Ryan told me one night that he had heard of beard growing contests in Turkey and I thought he said "beard grooming contests" which there might also be. I think we should suggest that McNiell's, the town microbrewery/our favorite bar host such an event in the middle of winter to help ward off cabin fever. I would style Ryan's beard and take top prize...


Houses on the hill above the cotton mill parking lot. We went to explore the huge building and saw people practicing in the trapeze gym on the third floor.


The leaf scarf is done! I think I want to make another in a less fuzzy/plushy yarn.

Holla pumpkintime! Virginia gave us the nicest little pumpkin. It has already become part of pumpkin pastries and will also be in the thanksgiving pumpkin pie.

Sorry for the very sporatic posting--I still don't have a camera and I'm working on not getting myself into a reading coma right after dinner every night.

Today I start volunteering at the public library (woot!) and am going to talk to the people at The In-sight Photography Project about co-teaching one of the upcoming classes for kids.

non-linear

Q:

what's better than friends coming to visit?







A: nothing!

The picture-less post

The idea behind this blog was to show everyone back home pictures of everything up here. I still don't have my own camera (maybe later this week...) so I will regale you with various updates:

-They came and cut down the tree! After about a week of not cutting down the tree, a truck pulled up out front just as I was getting ready to leave for work. It's sad but for the last week of the tree's life I found myself totally appreciative of it every time I came home or looked out the window. I also found myself more appreciative of the various other trees that I see every day. We have a really awesome apple tree in our back yard and silver maples outside the living room's windows. Ryan counted the rings on the stump before they came and took that and reported that the tree was at least 62 years old (isn't it ironic that you can't tell how old a tree is without cutting it down-- I mean, I'm sure you could do core samples or have a seasoned tree doctor tell you, but I'm talking about non-experts).

-Ryan is on the taskforce for awesome after-school education in Vermont (there's a real name which I'm sure he'll put in the comments section once he sees this). He now works at the Boys and Girl's Club! Woot!

-My birthday was awesome! Somehow I stretched it to include 5 days instead of one--highlights include a wonderful, but all too brief, visit to New Jersey where I stuck my feet in the ocean, drank the shampoo of ales in New Brunswick with a great many important individuals, ate ice cream cake with my family and watched Michelle yell at some dudes at the bar for staring at her. On my actual birthday we had breakfast at The Golden Egg (Huevos Racheros!), took the cats outside on leashes, played badmitton and ate an amazing dinner at Devin and Alexis'. (If I actually had a camera, there would have been pictures of all the important items mentioned--especially the part about Michelle yelling at those drunk guys).

-And! I just found out I have next Friday off!

Please send news, photos and cookies this way.

Love emily

that tree is older than you are

aktan v. rush hour.

all booties, all the time (i think the two on the left make the best pair) what do you think?

let's get domestic (while getting gin and tonict)

an orange not otherwise found in nature


this is the tree that our landlord wants to cut down. it's right outside of our bedroom window and houses lots of squirrels and birds that keep the cats entertained for hours. it also creates a degree of privacy that allows us to keep the curtains open some of the time. and it smells really good and is one of the tallest in the neighborhood. we've weighed in against it and, at press time, the tree is still here so we'll see what happens.

This is us on the mountain from post no. 1 (the one we can see from our house). It's called Mt. Wantistastiquet and we climbed up part of last weekend. You can see all of Brattleboro from up there: the various graveyards around our house, the mysterious islands in the west river and even the tower apartment of the Brooks Hotel that we decided not to live in. When you guys come up, we'll totally do this hike.

viewers demand new zip codes

I know it's been a little while but we finally have the interweb in the home so I'll be able to post as often as I take picture, which isn't as often as I'd like because I have a job now.

We've been getting used to our new digs. I've started my job and I think we finally unpacked all the boxes . We even have a couch now, which is a major plus. The couch also turns into a bed for visitors. Ese is modeling it here. Soon you will join him?


Cleo is also settling in...

When Tesa and Travis came up, they introduced us to their friend Dave who lives right on Granite Lake. At night you could see the all the stars in the milky way reflected on the water.

As far as settling in goes, I'm doing ok. I mean, there's still lots to learn and I miss my family and all my friends. Some days, it's really scary to wake up and realize that I need to go to work even though everyone at the library is super nice and laid back. Being in a new place can be slightly daunting sometimes. I've had a few days where I feel like I just want to hang out in the apartment and nest and not have to leave and confront various unfamiliarities.

You know how it is...

Welcome to Adventures in Low Zip Codes, a soon-to-be photoblog chroniceling my time in Vermont. Right now, I don't have my own camera and we don't have internet at home so I'm anticipating a slow start, but a start nonetheless.

Right now I'm sitting in the Brattleboro Free Public Library while Ryan is have a trial run/job interview part 2 at the town's only non-used bookstore. Ryan's mission today was to get a job at the bookstore--mine was to set up this blog (and maybe find a set of size 4 knitting needles).

Our house is about a 15 minute walk out of town. We live on the second floor of a neat old house with huge windows.
We've been indecisive about what the best part of the house is. At first I thought it was the little claw foot bathtub or the pear tree in the back yard but now I'm pretty sure that the best part is the view from the sun room.
I still don't know what mountain that is or the best way to climb to the top but I'll let you know when I find out.

More soon,
Emily