Shelburne Farms Festival!

This weekend we ventured here....

By way of these...

To pay homage to this ...

What I wouldn't give for a obnoxiously large mantle and this very banner hanging over it, only to remind me everyday of my love for corn.  Silly I know, but it just is and always will be.  

Check out this fantastic fire pit they were roasting the corn over!  

 And it was only a dollar and I should have bought two!  Did you know that, over the summer, we went to an amusement park (where I discovered how much a loathe an amusement park) and I paid EIGHT dollars for an ear of corn and a small bottle of water?  EIGHT.  and it was all I found there that I could stomach.  

The whole day!

 But this corn was a buck.  We all had one.  It was scrumptious.   And if they had asked I would have paid eight dollars for this taste of cob... hold the butter and the salt, for its natural state right off the fire can not be topped. period.

 These next few photos presents a sequence of events that proves I am still a timid country bumpkin.  The city in this girl is still predominate.  I cannot tolerate bugs, the rain makes me frazzled, and as it seems; working with plants flat out stumps me...

 trying to look like I have an inkling of what is going on around me.... yes, okay, I can do this...

 ...then, after mere moments, I admit defeat and look to my Mr. for a life preserver... I am drowning in failure in enchanted land...help.

Good thing Matt is familiar in all things awesome...

 and created a crown for our young lass...

I suppose I have some work to do in the areas of awesomeness. 

After corn munching, crown crafting, Scottish music listening, necklace making, maple cotton candy gawking, and BEFORE leaving... we had to check out a bale maze.

  Fortunately we had a couple of very sly foxes to lead the way. 

and after it was over we took in the view.  and expressed gratitude. because it was lovely.

Four Thousand One Hundred and Seventy Five...

 

Pages!

Well done Noah Matthew!  I am not only impressed with your accomplishment but delighted to watch the enthusiasm with which you read.  How I grin when I find you up early with the birds to get an extra chapter in.  How thrilling to hear of your heart beating fast during an intense scene.  How I love that you have finished your very first book series!

I mean, WOW!  This calls for celebration...

And how do Vermonters celebrate?  Ben and Jerry's of course!  It was so fun to surprise you!

Phish food, Half Baked, Chocolate syrup, and Whipped Cream!!

Your dad kind of looks like a character out of your books, doesn't he?  A professor perhaps?  What would his talent be you think?

It is now 7:00pm on a Wednesday night... there are dishes to be done, lunches to pack, showers to take, baseball laundry to do, and beds to jump in...

No thanks, I still feel like celebrating!

and nothing says celebrate like an evening breeze blowing on your cheeks while cruising on a bicycle.

 So we rode all the way down to the lake to watch the sunset

Thanks for giving us something to celebrate Noah.  Life sure is sweet at the moment.  

Now the only question is, What to read next?

The Rald Dahl Collection, good choice!

a weekend of goodness...

This tree is currently in bloom right in our very own backyard.  I have had my eye on it; I have had the pleasure of  witnessing its spring brilliance.

This tree represents how I feel, in this present moment.  I am at the fullest I have ever been.  I have bloomed.  I am where I am meant to be, doing what I am meant to be doing, with whom I am meant to be doing it with.  I feel content and at peace. 

 

 This magnificent tree will lose its radiance in the following weeks.  Nature teaches us the great lesson of impermanence. The weather reminds me that change is constant and inevitable. I am thankful for this reminder. When my tree looks tired and feels sort of sad I know that change will come.  And I am overjoyed, then, when it shows up and happiness permeates once again...

My Mother's Day was special...

as special as my kidos.  This day is not about me as much as it is about togetherness.  We all need a day together, once and again, where nothing else is on the agenda.  This is a day where we get to decide just what to do...

Bike riding was on the menu because nothing beats it...

We headed to Stowe, Vermont.  I had never been.  It made for a beautiful country drive and provided a landscape for the ultimate bike ride.  The bike path is perfectly twisty and smooth; following a river at the mountains edge.  Noah was able to test out his new shocks and gears while ascending small climbs leading up to the most amazing wooden bridges. 





Picnic lunch, boat making, and picture taking...

 Watermelon is back!!  Not quite at its peak of course, but oh how I missed that lovely lovely fruit.  Gabrielle lives on this stuff during the summertime, don't know how she would survive without it.  Come on tomatoes and corn, keep that goodness coming!

Thank you Ben and Jerry for a pleasant surprise!  What mother could pass up a delicious ice cream treat on this very special day?  Yes please, one clustrerfluff for this mom!

 As a Mother, on this Earth, what do I wish for?   
Peace.
I must take a moment, as a Mother, to remember the origins of this day, in this country, and pay homage to a Mother who's wish was the same...

 

Arise, then, women of this day!  

 Arise all women who have hearts,
Whether your baptism be that of water or of tears
Say firmly:

"We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands shall not come to us reeking of carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of
charity, mercy and patience.

"We women of one country
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
  
From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says, "Disarm, Disarm!"
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice!
Blood does not wipe out dishonor
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war.

Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions.
The great and general interests of peace.

Julie Ward Howe - 1870