Dot, Joe and Mason at the Atrium

We brought Mason to see Dot tonight. She and her friend Joe got quite a kick out of him. At first he was very shy but he came around eventually and even sat on Dot's lap.





When we left he gave Dot a big hug and kiss, blew Joe a kiss, and on the way out waved and said "Goodbye". I think everyone in the room had a smile on their face when we left. He sure is a sweetie!

Kristen's notebooks

Tonight when I brought Marley home from Prims, this is what I saw.

This is a picture with her "equipment."



Kristen is getting ready for her next craft fair. This time she is expanding on her notebooks. I love them! I have three different ones. I just think they are so unique!

Ferncol Fair with Marley

Hot and humid was today's weather for the Ferncol Fair. Paul, Marley and I met Big Baba and his cousin Robert there. Robert doesn't live on the Templeton grounds anymore where they hold the fair every year. The State has been making some changes transitioning from large institutions to group homes and Robert now lives in a brand new group home not too far away.




There was an Indian Pow Wow there that Marley and I spent a long time at.






We watched the oxen pull,






and took our traditional tour of the dairy barn,














went on a hayride and walked through the corn maze.





Next year I hope we can do a little more with Robert. His aide didn't bring his wheelchair, only his walker, and it was a real slow go to get anywhere with him. Baba and Big Baba basically visited with him in one place while Marley and I did the fair. Hopefully next year he'll have his wheelchair with him and we can all do a little more together.

Ride to Wilmington VT

We probably should have stayed home today. We have a lot of things that we need to work on.....but since yesterday was my birthday we decided that we would take another ride and just relax. The calm before the storm so to speak. We headed up to another part of Vermont. The leaves are really starting to turn up in what I call the "high country" (Rt. 9 across southern Vermont).



I was not prepared for what we saw in Wilmington. We have seen a lot of flood damage on our last few rides to Vermont, but what we saw today was the worst, because the whole main street of this town was devastated. We have been to Wilmington many times and know the town well. Dot's restaurant has been a haunt of ours. It sits right next to the river. It was flooded along with the rest of the street.












Here are some pictures of the rest of the main street.











This weekend they were having "Floodstock" at a farm nearby to benefit the town.



Again, I was amazed at the force of water.

It's going to take parts of Vermont a long time to clean up and recover. They have had to rebuild a lot of their roads. It's amazing how much they have done in a month.

***Another Post Office - Wilmington, VT

Deb's Birthday

Today is my birthday and being a Friday, the kids came over. I can't think of a better way for a grandma to spend her birthday, can you?

Paul bought another little cake, and Uncle Mark and Marley lit the candles (again I didn't have the right numbers so I decided to be 48!). Everyone sang and Marley and Mason blew out the candles. It's so much fun to watch Mason get so excited.









Happy birthday to me!

Mason's breakthrough at Prims

Mark is back in school, and already tomorrow he has an exam....So, Mason came to Prims with Grandma tonight.

Last semester I brought him a few times and it was "huggy grandma" which meant he wanted to be picked up. I had to carry him around the whole night.

Not so tonight! We had a real breakthrough. He didn't ask to be picked up once, although a couple of times he would look for me and say "Hi Grandma."

He sat at the table with the girls and colored, and he even sat in the circle for story.







Good thing.... I have a feeling that he will become a regular this semester as Mark has his "clinical" on Wednesdays from 7 am to 7 pm!

I finally have someone to play dolls with

I finally have someone to play dolls with....

This was the comment Marley made tonight! She brought one of her American Dolls over tonight and Mason was very interested in her.





Marley decided that she would bring over one of her other dolls and leave it at Grandma's. Too funny!

Dot's birthday

Today is my aunt Dot's birthday, and we had a party for her at The Atrium. She has been there for 3 1/2 months and is doing really well. She seemed so happy to see everyone today.


Her best friend Steph came.




My whole family was there and our good friends Linda and Ralph.






We sang "Happy Birthday" and she blew out her candles.




The rest of the residents came in to have cake and celebrate with her.




She opened her presents and cards, and Steph read her cards to her.




We all went to see her room, and then we visited in the "living room."








Mason entertained us all with his "motorcross moves."





I was so happy to see Dot so happy. I love The Atrium. They have been so good to her there.

Happy Birthday Dot!