Thanksgiving 2012

We were very blessed to have some of our family with us this year. The new office counter space came in very handy as a buffet center.

Below to the left is Derek patiently waiting. In the center is Eric and his daughter Kelsey. Mark is at the right with his back to us. Sheila  is in front of Kelsey.

A wonderful dinner was enjoyed by all good conversation and good food.

Later in the day we hit the desserts hard. I hope everyone out there had a great Thanksgiving. It’s being with family and friends that makes it special. I hope we can all be together next year and I’m certainly open to hosting.

Hurricane Sandy Update and Storm Prepping

Part of Mark’s new responsibility with his landscape business is plowing his accounts. The father of one of his buddies has a lot of connections and he helped Mark get this used plow. A few weekends ago Mark went up to his place and they installed it, that was a load off his mind. He was concerned that a freak early snow storm would come and he wouldn’t be prepared.

He cleared out a spot near his barn will the plow will reside. Greg was helping him position it.

Yep, a good fit. During the off season he’ll tarp it.

Hurricane Sandy made it’s presence known to us yesterday. We were very, very blessed that we only lost power for 10 seconds. Hard to believe. Some parts of town are still out. We suffered some tree damage but it thankfully all fell in the woods. Other areas were much harder hit, NYC. Our thoughts and prayers are with those that have experienced loss in any form.

Project Completed- Check That Off The List

We have completed our office conversion project and wanted to share some before and after's. The above photo is a few years old and around the holidays. Joseph was also still with us. When we completed our house remodel in 2000 Greg got a very nice desk but unfortunately over the years the kids had taken it over.

The desk has been relocated to our new office so we were able to shift things around and create a cozy reading area.

We took the cabinet that used to house books from the living room and it now displays the beautiful china my mother gave me years ago that had been packed up. The foldup table in the photo below used to be where the china cabinet is now and was a catchall for everything.

This was a before of the living room. This is an older picture. Where the fold up table is were file draws with stuff all over them. We replaced the old carpet with hardwood and aim to keep the room as clutter free as possible.

Above is the old desk configuration that Greg was using. This was before we got the file cabinets that went to the right of the desks.

This is the finished product. The couch is old but coupled with the rug gives a cozy feel to the room so we’ll probably keep it around for awhile.

The Fair 2013- Part II

We went to the fair on Friday. The fair runs for 10 day with today being the last day. The weather last week was some of the rainiest we’ve had in a long time. We were really luck in that Friday was beautiful, full sun and 70’s. The down side was it was very crowded. We always start out in the flower barn. Very inspirational.

We have the distinct honor of the world record pumpkin. It was grown in Rhode Island and tipped the scales at 2009 pounds. The news did a feature on the grower. He said it was a 40 hour work week tending to his baby. It paid off. On a note of trivia. Larry David is filming a movie in the area and a scene was filmed in the fruit and vegetable barn with the pumpkin. We also have a local eatery that was used in the film. Our paper said that Larry liked the place so much and the custom sandwich that they made him that he went back later on his own. They named the sandwich after him.

I think I’ve mentioned in past years that this is the oldest county fair in the country. They still have judging, quilts, fruits and vegetable etc. The big thing we noticed in the 4-H building was that there were very few things made by kids anymore. A sad statement of our times.

 

 

 

Greg thought the above tractor was something Mark might like.

One of the reasons we like to go later in the week is the sand sculpture is further along.

Dave, one of the mounted horses was enjoying attention from the visitors.

Hmmm, maybe Greg was thinking horses instead of tractors.

The midway is not really our cup of tea, but we enjoy a walk around. The fair was a pleasant divergence from our living room project. The flooring will be installed on Thursday and on the weekend we should be able to put things back together. I hope to be able to give you an update soon.

Fair Week 2013 Part I–The Parade

Last Saturday, September 29th was the annual Topsfield Fair Parade. Greg and I try to get to it when we can. The sky was gray and overcast with misting but any serious rain held off. There were plenty of local fire trucks current and from the past.

As always, for me its about the horses. Every other year the Royal Canadian Mounted Police come to the fair. This was the year. They really are beautiful.

The pumpkin in this truck was big, but not the winner.

Scott Brown, above in red is running for the senate. There were a few other politician hopefuls in the parade as well.

There was a pretty good turnout despite the weather. For us its an annual rite of passage and the end of summer with the knowledge that winter is right around the corner.