Mama Peacock and family

Another "Phew!" day. Started out cloudy and humid so we took in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Had to see it in 3D because of the time slot we chose. It was fun and if you like Scrat I'm sure you'll get a kick out of his antics. When we left the theater it was bright and sunny and hot! Of course Puppy's Pop had to go flying at the Dog Track so I went for my walk. Bad idea. I can't get cooled off! But that's OK maybe I'll lose a few pounds.

Spent part of the day yesterday writing to my congressman, senators and president. I'm getting despondent over the mess they insist on making of our economic system, health care, judiciary and government in general. We definitely need term limits! They get so entrenched they have no clue how the rest of us live. I'm getting downright churlish! The Supreme Court should also have limits. I think some of them are already senile. I'm going to try to put in a link to the Thomas Paine video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYscnFpEyA
This man has made other videos so check him out.

Quote of the day: "Other things being equal, that is the best government which most liberally lets its subject or citizen alone. -Through the whole range of authority he governs best who governs least. -A. Phelps

Palpable air day! Phew!

Antelope at the Bronx Zoo, so graceful, elegant and casual.

Unbelievable how miserable 80 degrees can be when you have 82 percent humidity! Good thing the sun decided not to come out. I'm going to get the air conditioning in the Saturn fixed this afternoon. That's a plus!

Yesterday's excursion to East Granby, CT was easy, fun and fast! The GPS finally caught up with me when I got on Route 6. It kept wanting me to go to Norwich and get on Route 2. It brought me right to my younger sister's doorstep. They have a nice one bedroom apartment in a really nice area. Their immediate backyard has beautiful red maples, lawn which abuts a wooded area so they have all sorts of rabbits and deer playing around. The birds are plentiful and she's even been able to plant some sunflowers and tomatoes. They're also on line and have all sorts of cable TV channels and time to relax. I had lunch with them and now that she's retired and has a home I'll be able to go visit regularly. I'm looking forward to seeing their grandkids. They were at Disney World for the week.

The newest of our home air conditioners crapped out on us. It was only 7 years old! Of course the warranty period was up 6 years ago! The old unit that we got from Uncle R was bought in 1988 and it's still going strong. Oh well, we bought a new one and perhaps we can get 7 years out of it; I'm sure it'll never last over 20!

Relaxing day

This croc was just hanging out. Nice smile!

The pretty stone church on the corner of Main St. and Church St. has been sold for $225,000. It's still going to be used as a church but the name seems to indicate that it will be a Spanish ministry. I'm glad that they're keeping up the property. Everything looks nice and inviting.

Some items I didn't mention from our little trip to the Foster Fair: a portable shingle mill, maple syrup being made, farmers' market, steam powered fire engine and peddle tractors for kids. Of course there were the usual midway rides, dunkin' booth, raffles, potters, wood carvers, stone carvers, basket weavers, chair caning, rug braiding. Last, and in my book least, were the booths where you could try your luck to win one of those mega-monster stuffed animals! Nope, Grampa wouldn't try to win me something!

Went to UCONN in Storrs yesterday with local niece who's in the nursing program. We had a nice walk from the lower part of the campus where I used to live at Sprague Hall to the wonderful new Book Store. On the way we also stopped for a bite at the new Student Union and went through Wilbur Cross with its gold dome. Wilbur Cross is no longer the library which is a shame. It's a beautiful building and I'm certain that they did not replicate the wood stacks in the new library. The new building no longer has nets around it to catch the falling bricks so that's a plus! The old library now houses student services but it looks as if only the main floor is being used. I was also pleased to see that ROTC now has a building rather than the old hangar that they used to use. It's one of the older structures but it is in a centralize location.

Well I'll be off soon to visit my younger sister. Trying out that GPS system!

Old Home Days, A Piece of Americana

Lazy Lion in the Bronx!

Grampa and I went to see and hear Pine Creek Bluegrass at the Foster Old Home Days: that's in Rhode Island. What a treat it was just to go the an old fashioned fair! We enjoyed it much more than the Brooklyn or Woodstock Fairs; it's just the perfect size. Pine Creek played for about an hour and a half and it was really excellent music. We were able to be right up there watching the musicians banter, play and sing. Every one of the musicians was superior. Grampa's friend, Freddy Ethridge played the guitar and of course there was a nice big bass, a fiddling lady who could really sing too, the banjo picker was from South Carolina and a mandolin. They don't have too much on their blog yet but if you want to check it out it's pinecreekblugrass.blogspot.com. The fair had all of the usual animals being judged, tractor pull, cow chip bingo, bingo, baking contests, flower arranging, gardening, 4-H everything! There were ladies spinning, knitting and selling their made in RI woolen blankets made from RI sheep, naturellement. We had some "chowda" before we left and talked with a few of Grampa's former flying buddies. All in all a spectacular day! Uncle R and T stopped by on their Harley as we were getting home from the Fair. He had to buy some slippers (you know, papattes!) just to be able to ride, still can't ride barefoot with those rough pegs! I told him he's got to get new pegs!

Time for the gorilla to whip out the best selling "Acting Stupidly!"

Got to play Batman and Robin almost all day yesterday! Only got two hours of sunshine in the evening so we played inside for a good part of the day. Grandson learned how to lasso a Rancor before he had to go home this morning. I'm sure we'll be practicing how to use a lariat when he comes next Friday!

This calls for a Celebration!

Well I did it! The Magellan Maestro 3250 came in yesterday and immediately proceeded to give me a headache. The warranty was only 90 days and the CD for the documentation didn't work! A call to Magellan in California got me my 1 year warranty but they had no more CDs so I was told to go on line for the information about the unit. (I didn't print it out because it was over 70 pages! ) I said my "Thank you's" and went to the Saturn to try it out with that nice new SD card with the 2009 maps. Oh, Oh! GPS system said that my SD card was not compatible! So, I emailed Magellan about the new problem but I received no return email help. Today I called again and was told that I had to download the latest version of the Maestro in order to be able to use the 2009 card. That young whippersnapper got me in touch with another whippersnapper and we did manage to download the newest version to my computer but not to the receiver because it needed a full charge, which it didn't have. So... 3 1/2 hours of charging in the car (no other way to charge it!) and I was able to download the latest version and put in the new maps and Voila! I have a neat little contraption. I've been playing with it. I can find the nearest gas station, restaurant, hospital etc. What a blast! I think I'll have to do some traveling to new places to see if I can use it properly. For $79 I got a steal! Thank you, Daughter!You may use it whenever you need it!

Time for a Mimosa Break!

Believe it or not it was so hard to get any pictures of the Mimosa that can even come close to showing how beautiful it is. I got Grampa to help because he has lots more patience than I!

On rainy Tuesday we went to see the new Harry Potter movie The Half Blood Prince. It was only OK. Certainly not as effective as the first two. I miss Richard Harris as Dumbledore. But it does make you look forward to the last set of movies. They'll make the last book into 2 movies. How clever!

I had never read Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Ubervilles. I've just finished reading it. I can imagine that it caused quite a stir when it was written. All I can say is she should have killed them both! I do enjoy reading the classics. The descriptions are powerful and evocative. Wish I could find some modern day authors that actually write poetic prose!

Hanging in there!

Gotta feel badly for these poor monkeys. Maybe Grampa is right, there shouldn't be any caged wild animals. But I'm not sure how else we could get to see them up close. Hopefully they only keep animals that were abandoned or hurt in some way. I suppose most of them have been born in captivity and wouldn't know what to do in the wild. The Bronx Zoo does have many acres of woodland and so perhaps they let the animals take their turns being close to humans.

Dryas julia

Another dark and dreary day so we need a bright zoo picture from the Butterfly Garden.

Had a unique experience last evening. Sitting in my usual spot for my before bedtime snack and in the dark, of course, a lightning bug paid me a visit. It came to the window screen and winked at me twice! I was so delighted. It's amazing that these seemingly mundane experiences thrill me. It's nice to have the time to just sit quietly and appreciate what we have all around us.

Was going to UCONN today but the weather is so rainy that I may just work on my hooked rug. I've been working on it for years! The colors were chosen before the kitchen got its steel support beam and new flooring in 2005. But I can still use the rug if I only get it finished! Problem is I also have a lot of day time reading to catch up on so I'm not sure what will win out: rug, lighthouse puzzle given by friends just to make my life harder, or National Review?

Okapi

The picture may be a bit dark but it was really shady. What a beautiful animal with his striped legs and brown horse body. Very sleek and fit!

Got a nice clear, bright, clean start to the day! There was a lady turkey up on the hill probably trying to eat the new vinca plants Aunt Cil gave me! But she was pretty neat and finally flew up on the wall and just surveyed her territory for a bit and then regally walked off.

Actually pitched 6 ringers yesterday! It took about 45 minutes but I'm improving a bit. It's a lot of fun. I'm not sure why I didn't pitch too much last year but I'm going to try to keep up this year. I've also been walking pretty regularly when Grampa flies his planes whether at the dog track or the new Sterling school. The summer reading list is always huge but I'm nipping at it!

Had a nice visit with our local niece this morning.

Willaby, Wallaby, Woo!

Yup! Another song! It's got to be that Zoo thing and kid stuff! I love it! Well yesterday finally turned out pretty good. The horrible hot, humid start was killing me but Grampa took me out for a ride and we ended up at the Turkey Farm on Ekonk Hill. He had a fresh turkey sandwich, go figure! and I had fresh raspberry pie and vanilla ice cream. We played horseshoes when we got home and after half an hour I got my only ringer! Now that was stupendous! I'm not kidding. It almost made my day. What did make my day is that Puppy's Pop and I put in the air conditioners and it only cost me a week's worth of doing the supper dishes. How much more better can it get?

Heliconius charitonius

To the uninitiated a Zebra Longwing is pictured! So I'm doing Bronx Zoo photos for a bit. The weather today is so muggy I actually feel sick. Think I'll have to talk Puppy's Pop into putting in the air conditioners. And I thought we were going to luck out and only have Spring, no Summer!

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo! How about you, you, you! You can come too, too, too.

Well I'm going to halt Alaska to put in second child's zoo shots. They're really fun and cool. The title is from a children's song that I now know by heart! Who'd a thunk it?

Buchert Gardens, Victoria, BC

I'm going to finally be able to show you our Alaska photos! Hip! Hip! Now you mustn't rush me; be patient this could take a long, long time!

Trying something new, maybe?

Garage Astilbe and Lilies
http://www.norwichbulletin.com/news/x135753427/Opponents-fear-approval-of-proposed-Plainfield-campground

OK That link is to an article about a Campground that may come to Moosup. Just trying to see how I'm supposed to do the links and I don't think that this is right. Oh well, maybe I'll figure it out someday. Another beautiful day in the neighborhood. Have to go pay the taxes. I can't believe what they have this property listed for. It's nuts.

Two "Wow!" days in a row!

The best picture I have right now for a zoo type picture is the moth I took a few years ago! But when the middle child has time to share her Bronx Zoo photos I'll be in heaven. What a beautiful day we had. The weather was perfect, the zoo was not crowded and the company was grand! My only disappointment was the fact that the monorail ride we went on about 29 years ago is now defunct! What a shame! Other than that we saw so many animals of all sorts and sizes it was incredible. We walked around for almost four hours and no one ever complained or got tired of the zoological garden! I do believe that the prettiest animals were the lemurs. The gorillas were very impressive and looked at us as if we were the ones in captivity. Perhaps they are right. The ride to and from the Bronx was smooth and seemed so easy and direct. It's always nice to have someone to drive you places in luxury!

And then today Puppy's Pop invited me to go to see the El Camino. Oh my! It is impressive. The color is beautiful and the stripes just make me smile. Fernando could tell that I was very pleased. We'll have to give him something for all the work he's done. I know that he gets paid for doing his job but he put so much effort into making the El Camino look like brand new, better than new. No pictures yet because it's not completed but hopefully in the few weeks it'll be ready. He's just like a kid. He loves his job and enjoys it when people appreciate his work. It is an art!

Beautiful Day

The picture is the closest I have to fireworks!

Wonderful fireworks and fantastic food! Had a great evening at Sail Fest in Groton. That middle child and son-in-law and law throw a great party, DJ and all! Took the cool grandchild home with us so we could have more fun this morning before bringing him back to his folks. Played cops and robbers but couldn't get the handcuffs to stay on Grampa's wrists! We'll be off to the Bronx Zoo in the morning. I hope someone takes pictures?

Cool 48 degrees at 6am; Balmy 70 at 10am, Bring on the Global Warming!

Another beautiful day for a walk at the Dog Track. The wild asters are going to peak in a week or so. Their pinky, purple, blue are a real delight against the sunny blue skies of Plainfield.

I've had a real break through with the older Magellan Roadmate GPS. I called Magellan and asked if I could buy some updated maps but was almost laughed at! What the young man did offer was a new Magellan Maestro 3520 for $79 with the 2009 maps for all 50 states, Canada and Puerto Rico. It's called reconditioned but he explained that was because it has been at the warehouse and so has to be checked out before they send it to a buyer. It comes with a year warranty. I'm pretty excited because we'll be able to use it if we drive the El Camino to LA in the Fall and second child will also be able to borrow it if she goes on any fancy trips and has to use a rent a car! Pretty neat stuff!

The second batch of bluebirds are almost ready to take wing. In the process Mom and Dad birds are really messing up some of my garden! They sit on the poles to hunt for bugs and of course you know what they do while waiting for a kill! Pretty messy!

Alaskan Morning in Moosup in July (Gray and Rainy)

Well this has been an interesting day and it's only 9am! A few notes on the pictures. Superior grandson took the picture of Lex and the new spinner. He loves to take pictures with Aunty's Olympus. There's also a picture, taken by Puppy's Pop aka Grampa of the squirrel drinking out of the Oriole feeder. It's hard to see what's actually taking place but if you squint and scrunch up those baby blues a bit you'll see the critter raising havoc.

Went to breakfast this morning at the Victorian on Route 12 in Central Village. It used to be an antique/gift shop. We've been seeing the sign for breakfast and lunch for a few weeks now and decided to try it out. It's quite an interesting place. The food was very good and so was the coffee. It's on the fancy side; tablecloths, cloth napkins, place mats and the decor is of course Victorian! The surprise was that the people who work in the restaurant are all disabled or developmentally challenged to use the proper terms. We were impressed with the service and the work Seabird Enterprises is doing with this group of adults and young people. They are trying to train their students to be able to go out and earn a living. No tips are allowed but whatever money you leave extra goes in to improving their place including new pots and pans, t-shirts etc. The cost of breakfast and lunch is very cheap. We met a bunch of very nice people also having breakfast. I spoke with the lady who used to swim at the pond when our kids were little; also spoke with the lady who used to take care of Pepere and Memere. On a sad note we said "Hello" to the lady whose Insurance Agency used to be near the Victorian and who worked at the Catholic Church in the village. I'm sure she's had a stroke. She looks very well but is not able to remember things and moves very slowly.

On the bright side I'm sure that we'll go to the Victorian on and off for breakfast or lunch. Puppy's Pop even said so!! Hip! Hip!

Another half rainy half sunny day in Moosup

The orioles seem to have left us. But that's OK the crazy squirrel who has been knocking down the bird feeders has now taken to drinking out of the orange oriole feeder! What a wild yard we have! I did get the Magellan to work so I know that it's fine. I just have to get a lot more knowledgeable about how to actually set it up properly and see if I can get some updated maps.

Repaired wall years after Hurricane Gloria (1985)

Had to spend some time yesterday picking up bottle rocket detritus. Puppy's Pop aka Grampa has some fireworks that go back to a New Hampshire trip taken by eldest child and friend M. That has to have been in the late 80's or early 90's. Those bottle rockets are still going up strong with a neat, loud, clean "POP!" A good time was had by the two of us as they were going off Sunday evening. It started a round of "Bangs" from other Moosupians. Too cool! Have to work on the Magellan GPS system that middle child gave us. I know it works I just have to see if I can make it work and then download the latest maps. I'm sure it'll take me forever!

Pepere's Indian Peace Pipes

Thinking of Pepere reminds me that I should probably explain my Blogger Heading. When I was little I used to visit MaTante Rose's and MonOncle Joe's house especially on Saturdays. MaTante Rose would always send me to MaTante Blanche's and I was told to ask for a "Qu'que chose." MaTante Blanche would always give me "something" to take home with me; a cold cream jar, a little statue, a piece of the most delicious sponge cake, a clam cake, a pretty button. I never realized that my "Qu'que chose" was really the French expression "Quelque chose" which of course means "something." It was pronounced "kukshoze." I thought it was an English word! Crazy kid!

It's nice to see the Indian Peace Pipes after all these years. I've been cleaning up along the wall surrounding the property and the Peace Pipes must love the newly uncovered musty, matted, spongy earth.

Just getting started

OK This is a first. I thought it would be easier to let people see my pictures if I had a place to put them but now I have to learn how to resize them and get them on the blog! What the heck have I done? I'll give it a try. Should be fun. With this blank box in front of me I feel a bit intimidated but I'll figure it out at some point in time!