Fiber College in Maine - and more family members arrive

The first week in September is a gathering of Fiber Artists in Searsport - about and hour and a half from our home.  The gathering takes place in our favorite campground, Searsport Shores, on Penobscot Bay.  This year they hosted the famous Gee's Bend quilters - and my friend,  Cheryl Lawson, posted a wonderful blog about these amazing women and their legacy

( you can see her Gee's Bend photos
and the backstory of Fiber College at

  http://22applegatelane.blogspot.com/

The sewing machines were humming - and the Ladies were harmonizing with soulful hymns - and the colors were eye-popping.  I hovered around the edges watching (since I'm not a serious quilter).  At lunchtime I returned to our campsite to discover Mishka was having her kittens!

6 beautiful kittens !

at 3-days old I could hold three in my palm.

a new family member

We lost our beautiful Sasha in early July, and by the end of the month (with the help of the internet) Fred had located a young rescued Siamese in need of a family.

Mishka & Ivan enjoying a truce on the porch

She was moved to the Portland area, from Northern Maine, and we fell in love at first sight.  This is Mishka -  and she settled right in.


We began to notice that she was picking up weight quickly - too quickly?  And within 2 weeks she looks like this

and then we got suspicious!  but she had a spay certificate from the Shelter!

so.... there is more news coming.

Where to start?

Fred discovered Pickleball - and plays as
often as he can - here in Maine, or on the road

River Walk San Antonio -  Museum Reach 

Everything is BIGGER in Texas

 I can't believe it's been a year since I've tended to this blog!  So much has happened - and we've traveled to so many places.

La Mercado, San Antonio

We spent 4 months in Texas - enjoying beautiful State Parks, the excitement of San Antonio - and we ate lots of Bar-B-Q Texas Style.

 We had a chance to spend time with friends in Houston (Bob & Patt Avery) and ate even more BarBQ - the best in Texas!   And we stayed long enough to be totally astounded by the arrival of Texas Wildflower Season (that went on for week after week).



AND THEN IT GOT HOT!!!  and we moved on.








We arrived back in Maine -  and started the maintenance work on our property that had been untended for 8 months!

playing BEANO with the Cousins at the Round Pond Schoolhouse

We also worked to prepare for the vacation visit from my Annapolis Cousins - Jeanne, Danny, their adult daughters, Amye (and David) and Joy -  along with 3 absolutely terrific grandkids, Ella, Jack & Sienna
We had such fun, ate way too many desserts, laughed as the kids built forts all over the place - and played the official Maine-version of Bingo:




We were thrilled to have a surprise visit from friends  in early August - and then in late August we headed to Northampton to celebrate the marriage of Miranda and Nicole - as the guests of dear friends Bruce & Barbara.  The food was amazing - the gathering was joyous - but the time shared was too short (as always)

and we have more news to share!    watch for more posts ---SOON