June Equals Parades and Parties!

What a nice time we had at my 55th Class reunion weekend!  Our float was finished on time, thanks to all the people who came and helped to make it so good.  It won a banner for First Place, Humorous!!
The parade was a 2 1/2 to 3 mile trek from the south side of town to the Jr. high school on the north side.  About 22 of the 'Young at Heart' class of '58 walked along with the float and the bandwagon on which a classmate played his trombone ( a GREEN one, just special for the occasion, as we are so proudly the Green and White).  Having such nice music to dance along with was a real blast.  And we did dance part of the way!  We were all dressed in our cardboard boxes, depicting building blocks.  The theme of the parade was TOYS and we dubbed our float "The Block Party".  I guess the judges found us humorous in our 'blocks' just a-jumping and dancing around like youngsters!  Some classmates rode on the float and in the truck that pulled it.  Raggedy Ann was there, on the float.   What a nice day it was too for a parade, after a whole week of rainy days.  It was a really good parade too with many fine floats involving much creativity and a lot of work!

The three posters on the back show three of our best floats from other years

A bunch of Blocks

Fifty Five Years Later

by Dottie Ann Richardson

Guys in white sport coats and pink carnations,

(Remember the song?)

Or in white bucks and a pink shirt,

A comb in his pocket ... that wave to tame.

Ah ... remember Vitalis?

Starched crinoline petticoats, the girls wore,

With bouncy ponytails swishing,

Its the way we were;

Things of the 50's, in times of yore.

Fond memories remain

Of the magical times of our youth and prime.

For some, the years have been kind,

For some, life's highways rough,

Dreams illusive and peace hard to find.

We think often of the dear ones

Who have gone on before us;

You are never forgotten,

We'll pause to mention your names

And speak of you with kindness.

Through it all, special bonds we've forged,

This awesome class of '58.

We've grown close with the passing years,

We've shared our joys, our sorrows and tears.

Has it really been 55 years in all,

Since leaving those sheltered halls

Of our beloved SHS ?

Time sure flies, I guess!

Yet, here we are ... Still young at heart:

Together again, gathered from near and far,

To celebrate, to remember, to laugh and to love!

Bless us, this class of '58, Oh Lord above.

After the parade and a bit of a rest at home, we were off to the Class Banquet.  It was a great meal in a great place, decorated so beautifully by more hard working classmates.  We enjoyed our time to visit and catch up with those coming from afar.  We had as our guest  music teacher, Jon Nicholson who had so many of us in his class and in the band etc.  He came with his instrument and played for us the school song which he had written the words to more than 55 years ago!  This is still the school song today.

What pretty decorations!!

Mr. Nicholson

The Morning After Breakfast was equally fine, held at the Fullerton Inn and hosted by our classmate, Diana who couldn't be with us as she was called away to a medical emergency involving her son.  We were all so saddened by this and we're praying for a speedy and complete recovery for him.  We  all thank you Diana for your generosity.

SO having survived the alumni weekend, we move on to the rest of the busy month of June!  Sunday, being Father's day, our daughter and son in-law took Dad out for dinner  (and Mom too)!  That was a lovely treat.   Monday was appointment day and today some housework must be done!  Getting ready for a trip to CT this Friday to attend the graduation of granddaughter, Lindsey.  Such happy happenings!

Today the thermometer on the patio reads 80 degrees and I can hear some swimmers above the dam in the river below the backyard.  By the sounds, that water is mighty cool still!  I need to get into my garden before the weeds take over completely so maybe I will do just that now.  

Thanks for stopping by and checking out All Things Homespun!  Comments always welcome !

Keeping Busy

Oh my,  "the hurrier I go the behinder I get!!"  Somewhere I've heard this very true saying.  It seems like I am just hurrying along so fast this Spring!  Lots of stuff going on in May and now June events have my calendar days filling up fast!
This week is alumni weekend and for a couple months, plans have been forming for a great celebration for our class of '58.  The float is now the most pressing project.  We work on it once a week and this week, two work sessions are scheduled. The parade theme this year is TOYS and we are doing a "Block Party" using building blocks, big ones, and toys from our era, to decorate our float.  We've also built individual blocks big enough to wear (held up by suspenders) as we march along in front of the float.  It is coming along nicely and will be ready for the Saturday morning parade.  Can it really be our 55th class reunion??  Many classmates are planning to attend the Parade, the Banquet and a Breakfast which is being hosted by a very wonderful lady classmate, Diane, at the Fullerton Inn in Chester on Sunday morning.

Spring has truly come here in our valley.  With the nice rains we've had, everything is a lovely lush green and the flowers are all blooming. The veggie garden has been planted and things are up reaching for the sun. It sure is a wonderful place to be.

A Bouquet from my gardens

We made plans for a trip to the Northeast Kingdom for the Memorial Day weekend.  The weatherman was promising nice weather while we were in the planning stage.  We had three stops to make and needed to be sure we could coordinate our visits to convenient times for the folks we wanted to see.  The weatherman was way off in his predictions!!  It was rainy and cold but since plans were in place, we went anyway.  We took the Gypsy Wagon and planned it to be our first camping trip of the season. Things weren't too bad as we reached Lyndonville and enjoyed a morning and lunch with our grandson and wife and the adorable little gr. granddaughters.  We left in the late afternoon to go on north to Barton where we were to stay with cousin Mick and DonnaMae for the night.  No let up in the rain and  the further north we went the thicker that rain became!  We decided to take Rt. 5 instead of staying on the Interstate which gets really high up.  Good thing.... it was soon no longer thick rain but SNOW!!  Now who wants snow the last few days of MAY?   Mick's driveway was pretty muddy with all the rain and nice and greasy with the new snow on top of the mud.  (He lives on TOP of Barton Mt.)  But the little Gypsy Wagon did a good job and got us up there just fine.  By now the wind was howling as well and about and inch of wet snow had fallen.  We got all set up anyway and went inside for a nice visit and yummy supper and a good game of Double King Pead...an old Vermont card game.  Finally at bed time we trudged out to turn on the heater which warms the place up in a jiffy and get ready for a good night's sleep.  Something about listening to the wind on top of a mountain and the splatter of the thick rain lulls you right to sleep as you cuddle beneath the comforter and a warm quilt.

Sunday morning dawned with a heavy gray sky but no more snow.  Still a drizzle of rain.  I like mornings in the Gypsy Wagon as I get first my coffee and a bit later my breakfast served to me in bed. It is sort of a necessity as only one person can do good things in the tiny kitchen at once!

Enjoying breakfast in bed!

                Yes, that is a winter toque atop my head!  But I did get a good sleep and nice breakfast

I had made arrangements to meet my friend from many years ago on Sunday.  For many years I didn't know where she lived and last winter, heard she was back in Vt somewhere in the north.  As it turned out, she lives just a couple miles from where we spent the night on the mountain!  Isn't that amazing??
We found her house and we spent several hours catching up and reminiscing and having a great time. Dennis left us to our chatter and made coffee, read his book and took a nap in the Gypsy Wagon.  We were pretty well visited out and decided to come on home to our valley instead of making our other call which wasn't an appointed one anyway.  By now the rain had ceased and as we came south, stopped for a light supper at the exit 17 P & H truck stop, a really great place to get homemade soup and mile high lemon pie!  So our weekend ended and Miss Lizzie was pretty glad to see us home again.

Catching up and reminiscing 

I've been making a few jars of rhubarb/apricot/pineapple jam since we have lots of rhubarb.  This and the tomato spice jam are my favorites.   Rhubarb crunch is a great dessert too.  Quite like apple crisp.  The comfrey is abundant as were the dandelions this year so I have made dandelion salve and am drying the comfrey and plantain for salve making later.  

At the end of June, Dennis will be retiring and the Fix-It Shop will close.  It seems to be time.  He won't be just lazing around, can you imagine that!!  He will keep busy as it is his nature to do that.  Hopefully we will get in some good kayaking too.  And we have a few little trips and places to see that we haven't made it to yet.  Son in-law, Paul will retire the same day and it will be so nice to have them back home in their house here in VT.  He too will be busy and have a new business, tax preparation, with an office at home.  So many changes.  Someone once said, " The only permanence we know is change."   How true.  Change can be good and we hope it will be good for all of us.

Quote for the day:      

The grand essentials of happiness are:  Something to do, Something to love, and Something to hope for.       

WOW! It's Been a Long TIme

WOW!!  It's been a looooooooooong time since I've written in my blog!  We are back in good ole' VT and I think, I hope it is really Spring at last.  It appears to be.... the grass is really green and the forsythia is blooming along with the tulips and daffies. The geese are here, flying over the house a-honking, calling me  a lazy, slug-a-bed at 6:30 every morning.  I hear the robins singing as I cuddle down in the warm quilt to just wake up slowly and smell the really fresh air coming in the window left open just a bit even though the thermometer announces 32 degrees and there is ice on the bird bath. The really nice thing about Spring in VT is that by noontime it is sunny and that thermometer gets up to 70.
Today is a lovely blue-sky day with just a few wispy clouds.  We have the patio all cleaned off after the winter snow, the grill all uncovered and ready for service, the chairs all out and I am sitting at the table with my laptop FINALLY blogging again! 
It's been a busy four weeks since returning home.  Lots of unpacking and putting away, tax papers all gathered and sorted and given to my best-ever son in-law who does our taxes for us. Catch up time with Angel and friends and some spring cleaning..... yes, while the mood strikes I have been doing some of this.  Cleaning out some cupboards and closets, I have a few bags and boxes in the attic to take to the next rummage sale.
This is the beginning of a new era in our lives as my hubby has decided, with a lot of persuading and urging from his family, to really retire at the end of June this year.  We will take in the Fix-It Shop sign and get a new phone number.  Now that he has accepted his decision I think he is really looking forward to it.  The good Lord willing, we hope to take a few small trips here and there this summer with the little Gypsy Wagon, visiting friends and relatives and some places of interest we have never taken the time to see.
As we think back over the years, since 1970 when we first started the Fix-It Shop, we remember some funny things that happened.  One story that we never fail to laugh about is the time I went out chimney cleaning with Dennis.  We did a couple of jobs and the last one for the day was on the other side of Springfield.  It was a bit of a difficult chimney and after getting it cleaned, Dennis hollered down the chimney from atop the roof to me.  I was in the basement by the clean out door.  I wasn't sure just what he said so I leaned down close to the opening where the old soot and yuck lay waiting to be shoveled out to ask him what he said.  He thought I was confirming that I was to close the clean out door.  He then dropped a brick to see and listen to it fall, letting him know he had successfully removed a pocket of stubborn soot.  Of course I HADN'T closed the door and the brick fell pretty quickly and quietly down the clean chimney landing in a thump in that pile of soot.  That soot exploded into a great cloud just in front of my face!  Too late I slammed the little door.  He came down to empty the soot from the clean out and got a great laugh when, in the dim cellar lighting all he could see was a pair of eyes looking out of a black face.  I didn't think this was at all funny. Especially since soot is NOT easily brushed off or not washed off with just a splash of water from our water bottles.  SO  I had to ware my black face home, back up through town where there were people who could look into the truck and see this black faced lady out for a nice ride.  This was the very last time I went along chimney cleaning!!  The chimney cleaning business was sold a few years ago but was only one facet of the Fix-It Shop.
Sitting here looking over the back yard, I can see where I will be working this week.  Maybe if I get an early start, I can stay ahead of the weeds in the flower beds this year.  Some things need to be cut back too.  My little circular garden is becoming a big circular garden!  I haven't even thought about the veggie garden too much yet.  Need to get some good seeds but no sense in  planting until all these frosty mornings are past.  I have been looking at the seed catalog though.  While we were on a little ride earlier this afternoon, we stopped at a year-round farm stand and saw fiddle heads for sale there.  I didn't think they were ready yet.  So I will go looking for some after supper tonight.  I haven't had my dandelion greens yet either.  Spring just mustn't pass into summer without enjoying a few meals of these.

 Forsythia

 Blue-sky day in the backyard

So for today I leave you with wishes for a great spring and a couple of quotes to ponder. 

"The Joy of Living comes from a heart of Thanksgiving!"

"Until God opens the next door, praise Him in the hallway!"     found at God Vine on Facebook

Countdown and Commentary

Well it is now only 9 days until we migrate back to the hills of Vermont!  I told Miss Lizzie this morning that it was nearly time for the long ride.  She looked at me as if to say "Thanks for chatting with me", completely oblivious to what I was really saying.  I'm sure had she understood, she would have made a beeline for under the bed!  I only hope she has stored somewhere in her little brain, a memory of a trip that although not too pleasant, ended in a nice place that, I hope she will think of as her home away from home.  I wish I could make her understand that we are going back home where she will once again have her beloved scratching log, waiting right there on the front porch.  She sure didn't like the one her daddy fixed up for her here!  Guess she and I both feel the same way about those old Oak trees for she would have absolutely nothing to do with it.  Yet at home she digs, hugs and rubs her face on her old maple log.
Been on the go again.  Went to Dade City, a sweet little town south of here the other day with three friends just to browse around in the neat little shops and of course go out to lunch.  Great lunch at a place called Poncho Villa's, a quaint little Mexican Restaurant in a little town I had never been to before,  San Antonio.  The girls I rode with are travelers and as I sat in the back seat, I thought the conversation was about a nice Mexican food place in Texas!  Just thought the two in the front seat had stopped there on their cross country travels and were sharing experiences!  Turns out one of the girls lived in San Antonio FL as a child and had found this restaurant on a recent reminiscent visit.  Glad she did as it was really good.
Yesterday was a whole day of entertaining myself.  Den went off to help a friend who has purchased a 'fixer-upper' house on a street just down the road from Sunshine village.  He and his buddy Charlie, who are good carpenters, have been working on the place off and on for awhile and it is getting about ready for occupancy.  SO  I decided to paint the day away.  A nice really cool morning, so I didn't feel caged up or anything... just glad to have the whole day with no particular chores and no meals to fix. (Supper was all set... a potpourri of left-overs).  Now I have two new paintings to hang on either side of my living room sofa and out the window with those old ones that have given me sore eyes every time I looked at them!  They were just dark and gloomy and I needed to lighten up things a bit. It is framed in a larger frame with a white mat.

Egret By The Lake

The other day we took a trip to visit our daughter in-law and grandkids.  They have a pretty little pond just outside their back door and across the yard.  A friendly Sandhill Crane, they have named Fred, comes right up to the back patio and if no bread crumbs or cracked corn has been thrown out for him, will come up and look right in the back door!  He isn't one bit shy or afraid of his 'people'.  He was kind enough to pose for me to take some pictures of him.  I told him he'd be famous once I posted them here on my blog.  Should paint his picture when I get home.  We had a nice lunch which Joanne made for us of Lasagna Roll-ups and salad and Italian bread.. Yum!  And best ever Chocolate Chip Cookies!

"Fred"

After visiting here we went to Apopka which was sort of on the way back home.  There we had a nice visit with Den's niece and family, enjoyed chatting with our grand niece Amanda (aka Hazel West), budding young author of some great books with a Scottish orientation, and being entertained by the boys, Sam and Ramsey, ordered in for supper and then made our way back to Sunshine Village just at dark.  Were glad the time change provided a bit more daylight. 

Today I read in the local newspaper, (this probably was on the TV news as well but seems we never get to watch the news here) That Scientists say they have now found the "GOD PARTICLE'!

That is the 'molasses' or 'glue' that holds all things together.  They say it is some particle, smaller than atoms which explains why matter has mass! Wow! And THIS is what holds all things together???

Brilliant scientist that I am...NOT... I could have solved their problem of what holds all things together if they had been so swift as to just have asked me!!  You see, I have it right from GOD!  In His Word,

He tells us (Colossians 1:13-17) that it was by his dear Son, Jesus Christ, that all things were created, here on earth and in heaven. and (v.17) THAT BY HIM ALL THINGS CONSIST.  It was once explained to me that in this context the word CONSIST in the Greek or Hebrew meant "HELD TOGETHER".  Now, a little Bible study could have answered this many billion dollar question and saved the 10 billion dollars spent on that huge Hadron Collider constructed in Geneva Switzerland to smash up atoms with surges of energy !  So all this money later they have found this so called Higgs boson (named after the 'finder', Peter Higgs of Britain in 1964).  Very good...NOW where do they look to see WHERE THIS BOSON CAME FROM??? 

God must be chuckling from on high!  This fine theory seems a bit hole-y to me!  As for the BIG BANG theory, they are probably right about one thing... the sound!  If our GOD set in motion the thunder which can be pretty awesome and loud at times, I can just imagine, or I just CAN'T imagine the decibels involved as He created the worlds!!  Oh well.  Physics is way over my head but the main thing is that Jesus is in my HEART!!

Thought for the day:    "A life without God is like an unsharpened pencil,
                                      A life without God has no point.     unknown

A Better Connection

I have been having a hassle with my cell phone service provider lately.  I just am so fascinated with all things technological!  Email, on-line purchasing, information at my finger tips without having to travel to the library, keeping in touch with friends far and wide right from a cozy perch in front of my computer, and doing it all NOW!  Not weeks from now as in the old ways of earlier days.

BUT... when technology fails... I freak out!! Liking these new toys, I thought to upgrade my simple, (I call him 'No Nonsense'), cell phone to one just a tad 'smarter'... not too smart... like the iphone of my dreams which I can't , being so frugal, bring myself to justify owning.

Well, my new cell phone (I call him 'Little Smarty'), a multi- tasker, doesn't want to work using the towers of communication that faithful, plod along No Nonsense uses.  SO it seeks out a tower that caters to the smart crowd among cell phones, one that is more advanced and uses Smarty technology.  However, there must not be such a magic tower around here close enough to accommodate the new Little Smarty. So I have called India or the Philippians or some exotic place of outsourced jobs to request the transfer of  all my minutes and service back to 'No Nonsense'.  I spent 30 minutes one day and 60 another day and last night 80 more precious minutes trying to make the poor little rejected one come back to life!!  No success YET in resuscitating him   The nice lady last night was from the Philippians and she got my service and minutes, plus ninety extra ones, 'for my inconvenience', transferred.  BUT, it seems that 'No Nonsense is miffed for being jilted for the newer flashy model and he now refuses to make or accept a call even with all his minutes and service in tact!!  I have apologized to 'No Nonsense'  for casting him aside so maybe today he'll forgive me and let me make a call!!  Each time I try to make a call the nice "Verizon lady" wants to know if I'd like to make a collect call or use my credit card !  So this morning we have to  call again and see if we can get rid of the "Verizon lady". More minutes, i.e / $$$.

Through all this frustration a couple good things have come about, one being the 300 minutes added to my hubby's phone, which is what I use to communicate with these folks in exotic places.  The other is my affirmation that I need to keep open, every minute, my connection to the one tower, my Tower of Strength, my Lord, with whom there is always an open connection line IF I would just slow down and call upon HIM! Today's little message in the Daily Guideposts that we read everyday even seemed to be written just for me today.  Without this connection I'm sure to blunder around in frustration.  How much more important my connection be kept open to Him than to worry too much about a cell phone connection!!

Well, it is now afternoon and the nice lady from afar has finally punched the right buttons and VOILA! I now can use my little 'No Nonsense' once again!!  Maybe he forgave me after all!   So I will now continue to use the phone as a phone, my camera as a camera, and my computer for all the other things the little smarty was supposed to do.

Thought you might like to see a picture or two from Sunshine Village.
I apologize for the size of the picture at the top of my blog.  I haven't figured out how to shrink it down to a more normal size!  More techie stuff to mess with!!  It is a picture I painted yesterday as we were under a tornado watch here and as the wind and rain whipped around, the weather setting a mood to match my frustration!  It is called, Blowin' In The Wind'.

All decked out for St. Patty's Day

Some of the goodies for intermission as we gather to listen to a 'Jam' session as the local musicians come to treat us all to great music.

I am now going to do some old fashioned, low tech stuff like ironing a few shirts and making some jello for supper.

The Thought For The Day:

Lift up your eyes, despairing one,
The Lord your help will be...
You have a friend in heaven who cheers,
And calms the troubled sea.           Anonymous

Of Parties and Pollen

I think it is really Spring here!  The live oaks are now getting their new leaves and shedding the old ones.  Along with this comes the POLLEN!  The only thing I am allergic to is live oak!  I get those itchy eyes that drive me crazy!  These beautiful breezy days with temperatures in the low 80's are so nice and I just don't like to stay inside!  So  I itch and itch some more!  Eye drops help, but not much.  The pool is so nice these days and I still go for my swim around 3 PM.  I manage to control all this a bit by coming inside and sloshing out my eyes with cold water often.
Today was especially nice as cousin Natalie and hubby Jerry had a party at their place to celebrate four birthdays.  We had a nice luncheon with birthday cake and key lime pie for dessert, YUM!  Nat's sister and brother, their spouses and her nephew along with our high school friend and her hubby, Dennis and I had a great time visiting and eating and catching up on each others 'doings'.  Here's a picture of our gathering.

 

Tomorrow we party again!  A nice lady is throwing a party... with great food of course, for the carpenters who built her new screen porch and their wives are included.  With all this good eating, we will have to roll home if we don't really practice that portion control!!

This week we have had house guests, Natalie's sister and hubby.  Janice's kitty stayed with Natalie but as we have a guest room, we had the honor of housing the people!  Her kitty and our Miss Lizzie are both 'only children' and don't like to play nice with each other so it is a better plan to keep them at separate houses.  Samantha settled in nicely at Natalie's so that was good. They will be leaving for home on Monday and it will be pretty quiet around here then.  It is always nice to have company. 

 I thought that it was time to upgrade my phone so I bought one a bit 'smarter' than my old one.  It does have some nice features, like a real keyboard to use when texting, which I do very little of but sure like when I do!  It is a touch screen phone but not a real genius like the iphone, which I have on my wish list!  (BUT I am to frugal to pay all the fees necessary to run the thing!)  SO now my so called smarter phone doesn't get as good a signal as the old simple one!   Sometimes I am ready to just toss all the 'techie' stuff which has such temperamental moods and go back to the good old days, you remember, just crank up 'Central' and when you hear "Number Please" just give the nice lady the number of your party and BINGO! she connects you right up. BUT I sure love email!  Snail mail took way too long to get an answer! Guess I have one foot in the old days and the other in this crazy present.

It is count down time now.....only 30 more days and we will head back to the hills.  The time sure went 

fast this year.  I hope to have more interesting things to write about when I have time to just be quiet for a bit and do some thinking and pulling up some good memories to share.  I'm thinking of the garden already and  getting my annual sip of sap from the old maples and looking for the crocuses to peek their heads above the melting snow. Maybe there will be some snow left,  just enough to go on a short snow shoe hike.

Miss Lizzie is telling me to quit and come to bed so I guess I'd better do just that.  Goodnight moon!!

It's Warming Up Again

I am enjoying a lovely overcast day here.  We have had many very cool morning lately with the thermometer reading in the high 30's when we get up.  These were a bit nippy but by noontime we were into the 70's and that was just right.  Last night was warmer and we are at 74 as I write this. I am sitting on our porch/FL room sofa watching the birds at the feeder and the birdbath.  I still marvel at the big cardinal who so enjoys taking a splashy bath!
The respiratory crud has been making itself know for a couple of weeks around Sunshine Village.  Many folks affected so all social activities were cancelled for a week to try to contain it from more spreading.  It seems to have helped as no more cases this week. Thankfully we haven't caught it yet!  We are now back to enjoying our gatherings.
It is good to have cousin Natalie around again.  They will be here until the first part of March.  We have been going to the flea markets each week and we are busy studying for our American Sign Language classes.  We even went to Bingo this week at the Hall. We don't usually do that but thought we'd give it a try. We had a good time and I actually won a game!  We like the ice cream bars at intermission!!
Another fun thing is going into the village here for a great spaghetti dinner the first Thurs. of each month at the Methodist church.  They really do a wonderful job with the spaghetti and nice salad.  Then your choice of many homemade desserts.
I have been doing some knitting during our 'cold spell'.  Made a couple more of the boa scarves so popular now and am knitting myself a 'fun fur' hat to take back for those cold days we always get in April at home.  The craft classes are still going on but I have already made the Pot Luck Place Mats that will be taught this week. I taught the class last year.

Place mat  with napkin in left pocket and silverware in right pocket

All rolled up for carrying 

Well, It is another day!   I got called away while writing and am now back at it!  It reminds me of Spring at home today.  The little birds are singing and there is the smell of Spring in the air.  A great day for drying the clothes on the line with this nice breeze. Always the scents and sounds of spring bring back good memories of the days when growing up, and on a break from school, my friend Janie and I would plan a little jaunt back into the woods to spend the day.  She being a great girl scout and me just a follower in awe of learning all this survival and self efficiency stuff.  We'd stop at the general store first to get some meat..pork chops or burger then raid Mrs. P's pantry for some potatoes and maybe some carrots and onions.  Then with all in the backpack off we'd go.  The snow had melted a lot by late March or early April when we had our Easter break from school.  So we usually didn't need any snowshoes to cross the pastures.  We'd head up toward the mountain following a stream that was flowing full as it carried the new melted snow along on it's way down to the valley and the river. It wasn't far from home so we weren't long getting to a great spot where the brook split for a ways leaving a nice island there in the middle.  It was this neat place where we decided to build a lean-to and make 'camp'.  Of course we had a nice little hatchet along to hew down some small pines or some big branches from a big one.  With these and some rope we fashioned a cool lean-to.  The pine smelled so good, and provided a nice little shelter from the still chilly wind.  Next we had to fashion a fireplace on which to cook our lunch.  I think we did the fire pit first so we could roast our potatoes when it burned down a bit.  The firewood was pretty green but we managed somehow to get it going pretty good.  We spent the whole day up there building and cooking and eating.  I can still smell the fire and hear it snap and pop as we added more dead pine to it to keep it blazing.  We forgot to haul along something to sit on in our cozy cave of branches so we just cut some more for a fine settee!  Good memories.  I wonder where Janie is today?  Over the years we have lost track of one another.  I assume she is somewhere in northern Vermont, probably living the simple life with no phone or even a cell phone, back in the hills where time sort of stands still.  Sometimes when my computer doesn't respond properly or I am having trouble understanding the new cell phone, I long to just go there... get some chickens to feed...buy a couple of goats to milk, can the TV and LIVE!!!  Maybe snowshoe out into the woods and cook supper on an open fire... just for fun! 

You have a great day.... don't do to much technical stuff and stop to smell the spring or the roses or woodsmoke or feel the rain on your face or better yet let some snowflakes melt on your tongue!!