Hot, Hot, Hot!

It was another hot, but beautiful day here in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire on Monday, Memorial Day. I decided that today would be the day I would select my clothes for the Reunion, and the shoes too. I’ve decided that men are far more lucky because Hubby only needs to pack oxford shirts and chino’s and his suit and a couple of funky ties and he is fine. A woman must pack pants, skirts, heels, flats, an evening bag, jewelry and of course, my blow dryer, curling iron and electric rollers!

Yes, it takes a lot more time and far more work for a woman to make herself look glamorous! At least I have most of it done and all I need is to get out the big suitcase and put these neatly stacked piles of clothing and shoes into it!

I also had a little episode that made me think that either I was pregnant or I was suffering from heat exhaustion. I came in and cooled off with the air conditioners, and sat down and drank four glasses of cold soda and sugar free juice. After the fourth glass, I felt like I was floating, but the dizziness had passed!

I love the summer, but not when we have 92 degree heat, with high humidity! Then I totally suffer. I prefer the temperatures to be in the upper 70’s or low 80’s. Then I am a happy girl.

As I go out and check on and water my garden, the dogs have all become great little helpers. They run back and forth around the fence, and play with their toys and each other while I water the plants. This is a departure from previous years when the puppies (Arnie & Anneliese) would run off, causing me to stop and chase them. In fact, this year as they get closer to turning 5, they have become more mature and pretty much abide by the family rules of staying in the yard.

Fritz is good. He just follows wherever you go and then while you are busy, he will lie down and watch you and stay close.

Hope you all had a great long weekend!

What I Did This Past Weekend

Our Memorial Day was full of bright, hot sunshine,  and Lobster!

My cousin Janet was here with her boyfriend, Dave and they brought some of the best Lobsters and steamer clams ever! The weather was good, but very hot! At one point I looked at the thermometer and it was 92 degrees (F)!

We walked down to a local Craft Fair and checked out all the booths and I bought some spices to use when I make dips. Then we walked home, feeling the heat more and more!

When we got back, Dave and I cooked up those lobsters, clams and some corn on the cob. I’d already made some potato salad. It came out okay, but not as good as usual. Oh well, the first batch of the summer season is usually not my best! But I did try.

Saturday was house cleaning and laundry day, and really, that was not too interesting. I got it done and in the evening I settled in to watch “From Lark Rise to Candleford” before going to bed.

Friday was also rather uninteresting, in fact so much so, that I can’t recall what I did! Oh yes, we went shopping and I got a dress for the Reunion this coming week. Now I am all set for that!

Have a wonderful Monday everyone and a blessed Memorial Day to all those serving in our military! Here is a short montage done last Veterans Day to honor our military!

Hubby’s Veteran’s Day from Dackel Princess Maribeth on Vimeo.

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Saturday

I cannot believe how much I got done on Saturday. Why is this such a big deal? Well, I had probably the worst migraines that I have had in a long time and I had no medication other than Motrin to take.

I refused to give in and I managed to get all my laundry done, made five pounds of my home made potato salad, went and did a small shopping for a few things I needed for tomorrow.

I also planted some herbs and took the dackels outside for some runs. That Anneliese is the best runner I have! She is so fast and runs in circle around all the other dogs. Greta, the old woman, is quite happy to trot around and then sit on the side hill. And poor Arnie gets chased by his sister. Fun to watch!

Now I need to get out our suitcases and figure out what to pack for our trip this week. I found a dress on Friday, and I think I have it accessorized, but I am still not sure. I wish I was a fashionista, but oh dear, I fear I am not a person who is comfortable making fashion statements. I just want to look clean and put together.

I hope you all have a good Sunday. Mine will be, as my cousin Janet and her boyfriend Dave are coming up to spend the day! It’s always great when they come to visit!!!

Tag

Tag:
I was tagged. By my friend Betty in Paraguay. She and I met some years back on another blog.

Anyway these are the questions I’m supposed to answer.

1.  Do you think you’re hot?

I just finished shopping for a dress. It’s almost as bad as shopping for a bathing suit. Do I think I am hot? NO!

2.  Upload a picture or wall paper that you are using at the moment.

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3.  When was the last time you ate chicken?

Tonight. (Friday) I made Buffalo Chicken Burgers!

4.  The song/songs you listened to recently.

“Changes” by David Bowie. Makes me think of my High School days.

5.  What were you thinking while doing this?

That the black flies really bit the heck out of my ear!

6.  Do you have any nicknames? What are they?

Yes. Well, sort of. My best friend Gail, calls me Mari. And I refer to myself as MB to my family, but no one calls me that.


7.  Tag eight blogger friends…
This is where I never follow the rules.
I´ll do five because I think that´s enough. But if you like being tagged and would like to play along, feel free and do so. You´re it!
1. Janet
2. San
3. Grace
4. Gattina
5. Michelle

Who’s listed as number one?

My dearest cousin!

Say something about number five?

She is a friend I met and felt instantly close to.

How did you get to know number three?

I met her on a blog. I cannot recall which one. We are now friends and I enjoy that!

How about number four?

I met her on Melli’s blog some time ago. But since then we have become good friends!

Leave a lovey- dovey message for number two?

Dear San, I am so glad we met each other and have shared this friendship for the last few years!

Now join in and have a great weekend!

Friday Fill-Ins

Friday Fill Ins

Friday Fill-Ins are sponsored by my cousin Janet. Come on and join the fun!And…here we go!

1. This week I planted my garden and enjoyed the sunshine.

2. However, tomorrow the weatherman is forecasting that the rain returns.

3. It’s all about May being the month for spring to actually arrive and the fact that until yesterday, it really hadn’t.

4. Yesterday, I had so much fun in the sun.

5. I demand my dogs to actually listen to me when I talk to them and give them orders! lol!!!

6. Life’s path, is filled with crazy ups and downs, and everything from the most wonderful to the greatest sadness’s. But all in all, life is good.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to trying a new recipe I got at WW, tomorrow my plans include finishing up the laundry and Sunday, I want to eat lobster and steamers with my cousin Janet and her guy Dave, and then walk up town to go to the Craft Festival!

Thursday Thirteen

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This week I have been busy planting my summer vegetable garden. Here are thirteen things you might like to know about my garden.

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  1. Hubby fertilized the soil in the garden and turned it a few weeks ago to prepare it for my seedlings.
  2. I started those seedlings at the very end of April and it is amazing how fast they grew!
  3. We’ve been waiting until we had a day that was both dry, and past the chance of us having another frost.
  4. Hopefully that is today.
  5. I asked Hubby to rake the hills for me in the garden to help set out the plants. Happy Greta, also helped!
  6. May 25 11 happy greta11

  7. Although I love to garden, my vision is such that I need his help setting up the lines.
  8. I got to “play” in the dirt, planting my garden for three hours.
  9. Hubby helped me to put the tomato cages out.
  10. We also put up tin pie plates to make noise and scare off the critters.
  11. I planted, Japanese eggplants, zucchini, yellow squash (summer squash), butternut squash (winter squash), pickling cucumbers, slicing cucumbers, seedless cucumbers, green peppers and 7 more tomato plants.
  12. Hubby then set about watering each of the plants. He is so helpful!
  13. I came in and drank three glasses of water!
  14. Thank goodness I made a cabbage casserole. I don’t have to make any dinner. It’s cooking in the oven all by itself!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

Hodgepodgebutton

1. What is something about living in this country that you value? ‘This country’ is whatever country you call home.

I live in the USA, in New Hampshire. What I value the most is the freedom to live my life the way I choose.

2. What is a favorite something you own that is red, white, and/or blue?

I have a picture of my daughters that a friend painted. Katie had red hair, their blouses were white and the dress and vests that Mandy and Katie were wearing were blue.

3. Do you fly a flag at your house on patriotic holidays?

We have a flag pole in the front of our house, and we fly the flag every day in the spring, summer and fall. The winter, when we have 4 feet of snow on the ground (I know, you think I am kidding, but I am not), we tend to just keep it in.

4. What ingredients do you think should be included in a great picnic basket?

Bread, brie cheese, fruit salad, perhaps some chicken (grilled), and wine!

5. What is one interesting piece of trivia you know? Interesting is of course a relative term.

Many people have an association with my hometown of Falmouth, Massachusetts. It’s where I spent my first 20 years of life. The Cape is a beautiful spot, and many other people were drawn there as well. Rachel Ray’s parent’s owned restaurants in Falmouth and for the first three years of her life she lived there.  Casey Affleck was born there, and also maintains a home there as well. Falmouth is also the hometown of Katherine Lee Bates who was an American songwriter who wrote “America The Beautiful”, which is sometimes known as America’s “other” National Anthem. I know, more than you wanted to know, right?

6. Wednesday, May 24th is National Escargot day…have you ever tried them? Eww or ooh?

You know I can’t recall if I have or not. Since I am usually up for trying any new thing food wise (Hello Lifetime Membership at Weight Watchers!), I’m thinking I probably have and they were okay, but nothing I would call special. Hubby says he thinks I tried them, but even he can’t recall.

7. What is one thing you know for sure?

That I am loved!

Special People

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I’m rather disappointed by Spring this year. For us, in the Northeast, it has been cold and rainy. Farmers are struggling with their crops and the only thing growing is mold! What we need is some nice dry sunshine. When I look out across our country and see the floods, the tornadoes and towns that have literally been wiped off the map, I realize that this has been one of the worst Springs ever. I sure hope that this bad weather ends soon, and that sunny skies and warmer temperatures will be with us!

Monday in New England

Monday…Fun-day…Workday!

Monday found us having…more rain. Yes, it is true. The rain and dark skies have not left the northeast part of the USA. I do not wish to complain because there are parts of my country far worse off right now than we are. I pray for those who have lost everything in the floods and the tornadoes.

Anyway, it was cold again on Monday and wet. I washed my hair, and the next thing I knew I had frizzy curls. So much for the natural look.

Monday found me potting my tomatoes, eggplants and peppers in patio pots for the summer. It went well, and I worked like crazy and then set the newly re-planted pots outside to enjoy the slightly warmer temperatures, but continued rain.

Hubby sat down rather unhappily today as we had to face the fact that we will have a significantly smaller fruit crop. You see, this is the time when the bees work our trees and pollinate the crop. It isn’t happening, so…..the fruit crop will be greatly reduced.

It’s just a week and a half until we leave on a short vacation for Hubby’s 50th college reunion. He graduated from Middlebury College, and since this is his big reunion, we are going back and doing the reunion in style. We have a house sitter coming in to care for the dogs and the house, and we will be staying in the beautiful Middlebury Inn . I told Hubby that since this was his 50th reunion, we should do it right. I will be reporting in from the reunion, as the motel has WiFi.

I am praying for warm, sunny weather for our trip. Vermont is so beautiful at this time of year, when it is warm and dry!

Fingers crossed for good weather!

What I Did This Past Weekend

Miss Marple 2

Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend! After all, you never know when you will need an alibi!

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Last week was my super busy week. I really wish I was one of those people who could go endlessly and not need to recharge my batteries, however, if I do not get a lot of sleep, and down time, I start really feeling unwell. So by Sunday morning, I found myself with a migraine.

I did not give in though because I wanted to re-pot a few plants, and feed the others I have in the green house. This is the week I will actually plant our garden.

Usually, at this time of year we have sunny skies and dry weather, which makes it easier to plant my garden. You see, New Hampshire is well known for Black Flies. Especially if it has been at all wet. This week alone, we have had over 6 inches of rain! So yes, it has been a LOT little bit wet!

If we have a break tomorrow in the weather, I will spray myself down with bug repellent and go out and do the planting. I do not like Black Flies because they LOVE me and I end up with big red welts on my body. Most unpleasant!

Saturday I wrote all about on Sunday’s Post, as it truly was a memorable day. The Yard Sale that we were in the middle of that got rained on. We did, at least, make money towards our outreach programs, so it wasn’t a total loss. It was also great to spend time with some of the ladies in my club. They are all so very nice!

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Sunday morning Fritz and the dackels woke me at 6 AM! (**groan**) There was no going back to bed, and as I write this, it’s actually 1:30 PM on Sunday and I am already feeling like going to bed. At least I did get a few things done around the house and maybe I’ll just take the rest of the afternoon off.

Happy Monday, Everyone!!!

Have A Little Rain

Saturday was my busy day. I was working at a town wide Yard Sale for my Ladies Club. We had the premier spot, and tables laden with really great buys.

The day started with a light fog, and heavy dew on the grass, but as the morning wore on, the skies became dotted with something that looked like blue skies and…..THE SUN!

This week has been very wet. We’ve had well over 5 inches of rain. Everything is green and lush, and moldy too. Everyone is so sick of all the rain.

However the weatherman forecast a break in the weather, just in time for our Town’s Yard Sale. We were all feeling pretty good about that.

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So, I arrived and immediately picked up 4 things for myself, before starting work. I then helped filling tables, waiting on customers and during lulls in the sales, chatting with the other women.

Someone asked if we had a camera to take a few pictures for our clubs scrap book. I’d left my purse at home and that was where my camera was…shoot! So I called Hubby and asked if he could bring it down. He showed up after about half an hour and took off to get our mail before the Post Office closed.

We all had noticed the sky had gotten a little darker, but hoped that the rain would go by us, when suddenly Hubby returned. He warned us to get everything under cover quickly as the storm would be here in about 10 minutes! I grabbed my raincoat and started moving things into the sheltered area that we had. The other women also moved things as quickly as we could, but the rain came a little faster than predicted.

It was also heavier than any of us had anticipated. I had a full raincoat on, but it was no match for the deluge that we suffered through. In less than half an hour I was soaked.

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This is Miss Pig Tails and she is our Mascot. You can see the rain falling in the puddle in front of her.

We finished getting everything in the shelter, and then the woman who was chairing the committee in charge of the sale, sent me home.

A long hot shower and fresh dry clothes helped out a lot, as well as a nice hot cup of tea.

It rained for almost all of the rest of Saturday.It made me wonder when it will stop and a dry, bright, spring will be with us!