Quite sad . . .

The Fox Family didn't do it. 94 plus degrees at approximately 2:30 this afternoon a big, monster gust of hot, humid wind knocked down half of the Mimosa. It was a very beautiful tree. It looks rather lean now because Puppy's Pop had to trim it and cut up the wood. Very sad. Think we'll have to tie the last two branches together for some strength.

Ah. . . .choo . . .

The sound reverberated through the neighborhood as I sneezed while cleaning off the porch before I sat down to breakfast on the glider. The answering "God bless you" came from across the street! It made me laugh. That was one heck of a dusty porch. Off of the Cipro and as of yesterday on Kefflex. Feeling much better. Think I just caught some kinda bacterial yuck. Went to see Mémère's patch of black-eyed-susans in Preston. J. and N.'s property is so pleasant. Their vineyard is beautiful and I believe they will be harvesting the Saint Croix grapes this year. N. beat me at cribbage. It only took us about an hour and a half for one game! We did a lot of chatting! Went out for a tuna grinder for lunch at the pizza house near Flemmings. Delicious. Kid brother had returned from working at Maugle Sierra Vineyards when we returned from lunch. Not sure how he can stand working in this humidity and heat. I picked beans this morning, pulled some weeds and fertilized the potted plants and that was enough outdoor work for me. I'm going to try to get Puppy's Pop to take me out for ice cream for lunch.

Had a nice but short visit from the G.'s yesterday afternoon. Puppy's Pop and I were sitting in the shade by the garage when they pulled up in a brand new coffee bean colored Equinox. Sue and I will probably go to the PCA get together in September. I haven't been in about 25 years. It should be interesting. Can't believe it's been 51 years since Agnes and I graduated from high school. Not too much happening here. We'll be picking up Kiddo in Mystic tomorrow in the late afternoon. He hasn't been here in a few weeks. Must admit we miss him! Oh, one last bit of news. I ate some bear/venison burger at the wedding last week and was surprised I liked it. I didn't eat a whole one, just picked at my brothers' food! Pretty scattered thoughts today.

Quote: I am persuaded that every time a man smiles, but much more when he laughs, it adds something to this fragment of life. ___Sterne

It's a hot, muggy . . .

Ryan Newman won the race and his boss came in second! We have really good seats now, almost on the start/finish line and in the shade ten minutes after the race starts, one, an aisle seat to boot! I finally ate to my heart's content last night on our return to Merrimack. It felt so good to have a Margarita too! First alcohol in about a week. To a-glass-of-wine-a-day person that was not fun! I ended up taking myself off of the Cipro because I suffered some adverse reactions to it especially on the third day. I expect to hear from my APRN today to see if I will have to go on something else. But I am feeling so well I weeded the garden, picked beans, cukes, squash, watered my potted outdoor plants and did a wash! Puppy's Pop has already mowed the lawn and is in Oneco mowing his flying circle on the side of the Town Hall! Looks like we might be getting some thunderstorms soon. It's very humid and cloudy.

Saturday, after supper we went to the Horace Greeley Park in Nashua so I could walk around and marvel at the beautiful community gardens. As usual I met a nice lady who was working diligently pulling weeds and cutting back plants. She was lovely, ungloved, barefoot and reveling in the dirt! The gardeners only pay $20 a year for their plots and the city provides water and tills it. Great pride is taken by most and many of the gardens are manicured but some people plant and never weed! We also got a chance to watch a Puerto Rican softball game. That was a hoot! As I walked around the back side of the gardens which is pretty dense with bushes and trees I heard a banjo picker practicing. What a neat place to have a home.

I was so tired last night I was out cold at 8:30. Slept straight through until early morning. We had a super breakfast at the Residence Inn. I was impressed with the choices and the goodness. I don't usually like the food put out by hotel chains but this was exceptional. We'll certainly book our suite there for the 2012 Lenox 300. Kiddo is in the swamps this week. Expect he'll give us a holler tonight and let us know what new stuff he saw.

Quote: We read history through our prejudices. __Wendell Phillips

We really did make it . . .

I'm so happy that I'm finally feeling well and we're here at the Residence Inn in Merrimack,NH relaxing in a super nice suite! I hadn't been eating since Tuesday because stomach was in revolt. Grampa even covered for Kiddo Wednesday, going to see Cars 2. I feel badly because I couldn't get to Groton Thursday or Friday. Finally called my APRN and they had me in the office Friday by 8:45am! She put me on Cipro, an antibiotic, and a medicine for nausea which I was able to do without. I finally ate some real food today and am getting to be a real person again, not perfect yet but on my way. Puppy's Pop stopped at the Mall before we came to our suite and bought his six pairs of jeans at Sears, no tax! I broke down and got some Land's End clothes, on sale, bien sûr! We also looked for a new stovetop because ours is starting to act up but we were not impressed with what they had. I think that if we really end up needing to replace ours we'll go to Bousquet's in Danielson and let them install and service it. We like the washer we bought from them. They were fast and efficient.

The garden is doing pretty well in spite of the crazy animals. We have the nicest cukes and maybe I'll get a chance to eat some when we get home Monday. My appetite is starting to come back! FedEx delivered our Blongo Ball set Thursday. They left it on the porch and I only stumbled onto it in the evening. I was home all day and never heard them deliver it! The windows were wide open and all. The ears must be going too! Oh, yay! Puppy's Pop put it together Friday and I tried it out. It's a great game and I'm anxious to see if Kiddo will like it too. He'll be at the Pequotsepos Nature Center Camp this week so we won't see him until late Friday. He'll probably be pooped out. The camp keeps him moving all day. One of his classmates will also be in camp this week so he should be pretty hyped. Youngest child spent her birthday with G. at Lake Windemere in Cumbria. It is the largest lake in England, a finger lake created by the glaciers. The nice thing about England is you're never too far from anything! Can't wait to see them next year right here in the good old USA! Will be leaving for a gracious but bland dinner (my choice for bland) at Florence's North End if Puppy's Pop can leave the race behind him. We'll be going to Loudon tomorrow and that's enough racing for "moi!"

And it just popped . . .

What a clean fragrant sound as the raspberry and wild blackberry jelly jars pop! Grampa picks the berries and I make the juice. When I get a quart of juice saved up it's on to the jelly processing mode. It is 92 degrees outside but still fairly comfortable in the house without the air conditioning and a very hot stove top! Even though we took down the two tamaracks the trees on the hill seem to give us the shade we need to be comfortable. That's a good thing.

Spent a very pleasant Saturday in Cambridge, NY for the wedding of my god-child. She and her husband have a beautiful 60 acre farm. Both of my brothers and their wives were at the wedding along with nieces, nephews and many of their friends. It was a beautiful day in New York's Taconic Range as we enjoyed the view of Vermont's Green Mountains from the Gazebo. I was almost a JP for the ceremony! Got a scare when a handsome man came out to get Aunt Irène because the Justice of the Peace hadn't arrived! But I was saved at the very last moment when he did show up! Phew! The funniest thing is that I didn't know that the handsome man who had sought me to act as JP was the groom! We stayed the night in Bennington,VT which is only about 10 miles from Beloved Farm. Sunday morning we moseyed back through the hills and dales to the 1840 home for breakfast with the family. It was a thoroughly enjoyable time. I even learned a new game, Ladder Ball, which I have already ordered so we can play at the Horseshoe Tournament in September. You throw golf balls connected by a 13" nylon rope at a three rung ladder made of PVC pipe. I love it and can't wait to try it out with Kiddo Friday.

The only small downer this week was the trip home from Cambridge. I let the GPS do the talking and she took us to Albany before getting us on Route 90! Added about 30 minutes to our return trip! On the way there I only turned the GPS on when we got off of 90 and headed toward Lebanon Valley and the Dragstrip. Then she took us up Route 22 North. I need a consultation about a new GPS! We need something that let's me set up the routes I want to use not what it thinks is the best route! My Magellan doesn't even learn to use the route I always take to East Granby! I keep having to disregard it until I get to Bradley Airport and then it works well!

Even though the foxes have done their best to ruin the garden we are eating cucumbers, Swiss chard, yellow straight necked squash, green beans and raspberries. We have a crazy sun flower magically growing between the hard top and the cement slab for the garage. Puppy's Pop has the property looking pretty good. Have to go to work now and make a bread for Kiddo's brother who just got his driver's license! He is pumped! No more extra rides to Mystic to bring him to work! Hip! Hip!

Quote: But happy they, the happiest of their kind, whom gentle stars unite; and in one fate their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend! __Thomson

Yeah . . . Summer has arrived . . .

Wow, we've waited so long for our glorious summer daze. Spent a very pleasant 4th of July visiting Puppy's Pop's younger brother. All the brothers and sisters were there along with some of the kids, grandkids and great grand kids! Can you imagine that there are great grand children? Can we really be growing up that fast? Also spent the same evening at the old homestead with my younger brother's family and friends. Way to end a beautiful American tradition. Fireworks were booming and sparkling all over town. Life doesn't get much better than letting the PC Nanny State know that we are a freedom loving people and thumb our noses at their overweening PC obsequiousness. Hip! Hip! for the good old United States of America. We decided to go to Iggy's at Oakland Beach in RI yesterday forgetting how busy beaches can be right after the 4th. But the trip was wonderful and we decided to eat at the Top of the Bay where there were no lines. We ate in air-conditioned splendor with views of Narragansett Bay. It was a bit hazy far out and so we only saw faint outlines of the Jamestown and Newport Bridges but the sailboats were a graceful sight and the local folk were enjoying one of the best free beaches in New England. In the Fall we'll have to bring Kiddo to the boardwalk, playground, rocky and sandy Oakland beach. It is a gem that has somehow escaped the charges socked to Connecticutters. I believe that this beach was ravaged in the 1938 Hurricane and the State in it's wisdom saw fit to leave the beach free for all. Nice. Have renewed my subscription to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston! It feels so good! My cousin A., art teacher par excellence, and her sister who lives in Randolph MA are planning a trip soon. Can't wait! Haven't been to Boston since youngest child left for England! I still have a very fond place in my soul for cities great and small.

Quote: Praise the sea, but keep on the land. ____Herbert

Shoot me now . . .

Finally started working out with the Wii, My Fitness Coach and it did me in! I only worked for 45 minutes and I was pooped out but . . . after that I ended up going in the garden with a hoe to weed and felt terrific! Go figure, I have to sweat my butt off to get the "get up and go" to work in the garden! At some level I guess it makes sense. Saw something I think was odd this week when I took Kiddo to a birthday party at The Dinosaur Place. First of all it has to have been the most expensive party I've been to! With 19 kids and 9 adults $25 a head seems outrageous. But, of course Kiddo had a blast and we stayed beyond the 11am to 1pm party time since our admission was paid for the day. Kiddo spent most of the time in the Splash Pad and that was where I saw a most beautiful lady with a very tiny bikini and also a pretty Muslim Mama with her long sleeved black robe with silver embroidered cuffs and a red, white and gold hand woven head scarf. They were both there with little ones and had a blast but it seemed so incongruous. Bikini Mama got wet and burqua clad Mama took photos of Dad and kids having fun. I was hot just sitting at a shady table! Played some horseshoes yesterday and have not improved! I suppose some practice would help. But I'm happier watching Puppy's Pop practice while I swing away my cares and woes. Will most likely go to Uncle R's home in Lisbon tomorrow to celebrate the 4th and then go to local nephew's in the evening to hang out with family and get to visit with his Arizona brother and wife. As Kiddo says, "Good Times! Good Times!"

Quote: National progress is the sum of individual industry, energy, and uprightness, as national decay is of individual idleness, selfishness, and vice. ___S. Smiles