Ingenious, that's what he is . . .

Kiddo named his plane Blue Striker.

Puppy's Pop never ceases to amaze me. I came home Thursday after my Big Y shopping and there before my very eyes, on the flower side of the carriage house was the Dodge truck trailing the ugliest pop-up camper anyone could imagine. At a minimum quadruple ugly. It only cost $136 at the junk yard on Ward Avenue. What a find! What a buy! Leave it to Puppy's Pop to tear it completely apart to make a utility trailer for the mowers. He mows fields in Sterling and Brooklyn for flying so he's been looking at trailers and they are too expensive. Now, this is the fantastic part. He brought back to the junk yard all of the aluminum plus the original engine from the El Camino and some other metal odds and ends and was paid about $114. So he got his strong utility trailer for $22. But the work that went into the dismantling and carting away of the disgusting stuff from the camper was enormous. What a wonderful character I have as my chosen spouse. The brain never stops. He also built a flying wing for Kiddo and they flew it last evening at the Sterling School. Really cool men in my life.

Kiddo wanted to play one on one basketball with me yesterday but I didn't last very long. So I played fetch while he dribbled, tried fancy footwork, threw the ball up and then caught it, palmed it and made lots of baskets. He even kept the dribble going when it got away from him and was pretty much out of play. Big brother has been working with him. They play pretty tough for this Mémé. He's always in my face when I try to dribble and likes to bump me off of the ball! Don't think our game would past muster by the rules. I did manage to beat him two out of three in Bongo Ball this morning. Lucky throws! He is competitive but good natured enough if he loses. Swears he'll get you next time. He doesn't like to quit until he wins!

Quote: Childhood does sometimes pay a second visit to a man; youth never. ____Mrs. Jameson

Celebration . . .

Youngest child just sent this photo of the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle. They decorated it when the Olympic Torch was brought across on its way to London.

Puppy's Pop and I went out to celebrate my graduation! Yep, I graduated from Cardiac Rehab today certificate and all! 36 classes - it was well worth the time and effort. I think I'll be able to keep up with a minimum of working out three days a week pretty easily on my own. I expect to get in four or five days. I do have to push myself but it really does feel good when I get done. The workouts plus weights only last about 45 minutes. So it's really not too much. We went to the Top of the Bay at Oakland Beach. It was very busy and so was Izzy's but the food and service were fine. Went to Groton yesterday late afternoon and Kiddo reminded me that he didn't have any homework! What a clown! I asked him if he was trying to tell me he wished to remain ignorant. "No," says he. "I was just kidding!" We did read about some dinosaurs for a while but nothing too strenuous! He seems to like going to the Groton Rec so that's a big plus because they spend the day out of doors.

Quote: When you doubt, abstain. ___Zoroaster

What a day . . .

Started out this beautiful summer day with cinnamon crisp French toast dunked in hot apple juice at Old Tymes in Norwich before we headed off to East Hampton for a control line combat contest. We got to the Salmon River State Park early so we just walked the river's shore and some of the dirt roads. What a beautiful park. Wish we had brought some fishing gear. I saw a bug glide close to a trout and the trout snapped it up! I've never seen that before. You can catch the trout but they have to be at least 9" and if you catch any salmon they must be thrown back. I'm not certain when the salmon would be swimming around; we certainly didn't see any. You can wade into the river, go across on the stepping stones or fish from shore. They even have a very large deck from which you can fish. There were numerous bobbers and lures in the branches of the trees above the deck! One super experience at this park is the spring water that just gushes out of two copper pipes. Many people come and fill up bottles and bring the water home. Cheaper than buying designer water in the store and it is delicious. I kept our little bottle filled all the time we were there. During the power outages last year people from all over hell and damnation went to the Salmon River Park to fill up on drinking water. Very cool. Very cold.

Combat started around 10 so we grabbed our chairs and set up in the shade. We saw some amazing flying. Can't even begin to describe what it's like to see two men in the center of a very small circle with gas engine powered wings at the end of sixty foot lines towing red and blue ribbons trying to cut each others streaming ribbon. It is totally wild and if all goes well lasts about five minutes a match. Points are scored for most time in the air, cuts and I'm not sure what else. But we did see a couple of mid airs in which the pieces just rained down from the sky. It really is exciting to see them manœuvre the planes. I couldn't help laughing at some of the outrageous moves they can make. One man was flying his plane very close to the ground and the other guy actually flew even lower and came up under the first guys streamer but he only managed to get it to slide off of his own wing, didn't cut it. Screaming engines whipping around furiously, great fun. Stopped in Colchester for a bite to eat before coming home. Puppy's Pop had already pre-loaded the El Camino and is now on his way to Brooklyn International. Can't miss out on the Sunday fun!

Quote: Books should to one of these four ends conduce, for wisdom, piety, delight, or use. ____Denham

Wild weather . . .

This is what some of my flowers looked like before the winds and rain. Fond memories!

We went out early yesterday with Oneco friends and had to drive through torrential rains right across Ekonk Hill. After an excellent supper and a return to their home for a night cap we arrived in Moosup and my beautiful pots of summer color were strewn about the yard! We must have had some wild winds and rain. The garden grew a couple on inches overnight! We spent this afternoon watching American Legion Baseball at the highschool fields off of Shepherd Hill. The field they play on is very well kept but poor Moosup was mauled by New London 13 -1. It ended after 7 innings because of the mercy rule! New London was hitting the Moosup pitcher and his coach didn't relieve him until the damage had been done. The second pitcher kept New London from scoring any more but the Moosup batters struck out or hit pop ups. It was still fun to watch and we'll be going again. You can sit on a hill in the shade and have an excellent view of the field from behind home plate. We were going to go to the flying field after supper tonight but monster winds have come up, the temperature has dropped 10 degrees and I had to re-rescue my plants! So we'll be home for the evening. The sun is out right now and the sky to the West is blue but the Northern skies are cloudy.

Quote: Words are like leaves; and where they most abound, much fruit of sense beneath is rarely found. ___Pope

Soda, pretzels and beer . . .

Well not quite soda, pretzels and beer but have started summer with the high nineties, humid and sunny. Spent a lazy day after Backus rehab ( only three more sessions, yay.) Puppy's Pop was waiting for a call from the VA when I returned this morning so you know he's a hurting unit. About a week ago he hefted a 30 pack of Bud onto the counter and twisted his right thumb. Today it was bad enough to call the VA. He's now on ibuprofen therapy for at least a week and not supposed to lift anything heavy. But, naturellement, that doesn't mean horseshoes or planes, right? Tête de pioche! But at least he is doctoring so I'll not complain. We went to Hank's for ice cream this afternoon. Then an all out splurge for supper: a large pizza with everything on it and potato chips! This old house hasn't seen pizza in ages and it has to be at least a couple of years since it's had chips. Life is still good when you can enjoy ice cream, pizza and chips.

Quote: Good humor is the health of the soul; sadness is its poison. ___Stanislaus

Close to home . . .

The garage lily has survived the bugs!

Was sitting outside swinging my life away yesterday evening when I saw the neighbors from the little grey house across the street rummaging in the woods by the rock, brick, cement barrier past the garden. Went to check out what they were up to. They had found a purse that had been stolen from their car during the night. With Puppy's Pop's help they were able to recover everything but $170. It's getting pretty nasty when you can't consider your property safe in our small town USA. I'm guessing our neighbor had left her pocket book in the locked car with the window cracked open a little because of the heat thinking she was going out again but didn't go out. Grampa heard voices at around 3:30am walking by. I imagine these voices were some roaming teens who managed to open the car and steal the lady's purse and Kindle. What a bunch of creeps. There are a lot of people walking by here now that we've never seen before. I generally try to say hi to them just to be friendly and let them know that we're out and about. C'est dégoûtant!

Had a very pleasant Father's Day dinner at Riverview with middle child and family. Visited with younger brother yesterday morning before heading off to Groton and our Kiddo. The kid thinks he's a fish! Spent two hours in the pool! He would have stayed even longer if I hadn't made him come out. Since my bout with a UTI I just sit on the deck and throw balls at him! He, naturellement, sends them back at me and tries to get me as wet as possible! He does a good job of that. I planted the cleome kid brother gave me near the garage last night. I had to dig up 40,000 rocks, nails, clinkers and broken pottery before I could plant them in the one foot square patch I had prepared!

Quote: That which is won ill, will never wear well, for there is a curse attends it which will waste it. __The same corrupt dispositions which incline men to sinful ways of getting, will incline them to like sinful ways of spending. __M. Henry

Almost a three disaster day . . .

The day started in salubrious fashion when Kiddo got up late and after breakfast we all went to the Sterling School for some flying. Kiddo had the control handle, Grampa started the plane and then went to help with the takeoff as I held the very beautiful see through yellow plane. With a wave of Kiddo's hand I let go of the plane, turned to get the camera and heard "crunch, crash, jimminy crickets." I turned to see the poor yellow plane on the asphalt with a crushed wing. Not fixable. There was no fault to be found with the pilot, the plane was flawed and not controllable. But Kiddo revived when we got home and he was invited next door to play with the kids in a monster bounce house they had set up for today's birthday celebrations.

After we left Groton we went to LensCrafters in the Waterford Mall to pick up my replacement glasses. I really didn't like the original pair I had chosen and gave them some leeway to make me a pair of rimless which are the only kind I like and have worn for years. And . . . the bifocal was more than half way up the lens! Yikes. Impossible to fix. The lady agreed that they weren't right. She said they were breaking in a new lens person and he insists on making everything standard even though there is no standard pair of eyes! So I may get lucky and have my glasses in ten days.

We decided to go to an early Father's Day dinner. I gave Puppy's Pop the choice of Arturo Joe's or the Corner Bistro and he chose The Outback. The beer was flat, the chowder was cold, the salmon no longer comes with their formerly special sauce and it was a small chunk, centered on an otherwise empty plate. Because he had chosen to have chowder and a Caesar salad he didn't get any sides! They did bring out the vegetable of the day and a sauce of some sort to pacify but it didn't work very well! My rack of lamb was good but no where near as good as Sullivan's in Baton Rouge. The kitchen did warm up the chowder. I do believe that will be the last time at the Outback. We'll give middle child the card they gave us for a free blooming onion as there is an Outback in Groton.

So all in all it's nice to be home watching the races on TV! Son called for Father's Day and Grampa and Father's Day cards are lined up on the marble table. All is well in this old house.

Quote: Slight small injuries, and they will become nothing at all. ___Fuller