Week 17

Everyone from this and our sister house in the next town was invited to a "cook-out" last week at Malletts Bay, which is a gorgeous location on Lake Champlain a little north of Burlington.

The weather was a little cool, but the food was hot, plentiful and delicious. As you can see, we worked the burgers off with an energetic game of volleyball - and this time I wasn't allowed to be the photographer!



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Had a fabulous day out with M and little M to Shelburne Farms, which is "an education center, 1,400-acre working farm, and National Historic Landmark".  It's a pretty amazing venue with a massive, old stone "barn" (not what you would usually think of as a barn - given its size) which houses a multitude of "petting" animals, which as you can imagine, captivated M junior so entirely - there was no getting her away!                                                   

I walked a couple of miles across the farmland to visit the original manor house - originally a Vanderbilt property. Although it's a very imposing property, it's the location which I find stunning - lovely gardens and incredible views across the lake.

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Have finally made my mark on Dismas as published author! I seem to have been writing for days, as first I interviewed a Volunteer Cook for a piece in the Cooks' newsletter (front page :-) and have also just submitted 300 words on "A Volunteer's View" for the "all stakeholders" bi-annual newsletter. Obviously, I know you will be dying to read my art :P, but you'll just have to still your beating heart until it's published.

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Hard to believe that it's just a little over 9 weeks till I will be back home! I'm much looking forward to seeing the Austin crowd again and of course the final big adventure on the ship. Before then though - New York, New York - here I come!