Sunday stitching

I've done a bit of hand stitching while up in Vermont and away from a sewing machine. I've added 3 blocks to the collection while stitching outside on the swing near the fire pit in the evenings. It is a nice relaxing spot, looking out over the lake.

I've also added the grey surrounds on a bunch of my granny squares. I do need to crochet a top to 2 kitchen towels for Mom today before we head out tomorrow.

Aidan has an F1 race to watch today. Mom and Dad are headed to church, and my sister and a niece are planning to come out today to visit. It should be a nice day at the lake in Vermont.

Travel day tomorrow, when we have to head back home and see what hot and humid Florida feels like again. 

Linking up with Kathy and the slow Sunday Stitchers.

 

The weekend.

 The last two days in Vermont, and I am enjoying some slow stitching and relaxing. We had a great 4th of July with family. Lots of food and chatting with 16 of us there and a Gracie dog.

The loons and their baby were hanging out a bunch of the afternoon in front of the camp.

Mama and baby on her back

Mom and Dad with the baby by one of them.

I did get a smore in after everyone left for the day.

I did get my lobster in today. I called ahead and picked it up after I dropped off the garbage and recycling. Yes, their next run to the dump will be a smelly lobster one! 

I got a maple iced coffee this morning, and a maple ice cream this afternoon. We also stopped in at the newly opened Lake Elmore Store. It closed the end of December and got remodeled and just reopened on July 4th. Lots of local things and they opened up the store to have a cafe, with some cozy seating inside and out with a beautiful view of the lake. 

I think I'll pop out to my favorite spot and add some more stitches into another flowering snowball block.

July 3rd

It was a beautiful morning and then it got windy as a little rain front went through. Why Dad started a fire during that, I have no idea. We hit it with the hose to put it out right before the rain came through.

There were some whitecaps on the lake, and the flags were out straight.

I had plans to have lobsters for dinner tonight, but both grocery stores were out by the time I called at 4PM. We will try again on Saturday. Maine lobsters are so yummy, and the store will steam them for free. They are also on sale this week.

It was the first night of bingo at the Lake Elmore town hall. It was a packed house. It was Grammy, Grandpa and my crew.

I ran out after the rain stopped while were playing. It was changing the normal cards to the final cover all cards. 

This is looking down the lake.

This is looking the other way. It was a pretty sky with the reflection on the lake.

Emily and I both won a hand and got a prize. It is high stakes here in Elmore. A dollar to get in or a baked good. Then the cards are 2 for a dollar! It is quite a fun night for all ages.

I finally got a little stitching time in today and have the rows of this shoo fly block stitched. I just need to put the three rows together.

 

Time to relax a bit before everyone descends on us tomorrow. I think we are all set. 

July!

Happy July, and Happy Canada Day to those to our north. 

Sunday was a very cloudy and overcast day. My sister, niece and BIL came out with their dog Gracie for the afternoon. Gracie got me soaked... she was fetching the ball from in the lake and kept coming by me and Terri (my sister) to shake. She might have been egged on to do that! Silly girl. 

This is the Mama duck and 5 ducklings that like to come visit. She comes up on the lawn with her babies each morning.

Gracie loved the boat ride. She kept going from person to person but did like the seat next to me.

Then was over by her Mom and Emily, then her Dad Bob. My niece Sally got some attention as well. Aidan was driving the boat and did a great job docking.

I did a kayak ride Sunday night and this is the camp we stay at. 

On my paddle, a shot of the mountain with the tower at the top. We will see if I climb it this year or not. I have been getting my steps in while up here. I think the campus tour at Dartmouth got me set yesterday. Today we visit UVM up in Burlington.

Aidan wanted his senior photo's with a nice background. This is a little wood of birch trees near us, that I think would make a great background. We did get his formal photo's done for the yearbook, but we will do our own for his ones to hand out to family.

I have been adding grey surrounds to the granny squares and have about 3 left to do before they all are complete. It will be time to think about putting them together.

After the Dartmouth tour yesterday (Aidan loved the feel of the campus), we went up to King Arthur Flour. We got there after the cafe was closed, but got to look around the shop. We picked up a couple of scone mix boxes. Everyone is sleeping in this morning, except Dad and I. I'm enjoying the overcast morning on the porch, as the light rain has stopped for the moment. The pitter patter of rain on the metal roof is very soothing. 

Slow Sunday in Vermont

 I am enjoying a cloudy comfortable day in Vermont. A few crochet stitches have been added to the granny squares while watching the F1 race this morning. I'll switch to some hand work on either the hand applique string of beads or some hand piecing of the flowering snowball or shoo fly blocks later today. Maybe I'll do both!

Friday, my nephew came out with Kayaks and my sister come out in the afternoon. It was quite windy, so we just chatted outside for a while then got a maple creemee across the lake. Saturday, I slept in until almost 10AM with the rain pattering on the new roof that does not leak! That has been a 2 year battle to get it fixed from the shoddy job the first guy did.  My brother and SIL came out to play games in the afternoon, and I left them to it and headed to Morrisville to see my friend Kelly at the Lacing up for Cancer event. I stayed a couple of hours catching up, then headed home and made dinner (Keto chicken, roasted potato and peas). I had a nice walk last evening after dinner and snapped some flower photos to share. 

Today will be some kayaking I think around the lake. The wind has calmed down a bit so it should be easier to paddle. My sister will be back out for a visit with my niece up from Boston. 

Linking up with Kathy and the slow Sunday Stitchers.

Races at Thunder Road in Barre, Vermont

 The photo's loaded last to first... and I'm too lazy to swap them around! Last night was CCV (Community College of Vermont) night and since I have a sister who works at CCV, we got free tickets! 

This was a photo of the view from the cement stands we were sitting in for the night. The track is a 1/4 mile oval with quite the steep curves at the ends. There were crashes, saw the governor (Phil Scott has been a race driver his whole life, first as a lawyer, then senator, then governor car #14) spin out in the heats so he started last in both races. It was a double header night! He moved up to the midfield in the first race but got put into a wall in the second race. 

The sunset was glorious with the mountains and clouds. It was in the 60's - so jeans and a t-shirt with a sweatshirt on towards the end. 

This was his spin out in the heat. 

We cheered on my parents neighbor in another race series last night. He won the first race and came in second by a few feet in the second race. It was great racing at Thunder Road last night.

I was impressed. We ate there - for $20.50 - we got 2 hot dogs, home made fries and a kids meal of 2 tenders, fries and an apple juice (Aidan was feeling kiddy). Not bad! Aidan got a creemee later (soft serve ice cream).

Back to camp a bit before midnight and Grammy was waiting up for us. I woke up to a beautiful 53 degrees on the porch around 8:30 AM. It was 51 when we got home. It has warmed up to 60 degrees and I think I'll go make some crepes for breakfast. My sister Terri is coming out sometime today. Her son Charlie is also coming at some point and delivereing 2 kayaks for us to use.  It will be a great day for either chili or tacos. We will see which parent I make happy. Mom likes Taco's and Dad likes chili. 

More travel photo's

Monday we were in Mansfield and visited the Ohio State Reformatory. This is where they filmed the Shawshank Redemption. It was quite the place and we did the behind the bars tour. The history was quite interesting in that it opened back in the 1870, before it was really finished and the prisoners (1st time criminals for boys 17 and over) actually worked to finish it and it was a self sufficient place with everyone working and learning a trade and getting educated. They got their high school diplomas and could take college courses. Later in the 1920's they opened it up to other prisoners, and it went downhill from there. It closed Dec 31, 1990 as it was unlivable. I declined to do the bell tower with the extra steps, and meandered to the museum of the movie. They actually have filmed parts of 4 movies there over the years.

It was hot, and only the museum area was in the AC. We headed to a local restaurant for lunch at the Reindeer Cafe. It was yummy. From there we drove a few hours up to Niagra falls and got there a bit after 7PM. Finding parking was fun but we got tickets to the Maid of the Mist and took our 20 minute boat ride to the falls. It was amazing the wind force, water and the view. We got soaked... I think my sneakers have finally dried out! Good think I brought an extra pair.
 

The after photo - Aidan loved it.

The before photo.

We travelled another hour or so that night and stopped in Rochester, NY for the night.

Our next stop was in Syracuse for the Erie Canal Museum. It was pretty neat and the kids learned a bit about the process and what is around Syracuse. They did not know about the salt influence there. The guy at the desk was great and chatted with us for a bit selling his city. Aidan wore his Tampa Lightning hat, and of course he said, you can wear that hat in here! They have their minor league team in town. I'll post some photos I took inside in another post, great quilting designs!

From there Aidan drove us to Vermont through the Adirondak mountains and the curvy, windy roads into Vermont and to Graniteville to my parents house.

Emily loves the soft grass and no fire ants in sight! Our grass in Florida is pokey, so they enjoy it up here. Shortly after we arrived, my sister Joanne and my brother and SIL Mike and Kathy showed up. One dropped off tickets for Thunder Road on Thursday and the other dropped off some stadium seats for that night. My sister Terri and her hubby Bob and Charlie (my nephew) are going with us and Joanne will be there. Free tickets as it is sponsored by her work that night. Thanks Jo!

The next day, I helped the parents get packed and loaded up and moved out to camp. 

After a late lunch (we picked up KofC), the kids unloaded both cars in the heat and humidity and promptly relaxed on the porch. Aidan reclaimed the couch last night and ended up sleeping out there overnight! It was 62 degrees when I got up this morning.

We did a boat ride after Aidan finished mowing the lawn out here. Dad wanted me to drive. I did not crash the boat and the docking was fairly good!

I'd better get dressed as we need to grab a few things in town and then I can maybe get a little hand stitching in by the lake later this afternoon, before we head into the races tonight.