Weekending

May 21, 2018 By Carole

Happy Monday, friends! And can I just say, right now, how glad I am that next Monday is a holiday? Because this Monday work thing seems to come around much too quickly. I imagine that’s partly because we manage to cram so much into the weekend. Here. I’ll show you . . .

Friday:

A walk with Jack in the afternoon. He was tired and refused to sleep so we went for a walk since I thought the stroller would lull him to sleep. It didn’t but when we came back he fell asleep immediately and was out for about 90 minutes.

Friday Night Snacks. You know the drill. We caught up on some TV and watched the first episode of Little Women on Masterpiece Theater. It’s good but feels a bit rushed to me, I think it would be hard to follow if you didn’t know the story.

Saturday:

Up early (very early) for the royal wedding and some knitting. I thought the wedding was spectacular, loved the wedding gown, was utterly impressed with the ceremony itself (the gospel choir! the exuberant pastor! the flowers!), and it was all worth getting up for. Plus, it gave me a great excuse to take a late morning nap.

It was a raw and rainy day so there wasn’t much opportunity for yard work but we still got some stuff done around the house and then headed out in search of food. We had a wonderful time at The Olde Hitching Post, the restaurant where we had our wedding reception almost 21 years ago.

The music in the lounge was great and we had a really lovely evening. We even sneaked into the room where we had our reception on our way out and danced in the dark to Moon River (our wedding song) as it played on my iPhone in my pocket book. Tots romantic.

Sunday:

The weather finally cooperated for outside work and the first order of the day was getting our new window boxes hung. Dale did a great job getting them done and it really didn’t take much time at all, which makes me wonder why we didn’t do this 3 years ago when we first did the new siding on the house. This is step one of our new-front-yard-curb-appeal plan, all those plants you currently see in those beds are either being relocated or ditched, more on that as we make progress.

I went to a local nursery to get annuals for the window boxes and container gardens. I also picked up some lettuce but we’ll hold off on the rest of the vegetables until next weekend. It was awesome to enjoy the warmth of the day and wander through all the greenhouses making my selections.

And then I planted containers. I went with more foliage and less flowers this year although I’m sure I’ll get zinnias and some other things going, too. It started to rain just as I was finishing up – I actually planted the lettuce in a pretty steady downpour – but I got it done and the rain was a welcome way to get everything watered.

It cleared up enough for a cocktail on the deck but a passing shower drove us back inside where we hung out on the couch and caught up on more tv.

It was a busy, productive, fun weekend!

Wednesdays Are For Knitting

May 16, 2018 By Carole

On Monday night our town held Annual Town Meeting. This is something I always attend, many years ago as a Department Head and then for the last twenty-one years as a town resident and registered voter. I always sit with Dale and our friends in the same general area. And I always knit during the meeting.

You know where this is going, right?

Now that I am a selectman in town I sit up on the stage with my colleagues on the board and various other town officials. And I can’t knit, of course. You all know that I can absolutely pay attention while I’m knitting but the average non-knitter doesn’t know that and, let’s face it, I’m there to do a job and knitting just isn’t part of that gig.

Can I just say, of all the things I considered when I decided to run for selectman . . . the things I knew would be challenging . . . the sacrifices I might have to make . . . not knitting at town meeting never even crossed my mind. You know when it finally dawned on me that I couldn’t bring my knitting? About 30 minutes before the meeting. I can’t help but wonder, if I had considered this particular sacrifice back in January when I made my decision to run, if I would have chosen differently.

You know I’m kidding. Mostly.

If I had actually been knitting, I would have been working on these socks.

Halloween colors, yes, but at the rate I finish a pair of socks these days, well, I don’t think it’s too early to be working on them.

She’s A Master!

May 15, 2018 By Carole

Hannah’s commencement ceremony last Thursday night was very special. Held under the same massive tent as when she received her BA three year’s ago, the university does a great job of making things go smoothly and complements it all with great speakers, heartfelt congratulations from the university faculty and staff, and plenty of pomp and circumstance. Heaters would have been truly appreciated against the chilly wind blowing through the tent but we managed!

Doreen and I went early and secured seats for Dale, who came as soon as he got out of work, and for Hannah’s dad Rick and his girlfriend Stacie. Hannah’s boyfriend Mikey was also there, of course, and we cheered as loud as we could when she crossed the stage and got her Master’s hood.

There was a reception after the ceremony, complete with food and drink, but we did not partake of that since dear Sean offered to host a little cocktail party at his house for us. I have no pictures of that part of the evening but trust me when I say that Sean outdid himself with incredibly delicious and fabulous snacks and drinks! Jo-Ann was there, too, and we had a wonderful time reminiscing about the ceremony and relaxing together.

Want to see some photos?

Hannah and her boyfriend, Mikey.

Hannah and Dale.

They say it takes a village and this is most (not all, but most) of Hannah’s village. Dale and I, Rick and Stacie, and Doreen, who has been an incredibly supportive and loving godmother to my daughter for almost 26 years now.

And so, my girlie now has her Master’s in Special Education (summa cum laude, I might add) and this mama couldn’t be more proud.

Weekending

May 14, 2018 By Carole

Well, that was a super fast weekend! I managed to capture the highlights in photos, though.

Doreen came up on Thursday night for Hannah’s graduation and she spent the day with me on Friday, too. We went plant shopping and it was so fun! I managed to find a few of the things I was looking for that will be going in the new garden out front – and several that I wasn’t – that have been added to the existing perennial bad in the backyard. I also plant about a dozen or so container gardens and Doreen does triple that number! We talked about plant combos and ideas and I felt very inspired by the advice and help we got from folks at the garden centers. I haven’t bought much for those containers yet but I’ll be doing that in the next week or so.

On Friday night Dale and I went to a retirement party for my cousin Len. He actually retired back in January so this was a slightly delayed celebration but still just as special and joyful. We enjoyed the great company of family and made some new friends. The food was terrific and the speeches were thoughtful and I’m just so glad for Len and Peg and hope he has a super long and healthy retirement.

On Saturday Dale was up and out early to do a Civil War reenactment thing. I headed to the hardware store to get a new washer for our garden hose (because I was getting soaked every time I turned the thing on due to the leaking) and I was also in search of some new containers for the deck so I went to Ocean State Job Lot. While I was there I was also texting with Jo-Ann and she happened to mention the beer list for Black Hat Brew Works and the next thing I knew I was picking her up and heading for Home Depot and then the brewery. It was a completely unexpected and fun way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon. Dale joined us when his event was over and, even though there was no food truck at the brewery that day, we had some pizza delivered to go with our beer and it was great.

Sunday was Mother’s Day and we had no specific plans other than hoping to hear from the kids. (3 out of 4 ain’t bad, hahahaha). Dale and I spent the afternoon working on our fire pit. We had purchased some new chairs a few weeks back and had a truck load of rocks delivered last Thursday to spread around the area. It needed weeding and edging first but by late afternoon we had that all down and the rocks spread around. It looks so much nicer and I predict we will use and enjoy it much more this season since it’s looking so good.

Hannah came over and we cobbled together some snacks to go with cocktails and we had a great time chatting by the fire, discussing all sorts of woo-woo things like meditation and reiki and chakras. I’m so thankful and happy to have a daughter who is also a friend. It’s what I always hoped would happen and it brings me a lot of joy to spend time with her and talk about our mutual interests.

And that’s a wrap on the weekend!

Eye Candy Friday

May 11, 2018 By Carole

Hannah’s graduation last night was wonderful and I’ll have more photos to show you along with stories of the evening. For now, though, here is a close up of the red roses Dale and I got her to show her just how proud of her we are.

It was a great kick off to Mother’s Day weekend, I’ll tell you that. Hope you weekend is special and full of celebration, too, whatever you are doing.