Things I learned this weekend...

If you're going to be on a school bus, the safest seat is directly behind the driver.

Saturday J and went to the first of many local fairs. This is the smallest of the year, but my mom runs the photography exhibition so we always go to support her. This year we had the added bonus of her students entering a bus in the School Bus Demolition Derby.

That's right. School Bus. Demolition. Derby.

It was terrifying.

You know that horrible feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you hear a terrible car crash? Multiply that by 50 and that's what this was like for me. People were going NUTS. Like, falling over themselves excited. There was even a scuffle over some seats. The police had to get involved. I've never seen anything like it.

This was our bus. Sadly it didn't win. 

It was chaos. The ground was full of debris. They had to stop three times because of fires. Absolute madness.

Dr Death here came in second, which was kind of amazing considering he didn't have a back end and by the end of the derby couldn't even back up because of it.

The driver had to climb out of the roof. J had to point out to me over and over that the drivers were all wearing neck braces and helmets and that they weren't allowed to hit each other head on. I'm very sensitive. Leave me alone. At the end everyone was safe and the winning school got a $1,000.00 donation.

From there we went and looked at the livestock.

Look at them. There's something about cows that I love. They're so calm and sweet and velvety...

I tried very hard to convince J that we needed a calf...

I was overruled. It's fine. I told him he couldn't get a goat and name him Billy Billy, so we're even.

I also love the alpaca's. They're so much fun. Did you know that alpaca's have no top teeth? I didn't either. They use the bottom teeth for digging. That's why they always look like they have a massive underbite. I think it adds to their charm.

We went to the horse pulling, which is my favorite part of ANY fair, but my pictures from that are not spectacular. Next fair, promise. We also watched a pig scramble which left me tramautized. They hold the pigs by the hind legs! Poor things! I'm sure it's the best way to hold pigs and it doesn't hurt, but I'M SENSITIVE, OKAY?!  We don't ride rides, but the lights where so pretty as we were walking to the car to head home.

Fall in New England is my favorite. Till next time...

Weekend Escape

We live a hectic life, J and I. Beyond the fact that both of us commute over an hour to work (in opposite directions), we have a great group of friends, lots of various interests and hobbies that have events we love to attend, and are both lucky enough to be close to our families. This can lead to Social Burnout. Symptoms include sniping at each other over nothing, the feeling that you are never pleasing anybody, and general exhaustion. We had that. It's hard to be a grown up and as popular as we are.

We needed a recharge. We are both fortunate to have family houses on lakes (in New England we call these 'camps'). Last weekend we went to my family's camp. I gave my parents and brother lectures about how we would like to be left alone, that drop-ins where NOT ALLOWED (rude? probably. desperate times and all that) and we headed up Friday night.

It was glorious. It was exactly what we needed. After an aborted attempt at sleeping in (any one want two dogs?), we got up and had a leisurely breakfast and coffee, played cards and talked about everything and nothing. It's weird when you have to catch up with some one that you live with. Since it was rainy and gloomy we headed out and ran a couple errands. By the time we were done the sun was shining. J set up a makeshift brewing line and I dragged an extension cord outside so I could catch up on creating a friend's wedding invitations. We tied up the dogs and worked in companionable silence for hours. I have to admit it took until about noon for me to finally let go and relax completely.

The temperature was perfectly New England fall- warm in the sun but chilled in the shade. I took a break and walked the dogs to the water to play. Guffy was not having it, but Tucker played with me and the waves for a bit. When he was spent, we went back and I curled up with my latest book (The Paris Wife- loooooving it). Dinner was slow cooked ribs, grilled corn, and potato salad. I started to document the making of potato salad to share with you all, but I got distracted halfway through and stopped taking pictures. Sorry! After dinner we played cards again and were in bed by 9:30. Glorious.

Sunday was much the same, but halfway through the day we went to a very special two year old's birthday party.

It was a sleepy ride home.

Now we are back to reality, but I'm still hanging on to that calm relaxed feeling that comes from a weekend escape.

FREEDOM!

Fun fact about me: I've never seen Braveheart. I think I've made it about 15 minutes in a couple of times, but nothing beyond that. I'm cool with it. I hope we're still friends.

This is not a post about my lack of seeing Mel Gibson in a kilt, this is a post about a little town in New Hampshire called Freedom. It's a bit like stepping back in time. All the locals know each other, the ladies in the church all sew together, everyone says hello when you walk down the street. It's lovely. My family has a house on a lake in Freedom. My brother lives in Freedom. My uncle has a house in Freedom. I was almost born in Freedom. We go back, Freedom and my family.

Every year they have Freedom Old Home Week, and to kick it off there's a parade. Hang out with my mom long enough and she'll be happy to tell you that the ONLY parade she has ever missed is from 1980- the year I was born. I haven't lived that down.

The incredibly talented sign holder on the right is my niece.

The parade itself is a jumble of things, fife and drum bands, community bands, camps, town clubs, animals, antique cars. Any and all can enter, and everyone gets a ribbon. At the end of each parade come the fire trucks, my favorite. Since the town is so small, the parade goes down main street, turns around and comes back. A parade so nice, you have to see it twice! While they are turning around a band plays and people mill around and say hello.

My parents and my littlest nephew.

Everyone scrambles to get back into their spots to watch the excitement one more time...

OK,maybe it IS a post about kilts.

My other nephew. Handsome devil.

Shriners!

It's a lovely day in a lovely town.