Summer, 2013

 So, does this look like a place a family of 6 could call home?  Well, they did and they traveled back and forth to Belfast with me on a regular basis.  I opened the trunk (after many years) to get an insulated bag for Bob and there was a mouse sitting there looking at me.  And it went from there.  I'm going to drive the car again tomorrow equipped with multiple mouse traps to make sure it doesn't happen again.

 Bob and I took off in early June and went out to Cincinnati for a a family visit with Kathleen, Mag, and Kate and her family.  While there Bob made a new friend and gave him some helpful advice on drawing birds

Kathleen also made a new friend and they discussed the finer points of the book he was reading with music playing in the background.

It was a wonderful visit and it was great to spend time with everyone out there.  Hopefully we'll be able to get out there again soon.

This is the new addition to the house.  If you look closely you can see Joe DiMaggio at bat.

 And this is Joe from a distance. Depending on the time of day and the lighting you can see more or less of the obituary.

 For the 4th we went to the Brooks parade which was larger than I expected and a lot of fun to watch.

 Pizzas for a party we went to later in July.

 And our favorite Saturday activity, going to the Brooks Farmers Market.

 Remember the pictures of the cows along my walking route from last year?  This is Carrie and she's the woman responsible for them.  She and her sister run the farm down the street from us and we get our meat from them.

2 of Carrie's girls

And this is Bob and in the background Val talking to a customer.  Val and Mark are the vegetable farmers where we get what we didn't grow in the back yard.

All in all, a great summer.  Though the weather has been kind of strange, the gardens have loved it and we have so much frozen for winter already we had to start up the freezer in the Bob house to hold it all.  And tomatoes are just starting to come in.  Hopefully, if we're lucky we won't have to buy any tomato sauce or diced tomatoes this winter.

Finally we purchased 2 watercolors (one framed and Bob is making a frame for the other) of illustrations that a friend of ours did for a cookbook.  Susan Tobey White doesn't usually do watercolors so it's fun to have them and when they get their permanent home in the kitchen area (kind of where they are now, but re-arranged when they are both framed) they will show up better and add a lot to the kitchen.

And look what Bob just brought in from the garden!

The Malcolm G.

 It was another incredible day at the boathouse down at the Belfast docks.  And today was the launching of the Malcolm G. , The new Cornish Pilot Gig that was built for the Come Boating community boating program.  And it is beautiful.

 Here's a view of the boat before launch

 This is Malcolm G., for whom the boat is named.  He started the community rowing program.

 These are the other 2 boats that are used in the rowing program.  There are 2 branches to the rowing, competitive and casual.  Bob is thinking about doing the casual, I'm not even considering either. Kayaking will be fine for me. They row either early in the morning or early evening and you sign up or show up.  No assigned crews.  The competitive group is completely different and travel up and down the East Coast to participate in races.  Belfast has an excellent team and has been winning quite a few lately.

And they're off with Malcolm in one end of the boat and his wife in the other.  The people rowing the maiden voyage are the people who volunteered the most and did the most to make it all possible.

It was a great day to be out and watch.  Kind of my favorite way of participating in most sporting activities.

10" of snow in March.

The sun is out and we have about 8-10 inches of new snow.

As the day goes on it will start to melt and by this weekend most of it should be gone.

It's been a long time since the last post, mainly because Google blogs wouldn't let me post any pictures and what's the point of the blog without pictures to document it?  So, let's see what you've missed.

 Asparagus pizza partially cooked waiting to be finished when you arrive for dinner:)  And it was really good.  Too bad you weren't here.

 A new arrangement in the living room and if you look closely and zoom in on the chest you can see our Christmas gift from everyone.  We love the picture of the 4 boys.

 The really big storm this winter, as opposed to all the other storms we've had.

 New glasses.

Teddy Christmas

 The little Italian baker (?) and his biscottis

A new friend in the yard.

Apparently Google is letting me post pictures again so we're off and running for another year.

Curling ends this weekend and I'll try to get some pictures of the Belfast Curling Club and some curling games before they melt the ice for the summer.