I can’t stay long, I have seven pigs to paint the most unbelievably great ‘Gypsy Rose’ color (which looks a lot like pepto bismol, in the best possible way). Dominic and I are contestants in the Platt Memorial Library‘s Kiss the Pig competition (and since I’m also on the Board of Trustees for the library, I am the pig-painter and facebook-page-maker)

Kiss the Pig you ask? Only in a rural town does this come up as a fundraising idea, but here is the basic premise. There are seven contestants and the one whose ballot box has the most money in it at noon on February 19 (the end of unofficial ‘love your library’ week here in Shoreham) will kiss the pig at the ceremony at the gazebo. The Hescock’s have promised to have Runty the pig scrubbed up nicely for the event.

Ballot boxes will be located around town: here at the Inn, at the library, the school, the Halfway House and the National Bank of Orwell.

Vote Early and Vote Often! This election can be bought!

All proceeds will go to support the Platt Memorial Library.

Gotta run, pigs are about to be delivered – look for a bright pink pig somewhere near you!

I have been remiss is introducing you all to the newest Shoreham Inn family member (though if you ‘like’ us on Facebook, you will have met her) -

Meet Ermintrude!

She’s one of the Cows Come Home cows that were in and around Burlington last year and Dominic and I became enchanted with the idea of a cow in the back garden. And so we set our sights on a few we liked, Ermintrude always being our favorite, and then waited for auction time. The auction proceeds went to benefit The Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger, so even better as far as we were concerned. A few we liked started to get too expensive for our blood, but Ermintrude steadfastly remained within our budget. The final day of the auction coincided with us being in Mexico with friends, so we had a very funny evening in the lobby of our resort (the only place there was a wireless internet signal) huddled around Dominic’s netbook, realizing that we needed to explain to Bruce that we were not buying a real cow (after he asked one too many questions about whether we had space for a cow, what do cows usually cost, and how do you care for cows – we thought he was being funny the whole time, he is a stand up comedian after all, but in fact he had somehow missed the fact that this was an art cow) and counting down to end of auction time in Burlington. You never saw a bunch of people from LA so excited about a cow. We toasted her with crazy tropical cocktails afterwards.

The next best bit, which I missed, was Dominic picking up the cow from a warehouse in Burlington and having to figure out how best to position her in the bed of our 1985 Chevy truck (with plow already attached) for the ride home to Shoreham. He finally decided on lying down, with her head peaking out of the bed. Wow, I wish I had a photo of that. He said the looks he got at traffic lights were pretty priceless.

And home she came. We had a brief flurry of names until Ermintrude really became the only contender. She’s named after a cow called Ermintrude from a TV program Dominic grew up with called The Magic Roundabout – one of those TV shows that only could have been made in the UK in the 60′s and 70′s. And we love her. We were exactly right, she looks great in the garden, particularly striking in the snow, though she will also look lovely surrounded by green grass. Welcome Ermintrude.

I know, I know, I shouldn’t even type it. I’m picturing the spam activity already, but it’s just too good not to use. We’ve got hookers in our parlour once a month here at The Shoreham Inn. (And by the way, I know I’m spelling ‘parlour’ the British way, but it really, really does not look right to me spelled ‘parlor’. So, apparently our hookers are anglophiles)

Alright, Rug Hookers. There, I’ve burst the bubble. There is small group of local women who have begun gathering here once a month, on a  Monday night to have a glass of wine and hook rugs together. There is one woman who has been hooking for 30+ years and others who have only just begun. (including this bartender, who just learned to hook this week. Hooker behind the bar! OK, I’ll stop) One who has a project she’s been ‘working’ on for 10 or so years. Another woman who I think brought embroidery last time but the camaraderie is too good to pass up, and I don’t think there is a ‘hookers only’ requirement.

I don’t know if you have seen many hand-hooked rugs (and by the way, these aren’t the same as the yarn latch-hook rugs that we did of Tweety Bird when we were 10) but they are gorgeous. They look like touchable paintings, so full of color and variations. Patterns and subject matter vary widely as well as size of finished object. Just like knitting, when you can just make a scarf or a hat before graduating to a sweater, with rug hooking you can make a small pillow or decoration before embarking on a actual rug. I’m completely fascinated myself, and winter is just the perfect time for a cozy craft project. Hooking can keep you warm……(OK, NOW I’m done with the hooking jokes)