Spookiness

Yesterday, in keeping with the halloween spirit, one of my clients and I decided to participate in some spooky activities. First, we decided to venture into Hope cemetary in Barre, VT. Barre is a granite town so there are some truly amazing and original headstones in this cemetary. I had never been before so we decided to go check it out, partly to see the headstones and partly to freak ourselves out before our trip to the haunted zombie house. While we were there we took some picture, mostly as a joke, to "catch" something other worldly. While I blame the dots in the pictures on the light rainfall, they do look a little creepy and when they are blown up some of them appear to be falling upward. Take from them what you will, I leave it up to your judgement...

On our way out of the cemetary we decided to exchange spooky and true stories. Mine was from way back in my childhood. When I was little there were quite a few cousins all within the same age range who would be running around camp together. Over the years we have put serious time and effort into freaking each other out, either physically or mentally, with varying levels of success. So from a young age we had in our minds that there were quite possibly some pretty old spirits sharing our lake with us. One night, when I was maybe 7 or 8, we were headed out for one of our very favorite childhood activities, PJ Patrol. We would put our fashionable orange life jackets on over our pajamas and pack into the boat so one of our Uncles, or Grampy, could take us visiting across the lake. This night, we were on our way back to our camp and my cousin Kevin and I were sitting in the very front of the boat. Right as we were rounding the point and at the exact same moment we turned to tell our Uncle to make sure and watch out for the fishing boat, to which he responded "what boat?" Well of course we turned to point it out, but the boat was no longer there. Now Kevin often liked to steal my thunder, so I made him tell me first what he had seen. He proceeded to describe, in detail, a long fishing boat with a man standing on one end with his fishing pole cast into the lake and the man was wearing a tall hat and a long coat. This image, only a dark shadow against a dark lake, was the exact image I had seen. We spent the rest of the ride home in open mouth shock and I am not sure we've ever really talked about it to anyone else or even each other. And to this day I will sometimes think of the fisherman as we come around the point at night and wonder if I'll ever see him again.

Buckling down, settling in

I was looking outside and realized how perfectly the weather suits the day, which isn't rare exactly, just not a given. It's like snow falling on Christmas, a warm breeze on Easter or a bright, hot sun on the 4th of July, when the day just fits. My first Vermont Halloween has heavy, gray clouds hovering over the mountains and a wind that is actually whistling through the trees that have only those very few leaves hanging on before baring for the winter. It's one of those days that you just want to hunker down in your house with a good book, but maybe keep your curtains open so you can watch the trees bend and sway. It's also the kind of day that reminds you of what's around the corner, weather wise. For a few weeks I've noticed the preperation people are putting into getting ready for the coming winter, you know, the people's equivalent of squirrels burying their nuts. If you pay attention you can almost always hear the sound of axes hitting wood, as well as notice the chords of wood getting taller and longer by the day. The scent of a woodfire is always faintly riding every gust of wind and everyday you see more and more cars with the snow tires on and ready for the first snowfall. Even though I showed up mid-winter, and dealt with the coldest of cold temperatures, I have been told that it's the month of December that can make or break a person and truly seperates the natives from the wannabes. Apparently the sun all but disappears for the month and you can feel as though you are being buried in the snow as it rises around you. Well I am determined to not be shamefully cast as a wannabe and to maintain my sanity during a full New England winter, so I will also settle in and buckle down for the winter and keep plenty of entertainment on hand. Wish me luck!

Here it comes

October 13, that's the day I woke up and there was snow outside. It was also cold, only making it into the 30s. Apparently this is not an abberation, because today was also cold and tonight the temp will dip into the 20s. May I say again, it's OCTOBER. So the brightside to this situation is that it probably means that the traffic that has been completely outrageous the past two weeks will start to die along with the leaves on the trees. You see, sometimes towards the end of summer Yankee magazine printed that route 100 through Vermont was the best drive to see the infamous New England foliage. This may be true, I would be a pretty good judge since I drive on route 100 everyday, and live maybe a mile off of it. For the past two weeks this has meant my usually clear and enjoyable ride on country roads has been disrupted by a large number of people out driving and checking out the leaves. I will say, despite the annoying traffic, that I can't blame them. The colors that show up in this part of the country are a sight to behold. I was driving to Maine a couple weeks ago on a gorgeous bright sunny day, the sky was blue and a welcome contrast to what could only be described as fire in the forest. You know when you walk into an old church and you see these stunning stain glass windows. The detail and colors are amazing and you wonder at the person who put it together. Then the sun hits it and lights all the colors up and leaves you a little breathless. I say New England foliage is a little bit like that. I have spent my life loving the beautiful colors that come in every fall in Ohio, but in comparison it's like God took a light bulb and screwed it in underneath the forests of the Northeast. The reds are deeper, the oranges brighter and the yellows pull it all together, it is a genuine masterpiece. I tried to take some pictures, but was always unhappy with the result because it doesn't even begin to live up to reality. So while I'm bummed that the winter is getting ready to start up already, I feel it was probably a worthy exchange for a glimpse of God's true work.

Closing up camp

We headed up to the lake this weekend for one last weekend and to close up the camp for winter. It was a beautiful, if chilly, weekend. The leaves have been slowly changing since the beginning of September and the colors are really starting to show up. I've never been in New England this time of year before and I am already stunned at the vibrance of the colors that are popping out. There are still a couple more weeks until fall foliage is at its peak and I really can't wait. Anyway we had a really nice weekend with lots of family up for the weekend to help out, seeing as how us Elmendorfs are total rookies at closing a camp. I would like to say I was helpful but all I did was sweep a little and put some of the outdoor stuff, indoors. The boys were more productive, clearing the water lines, shutting the water off and taking both our docks and my grandparents docks out of the water. I very much appreciate that I did not have to get in the water, considering the temp dropped into the 30s on Friday night, but the boys seemed to enjoy it. I also got one more boat ride in when I went with my gramp to take the boat out of the water for the winter. While I was sad to see everything closed up for the winter, I am also well aware that this was just the inaugural year and there are many more to come. This first one will go down as the cold, rainy and totally amazing (shed a tear)!

Love/Hate relationship

My football weekend has been about as bad as it gets. Ohio State Buckeyes, lost in the last two minutes. Cincinnati Bengals, lost in the last 3o seconds. Jungle Kat (fantasy football team), needs TO to have the game of a lifetime tonight to give me a chance in hell of pulling out a win. But all the teams have HOPE. OSU hung with a top 3 team, the Bengals showed defensive power they haven't had the entire Lewis era, and my fantasy defense put up 46 points. As you can tell, I LOVE me some football. I honestly love sports, I think its the best reality tv around. I love the passion you see in the players who have worked for their whole life to be the best of the best. I love when egos get smashed and heart outweighs talent, I love hearing the helmets crash and the whistles blow, when underdogs win and dynasties fall. It's great, you couldn't write it if you tried. I also love the community that revolves around football Sunday. As a Bengals fan I had to go looking for a place that might possible show me the game. I was lucky to find out that there was a bar right in Waterbury that had undergone change of ownership and upgraded its sports bar status. Adding HD televisions and NFL network, which means that I GET TO WATCH THE BENGALS every week. I was amazed at the variety of fans, I saw people wearing Dallas, Philly, Jacksonville and even Brownies shirts. I started out watching the game alone but slowly made some friends. First was the girl from Denver who had to route against the Bengals but we ended up watching most of the game together, her husband who only routed for the Bengals when she was gone, and a gaggle of their friends from around town who were in and out. I also got the dirt on the local football happenings. The owner of one of the local bars is a total Squeelers fan, but his head chef is a Bengals fan. So I may take his head bartender up on the offer of a free beer for walking into the bar with my Bengals jersey on. Its nice to spend some time in the town I've been living in for the past eight months and to meet some of the people. We left it at the probability that we will all see each other on another football Sunday. I'll let you know :)

Sit down, get comfortable...

..we have a lot to catch up on. The month of August was pretty much chaos for me. Three weeks in a row I worked like a crazy person in a shortened week so that I could travel on the weekend. After the weekend in Rhode Island my sister stayed the week and our friends traveled up the next weekend for a girls weekend. We hadn't all been together since before I moved and it was waaaayyy past time. Whenever we all get together there is usually laughter, chaos, laughter, problem solving (personal and world issues), laughter and an occasional adult beverage. This weekend brought all of that and more. We enjoyed five days hanging out on the water and being ridiculous in a way that only we can. The amazing thing about these girls is the comfort level we have, we have all been in each others life in some way or another since elementary school. When you can hang out, say anything, do anything and you know that the people around you won't EVER judge, maybe poke fun at, but never judge you it's a truly relaxing and comedic environment. Needless to say I was very sad to see them go. It wasn't as bad as it could have been though because four days later I flew to Cincinnati and saw them again.

These are some pics that were taken and my friend Linsey fixed up on her computer, one of us six girls and the other is the view from the deck of our camp, they are amazing..

I have found that my weekends in Cincinnati are pretty hectic. Trying to fit a lot into a short period of time. Its impossible to see everyone and so you try to see as many people as you can. Luckily this weekend was the scramble, which allowed me to see a large chunk of Finneytown and other friends. It's a really fun day with a lot of golf, a lot of catching up and this year some beautiful weather. I will tell you more about it at a later date.

Pics of an evening with some of my high school friends, yet another amazing group of ladies, and the kiddos, Hannah, Nate and Caroline.
So with all this running around I decided I was in desperate need of a chill weekend at home. I almost caved and went to Maine when my work shifts got rearranged, but am so glad I stuck around. I hung out with some friends from work, which I don't do often enough, and we had an absolute blast. We met up at my friend Tara's house, which is out in the woods, and were messing around with a mountain board. This is like a snowboard on wheels and it was awesome, and a little dangerous, but we didn't have any permenant damage so it was all good. Then we wandered through the waterfall down the hill from her place and over to this huge beaver dam, basically all beautiful things that you don't see when you are hanging out in the city. We then went downt to the town fair where we enjoyed some fried dough, beers at the legion, gambling and a local southern rock band. We then returned to the house and were messing around with the bongo drums. We were terrible but it was so funny that it was worth it. I was so thankful that I had decided to stay in town and hang out with these girls. I work with some very cool people and can't wait to hang out again.

Rhode Island

This past weekend I took my first trip to Rhode Island to see my cousin Kev marry his lady love, Jess. We went to Newport where they were married in an outdoor ceremony in a setting that bordered on unreal at Castle Hill Inn. I am not sure I can put into words the love I have for weddings in general, but especially family weddings. Everytime I think I have overestimated how awesome my family is we have a weekend like this. We, literally, danced the entire night. There were multiple circles with some crazy moves happening in the middle. In fact, we got so into the dancing that my brother managed to convince the supervisor to allow some of the servers to dance with us in a dance off. They absoloutely wiped the floor with us, so it wasn't much of a dance off. When the people running the show finally realized we would never stop on our own they politely reminded us that we had to leave eventually. We listened, kind of. After a quick stop to change into our jammies, we then headed to a jazz bar on the beach and when THAT closed we decided to keep the party rockin on the beach where we got up a game of night volleyball. The next morning over breakfast we found out my cousins got pulled over for WALKING UNDER THE INFLUENCE, the cops flashed their lights and everything. True Story! To recap....amazing!

Sealing it with a kiss..

The Elmendorfs, all dressed up

All the female cousins, first time in over a decade....and the gang right after the worst game in history ended