Yeehaa, Tracy!!

You are right...it was a cicada!! I've heard them all the time but never saw one up close and personal before!! Awesome!! Getting packed and ready to roll to Vermont tomorrow morning...at 6 am!! UGH!! Coffee...give me coffee and lots of it!! Then available clean restrooms!! Love you all!! Catch you when I get back!!

What is it???

Come on you smart grandkids and tell me what this HUGE bug was on my flag this morning!! It is at least 2 inches long...and looks like a monster fly!! I also took pix of my wind chimes...got about 25 of them now and looking forward to finding a new one in Vermont this weekend. We get them when we're out riding....a nice treat! Love you all!!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

It was in the 40's this morning!! What the heck happened to summer???? I don't know what I'm gonna do when real cold weather gets here! I froze all day yesterday too! Figured I'd better take some pix of my flowers before the frost hits 'em!! And of course, my baby!! Btw...before Lou heads home...we ought to make a trip to the apple orchard!! Good idea??!!

Having some puter problems....

And it ain't funny! Had no power the first time I tried this morning...a little scary! And my fav game...Word Whomp....keeps shutting down on me! How can I beat my kids with it acting like that..yup..gotta have some kind of excuse..they're slaughtering me!!! It is fun tho..keeps the old brain moving...always did like word games anyhoo. Looking forward to trip to Vermont this weekend with Larry and Joyce!! Hope the weather cooperates! My silly cat keeps bringing me pompoms to throw for him...he's so annoying at times!! Love you all!!

been sick...

so I didn't do much this weekend..just watched tv alot. Caught the Laurel and Hardy movie marathon on TCM yesterday! Waaaaaaaay funny!! It's hard to believe that the 'brains' behind the comedy team was Stan Laurel...he was a very intelligent Brit!! I absolutely adore him!! Abbott and Costello was good too..but Laurel and Hardy was the best! Hardy died like 8 years before Stan and they said he fell into a deep depression and never really got over it...and he never performed again!! Refused to do comedy again without Hardy!! What a tender-hearted man he was...for being married 5 times..he had to be!! LOL!!!

Still sore...

so gonna make this short and well, maybe not so sweet! Had a great time shopping with MBF Ruth the other day! For all you cross-stitchers and painters out there...I have found the best place to find frames is Goodwill (my fav store)!! They are mega cheap and you can repaint or whatever and frame your goods!! BTW...we had a great lunch at Tin Tin!! Mmmmmmmmmmm!! But I was a little disappointed in the broccoli casserole thingy..wasn't as good as the China Buffet!! Gotta go sit in the sun! Love you all!!

I'm hurtin...

...been busy with housework and wrapping Christmas gifts to send to VA with Lou!! Yup, Christmas...already thinking about it and trying to deal with it the best way I can. But now my arms are killing me...so gonna go!! Love you all!!

The Bands at the Festival....

There were a lot of them...these were the only three we saw tho....top one is Chronic Jazz Syndrome (notice the handsome drummer!) Middle one is Bonnie Edwards and the Practical Cats and the bottom is Roomful of Blues! A lot of good music and dancin!! As I said..we ate free all weekend..the sausage sandwich without bread was awesome and I got a taco salad without the chips!! It was great...can't even begin to tell you all that Mike ate! Of course he was there for the big pancake breakfasts every morning! They had a lot of venders too...but stuff was really expensive, so I just looked and got ideas for jewelry! I liked the leather place the best!! I think Dave's band ForeFront played on the other side of the river (the rock side) but I think they got rained out Saturday night! too bad...good band!! You all have to come next year!!!

What a beautiful final day of Festival!!

We spent the whole afternoon...great bands!! Was very entertaining...and we looked around at all the balloons and found....men in skirts!! LOVE the bagpipe music!! What a wonderful surprise!! I will share some band pix tomorrow. Good bye Balloons for another year!!!

Last night was a wash-out!

But this morning was beautiful!!! We're going back over this afternoon to catch the last launching!! Saw a lot of parasails this morning...could wave and say "hi" to them...and could hear everything the people in the balloons was saying!! Way fun!! I love the balloon festival!!!!

Big ol' Panda Bear and Dragon!!

The advantages of having Mike there all night is that he got some great pix this morning! He also got some "festival bucks" so we can go have supper there tonight and watch them launch again!! Hope I can find something that I can legally eat!! Maybe a polish dog or something?? Wish Den and family would come down to see them!!! Love you all!!

Woooooosh!!!

What a beautiful morning!!! Must have been about 15 balloons going over!! Nice compliment to your morning coffee!! I don't think I ever saw the pink checkered one before!! They were a little late getting up because of haze and fog...but took off about 7:30....and as you can see...it was nice...real nice!!

Good news and bad news......

Good news....the balloon festival starts tomorrow!! Yippeee!! I so look forward to it each year and if the weather cooperates, I will enjoy the beautiful balloons with my morning coffee on my porch tomorrow!! I will make sure I have my camera in ready mode, too!! Bad news....Mike has to work security for the festival and will have to babysit the place Friday, Sat, and Sun nights...all night long!!! But he said he would take me over Sat afternoon to watch the balloons launch!! Fun, fun!! Love to see them on my porch but I really love to be on the field with them when they launch!! I highly recommend it to anyone who has never seen hot air balloons up close and personal like!!! Love you all!!

It's not raining!!!

Yet anyway...maybe a tstorm this afternoon...but it's sooooooo good to see sunshine for a while! I've been sitting out on the porch just soaking it in and trying to get warm!! My apartment is so chilly that my paint won't dry on a project I'm working on!! Unreal!! Did you ever have so many things going at once that you get sick to your stomach? Did you ever try to follow a cross-stitch chart with your bad memory in gear?? From the time you read the chart and look at your project...phhhhtttt...gone!! A lot of re-reading and re-reading and re-reading!! I think I'm going back outside!! Love you all!!!

Busy weekend!

Went dancing Friday night at the Silver Spur! What a great time!! They have done a lot of work to the place and the new bandstand is fantastic! Wildhorse was playing..they are pretty good...but not the best I've heard. They did everything from Johnny Cash or Leroy VanDyke to Joe Nichols! Was fun!! Saw lots of old friends..it was great! Went riding yesterday all day...and only got sprinkled on once...but missed a downpour my mear minutes!!! What miserable weather we've had! Was amazed at all the rivers and streams in Me and NH that are right up to the roads!! Joyce found us a little cottage in Vermont with two double beds for $75 to split!! Great deal...can't wait!! We will wing it for the second night...probably in NH somewhere. Have come to the conclusion that only the more expensive places have websites!! Love you all...gotta go rest...my arms are killling me today!!

Still raining!!

and way cold!! It really feels more like October than August....what's up with that? Time to move south, I guess! Does anyone know about the motel/internet ratio? We are looking to bike to Vermont for two days on the 30th and 31st...and the only motels we could find online are around $140 per night!! UNREAL!! I'm thinking that little towns with little motels are not on the internet! What do you think? Should we wing it??

It really feels like fall!!

Where did summer go? Did we ever have one?? Already I'm feelin the chill in my bones! I'm having a great time with www.facebook.com you should all join it!! soooo much to do on there that it's killing me! Love you all!

Time to dance!!!

Yeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaa!!! I actually wore my dancing boots yesterday without any pain!!! Had my final drs appt this morning and he took out a couple of pieces of leftover suture...but all was well and healing nicely. Gave me the go ahead for regular dancin!!! Yippeeeee!! I'm goin dancin Friday night!! Wildhorse is playing in Mechanic Falls and I plan to be there at 7 sharp!!! With my boots on!! I just can't wait!! I've missed it so much!

Sad day.....

I just heard from Linda B that Elizabeth Bowie has died! Her mom and dad found her! I'm so sad for them!!! Seems like I just found her again on facebook.com and now she's gone! You just never know, do you? Please pray for Becky and Jeff! Mike has to work all weekend..seems like the job they are working on in Portland (building yet another hotel) has to be completed in the next few weeks..so I guess they are gonna work as much as possible. Oh well, the over time is much needed! And this weekend looks bad weather wise anyhoooo. All we've had the last few days is rain, rain, and more rain!! I'm getting moldy!!