Sunday, July 7, 2013

Alive and Well and On to New Things

Hello everyone!

At this point, It's been almost a year since I've posted anything.  To all of you who've followed my blog during the past few years, first and foremost, I wanted to apologize.  Dropping off the face of the earth is not a very nice thing to do to your friends.  So shame on me!  I hope that all of you are doing well and I can't wait to reconnect with many of my blogging buddies.  Secondly, I wanted to give a quick update on what we've been up to these days.

But before I get into that, I just wanted to briefly explain why I stopped blogging last year.  Since moving to Vermont, our family has been busy exploring the state and our neighbor to the north.  Canada is a wonderful place - one that I hope all of you get to visit.  The summer of 2012 was one of our best.  We spent most of our time outside - going on many picnics, hikes and farm forays, swimming in Lake Champlain, cooking with great friends and drinking our fair share of wine.  When confronted with this new found joy, blogging became less of a priority for me.  Then a credit card glitch tipped the scales.  You see, I had set my domain registration to automatically renew each year but for some reason, it didn't happen last summer.  Unbeknownst to me, a third-party had placed a reserve order for my domain name and once I failed to renew in a timely manner, they were able to buy it from underneath me.  Now they are listing it for sale at the bargain price of $28,000. All I have to say on that subject is 'Boo!!!!'.  In any case, I looked upon it as a sign.

Fast forward to winter, we continued to enjoy what our new state had to offer in terms of winter sports.  Jonathan took ice skating lessons, went to hockey games and we went cross country skiing for the first time.  The cold was brutal, but it didn't take long for us to adjust.  Then earlier this year, completely out of the blue, we were confronted with an opportunity to move back to Massachusetts.  The choice was a difficult one to make, but since I was still commuting into Boston part of the week for work, as difficult as it was to leave a state that we'd grown to love, it seemed like the most logical decision to make for our family financially.   So as Spring arrived, we packed up our stuff  again, said goodbye to our new friends and moved back to the Bay State (admittedly with some reservation).

Readjusting to life in a larger city (and a more densely populated area) has been somewhat difficult to say the least.  We miss the slower pace of life that we got to experience in Vermont.  The work day now goes by slower, our daily commute seems much longer and finding the sense of 'community' we'd grown accustomed to in Vermont has proven to be much more difficult than expected.  That being said, we're determined to take the best parts of our life in Vermont and transplant them here. 

In late August, we are set to close on a new home in Scituate, Massachusetts.  We are very excited to be living about a mile away from the ocean, in a community with great schools and in a town with great historical character (Scituate happens to be the second oldest town in the United States).  Our family is looking forward to laying down permanent roots, starting new traditions (Jonathan and I now dig for our supper on the clam flats of Duxbury Bay) and I'm looking forward to starting a new garden.  

Once we settle into our new home, I plan on starting a new gardening blog and I hope many of you will come along for the ride!  Until then, I hope you all have a wonderful summer!

Sincerely,
Thomas

27 comments:

  1. Thank you for commenting on my blog and reconnecting. I am so happy to see this update and know that all is well. I know we don’t really know each other except through the blogging world, but I was worried about you. I kept checking your blog often and was a bit perplexed when it was no longer there. Then I found the blogger url and still kept it in my Reader in case a post from you popped up.

    I am glad life has been good. I am looking forward to hearing about your new home, garden, and visits to the coast.

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  2. First I'm going to say I'm doing the happy dance now that you are back, then I'm going to read your blog!

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    1. Oh, my goodness, so much has happened in this past year! I'm sorry you had to leave the place you had learned to love, but looking forward to hearing how you overcome the new challenges you face. I'll bet Jonathan has grown a lot! Good luck in your new home, and don't you ever go away from us again, young man....you are much loved in this blogging community!!!

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  3. I'm so happy to hear that you and your family are doing well, I was worried when you disappeared. It is difficult to be uprooting yourselves so often, but I'm sure you will settle in well in your new home, it sounds wonderful. Looking forward to watching your new garden grow!

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  4. Glad you are back! We missed you.

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  5. Glad to hear that you are OK. Until just recently, I would check in on your blog from time to time to see if there was anything new. Just when I'd stopped doing so, I noticed a comment from "Thomas" on Laura's (kitsap) blog and decided to check if it was likely you.

    Sometimes life throws you a curve...

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  6. Great to hear from you Thomas! And I'm hoping your adjustment goes well.

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    1. So glad to see a post from you Thomas! I see there have been some more changes since we spoke right before your move. Congrats on the new home.....can't wait to see your new garden!

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  8. I so enjoyed reading about your adventures in gardening/farming in your back yard, before your move to a communal garden. And now I have the pleasant anticipation of reading about your starting a new garden. Can't wait!

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  9. I'm so glad you are back. I missed your reading your blog. And you are going to be right around the corner. I work in Hanover, MA and live on Cape Cod. One advantage of living down close to the water here compared to Vermont should be a more temperate climate.
    Katie

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  10. Wow... exciting times! Wishing you the best of luck with all the new changes. I'm anxiously awaiting more updates on the new house, garden and traditions. We miss you guys! xo

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  11. Glad you're back to posting, and very happy to hear life is going well. I look forward to hearing about your new garden. Good luck, and enjoy the rest of the summer!

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  12. Welcome back! Naughty domain stealer!! Looking forward to you New England gardening blog again- Long live Zone 5-6!!!

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  13. i've been a silent reader of this blog for quite a long time.....& i was wondering what happen to u & this blog too...glad to know that everything's great for u & ur family....welcome back, Thomas....:)

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  14. Finding out that you are okay and returning to the blogging world has made my day :)

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  15. Glad you're okay. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would have appreciated just a quick, "I'm okay...more later" months ago.

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  16. Welcome back!!! I missed reading your blog.

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  17. Ditto! Welcome back!!

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  18. Glad to hear that you are well, Thomas, and that life is a continuing adventure. I hope the new move to the seaside goes well. Much love from all at thingswemake.

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  19. On a whim I decided to see if you had come back to the blog world and there you were! So happy for you that you will be in a community close to the ocean. Looking forward to reading about your new life and garden.

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