On Wednesday, to celebrate the return of my car and the rare few hours of sun...
I just realized that I haven't complained quite enough about the rain. Are we in FUCKING ENGLAND? (Can I curse on my blog? I can now.) I feel like we didn't have summer yet, it's just been a very long, wet, spring. I mean, people can't even get their hay in, because there's never a long enough period without rain. How are they going to feed their animals? On Wednesday, there was so much rain that our cheese cave flooded. Boots and cheese wrappers were floating around in a 2.5 foot deep sea of rainwater. Some of the orders we packed on Tuesday were on the floor and got completely ruined, as did a lot of the cheeses aging on the bottom racks. It sucked, basically.
Later on in the day of The Great Flood, it did stop raining for a second. So I seized my chance, put on entirely the wrong attire, and jumped in my spiffy little car. I drove to the trailhead in Branbury State Park to hike to the Falls of Lana and Silver Lake. Being in a hurry to catch those evanescent moments of sun, I had put on shorts and and t-shirt. Who hikes in shorts and a t-shirt through the woods when it has been raining for the past eternity? Me, apparently. I am a big mosquito bite. I'm pretty sure that there is no part of my skin that hasn't been punctured by a hungry bloodsucker. It looks like I have the chicken pox. I'M SO ITCHY. Nonetheless, the hike was absolutely gorgeous. It was like walking through a fairy wood. Moss covered most surfaces and mushrooms of exciting shapes and colors sprouted up along the path. (I was stupid and forgot my camera) After a few minutes of hiking, I could hear the falls. I have no idea what the Falls of Lana generally look like in the summer. I imagine they are a fairly tame cascade...not a RAGING, ROARING, MUDDY, RAPID RIVER TEARING THROUGH THE TWISTS OF A GORGE BEFORE SHOOTING OUT OVER A PRECIPICE like they were when I saw them. It was actually quite frightening. Even though I was standing at a safe distance, I felt like the river was going to reach out and grab me with its white-capped fingers. But it didn't. Obviously.
I kept hiking up the mountain, and finally arrived at the very picturesque Silver Lake. It was not silver...in fact, it was a rather odd red colour (I can spell it that way because we are in England, now) that made me rather hesitant to swim in it. So I hiked back down (slash ran because of the mosquitos), got back in my car, and drove to my favorite place on earth. The Middlebury Natural Foods Coop. Duh.
While I was shopping, Molly called and asked if I wanted to go to Field Days with her. Addison County Field Days is a big deal. It's a very authentic agricultural fair, complete with sheep shearing, tractor pulls, and a demolition derby. It also has fried dough, caramel apples, rainbow ice, maple cotton candy, and many other (theoretically) edible things, most of which have been dipped in boiling oil and/or painted with butter. As a whole, it was a combination of Ocean City, NJ + the St. Dennis Fair + Belleville or the Green Dragon Amish markets. Molly and I walked around, ate crap, and petted animals. We were so tempted to steal these two adorable calves at the Poulin Grain stand, because no one was watching them...but we only had a minivan and logistically, it would have been challenging. Not to mention illegal. But they had such big brown eyes and long eyelashes...
It was fun. And I got a shirt! Wooo.
Today is Friday, so I am baking bread. I woke up and started to put together 7 batches of bread at 6:30. I got out to the cheese house by 9 and poured a big batch of chévre. Then I cleaned the vat, priced some cheese, packed an order and 30 tubs of chévre. Ate some lunch. Watched a movie. Now it's time to shape the bread.
I hope I didn't bore you to death with this insanely long post.
Final note...I'm leaving in less than two weeks. I'm pretty sure that's the weirdest thing ever.
