Mendon notes....8/28/09

Today is a busy day in our family...2 anniversaries and 1 birthday all today. Beth & Mark celebrate 27 years, Steve & Lynn celebrate 10 years and Beth celebrates birthday all today. Congratulations to all.

David took Adriana, Giulia and me to the Brooklyn Fair yesterday afternoon. This is said to be the oldest continuosly run agricultural fair in the country. They've maintained the agricultural aspect very well. Yesterday was the opening day and they had a skillet-throwing contest, a cutting (chain-saw) contest, many animal judging events, and who knows what else. We visited the hand-crafts (jellies, garden produce, children's arts, etc) and home living (commercial businesses like new windows, maple syrup, landscaping, Pampered Chef, Tupperware, etc) barns where we met Jim Moorey's parents who had a booth for their kitchen cabinet re-surfacing business.

Of course, midway, cotton candy and candy apples. Giulia was amazed at the sizes of servings of ice-cream cones, sundaes, pizza, fried dough, etc that she saw being consumed as we walked along the lanes. When Adriana ordered a 'kiddie-sized ice-cream cone' and it was handed to her with a double scoop piled high, Giulia asked how Americans can eat so much.

Next week we may attend another fair...the Woodstock Fair, again in Connecticut, which is larger than the Brooklyn Fair. This is the season! I love autumn!

New beginning

Tony & I have begun a new year...a return to being 'parents' of a teen. Our exchange student, Giulia, arrived from Rome last week and has settled in extremely well. In February I had given her an e-mail address of a student here in Mendon who would be in her class. Morgan Murphy is the daughter of a friend of mine and this proved to be a good mix. Morgan and Giulia have been corresponding since February and have discovered many similar likes and interests. Giulia arrived on the 15th, late at night, and after a fitfull sleep, she awakened on Thursday morning with questions about when she could see Morgan. Soooo, we got these 2 girls together and they 'hit it off'. During the next few days, Morgan took Giulia to the movies, introduced her to more friends, took her bowling (twice) with more friends, and took her to the school for a personal tour during which she met the principal. Today was new-student orientation. Giulia came home from that floating on cloud-nine. She's soooo ready. Classes begin next Tuesday. We meet with the guidance counselor tomorrow morning to register for her classes and get her schedule and locker. She's thrilled at having a locker and riding on the yellow school bus (we'll see how long that lasts).
Adriana has been acting as Giulia's guide around the house, and in the process has taken on so many more of the household kitchen tasks. She's quite adept at making and serving coffee, loading and unloading the dishwasher, making salads, pancakes (even learning how to manage cooking safely) and muffins. The 2 of them routinely clear the table after supper and clean up the kitchen. Giulia has cooked the dinner on 2 occasions (spaghetti alla Cabanara--FABULOUS!) and is anxious to show off her culinary skills on more meals. If I work this right.....
We had a new pellet stove installed in the family room to replace the air-tight wood-burning stove that has been there for the past 25 years. Splitting, stacking and hauling wood has become much too muchwork for Tony. Arthritis has given him more pain than he needs, and these winter tasks don't help the situation. Besides, the new stove should be a lot cleaner...less wood chips around the hearth and across the floor, and much less ash to dispose of. Bring on winter!
Have been making the fruit jellies as usual this summer. They smell sooooo good now, and will taste sooooo good in the winter. This week is blackberry jam week. Packed away already is blueberry and red raspberry. Later will be apple butter and grape jelly and conserve. That should do it for this year. Some of the jars will become Christmas gifts to neighbors with freshly made breads, others will be donated to Susan's church's Christmas Fair, and enough for us will be put into reserve.
This week is the third week of HHH weather so the neighbor's pool has been a welcome oasis. Until the North Carolinians came for a visit at the end of July, we'd had a unusually cool wet summer. It was only then that the window AC units were installed, but they've had a constant workout since. At least getting a good night's sleep makes the days more bearable, and when heat 'gets to me', I can retreat to the bedrooms during the day for a brief respite. Forecast is for cool nights beginning tomorrow (even as low as 49 at night in the forecast), and warm days...typical for early autumn.
Alex is due home on 9-15 for a 2-week leave. We'll talk with him on Skype a few times. His family is most anxious to have him home and I know that 2 weeks will fly.
To all, stay happy, healthy and safe.

Weekend happenings

Our children and their families put on a fantastic anniversary party for Tony and me yesterday. The location was ideal...plenty of activities for all ages The youngsters had a swimming pool, badminton, volleyball, horseshoes, shuffleboard, a moonwalk, a campfire and a haywagon ride to keep them amused. The weather cooperated and the food was great...enough for still another party. Thank-you, all! We LOVED it! ! ! ! !

This was a wonderful opportunity to see friends, neighbors and family all at once. We are honored that folks came from far and wide...but still missed a few very important family members who are just too far away (sister in CA and grandson in Iraq...love you both).

Our 8 yr-old granddaughter made our anniversary cake by herself...I'm sooooo impressed. She's been cooking alongside her mom and me since she first could push a chair up to the counter. She's learned to read recipes, measure accurately and use the mixers. Now I see that she handles the icing bags and tips adeptly, too. She's also the one who makes gourmet doggie biscuits that she sells at the cafe...a budding entrepreneur who takes after her mom.

On Thursday, youngest son, Tony, arrived from California...and will stay for 2 weeks. Although we talk with him weekly on Skype, it's wonderful to feel those hugs. Technology hasn't yet fine-tuned in on that last aspect.

North Carolina family left at 4 am this morning after a week visit. Beth and the girls spent quite a lot of time in Putnam cooking and preparing for yesterday's feast. Having those facilities sure made their job easier. They also managed to squeeze in a Freedom Trail excursion, dinners and swims with Mark's family in Upton, and for Mark and Jason, a visit to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield.

Sarah brought with her 20 T-shirts from her camp days as a camper, CIT and counselor. During the week, I showed her how to turn them into a quilt. She finished it on Saturday afternoon and has a wonderful memory to take back to college with her. It came out spendidly! ! !

Now the house is toooo quiet, but I'm catching up on laundry (towels and bedding) and finding the last few left-behind things. There is always a box to send on after a couple of weeks of discovery. So far, I've found 2 items to pack into that box. There is sure to be more in the next couple of days, although, for a family of 7 descending upon this house, they do a remarkable job of packing up all their stuff in just a couple of hours. There are years of routines and training in that task.

Wishing them all well on their journey south.