BROWNSVILLE CELEBRATES THE 4TH OF JULY!!!! Remember the old saying, "You don't know what you got till it's gone?" We learned that lesson last year when there was virtually no Independence Day celebration in Brownsville and it was awful!!!! Hats off to the wonderful group of community members who have banded together to bring the 4th back to our town - they have pulled out all the stops to provide us all with what is sure to be a memorable celebration. Here is the schedule - be sure to mark the times on your calendar - you won't want to miss a minute of the fun.
Friday, July 2nd: A dazzling display of fireworks will light up the sky over Little Eagle at AscutneyMountain Resort with parking in the Base Lodge parking lot.
Saturday, July 3rd:
7:00 - 10:00 Pancake Breakfast at the Brownsville Church
9:00 - 2:00 Flea Market & Craft Booths at the Fire Station
10:00 - 12:30 Games for kids of all ages in the center of town
10:00 - 3:00 Music by Jason Cann and Warehouse
11:00 - 11:30 Pie Eating Contest at the Fire Station
1:00 - 1:45 Parade: Floats, Bands, Cars and much more
1:45 - 2:15 Upper Valley Community Bank in the center of town
2:00 - 3:30 Bike Skill Park in Leland's Field (next to the General Store)
4:00 - 7:00 Brownsville's Famous Baked Bean Supper at the Grange Hall
Food will be available throughout the day featuring BBQ chicken, hamburgers, hotdogs, pulled pork, Italian sausages, french fries, fried dough, beverages, fruit smoothies and ice cream.
A reminder that the family of Peter Sinclair will be hosting a celebraiton of his life this Saturday, June 26th at 1:00pm in the Base Lodge and all are welcome. I know it would mean so much to them if Peter's Ascutney family were present.
I found the following picture of Peter in the 2004/2005 edition of the Ascutney Mountain Magazine. I'm not sure how we will face winter wtihout him.
Yikes - the last time I blogged was way back in May!!! My apologies - Memorial Day seems like yesterday and here we are into the middle of June! We will be back on the snow-covered slopes before you know it. Just so you know - we are still in the midst of setting Season Pass, Lesson and Lift Ticket prices but will be finished soon and will have the website updated before long. We will also be sending out an email blast in the next week or two with phase I of our pricing tier.
Many thanks to Group Therapy and those who sponsored my walk for Children's Hospital Boston on June 13th in Boston. It was an amazing event which raised in excess of 1 MILLION DOLLARS for an amazing institution that is very near and dear to my heart. Thank you!!!
Happy Memorial Day!!! Loving this sunshine and heat - feels more like August then May! We are all looking forward to spending the long weekend with family and friends and wish all our "winter family" a safe and happy holiday!
This weather if glorious - there is no other way to describe it. I enjoy my window looking up towards the mountain all the more in the summer; probably because of all the feathered company I have just a few feet away. The swallows, as is their habit, have built a nest city along the under hang of roof on the Bennington Building with Mom and Dad swooping back and forth feeding frantic babies all day long. They are such greedy little things - even when I walk by the nest to say hello they open their beaks for food at my approach. The only one I know who can equal them in his zest for food is Sabah. Growing at an astonishing rate he weighs in at close to 35 lbs. now with a gain of nearly 2 pounds a week. Already he is looking less and less like a puppy and more like a very handsome adult dog. His puppihood is going by way too fast. I will post a new picture if I can ever get him to stand still!
While we have enjoyed the last few months of relative quiet we are beginning to turn our attention to ski season 2010/2011 and will be getting out an email blast sometime in June with all our season pass prices and specials. If you don't presently get out blasts and would like to please email me at snowdance@ascutney. com and I will be sure to add you to our list. Enjoy this amazing weekend! 5/21/10
It's now been two weeks since we lost our friend Peter Sinclair and while acceptance is starting to settle in it still just doesn't feel real. I keep expecting him to cruise by on his motorcycle any time or to stop by and tell us about his recent visit out West. A celebration of his life will be held in the Base Lodge at Ascutney on Saturday, June 26th at 1:00pm in the Polar Bear Pub - a place, as said by his daughter Kimberlee, "That was so close to his heart". Hawaiian shirts are optional.
It is with heavy hearts that we say goodbye to our dear friend Pete Sinclair whose sudden death on April 28th has left us all reeling. A confirmed ski bum in the best sense of the word Pete was fixture at Ascutney; always ready to lend a hand whether it be to teach a ski lesson or to keep all our races on time as starter. He was always the first one out on the deck during a torchlight parade to lead us all in "the wave". He was fun, kind, enthusiastic and was always happy to see you. He will be greatly missed.
The snow is falling fast and furious - things are shaping up for a weekend of great skiing. Oh, wait, it's April 28th and we are closed. What's with this snow????? After having a bit of a whine Tom and I were thinking that rather than wallow in self-pity we should grab our skis and head to Killington. Then we found out they weren't open. I thought they stayed open until June. It turns out that the closest mountain open is Jay Peak and while I'm sure the skiing is great we are way too lazy to go that far. I guess we will just have to stay in and think happy thoughts about the promised 70 degree temperatures on Saturday. I can hardly wait.
Think Sunshine!!!
Another week gone by and a beautiful weekend ahead of us. It's been fairly quiet around the resort with the exception of the Ski Patrol "end of season" party held last Saturday at the Base Lodge. The weather was miserable but nothing stops this group from having fun and with two giant fires blazing (fortunately at least 2 of our patrollers are also fire fighters) the party went on from noon to almost midnight. I am hoping that Don may have some pictures he is willing to share. Have a great, safe weekend and many thanks to Group Therapy!
I was going to use this space today to fume about Tiger and his behavior on the course this weekend but decided instead to use it for a more positive purpose. One June 13th I am walking in the NSTAR'S WALK FOR CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL BOSTON in the 7 mile walk around Boston and I would love to be able to raise $500 for this wonderful institution. I'm sure no one needs an explanation as to why CHB is such a great cause - a hospital that caters to sick kids is about as good as it gets - but I'd like to share with you why it is such a meaningful place for me. My now 3 year old granddaughter was born with biliary atresia. Never heard of it? Me neither until a few days after her birth. It took 4 weeks and a trip to Philadelphia to confirm the diagnosis. Biliary atresia is a chronic inflammation of the bile ducts of the liver. It is an incredibly rare condition and the children who are born with it require surgery within the first 4 months of life. The procedure is called a Kasai after the amazingly wonderful doctor who developed it. Prior to this surgery, which attaches a piece of the intestine directly to the liver and then back to the intestines to re-establish bile flow, babies who were born with biliary atresia would die from liver failure within the first year of life. Our Helen had this surgery at CHoP at 4 weeks and 4 days old. We have been so incredibly lucky - she continues to thrive and is developmentally right on track. She does all this despite a liver that will not go the distance and in June of 2008 she was listed for a liver transplant at Children's Hospital of Boston. We have come to know the people and the facility very well in the almost 2 years that have passed. My daughter carries a beeper 24/7 and when we finally get the "call" we will need to be on the road within an hour. It would be impossible for me to describe the intense gratitude I feel towards those people who will be meeting us upon our arrival on that fateful day and to all those whose hard work and dedication have made and continue to make such a facility possible. Any level of support to this great cause would be very gratefully appreciated and, should you decide to donate, you can get to my page by clicking onhttps://howtohelp.childrenshospital.org/walk/pfp/?ID=KP0019.
This would also be a great time to remind you that April is National Organ & Tissue Donation awareness month. If you are not already - please consider become a registered organ and tissue donor. You really can't take it with you!
What amazing and yet CRAZY weather! It is only April 8th and I have already golfed twice! I'd have golfed more if I could find other victims who would golf with me - any volunteers? Duck Soup, which sits right outside my window, is starting to turn a beautiful emerald green and the family of starlings, who come back to us each year, are busy raising a family under the eves of the porch. Some members of our AMR family (not mentioning any names) are having a harder time letting go of winter than others and hiked up to the twin oaks on the top of the Face and skied down Friday evening. Amazing to think that there was enough snow left to do that just a week ago - now they'd have to do some serious hopping from snow pile to snow pile. We have all taken a little breather from thinking "snow" but will soon turn our thoughts to next season. We will be sending out an email blast in mid-June (at the latest) with all our season pass prices for 2010/2011. If you are not yet on our email list please send your email address to info@ascutney.com and I will happily add you.
The last two days of incessant rain killed any doubt we may have had regarding our decision to close for the season after Sunday. There was just SO much snow left at the top of the hill - it seemed a shame to waste it - but the rain took care of what was left down below and sadly, we bid adieu to ski season 2009/2010. We had an amazing winter - almost nothing in the way of natural snow in the month of January but the combination of near-perfect snowmaking temperatures, a top-notch snowmaking team and our crack grooming crew added up to some tremendous skiing throughout the season regardless. This year (from beginning to end) brought a record number of applicants for ANY position we had available which was great for us but a sad commentary on the local economy. We also welcomed some really outstanding J1 students from South Africa, Chile and Peru. They are a colorful addition to our Ascutney Mountain Resort family and the resort always feels a little empty as they head home in the spring. Many thanks to them, our terrific local staff and to you, our loyal supporters, for making this such a successful and fun season.
We are going to take a few weeks to regroup and then will get back down to business with real estate, the Ascutney Mountain Resort Master Plan and planning for the 2010/2011 ski season. We will continue to post updates on the blog and hope that our many AMR friends & family members will keep an eye on www.ascutney.com during the summer months. We will be sending out an email blast sometime in June with season pass deals and pricing. If you are not yet on our email list and would like to be please send us your email at info@ascutney.com and we will be sure to include you.
Ski season is over - I guess it's time to take the Christmas wreaths off my doors! Happy Spring!! 3/30/10
