May brought....

May was as beautiful a month as ever in Vermont. For Mother's Day we took a picnic up to Mount Tom which is close to our home. It was a lovely day to get outside and enjoy the fresh air.

May also sees some warmer weather. We opened up our porch and Nelson and Liz made a new base for our table out of pipes. I love it!

Another very exciting spring event is the annual shaving of our cat. He has extremely long hair--by spring there are cat dreadlocks all over the house. He doesn't look happy here, but he actually does feel better with the shave. 

May brought Helen's 18th birthday. Her big birthday treat was to go to New York City with a friend. They negotiated the city pretty much on their own. It was a big adventure.

Her favorite cake is called "can cake." You bake the cakes in 16 oz cans and then slice them up.

For some reason, the girls love "animal onesie's."  Helen received a Lemur onesie from a friend. The girls got down and jived in their onesie's after the birthday dinner.  I am always startled when I go up to their room on a cool, rainy day and find them lying in their onesies reading.  Maybe I didn't dress them warmly enough when they were babies.

Nelson has become a runner. This race, "Road to the Pogue" is a 10K that goes up the mountain we climbed on Mother's Day. He did quite well and is now training for a 1/2 marathon. 

He has completely transformed his life this year.

Finally, our big May tradition is to tour open studios on Memorial Day weekend. 

We have visited this blacksmith many times. Here's another "now and then."

Here I am with Helen enjoying a "maple cremee." A true Vermont treat.

Our girls have fallen in love with a crepe restaurant called "The Skinny Pancake." We managed to include it for lunch on our studio tour day. It was a lovely end to May.