Sunday, August 26, 2018

Catching Some Rays at Fort Foster

Beautiful day...temps in the high 70's and very few clouds, although a little windy.
panorama
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;o)



Thursday, August 23, 2018

Microwave Bowl Cozy

Some friends asked me to make them a couple of these.  Not my favorite to sew, but after a practice pair for us, I think their's turned out quite well and they seemed happy with them.

I used fabrics left from Ella's polka dot quilt to make ours out of 10" squares.
Bill thought they might be a little small, so I made their's out of 11" squares.  Bill found the focus fabric at the VT quilt show and I bought two fat quarters.  The solid yellow fabric came from my stash.
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;o)

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Sew...This Came Home with Me Today ;o)

I thought when I retired I would buy myself a long arm quilting machine and make money quilting for others.  Well...that didn't happen, which is okay.  However, I saw a post on Facebook from the quilt shop in Sanford that they had a used machine and frame for sale for a decent price and one I felt I could afford.  

I stopped in the next morning, took a look, thought it over and almost left.  I was afraid if I left and came back, someone else would have snatched it up, so I bit the bullet and brought it home with me.  Although the box says Sweet Sixteen, which is a sit down machine, it's really a Simply Sixteen, which is a stand up machine.

Here's what it looks like, out of the box.
photo courtesy of the internet
It's really perfect for me, only takes up a 4'x6' space.  Of course, we had a lot of cleaning to do in the cellar in order to make room for it.

I'm pretty excited, we'll see how long it takes before I actually take a stitch.

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)

Saturday, August 18, 2018

Fun at Camp 2018

Saturday, 8/11...Left the house around 1:15 under cloudy skies and a light rain (76*) ;o(  Stopped at McDonalds for a snack and arrived at camp @ 2:30 to find Gina and two of her boys there.  Apparently, she was cleaning.  It was nice to finally meet her but boy, she is a talker.  She left at 3:00, we unpacked and headed to get groceries.

Unfortunately, Gina had replaced the front door lock and the key she left with us didn't fit.  Thankfully, we checked it before we shut the door!  I sent her a text and she agreed to stop by in the morning to replace it.  Lucky she was still in the area and not headed back to MA.


We got veggies at Sherman Farms, then stopped at Hannaford's.  It was super busy!  We spent $120.  Good grief.  Finished up at 5:00, got iced coffees and were headed back to camp by 5:15.  Got gas in Fryeburg for $2.83/gal and batteries for a new light at the Dollar Store.  


Made it back to camp by 6:00, put the groceries away and ate dinner @ 7:00.  Bill grilled burgers and we had great corn from Sherman Farms.  Sat down at 8:00 to read and watch the Red Sox.  I finished "Hell is Empty", one of the Longmire series.


Bill saw a loon down by the dock, Yay! but we won't see any meteors thanks to the clouds, Boo!


Sunday, 8/12...Slept well and got up to cloudy skies ;o(  Everything outside was wet, so no sitting on the deck with our coffee.  
9:04 am

After breakfast we played two games of cribbage.  Bill...2, Me...0.  Enough of that.  Started raining around 11:00.  

The loon has been hanging around the dock and float.  Bill spotted two loons flapping and dancing around and they were very vocal.  Neither of us could recall seeing that behavior before.  

Gina stopped by around 12:30 with the correct key and she unlocked the kitchen closet where we found more silverware and bowls.  

We ate lunch, sat on the deck while it wasn't raining and read till we got sleepy.  We came in, watched the Sox and napped on the couches.  

The rain held off so we went back outside to read, drink iced coffees and eat cookies from Keepin' it Local.  Bill grilled chicken, which we ate over salad, then he made a fire.  We ate s'mores made with jumbo marshmallows.  They don't really work that well but it's all we could find at Hannaford's, other than mini's and that wouldn't have worked either.
8:00 pm
We came in around 8:45.   I took a shower and washed my hair. We watched tv and read.

Monday, 8/13...Woke up to another cloudy day...#3!  Ugh.  We ate breakfast on the deck, then it rained, again. 
It looks nicer than it is...
Lisa was supposed to arrive with Macy around 11:30 but didn't come till 12:30.  We visited, ate lunch and visited more.  Yesterday was Macy's first birthday and Bill got her a set of Curious George books which we gave her today.
Bows are always a big hit ;o)
They left about 4:00, just as the sun came out...for 5-10 minutes ;o(

We sat on the deck with iced coffees and cookies and read.  We decided to take advantage of dry weather and moved some chairs down to the dock.  We noticed a loon in distress at the other end of the lake.  It appeared to be entangled in some kind of floating device, preventing it from diving.  Bill got in touch with the Maine Warden Service, more difficult than you can imagine.  AND, calling information is a waste of time and as it turns out - money.  It cost $3.95 to make the call.  Thankfully, while Bill was on the phone with the Warden Service, the loon was able to free itself!  Good thing, since they wouldn't have been able to come out till tomorrow.  

We ate dinner, sat on the deck and read till dark.  I finished "A Fatal Grace" by Louise Penny.  Did some stitching on the flag cross stitch while watching tv.  Two days spoiled by rain ;o(

Tuesday, 8/14...Woke up at 8:00 to the call of the loons and more rain.  
11:13 am  rain, rain, go away
Saw a female Belted Kingfisher on the dock while eating breakfast. 
allaboutbirds.org

Called Phyllis but got her voicemail.  We ate lunch and headed into No. Conway around 12:30.  Of course, we got there and the clouds broke up and it was a nice, warm, mostly sunny afternoon, probably near 80*.  We shopped at the usual places but the only thing we bought was a pair of sandals for me at Beans.  Neither of us was hungry, so we didn't stop at The Met.

We picked up beverages at AJ's, then checked the quilt store for a color of floss I needed...no luck, no surprise.  I downloaded a book onto my iPad through my hotspot, then we headed back to camp.  

Got back around 4:45, sat on the deck and read, had pretzels and pub cheese until it started raining at 5:30.  Bill stayed on the deck under an umbrella, I came inside.  There was a hint of blue sky at one point but it didn't last.  We ate dinner, watched the Sox and read some more.
7:15 pm
Wendy called to check on us because she texted and neither of us heard it.  The phone has been disconnected again...or still.

Wednesday, 8/15...Woke up around 8:30 to more clouds but thankfully, the sun made an appearance around 9:30!  We sat on the deck after breakfast, IN THE SUN, and read.
11:15 am  This is what it's supposed to be like!
Took a dip in the water, it's super nice!  Ate lunch on the deck, then sat in our chairs on the beach.   Finally...Fun at Camp!
2:50 pm
Did more reading and napping, then moved to the deck when it looked like rain but it cleared off.

I took a shower outside and washed my hair.  We ate dinner early, 6ish, then went into Fryeburg to buy a smoke detector, which we didn't find.  I asked Wendy to bring one.  We wanted ice cream but the line was too long and we were too impatient to wait.  We got sub rolls at the market and each downloaded more books.  Got back to camp around 7:30.

We sat on the deck and watched the Red Sox through the window.  I finished "As the Crow Flies", another Longmire book.  I talked with Wendy :o)

Now this is what camp is supposed to be...reading and napping in the sun!  High temp today was 87*.

Thursday, 8/16...Got up at 5:45 and took pictures of the sunrise, then went back to bed.
You know it had to be pretty great for me to get up at that ungodly hour.

Got back up at 8:00 to a mix of sun and clouds.  
8:30 am
Wendy says today is the best day of the week...we shall see.  Sat on the deck with our coffees and finished the homemade blueberry bread.  We ate breakfast and were on the beach by 10:15.  We didn't float because it was pretty windy, but it was a perfect day otherwise, finally...
Sat on the beach till lunch, then again after we ate.  Bill lounged in the hammock and I spent some time in the water with a noodle.  Changed our clothes and headed for ice cream around 3:30.  No waiting this time ;o)  We stopped at the hardware store and bought a key chain for the new camp key, got home by 5:00.

I changed into my suit and we sat on the deck with our iced coffees.  Phyllis came for a visit around 5:00.  It was so nice to see her!  Holy cow...she's 87!  I had a strange feeling that if I didn't see her this year, I would never see her again ;o(  Hope I'm wrong.  I wanted to be sure she knew that although we were all disappointed that Wendy and Dan weren't able to make a deal with her regarding the sale of her camp, no one was angry.  She stayed for about 30 minutes.  

We ate tacos for dinner.  Bill made a fire and we each had one s'more; came in about 8:45.  
Bill took a shower; I started a little packing.  We watched the Pats first pre-season game against the Eagles.  I saw stars for the first time this week.

Friday, 8/17...Got up at 8:00 to a milky sky, sat on the deck with a light jacket.  We watched the fog clear off the lake and a loon swim all the way from the cove to well past the camp.  We saw two loons together while we ate breakfast.
8:02 am
We hit the beach around 9:30.  We looked everywhere for the canoe paddles but didn't find them anywhere.  Finally used the kayak paddles to make our annual trip around the lake.  It was fairly calm; got back around 10:40.
10:00 am
Bill filled the floats and we floated till about 12:30.  

Ate lunch, sat on the beach, floated till it got windy.  I floated for a while longer with a noodle but the water was pretty choppy.  We moved to the deck because it looked like rain but it only sprinkled off and on.  Drank our iced coffees and ate the rest of our Keeping  it Local cookies, came in about 4:30.  

I swept the floors, mopped the bathroom and kitchen floors, cleaned the bathroom, took a shower and packed food from the cupboards.  We ate dinner on the deck.  I wiped down some of the fridge.  I sat on the deck for 15-20 minutes after dark, it was very warm and quiet.  I called Bill out to see the lightening in the distance.  We had a good thunderstorm after we came in.

Saturday, 8/18...Only three good camp days and now it's time to go home.  Got up at 8:00 to cloudy skies and rain.  Ate breakfast, packed, ran the vacuum while Bill went to the dump around 10:00.  We made it through the week with only one bag of trash.  He brought two bags of ice for the cooler.  I packed the cooler and Bill loaded stuff into the car.  It's super humid!  I put my suit on and took a dip, floating with the noodle.  I saw three loons swimming out of the cove.
9:55 am
Wendy texted about 11:50 that they were on their way.  We sat on the deck and ate our lunch.  We saw four loons!  They are multiplying ;o)  Wendy, Dan and Jane arrived about 12:45.   We helped them unpack under sun and clouds. 
Such a good girl

1:40 pm
Greg arrived with Ella and McKenna about 2:30.   They got unpacked and organized, then we took our annual dock photos.
We visited for awhile and left about 5:00.   Got home about 6:15 after stopping at DD for iced coffees and chocolate frosted donuts.  Bill unpacked the car, I put everything away, changed the bed and towels, did two loads of laundry, put my stuff away, took a shower and finally sat down about 10:15.  

The small bookshelf in the kitchen fell off the wall!  Scared the crap out of both of us and sent book everywhere.  Apparently it was overloaded.  So glad it didn't happen while Morgan was here, she probably would have freaked out!

Not really the best week we have ever spent at camp but already looking forward to our week on Pequawket next year, just hope we have better weather.  

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)