the weekend, in brief.

friday: working late enough to catch the sunset. i know this will be a regular occurrence soon as the days get shorter, but on friday evening, that felt like a big deal. sushi takeout for dinner (yum!). a pile of harvested tomatillos & peppers before the first frost. catchup time with brett. and then, a beer with a best friend. my long-distance neighbor kate came to vermont for the weekend and we enjoyed some good quality time together.

saturday: freezing morning! a walk to get bagels, and a stop at the farmers market for apples. then a grand adventure day! hiking burnt rock with j, the pups, her parents & another couple i've known forever. while the peak foliage has passed, there was still some beautiful yellow coloring lower down, and a spectacular blue sky. the views were clear as we could see to lake champlain & the adirondacks, camels hump, sugarbush and beyond, and the whole worcester range. it was refreshing and so much fun. jenna & i have enjoyed some great shorter hikes this fall, but it was so nice to get out for a full day adventure in the mountains.

i got home late afternoon, showered, and rallied out for dinner at three penny with b, jen & al. what's better than a good burger, a tasty beer, and good company to round out a great day?

sunday: a cozy brunch with kate and another friend of hers, a bit of shopping downtown, all the usual chores (laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping) plus a bit of work for a montpelier committee i'm serving on, some work to get ahead for the week, a walk in the park with j, and then a kitchen extravaganza with b. he made tomatillo salsa, and grilled pork. i made banana pumpkin muffins (delicious), nutella cookies (not worth making again), brussel sprouts, and roasted acorn squash with apple. yum.