Saturday, June 28 (NH)

We did our annual Mount Ascutney hike this morning. It was so cool and cloudy it was like hiking into a cloud. When we climbed to the top of the fire tower at the peak, we couldn't see anything at all--a first. It was still great to be in the woods, despite the lack of view. 

After our hike, we drove into Windsor and stopped at a pond we've been wanting to check out. We'd heard it's full of snapping turtles. Unfortunately, we didn't see any while we were there. Then we went to Frazer's for lunch. We all got burgers, and then maple creamees. This restaurant closes down for the entire week of July 4, so this was most likely our last visit. We stopped at the grocery store for a few things on the way home, and I got my canning supplies. Tomorrow I'll make some strawberry jam.

The rest of the day was spent mostly reading in hammocks, the best kind of day. Andrew grilled steak for dinner and we ate outside behind the house. Then the girls and I played two rounds of Rummikub.

On a creepier note, tonight when Andrew and I were taking Farrah for a walk down the road, Andrew stopped into the old barn (not the one by the house but another, even more decrepit barn near the pond) and called for me to join him. Underneath an old tarp in the middle of the barn was an ancient, dust-covered organ / player piano that had definitely not been there last year, or ever. Why? How? Who? It's a real-life Nancy Drew book: The Mystery of the Organ in the Barn. This organ/piano was definitely not in anyone's home; Andrew unlatched an alcove in the back and it was full of mouse-nesting material. And whoever moved it into the barn was very deliberate about it, setting it onto two wooden boards instead of letting it sink into the hay that covers the ground. A mystery indeed.

Andrew said there are player piano music rolls in a chest in the loft above the barn (the one closer to the house) so our interactions with the organ/piano are likely to continue. If we put in a music roll and an eerie tune comes of that thing...I mean, obviously I hope this is exactly what happens. 

What We're Reading

Margo: finished Sunrise on the Reaping; started Expensive People by Joyce Carol Oates

Andrew: Proust

Lucia: finished Star Bringer; started Fable by Adrienne Young

Greta: finished Smile Beach Murder; started Murder on Mustang Beach by Alicia Bessette