Happy Birthday Katie!

Katie's birthday is tomorrow but we already had a nice birthday weekend. Sarah wrapped most of the presents in beautiful paper with crocheted flower bows.

Here's the thing we've been really excited about. It's a joint effort - Sarah and I decided to make this wild birthday afghan. I'm happy it came out so well.


I have to show a bunch of shots to show off all the angles. :-)

By the way here are a couple of pictures of Katie with her delicious challah bread.


Happy Birthday!

Judy, Susie and Emily's Great Adventure

We had a great time driving down to Florida and doing some exploring along the way. Having Emily the golden retriever with us meant we got to meet people all over the place - she has such a magnetic personality ;-)

We took a western route through Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia. Here we're just about to get onto the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. I was excited to see a sign for one of my favorite groups.

The mountains were really pretty and colorful. (Not New England colorful but still nice.)

I liked how there were open fields as well as wooded areas.

We stopped to see this mill.

I think this was something like a sluiceway.

Of course this looked interesting - it looks like natural dyes.

In North Carolina we went to see the Biltmore Estate - pretty fancy. Can you see the gargoyles sticking out?

Can you believe this is in North Carolina? It looks like it should be in Bavaria or someplace like that.

The lion tried to run away but we held it back.

It's hard to see but there are horses going by on the grassy area. If I ever go back there I'm definitely going on a trail ride. The setting is gorgeous!

View from the back terrace

This lady jumped into my picture!

Pretty conservatory I found some plants I liked.

Then we went to Savannah, Georgia. I've always wanted to spend some time walking around there. It was fun looking at all the Spanish moss and picking out which house we should buy.

This is a giant live oak in Forsyth Park.

Pretty gate and garden

There were lots of beautiful houses.

I love these little gardens.

I liked seeing this person in his seersucker suit. He even had white bucks.

Florida was about 30 degrees warmer than Georgia. Here's more Spanish moss - on cypress trees this time.

This park is part of the Everglades. I love to go walk around the boardwalk. No alligators this time.

A quick visit with Mom and Dad - then back home again.

haha - we fit in a lot for a week!

Deerfield Fair

We've been going to this fair for so many years, and it's always the same but since it's just once a year it's still fun. I love all the animals and crafts and the food!

We were lucky with the weather. I like to get a snack and sit at the horse show.

Raf found a good sausage place.

Sweet potato ruffly fries

I really love the big horses and oxen. We had to jump out of the way when they started bringing the draft horses into the barn.

There were so many cow photo ops.

Comfy friends

One of my favorite buildings - quilting and crafts

I don't ride the rides but I like to go see them - it's so wild there.

Next year I'll have to get a picture of the apple crisp :-)

Fair Time!

One of my favorite things about fall is the fairs. OK there are lots of favorite things about fall but when the fairs start you know fall is really here.

I went to the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine this past weekend. Saturday was a beautiful day - perfect temperature and perfectly clear. I love this fair because of all the working crafts, great food, interesting people to talk to, good music, lots of animals, and great people-watching.

These cutie alpacas live right next to the fair grounds. We took a little detour to see them.

A farmer's work is never done. :-)

The farmer's market is right near the entrance.

Naturally one of my favorite shots - antique spinning wheels.

Katie's favorite food of all time - tomatoes!

Inspecting the produce...

In case you can't read this sign it says, "Fingers look like carrots." What do you think?

These two guys were really friendly. Their names were Lion and Bright. They kept stepping a little closer and a little closer. They were huge!

Someone said the llama was going to spit at us, but he didn't. I think he liked posing.

Two friends

Noa and Seven - aren't they cute?

Three generations - Seven found a good place to snooze.

I bought a new yarn basket and Susie tried it out. (So did Bruno when I got home but he wouldn't pose for a photo.)

Deerfield Fair next - stay tuned.