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We’ve been singing Laurie Berkner’s Buzz Buzz at the top of our voices. And the bees in our yard are enjoying our flowering cherry tree so much the tree is constantly buzzing with activity. I’ve counted three, maybe four different kinds of bees!
The boy and his sister have been singing their own song, flower snow in the summer, while dancing under the petal breeze. There’s nothing like spring in Maine to remind you of the intricate beauty and mind-boggling enormity of creation.
Tags: flowers, great outdoors
Some pictures from our walks in the last week or so. I missed shooting the snow we had last Friday because I was driving through it. A bit annoying at this point after nearly two months of nothing. But spring is decidedly here and we have once again lucked out of mud season. (Last year we had plenty of snow but didn’t have much of a mud season because it just stayed cold until June I think.)
Tags: architecture, great outdoors
Let me first say that I am not a photographer. I wish I had more skills in this area but most of the time the photos I take are just point and shoot and hope that there are no little fingers or cat tails in the way.
But today I needed to take some serious photos. For a serious project. So, I gathered my gear and put my head together as best as I could.
The lighting—overcast sky—perfect.
The props and the equipment—steadfast and serviceable.
The assistant—essential. I don’t know why she picked that hat. Maybe she thought we were going out to photograph animals?
Now I’ll weed through 60-odd photos and hope I shot one that will serve the design well. A good original is worth far more than countless hours of photo-editing. Too bad there wasn’t budget to hire a professional photographer to obtain said original. So there will be some photo-editing involved. But hopefully with a little skill and a little luck we’ll end up with a solid finished project. As my old boss, Bob, used to say, “Even a blind squirrel can hit one in ten.”
It’s been nearly a year since Duke (ginger cream) and Lila (tuxedo) joined our family. It didn’t take all that long for them to seem content and even comfortable in our house but it’s taken quite a while for them to get lap cozy.
Here’s some cozy with Lila.
The girl in a rare slow moment with Duke.
Tags: animals
We haven’t had any new snow for quite a while. A few light dustings. Still the wind blows and animals leave their footprints.
A tiny maple leaf, skeletonized by time and weather. Could those be rabbit footprints?
Tags: animals, great outdoors, plants
Would you guess this is the drainage ditch that runs through the wooded lot behind our house? Looks pretty in the snow doesn’t it?
Nice, soft snow and just a bit sticky. We got about 10 inches Sunday night into Monday so it’s not like we really needed more today but it was pretty and fun. Yesterday I took the kids to the big hill in the woods but today we stayed closer to home. First things, the girl and I attempted a snowman. Grapes for eyes, a carrot nose and a green pepper smile. I wonder if some squirrel or bird will be enjoying a little frozen fruit and veggies soon.
Back inside we were sad to discover that ballet class was cancelled so we consoled ourselves by putting on American Ballet Theatre’s Swan Lake and making origami animals, including a swan of course.
Silliness broke out as I spun brown wool. The girl was giving me handfuls of wool as needed and then decided that I wasn’t moving fast enough for her. She started patting the handfuls of wool on top of her head! Now how do you like that ‘do?
When the boy got home we all decided to take a walk, waving to neighbors and kicking through several inches of new snow. Back at the house the boy went in to get the snow tube and I got the camera. The end of our driveway had a fairly good plow pile left from the last storm and Rich snowblowed even more on top last night making for a pretty good high spot to slide down from into the backyard.
And just a bit more silliness as we used up the last of the daylight.
Tags: dance, fiber, paper crafting, snow
A mushroom (or toadstool according to our neighbor E.), blue boots splashing in a puddle, one last zinnia of summer
leaves on the wet pavement, one last green leaf, fungus growing on a stump
looking down the lane into the old cemetery, a little friend getting fat
Tags: animals, flowers, great outdoors, plants
Nasturtiums planted by the boy, too red to be real.
Our own peapod clinging valiantly to a brave corn stalk.
Running for joy across the steps of the old meetinghouse.
One picket out of place.
Tags: color, flowers, great outdoors, plants
What to do when you get to the beach and it looks like this?
Climb over silky smooth driftwood, splunk through the river muck, carefully examine an empty horseshoe crab shell . . .
and make sandcastles!
Add a moat.
Notice that it looks kind of like a turtle and add feet and a tail.
While you’re digging in the sand, scoop out some river clay and shape a bird with a . . . ummmm . . . pancake to sit on the turtle’s head.
Call it a day and take the kids home to play in the sprinkler. Enjoy your summer!
Tags: animals, beach, great outdoors
We spent July 4th with part of my husband’s family. One of his cousins lives in a 200+ year old house that they saved from demolition and have restored in a gentle fashion. By that I mean they repaired a giant hole that ran through the roof and down through the floors to the basement, swept the leaves and animals out of the corners, etc. and generally took the entire house apart and put it back together, but left the marks of the years on floorboards, window frames, doorways, etc. in a lovely way. They opened up the house and grounds to extended family and friends for a feast, water fun for the kids and dogs, watching the town parade together and enjoying the gardens and the waterfall view.
The boy’s favorite part of the parade—Revolutionary War re-enactors gun salute.
The girl enjoyed the music thoroughly.
Cousin Heather, emcee of the fun!
Tags: architecture, flowers
Our busy weekend started with a trip with Nana and Granddad to the SEE Science Center in Manchester, NH. Housed in one of the historic mill buildings by the river, the hands-on science center includes two floors of hands-on displays and experiments in light, sound, movement, water pressure, AND the world’s largest permanent installation of LEGO bricks built at minifigure scale (55:1). The installation is a replica of a portion of the Amoskeag Mill complex including some of the important buildings of Manchester circa 1900. It includes numerous buildings, some 8000 minifigures, more than 3 million bricks, flowing water and running trains.
I expected the LEGO buildings to be the favorite of the boy who is quite a LEGO fan. He enjoyed most of the exhibits including a pulley lift chair and was particularly interested in a set of guitar strings installed in front of a giant striped wheel which allowed you to see the sound wave patterns, which unfortunately I could not capture with the camera. Use your imagination. (Seen the original Fantasia recently? No? Check it out!)
Me, I’ve always liked old buildings and these are quite beautiful, inside and out. The view of the old stairs are for Annie, the Mistress of Stairs. (Don’t know that about her? Ask!)
Tags: architecture, legos
We went out to camp last weekend for our church retreat. Most of the pictures I took this year were of people but here are a few outside shots. Classic purple irises have been blooming at the bottom of the lodge steps for years. This lodge window struck me with that same color combination I’ve been seeing lately, red trimmed window with a faded turquoise curtain behind, surrounded by the weathered wood. Nothing trendy here, more likely an accident out of the remnant bin!
It was rather a wet weekend but the kids enjoyed themselves immensely. And I think the adults had a pretty relaxing time too. It’s so nice to spend the weekend with friends and be able to let the kids roam around and do their own thing, now that mine are old enough to be (reasonably) trusted to stay together within the camp grounds and show up to ring the dinner bell.
Tags: flowers, great outdoors
This is the gunsmoke colorway in superwash merino/tencel blend I purchased from Spunky Eclectic. Manly don’t you think? (Sorry Rich, this is for my Daddy. I don’t think he reads my blog but I won’t say what I’ll knit out of this after I spin it.)
I’ve been working on improving my photography skills. Inside the house, morning light seems to work out the best. I draped the braid of wool roving over the kids’ rocking chair. This is a treasure given to us by a dear friend before she passed away, I suppose it’s an antique, she told us it was purchased from Sears Roebuck by her father-in-law for her children. I love it and so do the kids. I had no idea how pretty this photo would turn out. My best photos have always been taken outdoors.
Tags: fiber
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