Hi friends,
Attention skiers and snow lovers! Seriously, you should pay attention. We've had 10 inches of snow on the mountains over the last 48 hours, with 14 more inches projected by the end of Saturday. The spring skiing is, and will be, truly exceptional.
On a completely different subject, there is absolutely no good reason why we have not shared our cookie recipes with you before now. After approximately 700,000 guests begged us for our recipes for Spicy Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies and King-Sized Gingersnaps (either of which might be waiting for you here for an afternoon treat), we finally got our act together and added the recipes to our website. There's nothing tricky or fiddly about these cookies, so go ahead and give them a shot. And try our trick of freezing them, unbaked, then baking only as many as needed when the need for a warm cookie arises. Which happens sometimes.
We generally try to keep these blogs focused on one topic, but today we diverge from that practice for, we think, a good reason. There are two time-sensitive things we want you to know about (in addition to the crazy snow forecast), and we don't want to hound you with too many newsletters and blogs. So forgive the lack of cohesion, but please do read on.
First, we agree whole-heartedly that the cost of skiing is through the roof. That, dear friends, is beyond our control. But between now and April 18, Sugarbush and Ikon are offering their lowest prices for 24/25 season passes and quad packs. If skiing or snowboarding is in your plans for next year, now is the time to get your pass. It's only going to get worse after April 18. But here's a fun thing...if you didn't get a pass for the 23/24 season and do get a pass for 24/25, you can use next year's pass for the remainder of this year's ski season (e.g., this weekend!!). And not just here...you can use your 24/25 Ikon pass this spring at dozens of resorts around the world. (We don't mean to sound like an advertisement for Alterra, which owns the Ikon pass. We simply want you to know that now is the time to jump on the somewhat less insanely expensive ski pass for next year.) Sugarbush will be spinning their lifts into early May. Mad River Glen, well, we'll just have to see, but it's looking promising for the immediate future.
The second time-sensitive announcement that has nothing to do with cookies or skiing is that our friends Karen and Spencer, at Salt & Sand Studios, are hosting a Senses & Self-love Solstice Weekend retreat, June 21-23 Many of you know Karen (not this Karen, the other one), as she is the yoga instructor whom you can find out on our meadow on warm Saturday mornings, when she leads Stretch & Sip Yoga, as well as classes in her studio over the weekends. Others of you might know Spencer, who teaches glass blowing, fusing, and flame working at his studio in Warren. Whether you already know them or not, you should meet them, either in our meadow or at their studio. And you should seriously consider participating in their retreat. Tools and practices designed to increase self-awareness and self love include daily yoga, meditation, and dharma discussions; glass fusing; music; mindful tea time; and delicious meals prepared by your hosts. You can stay at Karen and Spencer's place, in a shared room, or offer yourself even more self-love by staying with us (we're a nine-minute drive to their studio).
So there you go. One newsletter, four completely different topics. I hope my high school English Composition teacher is not on our mailing list (Mick did not take English Comp in high school, which is why Karen writes these newsletters).
Happy Spring (it's snowing today!!!)
Karen and Mick
