Dress up (1985)

Three Amigos (Alpacas)

Alpaca Farm in Huntington Vermont

Camels Hump Alpaca Farm. Took some back roads on the way home from my meeting today, and found some photogenic critters.

Calf at Liberty Hill Farm

Lots of animals at the farm: cows, a goat, chickens, roosters, turkeys and a barn cat.

Liberty Hill Farm, Rochester Vermont

I just spent a couple of days here on a business retreat. It's a working dairy farm and B&B (plus dinner). Not fancy, but great people and totally delicious food, served family style of course. Check it out at www.libertyhillfarm.com.

Clonmacnoise

Clonmacnoise II

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Coastline, west of Donegal

Somewhere west of Donegal

Trabane Strand

Shelburne Bay, late winter

A perfect winter day

People who say they hate winter cannot ever have been out on a day like this. Fresh powder, brilliant sunshine, crisp air, and spectacular scenery everywhere you look. This, and the next few photos were taken during a late March ski trip to Alta (Utah) with my kids.

The "kids"

Older son (right) spent this particular winter working at Alta after college (note Colby sweatshirt). 

"Not serviced by lifts"

Note that the skiers are going uphill. Especially impressive since, at 12,000 feet, there isn'a a lot of oxygen up there.

This was a mistake

Things drop off very steeply to the left. And there's no way out of the bowl for a mile or two. I made this mistake only once. Got down it in one piece, but slowly. Can't say it was a lot of fun.

Cozy retreat

I could live here.

Where the maniacs go

Backcountry skiing is big in Utah. People put on climbing skins and climb to the top of this and surrounding peaks. Then they ski down. Sometimes at night. They do this for fun. Not me, man.

Best musical performance I saw in 2007, Celtic division

The lovely, talented and always energetic Natalie MacMaster, from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. March 2007 at Burlington's Flynn Theater. Seven months pregnant and still step dancing! Cape Breton is home to some wonderful musicians, as well as a number of distant relatives.

Best ambiance at a concert, 2007

Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra at the Concert meadow of the Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe. July, 2007. 

Mozart, mountains and cows. The concert was on the day that the new Harry Potter came out, and there were 20 or so kids in the audience with their noses buried in the book. Perfect weather, sunset over the hills, and surprise fireworks following the show. During intermission, we paid our respects at Maria Von Trapp's grave, located in the garden between the meadow and lodge. In winter, the concert meadow is the center of the cross-ountry ski trails (link at right).