Our life tends to be very polar. Today was a good example: this morning, we left our homestead-in-the-woods and drove with Ian and Melissa to Manchester, a perfectly quaint town where New Yorkers come to ski and outlet shop. Vermonters joke that Manchester is "somewhere near Vermont" (aka, it doesn't belong in the state). We ate pancakes surrounded by city slickers at Up for Breakfast, and then went perusing the outlets, buying things on sale. It all felt very decadent.

When we returned home, we found that a tree had blown over in the driveway. So, up we trudged to the house to change into our work clothes. Off came the new hat and the brand new jeans; out came the chainsaws! Together, we limbed up the tree and got it out of the driveway. I was so glad Ian and Melissa were here—what could have been annoying drudgery to us was exciting and interesting to them. Yay!

Thank you so much for your help, Ian & Melissa! We loved having you here!