It’s a pretty nice day here at The Cabin – want to take a walk to the pond?


Even the walk to the pond involves a nice path through the woods-

with some lovely wildflowers along the way.


See that washtub in the underbrush?

When I was a young un’, my grandfather and I (and any other grandkidlins’ that happened to be along) would stop there, tip the washtub over and dig in that special spot for the best fishing worms. We’d then head to the pond with our tin cans of squirming dirt and learn about putting worms on hooks and catching trout for lunch! Back in the day, Grampy Doc would keep the pond stocked with trout – today it’s populated mostly with bluegills, salamanders, frogs and a couple of turtles. Still fun to catch, but not quite lunch material!
Moving along memory lane -
Ah, the pond -

and more lovely wildflowers



And of course, the main reason I walk to the pond these days is to take my annual Cabin Picture -

And then a couple more variations -


This guy stayed still long enough for me to snap his picture -

Such color!
Instead of taking the trail back up to the cabin, let’s go back up the old road -


Over the hill, we come to another view of the cabin -

Wait – is that Josiah and Abigail, snatching a hug on the lawn?

Perhaps they’re discussing the disadvantages of sharing the one room Cabin, with all of its romantic seclusion, with your parents?
Or maybe they were just planning on where to go on these -

Who needs romance when you have ATV’s!!!!!
Before we finish up the walk – one last picture -

It might only be mid-August, but here in Vermont the signs of Fall are beginning!

We are here.

And when the sky is not so blue, and the book is not so good, and the naps are under control, I’ll share some stories of what we’ve been doing.
But for now -
Here is last night’s sunset.

Contented sighs being heard all around.

Girlfriends are the BEST!
And I, for reasons beyond my understanding, have been blessed with some of the BEST girlfriends EVER.
Really.
There are my Quilting BFF’s -

Before we hit the road six years ago, we met every Monday night and while our fingers were busy making quilts for our kids’ school, our hearts were melded together as we shared our lives over the quilt frame. We grew together as our kids went from elementary school to high school and then to college. We rejoiced at weddings and the birth of babies. Some nights we solved the problems of the world. We laughed, we cried, we prayed. These ladies are so very precious to me!
Seven of us met for dinner at a local restaurant, ate and talked from 6-9:30PM or so, and then hung around the parking lot finishing up our conversations for another half hour. It was a great night!
(And the picture is from our last gathering 2 years ago and is missing two dear friends – Janet & Nancy. I was too busy catching up (i.e. talking) to pull out the camera for a group shot. But I don’t think any of us have really changed!)
Then there are my Birthday Buddies.

I know I’ve mentioned these dear friends before and it was indeed wonderful to be celebrating our (non) birthdays by enjoying High Tea together and then catching up into the night. These are friends that know all my “stuff” and still love me anyway.
And then there’s Janet -

She and I met on the first day of preschool for two of our children (who are now 29). In those early years we were together so much that her youngest daughter (a babe in arms when we met) to this day calls me Mom. As the kids grew and we lost some of the connecting threads (school changes and the like), we still managed to maintain a special kindred heart friendship. We both count Janet and her sweet hubby Joe as some of our closest friends – the ones you might not talk to for a couple of month, but it doesn’t really matter. You know that they know that you know you’re there for each other! (Plus, now that we know our house fits in their driveway, they know that we’ll be back!).

I can’t even begin to list out the wonderful girlfriends I’ve made in the last six years – Jo, Rosie, Naomi, Lilly, Dolly, Nancy, Joan, Anne, Ellen…..

Or the friends that I seem to have been re-connected to as I blog around the country – like Lynne and Deb.

But these may be the most special of girlfriends -

Because when you’ve been blessed with sisters that are also best friends – well, it doesn’t really get any better than that!

Girlfriends – like I said, I have the BEST!

and catching our breath.

It seems like forever since we’ve been in our house with the slides out, a little bit of power to run the A/C and the coffee pot, and a little free time on our hands.
We had a great visit with our kids in Lancaster,


an excellent (though too short) visit with my sister, hubby and some of their family north of Carlisle -

(L-R – Me, Niece Chris, Sister Joie – sure do love those ladies!)
and an all around great time re-aquainting ourselves with the beauty that is Pennsylvania.
But I must confess, that it is LOVELYto be sitting still, not only catching our breath and catching up on chores, but more importantly, catching up with friends!

(They’re reviewing the morning’s yard sale finds!)

Oh, and sleeping in our own bed!

After two years away, I think I’d forgotten some of the things that I really love about Pennsylvania.
Like the beautiful rolling hills, in all of their green splendor -

Or the majestic barns that dot the countryside.

But as much as we were looking forward to seeing good ol’ Pennsylvania terraine, it is really the friends and family that we were going to be able to see as we crossed the state that had us excited!
Like my college roommate!

Forty-one years ago we were put together as roommates because her last name started with DR and mine started with DW. Our lives have taken different paths, but still the bond that was formed back in 1969 remains. We had a delightful visit with her and her hubby – Thanks, Deb for sticking with me all these years!
And then there was a sweet visit with my nephew Mike, his beautiful wife and their kiddos!

We were delighted to spend a couple of days with them, parked in front of their home. I confess it helped with our Ellie-Hayley-Maddie withdrawal symptoms to be able to play with the little ones. We should be getting to seem them a little more regularly in the future since Mike (well, the practice he works with) has consented to be our family doctor. We both got a clean bill of health (ok, so Gary still has that subdural thingymabob, but with no symptoms there really isn’t anything to do!), so we seem to be good to go for another year or so. It was lovely to see Mike and Robyn – we hadn’t even met their littlest one!
And right now we are in New Freedom, PA where we’ve been able to visit with two of our close SOWER friends. As an extra bonus, two other SOWER couples joined us for a pot-luck last night. What a fun and wonderful evening!

I’ve got to tell you, these are some of my very favorite peeps!

Tomorrow early we will be heading a bit north to Lancaster, PA where we’ll be spending a week with our son Josiah and his wife Abigail. We’re so looking forward to seeing them, their “new” (100 year old) house, and their puppy dogs! We’re totally ignoring the “3 Day Rule” (fish and company begin to smell after three days), but I think they might find something for us to do during our time there. I mean after all, Gary is coming with his tools!

Better get to bed – we want to be in Lancaster for worship with J&A!
Sweet dreams!