My Big Sister

Sometimes the best people are taken away before you have the chance to say goodbye properly. My beautiful sister, my hero died suddenly at home alone. Apparently, she knew she had some health issues but didn't share that knowledge with us; didn't want anyone to worry. The last time I saw her was at a niece's wedding in September. As always, I told her how much I loved her, that she was my hero and she just laughed. She didn't think she was unusual; she didn't realize that she was a special person to so many of us that knew her and loved her. Her blonde hair framed her beautiful face so well and her sparkling green eyes were always crinkled at the corners, her smile showing there as well.

She survived breast cancer and the senseless murder of one of her sons and she showed me the way to survive the sudden death of my own son. She always reached out and opened her heart and home to those who needed some help along their path. Always a smile on her face and a readiness to find humor in most anything difficult as a way to cope. It's better to laugh than to cry we said. She authored a few scholastic books and told me about the children she interviewed, some blind, some deaf, all with some lack of function that we all take for granted; she said THEY were the heroes, the ones that embraced life and didn't even realize that others might find them challenged.

We used to say that the sisters would all grow old together; we'd buy a house with a large porch and many rockers and we would sit in those chairs and rock together making each other laugh, remembering all the good times. I think she was the glue that held us together. I hope she's getting a house like that ready for all of us once we pass on and can join her again.

She's still my hero.

Chocolate!!!

We had an awesome time at the 19th Annual Chocolate Festival in North Conway last weekend! Couldn't have asked for a better day. Clean, crisp air with blue, blue skies and lots of sunshine. We ate a lumberjack type breakfast before heading to the trails. All that anticipated snowshoeing we figured we had better have some good food in our bellies before indulging in the chocolate frenzy.

The ski touring center was our first stop and they had two different chocolate stations set up there. One let you select either handmade chocolate covered almonds, or handmade chocolate malted milk balls. The other had a little tiny white box with two chocolate confections in it, from a place called The Chocolate Bean out of Epping, NH, or chocolate brownies, chocolate haystacks, or little wrapped chocolate squares with the name of the inn that provided them on its wrapper. Nice start!

We set out on our snowshoes with a bunch of other folks heading towards an inn and a b & b. By the time we got there I needed about a gallon of water and some good chocolate. They had a decadent chocolate bundt type cake with hand cranked vanilla ice cream and strawberries on top...super! They also had a few pitchers of water going around to slake our thirst. Across the road was an inn with a chocolate fondue going. They had pretzels, strawberries, bananas, cookies and apples to dip in the rich, Belgian chocolate. Yum!

We set out for the pink house which was a b & b in the process of renovations. Very gracious folks with fresh baked shortbread cookies drizzled with dark chocolate, turtle brownies and chocolate crinkle cookies. The kitchen had beautiful granite countertops and a smaller kitchen off the kitchen.....this lady planned on doing a lot of cooking and baking for her future guests. A piano in the front room and a roaring fireplace to toast your toes in front of with wing backed chairs to keep the heat around you...so cozy and welcoming.

We snowshoed around for about 2 1/2 hours before one of our party decided the snowshoes were too much; her heel was bothering her and she figureed walking would be easier. The trails were packed from all the snowshoers and x/c skiers using them so it was easy to walk on them. Next my hip started to feel the effects from walking with snowshoes so I decided to walk and carry my snowshoes until we got back to the car. Someone else's hip started aching and one of the others started falling down a lot, so the decision was made to drive to the last three stops in order to get through before the cutoff time, 4:00.

We had some incredible organic chocolate at our next to last stop at a natural foods market, called Aphrodite's almighty organic chocolate. A small portion, heart-shaped, but packed with intense chocolate. It was a perfect sized portion.

Hot cocoa, real hot cocoa made with milk, sugar and cocoa powder the old fashioned way awaited us at the last stop along with chocolate chip cookies and some organic chocolate bars. I ended up bringing several chocolate items home with me since I had more than enough chocolate that we had to eat at the places we stopped, it wasn't portable, the cake, the fondue, the melt in your mouth chocolate shell with raspberry gel mousse inside.

It was a great day with lots of girlie girl camaraderie, much needed with the work situation as it is. We stopped for some real food on the way back to our homes and decided that next year, we will try x/c skiing our way through the 20th Annual Chocolate Festival. Chocolate without guilt....gotta love it!