Lots of Faces for Friday

    Hi everyone. Happy last day of July. Today I am joining Nicole over at Friday Face Off and also Gillena over at Friday Lunch Break.  

   Last weekend we had a big family reunion with my husband's family from his Dad's side. All except 2 of the cousins came. The furthest came from California; there were a couple from Long Island (New York), one from Connecticut, his sister and nieces from Maine, us from New Hampshire and everyone else up from Massachusetts. I'm not sure what the final count of people was, but  someone said 38 people because of course almost everyone brought significant others and many people brought not only their kids but also some grand-kids came too.

  This plan started  two years ago my husband's uncle passed away, and at the funeral everyone decided it was too bad the only time we saw people was when someone died. Plus, when you reach a certain age you realize that things can happen and change  life way too fast, so it was the time to do this. 

  These are assorted photos that people shared. I only took a couple of these myself.  AND I know you don't know these folk, but you can get the gist of the party. 😉 Plus there's tons of faces here too!

    Someone tossed a left over shrimp into the pond next to the dock just to see if all the sunfish would go after it. And you can see they did.

   Plus we had to take a big family photo. 

   And ha ha, after all the cousins took their various photo combinations, we took a photo of "Those who were stupid enough to marry into the family."  Ha ha ha ha. They also told me I had to take my sunglasses off, which I think  makes me look weird because I'm used to seeing myself with glasses.

   . There was too much good food, lots of laughs, hugs and plans for another reunion in 2 more years.

  I hope everyone has a great Friday and start to your weekend. Plus just a quick note, I have a friend visiting from North Carolina today so I may NOT get around to visit blogs as quickly as I like. Please bear with me if it takes a bit for me to visit yours. 

T Stands for A Walk and a Lobster Roll

    Hi everyone. Happy new week to you. And hello to everyone who stops by Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog for T day. 

   So what's new with me? Last week I was trying to rest my sprained shoulder/rotator cuff. It's in my dominant arm which is not making it very easy for me to do. But I am trying. 😟  I am also trying to get into physical therapy, but places seem to take forever to get an appointment.  One place booked me in for me in for August 24, and now I’m waiting to hear if a different place can get me in sooner.

   Since we had some perfect summer weather (not too hot, not too cold), I would have loved to do some gardening, but that would have required both arms. Instead one day I went for a long and lovely walk. It was the perfect way to get exercise without using my shoulder. (Especially since I left the dogs at home so there was no pulling on my shoulder from any leashes.)

    Here's the rail trail I walked along. It goes by several lakes so the views are pretty.

   There were also lots of wildflowers in bloom which were also quite pretty.

   At one cabin along the way I came across this beautiful garden in their yard. It was a certified wildlife habitat garden,  at least that's what the sign you can see stuck into it said.

    And I had more pretty lake views too.

   Besides a nice walk and a few other random things, my husband's paternal side of the  family also had a family reunion this past Saturday. Lots of people came from all over. The furthest was his cousin and her husband who came from California. The party was at my Mother-in-law's home, and I know she probably wished she could have been there with everyone. We did raise a toast in her memory, but of course, there are no toast photos. Those would have been perfect for T day. More about that some other time since that event can be a post on its own.

   Therefore, to wrap up today's post I need to share a drink. 

   I finally made it back to Pop's to have my first lobster roll of this summer.  We usually try to get there once a month, but with the cost of life this year, I haven't been back since they opened in May. It was a really lovely night, and we could sit outside and eat.  You can also see the Diet Coke I brought from home and that  I had already been drinking before I got to Pop's.

    I had one small complaint though. I asked to change from the French fries that usually come with the lobster roll to onion rings. The woman at the window told me there would be a slight up charge. OK. That was new. But then, compared to the amount you used to get, there really weren't all that many. Not that I needed more, and these were quite good, but it's the point. Unless they had a shortage of onions, their serving size was smaller. Up charge and smaller, isn't that what life has become? 😩

   That's all for me. Wishing everyone a happy T day and week ahead. 

T Stands for This and That

  Hi everyone. Happy  new week to you. And Happy T day those of you who stop by Bleubeard's and Elizabeth's blog.

   Last week I had a post written and scheduled, but then I realized I had forgotten it was T Day's 13th birthday. I wanted to do something special for T Day's 13th  so I decided to trash some of last week's post, but also save a part of it for today's post.

   Here's the part of the post that I saved and that I had originally scheduled for last week.

   One fun thing I did was meet up with a fellow blogger and her husband. Some of you may already know Dorothy and her husband Patrick. Their blog is The Frog and PeguINN. Dorothy blogs about many things, including their travels. This time they traveled from their home in Southern New Hampshire up to Lake Winnipesaukee which is in my part of the state. I had met them once before several years ago, but it was fun to meet up again for a lovely and long lunch.

  We met in Gilford, New Hampshire at another one of those old fashioned seasonal places called Sawyers.  It has been around since 1945, but this year it is under new ownership. However, out front they have these 2 cow statues so when you drive by if the cows are out you know their opening season has begun.

   Patrick is a funny guy, and he wanted to know who was going to sit on the cows. I wouldn't have climbed up on them, but luckily the restaurant had put out this sign. 😉  Ha ha.

    Thanks for a fun afternoon and some great conversation Dorothy and Patrick.   ❤

   Here's my drink for T day this week (and it was originally also going to be for last week). You can also see lots of drinks in the background, as well as the inside of Sawyers. 

    It's always a pleasure to meet up with people  you get to know through blogging.

   Since it was almost 2 weeks ago I met up with Dorothy and Patrick, lots of other things have happened.  For one I finally went to see an orthopedic because by right shoulder has been bothering me. Stupid me tried to pull a heavy box off a shelf over my head, and when I did I could feel something pull. I'd been icing and using heat on my shoulder  plus taking something to keep down  the swelling, but sadly that didn't take care of it. Now I'm waiting to schedule some physical therapy. And trying to use my left hand more. 

  Also this past weekend we spent a day visiting with my daughter and another  day finishing up a few chores at my Mother-in-law's home. This upcoming Saturday there is going to be a family reunion there. More about that event some other time. 

   Mid-July also means blueberry season here in New Hampshire. I don't mean cultivated ones, but the tiny little native ones. They are the best. ❤ ❤❤ One of my friends and her husband have acres of land covered in these low bush blueberries. Sometimes they hired out people to come in with their big equipment to get them, but they haven't done that for a few years. This year they decided just to invite anyone over who wanted some berries. When I got the invite to go berry picking, I replied that I would be over.

   Here's a tiny snapshot of the blueberry crop in the fields. Imagine this multiplied by 100 acres. 

   You could stoop, squat or sit and spend a lot of time picking these berries. Or you could use some old fashioned equipment.  My friends have the equipment so I learned all about the traditional way to get berries, which was actually quite easy and faster than picking by hand.

   First you have these blueberry rakes which you run through the bushes kind of  like combing your hair. Only instead of hair, the tines make the berries fall off and then you tip the rake back so the berries roll down into it.

Then you just empty the berries into the berry box. Each box holds 6 quarts of berries.

It wasn't hard and in less than an hour I just about filled all 6 of my quarts.

   

   My technique isn't that great yet so I got some green berries, but definitely far more blue ones. 

    

 When we got back to my friend's house (we took their truck up into  the fields), my friend's husband pulled out this old winnower. It doesn't clean out the green berries, but the winnower cleans out the leaves and stems that gets put in the mix. 

   I even got a lesson in running the winnower.

    The berries fall down over the left edges (where my friend's husband is checking that the berries are actually going into the bin and not all over the floor) and into the boxes.   Here's my berries pre-winnower

and here they are ready to go home with me.

   As I mentioned, my raking technique isn't well practiced so I had a few green ones to clean when I got home. 😏  These berries not only freeze great, but it  means there will be some delicious baking in my future. 👍

   That's all for me. Happy T day for those who stop by and have a great week ahead. 

   

   

Random Recent Friday Faces

   Hi everyone. Happy first Friday in July. Today I'm joining Nicole for  Friday Face Off and Gillena for Friday Lunch Break. I found some recent faces in my photos and thought I would share them today.

   My husband came across this fun sock monkey while cleaning some bins in the garage. He was a gift that a teaching friend made back when I was pregnant with my daughter  34 years ago. I threw him in the washing machine, and I must say he looks pretty good. The last time I saw my daughter, I returned him to his rightful owner.

   A few weeks back the dock needed to go into the water at my mother-in-law's house. Here's 3 of the 4 guys who were putting it in. From left to right is my sister-in-law's husband, their son-in-law and then my husband. The fourth guy was my son-in-law who was doing the on-land part. I also can't forget Mr. Pete's face. He was waiting  impatiently for them to finish and put the steps in so he could go swimming.

  Tomorrow is the July 4th Independence Day holiday as you might know. Tomorrow's plan is to rebuild the deck that connects into this dock, and these 4 guys will be back to work again.

   While having an off-work moment, my husband looked my way. I was lucky and captured a good photo.

   Also a few weeks back some friends our ours were up in our area from their home in North Carolina. We all met up for dinner at a restaurant in Manchester (New Hampshire) and posed for a photo. I've known my friend for 48 years, longer than I've ever known my husband. It's too bad she and her husband  moved south (although they love it down there) because the 4 of us really meshed, and I miss having them around.

   I can't forget my favorite canine faces either.

 For several weeks my husband's boat sat in the back yard while he cleaned it. He loves his boat, and he babies it.  Now it is back at the marina , not in the water, but we park it in a field at the marina for the summer. We put it in and then pull it out of the ocean every time we go to use it, which is not any trouble at all. Paying to leave the boating in the field is considerably less than paying for a slip or a mooring, and a lot of people do that.

   The dogs also love going for boat rides. Here's Maddie in HER seat on our first fishing trip of the season.

    My next photo is from ice cream Sunday. It's tough when you have an ice cream window only 5 minutes from the house. We decided several years ago that if we made a plan to go on Sundays, then the temptation to go other days wasn't so much because you know Sunday isn't that far off.

    This cone is a small sized one, so I would hate to see how big a large is. 

    The pups also enjoy car rides a lot. Especially on ice cream Sundays. 

   Maddie doesn't like cones, so Pete gets the end of my husband's cone. I always get my  ice cream in a cup so it doesn't end up all over my shirt, and Maddie gets to lick out the cup instead.

   Wishing everyone a wonderful start to the weekend. And if you are celebrating July 4th, I hope you have a super holiday too. 

  

Sunny Skies

      Hi everyone. It's Thursday, and I hope you're having a super last week of August. 

      Yesterday morning I had my coldest start at the lake as   it was only 46 degrees F/ just under 8 degrees C.Brrr    Iris you asked if I was sad the job was ending, and as much as I enjoyed the job, with getting so chilly, I’ll be glad not to have to sit outside waiting for boats to arrive. Especially if there’s no sun to keep me warm.😏

     As I mentioned yesterday I have a few art  journal pages that I am trying to share before this month wraps up. Here is another one that I will be linking up to Chris' Hot August (Night and Day) at Art Journal Journey.

   This page in my summer journal is made on yellow cardstock, and when I cut it down to fit the journal, I had some scraps with I lightly wiped with a golden yellow ink pad. I decided to use those scraps and cut some strips which I wove and then glued down on my background. I like the texture that it makes. The strips weren't long enough to cover the entire background, so I added some bright blue sky metallic paper trim along the edge where the weaving ended.

   This isn't a very complicated page either. (Who wants to be complicated in the summer? Right?)  I die cut the circle with the Fun in the Sun quote. I used a very old die from my scrapbooking days to make that. Then I used a paint pen and painted the blue edge of the circle quote and added sun rays coming off the circle. Once the paint dried I added some golden glitter glue. 

     I finished by die cutting the glasses, and I left the "glass" inset parts black to make them sunglasses. I then put a bit of glue on the "glass" parts to make the paper have a slight glassy sheen.

   Speaking of sunshine, I seem to have seen and taken photos of some beautiful sky views lately, so let me share a few here. I'll start with a sunset view the night before my niece's wedding, and then just a beautiful day sun view through the trees.

The other morning (Monday) when I was working at the lake,  the clouds and the sun sun were putting on a gorgeous show for me.

A mackerel sky is so photogenic. 

Have a great rest of your day!