Snowbirds Have Landed

Once again we are settling in at our winter quarters.  Like some Native Americans years ago, as Autumn turns cold and frosty, we've packed up our belongings, loaded the car to capacity and fled to a warmer place.

Each year the trip seems longer and more tiring, more traffic everywhere and our little Miss Lizzie sure dreads the long ride.  Mostly she dislikes the strangeness of the motels.  She seems quite content while we are at Cousin Janice & Phil's for our second night out. {Thank you Janice and Phil for your hospitality and the wonderful supper you always prepare for us.}

We arrived on Wed. at mid morning.  Home-away-from- Home.  After unloading and getting some tidying up and unpacking done, I took a break and went for a nice long swim in the pool.  Actually I just mostly 'noodle' around!  The water was SO warm... 85 degrees.  Warmer than the late afternoon air which was 80 degrees.  Then home to have some homemade soup brought along frozen in our cooler and nearly all thawed out.  Finally, early to bed for a good nights sleep and in the morning, a new day.

The warm sun and gentle breeze reminds us today that the trip wasn't so bad after all.  Friends from home email to say the first hard frost this fall came on the night of our departure.  Snowbird friends stop by to welcome us back and more are expected to arrive today.

Today is Sunday, just a week from the day we left VT.  After church today the Sunshine Village Fishermen put on a great Fish Fry for all to enjoy. It was really good!  So it seems we are off to a good start of another season with our Sunshine family.

Dennis has been busy getting the bushes and fruit trees trimmed and it looks really nice around here.  The grass has grown thicker and looks great.  He is doing the trimming now.  Our nice neighbor keeps the lawn mowed all summer for us in exchange for the use of our carport for his golf cart!    Den had trouble getting our golf cart/work cart going and had to take a trip to Leesburg yesterday to buy a new part for it.  Goes good now!

A few days before we left home, we were blessed with a beautiful addition to our family,  Great granddaughter, Selena Renae Richardson, born on Oct. 17th and weighing 8 lbs. 9 oz..  She came into the world, lustily voicing her thoughts about her new environment.  She arrived the day after my birthday. We are SO glad she made it before we left!  It was great to welcome her and see the happy faces of her Mom and Daddy and to snuggle her for a bit.  After her first loud comments on things, she was very serene and calm as she seemed to be looking around and sizing up all these new wonders.

'GG' and Selena Renae

Patrick, Lindsay and Selena

"A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, the bankroll smaller, a home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth looking forward to."

  Author unknown

Glad you came by to see what's up with us and hope you are all having a wonderful late fall.  Blessings to each or you.

Happy Happenings.

We sure have enjoyed wonderfully warm days, cool mornings and pretty foliage this autumn.  We seem to be a week or two ahead of other years as it is about peak color now.  Usually it is closer to Columbus Day.  After having plentiful rainfall this summer, we are now in need of rain.

From the back patio

As we count down the days until our annual migration to the warmer south, we delight in spending  a busy time with friends and family.  Met with class mates, mine for breakfast as we gather once a month and Den's for luncheon once a month.  Both well attended events and always a fun time.

Our 12th great grand baby, a girl is expected to arrive before we leave.  Sure hope we get to meet her before we have to go!

Last weekend I attended a church retreat with others from church at a lovely, quiet place in the hills of northern VT.  It was a peaceful and inspiring time at a beautiful spot.  I've had some really good times too with our daughter, Angel and her hubby, Paul now that they are once again living here in VT just across the meadow.  Angel and I have had some nice outings together.  On Wednesday she picked the apples at her place and we made 3 kettles full of applesauce and 4 pies.  A nice fun and productive day.

Angel and one of her apple pies.

Had a nice luncheon at church on Friday, the monthly Senior Luncheon with home made Chicken Pie and the fixings, made by Pastor George and Avis' apple pie for dessert. Yum!  We took a ride up to Darling Hill for our final trip there this fall.  Beautiful ride and a sweet time with friends for supper.  

Enjoyed a surprise visit from our Grandson and his family from the Northeast Kingdom this week too,  So glad to see them and stock up on hugs to last until Spring.

Our little Miss Lizzie kitty has to have a tooth extraction.  OUCH!  No insurance for that! OUCH again!  Thought maybe that new Obamacare might just cover that .. she IS our 'baby' and is under 26 and living at home, (she's only 9 ) But guess I'm dreaming, huh?  Oh well.

Saw lots of neat things at the Chester Fall Festival this year.  Someone is making these great warm mittens out of old woolen sweaters that have been felted (some by accident) or by intentionally putting them into the washer with very HOT water and agitating them for awhile.  Then these fibers shrink and make  nice tightly woven and really warm woolen mittens when you trace a pattern of your hand on the sweater, cut them out and sew them together.  The ones we saw were also lined with a thin fleece and the cuffs were from the sweater's wrist and bottom ribbing.  Now you know just what to do with your nice wool sweater that got tossed into the washer with all the other clothes and shrunk to child size!  I actually did make mittens without the linings, for my kids from a sweater I shrunk once years ago.  Now they are selling them for $27.00 a pair !  So it isn't a brand new idea, just a revived one made 'trendy'.  AND by people smarter than I was!  

I'm a bit weary this Saturday night.  After a whirlwind week, we went to the Weathersfield School today to attend the annual Antique and Unique Car Show.  It is a huge fund raiser for the 8th grade class' trip this coming June.  A roaring success and a good time to meet old friends and look over all the nice old and odd cars on display. Around 100 of them today.  So I think I'll just crash and turn my brain to 'off' for the evening.  Too tired to knit so the poncho I am working on will have to wait for another evening.   "Night all"!

"Commit whatever grieves thee
Into the gracious hands
Of Him who never leaves thee,
Who heaven and earth commands...     Paul Gerhardt

The Autumn Roundup

This weekend I accompained my husband on his annual trip to the hills above and beyond Proctorsville, a few miles north of home, where the Autumn Roundup is held every fall.  It is a rather unique event which focuses on antique tractors along with other old machinery.  It is pretty much a 'guy' thing but where there are guys there are usually their gals too!  We go along for the ride and enjoy each other's company, looking around and marveling at these old things.  Some participants set up shop and sell 'stuff' pertaining to motors, parts and a great variety of merchandise.

Trying to explain some of this old machinery is baffling to my female brain as I try to describe the sights there!  In 'guy talk' which I don't know if you gals will 'get', and without researching these things to get the proper terms etc, I'll just say that what I hear called "one lungers" are the old gasoline/kerosene powered motors that power up some really unusual equipment.

Handy Dandy Can Crusher

This was my favorite oddity.  The fellow has a kick start on this 'one lung' thingy that starts it running.  As it runs, its power turns this wheel.  It goes putt-putt-putt-putt-POW ( the POW being the firing that gives the push that makes the wheel keep up to speed).  Now, as this wheel goes around, the Boot lifts to the top of the shaft and comes down forcefully upon a soda can you want to crush and as you see, it flattens it real good.  Then the lady's shoe (on the right) comes zipping across and kicks the can off the block it rested on while getting squished, right off into a container !  All you do to operate this marvel is to give it a kick start and get 'er going.... quickly slip a can under the boot and keep those cans coming!! The original use for this power was to run an early 'automatic' washing machine they tell me.  (And I thought that the old wringer washer I started out with was old!)

I wandered around the field where all the things like this were displayed and being operated, marveling at man's early ingenuity.  The wood splitter run by this kind of power was really something to watch.  It split really big rounds, like tree trunk size as well as the smaller version which did a great job of further splitting the pieces to kitchen stove size.  The youngsters enjoyed splitting wood under close supervision.

The Woodsplitter

BUT the best was the ice cream churn, or should I say the wonderful tasting ice cream it produced!  Putt-putt-putt-putt-POW and while we waited it churned out some wonderful real maple flavored ice cream!! You could buy a cup for $2.00.  Also for sale were big pieces of homemade apple pie.

The Ice Cream Maker

Since my hubby had set up a table and had some other stuff there to sell, we took turns wandering around and minding the store. I sold a few jars of homemade relish.   He sold lots of old things he now has no use for and has unearthed as part of his 'cleaning out the barn' days.  Got the most comments on an old round flare that was used to warn folks away from a hole in the road back in the day.  Now we have those lovely bright red or green cones for the purpose and they never need filling with kerosene!  We had it lit and if there had been any mosquitoes in the area they would have gone to bother the next vendor.

A road sander/sawdust spreader on a trailer of its own that Dennis built 

We took this contraption to the Roundup behind the Gypsy Wagon in hopes of selling it to someone with a long driveway not maintained as a Town road.  Being on it's own wheels it doesn't occupy the back of the truck all winter or have to be taken out when you need to get another load of wood etc. The box on the front houses the battery that makes it run.  He didn't sell this but went back today (the Roundup goes for two days) with his dump trailer and did sell that.

It was a fun time and definitely different!  A cool and foggy morning there on the hill and it was pretty seeing the fog lift and the sun come out to warm the day.  Sort of a step back in time seeing how things used to be.  

Today after church, Angel and I went to Chester to check out the Festival there.  So many venders with lovely hand crafted things to sell.  The newest item was by the clever lady who made the warmest ever mittens using recycled sweaters lined with soft fleece!  LOVELY!   Also leg warmers.  Don't toss out those so called outdated sweaters !  After the Craft Festival we attended a barn warming.  Our friend Barb had the old ancestral barn which was in need of a make over all shored up and made to look so nice and now sturdy.  Wonderful party with lots of folks there to celebrate with her.  

A nice country weekend.  Hope your's was nice too.  

"The nicest place to be is in someone's thoughts

The safest place to be is in someone's prayers

And the very best place to be is in the hands of God"

Summer Is Packing Her Bags....Soon To Be Gone

It is blessedly cooler today!  The Cricket chorus is really loud this morning and I haven't heard the harvest fly's buzzzzzzzzzzz lately.  The little humming birds are still here for a bit yet ... usually they leave us around the 15th of Sept. for their winter in Central or South America.  I guess summer is ready to leave us.

I awoke this morning to the crowing of our local rooster ... he must have a name but we've yet to be intorduced.  He resides at the Pink House with the hens, a couple of goats, (BarBQ and Curry) and a few sheep.  Kathleen bought what we here in the VIllage have always known as "The Pink House".  It is a well known landmark and is used by all as a point of location, by everyone except the lady in your GPS!

Mr Rooster was a bit late with his wake up call today so I was a bit late hopping out of bed.  I knew it was to be a busy day too!  Last night, my good hubby, in charge of grinding and measuring, got me ready for zucchini relish making by filling my old crock with the fruits of his labors,  zucchini, onions, and red and green peppers.  These sit and brine overnight in a bit of salt and are waiting for me to drain, rinse and cook  into a really tasty relish in the morning.  This is our 2nd. batch.  The Zucchini are really popping out now!  Today's yield was 16 jars.  I sold a few jars on Sat. and some loaves of homemade bread at our little Farmer's/Artisans market on the Green. It was a slow selling day, probably because it was Labor Day weekend with so many fun things going on for folks to do.  The local apple orchard and petting zoo was having an open house party day with free hot dogs, a clown etc.  Pumpkins were ready and waiting for kids to select their favorite for soon to be Halloween Jack-O-Lanturn carving.

I finished my relish making and got a batch of spaghetti sauce simmering, then make a kettle of Sausage- Kale Soup.  This sure seems like Monday!  Oh, well, I didn't labor yesterday so the chores are waiting for me on Tuesday.  Laundry needs folding now.  Have a lovely week and don't forget to bid Summer a fond farewell.

A couple quotes:

'There is nothing better than a friend ..... unless it is a friend with Chocolate!' Charles Dickens

As a blossom can't tell what becomes of it's fragrance, we can't tell what becomes of our influence.
                                                                                                                         Unknown

A Whirlwind Week!

It's so great to have company!  Friends we met and spend the winter with in Florida made their first trip to New England in their motorhome with car in tow last week.  Jim and Gail are full time nomads, on the road in their lovely 'home on wheels'.  They parked in our special place for friends in RV's who wish to visit us.  What a good few days we had showing them around and doing some things new to them.

One day we went on a mystery ride, enjoying finding some of our covered bridges, stopping to look at the Queeche Gorge and watch the amazing glass blowers at the Simon Pierce store there in Queeche..  Lunch was fun at a quaint little diner and then some shopping at Gillingham's, an old fashioned country store in Woodstock that offers all the hard to find things of yesteryear.  Then on home for a quiet dinner at home and a nice little bonfire on the back patio listening to the crickets and other night noises along with the crackle of the fire and its welcome warmth on a beautiful cool night.

The Windsor/Cornish Bridge

This is the longest wooden bridge in the US and the longest 2 span covered bridge in the world.

One morning we took them kayaking, another first for them, at a very peaceful, remote pond and had a picnic on the small island there watching the geese and scaring up a few ducks as we left.  Back home again and after a bit of a rest, we took a walk in the woods along the river to the falls about a mile from our house.  Here we were met by our son in-law Paul who drove us on to check out the bald eagle's nest. No eagle siting today... he often soars high above the meadow across from our house hunting for small prey that might be scurrying through the grass there.  We have never seen him swoop down to catch anything but sure is nice to see him ride the wind currents.  He is a lot quieter than the airplanes that pull the gliders up and let them go to soar like the eagle!  All this exercise makes us really hungry so we go to the Black Rock Restaurant to savor great steaks served on a VERY hot rock ... 700 degrees hot they say, upon which we each can cook our meat to our favorite doneness.  Sooo yummy! This too was something not experienced before by our guests.

Looking for the eagles

Another day was spent just relaxing and enjoying this near perfect weather we have been so blessed with.  In the evening, the guys went off to an antique show in NH and we girls had a little night out going to the little Scottish Pub nearby for a unique supper of Cock a Leeky Pie and a fabulous dessert resembling peanut butter pie with whipped cream topping.

It was a wonderful time we shared and we are so glad they decided to check out our part of Vt.  It was a real bonus to have such warm, sunny,
 blue-sky days and such cool nights so good for sound sleeping.
We hope they find many more fun things to do as they travel through parts of NH and Maine and that they stop back by around Labor Day as they wend their way back to Indiana and Kentucky to visit with relatives before heading to Florida for the winter months.

Now it is all quiet around here and time to pick the garden and make some jam and get back to finishing up some of my UFO's  (un-finished- projects) .

Hope you all enjoy these wonderful end of summer days.  Remember that " Today is a gift, that is why it is called 'The Present' "

Perfect Summer Days

This has been a perfect summer day here in VT.  The sky is bluer than blue... the eagle is soaring over the field that son in-law, Paul keep mowed.  She can see the little critters better that way if any should be scurrying through the grass.  I would love to see her swoop way down for a better look !  We can see her white head at times and then she climbs higher and just rides the breeze that is so delightful today.  I saw her fly over our backyard where I hang out the sheets to dry.  I guess she follows the river as she scopes out the fields and meadows.  Her nest is high in the big pine tree about 2 miles from our house, just off the river bank.  Some say she had two little eaglets there this year.  A couple years ago we were kayaking in that area and as we rounded a bend in the river, there she sat on the shore watching for fish.  A beautiful sight to see as she took to the sky as soon as she saw us.

We had a lovely weekend with the weather cooperating as we attended a graduation party for our step granddaughter, Lindsey.  The 'Vermont version' as we already enjoyed the CT party at the end of June. Angel and Paul did a great job with the food and we all had a good time playing the Bean Bag Toss game on the back lawn.  Great granddaughter, Brie gathered enough Maple leaves to weave into a necklace, (remember how we used to do that on a lazy summer day?)  We called her our Maple Leaf Princess and she posed and pirouetted for us in her green finery.

Our little Maple Leaf Princess

I was excited to have a visit last week from my friend Madelyn.  We were the best of friends way back in the Little Room at the old Perkinsville School years ago.  ( We only had the two rooms there at the old schoolhouse, with the little room for the first 3 grades and the big room for the upper 3 grades. Then it was off to Springfield for 7th and 8th grade and High School.)  Madelyn brought a lovely old heirloom quilt to show me.  It was so well made many years ago by her mother's relative.  It was a version of the Sun Bonnet Sue pattern only these were pretty ladies.  The very tiny, tiny stitches in the applique work were amazing and all hand done.  She also brought me a couple really nice rainbow trout that her husband had caught at the lake and one that he had smoked.  They were delicious !  I baked the biggest one and froze the other one for a treat later. Thanks Bill !

I never got to finish this post the other day!  Now, three days later I have time to sit and write a bit and check out other blogs etc.  Summertime can get pretty busy!   I am finishing up lots of small projects this summer and as I read my friend Cyndy's blog today I had to chuckle as it seems she is doing the very same thing!  We both had a batch of Comfrey/Plantain Salve in the works and I have finished mine up, with a yield of 10 jars of wonderful, healing salve.  The infusion with oil takes 4-6 weeks and mine was ready the other day to strain and add some beeswax and essential oil and pour into the little jars and tins I save up for the project.  I am looking for a source of the little tins and jars and the lip balm cases but everywhere I look on line, the price of the shipping is more than the goods !   This is SO ridiculous!  Especially since the weight of a couple dozen little tins is really minimal.  I'll keep looking and maybe I will find them at a Co-Op somewhere and save my shipping money!

Another project finished, or nearly so, I still have to put the binding on, is a quilt I started a long time ago and just now got back from the lady who has a long arm quilting machine and did the quilting for me.  I have another smaller one to finish up and that I will put on the quilt frame and tie instead of quilting the layers together.  I want it to be softer and a bit fluffier which the ties will accomplish.

SO, today I have to make pies for the big sale the Historical Society calls the Frippery, a great time of browsing around looking at all kinds of really nice things folks donate to be sold with the proceeds going to the Society.  The pie sale is a favorite and there are lots of yummy pies to choose from.

Have a great day, it is a nice rainy day here.  A soft rain falling is just what we need and it is supposed to be a nice weekend.   Blessings to you all and thanks for coming over !

Are We In The Tropics ?

Wow!  Has it been HOT and steamy this July!  We can almost see the grass growing. I am trying not to complain as the perspiration drips into my eyes and my hair is pasted to my scalp. Just looking at the very green world here and all the flowers blooming and happy makes me bite my tongue!  BUT I am really not a fan of hot weather.  We manage to stay pretty comfortable here in our house if I remember to close up the windows and doors when the thermometer on the patio reaches 72.  Fans help too.

Getting a lot of drawer cleaning and paper sorting/ rearranging  done on the hottest afternoons. A nice swim in a friend's pool was really refreshing on Wednesday. Dennis has been REAL busy this first month of his retirement, sorting and cleaning and tossing 'stuff'.  He says he has worked harder than when he was working!  We have become addicted to Root Beer Floats too!  Not so good for us but sure yummy!

Last night I worked on the Ham Supper at church.  It was a 'flaming success' and by that I mean it was VERY hot for those in the kitchen and for those of us serving too.  But many came out to eat even though it was a hot night.  Sometime during the evening, it rained and a breeze came along and took away a lot of the humidity.  Today is just a really nice, sunny summer day with the fresher air and the scent of fresh cut hay wafting down our road.  The butterflies are flitting about and there seem to be lots of Swallow Tails around this year.  Someone posted a picture on FB earlier this week which I thought very fascinating.  I saved the picture but didn't manage to save the writeup so I will just post the picture for you to see.

"All the 26 letters of the English alphabet and the numbers, 0-9 are found in the wings of butterflies.  It took Kjell Sandved 24 years to take pictures of the letters and numbers on live butterflies.  He visited over 30 countries in the process. "

If this tweaks your curiosity, you can Google Kjell Sandved to see and read more about his work.  He has a book that has great reviews called The Butterfly Alphabet.

It has been a very busy July so far.  We managed to take another trip to the Northeast Kingdom a few weeks ago to attend the birthday party of my cousin, Mick.  It was a much better trip, weather wise, than the last time, Memorial Day weekend, the weekend with the SNOW away up there.  This time the day was bright and sunny and HOT but not so hot atop Barton Mt. where there was a lovely breeze. Their garden looks great and the potatoes are doing well. It was a great party with lots of relatives, great food (Thanks, Donna Mae) and lots of good visiting and reminiscences.  We also stopped to visit the Gr. Grand Babies in Lyndonville. Two delightful little girls. And while in the Kingdom, I got to have another lovely couple hours with my friend Janie.  It was a really full day and not an overnighter this time.  We made it home by dark and noticed that it was much more humid here in the valley.

The View from the deck, on Barton Mt.

We didn't do fireworks this year, had a bonfire and listened to the boomers from Angel and Paul's back yard.  A friend tells us how lovely they were from away up at the lookout near the top of Hawks Mountain.  That would have been a sight to see.

Kayaking seem to be on hold this summer.  But SOON I hope to get in a trip to Grafton Pond some early morning, to paddle on the still water and listen to the loons, have a picnic on the big rock and have a swim.  I hope you are all enjoying your summer.

A couple quotes:

May I today live more simply
          .....  like the bread
May I today see more clearly
          ...... like the water
May I today be more selfless
         ......like the Christ

An Old Russian Prayer

                                                                "Be true to yourself ,
                                                                 For he who Trims himself
                                                                 To suit everyone else
                                                                 Will soon whittle himself away!"
                                                                                            Raymond Hull