October Update Part 1

I always have good intentions to blog but every day life keeps getting in the way. Very inconvenient Anyway, Greg took some vacation time off around Columbus Day. We went to the Topsfield Fair on the 10th. I’ll blog about that hopefully sooner rather than later. He also took off the 11th. It was a beautiful fall day so we decided to take a pilgrimage to Meredith, NH, home of my most favorite quilt shop, Keepsake Quilting. I can’t believe its been 10 years since we were there last. The fall colors have been slow to come out this year but we did see some along the way. Logging is huge up north. Anybody watch, American Logger on the History Channel, it takes place in Maine.

Meredith is slightly under 2 hours from us. It sits nestled on Lake Winnipesauke. I’m sure the lake is bustling during the summer but for us it was very peaceful with the summer folks long gone.

 

There was a wonderful view of the mountains off in the distance. Both Greg and I took notice of how fresh the air was there. No city smells in this part of the country.

We parked in the municipal lot right by the lake and took in the beautiful scenery.

This is a local hotel. The flowers decorating it were so beautiful especially against the bright blue sky.

 

 

 

 

Finally we made it to our destination. Keepsake Quilting has expanded since we were there last. I was so sensory overloaded it didn’t even occur to me to take pictures. I bought lots of material for projects that will probably take me forever but both Greg and I had a good time. He picked out some nice material for his own quilt. Maybe someday I’ll be able to post completed photos.

On the way home we stopped at one of our favorite restaurants and had a great turkey dinner. This day felt a little bit like what retirement might feel like. I think I could get used to that.

Respect, Responsibility and Commitment

Spartans 2012 promo  click to see video

I wanted to share with you the YouTube promo for the Spartans 2012 season. The scenes are of rehearsals from this past summer. It takes about 5.5 minutes. About 3 minutes in is a good shot of Derek pounding the gong. I really enjoyed it. I hope you will too.

I forgot to show the picture of the necklace all the kids were given when they were dropped off for the start of tour. I hope I get the meaning of the beads correct. The red show the start and finish of the season, black start and completion of tour participation and the white show that Derek has aged out of future participation. He never takes it off.

Fall is in the Air

Last Saturday was the annual Apple Festival in town. This has been happening on the 3rd Saturday in September for as long as we can remember and happily I didn’t have to work. Basically main street is closed to vehicles and craft booths, games, etc. line both sides of the street. The temperatures this past week have become very fall-like. We are currently playing our ‘how long can we go before we put the heat on game’, but I digress. We thought we saw signs of the economy this year because there seemed to be less booths as years gone by. I imagine being a crafter is a tough way to make a living these days.

I’ve always had a secret fantasy of creating a photo book of barns across America. The one on the right is still under construction. These barns are neighbors to one another so it made it easy. It’s a start…

 

 

When we saw this pretty little lady we couldn’t help but think of Jenny. I thought she might enjoy seeing perhaps a Massachusetts cousin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greg is showing off a birthday present he got the day before Hurricane Irene struck. One can never be too prepared. I think he and Mark were a little disappointed that they never got to use her. I’m sure there will be another time.

She’s Gone, Oops, She’s Back Again

Tuesday, August 23 Greg and I took Emily back to school. (MCLA out in North Adams). She’s an RA (resident assistant) this year and the RA’s went back two weeks early to train.

I really missed the minivan for this trip. Emily sure has a lot of stuff. She had been packing and organizing for weeks. Hmmm, wonder who she gets that from. She was very excited to get back to school and do something different, not to mention this is a paid position.

This was posted on her door. There is a resident director that lives there full time. Em is responsible for suits on 2 floors. One of the perks of the job is a private room. Actually it’s a regular room with 2 closets, 2 desks and 2 beds- all to herself.

She quickly set about rearranging everything. We don’t have  final photos. I’m waiting for her to send some with it all moved in.

This is the view from her window and below is the tower she lives in from the side. Her room looks out over the front on the 4th floor.T

 

It was such a beautiful day we took some photos along the way.

Oh and the she’s back part… On Saturday she called to say she had to come home, they were evacuating the school due to Hurricane Irene, that meant all the RA’s and the sports kids had to leave. Luckily she was able to catch a ride with another RA. Greg picked her up on Saturday because I was working. She was an hour away instead of 3. She is either going back today or tomorrow, still waiting on a decision because some of the roads they travel are closed.

Our Road Warrior has Returned

Thursday, July 28th Derek set off on an adventure of a lifetime. As I’ve said in past posts he joined the Spartan Drum and Bugle Corps out of Nashua, NH for the summer. They compete in the open class arena.

On the 28th they left around 7 p.m. and drove all night, sleeping on the buses. They did a stop over in Ripley, NY to practice and rest. Their next stop was Michigan. Over the course of the 2.5 weeks Derek traveled to Michigan, PA, Indiana and Ohio. He said he saw a lot of corn fields.

Sleeping was done either on the bus or in a gym. There was no personnel space. The kids formed a new tight family unit over the course of the tour.

It was always about practicing and improving their craft.

Kids learned to sleep whenever and wherever they could. Check out the shirt on the kid in this photo. Yes, he came all the way from Oswego, NY to be a Spartan.

Every morning they were woken up to some form of playing which became progressively louder so that everyone was assured to be up an moving bright and early.

The best parts were yet to come. As they traveled and competed the corps continued to improved. The Open Class big competition was in Michigan City, Indiana. It was a two day event with the Open Class competing on the 8th and the World Class groups competing on the 9th. Unfortunately a huge rain stormed cancelled the event on the 8th for the first time since 2003. The kids were very disappointed. On the 9th they had a mega show with both Open and World classes competing.

Jaimie, the drum major anxiously awaits their turn. Everyone was anxious, even to the nail biting point.

Good luck was looked for wherever they could find it.

Above are the members of the pit, Derek is 4th from the left. They take their job very seriously. But… they also know how to have fun.

The kids and staff shared close spaces for 2.5 weeks. Life long friendships and memories were formed.

Although, the Spartans did not place in the top 3 they did place #4 in the Open Class for the entire country. Derek obviously was very happy with their performance. He said they knew right away that they had given the performance of their lives. They broke 91 for a final score, their best all season. One of the main staff members had a death in the family and was flying back and forth trying to juggle corps and family responsibilities. In a very emotional talk he told the kids how proud he was and how their performance helped to ease his pain.

One of the kids in the corps came all the way from Great Britain and had an emergency appendectomy while they were on tour. He was very disappointed that with all his hard work he had to watch from a wheel chair.

The Spartan Color guard took first place in their division. The kids earned a standing ovation from the crowd when they finished their piece.

The guys in street clothes are the pit instructors. The staff was extremely tough and would only except excellence and nothing less from the kids.

Derek with his new friend from Oswego and one of the color guard. Gary, I thought of you with this picture. You’re both VERY special.

Medals were awarded to the Spartans for being Open Class Finalists.

 

The last big event was in Indianapolis at the Lucas Oil Stadium. This was the first year that Open and International Classes were allowed to compete with the World Class Corps. On the first day 41 corps competed for a top 25 spot. Unfortunately for the Spartans, they just missed it coming in at #26. Now that the pressure was off they could relax and enjoy the show.

The second day of competition was to whittle the numbers from 25 to 12 and the 3rd would crown the winner.

Derek was blown away by the size of the stadium and sat in different seats to try out the best vantage points. He liked it up higher so that the competing corps formations could be viewed.

Derek came home last night. We picked him up a little after 10:15 and arrived home around 11:30. He’s had the time of his life so far, expanded his resume and made many new friends and great memories. (CLICK on photos for a larger view.)