The Adventure

Last weekend after we picked the kids up at the youth retreat, they wanted to go on "An Adventure." So we ran around Saint John: to the city market, Market Square, etc., overlooking Reversing Falls and the Irving Nature Park. Here are a few pics of the adventure.

50th Anniversary

Our friends, Howard and Mary, celebrated their 50th Anniversary Thursday night.
Their family put on a big bash for them. We were glad that we were invited so that we could be there to honor them. They are a wonderful couple, very hospitable and loving!
They have been a blessing and help to us many times!
(Mary is a lot of fun! And Howard is very laid back, goes along with anything. We remarked about their matching outfits and Howard said that Mary had dressed him!)

Here they are with their kids.
Of course the family is bigger now with spouses and grandchildren.

Blackberries and Barb's Pickles

It is blackberry season at the farm
and the blackberries are very good!
We never did get to really pick blueberries...it was either wet or we were not there!
We don't know if there will be any left when we have the chance.

I made Barb's Pickles, Sara. I hope I can get some to you sometime!

The Maine Coast

A back road Maine scene

After the fair, we drove up the coast and spent some time

in the pretty coastal town of Camden. The rest of the photos are from there.

The window with the curtain is painted on the side of the building.

Maine Country Fair

Last Thursday we dropped the young people off at a youth retreat and then buzzed down to Maine for a little birthday get away. I was feeling a little guilty about wanting to go to Maine, since I wasn't the one with the birthday, until I came up with the idea of looking up an old fashioned country fair. We found one in Union, Maine, one which we had gone to years ago and one which is the real deal!

Paul had all of his fair experiences. Here he is petting a sheep.

The most important feature to him is the horse pull. I have a pretty short attention span at horse pulls, but, in this case, I watched for an hour and a half! These horses were huge and pulled 8000 pounds.

We watched horse racing for a while. (We did not bet!)
We ate free blueberry pie (which was really a cobbler),
but we didn't get a pic of it. It was good!

Here is a prize winning sheep.

This little girl is riding on the sled with her grandpa behind a horse team as they went to claim their prize.

I was very impressed with this planter of supertunias. There were eight plants in one barrel.
Beautiful!

I know this looks a little weird, but I wanted animal pics for future rug hooking projects.

We learned something new: these cows are Belted Galloways.

Everyone needs to go to a real country fair every once in a while!

IT'S IN THE MAIL!

I finished Andy's rug LATE last night except for the binding which I sewed on (the second edge) on the Airline from Bangor to Calais. I usually don't do anything on that road, but I was too focused on finishing for it to bother me. We mailed it from Calais and it should be early for Andy's birthday. I always have mixed emotions when I finish a big project. It has pretty much become a part of me and I am not sure that I can part with it. On the other hand it is good to accomplish something. I am really excited about making something for Andy's new house. I hope he will like it. I made sure that it was a masculine design which was taken from an antique rug.

I don't really care for the lighting or coloring of this pic. I prefer this one.

CHURCH PICNIC

Last Saturday we had our church picnic at the farm...IN THE RAIN! What a day! Almost 50 of us were stuffed into the house, back porch and even the woodshed. Well, some crazies were running around outside and fishing or catching frogs at the pond. WE HAD A FUN TIME even though it was not what we would have planned. I didn't get many pics because I felt like a one armed paper hanger. I do have a few more, but right now Blogger is not cooperating. If it decides to accept more later, I will add them. It did decided to let me add somethings to my side bar, so I am pretty happy about that right now!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR PAUL!

I have to make a chocolate cake with boiled icing!

Up-date on Andy's Rug

Andy's birthday is coming up soon and I am determined to finish his rug for that occasion. I have not worked on it until just the last few weeks. I plan to have it in the mail by August 27th. Here is what it looked like at the end of March. I don't think I will have any trouble with it. I always do better with a deadline!

Raspberry Season

Many of the raspberry canes were broken this spring because of all the heavy snow of last winter. I didn't know if we would have any raspberries, but we have had two fresh raspberry pies* and I made two batches of jam so far.

*Pie Recipe
4 cups of fresh raspberries in a baked pie crust
sprinkle powdered (icing) sugar in the bottom of the crust first

Top with a glaze made with:
1 cup raspberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
Boil in the microwave for a few minutes
Add 3 tablespoons of corn starch
Microwave again for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes
Pour over the fresh berries
Serve with REAL whipping cream on top!

Sorry no pic! The pie is GONE...maybe next time!
(This is good with fresh blueberries which are coming soon or strawberries.)

Pipes and Drums at Victoria Park

Trip To Bouctouche

I still have some pics from when Sara, Dave and family were here.
This is the boardwalk on the dunes in Bouctouche.
The previous one is from the same area.

This is the Irving Chapel. This is a beautiful area!

After the kids left us...

we knocked around some of our favorite places in Maine...

went to a small town street fair...

visited some antique shops where I bought this knife holder which I have been looking for

for a long time...

took pics of old hooked rugs for project ideas (actually I have more ideas than I can make!)...

visited a great rug hooking store/studio in Searsport ...

went through neat towns like Cherryfield...

ate fresh raspberry pie at Helen's in Machias...


traveled down a stretch of the coast that we had not traveled before...

We had a GREAT time!