The month-old picture of William following his graduation is brought to you by yesterday's thunderstorm, which knocked out our Internet service, though fortunately not our power.
It's been a long time since I updated the blog, although there's been a lot going on since mid-June. I now longer have any grammar-school students in the house, just young men, one making his way in the work world (and trying to move up in it), one entering high school, and one entering middle school.
We've taken some of our favorite excursions, to the Castle In the Clouds, to some of the local ice cream makers, to Connecticut, where we visited the submarine museum and Fort Griswold and some fun eateries.
And, of course, the beach. It's that time of the year; in fact, two weeks of swimming lessons started today. William wanted to do junior lifeguard training, but the class was cancelled due to lack of interest. Instead, he and Danny are now taking the same class, both at the highest level the town offers.
Summer projects are in the works, including a back deck.. The deck needs to be done by Karen's birthday, because she wants to have her birthday dinner on it. She's been waiting a long time, so we're working away to make it happen. Right now, that work consists of digging four-foot-deep holes in our rocky back yard for footings. After the inspector inspects the holes (to make sure they're deep enough—some people cheat), we have to fill each with 200 pounds of concrete. Then we can actually start building the deck itself.
Karen's trailer is also on the agenda for the rest of the summer. We're trying to get it reasonably waterproof and road-worthy by the 11th of September, so we can take it camping at a nearby campground where we meet up with our fellow trailer builders each year. It won't look pretty by then, but at least it will finally put in an appearance.
That's keeping us busy enough, and of course, Karen and Tom are working, I'm picking up some freelance voiceover work and working on my first album of songs, and managing the schedules for everyone. With all there is to do, I think that Summer will fly by.
Monday, July 20, 2015
Friday, June 12, 2015
Absent Children
You might have noticed that the boys have been missing from the daily pictures for the past few days. This is because they have been away from home. William went on a three-day hiking and camping trip, and Daniel on an overnight stay at the Museum of Science in Boston.
Leaving Karen and me alone for several hours when she came home from work on Thursday, until Tom came home. How did it feel having the house all to ourselves? Wonderful!
Even before the boys went away, we managed to carve out a whole day for ourselves with a visit to the Castle In the Clouds, a mansion on a hill overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee that is loaded with amazing architectural features from the Arts and Crafts period. It also has paintings on the glass roundels in the doors and windows that have fascinated Karen and me since we first saw them about a year ago.
We have been trying to find out more about the artists, and the techniques used to create the paintings, which still have vivid colors after a hundred years of sunlight and New Hampshire winters. The artists are still a complete mystery, but we may have gained some insights into the technique after a visit with a stained glass artist in Vermont during our recent camping excursion. The folks the the Castle are very intrigued, and we will do what we can to keep them in the loop.
The boys are back now, with only three days of school left for William, and four for Daniel. We already have some outings planned, along with the usual swimming lessons and some creative projects at home. It's going to be a busy summer, with me struggling to carve out time for songwriting. I'm trying to launch a crowdfunding campaign so that I can record my first album of songs before the end of the year.
Meanwhile, it's back to life as usual. But Karen and I have had a taste of what life will be like when the kids move away, and I can tell you one thing: we won't run out of things to talk about.
Leaving Karen and me alone for several hours when she came home from work on Thursday, until Tom came home. How did it feel having the house all to ourselves? Wonderful!
Even before the boys went away, we managed to carve out a whole day for ourselves with a visit to the Castle In the Clouds, a mansion on a hill overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee that is loaded with amazing architectural features from the Arts and Crafts period. It also has paintings on the glass roundels in the doors and windows that have fascinated Karen and me since we first saw them about a year ago.
We have been trying to find out more about the artists, and the techniques used to create the paintings, which still have vivid colors after a hundred years of sunlight and New Hampshire winters. The artists are still a complete mystery, but we may have gained some insights into the technique after a visit with a stained glass artist in Vermont during our recent camping excursion. The folks the the Castle are very intrigued, and we will do what we can to keep them in the loop.
The boys are back now, with only three days of school left for William, and four for Daniel. We already have some outings planned, along with the usual swimming lessons and some creative projects at home. It's going to be a busy summer, with me struggling to carve out time for songwriting. I'm trying to launch a crowdfunding campaign so that I can record my first album of songs before the end of the year.
Meanwhile, it's back to life as usual. But Karen and I have had a taste of what life will be like when the kids move away, and I can tell you one thing: we won't run out of things to talk about.
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