THIS PAST WEEK, snowflakes and apple and cherry blossoms blew hither and yon, filling the air with white flakes. It was hard to tell which made the greater accumulation the snow or the blossoms. In Stowe, the State closed Route 108 through Smuggler’s Notch again due to snows torms. Smuggler’s Notch is one of the best places in the State to take a birthday picnic. After the picnic, ride the chairlift, explore the caves or take a hike. Wait until it warms up before you go.

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Last Tuesday’s opening at the market on the Common found some hearty farmers and buyers enjoying the cold sunshine. Three children ran round and round the dry turquoise base of the fountain. Nine month old Nora, whose Dad was selling wine from their North Branch Vineyard, was dressed in pink. Her father held her hands as she took her first steps across the grass. One of the vendors said she was buying more than she was selling but the Pebble Brook Farm farmer applauded her for being his first customer of the season. His farm is off the Cox Brook Road.

One farmer’s horseradish was labeled Hot and his other brand was labeled OUCH. Ernie Wetzel who was in town to pick up his son, a sophomore in Norwich’s ROTC program, said, “It sounds serious.” He tried a sample. “It’s got a little burn. It’s good,” he declared and bought a jar.

We turned down a chance to try a smoked, pickled egg even though the samples were pretty (pale yellow circle surrounded by a white circle, smoky colored on the outside. At another stand, we sampled an excellent chunk of cinnamon raisin bread, then bought a large bag of huge spinach leaves grown under glass in Tunbridge. The taste of green was supreme.

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The Grand Children and I took a drive down Route 100 out of Warren, along the untamed edge of the Green Mountain National Forest to Texas Falls. At Hancock, we turned right and drove the few miles to Texas Falls. It’s an enjoyable 40 minute ride from the Common. There are two falls that plunge through a narrow ravine with a deep pool between them. They are dizzying to behold but their beauty makes it worth the trip. The area is so deep in the mountains that cell phones don’t work. It was a trip back in time to when live, uninterrupted conversation was possible with the Grand Children. The twins leaped, stone to stone, in the torrent above the falls. We had a picnic. Kirsten thought she saw something in the bottle of water she drew from the river but it was elusive. Ben told her it was one of those new bugs they’ve developed that you can see through.

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My son said to put my Mother’s Day balloon in the trunk so it wouldn’t be bobbing in my view on the way home. So I did. Oblivious to this, the other son came along and opened the trunk to load my new hanging plant. The balloon popped out and sailed toward the neighbor’s porch as number one son ran after it. It boomeranged off the porch then climbed the sky over the City of Burlington. He went back in the house and tattled, “Mom threw away her present.”

Please let us know how things are going in your life. Trips, escapades, jaunts, adventures, gardening. commontalk@transvideo. net