in which I am floored

So those boards that were planed the other day?   Apparently they're the floor boards for the second floor.  That Husband; no good with the details.   Great builder.  Not a detail-communicator.  [Hey - I heard that!  Don't call me a 'detail-sink!'] 

Anywho - look at these lovelies all stacked together and just waiting, pining to be my floor.  {ba-dum-dum!}

Okay, so they're spruce.  Picky, picky.   But I wish I could communicate the SMELL.  Oooh-la-la.  These boards were so beautifully scented, that I began to appreciate them and regret my snarkiness regarding the slow progress they represent.  So, spruce boards, I apologize.  Can I come sniff you again?

No word on when said boards will actually become flooring.  Stay tuned.

Roundabout progress

So The Hubs says to me this morning, "Wife?  I'm a-gonna work on the log house today!"

[Well, something like that, anyway]

What progress, you ask, was achieved today?   He planed some boards. 

Yes, we now have smooth boards. 

 Rough

Smooooth

Soft, smooth, gourchus!  Just as nature intended. 

Rocks 2.0

Remember Baby M's interest in fascination obsession with picking up little rocks last summer?   Well, we're not over it yet.  

Only now we've added sticks.  

It takes us 4 hours just to walk up the driveway at The Lake!  (So if you see me with a howling, thrashing 3 year old tucked under one arm, please understand.)

Happy Father's Day!

Being a good parent is a very hard thing.  Thanks to mine, and yours and all those who help build a better society through responsible, loving fatherhood. 

Happy Father's Day

HMS Bounty

We went on an adventure today!   To the wilds of....

Ogdensburg. 

The replica HMS Bounty made for the Mutiny on the Bounty movie and then refurbished a few years ago for one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies is docked in Ogdensburg this weekend.  O-town is a haul, but it was Adventure Saturday! so we went. 

Grandma and Baby M

Yes, I know G is facing the wrong way to steer. 

Here's a little-known fact about me:   I worked aboard a square-rigged ship during the summer of 1996 as an historic interpreter on the Joseph Conrad at Mystic Seaport Museum.   It was awesome.  I got to talk about square rigging vs. fore-and-aft rigging and oakum and belaying pins and ships and barques and such.  *{sigh}*   I was thin and tan and responsible for no one but myself.  

Sorry -   I'm back now.  Won't happen again.

The HMS Bounty is open for tours again tomorrow (Sunday, June 20, 2010).  It's a cool Father's Day excursion if you're close and the father in your life can resist saying 'ARR! MATEY!' a lot. 

First produce of the summer

These gorgeous radishes are the first fruits of my father's garden this year:

I don't actually eat radishes....  but they're still awfully lovely.

Morning at The Lake

We had to do a vehicle shuffle this morning, so BRIGHT! and EARLY! I drove The Husband up to The Lake.  Eh - it's a beautiful morning, so I relished the chance to spend some time outdoors.  (And by 'some' I mean about 20 minutes.) 

This is the sight that greeted me:

Ahhh....  Good Morning!

Here's my artsy-fartsy color-adjusted photo:

Baby M and the dog

Here's the sight that makes me weep with happiness and impatience:

I love that rock.

 And here's an illustration of why we moved back to the North Country:

"'Morning, Grandpa!  I want to go boat a-lake."

Taking bets...

.... on how long these flowers last before G and I inadvertently kill them. 

Gardening

... Not my own, of course. 

This is the state of my father's garden yesterday (6/13/10), for comparison's sake later in the summer:

A note about Heather Cream

Sage wonders what Heather Cream is - and you know I love to share from my deep well of knowledge.  Besides being the one alcoholic beverage that both my mother and mother-in-law cannot resist ("Well, maybe just a bit of Heather Cream"), it's become hard to come by lately.  The beverage maker's official website proclaims:

Heather Cream was first produced in 1980 which makes it Scotland's Original Cream Liqueur. It is created from the marriage of two of Scotland's finest natural products, fresh double cream and single malt Scotch whisky.

I found a few articles online that mention a re-branding and launch of the revamped packaging look of Heather Cream in 2006, which might account for why didn't see it in the stores for a while.  It doesn't necessarily explain why it's not available around here now, but it's a hardship I guess we'll just have to live with. 

[*deep sarcasm*]

It's super-yummy as an after-dinner dessert drink, and superficially resembles Bailey's Irish Cream.   "I highly recommend picking one up, if you have the means.  So choice."  (Name that 80s movie quote.)

Thus endeth the lesson.  Amen.

What it's like in my world

Memorial Day picnic at my folks' house, with my in-laws too.  Would you believe me if I said there's no conflict, no sub-text of disharmony, just genuine friendship amongst the parents and support and encouragement of the kids and grandkids?  Could this be familial Utopia? 

No, I'm sorry to report that all is not perfect in Anne-World.  My father ran out of Heather Cream right after pouring a dram each for my mother and MIL.  None for Anne. 

Life is tough.