304/365 - Halloween

Meet witch Marley and peapod Mason. It was a spookily warm, drizzly and windy Halloween night. There were not many trick-or-treaters out on our street tonight, in fact, while we were out we were about the only ones out there. It was almost as if we had the wrong night, except for the fact that all of our neighbors handed out candy! Mason probably wondered what in the world he was doing out in the rain with two people with pointed funny hats (Big Baba bought Marley a beautiful witch's hat at a craft fair, full of beautiful flowers and ribbons, and so I agreed to wear the hat that came with her costume). It was a fun family night, although I felt bad that Mark had to work and couldn't be there for Mason's first time trick-or-treating!

You know, Linda, you are right (see comment), I actually thought later that I should have added the picture of both Marley and I with our hats on. So here it is:

303/365 - Haunted house

Marley and I finished her haunted house tonight. You can't see it, but the roof has all hand colored, hand cut, and hand glued shingles! It's all decorated and ready for tomorrow night.

302/365 - Halloween foamies

I went to Michael's tonight and when I saw this box of Halloween foamies, I just had to get it for Marley to decorate her haunted house tomorrow night. I'll post a picture of the finished project tomorrow.

301/365 - Ocean in a bottle

Tonight was craft night in Prims. We are doing our Earth badge, so Pat came up with a neat craft, Ocean in a Bottle. You put aquarium sand and stones in the bottom of a soda bottle, put in shiny marble stones, little shells, etc. Then you add light blue colored water, glitter, baby oil and then glue the cap on. Things went pretty well until I went to do the glueing. The glue wouldn't come out the top so I forced it and it came out the bottom, all over my pants! It's a good thing that the kids have Pat for a leader. I hate crafts! We would probably never do crafts if I were in charge. Anyhow, the girls loved it and they really did come out cute. Hopefully the caps all stayed on after they got home! :)

300/365 - Letterboxing

This is a graveyard in Deerfield where one of my ancestors (I'm talking really old, 1837) is buried. The last time we were here I was looking around and there was a really old grave stone that was leaning up against the stone wall at the very end of the graveyard. I tried to stand it up, and behind the stone there was a zip-lock bag. The bag said "Please do not remove." I took it out and looked at it but I didn't go into the bag. Paul said it was probably something to do with that GPS game where you try to find things; I forget the name. Anyhow, later I wished that I had looked inside the bag, so today we took a ride up there and I found the bag again. Inside the bag was a jar, and inside the jar was a small notebook, pen, and a stamp. I guess the idea is that you stamp the stamp in your book, and you stamp your stamp in their book. It is called Letterboxing. I am definitely going to check this out. It really intrigues me.

299/365 - Pumpkin Seeds

These are some pumpkin seeds that we made on Sunday night while carving pumpkins. Kristen and Stacia (Janelle's mother) picked the seeds out of the pumpkin guts, and I toasted them in the oven.

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

2 cups of unwashed pumpkin seeds
1 1/2 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons of melted butter or margarine
1 1/4 teaspoon of seasoning salt

In bowl combine seeds, Worcestershire sauce, butter and salt until seeds are coated. Spread on large shallow baking pan. Bake at 250 degrees approximately 1 hour, stirring occasionally until crisp, dry and golden brown.

From six pumpkins we got about 4 batches. Yummy!

298/365 - Marley and Pea Pod Mason

This afternoon Janelle's mother Stacia and her sister Amy came up for pumpkin carving day. Stacia had bought this adorable pea pod costume for Mason before he was even born. Janelle brought it over and said she wanted to take come pictures of Mason outside in the leaves propped up against some pumpkins. Of course this was right up my alley! We all thought he would fuss being put in this outfit and being put outside in the leaves but he actually liked it. He stayed there for quite awhile while all of us took pictures, videos, etc. My neighbors must have thought we were nuts. Mark was not too keen on this whole thing. After a while he said, "Okay, can this be done now?" Then he said to Mason, "Sorry buddy you had to be put through this." We all thought it was hysterical.

297/365 - Rainy, windy night

On the way home from my crop tonight it was pouring and windy. We happened to go by this sight (I know the picture is bad but it was dark out) - a telephone pole that was severed a few feet above the ground. The top part was still standing, supported by the wires. There were no Police there but there was a utility truck that seemed to be waiting for something. I wonder what happened; maybe someone hit the pole.

296/365 - Making the haunted house

When Marley came over tonight she said, "Grandma I have a project for us to do tonight. We are going to make a haunted house." "Okay", I said, "are we going to draw it?" "No, we are going to make it out of a box." "Oh, I said, Hmm...." She worked on it all night. All that is left is to color it. I told her I thought it looked like a haunted factory. She did not think that was funny.

To offset the "factory" look, we came up with some alterations to the house and a few more decorations. I think she did a pretty good job with what she had to work with!

295/365 - Klondike Bars

I have a confession to make. I am addicted to Klondike bars. This is not a good thing. A couple of months ago Paul brought home a box of these and it's been downhill ever since. They are the ultimate comfort food!

294/365 - Izzy and the little plastic ghost

Last year, the day after Halloween, my neighbor Sue asked me if I wanted this little plastic ghost. She said it didn't light up anymore and she didn't want to bother keeping it. The first time Marley went trick-or-treating I took a picture of her next to this little ghost. It seems every year when we go to Sue's house I tell Marley that the first time she went trick-or-treating she was about as tall as Sue's little ghost.

Yesterday Paul fixed the light and put it in the living room to wait for Halloween night. Just as I was taking the picture, Izzy walked by it. I think it adds a "spooky" effect.

This is Marley and the little ghost in 2002.

293/365 - Tobacco barns in the Fall

Tobacco barns in the fall. Another sight on my way to work.

292/365 - Fall trees on my way to work

These two trees, on my way to work, are absolutely beautiful. I don't think they have reached their peak yet but the sun was shining on them this morning and I knew that they would be today's picture (which is not as good as it could be as it was taken through my windshield).

291/365 - CE belt buckle

Paul has worn this belt buckle since 1980. He got it on a business trip to Dallas, Tx working for Combustion Engineering. He saw an employee wearing one like it at a business meeting and told him he liked his belt buckle. The regional director disappeared for a few minutes and when he came back he tossed the belt buckle across the table to Paul. He has worn it ever since. Today he retired it, and I thought it's story deserved to be told.

P.S. When I asked him why he decided to stop wearing it, I thought the answer would be more memorable. He just said, "It adds too much weight to my shorts."

290/365 - Marley playing soccer

Action shot with Marley making contact with the ball (always a good thing). She's the one in green and pink. She has really improved in the second half of this season. It's as if something finally clicked (until she gets tired!) :)

289/365 - Marley's recorder and Mark taking a picture of Mason

I couldn't decide which picture to choose today so I am posting two.



Marley came over tonight very excited about the fact that she got her "recorder" at school yesterday. It is an introductory instrument. She had a sheet showing the finger placement for the notes on it. She played every note for me...one by one!

Mark and Mason came to visit tonight. This picture is of Mark taking a picture of Mason on his phone to send to Janelle at work.

288/365 - Too early to be so cold!

Seriously, it was much too cold tonight, 38 degrees at 7:30 p.m., and wet snow to bout!

287/365 - A Ferret visits the Prims

Tonight, to finish off our "Animals" badge, we had a ferret come to visit. Miss Pat's grandaughter brought in her pet ferret, Snatch. He totally entertained the girls. We thought we could keep him in the circle if the girls sat close enough but he quickly learned how to sneak out underneath their legs. I was in the circle to begin with but he climbed right through my legs, and it was all over for me!

Here Miss Pat is demonstrating how to get a ferret to sleep. Evidently holding them by the scruff of the neck puts them right out (hopefully not from lack of oxygen). When the girls wanted to try it, we decided Snatch had had enough excitement for one night.

286/365 - Rainbow

On the way home from work I saw this rainbow and I just had to get out to take a picture. No matter how many times I see a rainbow, I still get excited.

285/365 - Lupa's Zoo

Today Paul, Marley and I went to Lupa's Zoo. Believe it or not, this is the first time we have gone this year. Some years we get there two or three times. We love this zoo. Marley doesn't like anything to change though (she probably gets that from me) and they had quite a few changes this year (and according to Marley none of them were for the better). Even so, we had a wonderful time. Actually they are really doing good things at the zoo, larger and better cages, more natural, etc. I think the thing we enjoyed the most this year were the Cockatoos. They really put on a show for us. It seemed every time we tried to walk away they said "Hello" which always made us go back.

Each year we take pictures of Marley on the different plastic animals. It's one of her favoite things. Look at the difference six years can make!

2009


2003

284/365 - Bash Bish Falls

Today was a rather odd Sunday. As none of the kids were going to be around for dinner, we went to first service with Dot, and then headed out for a hike at Bash Bish Falls in Mt. Washington, MA. We have driven by the signs to this falls but have never taken the hike. And what a hike it is. There are two ways to get down the mountain, a steep 1/4 mile hike almost straight down (rocks, tree roots, and very steep) or a 3/4 mile easier hike. We took the 1/4 mile but I swear it seemed like 10 miles. It was worth it though. The falls were beautiful. It was such a beautiful day and it was very crowded. Lots of small children, which I could hardly watch running all over the rocks. Coming back up the mountain was even worse. I really need to get into shape (or take to my couch) LOL!

It was so pretty there I had to add a couple of more pictures.

283/365 - Fire Pit

Tonight Paul made a fire and we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. I couldn't stay out too long because the smoke bothered my throat (because of my cold) but Marley and Paul stayed out for a long time. They even got her telescope out and looked at the stars. I think she is a great candidate for camping!

282/365 - Scrapbook shopping

Scrapbook shopping tonight; always a good time.

281/365 - Lunch

Nancy Drew and pork fried rice. Can't get much better than that!

280/365 - Get well cards

Tonight the girls made get well cards for one of our Prims who has been sick. They are always so willing to show kindness to one of their fellow Prims. I get so proud of them!

279/365 - Izzy's game

Izzy has a game she plays in the bathroom. She hops in the tub and pushes the shower curtain out, and expects you to push it back in. Sometimes we lift up the outside curtain. She always looks so surprised, like she's saying, "That's not how we play."

278/365 - Good neighbors

Our neighbor Bill came over tonight with a wheelbarrow full of kindling wood for Paul. Last week Bill put out a bunch of old wood pieces in the trash. Paul scoffed them up and then thanked him for the kindling wood. Tonight Bill came over with more. We have such great neighbors!

277/365 - Mason with Ettie and Dot

Aunt Dot and Ettie met Mason for the first time today.

276/365 - Visiting Kris, Toby & Marley

This weekend was kind of a whirlwind. I had to work on Saturday (and I also was coming down with a cold so I really wasn't up to par) and after work I took my cousin Lynda, Dot and Ettie over to Kristen and Toby's for them to see their new house. I was very impressed with Kris and Toby. The house was spotless and they had bought a coffee machine (neither of them drink coffee) and we had coffee and dessert in their dining room!

This picture was taken in Marley's room. She made "Glow in the Dark" bracelets for all of us. So sweet.

275/365 - Meeting Mason

My cousin Lynda and my aunt Ettie came for a visit this weekend. Tonight Mark brought Mason over and Lynda met him for the first time.

274/365 - Cleaning

I had the day off from work today (I have to work Saturday) and spent the day cleaning. I know, what a way to spend a day off, but it's got to get done some time!