The adventures of vacation

Hi
We have been on vacation sine Friday afternoon. Sort of a forced vacation. Have to take a week off of work, unpaid, so it was around the fourth of July, so, I took vacation.
On Saturday, we went to a party with fireworks, music, food, and friends.

It was good to see everyone.
Sunday, we went on our annual black raspberry picking adventure with Mollie & Bill.

On Monday, we went on a bike ride out in the country. We rode the Jane Addams cycling trail in Northern Il

It’s been a great vacation so far. It’s always an adventure with Maggie.

dawn

Hi.
One of the things I love most about summer is the long days, with tons of sunlight. Can’t beat it, in my book. Starting yesterday, I have the ‘pleasure’ of opening up & unlocking the company building. It is on the west bank of the Rock River. Literally… There’s an old railroad bridge that is just north of the property, and goes across the river, causing ripples & swells with the pilings. This morning, the pink sunrise over the river, with the day dawning made me stop to take it all in and appreciate it… ’til I realized that I had forgotten to punch in… Oops! That put the day back on track, but for a moment, it was livin’ easy & fish jumpin’… Gershwin was right…

Jam

Hi!
Saturday afternoon/evening, our friends Jan & Mike facilitated a cook out/campout/jam @ a local state park. Good times.

al froggy

jan mike

mrs.duck

Hi,
Now Mrs. Duck is comfortable enough to stop by on her own. Mr. Duck must have stayed home with the little ones.

Kevin Rose & Leo Laporte Song “Diggnation Tech Nerd”

Ha! Leo Laporte played this at the end of TWiT yesterday. I laughed and laughed and laughed. Great tune, spot on!!

snap,crackle,pop

We are on a bike ride, on a lovely day. We are headed out to the state park, then to Panera’s for a sandwich. We are about 5 miles out, & we pass under and along an electrical grid. It hums, crackles, pops & almost makes your hair stand on end. Maggie,as usual, is flying by us. We are at the park, waiting for Bill to do a 4.6 mile lap around the park. I’m not up to that yet, so next time… We’ll leave here, ride to lunch, then back to M&B’s house to pack up. Things to do @ home this afternoon. See you there!

Rathbaun Farm

Hi

Maggie was going through recipes today and found some recipe cards from the farm we toured last year in Ireland. Rathbaun Farms, over two hundred years old, and still in operation by the family. It’s a tiny farm by our standards, but it was one of the most interesting, authentic sites on our visit.

We watched a sheep dog ‘rangle’ the sheep. Then, one of them got a shear haircut. After the tour of the farm, we were led into the dining room and served the best brown bread and scones we have ever had. We still think of it often. One of those things you will always remember.

Anyway, the 1st anniversary of our trip is coming up and we are thinking back fondly and longingly to Ireland. So, I wanted to share it… Check out the site, Rathbaun farm, cuz there are recipes of the scones, brownbread, Guinness Fruitcake there.
A little piece o’ Ireland…..
See ya…

Some help gardening

I was watering the tomatoes last night, when all of a sudden from through the fence, came ‘Chip’ to help. He sat there the entire time I watered. Go figure!

A quick note about our NYC trip

Good morning!
We spent Thursday through Sunday morning, in NYC. Had a great time. I’ll post more about it later in the week, but, we have started posting pix and video @ our Flickr and Youtube pages, if you want to see it…
More to come later…

Chocolate for Autism Support

Hello there,
if you know us, you know that our best friends have autistic twin boys, Ethan and Dylan. So, autism is a cause that is obviously close to our hearts. Well, it must be close to the Lindt Chocolate people too. They are donating a percentage of the price of a Lindt Gold bunny to Autism Speaks, a support/research group. Lindt is sponsoring the Walk for Autism too. Click the links to find out more….
So, if you have a few extra bucks, need chocolate, need candy for Easter, or, all of the previous, then, please, purchase a Gold bunny or two, or, three, or… It’s great chocolate, and, you’ll be helping in the battle against one of the most insidious diseases we are effected with…
Also, you can go to the Autism Society of America for more information from them too.
Thanks