Purple, green & yellow quilt

This is a quilt I just finished quilting for a friend. She made the top for a wedding gift. I quilted it with swirls that echo the pattern in the purple batik on the outside border.

"The girls" playing on the quilt.

Close-up of the center

Peaches & Grandkids

As soon as we got home from vacation, Meghan & I had peaches waiting in the kitchen to be canned. 24 quarts and 8 pints of peaches. Yum!!

The first weekend of October the kids were all here and we had some family pictures taken. The kids worked on the garage, and we cleaned out the 3rd bay! It looks wonderful! a load to the dump and a load to Goodwill , Tada! Derek has a parking place inside the garage. My kids rock!

Miss Macy and her funny, squished up nose smile.

Wes and Travis at the park

Nathan racing Wes down the slide. Love that smile :)

Brelee was sleeping in the stroller and Chris and Kati were rollerblading around the lakes.

Maine

Thursday night we stayed in Portsmouth Maine. Checked into the hotel- Anchorage Hotels (wouldn't recommend them :/)

Headed to "Bob's Clam Hut" for dinner in Kittery , Maine. It was awesome!!

"Bob" had great places to eat everywhere!! Wished I had kept track of all the places he owns!

Outside the hotel- Friday morning

Too cute!! The pumpkins back east don't rot in the sun! Weird!

Portland, Maine

My sister was in Portland, OR at the same time!

Could you just live here!??

This is NOT a postcard! Its how it really looks!

The views were breathtaking! The air smelled crisp and clean, the breeze a bit chilled.

I could just picture myself sitting on that porch in a rocking chair, wrapped up in a quilt, reading a book with grandkiddos on my lap- playing on the porch. *sigh*

Cute, Cute!! Bobby ate at another clam place and I shopped, the shops were adorable!

In one of them Bobby asked if this was the end of the busy season. We had seen so many vacation rentals on the beach available. The lady said tourist season was letting up , but it was the beginning of "leaf peeper" season! How CUTE!

In AZ we call "them" "snow birds" , in New England "they" are called "leaf peepers"!

In Portland we ate at Gilbert's Chowder House. I had the sourdough bread bowl with clam chowder- it was amazing!

And back to Boston we go... it took us around 2 hours to pass through 3 states- taking our time. Drive 2 hours here and your still in the same state!

Met Gail and Patty for dinner, and spent the night at Patty and Gerrys. Their house is soo adorable, as was Gails! Bobby asked me if it ruined the "cuteness" to stay inside a New England house- NO WAY! The adorable woodwork, rooms, stairs, wood floors, great views, trim work ... it was so comfortable and cozy- I loved it! I might not love shoveling snow, hauling firewood, uncovering the car, freezing cold or snow on the floor ... but call me a "leaf peeper" any day- I'll own it !:)

Claremont, New Hampshire

One of my requests for the trip was to go to NH in search of genealogy info. Roberts Great Grandparents are buried there ( I know- more cemetery stuff...). I also wanted to try to find birth and death records from Claremont. So off we went. The drive was sooo beautiful!! I had no idea a person can go into "cuteness overload" but I did, quite frequently!

When we got into Boston the leaves had barely started to change, as we drove that week, they changed right before our eyes... it was amazing!

The town office had all their birth/death/marriage records on 3x5 cards, in an old library card file in the lobby of the office. We found all of Frank & Mary's kids birth records along with a few others, and a couple marriage records.

Nobody really knew how to get to the cemetery. I wish I could remember all the different directions we got... "turn by the old railway sign", "that road out there takes a bend to the left- keep going past the old mill", "theres a fork in the road-keep straight...", "theres some big old trees..." The guy at Fisks Free library finally drew us a map- " Its not to scale" he said ...lol!

Church at St. Marys Cemetery- First Catholic church in New Hampshire

Frank L(no idea what the L stands for) Carboneau & Mary Doyle, Lillian Carboneau (Conners)

The cemetery was huge, and we had no idea where they were. We called the caretaker and he and a kid helped us find them. Bobby offered them a few bucks for helping us, but they refused. As we were walking away the kid said he liked helping people find their "kin", it made him feel good for "these folks" to have visitors. We never would have found them without his help.

Bobby thought the stones would be small and close to the ground. Surprise! They were pretty good sized!

Frank & Mary's house address from the 1920 census

Franks & Marys house address from 1930 census, love the stained glass top of the window!

On the way out of New Hampshire

If I had known more- or knew what to ask, Im sure we could have gotten more information. *sigh* But that saves something for another trip. :)

I drove a "Duck"!

We took a Duck Tour. A "Duck" is 1/2 truck-1/2 boat amphibious vehicle. Originally designed for WWII, the projects code name was "DUKW". Our Duck was Beantown Betty , one of the restored original "DUKW"s. Our guide was very knowledgeable, drove pretty quickly & threw out information and random facts about Boston faster than I could process them. The one I remember was that Boston originally was only 1.5 sq. miles. As time progressed, the marshes around the area began to be filled in by the people and it now is 48 sq. miles.

"Beantown Betty"- see the flash? Thats us :)

Our "Duck dude" guide

Boston skyline from the river

Yes, thats me in the drivers seat