Sunday, June 29 (NH)

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 things at Walmart, including yet another new sunscreen for Greta to try--she seems to have developed a sensitivity to sunscreen and keeps breaking out in hives.

When we got home, Andrew and Greta went into the loft of the barn and brought down a couple of player-piano rolls. We then visited the mysterious organ/piano, but we couldn't see a place to actually put in the rolls. We did a little googling and turned up some interesting facts. This is probably not actually a player piano but a pump organ. The maker is the Weaver Piano & Organ Company, and this organ dates back to 1901. We need to experiment a little more with it, but right now it does not seem to be functioning at all. It was hard to examine it too closely today because a giant wolf spider was crawling across the keys. We still have no idea how this organ ended up in our barn.

We got some good hammock time in later in the afternoon, and then ate dinner behind the house. Tonight's game night included Rummikub, personality Guess Who, and Chinese checkers. I'll miss these family games nights. 

This was the final day of our traditional NH stay; tomorrow, Andrew's sister's family arrives, so we have to pull ourselves together now and dial back some of the extreme eccentricities. It won't be easy.