Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

The History of the World According to Cats

The Friday Five Good Things

Five good things that I hope happened this week while away in New Hampshire with my buddy, Teague

1. I hope ice cream was involved. Maybe even frozen custard!

2. I hope we got to do the dumb trail thing I came up with.

3. I hope we had good weather so we could

4. Go to the beach and/or the pool.

5. I hope it was nice at night to sit in our screened in porch and do what we do best. Talk and talk and talk...

How was your week?

Doodling for Stress Reduction

 

On Mondays via Zoom, I participate in a class where we spend  a half an hour doodling our stress away. I work on single sheets, and I thought I'd put them together to make a simple book.

I'm trying not to stress over the title page. 😸

Fun Things

 

I may or may not be doing these Fun Things to Do at Weirs Beach on New Hampshire's Lake Winnipesaukee!

T Stands for Congdon's After Dark

While on our trip in Ogunquit, Teague found information about places to eat. Congdon's After Dark was a food truck park located in Congdon's Donuts and Restaurant's parking lot. The event runs every night from 4- 8 pm June through August. Each night, there are different food trucks and live music.

We went later in the evening and had no trouble with parking or finding a picnic table. We ate there 3 times during the week. It would have been 4 but predicted thunderstorms never happened, but the event had been cancelled. I had an amazing hamburger the first night, chicken tenders which was more like a whole chicken, and pizza by the slice which was actually 1/4 of a large pizza.

One exciting thing, Congdon's had a donut stall set up. We've never been able to get into Congdon's for donuts or breakfast because the lines are out the door and half way down the Post Rd. in Wells, Maine.  

We hit is just right and there wasn't any wait. We each got a "Bavarian Cream", but it was really a Boston Cream as Bavarian Cream is coated with powdered sugar and not chocolate. Whatever it's called it was delicious!

Later in the week, I also got a lemon filled donut for our last breakfast before we headed for home.

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.

Monet and Me

 

Monet helped me pack for another runaway week with Teague. This time, we'll be in the wilds of New Hampshire.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

One, little watermelon disappeared. One little watermelon left.

A little pumpkin

I think there are 6 ears of corn!

Nasturtiums

A bee loving the sedum

How does your garden grow?

Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

Gelli Arts ® - 3 ways of printing with leaves by Birgit Koopsen

The Friday Five Good Things

 Five good things that happened this week.

1. We had a Skype date with the Young One.

2. In a box of art stuff in the basement, I found the Gelli Printing Plate

3.We celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary. We thought about taking a riverboat trip around Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg (Webster Lake). Rain was predicted.  I had to pick up a prescription so on the way home I stopped at the grocery story and picked up an eye roast, sweet potatoes, crescent rolls, and an ice cream cake. We stayed home, avoided the rain, hung out in the sunroom and watched old movies. I made a nice dinner, and we were content.

4.  Some new toys arrived

5. I gave the kitchen a makeover.

How was your week?

Throwback Thursday

 

When the dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was a computer programmer, Jolt was the elixir of the deadline. We guzzled gallons of this stuff to bang out thousands of lines of code.

Did you drink this stuff?

A Mindful Journal Prompt

 

From a recent journal prompt, to use your senses when journaling. A useful aid if you're stuck trying to decide what to journal about.

1. Taste: the salt water on your lips after swimming

2. Smell: breathe in the salt air mixed with the scent of French fries

3. Hear: the cries of the seagulls, the sound of the waves, and the chatter/screaming of the children playing on the beach.

4. Feel the chill of the water, the squish of the sand between your toes, the heat of the sun, and the light breeze

5.  See: the sailboat with the blue and white sail gliding along, the white foam of the waves, the hazy blue sky, the grey/green water of the ocean, the tiny white sailboat far in the distance.

T Stands for Seagulls at Ogunquit House of Pizza

Seagull with French fries

Seagull with a slice of pepperoni pizza

Seagull on a mountain of hamburger

For my beverage, I'm having an iced tea/lemonade mix (known as an Arnold Palmer named after the famous golfer) and Teague is having Moxie, the official soft drink of Maine. Teague's distant relative, John Chamberlin is the Moxie Boy logo.

It was wicked hot and humid outside, and we were grateful for the restaurant's air conditioning while waiting for our subs. Cold food was the order of the day. I was waiting for a roast beef sub, with mustard, lettuce, and tomato. I think Teague had a turkey sub. We were quite surprised when the food was delivered to our table.

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.

Monet and Me

 

We're loving the little dishwasher. There are 6 different modes. Heat, Normal, Speed (shorter time for lightly soiled dishes), Soft (for fragile items), Baby Care/Heavy (for baby bottles or really grimy dishes), Fruit.

We decided to play with the fruit cycle to wash apples. The container to hold the fruit in the dishwasher also doubles as a fruit bowl. Pretty cool.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Morning Glory growing wild and climbed right over the Zinnia

Wild things growing in the greenhouse. Pokeweed on the left and Jewelweed in back.

Pokeweed.

Calendula or field marigolds

Another watermelon! 

Cosmos

A hornet loves the Goldenrod

I thought this was a crumpled, brown, paper bag. It's a giant fungi

The garden looking tired and run down

The Nasturtiums are still going strong

A couple of grasshoppers

Someone better get out and harvest all the cherry tomatoes

Cucumbers as big as watermelons!

Zucchini? Some sort of squash didn't do well. Maybe the grasshoppers are to blame.

How does your garden grow?

Happy, Little, Time Waster

 

Drum Major Bill Barclay, Master of the Mace

The Friday Five Good Things

 

Five good things that happened this week.

1. Sunday was such beautiful day. It just begged to open the windows.

2. A visit to the chiropractor. Hopefully over time with all the twisting, pulling, poking, I'll be more limber. My goal is to be able to get up off the floor a little more gracefully and without a lot of grunting.

3. Play day with Teague. Too nice to stay inside. We had amazing turkey sandwiches at Outpost Farms. We went for a walk and then went to JJ's for awesome ice cream.

4. Since the Eldest had a dentist appointment and her dentist office is next to Five Guys, we had Five Guys hamburgers for dinner. I love it when a plan comes together

5. I got to the hair salon before the heavens opened up. The storm was done just as the stylist finished up.

How was your week?

Crabs on the Beach

While walking along Ogunquit Beach, I saw a crab

and another one

There seemed to be a whole lot of them. Were they washed up from the ocean or are these baby crabs hatching and making a run for the water?

It seems that Green Crabs from Europe are upsetting the eco-systems and wreaking havoc along the Maine Coast.

Kids were picking up the creatures and flinging them into the ocean as savage amusement. The parents were no better grabbing pails and buckets and scooping up the crabs. We couldn't help wonder, don't you need a license to fish/crab/clam? And more importantly, were these actual Green Crabs?

With all the commotion, the seagull had to march off in search of French fries instead of dining on succulent crab.

Salt and Pepper

Have you noticed when you go to restaurants, there's never any salt cellar on the table? Even fast food restaurants no longer salt French fries (chips). Somewhere, the Food Police has decided salt is very not good for you. No salt for you! If you want salt on your fries, you have to ask. 

Teague and I were surprised when we had dinner at the Bull and Claw in Ogunquit. Right there, on the table, salt and pepper shakers. No need to ask.

T Stands for Strawberry Banke Museum

On the way to Ogunquit, Teague and I stopped at the Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It's a collection of old house from the Puddle Dock neighborhood. From the website: "Today Strawbery Banke is unique among outdoor history museums, sharing change over time in the same waterfront neighborhood. The Museum interprets a long span of history, from the history of Indigenous peoples (artifacts dating back to 10,000-12,000 years ago), to the present day."

I thought the houses, one dating from 1695, were moved from their foundations and brought to this property. But this was a real neighborhood with all these old houses popping up as the neighborhood expanded.

For this T Day post various cups, tea, and coffee sets from some of the house.

Teacups and Blue Willow Ware in the Abbott House and corner store. The house was built in 1720, but the house is used to interpret life in 1943.

Listening to music while penning a letter to a sweetheart at the Front

The coffee pot is on

Relaxing with a cup of coffee and a copy of Life magazine.

A pewter coffee service at the William Pitt Tavern built in 1766. See what life was like in 1777

Listen to gossip or read what's happening while waiting for the Fly Stagecoach which traveled between Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Boston, Massachusetts, a mere 3 day journey.

The dining room in the Thomas Bailey Aldritch Memorial built in 1797 and shows what life was like in 1919

Thomas Bailey Aldritch was an author. His most famous work The Story of a Bad Boy. 

The house belonged to his grandfather, Thomas Bailey, and was the setting for Aldritch's novel.

"Upon his death, his widow Lilian purchased the Aldrich House and created a memorial to her husband. Each room was faithfully recreated using imagery from The Story of a Bad Boy. Thomas Bailey Aldrich House Museum opened in 1908, and Strawbery Banke restored Mrs. Aldrich's vision, which re-opened the house in the 1990s."

A curious addition to the dining room, a crossbow, arrow, and apples as an illustration of a scene from the novel:

"At the tenth representation, my dramatic career was brought to a close by an unfortunate circumstance. We were playing the drama of “William Tell, the Hero of Switzerland.” Of course I was William Tell, in spite of Fred Langdon, who wanted to act that character himself. I wouldn't let him, so he withdrew from the company, taking the only bow and arrow we had. I made a cross-bow out of a piece of whalebone, and did very well without him. We had reached that exciting scene where Gessler, the Austrian tyrant, commands Tell to shoot the apple from his son's head. Pepper Whitcomb, who played all the juvenile and women parts, was my son. To guard against mischance, a piece of pasteboard was fastened by a handkerchief over the upper portion of Whitcomb's face, while the arrow to be used was sewed up in a strip of flannel. I was a capital marksman, and the big apple, only two yards distant, turned its russet cheek fairly towards me.

I can see poor little Pepper now, as he stood without flinching, waiting for me to perform my great feat. I raised the crossbow amid the breathless silence of the crowded audience consisting of seven boys and three girls, exclusive of Kitty Collins, who insisted on paying her way in with a clothes-pin. I raised the cross-bow, I repeat. Twang! went the whipcord; but, alas! instead of hitting the apple, the arrow flew right into Pepper Whitcomb's mouth, which happened to be open at the time, and destroyed my aim.

I shall never be able to banish that awful moment from my memory. Pepper's roar, expressive of astonishment, indignation, and pain, is still ringing in my cars. I looked upon him as a corpse, and, glancing not far into the dreary future, pictured myself led forth to execution in the presence of the very same spectators then assembled.

Luckily poor Pepper was not seriously hurt; but Grandfather Nutter, appearing in the midst of the confusion (attracted by the howls of young Tell), issued an injunction against all theatricals thereafter, and the place was closed; not, however, without a farewell speech from me, in which I said that this would have been the proudest moment of my life if I hadn't hit Pepper Whitcomb in the mouth. Whereupon the audience (assisted, I am glad to state, by Pepper) cried “Hear! Hear!” I then attributed the accident to Pepper himself, whose mouth, being open at the instant I fired, acted upon the arrow much after the fashion of a whirlpool, and drew in the fatal shaft. I was about to explain how a comparatively small maelstrom could suck in the largest ship, when the curtain fell of its own accord, amid the shouts of the audience."

Built-in china storage in the dining room.

Someone scribed the initials, RB 

The garden at the Aldritch house

and the seated arbor looking towards the house from the street

If you are ever in Portsmouth, try to stop in at this unique museum. The docents are knowledgeable, friendly, and have wonderful anecdotes about the various houses. There are also reenactors, like the shopkeeper at the Corner Store who will happily chat about their business and what was happening at the time.

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.