Some people are daily bloggers. I imagine them waking up, brewing some coffee or tea, feeding the cat, and settling into a husband-made wooden chair to muse on life by the glow of the rising sun and the computer screen before the children wake and their day is filled with serene knitting, joyful trips to explore ferns and mushrooms, and cooking something gluten-free. They're out there, but I'm not one of them. I would love to be a daily blogger, a stay-at-home mother, a master seamstress, someone who knows what to do with a spatula. But I'm not. I'm not a daily blogger, or a weekly blogger, and as I look at the date of my last post, I don't even know if I'm a monthly blogger. But I'm willing to do better. I'm not sure if I could be any worse!
While I have not posted any evidence since the seasons have turned, we have indeed been having a fabulous summer. For the fourteenth year, we cooked for the Millbrook Bonsai Society's Bonsai BBQ. The weather was perfect. It was a Spring of record rain, and it remained dry for the whole event, but it wasn't too hot behind the grill. Nora used her camera to take pictures of nature: coy and bonsai trees... not your Vermont flora and fauna, but she also made careful notes in her nature journal about the lilies and the snake we discovered by the hoses near the greenhouse.
We also took a trip to visit with my nephew who was on leave. It was a great opportunity to see the goats and the new little goatlings! ...and the rabbits, the chickens, the quail, the horses, sheep, and the labrador.
We celebrated Father's Day by stating the obvious...
from the Bold Banana on Etsy
Of course, we also went to the Vermont Quilt Festival. Nora's favorite was the horse quilt (who would have guessed?!) called "Summer Dreams" it was quilted by Angela Miller of Williston, VT.
Another mutual favorite, which Nora dubbed the "confetti quilt," was crafted by Philea A. Spear of Waitsfield, VT in 1909 when she was eighty-four years old. She recorded (thank you, Philea!) that it took 12, 976 pieces of material. Those are some teeny pieces! The quilt was donated to the Vermont Historical Society by Lettie Belding Palmer.
We celebrated an exceptional graduation. My sister-in-law, Wenda, while growing the farm as seen above, working as a dental hygienist, mothering 3 children, caring for her own mother, interning at a vineyard, and remaining pretty much awesome, maintained a rigorous university schedule and graduated in plant and soil science. Yea! She chose not to walk with her class, so the family surprised her at the annual Fourth of July celebration with a graduation! She was, indeed, surprised. Eleanor was thrilled to be the "flower girl" and present her with a bouquet. We couldn't be more proud of this accomplishment... and are quite pleased that she will continue working at the vineyard!
My other sister-in-law, from New York, brought big ol' rocks from a quarry where she has been regularly been digging for fossils. All of the children got a chance to carefully tap into the layers to find fossils. There were many to be found, and Nora came home with a box of 'em. Yup, that's what this house needs: More rocks! Nora has been especially interested in the trilobites and has them proudly displayed throughout the house. David is abundantly happy that she shares his love for archeology.
Being Independence Day and considering that it's been years (yes, plural) that I've been on the sailboat, I finally got my chance! Unfortunately, before we even got out of the mooring, David untied a sail, hit me in the face with it, and my sunglasses sailed in the air and landed in the water. For a moment of insanity, he considered diving in for them. But alas, they are gone. I like to imagine that there is some sturgeon under there who is now wearing them and can more easily see her fishy world as they were, of course, prescription. But it was one of those moments when it's quickly clear that there's nothing to be done (with the exception of a bit of squinting) and it was far too beautiful a day to complain. It was a glorious sail!
My favorite part of Independence Day (besides the freedoms that we still enjoy) is the fireworks! We saw a glorious display at the Burlington waterfront which curiously happens on the third. That allowed us to see more on the fourth from my parents' back deck. Sadly, they lost a large tree in the yard last year, but it really opened the sky to view. The fireworks were set off in the neighboring town, and I was still able to capture some great images.
We took yet another trip to the Shelburne Museum. Nora wanted to visit Nora, the blacksmith, who we've seen the past couple of years. She wasn't working, but the blacksmith who was shared copious information about horseshoes...and bees! It turns out that he is a well-known beekeeper and after reflecting on it, we realized that we had seen him before at the Fair parading with a bee smoker. He was easy to remember as he's a long-gray-bearded-blacksmith-looking-guy: everything you want in a beekeeper! He talked about his teaching style -who knew there were different beekeeping teaching styles?! I totally want to take a workshop with him. He warned me that I'd have to learn quickly and keep up. Oh yeah, I like this guy! Seriously, I do want to keep bees. I think it would be smart to take a year to study the subject and start the bees when we're settled into a more permanent house. (we're getting there!)
There is a new exhibit at the museum called Lock, Stock, and Barrel. There were some beautiful firearms. I especially liked the concealed guns including carriage rifles and a cane gun likely used by poachers! The furniture was lovely, and Nora must have been looking very carefully as she spotted a little patch box on the side of a rifle with a rabbit on it! I didn't mention that it was most likely a hunting rifle.
Did I mention that this man likes naps?!!
Castleton jail built 1890
By far, my very favorite exhibit was In Fashion: High Style: 1690-2011. Click on the link and check out the gallery. There was an actual dress by Christian Siriano of Project Runway! Fierce! I loved seeing so much history in the gallery. I played at determining when each dress was created. My big "oops" was the Oscar de la Renta dress. I thought it was old. It wasn't!
Eleanor was enchanted by this velvet Emile Pingat and in a voice similar to Veruca Salt informed me that she wants one for Christmas! Hmmm. I'm not sure if that's in the budget this year, dear. Though, like a crazy person, I did look at the sewing patterns at Joann's: maybe if I use a pirate costume here and that steampunk pattern there... Maybe by Christmas.
So far, it has been a great summer especially because these are the only leeches that we've seen so far.
Okay, till tomorrow or some time in Autumn... we'll see.
