October 16, 2008 Playground & Disney plans

Dan and I enjoyed a nice quiet morning hanging out at the playground with Jen and the girls. I knitted, Jen and I caught up and Dan and his friends played on the equipment then made they're way over to their favorite hill and started constructing "houses" from the lumber lying around.







The sword that Danny and Daddy built.

On an exciting note, I started committing to our
Disney trip and in another window as I type lays 3 plane tickets to Florida just waiting for Mike's inspection before I hit the "Buy" button. As it stands we'll be gone for two weeks Tuesday February 24 - Tuesday March 10. Flights are $209 per person. 10 day park hopper passes will cost Em and I $287 each. Originally this trip was going to be for Dan and I alone. I took Emmy to Disney when she was 5 and thought it was the perfect age so I've been telling Dan for years that we'd go when he was 5. But now that Emily has a job she's decided she wants to go and pay her own way. With free tent at Mom's campground, and a free flight that leaves her responsible for park passes and food. Pretty good deal, and I'll be willing to bet the only people sleeping in the tent will be Danny and I. Your highness will be holed up in the camper!

October 15, 2008 Dr. Mann & Corn Maze

Another busy day here at the Gould cottage. Emily had to be to work for 8:45, I had a 9:30 appt with Dr. Mann (ENT)and then we were due to meet the homeschoolers at Sauchuk Farm
http://www.sauchukfarm.net/default.htm in Plympton at 11:30. On top of that we thought since we were up that way we might check out Daddy's new office in Taunton if we had time.
Dan and I dropped Emmy off at work then headed into Falmouth for my appointment. Dan decided in route that he wanted to be Leonardo from the Teenage mutant ninja turtles for Halloween, and since we had a few minutes we thought we'd run into Walmart to see if they had a green sweat suit. They did and while we were there I optimistically grabbed a pair of size 10 jeans and a couple of medium long sleeved T-shirts, since my wardrobe is down to one pair of holey jeans, one pair of stained jeans and too many over sized short sleeve shirts. We made it to Dr. Mann's office right on time and was promptly invited into one of the exam rooms. Dr. Mann was very nice. My lyme test came back negative. My VNG came back abnormal. The way he described it is that the test results suggest that there is either a leison growing inside my left ear or within my brain. I promptly pointed out that he MRI was negative and he concurred. At which point I asked if I had something growing in my ear. I'm not sure he ever answered that question but suggested that my new diagnosis was Meneiere's disease....well duh, the first doctor I saw back in RI said that's what it was 9 years ago! Anyway, he said before starting medication he wanted me to cut out as much salt as possible from my diet. SALT ! In the last 5 or so years I've given up nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, meat, dairy and wheat, and the only thing that made the last three of those bareable was the salt. I cried right there in his chair. I'm a realist, things happen, bad or good and it's just what it is, it's meant to be. However that's before I was asked to give up salt. I'm sad, I feel like I've lost a friend and now wonder if eating is even worth doing, with everything tasting so blah. Irrational I know, and tomorrow I'll pick myself up and move on, but today I mourn. I hope Dr. Mann is wrong. Maybe I'd rather have a lesion. Ok...not really...
I left there thinking about all the favorite things I'm eating now that I'll have to avoid. Namely fake buttered popcorn and anyting marinated in vinegar.
We made it up to Plympton a little after 11am and without enough time to visit Dad we went directly to the corn maze, had a quick lunch then explored the farm. They had a cool pit filled with corn for the kids to play in like a sandbox, and cow train, and hayride to a pick your own pumpkin patch and of course the maze it self with sheets of paper called passports as clues to find your way. Marie was there with 4 of her boys. We met her and her family at the foraging field trip, so it was nice to see a friendly face. There were homeschooler from all over at this event since it was off
Cape. She and I started the maze together and our boys immediately took off into the maze. Dan thought he was such a big boy hanging out with all of them and since Marie's boys promised to look after him I let him go. Talk about an over protective Mom. Marie and I got lost....alot. Finally we found a number, consulted our passports and found our way to the first bridge. It was a beautiful view and she and I had fun taking each others pictures from up there.....boys? What boys? Since we could no longer hear the cherubs and it'd been a while we decided we'd go back to the start and enter the maze through the exit to head them off when they got to the end. We exited the maze then reenterd the exit which brought us to the second bridge. We could hear the boys but quickly lost their sound. We decided they were probalby already out and decided to go out ourselves. We found the two littlest boys petting and feeding the pygmy goats. Dan and Brenden did a great job of taking care of one another.
We found the rest of the boys, and some other homeschooling Mom's and talked while the kids played. Eventually most of the kids were out and one of the Corn Cops started up the ATV and started giving cow train rides. The kids had a blast. After that we climbed aboard the hayride. Marie opted out of this adventure and I willingly kept my eye on her boys. They each picked a miniature pumpkin to take home, we boarded our ride and made our way back. A quick look at the clock told me I needed to call Emily and tell her we'd be late. We left Plympton at 2:15 and made it to Mahoney's at 3:30. There's just no good way to get from the Bourne Bridge to East Falmouth. We came home and tag teamed the chores and before we knew it we were all relaxing. I threw a couple of racks of beef ribs in the oven, then went to class. Since tonight was the debate our professor thought our time was better spent watching that and let us leave early. I've been craving fresh Autumn olive berries all afternoon and decided on the way home I'd hit the playground in the dark to harvest some. I'm addicted to these things, they'll have to do if I can't have popcorn. And remember those size 10 jeans? They fit!

October 14, 2008 Graeme Base

The homeschoolers were invited to meet the childrens author and illustrator Graeme Base. http://www.graemebase.com/Home.cfm We didn't own any of his books but always like to meet such creative people and since he was going to be at the Sandwich library, we thought all the better. We took Emily to work then headed over there and made it just in time for the start. Turns out he's an extremely talented story teller as well as artist and Dan was enthralled with him. He read his book called Enigma which is a story he wrote based on his son's relationship with his grandfather. During the reading Dan raised his hand to ask a question. Graeme stopped reading and patiently asked Dan what he wanted to ask. Dan said "Can I borrow that book when your done with it?" Which immediately raised giggles from the crowd. He can be quite charming when he wants to be. We decided to buy the book and Graeme signed his name along with a picture of a rabbit that he just whipped up. There is a video of the signing to the left if your interested. It has a safe in the back of the book which you have to unlock using three keys. Dan couldn't wait to unlock the safe to see the code. I'm sure we'll spend a substantial amount of time tonight deciphering pages. Maybe I can get Mikey to do it!

October 13, 2008 King Richard's Faire and Dennis the Manatee

Dennis didn't make it... :-(
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081013/NEWS/810130305
I have very mixed feelings about the whole thing. As we watched news footage yesterday morning and calculated the approximate time of arrival of Dennis at Sea World, I commented that the sheer weight of the animal out of the water must put an unbelieveable strain on it's organs. I'm no expert, just a 38 year student in the law of gravity. Even thought it breathes air, it's meant to be in the sea. Are you going to tell me the experts didn't take that into account? Either way I can't help but think that he might have been better off right here swimming around and enjoying Sesuit harbor and the attention from the locals before he succumbed to the cold. Do we as humans have the right to interfere with natures anomalies? Even if we can, should we? I'm not so sure.

We met Mom at the King Richard's Faire at 10:30am when the gates opened and were suddenly transported back in time. I was not expecting what I saw on the other side of the gates. Women were dressed in tight corsets with their breasts propped up so high that when they looked down their chins rested on them. Men wore varying outfits that ranged from pirates to knights in shining armour. Some were mere peasants others royalty. The stranger the better. For the first time ever Dan was truly unsettled with the environment around him. Normally outspoken he was unusually shy and nervous. Emily was attacked (her word, not mine) by a vendor who wasted no time in adorning her with horns, Mom was with her at the time and indulged the seller. They were passed around throughout the day. Dan really liked the Siberian tiger cubs and the tiger show. Some of those cats are unbelieveable huge.
It was a little unnerving sitting so close toHercules a 900lbs eating












machine controlled only by a small chain.
The company that owns and breeds these animals is based out of South Carolina and offers VIP trips. http://www.myrtlebeachsafari.com/.




















Dan was very excited to become a pirate, learned the special pirate salute and all the rules! He also had a chance to shoot a bow and arrow at a target. He became a knight by hitting a moving target later in the day. We watched the first jousting tournament but made the mistake of thinking we were going to have lunch afterwards along with everyone else who attended. Next year we will know. I was hoping to dress up but I felt significantly unsure with the choices, options and what I wanted to be I never committed to anything. Em and I are both going to work on a costume to wear next year.
Something with a corset I think! All in all a fun day. It was great to spend some time with Mom even though we lost her frequently, the place is of manageable size and lost was a relative term. Mike the kids and I stopped at Michael's craft store on the way home for the materials to finish the stained glass window then went to see if we could find the Dunkin Donut baking facility. I know it's on Kendrick Rd which is basically a road running through an industrial park but without the exact address we were unable to find it. I worked again last night with my Brazilian friend. She's so slow it's like working by myself, which I'd rather do. Did I ever think I'd call my early days at Dunkin the good old days? I didn't, but they were!

October 12, 2008 Autumn olives, and stained glass

We've had a string of absolutely perfect early fall days. The air is crisp, but the sun still close enough to warm the day up nicely.
Since the foraging field trip I've been in a frenzy trying to harvest as many autumn olive berries as I can before they pass for the season. So far I've boiled down 5 cups of berries and frozen them. Originally I was going to make fruit leather, but realized after making the mash that I didn't have any honey or stivia, so to keep them I decided that freezing was the way to go until I'm ready to dehydrate them. This morning on my way to taking Emily to work I saw this amazing sized Autumn olive bush loaded with berries, so after dropping Emily off I harvested what turned out to be 12 cups more. Dan and I really like eating the berries as they are and since I haven't tried the leather I didn't want to commit to any more of that, and unsure about the recipe for jam/jelly, I decided the best thing to do for now was to freeze the berries whole. After spending an hour de-berrying loads of branches I now have 2 quart sized bags, and 5 sandwich sized bags full of berries ready to go. Dan effectively managed to avoid berry stripping and decided he'd rather play with the dollhouse in the tent. We're getting very excited about our two week trip to Disney World in February and since we'll be camping in Fort Wilderness with Mom, Mo, Fran and Gary we thought we'd air out the tents and make sure they were in good shape.
Since our Autumn olive hunt took us to Hyannis yesterday we decided to stop in at AC Moore. A dangerous place for both Emmy and I. Emmy has taken up knitting, and really likes making scarves from the fringy yarn. She bought 10 skeins of varying colors while we were there. While scouting around I found this absolutely beautiful (well at least I thought so) Homespun yarn and after asking both kids if they wanted something made from it, and both saying no, I decided I'd make something for myself. I chose this poncho for my most of the time winter coat, since it usually never gets really really cold here. The color is lemonade. I can't wait till it's finished...I've never knitted for myself before! http://%20http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/khs-prettyPoncho.html While we were at AC Moore I made my way over to the faux stained glass window section. I've been looking at this one particular pattern for a long time and just was never sure if I really wanted to start what looked like a really big project. I astarted collecting all the stuff needed to complete it and before I knew it found my arms filled with everything necessary. I decided to bite the bullet, and proceeded to check out. As we headed home I was eager to get the kids fed so I could see what the project would entail. Turns out not nearly as much as I was expecting, and by last night had one of the kitchens storm windows complete. Our kitchen windows face our neighbors kitchen sliders and although we really like our neighbors I think we'd both feel a little better with more privacy. The stained glass was the perfect solution and we all agree it looks great! I had a chance to work on the second one this afternoon after breakfast at John's capeside dinner and a walk on the canal to the Jetty with Mike and Dan, but I ran out of materials! I think a trip to Hyannis might be in order on Tuesday, since tomorrow we're finally going to the King Richard's faire! Anybody want to meet us there???

October 9, 2008 Gowns, purple hair and Dennis the manatee

It's been quite a while since I've blogged. Things have just been really busy!

I woke up Saturday morning and thought, we should go to the King Richard's Faire http://www.kingrichardsfaire.net/ before it's gone for another year, we've said we wanted to go every year for the past 9 and haven't made it. Mike thought it was a good idea and with nothing planned for the weekend, we decided that's what we'd do....until Leone called. Janni needs a new roof put on her house and Mike was calling to ask Mikey if he'd lend a hand. We live in a very tight knit community and if one friend needs help everybody pulls together to get the job done. King Richards faire would just have to wait. The kids and I spent the weekend hanging around, Em worked Saturday. I worked Friday - Sunday. Em had her last driving instruction Sunday. The weekend passed and Janni's roof was left tarped and half done.

Monday was uneventful. We took Em to work, it was her first day cashiering at Mahoney's and she was a little nervous, but did great. Dan and I stopped at the grocery store on our way home to pick up food for the week and then went home to clean. Dan and I rearranged the living room to get the couch and loveseat off of the living room windows. With a strong north wind off the pond you can feel the cold air on your back. Dan took a nap, and I did school work.

Tuesday turned out to be a very busy day. I had a VNG http://www.stopdizziness.com/services_vng.asp test at Cape Cod ENT in Hyannis at 8:30am. Since I had to have a driver we decided I'd have the test then Em would drive us to the m all and we'd spend some time in Hyannis shopping. The test went well, comfortable except for the weight of the goggles I had to wear, and judging by the assistant running the test everything seemed normal right up until the Caloric test explained in #4 in the above link. She called in an audiologist to repeat the test and when it came back the same the audiologist said she'd seen that result once before. I don't know what any of it means, but it did sound like an abnormal finding. I see Dr. Mann next Wednesday.

The kids and I went to the mall afterwards. Our first stop was Macy's. They always have beautiful dresses this time of year, and I love trying them on. Em and I both tried a couple. I took pictures with my cell phone. I'm pleased with my progress. Size 10!

Em's been asking if she can color her hair for some time. After thinking about it for a while, I've decided that if that's the extent of her adolecent rebellion I'm a lucky mom. I gave my blessing. She chose purple hair dye from Hot Topic. We browsed the mall for a while, had lunch at the food court then made our way to Trader Joes and Christmas tree shop for a new carpet for the living room. We remove the old one every summer, it's easier to vacuum sand and dog hair without it, but always get a new one in the fall when the weather starts getting cool again. The kids and I headed home and since I was unhappy with the hair cut I got a couple of weeks ago asked Em if she wanted the hair cut she'd been nagging me about. We agreed and took our turns. The girl who cut my hair had blond under her dark hair and I started asking her about dying. 3 hours later we left. Em had some of her hair bleached then dyed purple, all three of us had our hair cut, Dan decided midway he wanted his hair spikey so into the chair he went. We got home at 6pm with just enough time to make dinner before Mikey got home. It was a hectic but good day!

Wednesday was Dan's first day back to Sandwich Library's preschool storytime. He did well, had a good time and made an Elmer the Elephant craft. Afterwards he and I had a picnic at the Marina playground then went over to Buzzards Bay to meet Dr. Lorraine Hurley and Blanche Derby http://www.tagyerit.com/freefood.htm for a foraging field trip on the canal. I had no idea how many weeds are edible. Our favorites are sheep sorrel which is everywhere and tastes like lemon, wood sorrel which looks like clover except it has heart shaped leaves and yellow flowers, it also tastes like lemon and the berries of the Autumn Olive which is an invasive bush with silvery leaves and bright red berries. The berries are incredible, we must have eaten a pint each! Here is a link to a blog with an Autumn Olive jam/jelly recipe. I've found a good source of them on a back road in Hyannis. I'm hoping to get a chance to forage closer to home sometime in the near future! Supposedly they're the sweetest right after the first frost.
http://wearemadeofdreamsandbones.blogspot.com/2006/09/autumn-olive-jam-saga.html

TodayMike was working in Newport and since Emmy wasn't working we considered going to RI with him, however Mom is camping and with a whole day to kill in Middletown and no car we decided we'd stay home and "enjoy" the wet day. Danny mentioned he'd seen the manatee on the news this morning with Daddy, and I had an idea. Nothing to do, and overcast...we could take a ride and see if we could see it. We arrived shortly after 9am, talked with the harbor master, and some of the natural resource guys for a while and although they were very nice they really told us very little. The kids and I poked around the docks for a while, and after seeing nothing started for the parking lot. There was a man parked up there and gave us the tip that yesterday the manatee had been feeding in the far corner. The kids and I decided we'd take a look and thanked our informant. Sure enough, we were not even down the ramp when someone said they'd just seen it. We walked down the dock and a worker invited Dan and I onto a boat. Within a minute this beautiful animal surfaced. It was probably 10 feet away but we were thrilled have seen it. Had we known just how close to it we would get this brief look would have seemed unremarkable. We watched Dennis or Denise surface and dive 4 or 5 times and got pretty used to the pattern. It would submerge for about 10 minutes. When it surfaced you'ld see it's nose, and sometimes it's back. It would come up and go down for 2 or 3 minutes before with a great sweep of it's tail it would dive for another 10 minutes.

Eventually it made it's way between two rows of dock and seemed to be coming directly towards us which is exactly what it did. In about 4 feet of water it surfaced along side the dock and proceeded to feast on the algae growing on the ropes. If Dan had reached out his hand he would have touched it, however the harbor master was looking on, trying to control the growing crowd. We decided we'd leave to let somebody else have a chance to see it. I have a feeling eventually they were going to block the docks entirely so the animal could do what it wished. Quite a liability having all those people and kids on the rickety old docks. There is a short video of the manatee in the upper left hand corner of this blog, if you'ld like to see more!

On the way home we stopped at Sally's to pick up some more dye. Emily loved the purple so much she wanted more, and was willing to entrust me to do it. We came home, Dan went down for a nap and I took to bleaching. 2 hours later, one very sad girl sits on the couch. Apparently when I bleached then dyed blue one particular section of hair I'd forgetten to take into account her part, and she now has a bluish/greenish stripe running right down the side of her head. Whoops.....

Here is the latest cape cod times article on Dennis: We would be the three people walking up and down the docks in the rain.
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081010/NEWS/810100308

October 2, 2008 Presents from VA & snake

We also were delighted to find in our mailbox on Monday afternoon a package from VA. The kids love getting their own envelopes and even though Dan can't read very well yet, he doesn't let Em read his either. Dan got a great T-shirt in the perfect size with the names of all the Azore Islands printed on it along with cows making funny faces. He wanted to put on Monday night but since we were having American Chop Suey for dinner I managed to convince him to wait until Tuesday. Em got a small plate with cows on it. When Dad and Kathy took Em to France, Emmy was their cow-pilot, so a cow plate was fitting. The kids love that they're thought of on a regular basis, and Emily usually attempts to write back, although I'm not sure she always makes it to the stamps.
Today was the first day the sun's come out in over a week and we were thrilled to see it. We usually meet Jen and the girls on Thursday at Oakridge

Danny found this beautiful mayfly.

playground. Today we arrived, and Dan immediately got out of the van and ran off to play. Jen, Buzz and I caught up for a bit. Then all of a sudden I heard Danny screaming "snake". We've tried to catch one all summer long, so I ran over and gently put my foot on top of it to keep it still, reached down and picked it up. We were immediately surrounded by children who wanted to touch it. Jen went to my van and found the specimen jar I always keep there, while I held it for the kids to touch. We gently lowered him into his temporary home and the kids resumed their games. Dan played until nearly 1pm, then we went home to have lunch, and make a home for our our new friend. We dug some dirt from the garden, planted some grass, found some rocks to make a hiding place, and added a pool of water. Then we went down to the logs and started lifting them to find some earth worms for Mack. We found several, put them in the box and he immediately started eating. Then he moved over to the water and took a drink. Really very comfortable behavior for an animal who has just been put into captivity.

It's been 3 months without alcohol, or meat and I've officially lost 50lbs so far. My goal is 136, I'm just 26lbs away! Em and I went shopping at Old Navy on Sunday and I happily found 5 pairs of size 8 shorts for $4.99 each. I was worried I wouldn't have anything to wear when we went down to Florida in February, but I think I'm all set now!

Mack the snake.