Quite A Week

I know I have been a bit lax about posting to any blogs lately.  I was talking about it with my politico buddy Al the other day and have determined I've just been in an agitated state for a while.  The last election cycle was pretty wearing.  It was hard to escape the hysterical bombast from Faux News and the endless fundraising emails from the Dems.

I did pitch in, though, donating here and there, the doing calls and canvassing for President Obama and Elizabeth Warren.  Yes, I felt elated when the results were in, but am left with the conviction that we have so much more to do.  Overturn Citizens United, for one, overhaul the actual voting system for another thing that should benefit all voters.  I am predicting those long lines at the polls on Election Day will be a thing of the past in 2016 (or it could take a lot longer, considering the Congress we are dealing with).  With the technology and security measures we have now I hope those who choose to can vote from their computer or smart phone.

It's hard to believe we are still arguing about women's reproductive rights, fair pay, race and religion in 2012, but, alas, it's true.  Progressives really need to do a better job defining the issues, starting now.  So my goal is to stay involved for the next four years.  Tonight I am heading over to our local Planned Parenthood office to write thank you notes to supporters.  Should be fun, AND they'll have snacks!

Ed and I also had a lovely pre-Thanksgiving turkey dinner with some good friends on Saturday.  Ed did two turkeys in the Webers, along with his famous maple apple-sweet potato casserole.  You may know by now that Ed genuinely loves to cook turkeys and he's buying up frozen ones so I think we'll have several more before he heads out west in January.

My son Anthony was also up for a short visit over the weekend.  He came to dinner Saturday and played Irish music at RiRa Pub during brunch on Sunday.  Here's a photo of him and his friends (he plays the Irish bagpipes, hard to see because they are on his lap.)

I was watching our granddaughter Emily on Sunday so wet met our friend Al at RiRa for lunch.  The music was great, it was a beautiful day and Em had never heard Uncle Anthony's music before.  The black and white image of Anthony was made by one of his students in the CNC machining class he teaches in Hanover, NH.  I think it looks just like him.

I spent Monday with Lucy, age 4-and-a-half, always entertaining.  We like to eat breakfast at the Arcadia Diner where we munch, chat and Lucy colors. Yesterday she told me she was drawing "Frida" who didn't like to smile because she had rotten teeth.  I inquired if this was a real person. She sighed (I am pretty clueless, after all), "Yes, G.G., she's an artist".  Upon seeing the drawing I determined it was Frida Kahlo and they've been talking about her in preschool.  Note the lovely "bird wing" eyebrows.  Lucy later gave her vampire fangs and a few flowers to cheer up the effort.

The spooks are out

Well, one of my favorite gigs is dashing around their neighborhood with Lucy and Anthony on Halloween.  They were really into it last night, both little vampires and, yes, they kept those plastic teeth in their mouths the whole time.

We set off in daylight with neighbor/best friends Jasmine (Spiderman) and Jessica, a flower.

It was quite a crew including Gandma Elaine, Uncle Mike and Aunt Judy with Josie as a ballerina, Elizabeth, me and Sophanny, Jasmine and Jessica's mother.

They live in a great neighborhood for Trick-or-Treaters, lots of kids and families who love to decorate.

So it was a wonderful evening, nice weather, happy Trick-or-Treaters, I'm sure everybody slept well, despite the sugar.  I think even Lucy, the sweet tooth girl had enough candy to savor.

And after all the dashing, I had a nice glass of wine and some of Elaine's beautiful devilled egg eyeballs, pulled pork and kimchee.

Yum!

Thanks to Sophanny for this iPhone photos!

Emily Goes to the Fair

It has been years since I went to the Champlain Valley Fair, but Emily was visiting yesterday and somehow, it seemed like a good idea.

Ed declined to go with us (can you imagine that?) so Emmy and I headed out on a beautiful sunny Saturday.  A high of 74° was predicted, so I felt like I could take it!  Any hotter and we'd have been watching movies all day.

Well, I think the only way to enjoy the fair is with a little kid.  Emmy was so excited and we had a great time picking out rides.  We avoided the Ferris wheel, alas, since she told me it "made her throw up", but went on a number of others  And I, who always LOVED roller coasters, have determined that carnival rides are also for little kids.

We found rides, ate lunch, watched jugglers and acrobats, petted farm animals and got hot and sweaty.  I went to the fair with my son Anthony, now 31, when he was little and then my brother Uncle Pete started taking him.  We had a succession of goldfish, most notable Hoppy and Patrick.  Hoppy committed suicide by leaping out of his bowl when no one was around.  That was a hard day!

Back to 2012.  Our final treat was, can you guess?  ICE CREAM!  Emily is the world's biggest ice cream lover and here are some photos to prove it.

Blog followers may remember this other ice cream session from 2008 when Emmy was two.  She would eat it all day long, if allowed, I'm sure.  Well, what is summer for, after all?

Ahh, Maine!

I drove over to Portland, Maine on Friday to visit my beautiful friend Felice Boucher, Photographic Artiste Extraordinaire.  AND she's famous.  No kidding, we were stopped at the Farmer's Market by fans who wanted to take her picture.  This is one of my all time fave photos of Felice and her Wheaten Terrier Finnegan taken on a visit to see Felice in Houston, TX.

We hadn't had a girls' weekend in too long due to busy schedules, etc.  It was just lovely to see her.

I know you think I only travel for the food and you're partly right, of course.  Our first stop on Saturday morning was The Holy Donut, owned by Felice's friend Cynthia's daughter and a partner who also sell to Whole Foods.  The donuts are made with Maine potato flour, all natural ingredients and are the best treats I have had in a while.  There was a long line out the door which Felice says is normal and continues until they sell out for the day.

Since I was in Portland, I had to visit twice (!) and tried three flavors:  Sweet Potato Ginger, Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt and Fresh Lemon Glazed.  That's Cynthia on the left taking a break from donut production.

Next stop, the bustling Portland Farmer's Market.  We wandered along gazing at beautiful veggies, flowers and crafts in Deering Oaks Park, two blocks from Felice's home.  It was cool and shady, full of families, artisans, growers, performers.  Perfect.  We were intrigued by the 'Hay Ball' (above lower left) which we saw around the downtown Saturday and Sunday - you can 'Like' it here.

There are Felice's fans, members of the Portland Camera Club.

We also stopped to visit the hula hoop lady Tracy from Hardcore Hoops, handcrafted in Maine for maximum hoopability.  Felice bought two for her grandchildren and so did I.  She swears it's real exercise, so I am going to try it out.  Honestly, I DID hula hoop when I was a kid!

Yes, I had to photograph the radishes.

We were invited to dinner in Brunswick by Felice's friends Julie and Larry.  They are Finnegan's second family where he goes to catch up with his Wheaten Terrier pals when Felice is traveling.

 

We had such a nice visit, sipping wine on the deck, chatting and munching smoked oysters (if my sister Barbara is reading this, yes, I had some for you) and then...lobster fresh off the boat for dinner.  It was the best!  Thanks you, Julie and Larry for great food, company and conversation.

Portland is home to many notable lighthouses and we visited a few, despite the drizzle on Sunday.

I love Vermont and don't want to move, but a person does need an ocean fix every one in a while.  Nothing compares with cold ocean waters, if you ask me.

Tropical beaches are lovely, of course, but the bracing air, rocky shore, pounding waves and overall sense of power and menace are what draw me to the seaside.

So we walked and talked, traded photography tips and stories, laughed A LOT and ate, of course.  After Felice's frozen banana-peach-mango-cashew dessert I asked to be adopted.

Felice is plunging into high wedding season and may not come up for air for a while, but I want to say what a wonderful time I had with her and hope we can get together again soon.  XOXOXO

SCIENCE WEEK!

Anthony and I just completed "Science Week".  Lucy was in gymnastics camp, so I tried to plan fun seven-year old stuff for a budding scientist.  We were so busy we didn't even get to some of the plans.  Well, I'm sure we will eventually!

My thrice weekly water aerobics class at The Edge is not exactly science, but it was great fun now that Anthony is a fish, or at least swims like one.  Thanks to instructor Renee Allen for taking our photo!

On to Healthy Living where I try to try to follow my son's instructions and have a veggie juice cocktail several times a week.  Spinach, carrot and ginger - yum.

Both Anthony and Lucy are great eaters and fairly adventurous.  There's always something delicious and healthful to load their plates with and, yes, they eat it all.

On Monday we read a book about apes and played cards with Grandpa who had the day off, pasted pictures of birds onto a journal Anthony will use at Audubon bird camp next week and played with the dogs.

Tuesday we went to St. Johnsbury to visit the Fairbanks Museum of Natural Science, right downtown.  We listened to Stuart Little in the car which made for a very nice drive.

The museum was fascinating.  A huge collection of wild animals (beautiful taxidermy work) kept us busy, along with many other interactive exhibits and the planetarium with at look at the July night sky.  This little museum is a gem and, if you live in Vermont and have never visited, get going!  Besides the great exhibits, there was a lovely little shaded picnic area right out the back door.  We are definitely going back someday soon.

I decided not to take my camera along on several of our outings so I could just 'be' there, not snapping away all the time.  This is unlike me, as you know, but I do take some flak for always living through the lens.  The bird photo on the left is from the Museum Web page.

After "Bubble Class" at The Edge on Wednesday we took a trip to one of our favorite haunts, The Birds of Vermont Museum in Huntington.  Another hidden gem!  We said hello to Mr. Bob Spear, the founder and carver who's 92 and still working on new bird carvings every day.  Anthony made some notes of the birds he liked best that day, including the Cardinal and the Peregrine Falcon.  Raptors seem to be a favorite category at the moment.

Thursday brought at trip to The ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center in Burlington (how lucky are we to have so many great places to take kids around here?)  We love to watch the turtles, eels, frogs and fish, including one huge huge sturgeon Anthony and Lucy call "the King".  For kids who are so into animals and fish, it's a wonderful morning outing.  Buy a family pass and you can drop in any time, all year long.  Do I sound like a spokesperson?  Well, I think it's a bargain and kids love it!

Friday was a big day.  As you may have heard, Anthony broke his wrist about a month ago and has been sporting a neon green cast.  It came off Friday, replaced by a wrist brace.



This procedure worked out well as part of "Science Week".  All the adults connected with Anthony spend a lot of time answering more and more complex questions and the whole cast and broken bone scenario was a great topic.

The wedding of the decade...

Or any decade!  Our great friends Donna and Brad GoodHale got married at the beautiful Batcheller Mansion Inn in Saratoga, NY on June 10.  Donna is the best known photographer in Rutland, VT and Brad works for the Rutland Police Dept.  I the photo above are all their photographer friends and their families.  A who's who of some of out best friends from every New England state and as far away as Illinois.

There are 20 professional photographers in this image taken by Charlie Parker of Quechee, VT, who later added himself to the group.  Can you guess where he is?

It was a wonderful celebration.  We've known Donna since she was a 16 year old photographer, rarin' to go AND she was "never going to get married".  She met her Superhero, though and, well...  Two of her attendants, Lola and Lexie stole the show.

Biking on the waterfront

You've heard me rave about the gorgeous Burlington, Vermont waterfront and here I go again.  We have had the nicest weather in June.  A few big storms, some rain, of course, but also unusually cool days.  You know me, there's a reason I live in the North.  Yesterday was just about perfect.  Low 70°s, sunny with a breeze, so we decided to go bike riding with Anthony.  Grandpa Ed usually works on Friday so it was a rare treat.

Anthony is seven and interested in everything.  The docks, the ferries, the water, how far we thought he could swim, etc., etc.  After a ride and a snack at one of the beautiful shady spots, we biked past one of his all-time favorite haunts, the ECHO Lake Champlain Science Center.

It had been a few years since Ed was there so Anthony showed him all the cool stuff, lake sturgeons, eels, freshwater drums, turtles galore, whale fossils, frogs and the sea critters tank: sea stars, hermit and horse shoe crabs, urchins and what-not.  Lake Champlain was once part of the ocean, so there are lots of marine fossils around.

We had a blast.  Alas, Anthony broke his wrist later in the afternoon (we had nothing to do with it, I promise) so bike riding will be curtailed for a bit.  But I know our family pass to ECHO is going to get used a lot this summer.

Messing about in boats...

One of my favorite books - The Wind in the Willows.  Toad says dreamily, "messing, simply messing about in boats".  Otter creek makes me think of scenes in TWITW, so here are some dreamy, idealized images of Sunday afternoon with our friend Al.

Our first day out on the water this year - hope we'll have many more trips before winter!

That's Our Girl!

Okay, okay.  I know we're biased, but could a four-year old ballerina be any cuter???

Monday was the last day of Lucy's ballet class at The Vermont Ballet Theater School.  I've been taking her on most Mondays and the mothers (and one grandmother) usually wait outside the class, out of sight of distractable little divas.

But Monday was special, so we got to observe their progress and, surprise! ~ Mommy was able to leave work in time to join us.  That made Lucy so happy and made her performance even more dramatic.  She definitely has stage presence.

Thank so much to Miss Mel, who shepherds all those little personalities every week.  We'll see you in September.

Emmy's Birthday

 Our granddaughter Emily turned SIX last week!

I know that seems impossible, but here's proof.

Her party was at Zachary's Pizza and it was non-stop fun.  Mom Rachel made a gorgeous and delicious cake, her specialty.

It seems like grandparents Dan, Mary, Ed and I ate the pizza while the kids played arcade games and air hockey!

 But they all came back to the table for cake, though.  I'm sure you can imagine all the fun gifts Emily received from her friends and family.

LOTS of princess stuff, along with sports equipment - she's really one of those athletic princesses.  Grandpa Ed is building her a sandbox to play in at home.

Emily has always been a happy, active kid and enjoys school.  She's a good reader, always loves a board game, will play and draw inside or play outside with the dogs for hours.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EMMY!

Philly Cheese

We drove to Vermont on Tuesday, with a slight detour to Philadelphia.  My bother and nephew came along for the ride (and to see my Dad and Mother), but primarily, I think, to get a cheese steak at Pat's, home of the original.

We drove through Little Italy to Pat's on Passyunk Street (right across from the celebrity tribute wall - how many of these Philly guys do you remember?)

My nephew Richard told me you need to know what to order, no hemming anf hawing at the window or they'll send you to the back of the line, so I was ready and ordered a "whiz wit'", the favorite.

Delish, worth the stopover and boy, were Dick and Richard happy!  And I have to go on a serious diet.

Last day in Durham

We didn't do too much on Sunday, a couple of strolls around Barbara's neighborhood, sorting stuff, hanging a few things up in the condo.  I did get to wear my fab new hat.  It's called a San Diego hat and I found it in a little shop on 9th Street.  I know old ladies like it because they keep stopping me to say so.  And the important thing is, I like it and it does the trick ~ keeping the sun OFF!

Sunday evening we met my brother Dick's family and my Mother's cousin Paul and his wife Linda for some Eastern North Carolina barbecue at The Pit in Raleigh.  I learned something about this:  Eastern NC barbecue is made with vinegar based sauce and Western NC is made with a sweeter tomato based sauce.  Well, we were kind of in the middle of the state, but we chose Eastern "chopped pork barbecue".  I have to get out of the South.  I am sure I've gained five pounds down here!  These are some of the sides we had to choose from to go with the BBQ plates:  mashed potatoes & gravy, hush puppies, cheesy bacon grits, sweet potato fries, black-eyed peas, mac and cheese (considered a vegetable down here, my nephews tell me), fried okra, coleslaw, cabbage & collard greens, pumpkin skillet cornbread...believe me, I could go on.  I may not eat again until Monday night.  To tell the truth, I am getting tired of talking about food.  Southern food is so good, so decadent - I think they've won the war.

My family is so used to me rounding them up for photos, they barely protest anymore.  I've said before how much I love my little travel camera the Canon G11 ~ well, I don't love the crappy on-camera flash which we had to use in the restaurant, but there you go.  It wouldn't be tiny and portable with anything else.  We pressed a waiter into service to take this group shot:  Linda, Paul, Richard, Dick and me standing, then Ginny, Barbara and Henry in front.

On to Fredericksburg this morning.  Dick and Richard will be riding up to Vermont with me so they can see Dad in Virginia and Mother in VT, flying home later in the week.  Road trip, whoo-hoo!