Monday, August 26, 2013

Busy time

Was there a weekend in there sometime?  I think I might have missed it. 

Traveled (a lot) and socialized (a lot) over the weekend.  Went to the wedding of my cousin's daughter (wore a dress)(and nice shoes).  Dropped the dogs off at the kennel at 7:30 Sat. morning, then hit the road for the 5-hour trip to motel in southern NH.  I was worried about a)getting there on time and b)finding the church (since I forgot to Googlemap the actual site of the wedding).  All went well.  The trip was long but uneventful.  A lot of traffic.  No, really, a LOT of traffic.  But I made it, and got to the church.  Of course, the car ahead of me was that of my cousins/former in-laws, but that was nice because then I got to sit with them in the church.  I dearly love my cousin/former sister-in-law, and we always have very nice visits.  This time we had a GREAT visit.  Lots of laughing and sharing.

The wedding was formal, nice.  The reception was exceptionally nice.  It was at Philips-Exeter Acad., where the bride teaches.  Wow what great food and what a lot of wine!  First there was a pre-dinner reception and I got to visit with relatives I truly enjoy.  Dinner was good.  I sat with other cousins and their children (these children, now in their 30's have had very complicated lives and lived with my mother for a time when they were young).  Food was good, evening was a bit long.  I was one of the first to leave--which seems to be what I usually am these days.  Back to the motel, found my way there amazingly well.  I like staying in motels alone.  Anyway, I was up at 6 yesterday so left at 6:30 and had a good drive home.  Not much traffic but a long trip.  I made it home in time to spend an hour on the dock on one of the most beautiful days of the season.  Another cousin's son is in camp (yegods I have a lot of relatives).

Sunday dinner was Michigan Madness yesterday at J&M's.  Yum!  Food was grand, company was special.  It was a very, very nice time.  Wow what a great blueberry pie.

Home to NAP. 

Friday night I went to a lovely gathering hosted by a former camper and her wife.  Potluck, with lots of good food and fine company.  I visited with the Holt's, had had dinner with them earlier in the week.  They came to my house while I was away on Sat. and cut down a bunch of trees that were encroaching on my house.  I love my friends, I truly do.  They are wonderful.  The forest is reclaiming the land around the house and I'm helpless to do anything about it.  I waited too long to cut the trees, and they got too big for me & my handy sawz-all and handsaws.  What a mess.  Anyway it looks grand now and I'm very pleased.

Picked the dogs up last night at 6--Treasure apparently really likes the kennel because she didn't want to come home.  They ran and ran when they got home, as always.  Tess is having her ragweed allergy attack now and is miserable.  Tonight I stop at the vet's and pick up cortisone pills for her.  Poor thing--goopy eyes and itchy skin.  Oh, how very attractive.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Back to reality

I had my wonderful 2 weeks in Rhode Island and am back on North Country soil again.  Before I went to RI I went to our family meeting, something we have every summer.  A smaller crowd this year than we have some years.  It was our 40th gathering.  Yikes.  We get together to talk about money, camp, each other, etc.

My trip to RI was great.  I got to be with my sister and her husband for a day or so before Paolo returned to Italy.  They came to Silver Lake, too, and we had a nice visit while they were there.  Molly got to swim in fresh water.

We didn't do much that was exciting or different in RI, which was fine.  Lots of reading and quiet time, beach time every sunny day (and there were a lot of those), lobster a couple of times, RI corn (delicious) every night, some shopping and mostly just a lot of good visiting.  The beach was grand--my mother's town beach is very nice,  not too crowded most days.  It was very crowded (by our standards) on Monday the 12th, which was Victory Day in RI.  I think only RI still celebrates Victory Day--it used to be called V-J Day (Victory over Japan) but they finally realized that wasn't appropriate, so they changed the name.  It's really just an excuse for another summer holiday in the state.  Anyway, that was the only time the beach was uncomfortably crowded.

We ate at our favorite places.  Jenica came to visit.  The dogs behaved well.  Treasure swallowed one of Mark's socks, then threw up for 2 days until she finally threw up the sock.  Swell.  That was the only dog incident, thankfully--no running away, just a couple of walks in the park and lots of time sunning on the deck at Liza's.

There's not much more to say about the trip.  It was so so nice to be with my family, having a good time together.

I came back on Saturday, and uneventful trip.  Too much traffic, which seemed strange, but not a big deal.  I went to Sunday dinner with my friends--it was at one of Bill's camps (he has 2)(we call him a land baron).  Food was excellent and all were in rare form and feeling good.

Yesterday I went to Burlington, to the dermatologist to have some more pre-cancerous stuff frozen on my arm.  A nice enough trip but I didn't do much else while I was there, went to a grocery store for a few things then came straight home.  I had planned to spend the night in the boat house, packed a few things & went down there but ka-zowie we had a power outage so I went home to call it in.  Power was out for a bit more than 3 hours--I went to bed.  Tonight I'll be in the boat house--it's warm at night and I like sitting on the porch there, reading quietly.

DSCN0081

DSCN0081 by woodsrun
DSCN0081, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

How to deal with a hot August sun at the beach. There was a man my sister called "Jerry Garcia," who resembled Jerry. He put his chair in the water like this and Molly thought that was a nifty idea.

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DSCN0088 by woodsrun
DSCN0088, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

She looks really cross, but really she's just playing with her new camera. At the beach. On a very nice day.

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ri aug2 2013 004 by woodsrun
ri aug2 2013 004, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

Picture of a picture. I like this--it's a picture of the OLD boat house. Not many shots like this, I don't think. Or I do think, whatever.

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ri aug2 2013 008 by woodsrun
ri aug2 2013 008, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

Molly, Jenica and Mark trying to catch big booger frogs in the pond. They were successful and transplanted the frogs to a much better place. We don't like booger frogs. These guys were HUGE.

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ri aug2 2013 025 by woodsrun
ri aug2 2013 025, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

Where I get to sleep in the summer at my mother's house. It's a screened-in gazebo and I really, really wish I had something like it at my house.

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ri aug2 2013 028 by woodsrun
ri aug2 2013 028, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

My mother's house from the back woods. It's really green and pretty in the summer.

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ri aug2 2013 029 by woodsrun
ri aug2 2013 029, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

My sister on the back deck at Liza's.

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ri aug2 2013 032 by woodsrun
ri aug2 2013 032, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

My sister with Tess' sister.

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ri aug2 2013 041 by woodsrun
ri aug2 2013 041, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

A really nice picture of Jenica and Treasure. They both look great.

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ri aug2 2013 043 by woodsrun
ri aug2 2013 043, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

Shhh.... they're asleep. Let them lie. They did a lot of this in RI

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ri aug2 2013 047 by woodsrun
ri aug2 2013 047, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

How cute is she?

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ri aug2 2013 052 by woodsrun
ri aug2 2013 052, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

Molly at the little beach near where we ate breakfast.

Block Island boat

ri aug2 2013 054 by woodsrun
ri aug2 2013 054, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

Here's the ferry (the old, slower one) that goes to Block Island. I took this picture from the nice waterfront restaurant we go to for breakfast, just to show how big the boat is. Because my mother was impressed, and so was I. See all the little people heading to Block Is.

Java Madness

ri aug2 2013 060 by woodsrun
ri aug2 2013 060, a photo by woodsrun on Flickr.

This is how we access the Internet in RI--at a wonderful coffee place at a marina, on the water. This is my sister and my mother.