Irene

Hurricane Irene has come and gone but she did leave a mark in Northern Virginia. My townhouse survived without any damage, thank goodness. However my neighbor across the street was not so lucky as their tree fell on their car.

I spent the afternoon at my friend Mary Deane's at her hurricane party. It was an obstacle course getting there between trees down across the road and live lines down across the road. Turnes out her neighborhood got hit big time! The house next door to hers was recently sold and a young couple with a baby has been remodeling and filling it with furniture. They were scheduled to move in tomorrow. Well a very large tree fell right into what would have been their bedroom and literally cut the bed in half. The house has been condemned and is inhabitable. Look at this....

This shows lust how tall the tree was - covering the front yard!

The Fair

The Fair has come and gone. We had a busy week and everyone in the family was involved. My mother was the department head for flowers, I was the department head for preserves, my sister helped my mom in the flowers, my niece helped me in preserving and worked as a runner accepting entries and delivering them to the correct department. My nephew worked in the security section at the front gate stamping hands and making sure no one got in without paying. My aunt and cousin ran the baking department and my dad was one of the art judges. A true family event! We brought home lots of ribbons and per usual, my mom brought home the most! As you can see there was something for everyone!

Ag Fair Parade

The Martha's Vineyard Agricultural Fair is celebrating it's 150th year and sponsored a small local parade to kick off "Fair Week". The gang gathered at the end of my aunt's house to partake in the festivities!

Even cousin Prudy joined the festivities!

Crabbing

Another favorite activity of the summer is crabbing in the pond! The crabs appear late afternoon and with a chicken wing tied to a string, we were pulling them in two at a time!

We brought 2 buckets and put the males in one bucket and the females in the other bucket. The female bucket filled up to the top in no time. They were smaller and much easier to catch. The males were much larger and more of a challenge! When we were finished catching enough males we let all the females go and they ran right back in the water!

Guess who had to carry the bucket back to the car....not the kids! My sis and I took turns! It was super heavy filled with crabs and water! I was able to get this shot of her hauling the crabs back to the car. She generously gave me the other pictures as I was busy with the line! Thanks Suz.

Crabs are clean and ready to be steamed! They were good!!!

Kayaking

Gorgeous morning on the Vineyard. The kids had a great time kayaking while I got to visit with my cousin Molly. Thanks Molly!

Rainy day

What to do on a rainy day? We had a morning at the "spa" and a marathon monopoly afternoon.

Tree House

My niece and nephew found the tree house at my grandfather's house that my uncle built for my cousins when they were kids. They had fun in there until they discovered a wasp nests living there now! Fortunately no bites!