Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Yarn Along


Maddie's sweater is coming along beautifully! I am so glad I changed patterns. I am working on the main body now and have completed about half of it. Maddie loves the color and the pattern too! You can find the details on my ravelry page here.

I am reading Don Quixote for the first time. It is on Maddie's 7th grade reading list so I am reading through it first! I'm finding it interesting that is for sure! The edition I am reading is from the library and an old one. I can't locate it to point you in the right direction but there are a lot of choices out there! 

What are you reading and knitting? 

Joining Ginny at Small Things

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Principal Dad's Birthday!

Brian's birthday was this Saturday. He requested salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, corn and salad for dinner and I made a flourless chocolate cake with homemade peanut butter ice cream. It was filling but very yummy! Then we had some silly present opening.







On Sunday we took a road trip to Hogback Mountain, Vermont. There is a gift shop with the required too costly trinkets, maple syrup and cheddar cheese but attached is the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum. The Museum is the collection of a man named Luman Nelson. He collected specimens from about the turn of the last century to 1960. Many of the specimens he collected are either extinct (passenger pigeons!) or something that can no longer be collected. There was so much packed into a small space it was amazing! 

view from the parking area looking east






There were live animals as well. Turtles, spiders, frogs, fish and birds of prey that cannot be released into the wild. We really liked those the best. 


eagle feather
Unfortunately for us but probably good for the birds there was grating on the windows so we could see the birds but they couldn't see us. It was impossible to take pictures of any birds other than the eagles. 
a new quote for my education wall over the sink!

After we ate some lunch (including cheese from the gift shop!) we took a hike across the street on Hogback Mountain. 




taking a heading

tiny mushrooms we think are red-orange mycena


the look of the day...just keep going....




We cannot figure out what these are! We have looked in the wildflower field guide, the mushroom field guide and the fern guide with no luck. Anyone have any ideas??
Thank you Poppa Bill and Mamaw Mary!! These are Indian Pipes.


On the way home we went through Bennington and stopped for coffee at a little shop in the village. The owner was all excited to talk to us about Bennington and pulled out a map to show us a couple of things! After we left we decided to go visit the Bennington Monument. Maddie quite enjoyed that as you can tell!





face of the day again....

General Burgoyne's cooking pot from the Battle of Saratoga!


Views from the top! 

Then we moved on to the covered bridges....




We saw this on the way into Vermont but I didn't have my camera! However I was ready on the way home!! Mamaw Mary these are for you! 



A good day all around!! 






First Day of 7th Grade!

Well, here we are already! 7th grade has arrived. We gave Maddie some new homeschool PJs and other fun things to start the day. She did a great job so we are off to a good start!




Sometimes, as an only child, you just need to do things yourself! 

Our Week

Well, here we are back on Blogger again! Hopefully things work out better this time around. We will see! Technology and I do not get along well.

Last Sunday we picked Maddie up from camp. She had a wonderful week. In fact she declared it was her best week at camp from the 3 years she has been going. We were thrilled to hear it! We met up with her friend's family and we stopped to picnic and have ice cream on the way home. It rounded out the week well for the girls!

Turkey Vulture Wing!

I do not think this particular pinecone came from the Adirondacks but it very cool just the same!


We got the usual tour of the beach and chapel before heading out.
View from the beach by Momma above
Views on the water by Maddie during the week below



When we got home we discovered Maddie had not 1, not 2 but 3 pairs of wet muddy shoes so I took them out to the porch! Obviously a sign of a good week.

Note the sand inside! 

During the week we were able to harvest the watermelon radishes. They are so BIG! We ended up roasting them which made them really yummy. Maddie decided to practice perspective with the camera.







This past Sunday we headed back to Camp Fowler! Why? Maddie forgot her raincoat! Since it was her favorite camouflage one we went back for it. We stopped by the Sacandaga on the way home. It was a nice day!!