In celebration of my gf's new found freedom, we didn't work at all today.

There was a thunderstorm and we made zucchini pancakes for a late breakfast.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/zucchini-pancakes-recipe/index.html

We tried them with everything from maple syrup (the strangest combo) to jelly, yogurt, butter, and jam.

For linner (lunch and dinner) we went to Kripalu.

http://www.kripalu.org/

It's a yoga and meditation center on a huge piece of beautiful property with views of a lake, hills and mountains. They have a dinner buffet with tons of healthy delicious foods.

Today it was back to the shutters for me. I scraped old paint off in preparation for the primer. There are 12 more shutters to repaint after this set of 4 to complete the second floor.

I thought I should post some pictures of these shutters I've been talking about. Here is one panel as it is right after being taken off the wall:

Here is what it looks like after all the peeling sections are scraped off:

These are the tools I use:

And since I bought a camera for the NY trip, I will be happy to post pictures of the previous painting assignments and the wood splitting assignments. Just to get a taste of my job.

An update on my posts: they may come later in the night, but with good news. My gf left her farm slave labor, so she'll be home working with me. We get to stay up later! Tomorrow will be the first day of that. Since she won't be exhausted anymore, I might be reporting on fun activities in Massachusetts.

People around here say things very differently.

For example, when I first came I was told to go down what sounded like "Iceland Road." I repeated "Iceland" and they said yes, that is what it's called. When I see the street sign, it is actually "Ice Glen Road."

Today I discovered the entrance to the hiking trail leading to what I thought was "Lars Tower." But of course, it was not named this. It is called "Laura's Tower."

Around 7 pm there was a storm passing over our area. The thunder boomed and echoed in the valley between the mountains. Lightning cracked. The dog came to stay with us in the bathroom. I realized how hairy and soft he actually is as he quietly curled up on our feet.

After our dinner of soup, scrambled eggs with veggies, and curried cubed potatoes (okay, it tastes awesome despite it sounding convoluted) we made a late night trip to Price Chopper for some cookies: ginger snap and chocolate chip.

Since I was gone for the weekend, I will have an extensive post about the trip to Queens in addition to today's daily post.

It's Thursday and tomorrow we're leaving for New York.

I really have to get everything together. I know I want to show my gf where I grew up, but also I want to visit old neighbors and check out the High Line Park that opened recently in Manhattan. We still have to find an urban farm to check out.

Also, I'm considering buying a camera. I miss taking pictures. My camera got stolen in the Dominican Republic. So we'll see.

In the mean time I'm at home doing work. I split half of the logs today and started stacking some of them to be used in the furnaces for wintertime. I will attempt to do the other half tomorrow.

Farm Girl Dinner!

Tonight I was invited to dine with the farm girls at an intern's house. I've gotta say, when you eat with farmers, there's a lot of veggies on the table. We went vegetarian and had fried eggs, tofu, three kinds of salad (one with beats) and quinoa. For dessert- zucchini chocolate chip cookies and raspberries from the backyard garden!

The girls were hilarious. I didn't say much, I just listened and tried not to crack up too much.

Earlier in the day it had been raining. I sliced wood for the wintertime for Jim until the gas ran out in the wood-slicing machine. For lunch I discovered that Beef Brisket makes the most delicious hamburgers! Then I joined my gf at her farm and planted flowers for a future pick-your-own flowers CSA pick-up day.

*CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Members of the community pay for a share and get fresh veggies weekly from their local farm. They come to pick up the veggies and there is often a "pick-your-own" item in addition to the ones laid out at the table.

So far I haven't really written about my job at the bed & breakfast. It'll be over a week till I work there again, since I just work there when the owner needs extra help.

At the start of my job, it was amazing. The owner had to go on a week-long trip and so I was there doing the check-ins, breakfast, cleaning and talking with the guests. He told me he'd prefer if I'd stay there overnight to make sure everything went well in the house. So me and my gf had a guest room, which was really sweet. For that time we had two homes.

The first couple was from England. They were the only guests for the duration of their stay and they kept asking when other guests or the owner would show up. I tried to gauge how much they liked my food by how much they ate. The guy really wanted bacon, which the owner had smirked at me for mentioning to him that he should get some, so I went and got some. The guests were very pleased. The guy made quirky jokes that I almost didn't catch (he said them very seriously) and the woman hugged me at check out.

The second couple was awesome. They had a baby with them and stayed in the biggest room. It was great taking care of them on my own: we chatted a lot and they really liked me. I told them to enjoy the big house since they were the only guests there that day and they were happy about that. They also enjoyed my food!

When the owner came back I became more of a behind-the-scenes person. He cooked and chatted, and ordered me to clean while he sat with the guests during breakfast. I don't know if the guests even know there is someone else taking care of the B&B. Still, the second couple came to see me at check out and gave me $20! Whoa, super cool!

This Friday we'll be driving to NY to stay for the weekend. I really have to start planning out exactly what we'll be doing there. I tend to get lazy and in a home-ish mood when I'm there (I lived there for 14 years) so I have to remember I only have 2 days and lots of plans.