Summer: Thursday 7-4-24

Happy Fourth! Kind of ironic that today is meant to celebrate the independence of our country from a monarchy, etc etc etc etc, but onward! The day started off with a sighting of two big parent-turkeys in our yard, along with EIGHT turkey babies. They were so cute, hopping and trying to fly. A wildlife win.

We went into Plainfield this morning for the annual festivities. Alas, there were no haunted dolls for sale this year, which was disappointing. However, at the rummage sale Lucia found a quiver of old arrows for $3, and there was a big metal box of old watches for $1 (Greta bought five, Lucia one); and across the street the girls found some great gnarled wooden walking sticks at an antiques store, where the owner chatted amiably with shoppers while a "side arm" hung brazenly at his side. (Never know when you'll need that!) So they definitely came away with some fun things.

The parade is always fun to watch, though the girls are now clearly teenagers so hardly anyone throws them any candy. (This is more sad for me than for them.) We had lunch at the firemen's barbeque tent, then headed home.

The girls immediately set about making bows from sticks and some old elastic they found in a closet, to use with the arrows. We spent a lot of time reading in hammocks (Lucia and Andrew had to do some geometry as well). The girls went to the pond, where they both floated/fell into the water and also threw pots of water onto each other on the dock. They sang songs from Frozen and Moana and sometimes put the pot on their heads. Andrew got in to swim as well. The snapping turtle lurked around, making many appearances.

While Andrew and I had a cocktail outside, the kids did some videoing of themselves at the bottom of the yard; at one point Greta ran up saying Lucia needed help because she'd stepped on thorn. Turns out it was a porcupine quill. (She was fine.) Then they collected a bunch of porcupine quills in a baggie. Why were there so many quills under the apple tree? It's a mystery. We may use them in resin crafts.

We had hot dogs for dinner. Then Lucia disappeared inside to edit the videos they'd made, eventually emerging with an amazing trailer for a movie--it is so cool. It involves drone footage and so much more. Inspired, we all began to brainstorm more videos they could make, landing on a few excellent ideas. 

One idea took shape and was put into action tonight. There's an old WWII nurse's uniform in a closet here, and Greta went inside and put it on. She then went into the hayloft of the barn (Andrew went up first to make sure she wouldn't fall through the floor) and looked hauntingly out the window, while we took pictures and videos. It was dusk, so all of this had an extra layer of creepiness. The girls plan to use this footage somehow tomorrow.

The girls and Andrew all ended up in the hayloft, Andrew excited about an old ping-pong table he found like the normal guy he is, the girls excited about posing for pictures with their haunted dolls (the ones they'd brought from home--Marigold and Audrey) because they've been permanently afflicted with my penchant for the macabre. 

We lost track of time and had to rush into the car to get to the fireworks, held every year in a nearby town. Except not this year! We got there and it was like the Rapture had happened--nary a car or person in sight, when usually we have to fight to find parking. We stood on a street corner, clearly Left Behind, while Andrew googled and found out the town had their fireworks yesterday. Why? We don't know. So no fireworks for us this year.

It was kind of an epic New Hampshire day, with the long spells of silent reading, the homemade bows and rummage-sale arrows, the videos, the nurse's uniform brought to life by Greta. Greta said the only way to describe what we do up here is "New Hampshire-ing," which seems like a good verb to use.

We're leaving in two days, and sad as that is, it's time to go. Two weeks is always the right amount of time; we're all looking a bit worse for wear, covered in bug bites and scratches. Greta has hives all over her back. I'm tired of shoving all our food in a cooler to keep it safe from mice. We all miss our luxurious bathrooms at home. Farrah is just done with every last piece of this place--the drone, the threat that Andrew is going to make her swim in the pond, the rustlings in the woods. She won't even sleep on our bed--she sleeps UNDER the bed until the sun rises. Only then does she hop up.

We have much to do in the next two days, some key activities to complete, not to mention all the filming the kids want to do. We'll make the most of every moment.

What We're Reading:

Margo: The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan

Andrew: Proust

Lucia: Finished A Court of Mist and Fury; started Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber (she is FURIOUS that she has to take a break from her current series, but she doesn't have the third book and finished the second this morning)

Greta: King of Scars by Leah Burdugo; also started and finished All Our Demise by Amanda Footy, which I forgot to note yesterday