Wishing everyone a Wonderful Thanksgiving. Safe travels for those going over the river and through the woods!
Category Archives: Holidays
Just a Lazy Sunday
I spent the day picking at the boxes of kitchen stuff. There are only a few shelves I can use at this point as they all need to be washed down and have new shelf liners. The problem is with no plumbing (water) in the kitchen yet it’s hard to make much progress with just a bucket and running back and forth to the bathroom for refills of fresh water.
I got through 2 boxes and gave up. I really need the shelves fixed in the new cabinets so I can figure out what I can put there and what needs to go back into the existing cabinets. I also have to keep the counter clear until the tile people get here.
I have a big box of cleaning stuff that needs to be under the sink but I can’t put that away until the plumber is done. Oh and did I mention the glassware is covered in dust from the sawing and sanding and all needs to be washed. Of course the dishwasher isn’t working yet either! Same thing with the stove. It’s disgusting. The stove top is covered with a fine dust! No way can any food be prepared on that stove top. I think I know why people add new appliances when they re-do their kitchens. Its to avoid the clean up of the old appliances! I hope I have an old toothbrush so I can get into the little cracks and crevasses.
I think I’m going to cut back on my Thanksgiving dinner. I’m beginning to doubt I’ll have the kitchen ready for the preparation. I’ll have the turkey and maybe some green beans (from a can), sweet potatoes, stuffing (Stove top) and gravy. Skip the mashed potatoes, glazed carrots and cranberries, and desert. Just stick with the basics. That will be more than enough food for just for me and will minimize the pots and pans I’ll need to locate!
Of course, I’ll be watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade 🙂 and I will be counting my blessings because for all my complaining, I still have a very blessed life.
Thank You To All Who Serve
It’s Veteran’s day and no matter which war or what time, life as we know it would not exist without our Veterans. Thank you to all who served, sacrificed and continue to serve.
Keene NH
My friend Nancy, her children and I headed up to Keene, NH for the annual Pumpkin Festival. Who knew a bunch of immature, rowdy college kids would steal the limelight. We didn’t see any of it. We heard the sirens, saw lots of flashing lights and ambulances but nothing else. As we parked our car the lot attendant said they didn’t know what was going on but that they had heard there was an “incident”.
They said be careful and have a good time. So that’s what we did. I’ll save my remarks about idiot college kids for another post. It won’t be a pretty one.
It was quite a walk from the car to the center of Keene where the pumpkins lined the Main St. Keene holds the World Record for most number of lit jack-o-lanterns on display. In 2013 the total was 30,581. Kind of mind boggling. I don’t know if they won this year but there were Jack-o- lanterns everywhere.
Near the Ferris Wheel the was a “Dome” of pumpkins being set up.
There were wooden shelves set up along the center of Main street where more jack-o-lanterns perched.
They surrounded tress, made rows along the curbs and piled against fences and jersey barriers.
Almost anywhere you could imagine there were carved pumpkins. They were even in the trees.
It was packed! There were quite a few Halloween Characters around who posed for pictures with the kids. One of the first ones and one of the best ones was Batman. He even had his car. He patiently stood by waving to the crowd and posed for pictures. Very nicley done Batman!
While Alex was meeting and smoozing with the caped crusader Dawn was doing her version of pole dancing. She was more interested in the metal handrail in front of the large brick building than pumpkins or Batman.
I had promised to go on the Ferris Wheel with Dawn but when we got to it the kids were more interested in getting a pumpkin to carve. For a $5.00 donation you got to carve a pumpkin that got counted toward the total. At our first stop where we made our donation the pumpkins were pretty soggy so we moved on to another stand only to find the same thing there.
Along the way we marveled at the creativity of the carvers and Dawn and Alex signed a cardboard wall with their names.
Finally down near the craft fair and food Alex and I located some semi solid pumpkins, Dawn was getting her face painted. The man helping us explained that the pumpkins are all hollowed out by volunteers before the festival starts. They begin the process 2-3 days before the big date so the pumpkins begin to go downhill in a hurry.
The sun was setting as we put the finishing touches on our Jack-o-lanterns and began to work our way back to Main Street for the Pumpkin Tower. The pumpkins spell out words, I think of the sponsors of the event, but it’s a pretty amazing sight.
Did they win again? I don’t know. I googled it but couldn’t find 2014. The other burning question is….Pumpkin , Fruit or Vegetable?
(The answer is Fruit)
It was a Five Star Night
Or a two thumbs up or any other sign approval you can think of. It was just plain fun!
Edaville Railroad used to be a little engine that traveled around the cranberry bogs. The big deal was at Christmas when the bog was filled with holiday lights and a few rides led up to the train ride. Then a couple of years ago the owner announced he was selling out. Speculation was that a condo development was going in and the land that was home to the little railroad was needed for parking. Everyone was sad but then the real estate market crashed and now building a bunch of condos didn’t seem to be such a good idea. Suddenly an amusement park wasn’t so bad after all.
Almost immediately Edaville began to expand. It wasn’t the little Edaville Railroad any more. It was Edaville USA and one of the things that came to pass was Dinoland. Everybody loves dinosaurs so now there were dinos roaming the bog.
This year I noticed they had a big pumpkin spectacular called Pumpkins Aglow! I was hoping to get some nice pumpkin pictures so I planned to cough up the admission because I could use my tripod, something not allowed at Roger Williams Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular.
I was going to go alone but after a stop at Nancy’s house we decided to take the kids along. Oh my , what a great idea! Alex and Dawn had a fantastic time!
I expected it to be kind of tacky but it was not. It was very well done.
The kids wore costumes and the ride operators had costumes too and were handing out candy when you road their ride. Trick or Treat!
The rides are included in the admission price so although it seems expensive at first, it more than makes up for the initial investment. The kids can ride all night for free. Bumper cars, Ferris wheel, tilt a whirl, carousels, and of course the train.
But we had to see the dinos and that’s where Pumpkins Aglow was spread out. In the end I didn’t use a tripod. We went through twice , once at dusk and once at full dark. The dusk was better. You’ll see why in my next post!
