I am not having fun

Oh Lord, I will not go into the details of my little stomach problem. I will only say that I am currently on a restricted diet. Clear fluids. For two days. Groan. Moan. Grumble. Bad mood. Low energy. Sigh. All I can have is broth, jello, tea, ginger ale and apple juice. It is meant to fix "the problem" and for all of my heroic efforts, I certainly hope so.

Because all I really want is to get busy baking these delicious chocolate donuts and putting a big old spoon in this chocolate caramel sauce and getting back to the business of eating!

SoWa Market Sunday

I went with my friend Pam to the SoWa (south of Washington) farmer's market and artisan fair on Sunday. It is held every weekend through October. Really fun. There is a big brick building which houses three big rooms of flea market finds. Boots, mirrors, jewelry, you name it. On either side of the building are a farmer's market and an artisan fair.

Lots of food trucks are parked alongside each other with great tasting food.

The most stylish I have seen people south of Manhattan! Skinny jeans with boots tucket in, ponytails and sunglasses - and many dogs big and small alongside their owners.

We passed a booth with a man painting and his artwork was really beautiful. I was so taken with this original painting that after our first pass-through, Pam encouraged me to go back and take a 2nd look. I have a lot of paintings of the marshes of Newbury, Mass. ~ one of my favorite things ~ and that's what attracted me to this. These are Block Island marshes...and you can guess how the story ends. Yup, I brought it home. It's on the wall, looking smashing in my dining room. A good day.

A Day at Cider Hill Farm

We had made plans to go apple picking as the kids had the day off from school. There were a few clouds in the air, well...more than a few and some raindrops threatened our fun, but they held off. Intrepid travelers that we were, for our muddy efforts we ended up having this beautiful orchard to ourselves.

Carter and Maureen and a pumpkin in between ; )

Beauty everywhere you looked. These colors of Fall can't help but lift your spirit.

For years we have picked apples at this spot. It is lovely and if you have even a couple of hours, I highly recommend taking a ride up. When you've had too much of your busy life and the noise in your head is too loud - looking down at this beautiful land on a quiet, rainy morning will unwind the tight spring of life. Take a deep breath. (and then go eat a zillion cider donuts)
Cider Hill Farm, Fern Avenue, Amesbury, Mass.

We walked to the top of the hill..admittedly not so much fun getting there as on the way down - but good a good workout. The view will be more vivid in a couple of weeks, but since I always think I really want to live on a field in England somewhere, this drizzly-foggy-misty morning made me perfectly content.

And a very good day to take photographs of apples! The lighting was so pretty.

On a typical sunny day in the Fall, especially on the weekend, this beautiful farm is jam packed with people. But on this September day, the farm was just one wide open space.

Irresistible. I'll take one of each.

Happy Birthday Morning Glory

Don't know what it is about Morning Glory's but I just don't take proper care of them when I first buy them. I keep them in pots, sort of water them, maybe unsatisfied knowing that I have to wait a long time before I see anything in bloom. So although the vines are bright green and healthy, it wasn't until - September 20 on my birthday - that the first bloom appeared.

A little champagne, a pretty glass from my friend Kathy for last year's birthday...

And instead of one kind of cake we mixed it up and chose a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Because at this age? I find myself not settling for average ; )

Nice Day For A Boat Ride

Today I chaperoned Ronan's 5th grade class field trip on the Merrimack river. Things get so busy that it wasn't until I was on the bus that another mom told me we were going on a boat. I mean I knew we were going to Lowell, but I guess I didn't actually read what I was signing up for! LOL. I could have used a hat and a bottle of water, but otherwise it was a great trip.

We sailed past old mill buildings, some of which are now living spaces right on the river. Our wonderful Park Ranger William educated the kids about the river, it's history and how the recent Hurricane Irene affected the river all the way from New Hampshire to Lowell and beyond. He talked about pollutants and the kids did experiments on the boat testing ph and dissolved oxygen levels. Mom even learned something!

It was beautifully serene on the water. The kids all had to wear life vests for safety and they were pretty uncomfortable and hot but we were only in the boat for 90 minutes so it wasn't too bad. Safety first, the Captain stressed.

Back in the Boathouse, more experiments were conducted. In all of my years of field trips, I would say that this was the most interactive I had been on and really kept the kids' interest. And finding myself on a boat in the middle of the day? Unexpectedly great.

The Ties That Bind

"in my little town, I grew up believing
God keeps his eye on us all"
Paul Simon

I don't think I heard about it until some time after 9/11, that one of our classmates was working in one of the buildings in New York city on that fateful day and never returned home. His cousin, a Reading fireman, raised funds to create a lovely memorial in his honor on the 10th anniversary at our high school.

Many people donated funds to make this a lovely reflecting park. Maybe it will just turn into an after-school hang out. Maybe the band kids will rest their instruments on it, maybe the benches will get some soda spilled on it at some point and the shiny newness of the granite will get rubbed away. But that's ok. That's what will break it in and soften it at bit.

Many classmates from the mighty Class of '78 came together yesterday morning. Some traveled quite far. The ties that bind, the thread that does unify us surprises me still.

He was just a cute boy that was in my homeroom class in middle school. I remember he wore corduroys and a leather belt and had a great smile. He grew up and had a family and what happened to him is the stuff nightmares are made of and I think what shook all of us about 9/11 is that it wasn't a "distant" trauma. Especially in the Northeast, the tentacles stretched very far and while we cannot bear to imagine what they went through, it does give comfort to be able to be present to honor them.