The horses and riders are decked out in grand style.

Look, unicorns!

And snowmen!

And the big man himself.

Wassail Weekend  - a great way to celebrate the holidays in Woodstock, Vermont.

Today is the first quiet day we’ve had in a long time.  Though I love making armies of gruyere biscuits and towers of cornmeal pancakes, this morning my breakfast preparations were limited to microwaving a bowl of Grape Nuts (delicious with a dab of honey – try it!) and while sorting through the mementos of Snowtober.

Luckily, I was able to take a stroll through Pierre’s gardens last week, little thinking it would be my final snow-free visit.

Though we didn’t don Halloween costumes this year, we were able to have fun with the Snor’s sartorial statements.  Here he is as a jester:

And here he is as Monkey:

And here’s Monkey in a gender-bending ensemble:

Snorri also found a new girlfriend this October.  Her name is Daisy. She’s not so sure about Snorri’s romantical overtures.

But who wouldn’t want kisses from this handsome devil?

We’ve enjoyed our surprise snowfall.

While it’s a smidgen on the early side, I’m pretty much a snow enthusiast until mid-February.  And P.S. – some of the runs on Killington are OPEN!!!

Snow on pumpkins!  Festive!

And, just so I won’t succumb to BHI breakfast withdrawal, here’s a shot of yesterday morning’s dessert breakfast – cardamom french toast with gingered Grand Marnier apples and maple whipped cream.  Enjoy!

Though I value my extremities too much to get near a machine designed to pulverize and squish, the menfolk found the whole shebang terribly exciting and quickly developed a new language that sounded like, “Shorten the hydraulic and flatten the apple bladder, layer up the slats, the mash is ready, so open the valve, bashimba!”

You may be a trifle disconcerted to know that when your juice line clogs, the universally approved method for unclogging is simply to suck on the line until the juice flows again.  Very sterile stuff, this.  Messy too.  Here’s one of the intrepid pressers, the good Dr. Mark Knott, pleasantly spattered with mash.

Danger and contamination aside, the results of our (ahem, their) efforts were gorgeous and delicious.

Fresh cider was the perfect ending to a lovely fall day in Vermont.

For instance, you may be curious about how much butter we’ve used this week.

Answer: Over twelve pounds, my friends.  Wowza.

And you may be wondering what Ben and Snorri are doing.

Answer: They’re being lazy.  Incurably, predictably, cutely lazy.

Or perhaps you really need to know about our egg consumption.

Answer: The chickens are exhausted.

Mostly, though, I’m sure you want to know about the foliage.

Answer: It’s gorgeous.

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It’s a gorgeous autumn day here, which is fitting, since Boston Magazine just named Woodstock, VT one of ten Great Fall Getaways. We’re delighted that our little village got a shout-out, and we’re positively tickled that the Blue Horse Inn got a mention as well.  Thanks, Boston Magazine!

The American Planning Association just named the downtown Woodstock streetscape one of the top ten great streets in America.  Well done, Woodstock!

Check it out here.

In other news, the temperature is expected to dip into the 20′s for the next two nights.  As a girl from Georgia, I find the first taste of real cold quite exciting.  I’m less fond of freezing nights in May, mind you, but right now a hard chill seems charming, invigorating and seasonally appropriate.

In other, other news, we’ve been working hard in our apartment, which is affectionately known as The West Wing.  Stay tuned for some before and after shots of our progress.

Image from here.

The blaze, she started off small.

But she did not stay small for long.

Incendio!

Moral of this story: People love a good bonfire.  Our little burn drew quite the crowd; even guests got in on the conflagration. (Hi, Dan, Sue & Daisy!)

Happily rid of Irene’s parting gifts, we can now turn our attentions to more important things, like Fall.  Sneaky little season.

Though our sweet old pool house survived the flood of ’73, Irene proved too much for the venerable building to bear.  Luckily, we have a stellar crew of elite demolition professionals on staff.

While I can’t truthfully say that the Blue Horse Crew made short work of the pool shed, they did, eventually, break it down and cart it away without losing any digits.  And that, my friends, is a job well done.

They even managed to rescue some wildlife in the process.  Talented, I say.

As for the Blue Horse Inn, we’re busily celebrating the first official weekend of foliage season.  Mums, pumpkins, and delicious glasses of organic Chilean Carménère – you know, the whole autumnal nine.  It’s a great time to come visit.

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