Just when it’s safe to walk about in the woods once again, we’re expecting more snow – 6 to 10 inches – woohoo!  It’s coming down hard, so much so that the New York shore is invisible.  Well, the dogs will have a good time anyway!  Piccolo and Ava love winter when they can be off leads and chasing squirrels with abandon.

Peter and I have been coping with winter by exploring new recipes!  He’s become quite facile at bread-making, using Jim Lahey’s No Knead recipes, and also Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.  Of course we had to make a pilgrimage to King Arthur Flour’s store in Northfield, Vermont, to stock up on baking goodies just to make sure we had all the proper accoutrements on hand before putting our hands in the dough.  Pizza is good (onions with a little cream and thyme) and buttermilk bread has a great crust.  And it’s great for grilled cheese sandwiches, too.  Aged gruyere is my favorite but Peter’s an all American guy.  And tonight we’re giving foccacia a try!

Hard to believe that next week marks the end of February.  March is a curious month in Vermont.  It’s often the snowiest, just when you’re really looking forward to seeing the ground again, but the good news is that it melts away quickly.  We always hope for a dry spring.  Mud season isn’t much fun with two dogs – it isn’t fun even with only one dog!  Fortunately, the dogs don’t mind being bathed.

Speaking of dogs, do you realize that the Scottish Deerhound who took best in show at Westminster this year was right here at Basin Harbor during the national specialty show for deerhounds last May?  Foxcliffe Hickory Wind, known as Hickory, is a wonderfully graceful, gentle dog, as all deerhounds are.  We couldn’t be more proud if she were our own girl!

If you live in the Boston area, we hope you are planning to come to the Basin Harbor get together there on March 10.  For more details, contact us at party@basinharbor.com.  We hope to see you there!  It does our spirits good to think about spring – and seeing members of the Basin Harbor family – even if snow is piling up!

Enjoy the day!  Pennie