Family Time

Happy Tuesday to you; hard to believe it's Halloween. Last Friday, Carrie hosted our quarterly tea party/luncheon for all the little girls. It is always so very fun and watching them learn how to be gracious hostesses. Here is the luncheon that Carrie's oldest girls prepared; however I took the salad in a Christmas bowl-wanted to be the first to have something for Christmas.

Carrie made us all wonderful name tags; I know we will use them for Thanksgiving too.

Here are our eight granddaughters.  I love each of their different personalities and each one holds a very special place in my heart.

That evening we celebrated three birthdays-Carrie is on the left and had a birthday a week ago and our two son in laws had a birthday on Sunday.  With our large family, we tend to do parties with more than one person celebrating their birthday.  Kim is on the right of me-wearing a shawl she made.

Our oldest son in law-with our youngest granddaughter.

Kim's hubby; we gave both guys the exact same gift certificate to Scheels Sporting Goods.  They love them and already know what they are getting.

I spent this morning at one of my neighbor/walking partner having "coffee or cider", which usually means that it is more like a breakfast.
Hubby and I are going to the movies this afternoon to see A Different Kind of Me.  I've heard great things about it and can't wait-but will take my Kleenex.
I hope you have a great last day of October.  Hard to believe tomorrow is November 1st.
Joy to you!
Noreen

Vermont

Happy Monday to you all. As we drove through the White Mountains, it was pouring rain, which made the colors not as bright. Here we are in Vermont. We stopped at Woodstock and I even bought a Vermont Flannel Shirt from the store with that name.

You can see it was wet, with our rain slickers on.  Not a very good shot, but it is a contender for our Christmas Card.

I am pretty certain that this lake was in New Hampshire where is was raining.  Love the reflections though.

It is going to be a very cold day today; hubby and I will hit the gym this morning and after running one errand, hope to stay inside.
I hope you have a fantastic last Monday of October.
Hugs,
Noreen

The Glorious Colors

Happy Friday to you all. I am reveling in the colors we did see, although not at peak still incredible to behold.  All photos were taken with my IPhone SE and were not touched up, all were taken in New Hampshire.  It was a cold and rainy day as we drove through the White Mountains; not the best for photos, but still so beautiful.

Fell in love with this mini doodle named Sophie; in fact, she reminded me of Murphy who you can find here: https://murphyandstanley.blogspot.com.  She had such a sweet temperament, that even hubby said he'd take her home for Hunter.  Of course, her parents didn't think that was a good idea.  I know Hunter would love having her as a sister.

I actually got out my new Vermont Flannel Company shirt last evening-it was that cold.  It has to be the heaviest flannel shirt I've ever seen or had; since I really wanted it and we were there-so why not?!
I hope you are enjoying your weather, warm or cold.
Have a great weekend.
Hugs, Noreen 

Autumn in New Hampshire

Happy Thursday from snowy Colorado. We've been enjoying warm weather a bit longer than normal, but it's still hard to have the snow come before December. One of the things hubby and I looked forward to on our trip was seeing lots of covered bridges, we love them. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Loved this church.

I'm sorry to say I am just not ready for winter yet.  It would be wonderful to just stay inside and sew all afternoon, but I've got things to do before we head to have dinner with our friends.  Tomorrow will find us at the gym, then our quarterly tea/lunch with all the girls while hubby takes the boys out to lunch and tomorrow night we celebrate our daughter and son-in-laws birthdays.
I hope that your day is filled with contentment and peace.
Blessings~
Noreen

A Bit More of Maine

Happy Wednesday to you all. I hope your week is going well thus far. Yesterday after a wonderful breakfast and catch up with my dear neighbors, hubby and I began cleaning up the back yard~you know trimming all the bushes, cutting all the decorative grasses and the dead Echinecia thistle heads before our grandsons came over to help us take out a large Pine Tree. When our home was built the HOA made all the yards have Pine trees in them. Give them 10 years or so and they get quite tall and also tend to block the views from our neighbors, as well as block the sunlight on their garden. It only took about 1.5 hours with all four of us working; we do have at least two more trips to the refuse area. It changes the look of the yard, but I'm confident that I will find some small flowering shrubs to replace it. Anyway, onto more of our trip. Most of the photos are self explanatory, but toward the end I'll share a little about a cute little store.

Love this next house.

O.k., so what do quilters do when they travel-they look for every quilt store they can find to visit.  This store was in Litchfield Maine and very quaint.

Here are Barbara(front left) and I(wearing my fisherman sweater from Ireland and a fall pin from Maine 14 years ago)leaving with a little bit of fabric; another thing that avid quilters do is add to their stash.

Today will be busy again-hitting the gym first thing, taking the loads of trimmings to the refuse center, taking a gal to lunch and tonight hubby will be taking the boys to their Outdoor Ed club.
Tomorrow it is supposed to snow and I'm not thrilled with that-mainly because I'm not ready, but also we have to go up north to some friend's home for dinner and I really dislike having to go anywhere of distance if it is snowing.    Thank you all for encouraging me with the gym; it is hard to get into weight machines, but I can already see the difference in how my pants fit.  I'm confident that it is also helping my bones and possibly getting rid of a little fluff.
Have a blessed day!
Noreen

Autumn Sunset

Happy Tuesday! This weekend hubby got a new IPhone-not because he wanted one per say, but because the volume on his phone was gone and he could only hear if it was on speaker phone. We have been told that the IPhone 8 has an incredible camera, so on Sunday night when he was working he took these sunset photos; we were very impressed.

Today I'm heading to my neighbors house for coffee and a catch up-which means that it will be breakfast too.  She is an amazing hostess, much like the sister of my heart Susan.  I know it will be a full breakfast; I'm hoping we all walk afterward.
I hope your week has started out well.
Hugs and giggles,
Noreen

Castle Tucker, Wiscasset Maine

Happy Monday friends! I hope you had a great weekend; hubby and I did some yard work yesterday, but still have more to do. Continuing on, we found this delightful home to a Maine family during the mid-late 1800's and how a granddaughter continued to live there after her grandmother passed. Richard and Mollie purchased the house in 1858 and furnished it in Victorian style. It still has most of the original furniture. It sits on a hill overlooking the Sheepscot River.

                                       Loved this staircase!

This pool table and all of the furnishings were original.

                Our youngest daughter Kim would love this spinning wheel.

  A Singer that was made prior to my two, but is in better shape; not sure if it was from the 1800's or like mine from the early 1900's.

 Loved the kitchen, especially the Hosier.

Can you believe it, but we still have more photos-not as many and I'll be discriminatory, but I sincerely hope you are enjoying them.  Hubby and I have already talked about making another trip just to Maine-we love it there and never got to go antiquing.  Someday maybe.
We are off to the gym, I'm hoping one of these days my body gets used to the weight machines and it isn't so tiring.  Not sure what the afternoon will hold, but I'm sure stitching will be included.
Today is a very special day for our daughter Carrie, she turns ---- today.  It's not a big birthday so we won't mention how old she is.  Carrie has always been such an incredible blessings, from the time she was born until today.  We are blessed beyond measure by her love.  We will be celebrating her birthday, her hubby's birthday and Kim's hubby's birthday on Friday night.  Both son-in-law's share the same birthday, so it is extra fun. Happy Birthday my girl, we are so proud of you!
Blessings on your day.
Noreen