Wordless Wednesday

T Stands For Party on Bow Lake

Sunday, we travelled north to New Hampshire to attend my niece's graduation party. The party was at Himself's sister's lake house on Bow Lake. The day was predicted to be partly cloudy and cool. The weather dudes got the forecast wrong. The day was partly sunny and the temperatures not too cold or hot.

The newly minted graduate's diploma. Her degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance. Too many numbers for me. English major. You do the math. (-;

Festive decorations. Bunting and balloons.

We arrived a half an hour after the party invitation start-time and oddly enough, we were the first guests to arrive. Himself is having back issues and sciatica so after the 2 1/4 hour ride, he decided to sit and wait for the other guests to arrive. While he was waiting, my sister-in-law gave me a tour of the house and property.

We took a walk to the dock and the 

boat. After people had a chance to eat, drink, and visit, boat rides were offered. The boat holds 10 people.

Though you could swim off the dock, the water there was filled with weeds. The house is actually located on a little island. Around the other side, was a private beach for the residents. There were benches to sit and relax and to watch the young ones splash and swim in the water. At this time of the year, the water is still chilly at 50+ degrees, but that didn't stop the kids.

Looking out towards the wider end of the lake.

Someone had a memorial bench installed for their loved one, a veteran. Appropriately decorated for Memorial Day.

After walking back to the house, I was thirsty so helped myself to the drinks in the cooler. I had an Arnold Palmer, a combination of iced tea and lemonade.

I didn't get many pictures of the food. People were starting to look at me funny as I was snapping pictures of plates. Opposite, the grill was a set up for slow cookers filled with sausage and peppers, baked beans, and other hot dishes There were also some chicken wings plain, which I sampled, and hot and spicy which I did not sample.

I skipped snapping food pictures and captured some other images on an another walk with another sister-in-law. I was sad to see this flattened monarch butterfly. People were zipping around on golf carts or ATVs. and this poor creature was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Most of the homes are now year-round homes, and the gardens were in bloom. I was taken with these azaleas as I had never seen them in this color before. They were more orange which doesn't show up in the picture. I've only seen azaleas in pink or red.

We walked back to the dock where some guests had found a quiet and bug-free spot to enjoy their meal. The May flies were out enforce, but there was a breeze by the water and not many bugs.

Captain Niece expertly maneuvered the boat back to the dock. The Eldest had taken a ride. My sister-in-law decided she was going to take a boat ride. I declined.  It was quite breezy and choppy on the other side of the lake. I am sometimes prone to motion sickness. Even though I had brought my Seabands and essential oils for motion sickness, I decided with a 2-hour ride still ahead, I was good.

We had a lovely day. Good food, company, and surroundings.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Graduation Cap Card

My niece graduated from Bryant University on May 20. Of course, I needed a card that would also function as a gift holder. I found a petal envelope template at Mirkwood Designs The square shape reminded me of a mortarboard (graduation cap). A scrap of black Canson Mi Tientes, a button, and a tassel made from an embroidery floss skein complete the illusion

The petals interlock to seal the card. Open to reveal the sentiment. The square is 3 inches and just the right size to hold a folded, crisp, Ben Franklin.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

 I planted a morning glory at the base of the gazing globe. It seems to have taken.

 Nearly two inches of rain from Thursday and Friday. Glad this wasn't snow as we would be talking two feet.

The moonflowers and morning glories in Ink's garden survived the deluge.

The milkweed looks like it's thriving

The snowball bush looks more like an avalanche. It missed a pruning last Fall. The fern has become invasive though the Alpine bells don't seem to mind. Two very tall wishes for the taking.

How does your garden grow?

The Mystery of the Fallen Towers

The stone towers in the Zensical garden have fallen. Again. Whether due to wind or animals, there didn't seem to be an answer. Until Himself solved the mystery. While watching TV in the sun room, Himself saw a squirrel perch on top of the stone towers and then leaped off causing the stones to fall.

Maybe the squirrels didn't like the way I stacked the stones. Everyone is a critic.

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Played with new art supplies.

2. Late to the party, binge watched Game of Thrones. Just finished season 2. Five more seasons to go before the new season begins in July. C'mon HBO upload the rest of the series!

3. As part of a genealogy project, I was trying to remember an Italian nursery rhyme. I could only remember a word or two. After a lot of hunting, I found it online!

4. The lawn got mowed before another bout of rain. Though my beautiful dandelions and wishes are gone, the lawn no longer looks like a hayfield.

5. Didn't feel like cooking so I ordered Five Guys. Just needed that Little Bacon Cheeseburger lovin'

How was your week?

Throwback Thursday - The Notebooks

Ma's father, without a hat. Dad's father, tall gentleman
in the back.

To clear up some confusion, the Notebook passages posted on Throwback Thursday were written by my father and found by me after he passed away. They were his attempt to tell the family history. He was in his late 80s or early 90s when he wrote them. Today's chapter:

At this time The Depression was in and things began to get tough.

My father's factory shut down and he had to hustle and seek work, but the people who kept him busy did not buy custom made clothes on a regular basis as they were hit hard as well.

There were no more Saturday afternoons of card playing. His friends were lucky and kept working in other trades. In any event, he was hurt. They played at my Uncle Mike's house. He was married to my mother's sister.

Once my mother told him to forget the so called friends. He told her that what bothered him was that he just wanted them to invite him once. He would not accept because he couldn't afford to ante up to play. At least he would know that they cared about him. He then got chummy with the Arianese [ed: area in Italy], your mother's  people. Who had a reputation of being thick-headed.

In Europe at the time, they held to class. Royal, rich, middle class, and poor. Your grandparents were on the lower side of the Italian boot. Farm country. And not as well educated.

Italy is occupied by 22-23 different peoples. They were brought together by Garibaldi whose idea was to bring them under on person, The King.

They were able to come together and work together under a king. Yet, each national group maintained their own culture. And they seemed to have done well in their efforts, economic, industrial and performing arts. With an attitude of what you can do, I can do better. And they succeeded.

Wordless Wednesday

T Stands for Errand Day

Two weeks ago, Himself had the day off from school as it was finals week, and he didn't have a final exam scheduled. (If you're new to the blog or just forgot, Himself is a chemistry professor and teaches at a community college just outside of Boston)

One of his errands was to renew his driver's license and car registration. A trip to the Registry of Motor Vehicles is never fun. The state closed several offices so trying to find an office that is conveniently located, has adequate parking, and short lines and wait time can be difficult. Himself had heard that if one is a AAA (American Automobile Association) member, you can do license and registration renewal at AAA offices.

With the amount of running around to be done and the potential for waiting in lines, fortification was needed. As it turned out, the AAA office is close to Friendly's Family Restaurant and Ice Cream. During the week, Friendy's offers 50% off your entire breakfast. You can't go wrong with that.

Himself was a good sport and patiently waited while I photographe our breakfast.

 We both ordered the Big Two-Do breakfast. Two eggs (we had them scrambled), 2 strips of bacon (me), 2 sausage (Himself) and we both had the French Toast. I had a cup of tea and since Himself doesn't like tea or coffee, he had a Coke (beverage of champions). By the time we got moving and out of the house, breakfast was really brunch.

After breakfast, we walked over to the AAA office. No one else was there to renew a license or registration, so the whole process was very quick. Himself had been thinking that keeping AAA membership for emergency road service was a waste of money. Most car dealers offered emergency roadside assistance for free. Himself decided that not waiting in line at the Registry was worth the price of membership.

The view from the office . Glad we didn't have to be there at night as the area wouldn't be well lit.

After AAA, Himself had to go pick up his CPAP machine which had been repaired. He uses the CPAP when he sleeps because he has sleep apnea. The office wasn't too far away from the restaurant and AAA, but it was in a desolate office park. There were tiny signs to direct you to the building, The building was locked up tighter than Fort Knox. One had to wait to be buzzed in and then forced to sit in a drab, dinky waiting area. It was a very creepy place.

 On the return trip home, I asked if we could stop at Michael's craft store at the mall. I was looking for a small, portable cutting board to use for teaching workshops. I have two cutting boards, but both are big and bulky.

Wandering through the store, I saw the removable tape Reggie wants us to use in class. While at Staples I had purchased 3 rolls, so was happy to see Michael's also carried the tape as Michael's is closer

There were several cutting boards to choose from, and I spent a few minutes debating which to buy.

I finally decided on one that was a bit more expensive than I wanted to spend, but it also doubled as a scoring board, and I had a coupon for 40% off. The scoring tool stored in a slot on the side of the cutting board and the board folded in half which would take up less space in the tool bag. 

After Micheal's, we stopped at Great Clips to get our haircut. The salon is two miles from the house and in the new shopping area (grocery store, 5 Guys Hamburgers, Starbuck's, nail salon, bank, dentist office) The hair salon was offering a $5.99 haircut special.

After our busy morning, it was time to go home to a well-deserved nap.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

Knotwork Bookmarks

Saturday last was the final meeting for the calligraphy workshop at the Worcester Public Library. The class began with practicing letters before moving on to the make and take bookmark.

Greeting card from the week before.

Practice

More practice

And more practice

And more practice

The students made remarkable progress in such a short time.

The bookmark design was a simplified ring and ribbon knot designed by Mark van Stone and published in The Speedball Textbook. Each student worked on the same knot to get an idea how the knot was constructed.

When they finished the first bookmark, with the remaining time, they could work on constructing the knot as part of the letter.

I think everyone enjoyed the class. I know I did. If the students didn't learn anything else, they learned an appreciation for hand done work and how long it takes to create something whether it's a card, bookmark, knitting, crochet or other art/craft.