Tuesday, August 29, 2017

a visit with Noah

It's a great thing when you can make someone's bucket list come true.

When Noah was here on his last visit, he made a comment to us that one day he would like to go out on the ocean. Ed and I said, "we can easily make that happen... we'll contact 
Gardner and ask him to take you out on his lobster boat". Well, to say Noah was thrilled with the idea that he could go out on the ocean was more than you could imagine. So, we told him once the summer came and the weather was good, and he could come down, we would arrange it.... And it happened today. 

I met Noah at the train last night,. he came to the farm and we had a nice evening together visiting  and talking about the summer and the families and such. But  he and Ed couldn't stay up too late because Gardner  leaves the dock at 4:00 am., which meant that they had to leave the farm by 3:00 am. But, they were both up and gone first thing. 

Gardner is fishing off Boon Island this time of year, so that's where they headed. I thought this was so great, because we had told Noah about Boon (and the book) and he seemed facinated with it. Ed said the weather and the ocean were absolutley perfect, and they couldn't have choosen a better day to go.

Now, the Amish are very strict about picture taking, but Noah told Ed as long as a photo "didn't show too much", he would be OK with Ed taking some pictures. And he even asked that I send him some copies as long as they are in keeping with their "rules"..
Gardner has a good sized boat, but Ed said, he just stayed in the wheel house that way Noah could see everything that Gardener was doing. Noah really enjoyed watching Gardner at work..he asked a lot of questions and was so interested in what lobstering is all about.
Gardner had a good day and caught about 400 pounds. And to top it off..ed said they saw lotsof of seals and even agood couple of whales. I don't think it could have been any better...
Noah really enjoyed his day at sea. He said too that he's always curious about different things...he said that when he had eaten lobster before he had wondered " what does it take to get this lobster here in front of me".. He says he often thinks that way with many things, I just said...well you know about lobsters now.


He headed back for home later today, we were hoping he might stay another night and have lobster with us. But he really can't and doesn't like to leave his family and farm too long. Besides...he took 22 lobsters backto home for his family to enjoy, 


I'm hoping we can make a visit to his farm before the snow....I love being there, in the meantime...today will hold a special memory for us all...

Acton fair weekend

The summer is certainly coming to a close... because.. it's fair weekend!!! And when the fair is in town, the fall season is soon beginning. This year I took full advantage of the fair weekend, and went several times to check out the events. The first day was with Mom and Aunt Doreen. It was fun to see the fair in the daylight and be able to see many of the exhibits that you don't take the time for when the grands arrive. I loved the "old time bee keeping" display...
and the "spinners"... I am determined this winter to find a spinner mentor and really learn this art. I have "tried" it a few different times, but I really need a mentor. These ladies had several ideas for me, so now I have names to contact and see what I can do about it... but, that's for a later story. 
One of the things I love about our local fair, is that is has stuck to it's roots. Mainly meaning that it still very much about the animals, crafts, farming and the like. Sure the midway is fun, and the fair food wonderful, but I do enjoy a fair with beautiful animals...

On my second visit to the fair, we met up with the family and the grands. On this trip I also brought Cadi along to do some "service dog work"... and we started off with the pulls.  Those beautiful drafts, doing the work they were bred to do... I hear people making comments about how this isn't a good sport anymore, etc etc... but these horses were born to pull and their owners are so proud of them. 
Cadi enjoyed the pulls too. She sat so quietly and watched the horses work. She's used to horses, so seeing them is no big deal, but she seemed to think this pulling business what kind of neat. (maybe because she is not allowed to pull!!!) I was so happy at her behavior... she is really coming along in her training. 
Oh.. the trying to get a photo of the grands!!!! but, this one is pretty good, and includes Haley who also joined us at the fair.....
and technically , this is baby Kelsey's first fair.... doubt she'll remember being here this year  (LOL)
The grands have to have sometime at the midway. We coaxed them to try some different things... I have to admit, I worried bit about the safety of the traveling road shows.... so, we try not to make a big deal of the midway. But this bungee jumping thing caught the eye of the kids and so they had to give it a try. 
Took Reagan a little to get the idea of jumping big... but after a bit, he did quite well....
Cadi took it all in......
Abi's turn. She had a great time and got right into jumping.

I was so happy Haley could join us. It made the fair more fun for Abi..especially since she had someone to do the rides with .



This nice lady was so sweet with the girls..even gave them a lesson using a spindle spinner. Then I go d out, she teaches spinning...so needless to say..I found my mentor. I got her name and number and I plan to call her and set up some lessons..
Had to explain to Cadi this is a sheep...not another black dog...
Our third visit to the fair was to check out the pig scramble. Abi wants to put her name in next year. They draw the names out of a hat...17 out of 75 were chosen...kids only..ages 8 to 10...and you have to live in our county...
17 children...15 pigs..you need to catch and sack him..harder than you think. 
The piggies run..and they squeal...but these kids got right in there. We told Abi she would have to ignore the squeals and just grab...she can't wait for next year..




Goats are very popular pets right now so I expected they would be shown at the fair. There are so many interesting breeds...I don't know what they're called but some are so different to look at...

We caught up with some friends who show their cows at the fair. This year they brought a couple of babies with the big cows. Abi thought the babies were cute . Jenn asked her if she wanted to walk the babies around, course Abi jumped onto that idea....
She looked like one of the 4h kids. I'm surprised she didn't ask us to bring one home for her....
As the day was coming to a close..we got our favorite fair foods and headed home. Another successful fair.


Oh and how did the bee quilt do....well the ribbons say it all. Not only a first place...

But judges choice as well!!!! I was so excited when I saw that big rosset ribbon...what an honor ....now what to make for next year????
Since we had Abi with us, I wanted to spin out the honey we took off the hive a few days ago. She likes to help us do that. We had five frames to process and I was eager to see what it tasted like.
With a hand crank spinner, the more help the better. Abi likes to spin it.

After we spun the frames..I put them out by the hives and let the bees finish cleaning them off. Goodness it doesn't take them long to find them and get to work. They'll have these picked over in no time.

Running the honey threw the strainer and getting it bottled.
I was excited to see how much we got. Especially  where we only took half of what we could. Our bees have been busy and we'll enjoy the fruits of their labor.

I'd say this has been a grand weekend in many ways.......