Little Cottage in the Woods

Dear Friends and Family,

We have come so far and done so much, it is hard to imagine that it has been only a year since I last sat down to write this letter. The first part of our year was spent fixing up our house to put on the market, while simultaneously trying to make the most of every minute remaining to us in Vermont. In the spring we tapped our beloved Maple tree and made our very own Vermont maple syrup. We called it “Cohen’s Superfancy” and it is delicious, if I do say so myself. We actually got into the game a little late, and didn’t get our taps in until after the first week in March. Even so we had two solid weeks of the sap running: dip dip dipping in the buckets while the snow was drip drip dripping off the branches. By the end of two weeks we were swimming in sap and had boiled well over a gallon of syrup already! We decided to finish boiling down what we had, but pack the buckets up and let the sap start fertilizing the ground. I’m looking forward to tasting Kentucky maple syrup this spring, weather permitting. (Kentucky maple syrup, no way!)

Finally towards the end of April we finished up our house and put it on the market. Within a week we had our first showing and had accepted an offer. Suddenly we were a little concerned that we might close and have to move before the end of Seth’s school year! Luckily the buyer was willing to wait and we closed right after school let out. The week of our move was pretty hectic. Joanna’s cousin Tommy came to help and it’s a good thing, we never would have managed without him. The day before the closing the buyer and his realtor did a walk-through of the house, after which they scheduled another walk-through for right before the closing - they didn’t believe it was possible that we’d have everything out in time! When they arrived we were just loading the last of our worldly possessions into our trailer. We had a wheelbarrow and trash left, and no room to possibly stow them. Turned out our buyer was in need of a new wheelbarrow and our realtor was very generous with her dumpster! Our relief was immense.

We arrived at Seth’s Dad’s house bewildered and homeless, exhausted and more than a little heart-broken. We can never thank Mitchell and Morissa enough for welcoming us with open arms and allowing us to stay with them for several months while we searched for a house of our own. Our house hunting proved futile and finally, mercifully, we got word that the current tenants of the little stone house down on Joanna’s family property were moving out. We moved in Labor Day weekend and have never been happier. With two whole bathrooms, the house itself is an upgrade from our Vermont house. With family scattered about, woods surrounding and a creek running through, the neighborhood is enchanting. (One may actually expect the birds and rabbit to break into song, as though s/he stepped into Snow White’s forest.) We are very happily settling into habit with the land. (Not only have I found a few sugar maples, but we have a plentiful walnut crop that will fall into our lap every fall.)

Since we never seem to pack enough into one year, we decided we should try to squeeze in another big motorcycle race. In November we traveled to Mexico for the Baja 1000, which claims to be one of the toughest off-road races in the world. Once again Tommy joined us and once again, we couldn’t have done it without him. We spent a week and a half “pre-running” the course, which involved dropping Seth and his motorcycle off on the side of the road in the morning and picking them up in the evening - or well after dark, as it sometimes happened. Breakfast and dinner on the same day meant it was a good day. We camped on the beach, drove through sunrises and moonrises. We gawked at the stars and gazed on as the desert sparkled in the sunrise. Unfortunately the trip was plagued with bad luck. We spent most of one night parked on the side of a road, 2 miles from our hotel. The road was closed due to an accident, a tractor trailer turned over. We had 5 flat tires on the truck and trailer, and Seth’s engine blew only 169 miles into the race. We spent the rest of race day trying to extract him from the desert until finally he drove up in the back of a rancher’s pickup, standing next to his motorcycle. We got back to our hotel just as the first motorcycle racers were finishing the race. We’ll have to try this one again someday.

We’re so grateful now to be back in our cottage in the woods, safe and sound after our adventures. Just as I was despairing that I might never see snow again it started snowing and our world was blanketed in goodness and beauty.

Merry Christmas, Happy Belated Hanukkah, and Happy New Year!

Love,
Joanna & Seth

And Thunder.