2016 East Coast - King Arthur Flour Baking Class

One of my yet-to-be achieved goals for retirement was to learn to bake really good homemade bread. Despite collecting and reading lots of books on baking breads, and my valiant tho' somewhat sporadic efforts at baking various types of bread, I seem to always come up short. When we were first planning this trip to the east coast, I looked into visiting the King Arthur Flour facility in Norwich, VT.  I guess I was hoping some baking magic would rub off on me just being in the vicinity.  But once I discovered that there was an opening in a 4-day rustic bread baking class that coincided with the end of our trip, that became a "must-do".  The class was all I could have hoped for and more!  Outstanding instructors, a magnificent facility,  a group of highly compatible classmates (14 of us in total, a mixture of folks from east, west, and midwest), and LOTS of hands-on practice.  Now to practice, practice, practice once we get home!

2016 East Coast - Shelburne Museum, Vermont

We spent two days closing out September by wandering through Shelburne Museum, a museum of art, design, and Americana in Shelburne, Vermont. This unusual museum has a three-star rating in the Michelin Green Guide - the highest possible rating. The founder of the museum described it as "a collection of collections", which is a very concise description of this museum. Lest you think we are a bit slow for spending two days in a museum, be aware that this one covers 45 acres and 38 buildings, many of which are historic buildings, purchased and moved to this location by the founder, Electra Havemeyer Webb, specifically for the purpose of displaying the family's many collections, each one more extensive and amazing then the next.  The link I've provided in the preceding sentence gives more information on the collections as well as on the buildings that comprise this museum. Here are some photos from those two days to hopefully whet your appetite to visit Shelburne Museum:

This was one of the most intriguing exhibits of art quilts by one artist that I have EVER seen!

Same quilt as one immediately above, but this time with backlighting.

The museum has a whole room full of amazing  miniatures executed by a friend of the museum founder 

View from the Blacksmith Shop, looking out