Early Spring 2026

 

For one of the long weekends in March we split up and Heather and Erin flew to Atlanta to visit Emory. We have many memories of walking with strollers underneath the terminals at Hartsfield-Jackson airport 

Spring in the South delivered perfect weather

for Erin to meet with the track coach and then later lay out on the pool deck

Meanwhile Tessie and I drove to NY to see my parents. The weather was typical for Smarch and one of my chores was to reclaim all the stones driven off the end of the driveway by the winter snowplows

My Dad appreciated the help

Claire also came down and one of our excursions was out to Croton Point Park on the Hudson River. This is another stop on the Hudson River Art Trail, and at the previous ones I was able to find a rubbing medallion. This time we searched in vain for a couple of hours without finding one.

Also in March was Caroline's Spring Break and once again she road-tripped with the Ledyard Canoe Club

This time to Asheville NC for whitewater kayak training

Yikes!

In the middle there is a Friar Tuck pitcher that I appropriated from my parents house. It is the perfect size for warming up and serving maple syrup. In an antique shop in Asheville, Caroline found a matching big Tuck and a little Tuck, which she was instructed to acquire

A few weeks later Caroline completed her first sprint triathlon with the Dartmouth Tri Team

Heather's BPO played their final concert of the season in Symphony Hall. Afterwards their conductor Ben Zander announced that next season will be his and the orchestra's last.

For Easter we had an egg hunt and then a quest to find the chocolate hoard

As usual not all the eggs were found by people

but the other animals in the yard had no trouble sniffing them out 

Chinda visited us and joined Heather's outing to Montreal to see Lady Gaga

Caroline was added to the party

We skipped the Patriots Day festivities this year. Still, one Friday during a jog around town, I ran into a crew of patriots lugging around a cannon. Only in Lexington...  

For April break we toured a couple of colleges. Heather and Erin visited Middlebury Vermont

while Tessie and I walked around the Marsh-Billings Rockefeller NHP. It was the third week of April and it snowed

Indoors away from the cold we played a game of Scrabble on this wall-mounted board. Adding to the challenge was that some of letters wouldn't stick to some squares on the board. Perhaps to compensate there was a smaller set of tiles without annoying q and z.  

We visited Amherst College and on the way drove past the apartment complex where my parents lived in the 60s while my Dad was earning his PhD in food science at U Mass.

My parents like to tell me that these years, before they had kids, were the best times of their lives 

 Near Amherst is a giant yarn warehouse called Webs, which for Heather was a must-see. Wandering around I learned that Rowan, the name of one of my nephews, is also a glam knitting magazine

Winter 2026

Winter 2026 was cold and snowy and for the first time in years we remained in New England all season. Over MLK weekend we visited Dartmouth

where Tessie had her first downhill ski experience courtesy of Caroline

The pond behind Caroline's dorm was groomed for ice skating

and this is a winter activity that the whole family enjoys

Caroline's introduced her friend Emily to pond skating

Later in February Dartmouth held its Winter Carnival

Among the annual events is a polar plunge into Occam Pond. Students have a safety rope around their waist and paramedics are on hand to make sure the kids survive the experience

In Boston we watched the Crimson vs Big Green hockey game

Katy and Charlie visited in February

and we made our pilgrimage to Boda Borg

February dragged on and the snow kept coming

During one storm I accidentally ran over a buried snow shovel. If you look carefully you will see the metal shaft of the shovel wrapped around the impeller blades. It took some hacksawing to release the shovel, but the old blower wasn't harmed.  

Visiting National Park caves has taught me that when a stalactite reaches all the way to the ground, it is called a column

The snow in February never melted and covered our kitchen skylights

Erin's Galentines Day fruit board

Tessie's sleeping buddy

For part of February break we headed back up north to Vermont staying at my friend Gunther's house. He had a book about Dartmouth that listed their traditions. Apparently Pong and Keggy the Keg are at the top. Hmm...

We took Caroline out on her birthday

Lake Morey in Fairlee Vermont is famous for the longest wild ice skating trail in North America

It's about 4.3 miles around. This year it had been frozen for many weeks and the expansion cracks that formed required attention to avoid  

 

Tessie requested that we find a cat cafe and the Purrmont Cat Cafe fit the bill. Amazing how they got Reggie to pose for this poster posted in the mens bathroom.

The cats were amazingly friendly

and cute

Tessie's favorite was a blind cat named Louie

One last major snow event hit us in late February

Erin learned that it is better to clear off your car the night before rather than in the morning 

The cross-country skiing at the local golf course was excellent 

For a couple of years we've subscribed to an online wine tasting event with the PBS legend, Rick Steves. This year Rick got tipsy as he described the life of a professional European traveler

Our last winter sojourn was up to Sugarloaf Maine as guest of Heather's friend Elizabeth. The snow conditions were perfect. While I cross-country skied Heather and Tessie snowshoed

and Tessie had a great experience on the downhill bunny slopes

Skiing on powdery snow is far preferable to the icy granular mix that we typically encounter

I rented Nordic skates for a lap around the lake