Summer Winds Down

August is almost over and it has been a month of lots of family activity. First of all, we have a family picture for the first time in who knows how many years. This is a pretty impressive group, don't you think?

All of the Coles out to dinner in Fort Fairfield. Front: Ryan, Jessica, Louise, Gary, Alexander (in Bob's arms), Bridget, Gina, Emily, and Jon. Back row: Matthew, JoAnna, Andrew, Meghan, Bob, and Erin. Many thanks to Bryce Roix who acted as photographer.

We also have a nice photo of the grandchildren taken at the same time. 

Aren't they a good looking bunch?

The occasion that brought us all together was the Washburn August Festival. This is probably the only time this year that we will all be in the same place at the same time. As  the weekend approached the campers arrived. We had two parked in the driveway.

The morning of the parade the seats filled up on the lawn.

Bridget and Emily enjoying each others company.

Little Alex has just turned one, but he fit right in.

The evening of the August Festival we gathered as a family at Boondocks in Fort Fairfield for a meal.
Here we have Bob and Gina studying the menu while Ryan seems to have lost interest in it. The wait time was long for kids.

Here you can see the little ones at the end of the table. Alex took a couple of walks while we waited for food.

After the festival was over we took a trip to Portage with Jon, Erin and Emily for a couple of days.
Here you see Grampy reading to Emily, who enjoyed the trip.

We actually spent most of the week at the camp, the first time this summer we have been able to relax and enjoy it.  Here we see Emily enjoying her first smore!

Jon and Erin enjoyed their first trip to the camp in a long time. 

Family time is such a great time. If only it could last longer. The grandchildren are growing so fast they change a lot between visits.

The campfires, the soft evenings, the warm temperatures, the calls of the loons make summer at the lake a very special place.

The ducks have been very friendly!

And Louise has finished sweater #9, a red dress for Bridget.

Family Time

The 4th of July today was a family day. Bob and Gina, Bridget and Alex, have been visiting for a couple of days. Jessica and Andrew have joined us a few times, and Meghan and Jo joined in at camp. Today we went to Houlton to Brian's camp and had a family get-together. Lots of visiting took place and new family members were in attendance, babies all over the place!
Here is a photo of the Cole brothers today:

L to R: Brian, David, Ralph, Gary, and Jim.
It has been a exciting few days with the kids. We have been to the lake a couple of times. Here we have Alex, conked out!

Sunshine, fresh air, and lots of new faces were too much after a few hours! Everyone but Grampy got in the lake and cooled off on a very hot day.

Gary and Alex had a fine time together and loved each other's company.
Here you see Bridget ready to go to the lake with her lake hat on:

Jessica was a valuable part of the group both at Portage and in Houlton. Bridget was most attached to Jess.

Here we have Bob and the kids playing in the den:

At home the flower beds are in bloom. Here we have some of our irises that have been spectacular this year.

The flowers beside the garage are in full bloom. Gary added scarlet runner beans that are just starting to take off.

The vegetable beds are growing fast. The hot spell of weather the past few days have made it grown in leaps and bounds.

Louise has knit sweater # 7 for the year, modeled by Bridget!

On to Summer

Yesterday was the longest day of the year! What a beautiful day. The blog has been neglected again for two reasons - constant activity here and a camera that is not working. We hope to get it repaired or replaced soon so we can dazzle you again with our amazing pictures! This picture from a birthday party at Bonanza for Louise is the best we can do today:

Here you see Meghan, Andrew and Ryan in back with us in front.  JoAnna was the photographer. Since this party we have had a second one for Jessica's birthday. It is fun to gather as a family and we need to do more of it.

The biggest news here is about Gary's artwork. King's Landing has agreed to carry his prints and cards of the village in the gift shop. We have been very busy matting and preparing them to go. We hope to get them over there on Tuesday. We have no idea yet what difficulty we will encounter at the border, but hopefully we will succeed. He is also planning to go to the Maple Meadow Farm Fair next weekend and sell some prints and cards. Getting artwork ready has occupied much of our time.

We did get to spend a couple of days at the camp and enjoyed it a lot. It is so peaceful there. It would be hard to find a nicer place to spend a summer day. The rest of our energy goes into gardening. Gary has done a great job getting flower beds weeded and looking good. The irises are starting to bloom and we have some beautiful ones. The vegetable garden in all done and growing well. We have an overabundance of lettuce, more than two people could possibly eat. The cold spring has set things back a bit, but basically it's looking good. Hopefully next time we will have some pictures of it!

Summer is the best season of all. It is so nice to go out in the yard and see the flowers in bloom. Those wild roses that Matthew tried to kill last winter have started to blossom and fill the air with their fragrance. Life is good.

Spring Arrives (Finally)

The past two weeks have had a major change in the weather. In fact it reached 70 two days last week,  78 one day in Caribou!  As a result we have made a little progress into the new season. The fireplace is cool these days. Louise has found her shorter pants. The garden has been started.

The onions are planted in one of the beds, thanks to our next-door neighbor's generosity.

These lettuce plants look much better as they have been planted in a bed along with some herbs.
Among the spring traditions is checking out the camp. This time there was no snow and the ice was out.

Doesn't that lake look wonderful?

The camp survived the winter and is ready for a cleaning to prepare it for another season. We can't wait to get up there for a few days. The water is turned on and all we need is the time to do it.

On Friday the leaves started to pop out on the trees. We have seen pictures of fiddleheads, but haven't had any yet. It is wonderful to see spring! Here are the tulips outside our door:

And Louise has knit another sweater - one for herself this time. This is number 6 for the year!

May has arrived

May is here! One of the loveliest months of the year has begun. We have a long ways to go to see a normal May! By this time last year we had cool weather plants in the raised beds. This is what they look like today:

We are not going to plant them soon! There is also a pile of snow beside the garage:

The tulips have poked their leaves out, but no blossoms yet:

And in the perennial garden the iris are sending up sprouts:

Perhaps the next time we update the blog we will at least have buds on the trees and green grass. The grass is coming very slowly:

Yesterday we took a break from the County and went to Bangor where Gary picked up his painting of the museum. He had it matted and framed there, and it looks really nice:

He sent the painting of the horses away to be matted and framed this month.

Aroostook Spring?

If you glance quickly at the pictures on this page, we don't want you to think this is a reminiscence of last winter. No, this is today. April 16, 2014. We went to bed last  night to flood warnings and road closures as the snow in the fields melted too quickly and flooded much of Main Street in Washburn. We awoke this morning to this:

Yes, new snow and a temperature of 20. It never got above freezing all day. Here is another view from the doorway of the house:

We stayed inside all morning  until Louise declared that cabin fever was setting in. We drove to Presque Isle, by way of the Parson's Road since the flood still has the road closed through Crouseville. We took several interesting pictures of flooded areas near the river in Presque Isle.

We decided to continue our ride with a trip to Ashland and Portage. The road was a bit rough, and there was more snow left there than in Washburn. We spotted deer all along the way.

Who would believe that this photo was not taken in mid-winter? Only someone who lives here right now. We did stop by the camp, but it is still snowed in. Perhaps another week or two of melting will allow us to walk in.

Today is Andrew's birthday, and we are taking him out to dinner, if there is a road open to get to Presque Isle. Let's hope that the current weather doesn't last long. At least we have the fireplace going to off-set the temperature in the teens tonight.