Kancamagus Highway

I’ve been working with clients in Maine and have made several treks from Burlington to the Portland area over the last month. Each time I drive in daylight I try to mix up my route to experience as much of the White Mountains as I can.

This week I drove the Kancamagus Highway and stopped to shoot photos. The panorama was composed of seven shots and stitched in Hugin. The light was fading to the west as I found a pull off as the road descends on the west side of the pass. I believe the prominent peak to the left is Mt. Osceola.

Full size, single image that was part of the panorama stitch:

Fall color is starting to appear up high in the Whites. My favorite time of year here in VT.

Texture

Stopped in at good friends and clients New Energy Works last week on my way back from visiting mom after her surgery. Some lovely textures happening on their new CLT shop and warehouse space. Delightful combination of reclaimed materials, applied color, original patinas, and new wood tech.

Heartwood Snapshots

We had a great class at Heartwood for my spring ‘Introduction to SketchUp’. 12 students fill all the available seats and we covered a wide range of skills ranging from accurate modeling techniques, presentation, and compound timber joinery.

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I took 3 courses here in 1999-2000 or so. That reinforced a love of building and design and set me on a path that I’ve been wandering and refining since.

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I’ve been teaching here for about 6 years now. It’s a magical place that I truly love returning to every year.

Motion Blur

Bike riding down. Car riding, plane riding, and general moving about (along with eating cafe food, drinking too much coffee, and putting on the pounds) is way up. Taught 3 sessions at a conference in the DC area. Incorporated my business. RUSA schedule has been submitted, information on 2012 VT Brevets forthcoming when we have approval.

Been back and forth to Boston (work and visiting my sister who was presenting at a conference), heading to the cape for work, then off to W.NY for work and family. We finally hired painters to tackle a few rooms in our house that we just couldn’t get around to wrapping up. Kitchen, hallways, and bath are now colorful. Added some new light fixtures to the bath while we had the walls messed up.

Fall has come and is nearly gone. Leaves down. Garden prepped for expansion (doubling again!).

Bikes need loving, collecting dust. Legs and lungs need the same. Haven’t felt really good on the bike since my 200+ mile trip through the ADKs in August. Just this week my lungs seem to be full of green slime that I cough up in the mornings, likely caught from a certain 3 year old. Looking forward to getting back to our regularly scheduled program. Focusing on family, work, and daddy time. Need to re-boot.

Wil put up a nice report on our overnight.

Whirlwind

Literally.

I was within minutes of the tornado in western Massachusetts last week. Hail on the roof of the rental car, strong winds, thunder, lightning, etc. Head over to NASA to read more details.

Been a blur since the 400k. No riding, lots of work, lots of driving. Things are settling down, and life will return to some normalcy here, hopefully. Garden expansion is complete. Apple and pear trees planted and doing well. Blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry bushes planted. Ava has been poaching nearly ripe blueberries all week…

Been to MA and NH for work. Dropped by a few projects in the Boston area to check on progress, and then took off for the Berkshires to teach at the Heartwood School. 3 days of 3d modeling, reconnecting with friends, and enjoying the mountains. The Fargo made the trip with me – but some design work for a project overseas that I was honored to work on took some late nights… so no riding, just time pushing pixels around.

Looking forward to a return to life in northern Vermont. Until a little one decides to make an appearance…

Recent Snaps

Been a whirlwind. The little one had a birthday. Lots of travel for work – Western NY, ME, NH, MA, CT, Washington DC. Then a botched attempt to get to a wedding in San Diego that ended (due to airline issues) with us staying in Manhattan for the night and driving back to Burlington.

Abandonment

I DNF’d on the Boston 400k this past weekend. A lingering stomach bug crippled my morning, as my average speed dropped and dropped along with my caloric intake. I logged about 100 miles before pulling the plug, and added another 20 or so to make it to a safe and easy to reach retrieval point.

Foggy, misty morning.
Foggy, misty morning.

Thanks to the NERds for putting on what looks to be a great ride. The first half of the route was gorgeous, and aside from it being ‘Bike Week’ (loud motors, not muscles) my morning was as pleasant as could be, under the circumstances. Despite the cramping, needing to ride bolt upright for long stretches, and touring the interiors of numerous restrooms and port-a-lets – I tried to enjoy my father’s day weekend ride.

A stone building in New Hampshire.
A stone building in New Hampshire.
Paint drippings - for better than 2 miles - my own bike lane.
Paint drippings - for better than 2 miles - my own bike lane.
Sounds... dirty.
Sounds... dirty.
'Bike Week' - ride organizers had ear plugs at the first control...
'Bike Week' - ride organizers had ear plugs at the first control...

A nice surprise was that the route passed 2 projects that I recently designed at The Nature of Things in Nashua, New Hampshire, one of which was assembled and raised just last week.

Timber frame addition, recently raised!
Timber frame addition, recently raised!
Timber frame school house (solar on the roof, geothermal heating and cooling, FSC certified timber... and a potential LEED certification!
Timber frame school house (solar on the roof, geothermal heating and cooling, FSC certified timber... and a potential LEED certification!

Work and Ride

The IF at the top of the drive...
The IF at the top of the drive...

I spent three days in the Berkshires teaching at the Heartwood School. I managed two short rides to explore the local dirt. Lots of steep climbing on gravel and sand and loose dirt. I was wishing for wider tires as I was running the 28s with the Honjo’s. Wanted to get out more – but it was hard to cram a bit of catching up with friends, teaching, and riding into the time I had. I’d love to get back…

A fork in the road on the way up to Middlefield.
A fork in the road on the way up to Middlefield.
Beaver!
Beaver!