Ultimate Tween

I got to know my friend's daughter pretty well when they were here and she is I guess everything I think of when I hear people mentioning the ultimate tween.  Her shoes say it all.  I think they are her favorite because she wore them all the time.

I also love her shirt and she bought a beautiful dress when we went shopping at Guess.

She was so happy and would randomly dance and skip in between her regular walk.  When she talked she would skip from subject to subject full of enthusiasm. I really enjoyed spending time with her.  When she left I found some pictures she had taken of herself on my camera.  I love especially one even if it is out of focus.  It is perfect and illustrates how sweet tweens can be!

She also loves her Daddy who calls her Sunshine very much.

Thanks for coming to visit with us!

Choices

When I see the wonderful people my sons choose to spend time with, 

I know I have done some things right.

Summer Intermission

It was our last walk until school starts in the fall.  My friend stays at a small magical island of the coast of Maine for the summer.  There are beaches there with millions of round rocks that thunder when the wind blows. If you have your windows open at night when you go to sleep, you can hear the distant thunder of these rocks from quite far away. There is also a mysterious and wonderful door in the middle of a path in the woods.  When you go to this island you can hear your soul.  I understand why she goes.  I will miss our walks but the intermission is ok because I know when school starts in the fall we will resume our 15(!) year tradition of our weekly five mile walk.  We usually do lunch at Margarets after our walk. My friend's daughter joined us for lunch because she is home from school and I love her.  She is beautiful inside and out and I am glad to know her.

Dance!

Yesterday I saw something I will remember forever.   It was so beautiful.  I passed a field on the side of the road and a horse all by itself was literally dancing in the field!  The grass was pretty long and there were wildflowers.  The mane and tail were blowing in the wind and the coat was glistening in the sun.  I have never seen a horse do this except for during horse shows with a rider and did not know they just did it for fun when alone.  It was just a brief moment and I was driving so I didn't get a picture.  But I am posting one of my favorite horse pictures anyway :)

The Wonder Years

Looking through some pictures from The Wonder Years. For me it is the years when the kids were between five and fifteen.  Amazing memories and treasures.  I enjoyed looking through the pictures in preparation and anticipation for a visit from a childhood friend coming this week-end.

My friend's daughter and my youngest son are still in The Wonder Years (my son for at least four more weeks...)  Looking forward to spending some time with you :)  Velkommen!

Seeds

Lupine and columbine and seeds for a friend 

so that she will have lupine and columbine in her yard next year.  

And when we go for our weekly five mile walks next spring 

we will see them grow.

Cafe Italia Ristorante

Yesterday we had dinner at Cafe Italia Ristorante on Rockdale Avenue in New Bedford.  They only seat 32 people so we were lucky to get a table without a reservation! Fresh fig salad, fried mozzarella, marinated olives, clams casino, lasagna and veal.  We ordered way too much food and had leftovers for today.  It was all delicious and they played my favorite Andrea Bocelli.  Next time I will have an order of clams casino all to myself - they were that good.  Just thinking about the intimate atmosphere there makes me look forward to next time we go.