[past blogs]

Please check out 'Newport Escape' and 'a Date with Bronwen' from June and 'a Date with Madelyn,' 'Family Fun,' 'Seven Years Ago...' 'Radiator,' and 'Half Moon Beach' in July--if you are so disposed. I'm catching up folks!!

Half Moon Beach

Cape Ann is Massachusetts' best kept secret! It is much closer than Cape Cod (to the north rather than to the south) and ten times more beautiful. Scott surprised me with an unexpected trip to the beach, Half Moon Beach, on July 19. We didn't get an early enough start and only had the sand for about an hour and a half before it was consumed by the incoming tide, so when our friends and old neighbors from Hyde Park came to visit us today, Marta and and her nine year old son Elias, we simply had to go back and enjoy it once again. It feels like a foreign country...so beautiful! I forgot my camera, so I'm waiting for Marta's pictures of the four of us...

My Scott

My Scott is hiking in Grafton Notch, Maine this weekend. I'm so happy for the opportunity. He was supposed to be able to get away while I was in Indiana, but he got engaged for his services at Morgan's Rest, the Bed & Breakfast in Lexington, every otherwise free weekend. He is doing a 22 mile hike to his parked bike, where he will then ride back to the car. Campfires are not allowed, so he will be roughing it with fruit and granola bars. I'm so proud of him.

family recipe

I've been wanting to make a family tradition and recipe that my Grandma Harriett started years ago...The best potato salad you've ever had. And we all get to partake because my mom has carried on the tradition of making it once or twice a year for family get togethers: usually Easter and mid to late summer, like the Fourth or Labor Day.

Well, I had a special hankering, so I made it, even though I've never made it. I think the years of watching mom put it together made me a bonafide pro. Mom always makes a ton (around twenty pounds) because the entire family loves it and eats it like its going out of style. Then she sends some home with each one and makes sure her two brothers get their own special delivery as well. But I made a small batch:

5 lbs. red potatoes

8 slices of bacon

1 med. onion diced

1 green pepper diced (which I omitted for sake of time)

8 dill pickles diced

4 celery stalks diced

1 doz boiled eggs quartered

3/4 cup Helman's

salt to taste

What makes it time consuming is that you have to blot all the wet items: potatoes, onion and pickle so that the salad doesn't get runny and break down after a couple of days...since, of course you make enough for leftovers for a week!

Happy Birthday, Jen

Dear Jeny,

Can hardly believe another year has come and gone...You are aging as fine wine, my friend. I love who you are and who you are becoming. You are so loving, generous, compassionate, sensitive and loyal. Embrace every experience, obstacle and challenge as opportunities to season yourself and teach your children to do the same. Thanks for being my sister and my friend.

Love you,

Jayme

"One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple." Psalm 27:4

the radiator

When I got home from Indiana, the car was not working again.

The radiator cracked and Scott repaired the crack with apoxy and replaced the fan and it still didn't work. So then he suspected that it might be the head gasket, but first tried replacing the entire radiator. When that didn't work he replaced the thermostat, the coolant fan switch, and the coolant temperature sensor. Success, finally!

As he was working on the car, he realized how grateful he was that this car is PAID FOR. He reveled in the joy of knowing he learned enough skills from his grandpa to have the ability to save us a load of bucks...And I am so grateful for his ability too!

Seven years ago...

Scott and I re-met seven years ago today...its so hard to believe. These lyrics are taken from a card he gave to me on Valentine's last year...it means so much because I know how hard we work to have what we have...


Every time I look at you the world just melts away
All my troubles all my fears dissolve in your affections
You've seen me at my weakest but you take me as I am
And when I fall you offer me a softer place to land

You stay the course, you hold the line, you keep it all together
You're the one true thing I know I can believe in
You're all the things that I desire, You save me, You complete me
You're the one true thing I know I can believe

When I get mad so easy, you give me room to breathe
No matter what I say or do 'cause you're too good to fight about it
Even when I have to push just to see how far you'll go
You won't stoop down to battle, but you never turn to go

You stay the course, you hold the line, you keep it all together
You're the one true thing I know I can believe in
You're all the things that I desire, You save me, You complete me
You're the one true thing I know I can believe

And I promise you...

I will be the answer at the end of the line
I will be there for you while you take the time
In the burning of uncertainty I will be your solid ground
I will hold the balance if you can't look down

It if takes my whole life, I won't break, I won't bend
It'll all be worth it, worth it in the end
I can only tell you what I know, I need you in my life
When the stars have all gone out, You'll still be burning so bright

So...

You stay the course, you hold the line, you keep it all together
You're the one true thing I know I can believe in
You're all the things that I desire, You save me, You complete me
You're the one true thing I know I can believe

Adaptation of Push and Answer (2003) - Sarah McLachlan

Family Fun

A date with Madelyn

With each neice and nephew, I tried to do something that they requested. Something that they don't get to do very often. I asked that they choose differently from the others, so that their date would be unique and special. This may have been difficult to follow through on, as I know the others would have liked to do things like the zoo or miniature golf, but I hope they are glad they all have individual memories...

Madelyn's request was probably the most difficult: swimming. I don't like public pools and they are mostly very deep and noisy. I also discovered that as a non-resident of Mishawaka, I was going to have to pay through the nose to use one for a couple of hours. In desperation to comply with her request, I walked down the street to my former life-long neighbors and parents of my best friend, Darleen, and asked them if we could borrow their pool for the afternoon, to which they not only answered with an enthusiastic yes, but said to please come ANY time.

Dolly had fun joining us in the pool, as long as she could be dry on the sturdy raft! I think she thought it was cool to be near us, but not wet...


Madelyn had fun diving for toys and rings with a mask that made her look like a bug! A cute bug, of course...


Then we got out, pulled the cover on, dried off and hurried over to Barnes & Noble, part two of her request and had fun looking at the latest releases in popular series she is reading like the Magic Tree House Books.



After looking for a while, Madelyn finally picked out something to take home, the latest Where's Waldo, and something to read while she ate her dinner of three-cheese grilled cheese and a rice crispy treat to top it off.




All in all, I'd have to say it was the most sophisticated of my four dates, you little grown-up! I love watching you become you. Thanks for our wonderful date, Madelyn!