Far and Away from Central PA: NH and VT

This weekend saw us making a whirlwind trip to New Hampshire and Vermont to celebrate a friend's wedding and support the region after flooding due to Hurricane Irene.  Living in Happy Valley my family was sheltered from the damage the Northeast has sustained recently but being native New Englanders our hearts were with those affected so we took it as our civic duty to pack in as much Fall fun in New Hampshire and Vermont as we could in 48 hours! One of the best and easiest ways to help flood relief is to support businesses in the region, please consider visiting http://helpsouthernvermont.org/ to learn more about the devastation from Hurricane Irene and for a list of businesses you can support from Central PA!

Glassblowing at Simon Pearce

Our first stop was at Simon Pearce in Windsor, VT. Simon Pearce is a glassblowing and pottery workshop and retail facility.  They have two workshops in VT, their headquarters in Windsor and their original facility in Quechee. The Quechee workshop was damaged in the August 28 flood but they have worked hard to reopen this week.  A unique aspect of the Simon Pearce workshops is that visitors can enter the glassblowing floor and observe the glassblowing teams at work.  A Master glassblower had just returned to the floor after a break and so had the time to greet us and introduce us to the glassblowing process.  Glass is made by feeding pellets made of silica, borax, calcium and potassium plus broken glass into a furnace heated to 2400º F to be melted into molten glass which is then gathered on the end of a pipe and brought to a workbench where it is shaped and blown into form. Glassblowers work in teams of two and the glass never stops moving once it is brought out of the furnace or else it will drop to the ground.  To cool the finished piece it is then moved to an oven heated to a mere 950º F.  Though we kept showing M the molten glass gathers and watched a piece being blown from start to finish, I'm not sure she connected the completed pieces with the glowing liquid emerging from the furnaces. The entire process felt a little like alchemy and it was simply fascinating to watch!

Our friend's wedding was across the Connecticut River in New Hampshire. It was held at a gorgeous Inn where the meal consisted of locally grown, made, caught or foraged for foods. The food was spectacular and it refreshed our souls to be able to spend the evening celebrating with old friends.

Picking Apples

Before returning to PA the next morning we visited a pancake house where they make their own syrup and even though it is not the right time of year for boiling you could still smell the maple that had seemingly been cooked into the wooden walls.  We had visited an active sugar house in the spring and it was exciting to hear her connect the dormant equipment with the process we had witnessed earlier in the year.  With our bellies full of pancakes we made our last stop of the weekend at an Apple Orchard to pick our own bags of apples to bring with us on our journey home.  We took the opportunity to work on number recognition with M because there were only certain rows that were ready to be picked.  Yet M still had a less than discriminating outlook on her apple choices and basically picked anything she could reach.  While E was very actively observing the trees' movement in the September breeze and craning her neck to keep an eye on particularly red specimens.   Each girl created her own experience in the orchard as I am sure they will continue to do in life.  I enjoyed being able to share my childhood home with my children and to introduce them to some of the autumn traditions I took part in at their age.  It was time to depart all too soon but we returned home loaded down with fresh picked veggies and corn from our friend's garden, hand-picked apples from the orchard, jars of homemade pickles, bottles of maple syrup and my new favorite coffee mug from Simon Pearce.  New England is a wonderful place -- take some time to get know it even if you can only visit online.