Frag'n Friday

Perfect timing for Friday Fragments! I have a jumble of things to unload. For more jumbled thoughts from other fabulous bloggers go visit Mrs. 4444s.

*First off, Happy Spring! I love all the flowers popping up and the leaves growing on the trees!

*At my Mom's Birthday dinner, my niece R modeled a dress that Californian Grammie Elizabeth knitted for her. Isn't it and she adorable? (Yes, that is an old fashion phone, her favorite toy.)

*My family is all about landscaping and making beautiful pots of flowers. I am the one that takes the pictures of their work. Maybe it's my age or my new found sense of "Get out of my way. I can do it.", but I tackled an area in my yard yesterday. It looked like this to start with....

I couldn't use a bulldozer, I had to use my hands.

The weeded conclusion with one Peony plant planted. Now I just need some more plantings and some mulch!

*Today is Prom day. The house is abuzz!!! B is doing the hair for P and a friend of K's this afternoon. She wanted to make sure HER hair looked stunning and impressive while she was doing their hair. This is what I came up with.

*So K and P are going together as "sisters". I only hope they rock the prom photo like I did in 1984.

*Pictures of them coming next week! Happy Weekend :)

Chatham 300

Chatham is turning 300 this year and there are 300 days of celebrating to be had.

Last night I had the chance to feel like a superstar because I have a story and 3 photos in this book....

And at the launch for the book last night, people wanted MY autograph. Yes, mine. It was crazy.

The book is a fantastic culmination of stories from long ago, poems, photographs and an indepth schedule of all the events that will take place this year.

This is my story:

When your Dad is a fisherman, it is natural to be very comfortable on boats. The Chatham Fish Pier becomes your playground when you are young.  The fishermen all know who you are, you scamper around nets and totes and often hop on your Dad's boat while he is unloading. You have sat in the Captain's chair since you were old enough to walk and have wondered what it would be like to go out on a fishing trip. Sometimes your Dad is out overnight, sometimes he leaves after breakfast and sometimes it only takes him 4 hours to get his limit. You adjust to enjoying the time when you see your Dad and to not dwell on the times that he is out at sea. As you get older, you wonder what it would be like to be on the water fishing next to your Dad.

K was ready to go fishing with her Dad this year for a serious paid work experience. He took her to Cape Fish the day before and outfitted her with Grundens, water proof gloves and pink fishing boots. He picked her up at 5 am; 5 hours before she usually got up on sleepy summer mornings. She put on her jeans and a t-shirt and was out the door with breakfast in her hand. I found her 4 hours later at the Fish Pier with a hose, cleaning out totes and joking with the guys. Her fiery red hair was half out of her ponytail, but she could not have looked more beautiful or comfortable. 

A tourist came up to her and asked about what type of fish they had caught that day and she told him, “monk fish and skates” with a big smile on her face. She then proceeded to answer a lot more questions while sounding like she had been on the sea her whole life. Even if she had not exactly been on the sea her whole life, she certainly was well versed in fishing talk from years of listening to her Dad and his friends. For her, that first day of fishing was not about how much she got paid, but for saying that she was a fisherman just like her Dad. 

Come join in the celebration of this fabulous town!

The Day After (Part 2)

(You should read yesterday's post first to get the full effect of vacation week.)

After our nature walk, we met some Maine friends in Freeport. See how overjoyed they are to see each other?

They tried to take off in the Bean Boot Mobile (now I can say I have seen the Wienermobile and the Boot Mobile).

We subdued them with Ben and Jerrys and I am not sure why I didn't take a picture when J's ended up on the sidewalk. (Of course there was swimming, drinking and eating, but no pictures so you can use your imagination.)

The next day we had to leave early to pick K up at the airport, but we found out that she missed her flight, so we ended up going to Boston Common for a few hours. It was such a perfect day to go!

P and B sat on Mrs. Mallard (You all know Make Way for Duckings by Robert McCloskey, right?)

Then we went on a Swan Boat ride.

Saw good'ole George Washington and his steed.

And really just enjoyed the beauty of the day.

Now it is back to reality. P asked me if there were anymore vacation weeks before school got out. Love that she is a wishful thinker.

The Day After....

Today is the day AFTER school vacation week. The day everyone is up and out at 7:30. The day I am left here wandering around the house wanting to totally redecorate, clean, write and yet, I cannot muster the energy.

School vacation week is always fun. The girls are around. We try to do some fun things and last week was no exception. While K went to Florida to visit her grandparents, B, P and I went north to hang out with some friends.

It was so HOT one day, that we went to the Ogunquit Maine beach and hung out in bathing suits. I totally would have gone swimming if the water wasn't about 48 degrees.

In Portand, ME, we took in a Sea Dogs baseball game. They won (hence the lighthouse and fireworks)!

It was a great time and so fun and inexpensive!

We trudged further up the coast to Freeport where world renown LL Bean is. We couldn't fit this boot into our car so we left it there...

B gave us a science lesson on a hike through Wolf's Neck Park.

It was gorgeous!

There were lots of talks about the Hunger Games.

And winning climbing over rocks (without falling in).

That was only a bit of vacation week. You will have to come back for the rest tomorrow. Looking at all these pictures and realizing all we did is making me tired, so I need a nap.

Easter in an Egg Shell

Hope you all had a nice Easter/Passover Weekend!

We had an Easter Egg hunt for the big kids....

And the little kid.

We had dinner entertainment....

And some fun times with the parents to be and a little chilly stroll around the neighborhood.

All in all a weekend to feel blessed.

McDonald's Bakery

Yesterday, I learned something. (Seriously, it is possible!)

Evidently, New Englanders love, love, love baked goods. That I knew. What surprised me was that the rest of the country doesn't enjoy baked goods as much as New Englanders. Our win, their loss because McDonald's has figured this out and has added delicious baked goods to their New England restaurants.

I was able to have a taste test with some other Boston Bloggers at the Seaport Hotel. The table was set so beautifully. And notice the ingredients, milk, butter, oats, baking powder, real bananas. Did you notice that there are no preservatives on the table? McDonald's worked with bakers to make these products delicious and with ingredients that people know and use in their own baking.

Below, we have a lovely man serving us cheese danish on his knee, no less! See how all the danish are a slightly different shape? That is because they are hand folded!

Other baked products include, banana bread, mini-vanilla scones, multi-grain berry muffins and blueberry muffins.

The blueberry muffins were my favorite, which will surprise many of you who know I rarely eat any baked good that doesn't involve chocolate. The crunchy topping is added at your local McDonald's and then baked! The reason why I think these items are so delicious is that they are not pre-packaged weeks before and sent across the country.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the view that made me want to pull up a plate of muffins and scones and sit there all day watching planes taking off and landing at Logan.

Or watch what was happening at the Seaport Convention Center....

I did 'suggest' (begged for) chocolate danish. Oh, yes I did. Trust me when I say the cheese danish was delicious, but my own taste buds were imagining chocolate in the fluffy pastry. Mmmmmm. These bakery items are available all day long, which is fantastic when you need a cup of coffee (Newman's Organic) and a treat for an afternoon pick-me-up.

I wanted to write this review on my experience from yesterday. I am not being compensated. The opinions are all mine. Even the photos are mine :)

We All Need a Feel Good Story

I joke about calling my town a hamlet. It is small. It is very small during the winter when there are no tourists milling about and not many stores open. The Cape is so small in the winter that things don't have to happen in your town to hear about them. At times it can be exhausting having everyone knowing your business, but at times like this past weekend, it was a Godsend.

A family in my hamlet, whom Matt has known since birth, I have known for 20 plus years and our children are friends, found out that their 12 year old son had brain cancer. This happened days before Thanksgiving and he was operated on days after. The entire family has been nothing but positive. The boy has been fighting a courageous battle and continues to today. He has had 2 surgeries, radiation, chemo all the while continuing his school work and learning everything there is to know about ipads and iphones.

This weekend, the Women of Fishing Families (WOFF), threw a fundraiser for the family. The mom is part of our group (WOFF) and it was surreal planning an event for her instead of with her. There are so many stories of giving, helping, planning and attending, but I wanted to tell you about one story in particular that will restore your faith in mankind.

A woman was talking about the fundraiser with her neighbor from another town. The neighbor's boys had just gotten a signed Adrian Gonzalez Red Sox shirt at a fundraiser the previous weekend. The dad paid about $300 to win it in an auction. The boys heard about the fundraiser for the boy their age who was battling cancer in their neighboring town. They gave their new and treasured shirt to our fundraiser and said, "We want it, but he needs it". The shirt went on the live auction with some Red Sox tickets and a dinner. The package went for $1000 and the woman who bought it is sending the boys back their shirt. She got thinking during the bidding that there was no way she was not going to win this so she could send the shirt back to the boys.

It gives me chills to witness beautiful acts like this. I was watching the news this morning and everything was negative. I said to B, "I want a channel that just tells the weather, sports and entertainment news." I think I will add feel good stories like this one to my new channel. Anyone want to run with this idea?