Skipping Town

A work day. But afterward I got in some hammock time. The kids played in the pond for a while.  In the afternoon, Andrew's sister and family arrived, so we're onto the next part of our NH stay now. We got Pizza Chef pizzas for dinner. I had a very late work webinar, but everyone else sat outside by the fire. I am still waiting to hear the sounds of an organ coming from the barn.   What We're Reading Margo: Expensive People by Joyce Carol Oates Andrew: Proust Lucia: Fable by Adrienne Young Greta: finished Murder on Mustang Beach by Alicia Bessette; started Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer

This morning, Andrew and the girls went on Andrew's long run, a hilly 6.5 mile trek that Andrew does every year. Andrew was excited to share the run with them, and they held their own. Lucia, of course, complained that she had to keep stopping to wait for everyone else.  While they were on their run, I made a batch of jam with the strawberries we picked. This is the only place I ever make jam, and it's just the worst place for a messy project like this, yet I continue to do this project every couple of years. I made nine jars. It's delicious. I should really get a canner to keep at home, too, and do some canning with farmer's market finds. But as with all things we do here, there seems to be no time to do them at home. Time stretches here. After lunch, we went to Books-A-Million and Newbury Comics so the kids could redeem a couple of punchcards. They each picked out a Funko and a Unicorno at Newbury Comics, and books at Books-A-Million.  Then we picked up a couple of th...

We did our annual Mount Ascutney hike this morning. It was so cool and cloudy it was like hiking into a cloud. When we climbed to the top of the fire tower at the peak, we couldn't see anything at all--a first. It was still great to be in the woods, despite the lack of view.  After our hike, we drove into Windsor and stopped at a pond we've been wanting to check out. We'd heard it's full of snapping turtles. Unfortunately, we didn't see any while we were there. Then we went to Frazer's for lunch. We all got burgers, and then maple creamees. This restaurant closes down for the entire week of July 4, so this was most likely our last visit. We stopped at the grocery store for a few things on the way home, and I got my canning supplies. Tomorrow I'll make some strawberry jam. The rest of the day was spent mostly reading in hammocks, the best kind of day. Andrew grilled steak for dinner and we ate outside behind the house. Then the girls and I played two rounds o...

A workday for me and Andrew. It was cloudy and cool, and the girls spent almost the entire day reading in their room. Glorious. Lucia also worked on making a Snapfish photo book of her trip to Spain. When I was done working, I, too, read for a long time. I also took a walk. The girls and Andrew all went for a run. Andrew grilled chicken and made a Greek salad for dinner, and then we played two rounds of Rummikub. This was a very quiet, restful day. The best kind of NH day when the real world just seems very far away. What We're Reading Margo: Sunrise on the Reaping Andrew: now it's Proust time Lucia: Star Bringer Greta: finished Don't Tell a Soul by Kirsten Miller; started and finished The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe; started Smile Beach Murder by Alicia Bessette

It was a cool, rainy day today, a nice relief after all the hot days. I had today off work but had to have one meeting this morning. After that, we went strawberry picking, which we hadn't been able to do last year. As usual, we picked far too many berries, and I'm going to make some jam this weekend, which I haven't done in a while.  After lunch, it rained, and the kids went out on the dock for a little while. Then the three of us played a few rounds of Rummikub before settling in with our books. At some point I took Farrah for a walk and spotted two red efts. Once Andrew finished working, he made steak mock frites for dinner, one of our top favorite NH meals. We didn't let our lack of an actual oven stop us from making the delicious mock frites; we just had to make several batches in our toaster oven. After dinner, we all played Rummikub and then a bunch of rounds of the "personality" version of Guess Who (Is your person really into community theater? Does y...

I started off the day reading in my hammock while the kids slept in. Is there anything more relaxing? There is not. Greta joined me when she woke up. Unfortnately, as she began making her way down the slight rise that leads to our hammock area, she saw a snake. It slithered out of her path, but did not slither away entirely. Greta said it was small. To my surprise, neither of us freaked out and ran inside. Instead, we coexisted with the snake while we read. Lucia eventually joined us as well. We did not tell her about the snake. Later in the afternoon, the girls and I went to Books-A-Million since they each had a punchcard to turn in. I bought Greta two bargain books and Lucia one non-bargain book, and a bargain book for myself.  The temperature seemed to double by the time we got home, so the girls went into the pond and I sat in a chair BY the pond. They played on the dock, their usual splashy game, and there was no sign of the snapping turtle. Once Andrew was done working, we sa...