The heat must be affecting my nascent(sp?) posting skills bc I wasn't completely finished! Humph! Anywasy, this is where is park my self for hours on end (oooooh - no pun intended!)and try to master the art of designing. This next design will be a wedding sampler or house blessing or family record or - whatever you want it to be and I'll be releasing it at the February 2011 Needlework Market in Nashville. Perhaps if all goes well, I'll post a preview picture ...so stay tuned! Meanwhile, I need to check the weather reports and news very often these next couple of days and hope, hope, hope that Cape Cod doesn't sustain a lot of damage from "Earl". My house is not near enough to the water to be in any danger of flood damage, but we have a lot of shallow rooted scrub pine around us. I hope they stay off the roof!!! A part of me wants to be there in the house - hurricanes are an awesome thing to witness, and if one is on high ground and safe, it is a powerful experience. I'll have to rely on the t.v. reports this time, though! Have a safe Labor Day weekend wherever you may be. Meanwhile.........."do something fun for yourself.....life is short, even in its longest days." Cathy

Summer "Camp" with my grand kids...........

Every year for quite awhile now, I set aside a week in the summer when the four older grand kids come for what is now known as "Camp Nana." I figure out a fun theme and come up with an agenda for the week. All six days! Sunday - we started off with an annual favorite - fishing! And this year, everyone caught something............... the first little perch... the smallest ... a tiny but prickly sun fish, I think! and then the biggest! Check it out - the worm (snake?) was SO large, the fish couldn't quite get it in it's mouth. Oh...so near and yet so far!!!! Devin promptly named him "Derick"! Derick the fish????? How in the world does the mind of a four-year-old work?

.......and for this little guy - catching the biggest fish (Derick)was great but he wasn't particularly crazy about handling the worms (snakes)!

Then home to a birthday party for all................they can't always go to each other's parties, so we catch up with everyone with a cake and some small gifts at camp.

After some free time and unpacking, the first night of camp starts with a great dinner of corn on the cob and salmon.....

and ends with a rousing toast of "cheers!" to this year's camp theme....Science (very loosely applied!)

We jumped right into it with surgical caps, booties and gloves and goggles...but first had to "experiment" to see how big we could blow up the gloves! Megan was the winner.......and all the others were a close second.

Then we all got down to "serious" business (all but one, that is - she had to keep trying to better her "record ") of discovering acids and bases and what colors they are in solutions and which foods are acids or a base.

We built volcanoes and later that night, made them "erupt" when we mixed vinegar and baking soda. So much for chemistry..............

Then it was on to the animals and wild life at the Washington D.C. zoo on the HOTEST day you can imagine - 100+ degrees and lots and lots of walking. Thank goodness for cooling misting stations throughout the various areas. And they ran to every one of them!

My eight-year-old grandson gets the credit for all the animal photos. Cudos to my budding photo-journalist, Collin! These were some of his favorites - out of 133 photos!!!!!

Throw in really, really long escalators and a speedy subway ride and all in all it was a pretty exciting day. That was Tuesday.

On Wednesday, we headed to the Whitaker Science Center in Harrisburg and spent a fabulous day amonst all kinds of hands-on discovery areas - everything from learning about the power of brain waves and the concentration it took to move the metal ball in the tube using only your brain waves (it was truly amazing!!!).................

to "killing the germs" in a race against the clock.........................................

to getting a good work-out climbing the rock wall...................

to learning about magnetic force fields by "sticking" metal washers to each other to make them bridge across a space.

Another fabulous day came to a close with everyone saying it was the best yet! Ahhh but there is more to come!

Mother Nature stepped up and treated us to a torrential downpour that flooded the streets for about 30 minutes creating an impromptu raging river for sticks, cups, leaves and whatever they could find to race. Do you remember how wonderful it was to dance in the rain?

We ended this year's camp with a trip to a fish hatchery, poked around wading in the stream looking for crayfish and whatever, fed the hundreds of ducks that came racing to us looking for bread (we were prepared, thank goodness!),

had a celebratory lunch at McDonald's, and then finished up the day going to the movies to see "Cats and Dogs - the Revenge of Kitty Galore"! Lots of fun! The last night we always have a camp fire, s'mores and rewards. This year, once again, my husband won -by popular vote - the "Camp Troublemaker" award. The kids think it's hilarious and all week they work hard to set him up to be sure he'll be the one to get it! I, on the other hand, couldn't have camp without his help (he took off three days from work!) - and shenanigans! He ultimately helps to create wonderful memories they'll never forget and that money can't buy - well, sort of! I'm off to bed!

Come along with me...............

Gettysburg, like most of the country is locked into some exceptionally hot and dry weather. So to take my mind off of it for awhile, I thought I take a virtual trip to Cape Cod and you are invited to come along! I'd love to share with you some my favorite places and things that make it, for me, the best place in the whole world to be! This is my house where I love to hang out whenever and as often as I possibly can, no matter what time of year. It is a very tiny 2 bedroom house that my parents built in 1976 to retire to. They enjoyed many happy years there, and now it's mine to love and enjoy in the burgeoning spring and quiet, serene fall after the summer tenants have returned to their homes. Even in the blustery, gray, damp winter when it is fully dark at 4:30 in the afternoon, it is a delightful place to be, to settle down in front of a cozy fire with some stitching, soft music or a good book and a glass of wine and let the rest of the world go by. In the cool spring days of April and May, the geraniums,

the luscious lilacs,

the wild beach plum shrubs,

and the sweet pansies

are in full riot all over the Cape - in yards and along the roads, blooming their hearts out!

Now in July through the fall, the wonderful Rosa Rugosas are sending their luscious sweet rose scent into the air to mingle with the smells of salt water, pine trees, and warm sand. There's nothing else like it! Can you tell how much I love it????

As the weather warms up in May, the charter fishermen put their boats in the water at Rock Harbor and gear up for what they hope is a season of many successful fishing trips into the bay for striped bass and big blue fish, tuna and whatever else strikes their fancy - and is good to eat!

Nearby, Capt. Cass's Seafood Shanty, clad in lobster pot bouys, serves locals and tourists alike ...

.........the quintessential Cape Cod lunch - a split-top, toasted hot dog bun stuffed and overflowing with a simple lobster salad, made with just the tiniest bit of mayo to hold it all together! All this is usually accompanied by a cup or bowl of creamy clam chowder too! It doesn't get any better than this unless..................

....................you work off that humongus lunch with a trip to the tidal flats at low tide and dig for your dinner! It's easy to gather a bucket of delicate steamers or soft shell clams to take home for supper on the deck! I like to quickly steam them with some fresh garlic, parsley and wine just until they open. Then swish them in the broth to rinse off the last bit of sand, dunk them in some hot, melted butter, add in a crisp salad, some hot, crusty Portugese bread and a chilly bottle of Chardonnay and you have an amazing, unbeatable dinner fit for a king! It's my favorite, a go-to often and unequaled by anything else! Aren't they beautiful??? Anyone hungry???

Hmmmm.....I seem to have focused on food a lot in this blog!

Moving along............

Down the road and on the way to the beach is this charming flag made entirely of clam shells! My neighbor has been setting this out along the side of the road for as many years as I have been going to the Cape and can remember - repainting them each spring and taking them inside each winter. One year, it was part of a feature article in Country Living magazine! I see this special bit of Americana and patriotism everyday, every time I walk the dog to the beach! Love it! Many an evening when it looks like or feels like there might be a beautiful sunset, people drive or walk to the end of the road and gather to toast the end of the day with a glass of wine (or whatever!) As the sun finally dips below the horizon, someone may start to sing God Bless America or clap or cheer and everyone joins in to salute the end of a great day on Cape Cod. It's amazing, powerful, restorative.

Good night, my beloved wonderful Cape. Til I see you in the fall................

I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse of my special place. But there's lots more to see and enjoy, so I'll post beach pictures when I'm there in the fall. Meanwhile, next week I babysit for the twins, so the camera will be clicking for sure! Stay tuned.......

Until later,

Cathy

The wedding we had been planning for and working on for sooo long went off without any glitches! Yea!!! So as soon as I get the editing done on what pictures I have, I will post a few. And as I get more and better ones, I'll add them, too.What a blast we had!!! And we are still in recovery, looking everywhere for the ol' get up and go! Check back soon........Cathy

Here are a couple of pictures of my twin grand babies just hanging out, doing their thing! How I loved taking care of them for a week.....