It may be "Christmas in August", school may be starting next week and nights may be very cool but it was still summer today! The girls and I met up with some friends to head to Popham Beach today. We headed out with questionable skies, sweatshirts and pants. We even took our chances heading down the boardwalk to the beach but 1/2 way to the sand the sun came out and it was beautiful until afternoon.
We played, ran, ate, swam, laughed etc.. We met up with some other friends (sort of planned) and laughed more. We fed a seagull who braved coming on my blanket with me and then spent the afternoon chasing him away when he got WAY to bold!
We all came home with burns and tired bodies but everyone is smiling! Ahhhh summer!

Okay, I tried to be nice to my southern based son BUT he started it! When we were going camping, with his bestman, I heard a little emotion in his voice that he would really like to be with us. When I came home I waited and then blogged only the story of Sunshine being a snake killer. Not about the beautiful spot, the serene campfires, the exploring for hours, the loons, the girls fiddling on top of the rock outcropping, the swimming etc.. I was being sensitive to his feelings BUT have you read HIS recent entry? I mean was that at all sensitive to me? Books!!!! Oh dear and especially with our new curriculum this year being very 'book centered' ( no history, geography, literature textbooks). I've been melting my credit card at amazon and he writes about this monster book sale. Is that fair?
Well, we have another camping trip coming up WAIT until I write about that one. How about the beautiful crisp, colorful, moose hunting fall that is coming up? What about jerky??? Hmmmm.
I think the solution will be to all get together and decide what to do about this. That's it !! Let's all get together and discuss this! Mark your calendar!
What: solution to Bobby's book sale brag meeting
When: August 2007
Where: Easley, South Carolina
lodging: hehehehehehhe

No, Sam, the solution isn't to just slap him, that's saved entirely for you! :-)

Christmas in August !!!!

Its August here in Maine, late-ah August that is. This means the nights are cooler and there is a definite snap in the air. Sadly the leaves are turning and some even falling! It puts me in such a melancholy mood, sometimes even sad. Fall has always been a season of goodbyes and changes. Whether it be when I was a child and had to say goodbye to the scouts, wondering which if any would be back the following year, bye to all our friends and family heading for southern destinations, leaving our summer place to ---- aaggghhh--- start prison, oops, school. Sorry but that's how we saw it. I mean who would want to leave the leisure and pleasure of a summer camp that was both relaxing and a blast? I was able to 'find myself' there each year and didn't want to lose myself again. It was more than that really but that isn't what this entry is about.
I am in the melancholy state of mind and although I've been thinking about and doing something about Christmas for the past week and a half, yesterday I received my first Christmas gift! Two plane tickets! Where to you ask? HERE !! These tickets aren't for me to travel, its better than that! They are for my wonderful son and daughter in law to come home for a week at Christmas!! Due to life it has been a while since they have both been here, in fact, she was visiting us before they were married. I have been praying about a simpler type Christmas and having my whole family around is perfect ! All of us here in this house were just a 'little' excited last night , except for Saffy the cat ! I may have to find Saffy a different lodging for a couple weeks. I don't think Gomer will bother Bobby's allergies but Saffy has such a different type of coat and he sheds ssooooooooo much that I'm worried. Something to pray about.
"L" worked with her dad yesterday and called home when they were leaving to tell me to start dinner. Little did they know it was already done, waiting in the crockpot for their arrival ! I told her the good news and she started yelling and was excited that she knew before her dad! Can you imagine the excitement come December? Annie's response was, "Ya, ya, ya, Merry Christmas" within earshot of the phone and Bobby but the grin on her face lit up the whole house for hours!
Just a warning Bobby, she's hiding empty wrapping paper tubes!
So as I am studying and preparing for the start of school I'm hearing Christmas carols playing in my mind.
Merry Christmas!

Camping adventures -- snakes

We recently returned from one of our annual "Wales Family Camping Trips".
We like remote camping...very remote. We look for places that we have to canoe to and won't see others while we're there! Then we stay there for days --until the food starts running low. This also is a no electricity and sometimes not even an outhouse type place.
This year my older three darling children couldn't join us but my son's best friend and his wife came. We had a really great time. In light of the fact that one of our guests hadn't been camping before (unless you count crowded campgrounds with all the amenities) my wonderful husband built and lugged a nice little "throne" so she wouldn't have to use just a hole. We all have either tans or sunburns and memories of times shared. Even though big brother wasn't with the girls his buddy made sure they got thrown into the water, splashed and otherwised picked on. They wouldn't have it any other way!
The event I want to share though was with one of the dogs. Oh, we also took 2 of our 3 dogs with us. The older golden retriever, Sunshine, amazed me more than usual. Our camp spot was a peninsula that we had to canoe to. On one side there was a huge granite outcropping. It blocked the view but was great to jump off of and into the water. There was also a cave on the water side which made for interesting investigations. I digress. My hubby and I were sitting on the top of the 'cliff' basking in the sun and having prayer time. We were there for about an hour when I decided I needed to climb down and attend to something at the campfire. I had descended about 10 feet on just rock when a snake slithered across my foot! I'm not squeamish but a slithery snake on my bare skin did cause me to let out a scream.
Sunshine came running and I pointed to the snake. She dove at it, grabbed it and shook (more like snapped) her head back and forth so fast she literally broke the snake in two pieces. She looked at the pieces and the larger one was still moving so she grabbed it and shook it more until it too broke! I was speechless! (which doesn't happen much) Sunshine's mom got a stick (she wasn't touching it!) and flicked it away. Sunshine sauntered away and lay down to rest like nothing had happened. My hero was the dog that day!
My youngest daughter can run very fast. She has pencil legs but they can move. An Indian friend of ours has given her a name. I can't remember the tribal spelling but the English version is, "She who Runs with the wind." He has told us that it's not "Runs LIKE the wind" but "WITH". We have now nicknamed Sunshine, "She who kills snakes."
Keep in mind that we live in Maine. We have garter snakes, grass snakes and other non-poisonous snakes but the yarns being spun about this event already have this snake being a 6 foot long rattler! Ahhhhh the fun of camping!