R&R&I.

Well it seems another winter break (or January of Jim as I like to call it) has come and gone. This year it seems I didn't miss much in the way of winter weather like last year, but who can regret a solid month of leisure after eleven months of making, scooping, and doing all the other behind the scenes things that make Mt Tom's go. It was a great break, full of getaways, catching up with friends, cleaning out closets, and just chillin'. It's a month when I get to shut my brain off from the perpetual list of things to do that swim around my head during a typical day. Even if you don't own an ice cream shop, I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about.

So here I am, back at the helm, making ice cream and steering the ship like January never happened. Valentine's Day is in the rear view mirror, and I finally find myself with a little writing time. Of course, I should be preparing the books for my annual meeting with the tax man, but I just don't really feel like it. I'd much rather relax with a good strong espresso, the trusty Ice Cream Diaries, and a head fresh full of Hawaii memories..

I've been thinking about how to encapsulate my vacation in a blog entry. The photos do a pretty decent job at expressing how beautiful it is there, if you haven't already seen them on Facebook or my phone..

I think you get the general idea.

The part you don't know from the photos is I actually went to the big Island of Hawaii to visit relatives - Aunt Joyce and Uncle Jim. I think their story is much more compelling than my circumnavigating a block of lava the size of Connecticut.


I've always believed there are two kinds of people - the ones that talk about doing things and the ones that just do them.

My aunt and uncle, Joyce and Jim, are very much the latter.

A number of years ago, their daughter was living and working in Oahu. Joyce and Jim were then living in a small town in Connecticut. If you're a longtime ICD reader, you may remember Jim as the master carpenter who built the ice cream kitchen where I now spend most of my waking hours. From the first time they set foot on the tarmac of our fiftieth state, they were enthralled. During that first trip they decided Hawaii was the place they wanted to be, and no one was going to talk them out of it.

Just a few years after that first visit, they were back and looking to buy a small piece of paradise to call their own. They had owned a small parcel of land in North Truro on Cape Cod, and thanks to good market timing, were able to make a tidy profit to use toward purchasing land in Hawaii. The trick was they needed to find that land within forty-five days of the sale to avoid giving a good chunk of that profit back to Uncle Sam.

This is what they found.. 17 acres on the green side of the Big Island.


Turns out, that was the easy part.

With land like this, you don't just connect to town water and public electricity at the end of your property. They are truly 'off the grid'. A half mile road needed to be built. Water comes only from the sky, captured in catch basins from the roof, and stored in three thousand gallon tanks. Electricity, well, that is a luxury enjoyed only with the help of a giant generator from Michigan. This happens only at night for cooking and recharging phones,computers, and such. The house is very much a work-in-progress, as you can see, it's one step above camping, but it feels like a small sacrifice when the Pacific is your front yard..

Having gone through a life reinvention of my own a few years back, I have huge respect for anyone who is willing to send their life in a new direction. In case you're imagining two people with a ton of money buying a house in Hawaii and retiring there, this is definitely not the case. My aunt and uncle sold nearly everything, put what was left into a couple of cargo containers, and moved to a piece of land. Literally. In fact, they lived in their new neighbor's dome tent for the first year while they built the structure that would become their house slash furniture maker's workshop..

My uncle now works as a carpenter for hire on the island and has more work than he can handle. Turns out, a reliable and skilled carpenter is hard to find there. He works, makes some money, and then buys materials for the next stage of their own house-building project.
The house may never be truly done, but that's ok. Most of their cooking is done on a either a barbecue or a gas camping grill. Bedtime comes early when artificial light comes in the form of kerosene lanterns and flashlights, and you're up with the sun. Even what seems like a carefree life has its own forms of stress, and although the island life may not be for everyone, it's still very much an existence to be envied.

Joyce takes hula lessons once a week, tends to the growing orchard, and assumes many of the responsibilities of keeping herself, Jim, and their two dogs nourished and cared for. Jim builds stuff for people on most days, and when there's a break, he channels some sweat equity into making their compound a bit more comfortable. There's no smog or traffic or reality tv to watch. Their new hometown of Laupahoehoe has 581 residents, and when we went out to the one little restaurant in town, it was clear my aunt and uncle know just about all of them.

I got to get a brief taste of the life they created for themselves, and I must say it was as sweet as the lychee fruit I snacked on all week. My uncle Jim may not be quite as close to official retirement as he might have hoped when they got there, but it definitely helps that he's not swinging a hammer atop a ladder on Cape Cod in January as a bitter on-shore breeze chills him to the bone. Next on the agenda for them is solar power, and with that come more comforts to their home, not that they seem to miss much the ones they left in Connecticut.


It was a long journey to get there and be able to wake up to a great cup of local Kona coffee from their Lanai overlooking the ocean, but it was worth every second. I left relaxed, recharged, and inspired. They had a vision of the life they wanted, and they made it happen. Pretty great.

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined." - Henry David Thoreau

Kudos to Joyce and Jim for doing just that.

What I did on my winter vacation: Part I

Well, it seems another January has come and gone. If the mountains of snow all around us are any indication, I really picked a good month to be closed this year. It's been a great month of travel, leisure, family, fun, and frolic. Dont' worry, I've been home for the past week, so I got a good taste of the weather you enjoyed all month.

Without sounding to gloaty (if that's even a word), I thought I'd share some of my favorite images from the month. Many people ask, 'did you go someplace warm during your break?' I always go to Florida to visit the folks, but this year I was able to go a bit further south to Costa Rica. As is the case with most of my getaways, it's all about the 'golden hour' of light. That's when I usually drop whatever I'm doing (or sipping), grab my camera, and partake in my favorite hobby. I thought sharing here might give you a little respite from the view you're currently seeing from your window (if the snow hasn't completely covered it)..

By the way, these were all taken with my new Iphone. The old-fashioned looking ones with an app called Hipstamatic and the wider ones with Pano.

I hope you enjoy, and please don't hate me.


Walk in the woods in Florida with the folks...

My favorite niece Dagney...

Horseback riding in Costa Rica...

Farmer's Market, there's just something about going to one in January...

Orange Tree in the folks' backyard..

The beach, Guanacaste, Costa Rica..

(click on the panorama images to get the full effect)...

Golden hour...

The lake near my parents' house in central Florida. They get some amazing sunsets...

That'll do it for now. I also did some skiing in Utah and caught a bit of the Sundance Film festival, but I wasn't sure if you'd be all that excited to see photos of snow right now. Better to save those for another time..

In any event, it's game on today. It was a full day of ice cream making yesterday to restock the freezers. One more full day today, and all flavors will be stocked, along with a handful of specials. Just in time for the next snowstorm...

See you soon, Jim

So long 2010, Hello 2011!

Well, here we are again, breathing down the neck of a shiny new year.

In merely hours, we'll be toasting out 2010 and ringing in 2011. Every year goes by fast, but this one seemed to go particularly so. I suppose that's a good sign, since we all know time flies when you're having fun. It's been a terrific year for Mt. Tom's, despite the continuing to sputter economy. Mother nature gave us a year full of just about the best weather any ice cream purveyor could ask for. Mild, dry spring. Hot, dry summer. Mild, dry fall. Just about snow-free early winter. Ice cream weather perfection. After a truly miserable 2009 weather-wise, with cold, cloudy, and rainy being the weather order of the day until somewhere around mid-August, 2010 was well-deserved payback. Kudos once again to those ECA BearFest bears for saving 2009 from that cold, dark summer. Here's hoping a new sloth of bears returns in 2012 as rumored.

Thanks Mom Nature. Feel free to repeat the star treatment throughout the new year.

Weather aside, 2010 wasn't perfect, and if you're still looking for a job, you may not have many good things at all to say about it. If that's the lifeboat you're in, I wish you better success in 2011.

I will remember 2010 as the year we all got into each other's business. Sure, the internet and email and blogs have been around for years, but it just feels different now. Facebook certainly has played a big role. Along with smart phones, texting, Ipads, Skype, and Twitter. Before 2010, if I wanted to know what my friend Judy had for dinner last night, I'd have to actually call her or bump into her in the supermarket. Now, not only can I know if the asparagus was a little mushy, I can probably see a picture of it, courtesy of her digital constant companions - Iphone and Facebook.

I'm still on the fence as to whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Will this whole social networking thing flame out in 2011? Is it too late to turn back? Can I still return my I-phone?

But then, how would I update my Netflix queue with the movie I just thought of or set my DirectTV DVR to record tonight's episode of 'How I met your mother' while I'm buying bananas in Big E's supermarket?

Or share with my 1514 fans, my latest ice cream flavor masterpiece?

Time, and it seems technology, wait for no one. You can either jump on the bus or continue to shuffle along the dusty shoulder while your friends (and competitors) wave to you in their rear view mirror.

But not before they invite you to the party you will miss because you don't check your Facebook wall every three minutes.

Living quietly in the woods with a few books, logs for the fire, and fixings for dinner, and without being interrupted by a news update of a deadly plane crash in Mongolia sounds kindof nice, but it's just not the world you and I live in. I say that with confidence because just your reading these words means you're 'connected'. We're connected. Leave a comment and you're connected to all the other Ice Cream Diaries readers who had a few minutes during their day to wander over. It's just that simple here in the now of the waning hours of 2010.

If you've held an Iphone or an Ipad in your hand or swung a Wii bat or gotten your directions from a voice hanging from your dash, I think you'll have a hard time arguing that although we're not yet driving in hovercrafts, the futuristic cartoon world of the Jetson's is upon us.

And I wait with anxious anticipation to see where 2011 takes us.

Which of course is all the more reason to appreciate the little things in life.

A great night's sleep.

A cool pink sunset.

The enthusiasm of children during the holidays.

A walk on the Manhan rail trail.

A hand-scooped ice cream cone.

Thank god it all comes back to ice cream.

Here's wishing you and yours a very Happy New Year. May 2011 be filled with all that you hope for and a little bit more.

Starting at 6 pm today (New Years Eve), we'll be resting and recharging until Friday, February 4th at noon. Thanks for helping make 2010 our best year yet!

Happy New Year!

Jim

What I did on my winter vacation, Part 2

The dipping cabinets are restocked. The chocolate display case is overflowing with fresh gourmet chocolate delights. The candy jars are reloaded. Fresh coffee beans are in the house. Cups, napkins, ingredients, and all the other ice cream shop necessities are on the way. The Mt. Tom's supply chain is back on line and ready for 2010. The Valentine's Day display displays proudly in the front window, and a good batch of Valentine's candy is up, ready to help satisfy the candy cravings of your one special someone. In short, I'm pretty much all caught up and finally have a chance to start blogging again.


In the interest of likely more interesting photos (if you're outside my extended family anyway), I've opted to brief you on the second part of my January of leisure first. The first ten days were spent in sunny (but chilly) Florida with the family. We threw a 50th wedding anniversary party for the folks so this year, instead of just me, my brother's family, and the folks, it was a vacation overflowing with uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, and cousins. Very cool, but probably not as interesting to you as vacation adventure part 2. Colorado & Utah...



I'll let the photos do most of the talking. Above is me next to the elk statue in downtown Boulder, Colorado. Many thanks to longtime friend Beth,her husband Pete, and wicked cool daughter Gretchen for the hospitality. In case you've never been there. here's a shot of downtown Boulder, Colorado, one of my favorite towns in the U.S. It was definitely on my short list of places to open an ice cream shop back six or seven years ago. Part college, part hippie, part artsy, very cool, if you ever find yourself in that area, well worth an afternoon walkabout.

Here's an interesting find in a gallery there...



Janna Ugone lamps. Her studio is right here at 1 Cottage Street in Easthampton. Nice.




After a couple relaxing days in the Denver burbs, it was off to Park City, Utah, by way of Salt Lake. Another local artist sighting while walking through the SLC airport, Mark Brown clocks being sold in a terminal gift shop. Easthampton artists rule.




Park City, Utah is the great little ski town about 40 minutes outside Salt Lake. There are only 3000 permanent residents, but swells to 45,000 during the ski season. And well beyond that for the 10 days of the uber-hip Sundance Film Festival.



As luck would have it, my visit with buddy Mark, his wife Marissa, and their 2 little princesses falls right in the middle of the Sundance festivities. The town is overflowing with L.A. types, (locals call them PIB's - 'people in black'), with their fancy fur coats, high heels, and Iphones. It's quite a spectacle. The rich and famous are all around. Paparazzi mill about. Locals and tourists wander the streets, anxious to catch a glimpse of a 'star'. We tried to just act cool as we did our usual little pub crawl through town, but it's hard not to be on the lookout for someone famous. Most were well-hidden in their fancy private backroom parties, but we did see a few. Here's my brush with fame...



The movie we got to check out was the premiere of 'Get Low'. It stars Bill Murray, Robert Duval, and Sissy Spacek. Wouldn't you know, they were all there. They got introduced, and even did a Q&A afterwards....



One of the questions from the audience was to Bill Murray - 'Is it true that you snuck up behind someone downtown and put your hands over their eyes, and they said 'who is that?' And you said, 'You wouldn't believe me if I told you.' And then you snuck away.' Wouldn't put it past him, he was genuinely funny during the unscripted after-movie banter with the audience.




Here's one more, my buddy Mark's daughter, hanging with the Snoop Dog...


I showed all these photos to one of my 17 year old scoopers. She barely knew Ben. Had no idea who Bill Murray or Robert Duval were, but she knew the Snoop right away!

On to the other main attraction of Park City in the winter - Skiing! They were having a terrible ski season, hardly any snow, until just before I got there. It snowed for 5 days straight, nearly six feet! Needless to say, the skiing was tremendous...

We even got to check out the half-pipe Olympic qualifier competition. All I can say is, Shawn White = amazing. In a class by himself.

Here's one more of the awesomeness of the Utah mountains.

My friend Mark's walk to work at SkullCandy, speaking of hip... and I thought I had a pretty sweet commute...

Many thanks to Beth, Pete, Mark, & Marissa for the fine hospitality. Good fun, great skiing (came back in one piece, which is good), and a nice break from the rigors of ice cream making. Feeling refreshed, recharged, and ready to go. Well, at least as recharged as one can be after a month of sleeping on pullout couches, trundle beds, inflatible mattresses, and subsisting on a diet of chicken sandwiches and nachos.

See you soon.

Game on!

I think that's what I say every late January when I come back from my little 3ish week hiatus. Got in late last night from the last leg of a great January of fun, and with no rest for the vacation-weary, the shop is up and running once again today, snow squalls and cold spells be darned. The freezers are all awake and humming, fresh off their own little winter slumbers, and the batch freezer is churning out fresh frozen delights by the five gallon as we speak.

Much more on 'what I did on my winter vacation' to follow. Just wanted to let you know we're reopened and ready to roll, with plenty of leadtime until the big Valentine's Day chocolate push. Just about to make a few special flavors, so if there's something you've been jones'n for, feel free to drop a line.

Hope to see you soon.

Winter hrs. continue. Sunday & Tues-Thurs 12-8pm, Friday, Saturday 12-9pm, Closed Mondays.