My mom's old navy blue zip-up jogger sweatshirt hung from the duck pegs next to the front door for most of the years of my life on Lange Street. At one point there was a burgundy version of it, and then a green-and-gray combo. But mostly I remember the navy [...]
Read MoreThe winter of 23-24 was not as epic as last year, but we got our share of snow. The front yard tree holding up some snowy weight. Stéphane logged many snowplowing miles this winter. Snowy deck Hugo competed in a local climbing competition. Each route was given a certain amount [...]
Read More
Right now we live in the Jemez National Recreation Area, forty minutes west of Los Alamos, up in the Jemez Mountains. While we love the quiet and the ease of access to the outdoors, our goal is to buy a home in Los Alamos (gasp! I know, that does not sound like us at all, does it? Moving INTO not […]
Creede, Colorado is a teeny little town tucked up in the San Juan mountains. Over the years it has morphed from its silver mining roots into a quaint, clean, funky little town catering to travelers, dirt bikers, hunters, campers, and explorers. It’s traded silver mining for tourism as its economy but has still managed to keep its historic vibe and quaintness. […]
Hidden House is snugged up high among the ponderosa pines- one of a handful of homes scattered around the hills in the Jemez Mountains forty minutes west of Los Alamos. Our neighborhood is called “La Cueva” (the cave; not sure why but I will find out and report back). Our street, a red sandy road, leads to a lightly-traveled two-lane […]
The wheels sqwaked as they met the pavement and the San Juan Mountains, still snowy at their tips, peeked at me through the window of the little regional jet. Hugo and I had arrived at our almost final destination: Montrose! A short stopover here to see our friends and then off south to our new home in Los Alamos (Jemez […]
Dear Daddy, Today is your very first Fathers Day! I wish we could be together today but I know that you are working hard out west to make way for mommy and I to come out. We’ll be there soon and we miss you so much. I love […]
The Cajete Fire started in the Jemez Springs area just yesterday. 700+ acres on fire. Homes evacuated. Dropped pin is Hidden House; blue pins are road closures. 6/18/2017 update:
After seven hours of packing the “schnick schnack” (the last little odds and ends that we thought would take only a half hour to square away), multiple trips down the driveway to add to the growing pile of trash bags and recycleables, and a final walk through, we finally loaded up Hugo and Myra and set off on our new […]
I’m sitting on the guest mattress (our last piece of furniture left in Hurd House) tipping back the final few drops of an Allagash White – brewed in Portland, ME – in honor of our last night in Maine. Stéphane’s covering night shift for one of the pilots so yes, I am drinking alone. But it’s a nostalgic-excited-nervous-celebratory kind of […]
Sayonara, Vacationland: in less than two weeks, The Heftis hit the road for the Land of Enchantment! So what do we know about New Mexico? Admittedly, not much. Wikipedia tells me that the roadrunner is the state bird (who knew?! Not me- I thought roadrunners lived only in the desert landscapes of Wile E. Coyote cartoons). Mountain Project tells […]
For some reason I can’t seem to remember much these days. Like, what were our days like when Hugo was one month? Three? No clue. I’m thinking this memory failure is a side effect of sleep deprivation. Or hormones, perhaps? Some cruel trick played on mothers so that they forget how hard this all is and decide to do it […]
We finally got a taste of what a real Maine winter can look like after experiencing our first Nor’easter. All said and done, two feet of snow blanketed Hurd House. That’s a lot of snow to remove, particularly when the engine of the snowblower you just purchased on Craigslist decides to seize. Now, we have sold and purchased many items […]
February 19th: Happy birthday Grams!!! Except I get the present today: This is the face of a boy that just slept the whole night through. For the first time. Smiles all around this morning!
Hugo’s four months and babies fly free ’til their two – so let’s fly home to Michigan and introduce him to his family! A good time was had by all and many lessons were learned in regards to travel with Hugo. He is proving to be a resilient and mellow […]
It’s the morning of our last day in Michigan before flying home to Maine. We’d spent the past four days showing off Hugo to friends and family, playing euchre, and drinking Pete’s latest beer fave: Founder’s Rubais Ale (a raspberry-infused brew). Dad says the same thing he’s being saying since he and mom were out to meet a two-week-old Hugo: […]
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from The Heftis! In lieu of bringing yet another tree into our lives (we have enough of them here in Maine), we decorated a happy little pine just off the back porch. So…what else has been going on at The Heftis the last month? […]
The heating oil is low. It’s been snowing all morning and our steep, slick driveway, now hidden under five inches of powder, must be tamed by Wednesday or we will go without a heating oil refill ’til who knows when. Which means frequent trips to the gas station, filling five gallon jerry jugs with diesel and schlepping them home to […]
Tomorrow Hugo will be two months old. I have no idea where these past sixty days have gone and what I have actually done during this time; they have zoomed by in slow motion. A friend of mine shared a “new mommy” saying that I find quite appropriate to our new life: The days are long and the years are […]
Well, The Hefti Family has survived over a month. As I type, I hear Hugo Bear’s soft coughing/grunting noises coming from the crib. Which means he’ll be up soon. Which means a slapdash eeeeeep post – so here goes: Top seven observations from our first month (because ten would take too long and I’m tired) When changing the diaper, make sure […]
He has many names: The Curve-Breaker (coined by our group because he is so amazing at pretty much everything) AirWolf (remember that 80s high-tech helicopter show?) Bug And in the last two weeks, a new one has emerged: The Magic Coffee Table Yes, you read right. The Magic Coffee Table. Just check out this short video and you will […]
So very much more to say on this topic but at the moment I have the use of just one arm – the other is engaged in infinitely more important business: holding our son. So to be brief: Hugo Jürg Hefti joined Stéphane and I Monday morning, October third at 11:46. I was able to have the natural, non-medicated birth we were hoping […]
During our sailing adventure, Stéphane and I had the pleasure of spending time with Paul Denton, fellow sailor and adventurer extraordinaire. We met Paul in the Bahamas and buddy-boated with him and a few others – island-hopping around the Exumas, sharing meals and stories on each others’ boats at night; bonding and enjoying life together in a way so very […]
“Don’t forget we have Lorry and Kevin’s barbeque next week!” says Stéphane. It was the fifth reminder in as many days; if I was perceptive or even slightly suspicious, I would have thought something was up. I was completely blown away by the kindness of these women who really don’t even know me. Onesies were bestowed, a stroller and Boppy […]
We’d been working so much lately it was like I’d won the lottery when Stéphane presented me with a gift borrowed for the weekend: a full-body climbing harness! I’d outgrown my regular climbing harness a few months back so had given up on the idea of climbing until after Baby Cub arrived. However, a full-body harness is a game changer! Definitely […]
Note to self: When going on a road trip to Michigan from Maine, knowing that the route will go through Canada, please remember to bring your passport with you next time. Because we all know that the very best part of a road trip is the beginning: the excitement of leaving home, cooler packed with spritzers and snacks for the […]
Life Flight of Maine is an IFR program. IFR stands for Instrument Flight Rules (versus VFR, Visual Flight Rules). IFR means you can fly in the clouds with zero visibility. You use only your instruments to guide you (instead of looking outside). So, instead of looking out the window and seeing that you are X number of feet in the […]
Summer has arrived: the time that we were told was so beautiful and perfect; the season that made the windy, bone-chilling, gray winters and rainy, muddy springs all worth it. It’s the time of blue skies, fresh lobster, outdoor concerts on the river, increased road traffic from tourists, ninety degree, 100% humidity days, and… … … bugs. As […]
Today marks the end of The Great White Buffalo era- a small era in the scheme of the Hefti timeline, but a pretty epic one nonetheless. The Great White Buffalo was our first land home after returning from our sailing adventure and today we send her on to her next owner with relief, a little sadness, and lots of nostalgia. […]
After Matthieu and Christelle departed for the rest of their Babymoon in Canada, it was time to prep for Sarah & Brian’s visit. The Newmans came to us with a very specific goal in mind: feed Sarah lobster at every meal and thus fulfill one of her bucket list items (eat lobster in Maine). Brian and Sarah arrive and […]
Home #2 in Maine we are calling Hurd House (because it’s on Hurd Point Road). And we are all moved in. The effort involved was about 75% cleaning to 25% moving stuff in (because the house was really dirty and, thank goodness, we are still keeping the “stuff” to a minimum so there wasn’t too much to move in). Hurd […]
Amidst packing up Potters Drive and securing a roof over our heads for the upcoming month (phew, it finally happened – I’ll tell you about it in the next post), we had the pleasure of spending a week with Stephane’s (and now mine) very good friends from Switzerland, Matthieu and Christelle. We spent our final Potters Drive days dipping our […]
The Grizz (Winnebago View - active duty)
1,800 miles and counting
The Hungry hippo (Popup camper - retired)
1,200 miles
The Gruffalo (Tow behind camper - retired):
12,000 miles and counting
The Baby Bison (Tow behind toy hauler - retired):
7000+ miles
Maine > New Mexico + adventures in between
The Great White Buffalo (5th wheel camper - retired):
3,000 miles
Free Range (Slocum 37 sailboat - resting; getting overhauled in Nova Scotia):
Traveled 2,400 nautical miles from Oriental, NC > Antigua (end of the road).