Quechee Balloon Festival

This past weekend, L and I took about an hour trip up to Quechee (pronounced "Kwee-chee"), Vermont for their 30th annual Balloon Festival. It's like a small fair, with plenty of arts and crafts tents, food, music, and of course, hot air balloons.

There were also the New England Disc Dogs, of which, sadly, we did not get any pictures. They were fun to watch though.

It was a muggy, gray, overcast day. Rain threatened but held off all day. We watched a few balloons take off.


Note the people in the basket.

This one took off across the river.

But the balloons weren't the only attraction. The town, like so many in New England, is an old mill town.

And it has a covered bridge.

And a dam.

Beau and I like to play in the mist from the dam.

And finally, we watched the Cowboy Teddy Bear giving people rides. Unfortunately, L didn't capture my reenactment of the Bear's pose, with my arms out wide.

I and Love and You

Just got my tickets to see the Avett Brothers in Boston at the House of Blues in October. They went on pre-sale this morning, and I couldn't wait. The HoB is on Lansdowne St., right behind Fenway Park.

I've mentioned these guys a few times here before, and yes, I will again. In fact, here's a live video of them performing the title track from their new album, which won't be released until September.




So there you go. It's a beautiful song. If you get the chance to see this guys soon, do it. In fact, here's a link to their tour dates. They play in Richmond on July 11, if you're in that area.

Update (6/24): Here's a link to download that song . And you should be able to simply right-click on this one, and save it as an mp3 directly to your computer. They just released the single this morning.

No, It's a Cardigan! But Thanks for Noticing!

Ah, nothing like a Dumb and Dumber quote for a post title.

On Sunday, I woke up to a beautiful late May day. It appeared to be everything that can be gorgeous about New England. It was sunny with perfect blue skies almost painful to look at, and only a few small wispy clouds in the air. It promised to be a warm day, perfect for hiking. So that's what L and I decided to do.

L has wanted to climb Mt. Cardigan for a while now. Mt. Cardigan is a fairly short mountain here in central New Hampshire, about 45 minutes away. It is a Monadnock, which is a term for a mountain that stands on its own, apart from any range of peaks. There is another such mountain that rises just beyond the lake in our backyard, named Mt. Kearsarge. We hiked that one in the fall. It was gorgeous with the changing leaves and so forth.

We drove to the Adirondack Mountain Club lodge at the bottom of Cardigan, and got there about 12:30. At this point, the beautiful day had soured. We were now looking at gray skies, scattered raindrops, and blustery winds. It suddenly didn't seem the best day for a hike up a mountain. However, we decided to give it a shot, and get the dog some exercise.

After about an hour and a half, we were nearing the top of the mountain. We felt a few raindrops on our way up, but they were cool and felt nice on our sweaty skin. The wind, however, was really picking up.

Now, the top of Mt. Cardigan is bare rock, the result of a wildfire nearly 150 years ago. When we reached the treeline, a couple hundred yards from the top, the wind really took off. We attempted to scramble up the bare rock to the summit. Finally, about a hundred yards from the top, we called it quits. The wind was whipping (I estimated 50mph, while L put it at closer to 35 -- I was definitely closer; it was strong enough to push me around). It was not pleasant. After pausing long enough to water the dog and scan the horizon, we started back down.

Here's the view from (almost) the summit.

Note the clouds and general darkness. This was about 2:30 in the afternoon.

As we started our decline, we spotted a heavy rainstorm a few miles in the distance. It was moving pretty rapidly toward us. We tried to put the slick rocky surfaces behind us and get back under the cover of the forest before it arrived. Luckily, it never really did.

We stopped after a few hundred yards on the way down, at a decent lookout spot, and had a snack. Here are some photos.

Again, please note the dark clouds in the distance. These served to impair our view.

By the time we reached the bottom of the mountain, the day had cleared up again. When we headed to the car at about 4 pm, I looked up and took this picture of the summit.

Thanks, nature.

Quoth the Raven

You probably don't care one bit to listen to me moan about my job. But I had to write this to vent. I've had a really tough time over the last couple of weeks after accepting a long-term sub position. I initially turned it down for a variety of reasons, but changed my mind after both the principal and the 6th grade team leader, whom I respect a great deal.

Well, I still haven't heard anything about my dream job for which I interviewed. It's frustrating not hearing anything when I know that they have finished the interview process. I even called this morning and left a message with the secretary. She said that she would pass along my number to the search committee. I'm still hoping that no news is not necessarily bad news.

Meanwhile, I've been teaching 7th grade Reading for the last couple of weeks. It's probably the most challenging thing I have ever done. There are several factors that play into making these children tough:

1. The community and their home-life circumstances (many of them come from broken homes and tough backgrounds -- it's a shame).
2. The fact that they are 12 years old. I'm sure I was just as obnoxious, but holy lord, some of these kids are mind-boggling. There is one in particular who comes into homeroom at 7:30 am, when I'm still waking up, finishing my coffee and resigning myself to the fact that I can't go back to the warmth of my bed -- I can hear this kid coming down the hall. He's a yeller. Everything he says is LOUD. He has no inside voice. It's unbelievable. He yells, screams, makes noises, slams things, moves chairs around, and just generally drives me completely insane.
3. The permanent teacher, before she left, had extreme pain in her hip, which meant that she was unable to control the classroom, which means that I was responsible for a classroom in which all discipline had broken down. Trying to restore order to the chaos is like trying to hold back the water-swell of a hurricane. To get their attention, I have had to yell almost as loud as I can. And I'm 6'3", 225+ lbs, and have a correspondingly big voice. It's really astounding how little respect, fear, and care these kids have.

Anyway, after last week, while I was using the lesson plans the teacher had left me, I decided to try something new. The work she left basically amounted to busy work, with the kids merely reading each day and then completing worksheets. It was boring and frustrating, and made for a bad experience for all of us. Yesterday I made copies of The Raven and we've gone over it the past 2 days. Instead of a nice response, I've gotten more complaints of boredom.

Finally, I decided that for my own sanity, I need to walk away from the situation. Thanks for listening, and we'll return soon to our regularly entertaining, not bitching blog. I'm really looking forward to playing basketball tonight to blow off some steam.

Weekend Wrap and an Opportunity

I'm gonna try to get going on this thing again. And apologies for the long lay-off.

First, a recap of this weekend in Boston.

I'll spare you the details of Friday night -- mostly because I don't remember all of them. Suffice it to say it was great to see my buddies.

So Saturday we headed down to the Garden a couple hours early to meet my buddy's Dad; the fella who had gotten us the tickets. We met at the Fours -- apparently the #1 Sports Bar in America! -- for dinner. Then we headed into the Garden and made a stop at the pro shop to pick up the appropriate green gear. I already had on a Kelly green polo shirt, but a Paul Pierce T-shirt seemed warranted.

From there, it was into our seats. If you watched the game, you know. It didn't have the drama of Game 6 -- there were no overtime periods or buzzer-beaters. But it did feature plenty of excitement, several lousy officiating calls which we eagerly voiced our opinion on, and a stellar performance from one Eddie House, a fan favorite here in New England.

All in all, it was a magnificent game 7, the crowd was electric, the atmosphere was everything you want for a playoff game, and I was just thrilled to be there. Our seats were even pretty decent. I was about 30 rows up from the C's bench, one section into the corner. Two of my friends were on floor level, only a few rows away from the Bulls bench, and both of them made at least a couple appearances on the telecasts -- one was seen on the TNT broadcast twice, while the other was spotted on the local Comcast New England telecast at least once.

It was pretty amazing.

So I return to New Hampshire optimistic this week, especially about an interview I have Thursday. I am scheduled to meet with the search committee regarding a Social Studies position at the nearby high school where I have done quite a bit of substituting in the last several months. I have gotten to know a few of the teachers fairly well, including a History teacher who is on the search committee, as well as another whose classes are the ones I would be taking over. I have substituted for both the former and the latter on a couple occasions, and even play basketball pretty regularly with the latter. I play pickup ball a couple times a week, and I have gotten to ask him for some advice on what I can do to improve my chances in the interview.

I think this position would be the ideal spot for me: I like the school; the faculty all seem knowledgeable, interesting, committed, and helpful; and it is close to my current residence. Please keep your fingers crossed for me this week!