Mary in full regalia planting the garden in front of the Birch Ridge Inn 

The outdoor migration of plants has begun.

With the completion of the rebuilding of the front garden wall at the inn, Mary has begun her work to make the space come alive.

For several months now the inside of the inn has been turned into a veritable green house to start plants for the inns summer gardens. Every window with a south facing view has seen plants being started; some from seed, other from bulbs harvested from the gardens before the ground froze last fall. In conjunction with her indoor garden of seedlings, for the last several weeks Mary has been working outside in her "bug suit" preparing the gardens to receive the growing plants. But always remembering that we live in the mountains in a climate than can turn hostile to tender young plants, Mary is always hesitant to begin the mass migration plants she has started from her faux green houses to the inns gardens until Memorial Day weekend.

But now the mass migration has begun. The plants are moving outside to their summer homes. Just add water....if it were only that simple!

Mary started the efforts last week with the chef's herb garden behind the inn. (Our restaurant reopens for dinner service on June 22nd). Yesterday she moved plantings to the front garden by the wall I rebuilt. Today she is focusing on some of the gardens in front of and beside the inn. The great news (for me) is that she genuinely likes working in her gardens. I am not sure how she does it in the bug suit (my tolerance for temperature is much too sensitive to work so covered up, and I have the bug bite buffet from the time I was working outside to prove it.) But, as we don't have any small children around the inn to scare, her bug suit serves her well as she enjoys digging in the dirt around the inn.

Right now the plants are just little green stubs, random shoots, and small clusters of leaves. In several weeks, with some sunshine and some constant attention, they will become alive in color as their flowers begin to bloom. By July it will all look effortless....

Just add water....

Mixing a bucket of concrete to repair the front garden wall at the Birch Ridge Inn 

It all sounds so easy. The label on the bag of concrete mix could not have provided easier directions...."Just add water"... And so started a 10 day spring project (half days) just after we got back from our vacation.

In front of the inn, between the parking lot and the sidewalk, sits the front garden of the inn. The garden is contained by a slate wall, roughly 60 feet, which slopes to match the grade of the sidewalk. 14 years ago, using scrape slate block we got from the Taran Brothers Quarry in Poultney Vermont, I spent the better part of 6 weeks putting together the intricate jigsaw puzzle which turned into the wall. In the intervening years, the wall has been scorched by bright summer sun, buried under mountainous snow banks, scraped by snow plows, hit by cars, sideswiped by delivery trucks... You name it.....but it has held up quite well over that time.

But it was time for some repair work. Most of the cap stones were loose, the result of many winter freeze thaw cycles. The top course of bricks (and then some in places) were loose, the result of car bumpers contacting the wall as people parked their cars. Yes it was time, before something major happened causing a catastrophic failure of some kind. So 2 weeks ago, the project began.

"Just add water" the six, 60lb bags of concrete mix proclaimed.

The project started with digging a trench in the garden right behind the wall. The soil of the garden was acting to bind the wall. This is normally a good thing as it provides stability; but for the repair project I wanted some instability so I could determine which stones were loose needing repair.

With the trench dug, I was able to get a true view of the magnitude of the needed repairs. The low side of the wall to the far right, was in pretty good shape. The last pier of stones needed the top row reset; but the next pier up had virtually no damage. This contrasted with the row closest to stairs leading into the inn. Being much taller than a normal car bumper, this section of the wall was very fragile. It required that multiple courses of stones be rebuilt, with some additional grout work required on the lower courses.

Once I started mixing concrete, it was pretty easy. Since there are other things to do at the inn, I limited the work flow to one bag of concrete per day. This gave me a realistic daily goal, as well as an opportunity to make adjustments along the way.

Early last night, I finished the job. I refilled the ditch I had dug with about 20 wheel barrows of dirt. Now it's Mary's turn to do her thing and get flowers planted for the summer.

Just add water....

There is no place like home 

Every May we step away from Killington for a few weeks to try to catch up on life in the real world. What are people wearing... what are the trends in food... what are people drinking... What are the trends in free time activities... Sometimes it's to exotic destinations. Sometimes it includes some business activity thrown in. It usually includes trips to see our respective Moms and Dads. This year we stayed a little closer to home, wandering around New England.

We started our journey with a visit to Burlington Vermont to attend a wine show being held at the Burlington Country Club. I tasted some nice wine that will probably find it's way onto our restaurants wine list. But while we were in Burlington, we did a little around town ourselves. We walked the shops on Church Street. We did not know that Burlington was quite a fashion plate.. but we did not realize it at the time. We ate dinner at a little Italian Bistro L'Amante on College Street. Really nice. I finished my night with a snifter of WhistlePig whiskey from Shoreham Vermont. (Need to add that to our selections at the bar).

On our trip through Vermont up and down to Burlington, we were impressed with all the work we saw being done as Vermont continues to recover from last years Hurricane Irene. All across the state roads and bridges have been repaired. Lots of work is still being done in a lot of local communities, but the hard work of recovering from such a huge natural disaster is clearly in evidence.

From Burlington, we headed to Boston for a few days, staying near the waterfront in the Harborside Inn. Its a nice property, sitting in the shadows of the Boston Customs House, just a block from the Aquarium and Quincy Market. While in Boston, we made a deliberate attempt to walk the city and be tourists; taking advantage of our smart phones to find things to do, places to go, restaurants... etc. We obviously don't need to do that while in Killington, but we wanted to see how our guests use technology. Quite impressive.

Using YELP, we found a really great restaurant in Charlestown.. I asked Yelp to find a restaurant less than a couple of miles from our hotel (so we could walk), and it pointed us to the "Navy Yard Bistro and Wine Bar" in Charlestown. We never would have found this place if we relied on traditional sources. It was literally in a building in the Old Charlestown Navy Yard with no sign. We got there at 7 on a Saturday night (very tourist). The place was packed. After a few drinks at the bar and over an hour wait, we sat down to a very nice meal. Maybe there is something to all this technology in our pocket.

Random pictures from our spring 2012 vacation. Click image to stop rotation. Click again to resume rotation.

In another walk about Boston, we visited the Museum of Fine Arts in the Back Bay to view their "Art in Bloom" exhibit. It was a really nice exhibit, with flower arrangements smartly spread out all over the MFA. While in the Back Bay, we also walked through the "Victory Gardens" in the Fenway, reportedly one of the oldest remaining Victory Gardens set up during WWII. We also strolled down the Charles River through the Esplanade. Boston is one of the worlds great walking cities.

On our Boston walk abouts, there were a few things we noticed. In the clothing department, with the exception of Asian Women who appeared to be visiting the city, everyone, and I mean everyone, seemed to be wearing blue jeans. The typical daytime attire for people walking around town looked like blue jeans and a tee shirt with sneakers (or trainers if you prefer) or sensible soft soled shoes. At night, there was little change. Men went from tee shirts to "Collared" shirts, some with a sport jacket. Women when to pretty (some times very low cut) blouses with painful looking shoes. I only saw men over 45 years of age in "Polo" shirts(so much for my wardrobe!!!). Khaki pants, or the black pants of years ago, were totally gone, replaced by the ubiquitous blue jean. It was an interesting trend to see, and it must have clothing designers/retailers shaking their heads.

The blue jean trend in Boston (and on Cape Cod) was not evident in Burlington Vermont. Does that mean that Burlington is ahead or behind a trend...who knows... but the contrast in what people were wearing between the two cities was very surprising.

From Boston, we made our way to Cape Cod, staying with innkeepers John and Kris at their inn, "The Liberty Hill Inn" in Yarmouth. We have stayed there many times, and I highly recommend Liberty Hill if you are visiting the Cape. We played a couple of nice rounds of golf along the way. Had another nice dinner at the Lyric restaurant on Route 6A in Yarmouth, run by a former Killington resident, Anne Austin.

We finished our trip in Foxboro MA, staying at Patriots Place, to visit with my son who lives in eastern Mass. Patriots Place is beautiful, but shockingly empty; being designed to support the hundreds of thousands of people who go there during Patriot Football games. But it was a nice, uncluttered, place to anchor for a few days while visiting with my son.

All in all, it was good to be away from home for a few days, but on the ride back it was clear that the mountains of Vermont were calling us home. It's nice to be back in Killington. There's no place like home!

The cloud descends on Superstar as seen from the K1 parking lot 

Like the final curtain coming down on a Broadway Show, the Killington Ski Resort entered it's last day of the 2011-2012 ski season with a curtain of cloud draping Superstar, the last trail standing.

To pretend that this has not been a strange winter season at Killington would require a feat of self delusion worthy of an ostrich with it's head in the sand. From the catastrophic ending to last summer literally rained down on the area by Hurricane Irene, to the dearth of cold air this winter combined with a paucity of natural snow fall; Mother Nature has been quite unpredictable at best and down right cruel to Killington during the 2011-2012 ski season. And with torrential rains once again predicted to sweep the area for the next couple of days, the Killington Resort announced late yesterday that the time has come to move on.

Looking back on the season, there were a number of bright spots which raise hopes for the future of the ski resort. The response of the local community, both it's businesses and private citizens, combined with the actions of the State of Vermont and a wide variety of federal agencies in the wake of Hurricane Irene reminded us all that Killington is a special place to call home, and to visit regularly. Hurricane Irene's destruction at the Killington Resort saw the birth of the Roaring Brook Umbrella Bars at the K1 Base lodge; clearly a shining example of how a business can turn lemons into lemonade. In the next few years it will be very interesting to see how the resort and the community take advantage of this Phoenix that rose from the ashes of Irene.

The "Stairway to Heaven" built last season to connect the top of the North Ridge area to Killington Peak proved it's value many times over. Without it, there would have been no early season skiing and riding at Killington. And the resort turned to it again last week to re-open the top of Killington Peak after the largest snow storm of the season struck the area two weeks ago.

And speaking of that snow storm two weeks ago, the resort threw caution to the wind and "looked the other way" as skiers and riders alike "re-opened" previously closed terrain covered in newly fallen snow. The resort usually takes a very conservative (some would say aggressive) stance in enforcing trail closures. But for this one storm, the resort let skiers and riders enjoy the spring gift from Mother Nature. While I doubt it would be a long term trend, it does provide a glimpse into the overriding principles on how the resort is run; at it's core the Killington Ski Resort is about people having fun on snow!

But it is time to move on. Thursday, Mary and I had our first round of golf for the season at Green Mountain National Golf Course. Yesterday, I went back down to the course and hit a bucket of golf balls at the driving range, just to "air out" my swing. Spring yard work is well underway. Websites have been recoded to summer. (Check out our golf packages this year at both Green Mountain and the Killington Resort Golf Course.)

Many of my local friends will be hiking Superstar over the next couple of weeks; squeezing out the final turns for their personal 2011-2012 ski seasons. But for aficionados of lift service skiing, the 2011-2012 ski season at Killington is "in the can".

Kudo's to the Killington Resort Community for making the most of 2011-2012 ski season. When you have a chance these next few weeks; raise a toast; hail the approaching 2012-2013 ski season. It will be here before you know it!

Let it snow..

Killington Peak 

I just received this message (4:00 PM) from the Killington Resort through the Killington Chamber of Commerce:

Operational Update from Killington Resort for Saturday, April 14th:

We are pleased to announce the K-1 Express Gondola and the North Ridge Triple will operate Saturday, April 14 along with the Superstar Express Quad from 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. The trails on Killington Peak and in the North Ridge area are for advanced skiing and riding only on ungroomed terrain.

There is adequate snow coverage at the top of Killington Peak and in the North Ridge area, however, as you ski or ride down from the North Ridge area, 300 yards of walking will be necessary to return to the K-1 Express Gondola.

Lifts are scheduled to open at 10:00 a.m. with the last K-1 cabin at 4:30 p.m. Additionally, the K-1 Lodge will be fully open and the Roaring Brook Umbrella Bars, at the base of Superstar trail, are open daily from 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Lift tickets will be $49 for Adults (19-64), $42 for Young Adults/Seniors (13-18/65 ) and $34 for Juniors.

--- Commentary ----

The Killington Resort is taking advantage of the late season snow we received early this week to re-open portions of the resort that were closed due to the summer like heat we received at the end of March. Kudo's to Killington for taking lemons and making lemonade!

In addition to skiing and riding off of the Superstar Quad, the resort will also be running the K1 Gondola and the North Ridge Triple. While skiing and riding is for advanced intermediates and experts only, I am sure that the skiers and riders will approve of Killington's effort to extend the ski season in the North East.

Let it snow..

Snow covered Killington Peak 

I blame it on our mothers...

On my side we have Irish-Catholic guilt. On the Mary's side we have Swedish fortitude. Combined, Mary and I don't have a prayer at ever stopping work....

While heavy wet snow was falling across the Killington Resort yesterday, we were dutifully fulfilling our obligations to the State of Vermont and the US Government by working on our tax package to give to our accountant. It was day 3 of a 4 day project we had planned for a couple of weeks. The first pass goes to the accountant today, so he can complete his work for next weeks "Tax Day"... so it goes.

We have started a bunch of spring projects weeks earlier than normal under the theory of turning lemons into lemonade. The more we get done now, in theory, the more time we have for golf later in the spring. We are making good progress and starting to talk about chasing that little white ball down a green fairway in the coming weeks. Unless, of course, that guilt thing raises it's ugly head again!

Killington reported 18 inches of snow yesterday on Killington Peak. They have re-opened the K1 Gondola, at least for now, to take advantage of the spring gift from Mother Nature. If you are interested in making some turns this weekend, Killington is the place to be. Our inn is open to provide lodging should you need a place to stay. Our mothers would not have it any other way.

Let it snow..

Birch Ridge Inn being blanketed in white by spring snow storm. 

Maybe the Mayans were on to something? Maybe all the work being done by Doomsday Preppers is worthwhile after all? Has the earth started to tilt to a different center point on it's axis? The signs are all there!

Yesterday was a perfect example. A cool, crisp, Easter Sunday in Killington. Mary and I went to brunch with some friends in Woodstock. Then we came home to watch the annual rite of spring, "The Masters" golf tournament from Augusta National in Georgia. Augusta National, the staid repose of the plutocracy. And low and behold, someone named "Bubba" from Bagdad wins the tournament. With a Pink Driver no less. The earth must have begun it's off axis tilt

OK... so it's just a random event you say...

This morning in Killington it looked to be a damp day. Light r@!n fell starting after midnight. At around 7:00AM the precipitation changed to snow. It has literally been puking snow outside for 5 hours as I write this blog. After a basically snowless winter, and weeks in the 80's in March at Killington, we now get snow!... Maybe tin foil hats are in order.

But of course, I am writing tongue in cheek. Early spring snow storms at Killington are natural phenomenon. We have them almost every year. And this year is no different.

And Bubba Watson, this years winner of "The Masters"....he is a consummate professional golfer who has been honing his craft for years. He is from Bagdad... not Bagdad Iraq but Bagdad Florida. And that "Pink Driver" he plays. It's part of Bubba's efforts to raise money for charity called "Bubba and friends drive to a million". The driver is part of a year-long campaign sponsored by Ping. Every time Bubba drives the ball over 300 yards, Ping will donate $300 dollars to his charity. At $300 per drive for his first 300 drives over 300 yards -- that's a lot of 300s -- Watson stands to rack up $90,000 for his foundation, just for doing what he always does. We should all be so dedicated to helping others.

So I guess all is still right with the world after all... at least for today.

Let it snow...so it goes..