Photos by Nanci Blog

Sunday the Barnard Mountainviewers Snowmobile Club hosted their annual Poker Run to benefit the club. According to Pam Butler, one of the event organizers, the run has been held for decades. In years past, the run has seen as many as 100 riders participate. This years run hosted 60 hopeful riders. Each rider checked in between 9-10:30 AM, enjoyed some coffee, muffins then picked up their first card, and off they went. The ride consisted of 41 miles of groomed trails maintained by five club members. The money raised will help maintain the club’s groomer. Most the of trails are on private land, where written permission is collected each year. Some of the trails are on Town Class 4 Roads. The club is a member of the Vermont Association of Snow Travelers, VAST . There were four stops along the ride where the participants would collect another card for their poker hand. All envelopes containing the cards were to remain sealed until they returned to the Barnard Town Hall to registe...

Earth and Space Day was celebrated by the Montshire Museum in Norwich on Saturday. Museum staff and guest astronomers filled the day with lots of celestial activities for children of all ages. Museum visitors learned about the night sky, sun spots and even made their own sundials. More Earth and Space Images at: Photos By Nanci SmugMug Earth and Space Day Montshire Museum Norwich VT January 26, 2013 Copyright ©2013 Nancy Nutile-McMenemy www.photosbynanci.com For The Vermont Standard: http://www.thevermontstandard.com/ Image Galleries: http://thevermontstandard.smugmug.com/

Green Mountain Horse Association hosted a Sleigh Rally on Saturday. Eleven sleighs competed in various events including open single horse/pony, open multiplies horse/pony, working horse/pony, four categories of drive events, Currier and Ives, Sleigh Dogs, an obstacle course and a cross country pace. Susan Koso from Topsfield MA judged the events in the ring. Ms. Koso has over 15 years experience judging horse events and is an assistant coach for the Endicott College Equestrian team. Despite the bitterly cold day the event was well attend by both sleigh drivers and spectators. More Sleigh Rally images: Photos By Nanci SmugMug Green Mountain Horse Association Inc. Sleigh Rally South Woodstock VT January 26, 2013 Copyright ©2013 Nancy Nutile-McMenemy www.photosbynanci.com For The Vermont Standard: http://www.thevermontstandard.com/ Image Galleries: http://thevermontstandard.smugmug.com/

Area school children meet at Suicide Six Ski area in Pomfret VT every Friday afternoon for alpine, snowboard and cross country ski lessons.  Last Friday the lesson of the day was dress warmly!  Ski lifts can be scary things. More Ski Runners images: Photos By Nanci SmugMug Ski Runners Suicide Six Ski Area Pomfret VT January 25, 2013 Copyright ©2013 Nancy Nutile-McMenemy www.photosbynanci.com For The Vermont Standard: http://www.thevermontstandard.com/ Image Galleries: http://thevermontstandard.smugmug.com/

Jim Harvey,  letgoyourmind.com  Instructor Hosted at the  ArtisTree Woodstock VT January 19, 2013  On Saturday, the  ArtisTree  in Woodstock hosted a winter workshop for both parents and children.  Let Go Your Mind  instructor Jim Harvey from Concord NH showed the attendees how to make a movie using claymation and Lego™ characters. Children and adults were encouraged to create a story, move the characters slightly take a “movie image” and repeat this process until the film was finished. Harvey then assisted the movie makers to edit and do voiceovers, thus creating their own unique movie. More Workshop Images: Stop Motion Copyright ©2013 Nancy Nutile-McMenemy www.photosbynanci.com For The Vermont Standard: http://www.thevermontstandard.com/ Image Galleries: http://thevermontstandard.smugmug.com/ Follow Photos By Nanci at: photosbynanci.com Photos by Nanci Blog SmugMug Galleries YouTube Twitter Facebook

David Dodge. 86 from St. Johnsbury VT first skied with the 13 Ski Club” and now does about 20 races per year. The New England Masters Skiing brought their Sise Cup racing series to Suicide Six on Sunday. Despite the soft snow and heavy fog, the 65 racers ranging in age from 21 to 86 made two runs on the hill. The Class 11, 12 and 13 Men (the oldest is 86) have been skiing since they were youngsters. Their first ski experiences were on wooden skis climbing up hills and skiing down them in their backyards. When asked if they missed the old rope tows and J-bars, they all agreed that the hi-speed quads are the best. One man said, “We get more snow time with the new technology.” More Race Images: Bunny Bertram Race Copyright ©2013 Nancy Nutile-McMenemy www.photosbynanci.com For The Vermont Standard: http://www.thevermontstandard.com/ Image Galleries: http://thevermontstandard.smugmug.com/ Follow Photos By Nanci at: photosbynanci.com  Photos by Nanci Blog SmugM...

The 5th Annual Emerging Artist Showcase was hosted by  Hartland Community Connections  at Damon Hall, Hartland Three Corners on Saturday January 12, 2013 at 5 PM. The showcase featured young local musicians who entertained the crowd of about 80 people for almost two hours. The artists featured this year were Camila Pentland (Hartland, VT), Emma Bliss (Andover, VT), Rebecca Scelza (Hartland, VT), Jack Snyder (Woodstock, VT) and the four piece band Carter Glass (from Sharon Academy). The music was follow by a community dinner featuring foods from  A Taste of Africa  in White River Junction, VT. Camila Pentland Emma Bliss Rebecca Scelza Jack Snyder Carter Glass More performance images: Emerging Artists Showcase Copyright ©2013 Nancy Nutile-McMenemy www.photosbynanci.com For The Vermont Standard:  http://www.thevermontstandard.com/ Image Galleries:  http://thevermontstandard.smugmug.com/ Follow Photos By Nanci...

Racers are ready in the dark and foggy Saturday morning Bridget Ferrin-Smith from Barnet VT was the first woman finisher (6 th overall) with a time of 30:44 Suicide Six Ski Area hosted the Winter Wild /Winter Fun Uphill Race on Saturday. There are eight races in the series around New England; this season’s Championships will take place March 16th at Bretton Woods. The Suicide Six event was run by two local groups: Hartland Winter Trails and Town of New London (NH) Recreation Department . The Upper Valley Running Club pose for photos Winter Wild has also partnered with the Let’s Move Campaign encourages children to participate in winter racing. All Winter Wild events are FREE to children and the school district with the highest percentage participation during the race season will receive a $5000 dontiaon for their PTO courtesy of Lake Sunapee Bank , the Children's Fund of the Upper Valley and The Byrne Foundation. One of the “Let’s Move” children, Emma Pyle...

Great River Outfitters Windsor VT January 6, 2013 Copyright ©2013 Nancy Nutile-McMenemy www.photosbynanci.com For The Vermont Standard: http://www.thevermontstandard.com/ Image Galleries: http://thevermontstandard.smugmug.com/   Looking for a traditional winter adventure, look no further than Windsor Vermont where Braeburn Siberians and Great River Outfitters host day and evening dog sledding adventures. Six times a day on Fridays and Saturdays and four times a night on Wednesdays and Fridays you can book your own dog sled. The Siberians are bred and trained by Kathy Bennett and her husband Alex MacLennan in Windsor VT. The pair started out with five dogs and now have 33 (four generations of animals) under their care. The dogs are run in teams of 8-12 depending upon the weight of their load; under voice commands only and respond by way of mutual trust and respect between dog and human. For more information please vist: http://www.greatriveroutfitters.com/ or http://www.braeburn...

Sustainable Farmer Windsor VT January 5, 2013 Copyright ©2013 Nancy Nutile-McMenemy www.photosbynanci.com For The Vermont Standard: http://www.thevermontstandard.com/ Image Galleries: http://thevermontstandard.smugmug.com/ On Saturday, the Sustainable Farmer (next door to Harpoon Brewery) in Windsor VT hosted a gourmet grilled cheese-tasting event. This was not your average American Processed Individual Wrapped Cheese slices on white bread, grilled in a pan on the stove top  Oh no…this was five locally made cheeses: Spring Brook Farm’s Reading Rachlette, Spring Brook Farms Tarentaise, Grafton Village Maple Smoked Cheddar, Cabot Clothbound Cellars at Jasper Hill and Vermont Farmstead’s Lille. Green Mountain Flour provided the locally made bread, one bread was 100% made from locally grown wheat, rye and barley. The next event at Sustainable Farmer will be January 19, a mozzarella making demonstration form 11 AM-2 PM. For more information call 802-674-4260 or visit their Facebo...

Kindergarten and Grade 1 Hartland VT January 5, 2013 Copyright ©2013 Nancy Nutile-McMenemy www.photosbynanci.com For The Vermont Standard: http://www.thevermontstandard.com/ Image Galleries: http://thevermontstandard.smugmug.com/ On Saturday, Hartland Recreation hosted day one of its Youth Basketball season at the Hartland Elementary School Gymnasium. Kindergarten through second grade will play on Saturday mornings now through mid-February. Coaching the youngsters were Ray Sapp, Brian Fortier and Dylan Rice. The children will learn various skills and the rules of the game. For more information contact Hartland Recreation at 802-436-2790 or visit their website: http://www.hartlandrecreation.com/info/ More images:  photosbynanci.smugmug.com   Follow Photos By Nanci at: photosbynanci.com Photos by Nanci Blog SmugMug Galleries YouTube Twitter Facebook

Lebanon Opera House opened the New Year with the return of their FREE At Home Show Series. The shows happen the first Thursday of each month and feature local area bands from various genres. Thursday January 3 saw two bands performing classic Rock and Roll. Front Bend opened the show. They are a classic three piece rock band featuring three teens from Lebanon High School: Dan Maurer, Joe Lauziere and Chris Lovejoy. The trio won last summer's Upper Valley Battle of the Bands. They played classic and psychedelic rock from the ‘60s and ‘70s and were very polished for such a young band. Keep an eye out for these guys! You can follow them on Facebook. Joe Lauziere Chris Lovejoy Dan Maurer Next up was a four piece rock band out of Windsor VT, Derek and the Demons. They reminded this reviewer of older Steppenwolf/Derek and the Dominoes. You can check out some of their tunes at  http://derekandthedemons.bandcamp.com/  and follow them at ...

Bentley’s Annual Confetti and Balloon New Year’s Ever Party was packed with revelers Monday evening. Touted as one of the Upper Valley’s Best Parties the New Year’s Eve event did not disappoint with a packed dance floor, a champagne toast at midnight and confetti and balloons dropping from the ceiling. DJ Eileen had the guests on their feet from 10:30 PM until 3 AM. The restaurant also hosted it’s prix fixe five course dinner from 5:30 until 8:30 PM. 2013 was welcomed in with style at Bentley’s. More images of the NYE Party:  photosbynanci.smugmug.com Follow Photos By Nanci at: photosbynanci.com  Photos by Nanci Blog SmugMug Galleries YouTube Twitter  Facebook