School days, school days, good old golden rule days!

I just got back from seeing the kids off on their first day back to school. There was much excitement in the neighborhood as Moms and grandmothers were out in force with their cameras. The kids seemed ready to go back to see all of their other friends that they haven't seen all summer. My son mentioned to me that summer went awfully fast this year but with all of the rain we had in June and July summer didn't really start until about the second week in August.

I remember always standing Son on the front steps of our little ranch house on his first day back to school. Hair slicked back, new sneakers and clothes. Didn't have backpacks back then but had tin lunch boxes with the latest superhero on the top. Seems like those days went awfully fast and now I am seeing my grandchildren off to school each fall and they are growing up WAY TOO FAST for my liking!

Yesterday after the early service Hubs and I headed to the coast. This time we went to Acadia National Park as we hadn't been there all summer. The popovers at The Jordan Pond House were calling my name all the way down! Also the raspberry lemonade and baked scallops. Yum, it was sure good. Wish I could make popovers that big and soft.

Blogger is being horrible and won't let me download any more pictures so will try to do them later. Also still can't move them around like I could for the past two years. Sigh......

Just called the farm animal rescue place that's about an hour from here and asked them if they would like to have 125 bales of hay. We got too much last fall and of course not having Buddy our biggest eater we have a lot left over. Could sell it but would much rather give it to a good cause. These people work their fingers to the bone trying to keep this farm animal rescue going. This may be their last year as she said they have sold everything they can to buy food for the animals including their truck. They will borrow their daughters truck to come here to get the hay. Times are hard here in Maine. We will probably be the last to see the economy improve and some people are just hanging on by a thread. I admire these people that give so much of themselves to care for the unwanted.

I gave Mom and perm this morning. The house smells like a salon! lol! I have all the windows open as there is a nice breeze blowing through. There is a hint of fall in the air. I have put up some of my fall decorations and will post pictures when I'm done. Is anyone else still having problems with pictures on Blogger? I may have to switch to Typepad or some other venue. Whine....whine....whine.....

What happened to my waistline and other calamities.

Well Hurricane Bill left his mark on the western part of Maine. As the report stated, telephone poles snapped like toothpicks and one barn literally blew apart. It must have been one of the really old, old barns that litter our landscape here. I say litter in the nicest sense, I love all the old barns, weathered and worn, they have so much character and have many stories to tell.

When we were kids we loved to walk across the field to my Grandfather's barn, sneaking in to jump in the hay. Some of the hay was not baled and made for just a wonderful afternoon of jumping and swinging from the old rope. Grampie didn't like us jumping in the hay, I suppose it beat it down and wasn't so good for the cows so when we heard him coming we hid in one of the many nooks and crannies there but I digress.........

Here in central Maine we got just a bit of wind and some rain. Not as heavy as they had predicted and no thunder storms to speak of. I think I heard one rumble of thunder and that was it. My sister on the other hand was camping at the lake with her family in western Maine. The campground owner came around telling everyone to batten down the hatches as it could get rough. Having gone through one of those storms last year they decided to pack up and head for home!

Today we headed to the coast as it wasn't really a lake day. Son and DIL taught Children's Church so we left after the early service. There were 11 of us convoying down together. Of course we went to our favorite seafood restaurant The Lobster Pound where you never, ever, get a bad meal. It's not fancy but it's right on the water and the food is to die for. This was son's appetizer, HUGE cocktail shrimp, now doesn't that make your mouth water?

I had a cup of lobster stew and seafood newburg with tossed salad. It was sooooooooooo good! Jo-Lynne, am I making your hungry???????

After we finished eating I took T, K and D out on the beach to look around. The tide was in so there wasn't much beach but we saw a dog that really took our eye. The thing was HUGE! The pictures I took really don't show just how tall she is and the owner said she will be about 150 lbs. when fully grown! Her name is Luna. Notice the lovely Porta Potties in the background........ahem.......we really wanted to see that dog to go by those.......

We were standing very near to a couple that had a blanket on what little beach there was. They were very pleasant but I just couldn't keep my eyes off his hair.....ahhhh.....toupee. It was one of those things that you really don't want to be rude and keep looking but the wind was blowing kind of hard and I just was sure that baby was coming off! He must have had it glued down well as it did stay on although it lifted up on the sides and you could see his bare scalp. Again, I don't mean to be unkind but it was just hysterical and I am glad I was the only one who noticed, the kids were more interested in the dog.

Anywho, to make matters worse one of the kids accidentally stepped on his radio antennae bending it in two so you know when you try to bend it back it will break off. Oh my, Mr. Rug was not happy. I apologized profusely and offered to pay for the radio which was one of those small ones you can pick up at Wally World for $19.95 but he refused. He still was fuming though so I went over to his wife who was down by the water and explained what happened and again offered to pay for a new one but she was much more gracious and said no, it wasn't a big deal. Soooooooooo we boogied out of there FAST!

More next time. I'm all worn out from moving pictures inch by inch.........just let me get my hands on Blogger!!!!

It's heating up in the north country!

It's another sweltering day here in the northeast. We hit 91* yesterday and should hit 88* today. There are more clouds today not the clear blue sky but the heat is here. The horses are sweating just standing in the barn with the overhead fans on. I can't imagine making them work on days like this. I hose them off and that helps cool them down for a time and I'm sure it feels good to them getting all the sweaty salt off them. There was a show this weekend and I can't imagine being out in that heat all day working in a dusty ring. I was glad I was at the lake! :o)

I have been on a cleaning binge. My upstairs has had an almost complete overhaul. I still have two closets to do in the guest rooms but almost everything else has been done. I have sold, given away and thrown out. Why do we accumulate 'stuff'!? I bought a new bedroom set for one guest room with a queen size bed as it just had a double and my company always grumbles a bit! ha! The salesman told me that he could sell me what they call a 'mother in law' mattress to put on the new bed. Lumpy so that the MIL doesn't visit too long. I thought that was rather mean, but to some people maybe needed. :o)

I don't have a MIL, she passed away about 15 years ago. I still miss her every day. We had a wonderful relationship and I feel badly that she didn't get to see my SIL's triplets and all of the great grandchilden in the family now. She had a lovely voice and sang in a trio and choir at our church for years along with teaching Sunday School and working in Awana. I'm so glad that we will all see her again someday in heaven.

Took some more pictures of my flowers this morning. All of this hot weather has spurred the growth of the flowers and the veggie plants. The veggies don't really have time to catch up but we will get a few things.

I have several varieties of hydrangea and they are starting to really bloom.
This one isn't quite out completely but is very fragrant.

These two are in the front of the house and the first ones are out back.
Another shot of my brown eyed Susan's, they have just taken off!
My poor marigolds didn't do much with all the rain we had.

These are called Turtle Back. They kind of look like a miniature Ladies Slipper.

The Stargazer Lilies are just spectacular this year!

Need to head out and do some errands. I may swing by the flower nursery, you know, just to look..........

Fun at the lake!

It's been the nicest weekend of the summer. Of course we went to the lake to enjoy all the fun things that we do there. Blogger is not getting along with me and I tried cutting and pasting to no avail so here are the pictures in no particular order.

This is me and Miss T heading out in the boat. I love Miss T's hair in braids and of course I have the windblown look with the hair standing on end! :o)

This is my sister Jill, doesn't she look like a younger version of me?

Here goes my niece Ashley and D on the tube!

Ashley had to sit on her knees the whole time! Mine would have just fallen off after two minutes.

My nephew and his wife out for a canoe ride.

Here is Funsize on the skis!

She got right up with ease.



Ashley diving off the dock!

Miss T running down the dock to dive off the end.


Ker-splash!

Ashley and my nephew Billy skiing double.




Ashley and T on the tube.

Ashley and D on the tube.

Miss T in the tube.


Funsize in the boat.



We had just a fabulous time at the lake. Besides all the hot dogs, hamburgers, and all the fixings my sister made dough boys for us in the afternoon! Yum! We scarfed those down in no time at all!! :o)

How blessed I feel to be able to get together with family and friends at the lake and have such a good time. Memories made for sure!

Blogger, please behave yourself again........

Is anyone else still having trouble putting their pictures where they want them? Don't you usually just go to the arrow on the side and place them? Mine still won't do that so I tried to work around it but it took me twice as long and I'm fuming again at Blogger. Sigh......I know it's not earth shattering but it is annoying. There, I feel better. Amen.


Miss Pea over at Pea's Corner is having a fun give away this week! You will see spots before your eyes when you go check it out but it's worth the visit!! Thanks Miss Pea for such a fun Give Away and I will expect to win of course!! :o)




Thank you to my two friends KC over at Mindless Chatter of a Busy Mom and Tina at Palm Tree Fanatic for this award! This award really sums up what I try to accomplish in this world of blogging and I thank them for it!!

This award is for anyone who likes to smile and/or laugh, and just generally spreads that along in this blogging world we all travel in.

I love taking pictures of my four boys all together. Little Bud has been on his weight loss program for about 8 weeks and has lost a little over 100 pounds! With all the exercise and the reduction in calories by being out in the pasture just six hours per day instead of 12 the weight has dropped off and the muscle tone has increased. My vet and farrier want him to lose another 50 and I'm sure that will be a little slower coming off but we will continue to work at it. (Oh BTW he does get a handful of grain and a big flake hay for supper, I'm not depriving him!)

We had just a lovely weekend. The weather was warm, not humid but sunny with puffy clouds. Sunday we went to the early service and then headed to the coast with the grand kids, FIL, SIL and nephews. I never tire of the drive down to our favorite restaurant and beach and have been going down there since I started boarding school in 1965. Actually it was before that as my two older sisters went to boarding school before me so we made the trek quite often.

Grampy helping D with his lobster. Miss T opted for a more traditional child's meal, grilled cheese and fries.


It's going to be hot and humid today so I guess I'd better get out and do the bushhogging that I want to get done. Doesn't that just sound like a blast??!! :o)

Fridays Flowers

It's another beautiful sunny day here in north country. I decided I'd better get out and get some pictures of my summer flowers as they are predicting temps down in the 40's at night so I think fall will be coming soon. Blogger is still being a stinker and not letting me put my pictures where I want them so I am taking Mary's advice and putting in my writing as I go along.

This is bee balm and it really does call the bees and butterflies.




Purple bee balm.

Laitris.

Red bee balm.

This is in front of my house, it's just a mass of color and fragrance right now.

This is flox one of my favorites as it smells sooooooooo good! I have pink, purple and red.

These are petunias in my front urns. They sure have taken a beating this summer from all the heavy rain.

This is cleome. These came up on their own from last year.

Cone flowers, again these came up on their own. I have TONS of them!

A hollyhock, the only one that came up from last year.

Brown eyed Susan's.


White cleome.

A blossom on one of my pumpkin plants. I don't think they will have time to produce any pumpkins this year. :o(


Another beautiful coneflower.

We are planning a trip to Dallas next month on business. We are going to go a few days early so that we can see some of the sights and play tourist with the cameras and all. I can just imagine all of the bloggy fodder to be had there!!

I'm wondering what the temps are going to be in September. Hot? Really hot? Scorching hot? We are trying to set up something at a working ranch to go riding while we are there so I imagine we should go early in the morning before the temps get high. We did that a couple of times in Arizona and went very early in the morning and that worked well. I'd like to chase a cow but I doubt that will happen! I'd probably end up in the dust!

Guess that's it for now. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!