Last year, Hilltop Orchards was featured on an MSNBC segment about fall mini-vacations. Due to the lack of speakers on my computer, I hadn't had a chance to watch the video until just now. There's some really beautiful photography and it does a great job of detailing some of the activities available at the orchard. And while there are no apples to pick this time of year there is cross-country skiing and showshoeing with rentals available on site.
Check it out!
On a side note: The segment didn't mention it but Furnace Brook Winery is also a part of Hilltop Orchards and is located in the same building. A few of the wines are gold medal winners at the Big E Regional competition so it's certainly worth heading up there to check it out. (I personally recommend the Johnny Mash, delicious!) And if you're an inn guest the wine-tasting and skiing/snowshoeing is free!
What better way to kill winter ennui than with wine?
With Love,
~Brande N.
Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Snow, Finally!
I'll admit it, I was a little bit happy when it started snowing on Sunday. All this week, as Dan and I were decorating the tree and hanging wreaths and putting little candles in the windows, I couldn't help but wish that there was some snow on the ground. Everything just feels so much more Christmasy when it's covered in that blanket of white, you know? Christmastime at night is the best. I love seeing all of the lights reflect on the snow and cast pretty multicolored shadows.
So when I started seeing those flakes float down, my first reaction was (of course) to grab my camera and see what it can do!
This was the first picture I took, nothing too special, just a view of our driveway and the snow as it was starting to coat things.
If you click the picture you can see a few of the snowflakes up close. So pretty!
You can see the little snowflakes even better in this one.
The last remnant of summer's greenery falls prey to winter's cold.
This is probably my favorite. It's a view looking down the branch of a little ornamental tree in our garden. You can see some of the little snowflakes in this one too, and I love the touch of green.
And while the above photo is my favorite, this lovely little set shows my least favorites. The photography lesson I learned that day was:
It doesn't matter how hard you try, what setting you put the camera on, or where you focus; it is darn near impossible to take a picture of a single snowflake on your coat sleeve without it melting first.
So when I started seeing those flakes float down, my first reaction was (of course) to grab my camera and see what it can do!
This was the first picture I took, nothing too special, just a view of our driveway and the snow as it was starting to coat things.
If you click the picture you can see a few of the snowflakes up close. So pretty!
You can see the little snowflakes even better in this one.
The last remnant of summer's greenery falls prey to winter's cold.
This is probably my favorite. It's a view looking down the branch of a little ornamental tree in our garden. You can see some of the little snowflakes in this one too, and I love the touch of green.
And while the above photo is my favorite, this lovely little set shows my least favorites. The photography lesson I learned that day was:It doesn't matter how hard you try, what setting you put the camera on, or where you focus; it is darn near impossible to take a picture of a single snowflake on your coat sleeve without it melting first.
...not to mention the fact that I must have looked really silly standing on our porch taking about a thousand pictures of my sleeve. Who would have known that I was taking pictures of snowflakes? But the good news is it's only December 10th. There's plenty of wintertime left to get more pictures.
With Love,
~Brande N.
With Love,
~Brande N.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Musings from a snowglobe...
When Dan and I first realized that we'd be moving to the Berkshires one of the first things I looked up was the climate. You see, I grew up on the buckle of the snowbelt in Upstate NY. Here are a few pictures of rather typical winters in my hometown:
I've shown pictures like these to Non-Upstate New Yorkers in the past and their reactions have always been some mix of bulging eyes, gasps, disbelief and exclamations of "How did you get into your house!" It's very entertaining. I feel like one of those people who handles snakes and after awhile becomes immune to the venom. Snow just doesn't affect me.
That is unless it’s really, really pretty. Like yesterday. I was poking around upstairs and I happened to look outside just in time to glimpse the first flakes falling. At first it was a gentle, light, powdery snow, and then in a matter of seconds it was the equivalent of a frozen torrential downpour. Thick curtains of snow just poured and poured and started forming little white puddles on dried leaves and in the spaces between blades of grass.
And while I wasn’t affected by the quantity of snow that started falling or even the suddenness with which it came, I was affected by the rays of golden mid-afternoon sunlight that were beaming and pouring through the clouds illuminating every little snowflake and turning it into a tiny piece of glitter. Boy, was that pretty. I just sat on the bed in whichever room I was in and just watched it for a minute, mesmerized. I felt like I was sitting inside a snowglobe, watching these beautiful, sparkling little jewels fall around me.
And while I've never been a snow person, I feel like maybe I could be here. If the snow is always this beautiful, what could there be not to like? Coats and mittens and hats keep out the cold, snow tires keep us safe as we travel, and hot chocolate warms us up should we find ourselves chilled.
I think it's going to be a pleasant winter. But just to be sure of that, I'm going to go look up snow-tubing parks. No sense being locked in my snowglobe all winter, right?
With Love,
~Brande N.
I've shown pictures like these to Non-Upstate New Yorkers in the past and their reactions have always been some mix of bulging eyes, gasps, disbelief and exclamations of "How did you get into your house!" It's very entertaining. I feel like one of those people who handles snakes and after awhile becomes immune to the venom. Snow just doesn't affect me.
That is unless it’s really, really pretty. Like yesterday. I was poking around upstairs and I happened to look outside just in time to glimpse the first flakes falling. At first it was a gentle, light, powdery snow, and then in a matter of seconds it was the equivalent of a frozen torrential downpour. Thick curtains of snow just poured and poured and started forming little white puddles on dried leaves and in the spaces between blades of grass.
And while I wasn’t affected by the quantity of snow that started falling or even the suddenness with which it came, I was affected by the rays of golden mid-afternoon sunlight that were beaming and pouring through the clouds illuminating every little snowflake and turning it into a tiny piece of glitter. Boy, was that pretty. I just sat on the bed in whichever room I was in and just watched it for a minute, mesmerized. I felt like I was sitting inside a snowglobe, watching these beautiful, sparkling little jewels fall around me.
And while I've never been a snow person, I feel like maybe I could be here. If the snow is always this beautiful, what could there be not to like? Coats and mittens and hats keep out the cold, snow tires keep us safe as we travel, and hot chocolate warms us up should we find ourselves chilled.
I think it's going to be a pleasant winter. But just to be sure of that, I'm going to go look up snow-tubing parks. No sense being locked in my snowglobe all winter, right?
With Love,
~Brande N.
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