in a long week

 of packing:

 

 

 

Trying to open a jar of jam the other day I resorted, as I always do, to this gripper that was my Mom's.  It's the very best kitchen tool there is.  OXO--take note!

 

 

 

Our realtor appeared the other day with two of the best canollis (spell-check doesn't tell me how to spell canollis) we'd ever had (and Toby is an expert), from a new restaurant in Barrington.  I, of course, went out and bought 18 more.

 

 

 

 

We saw this amazing movie the other night--all about bravery, love, difficulties, surviving.  I was in tears, and loved it so much I immediately ordered it from Amazon.

And Snow It Did....

 

 

 

 

24 inches plus over Friday night, howling wind and electricity lost.

 

 

 

 

The wind raged down from the north, the snow drifting high and even sicking to the doorknob.

 

 

 

 

We woke up Saturday morning wondering how we were ever going to get the Prius out of the garage and down the long driveway.  Then a merry band of good, good neighbors magically appeared to shovel us out.  And we were thinking that Barrington was such an unfriendly place!  

 

 

 

But how to get through 36 hours without heat and plummeting temperatures?

A fire in the wood stove with almost the last of our punky wood

 

 

 

and snuggling down for the night on the old futon mattress with Tulip smack in the middle.  It was so cozy we slept there again last night even though the heat had come back on.

Car In the Garage

for the first time in 27 years!

 Chee Heng has moved his stuff out finally and our mess is all moved to one side.

So here's our red Prius all nestled in for the coming snowstorm.

See If You Can Figure It Out

Toby, Tulip and I drove up to Chocorua just for the afternoon yesterday to try and figure out a new pantry space in the house--and it was confusing!

We entered the kitchen and saw a walkway sectioned off by plastic which had allowed Ned to remove three huge truckfuls of yucky debris.  I was so glad all that had been taken away before we arrived.

 

 

Then, through the plastic looking out into the dining room  we slowly (very) began to understand Ned's idea

Extend the dining room to almost where this photo ends in the foreground,

 

 

 

make a closet with doors out of this old under-the-stairs, used to be mouse-ridden cubby hole.  Ned is calling it "deep storage."  It'll give the dining room fireplace mantel finally a place to extend to and look symmetrical.

And, okay, this is hard:  there'll be a cupboard extending out from the brown wall, a book case in front of it, one opposite it, and a straight line from the mural bathroom to the dining room (that sounds kind of horrible but it'll work).

 

 

and back towards the kitchen from where Toby and Ned are standing an actual smaller in foot-size but way large in shelf size pantry.  Who wants to have room to dance around in a pantry anyway?

 

We had to hang table cloths from the ceiling to finally figure out where the new walls would be. I think it'll be great--more storage, more space, less like a wriggly maze trying to get from one room to another.

 

 

The one being totally not confused and quite happy, right in front of the fireplace where a dog should be--Tulip.