A Day at Portage Lake

What a great day we have had! The weather has been like summer! With Andy and Jessica we went to Portage Lake and had our first picnic there for the season. The ice is not out yet, and there is some flooding. Gary put on waders and performed the first rescue this year of the old dock. It was floating so Gary captured it and tied a rope on it. Hopefully we won't have to go get it from someone else's yard this year. The water is pretty high and debris is floating around in the lake. We did a little raking, had lunch, and Louise sat in the sun knitting a sock.

Spring signs

Today we look at evidence that spring has arrived in the Cole world. We can see Gary transplanting plants, in the garage this time, instead of the kitchen. Notice the Old Navy shirt is not there - it's too warm for it! We also have Sally outside, and Steve as far as the doorway. He actually did walk around outside a little. The garden is cleared of winter debris, waiting for the warmth in the soil to begin planting. There is actually green grass in front of the tulips. These little changes renew the spirit!

The Nasty Head Cold

The nasty head cold attacked Louise during her trip to the knitting weekend, making it less fun than anticipated. However, she persevered and finished a pair of socks and knit a hat while there. Lovely spring weather has arrived and Gary is scurrying with his plants. A couple of the tomato plants are over four feet high, and all of them have been staked. The daffodils are budded and nearly ready to blossom. Yesterday on the way back from N.H. we caught a nice view of Mt. Katahdin again. As you can see, there is still snow on the mountain and ice in the lake beneath it. Today we have pictures from the back yard. Louise took her knitting outdoors, and Gary is standing beside a patch of snow to show the contrast. He has the garden all raked free of pine cones, and the back lawn is underway. In the way of a correction, the post about Andy's birthday was published at 6:30 AM on April 16, so we don't know why it carried the date of April 15.

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

Today is Andrew's birthday. To help him celebrate we have located some photos that we hope you will enjoy. Andrew is shown here at various ages. The one with brother Jonathan is a nice one. The one in the red shirt is a kindergarten picture. We hope Andy will enjoy his day and that this page will bring back some memories.

Cold and Travel

We have had a very quiet couple of days. Gary has been hit by a severe cold and is on several medications at this point. He is feeling a bit better today as he is transplanting green pepper plants. Louise is leaving in the morning with Jackie Pribble for a weekend in a yarn shop! This is an annual event in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The yarn store is also a bed and breakfast, so they sit and knit for hours on end, shopping for yarn and books at any hour of the day or night. It should also produce some good pictures!

Happy Easter

Easter was shared with Andy and Jess. As you can see, food was plentiful. Look at the huge tomato plants behind Jessica. They had to be moved from the shelves to the table. Andy is enjoying the apple pie Jess is feeding him. That's a fork in Louise's hand. Yesterday for the first time we were able to walk out to the garden in the back yard. It's a cloudy and windy day today, but good company makes up for it. The new Roadrunner connection is certainly an improvement over our previous service,  or lack of it.

No Internet Service

Our Fairpoint Communications internet service died on Monday. The service has been slow and poor for at least the past two weeks, but now we have no service at all. We have gone to the Caribou Inn to use the internet! We caught a very cute picture this morning of Grampy love. Hopefully Time-Warner will come on Friday and fix us up with internet service again. With flooding and roads closed it has been a couple of interesting days.

Knitting

Louise has done a lot of knitting over the past few weeks, so this post will consist of pictures of some of the projects that have been finished or started. The sunshine sweater knit on the way to Florida has been finished. 

A smaller sized fisherman knit sweater has been started as a future Christmas present. The most exciting knitting this week has been an online Knit-a-Long called "The Secret of the Shawl." Clues are given each week, and about 500 people are knitting away on this project. Next on the list is a box of cotton yarn that arrived this week to become a summer top. Of course there are always a few pairs of socks in the bag!

April

April has finally arrived, and warmer weather has finally taken over! Gary here is removing the banking on the side of the house and removing the Christmas displays from the window boxes. The tulips are starting to poke their heads up. We have several mourning doves that have decided to inhabit the cedar trees. The two smaller ones are pictured here. We refer to them as the twins. There are larger ones that occupy the tree also. These pictures certainly show that the snow of last week is going fast. There are robins everywhere. Louise went shopping yesterday and bought three spring/summer outfits to wear. Gary is trying to figure out a way to plant peas before the snow is off the garden!