Visit to Mt. Washington, NH

Sasha and Elena at the top of Mt. Washington, with a view of 70 miles of scenery. This is the first day of sunshine in a week, and a wonderful finish to their three weeks with us. We enjoyed a leisurely visit on the summit and a stop at the alpine gardens on the way up. Barre drove us up the Auto Road. Mt. Washington is 6288 feet, the tallest mountain in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains.

The picture of Sasha, Elena and Marion was taken at the entrance to the Auto Road to the top of Mt. Washington. The weather was wonderful, one of the best summer days we've had. There was no wind at the top of the mountain, so we were quite comfortable walking around, going to the two small museums and the store for a look at postcards and sourvenirs.

Pardon the photo layout. I have a lot to learn!

Busy days

Sasha and Elena have been with us almost two weeks. The days fly by quickly, since they tend to be gone on long day trips to do collecting. They have filled at least five presses, but the plants in them are drying very slowly because of the lack of sun. Both of them however, are happy with the specimens they have been collecting. Barre is enjoying revisiting the collection sites, and even collects a few specimens for himself.

All of us, including Moose and I, went on a Father's Day trip to Seneca, NY to collect plants at Cayuga Lake. Barre and I had been there many years ago, and he was able to find the location of the plants Sasha was interested in, because he had the journal notes. It was one of our few sunny days in the last two weeks. Moose and I occupied our time walking, while the botanists were collecting. Our second stop was nearby on a much smaller pond, and Moose and I had time to look around and discovered that many snapping turtle nests had been destroyed in the area where we were parked. (The same fate happened to the turtle's nest on our lawn not so long ago.)

We have had time in the last few days to take Sasha and Elena shopping, to show them what Walmart, and a large supermarket are like. Also, we had time for them to do some clothing shopping, and see what our small mall is like. The prices for clothing and food are cheaper in our stores, than in Russia. It has been fun to show them around, and answer their questions, read labels, learn correct pronounciation of Russian words, etc.

Visitors from Russia

Our friends, Sasha and Elaina arrived safely on Monday evening in Boston. Barre was there to greet them and the plane arrived on schedule! It was a long day for the travelers, and they were very tired from the long trip begining at their home north of Moscow, with a stop over in Germany. Russia is 8 hours ahead of our time, and they arrived in Adams at 11pm, which meant it was early Tuesday morning at home. (Reminds us of a long day on the way to Australia.)

Barre has had a schedule prepared so that both Sasha and Elaina could visit sites which would provide both pondweeds, and mosses, which are their botanical specialties. After a quiet day on Tuesday, and discussion of the plans, with study of maps and locations with Barre, they have spent the rest of the week with long days of botanizing. Even yesterday's heavy rains during the day, did not deter them. The evening meal is served at fashionably late hours, on most days. Today the trip takes them to various sites in Connecticut, and tomorrow will be a trip to the Hudson River in NY.

Sunburnt Country

The pattern for this quilt is called Sunburnt Country. It is nine crazy quilt blocks 17 and 1/2 inchs made with nine fabrics (fat quarters). The fat quarters are cut all at once in one pile, so that each block then has the different shapes of each fabric. I got this idea from a shop in Cairns that I visited on our last day before we left for home on our last trip with students from Mass. College of Liberal Arts, a few years ago. All of the fabric in this quilt was purchased on various trips to AU, and I waited to find a pattern that would show details in the variety of fabrics. The fabrics include flowers, trees, birds, kangaroos, koalas, and snakes. The backing is fabric of aboriginal design (no picture available)
My quilt label is called: Sunburnt Country, Memories of Australia

Noel learning to play hockey

Noel had been taking hockey lessons since April. She is enjoying it very much, and learning a lot. She will continue taking lessons through the most of the summer. She is the only girl in the class of ten 5-6 year olds. It doesn't faze her at all. (She also likes ballet and tap dancing!)

Noel has watched college hockey at UNH since she was a baby, and also watched her father play in a men's hockey league when they lived in MA. When she learned before moving to Texas that girls play hockey, too, she expressed the interest in learning. There is a rink her home, the Dallas Stars provided the hockey uniforms for the kids, and she is having a good time. Notice that her pink skate guards, and pink tape on her hockey stick give away the fact that she is a girl!

Moose is on Vacation

On the last weekend of May, Eric and his friend Cathy, came to visit for the weekend. Moose and Nickie, their dogs also came. Their visit was brief because each of them had to get back to work for Monday. Cathy teaches science to 8th graders, and Eric had to pack his gear so that he could travel to Michigan where is he will be teaching at the Biological Station for the summer.
We had good weather which meant we could spend time outdoors with the dogs, and enjoy the yard and gardens in bloom. Cathy got a tour of Barre's greenhouse, and the tropical water lilies as well as his other tropical potted plants.

Moose now gets to be on vacation with us for the summer. It is his third summer with us, and so he is familiar with home and adapts very quickly to the fact that Eric is not here to give the commands. He follows Marion around the house, and keeps track of her location when she is home. Barre is "ok" if Marion is not home, and he responds to commands from either one when we are together, too. Eric has trained him well. Moose enjoys exploring the yard, following us around, (always sniffing), and retrieving a ball we throw using a lacrosse stick. We can throw the ball farther, and Moose enjoys the run to get it and brings it back to us. We also take him for walks on the Rail Trail in Adams and Cheshire, where there are trees for shade, swamps, and even a lake to view, depending on the part of the trail we choose to walk on a particular day. He has already encountered five painted turtles, which he sniffed, on the edges of the trail near the lake!

Moose will be with us until late August, when Eric returns.

Noel's Birthday

On Tuesday, May 12, Noel was in Texas celebrating her fifth birthday. Since we could not be there with her for the occasion, we arranged a time with Paul and Michelle to call them and talk on the computer and see them through our webcams. Each time we see her, she seems to have gotten taller. She had recently had her hair cut shorter (at her request) and she looked older than a preschool student. She will be in kindergarten in August.

The fun part of our visit with Noel, besides chatting with her, was to watch her open the box with the gifts we had sent her. We sent a variety of items, individually wrapped, including pencils and a teeshirt from Austrailia, 5 US Dollar coins (5th birthday), and outfit for her "baby" Felicity. She already had received her sandels from us, by going shopping with her Mom to purchase them and make sure they fit. Betty sent us home with an Aussie shirt for her, a little paper basket for small items, and a small travel pouch from one of her airplane flights. Noel was please with everything, and is planning to take the travel pouch on her plane trip to see Nana and Papa next week in South Carolina.

Our most recent pictures of Noel were sent by computer on Mother's Day. They were all taken at the ice rink where Noel takes her hockey lessons, so she was in full uniform! (I have not become savvy on putting pictures on the blog...sorry...)