These shoes are made for walking ...

Our New Vasques ...

As you know after VT we are heading to Bulgaria, Turkey, Nepal and on from there ... so we needed new walking shoes. You cannot beat the States for the price of shoes ... they are so much cheaper than NZ and so much choice! This is what we got ... I went for color and I love mine, I tried to get Pete to try the red ones but he could not do it. Anyway today we took our new shoes out walking.

Vermont is stunning ... there is green everywhere and heaps of it. It feels like an oasis. I guess right through New England is like this ... we are loving it here and the greenery is very restful. Lots of rolling green hills and the plant life is beautiful as you will see.

Today we went to Quechee Gorge and stopped off for some cheese tasting along the way. I love cheese! The day has been very restful and restorative. The gorge is pretty impressive and is not remote at all. The contrast for me is quite stark. A gorge in NZ is remote ... or quite a way from mainstream life and can often be a bit of a hike, but Quechee Gorge is not, but still a tourist destination point. I took some photos while we went for a walk ... 

I love this Bridge Structure

I really like metal ... particularly this kind of look. I think this looks beautiful! Not sure why but I have always liked the look of metal under bridges and how strong they look so I took a photo ... I think it is the chunkiness of the metal ... the industrial look.

We stumbled across these flowers by the dam in the Gorge and I loved the contrast of color ... they look so beautiful to me and these kind of places in VT pop up everywhere. Wild honeysuckle along the side of the road ... quite foreign to me. 

One of VT's  and NH attractions is covered bridges ... they are lovely, they remind me of a Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep film ... The Bridges of Madison County. Pete insisted that I needed to be in the photo or him and I could not see without my glasses, so I guess it was me. He thinks the photos will be more appealing and have more value if one of us is in them ... I am happy to not be in any of them! 

I saw these Iris and they reminded me of Marg. Marg had Iris' in her garden, I am not sure if she liked them, but she had them. I am sure she had this color, can anyone remember? Marg loved to travel and she did quite a lot of it in her later life ... some of it for quite long periods of time. She loved India and often talked about it and how much she loved it. She would be thrilled with the travel that her children and grandchildren have done and the places they have been and seen. I miss Marg sometimes! She was a good woman and a great Mother in Law to me and she loved her grandchildren and was always so generous to her family ... and anyone that came into her house/home at 371 River Road. 

We have a lot of good memories of River Road ... christmas in a marquee on the back lawn ... family dinners where Marg cooked for everyone ... birthdays of grandchildren ... turning up unexpectedly on a cold winters night to a warm fire and a warm welcome. Syd sitting in the corner in his chair by the fire reading a book and smoking a cigarette. 371 always felt like home to me! I am pretty sure by the time we get back to Christchurch it will be gone. 

This I could not resist! I love the color of this poppy. I think it is beautiful. I had to take a photo ... this one is for you lucy! Is this color not stunning?! Again this poppy was on the side of the road in amongst the greenery ... no ones garden ... just there blooming magnificently and singing out ... look at me!