Hi Everyone! We're back from our weeklong extravaganza of doing very close to nothing! It was relaxing, but bordered on being very, very boring. The Water Guy is very happy staring at the mountains, and walking amongst them, I on the other hand, although I like to take walks, would rather see museums, shop, etc.. We have very different ideas of a great vacation. That said, it was challenging to come up with things to keep occupied with.

One way I kept busy was to take some strolls around the grounds and find nice photo ops. Here is one I took off of our balcony to start off with.

The colors of fall were in full display. The chestnuts and maples were golden and yellow. And Nariloo had a great time finding the big chestnuts to make a little family. It really was a treat to see trees again. Alas, the apples we thought would be there were not. The orchards are there, but this year, as opposed to all others we've been there, the apples had been harvested, apparently to go to market. I did find one tree that had been left untouched and got a great shot of it.

Another treat we had was SNOW!! on the second day! Hooray! We had lots of snowball fights, tried to catch flakes on our tongues, and made a cute little snowman, which promptly got hit by a bus. I don't know why all the kids decided to build him in the middle of the road! But here he is immortalized...

Another thing we did was play lots of games of Settlers. What great fun, trying to build the longest trade route, largest army, and most cities. The kids enjoyed reading books, playing game boy etc..., and I found time to work on the recipe book I am working on to send away with the kids as they leave. It's full of recipes that we eat regularly, from Scalloped potatoes to BBQ beef sandwiches. Maybe by the time the last one leaves I'll have it done.

Sleeping in was something we really could not do, as they serve breakfast promptly at 8:00. The regime is quite sterile, and the variety of food nil. Cream of wheat, bread and butter for breakfast, broth with chunks of potato for lunch, and chunks of meat with mashed potatoes or buckwheat for dinner, EVERYDAY! Don't get me wrong, the food is okay, but after eating cabbage or beet salad everyday, for 8 days, makes you not really crave that food again for a very long time!

Here are a few more nice shots that I ended up with. Enjoy!

These are very efficient horse whips, and the folk of this land use them very adeptly.

The picture above, if you look closely, is the same one as the first photo, but on our second day there. Same balcony, same time of day. What a constrast!

The snow melted quickly, and all was back to grass and trees. I'll leave you with this picture. If you look closely, you can see the colt nursing its mother.