Anyway, Happy New Year to all! Hope the weekend was fun and entertaining for everyone. If you’re a winter-lover at heart you’ve got to be happy about the season so far. And how about that snow?! We even had some of it around for December to give the whole Christmas week that old-time New England feel. We attended a great New Year’s Eve party at our neighbors’ beautiful home. It was fun to meet new people, share good food and drink, a few laughs, and some interesting banter. A big “thank you” to Tom and Victoria from the both of us!
The other usual suspects from our house crew were out of town so it was a small group this weekend.
The New Year found us back up in Vermont. We really enjoy the feel and look of winter in the mountains. The skiing was good; and our friend and chalet host, Chuck, showed Erik a couple of trails he’s never skied before. Both trails are out of the way on the extreme margin of the Sugarbush resort’s “North” mountain, and are well protected by swaths of conifers, maples, and birches that helped to calm the windy conditions. The snow quality was very silky with no presence of icy spots because the trails normally get relatively little traffic. The sense of solitude a skier experiences away from the maddening crowd is part of the allure of the far-off slope, and the labyrinth of a wooded trail. Plus, if you wreck, nobody but your ski buddy notices. Erik will have to bring a camera next time to take some shots of the upper mountain runs. Every branch and bush is dusted in a pristine coat of white crystals, and the tree runs hint of hidden mysteries.
Back at the ranch, we celebrated Chuck’s upcoming birthday. Here are a couple of pics taken of the ceremony. The other guy in our photo is John; he is new to the house and a great add.
The other usual suspects from our house crew were out of town so it was a small group this weekend.
The snow and cold didn’t stop our gang of four from heading out to catch some live music at a local watering hole called Slide Brook. It’s up on the side of a small hill overlooking one of the access roads near the ski resort. Funny layout inside. Long, narrow, and dark….like the parking lot. The lot is interesting. You can only back out once you’re in, and it can get dicey trying to get out after a few rounds of drinks. It’s real easy to go over the slope down into the trees. Or maybe you’ll crush the door of the 1981 Toyota pickup belonging to some hairy dude in flannel named “Duce”. The Slide Brook is the only bar we’ve been to that has Jagermeister ON TAP. Cheesey, funky, and absolutely in keeping with the bar’s flavor.
The tap pic looks blurry because of the jostling crowd. But we bet more than a few patrons were seeing things the same way. You get two kinds of crowd at the Slide Brook: the Locals in wool flannel and knit hats in full Rasta-vibration mode, ordering drafts to go along with the chicken wings; and the Out-Of-Towners in Goretex and microfiber who are happy to shoot shots (of Jagermeister of course) and step outside to get their Rasta on too.
Anyway, we were happy to hang and listen to the fusion-jam-band sounds of the two piece combo known as Ray & Russ. They put out a great sound for only a keyboard and drums; Erik says they sound like Fish, Jan Hammer, and Stomu Yamashita stirred up into a funky aural stew. A lot of the time they are improvising, so each set is, to a degree, “interpretive” and unique. Here’s a good pic before the camera was knocked to the floor by “Duce”. He had a very expansive and free-wheeling dance style.
Back home we took this shot after the sun went down. The low light exposure with no flash produced the black and white coloration. It could have been framed better, but the lighting looks cool.
