May all your dreams and wishes come true....Happy Birthday to you!!!

Happy Birthday Matthew....we love you SO much!!!

It can't be ordered from L.L. Bean....there's more to living than "Kelly Green"....

Here we are in Freeport Maine... http://www.freeportusa.com/ . Our first stop was of course, L.L. Bean http://www.llbean.com/ Believe it or not we never bought a single item. Of course, that's because our house is already full of their home goods and we were both wearing Bean hoodies....

It's such a fun store......

We had actually read about these moose while we were in New Hampshire. We didn't realize the display would be at the store. It will be at the Bean store for a period and then they are actually going to make it a traveling display.

We had lunch at the 1912 restaurant inside the store.....Excellent nutritious food....I had a pureed apple/squash soup and we shared a hot Pastrami/caramelized onion/cheese on Pumpernickel sandwich....YUM!!!

The fish pond on the main floor at L. L. Bean......

Our last stop of the day was a trip to Len Libby's chocolates http://www.lenlibby.com/ for a bag of pecan brittle, ONE coconut needham and a look at Lenny the 1700 lb. chocolate moose!!! Oh yeah and that's his friend Libby, the dark chocolate bear......

Tomorrow we are headed for Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park....which should be the highlight of the Maine trip!!! Oh yeah, and of course lobster dinner!!!

I hate to be the one to give you the news....You got the dead car battery blues...

Salt packed up outside and I cleaned the motor home in preparation for our plan to travel to Bennington for a couple of days. Didn't happen.....Salt turned the key and NOTHING. We thought it was the battery but it turned out to be the starter. Salt doesn't have tools to fit the job so we had to bring in a mechanic. Fortunately we were still at the KOA and the mechanic is right down the road. They have ordered a new starter, and will be here at 8:00 tomorrow morning to install it. We then are back on the road.

Being the "Pollyanna" I am, I decided to take advantage of the day and we headed to Rutland to the Norman Rockwell Museum of VT.

I have always loved Norman Rockwell's works. Sometimes I look back at his works and think he must have been reading my family journals.....And I am sure every family in this era felt the same way when their edition of Saturday Evening Post or Boy's Life arrived in the mail.
One of my favorites which wasn't a magazine cover or advertisement......

I couldn't get a good shot of this because of the lights blaring on it....Salt and I got laughing remembering Emma's kindergarten year when she spent half the year eating lunch in the principle's office.....then I looked again and saw the red hair and braids...hmmm, maybe me???

Oh it must be....there are those UGLY brown tie oxfords that my mom made me wear.

Could this have been Dr. Paxton back in Paxton, Nebraska....back when doctors made house calls and died with half the town owing them money....and not even concerned.

What a face.....

The book she is reading is titled....Child Psychology!!! Gotta love it!

I believe this is one of his most famous.....

Yep....there I am with my nurses outfit....did every little girl have one of those in the 50's?????

I have pictures from my 7th birthday party wearing mine!!!

I loved this one....my deceased husband served on the Board of Directors for Goulds Pumps back in the 1980's. We spent many days in beautiful Seneca Falls, NY attending either board or stockholder's meetings or one of Bob Townower's black tie events.....

We saw a poster giving the dates of the Killington "Hay Festival", but had no idea what it might be...that was until we started driving up the mountain. A bunch of the businesses along Route 4 were displaying their creativity with both square and round hay bales. Here are a few of their creations......

Pinocchio......

The mama cow and the "udder" cows..... hey, it's not my joke!!

Tiger.....

Teddy Bear......

Not exactly sure if there is some kind of pun in the name of this Campbell's soup....Powder Chowder????

And the very sad "Tin Man".....

Well, Salt just turned the key and the engine is rolling again....we're off to Bennington. This company was amazing....they said they would be here between 8:00-9:00am and were here at 7:55!!! Stay tuned!

Evening meadow breeze...Sweet warblings of the meadowlark....Moonlight in Vermont

Well, whenever I see a sign that screams "something different", I come to a screeching halt. Hmmm, Fat Hat clothing co. sounded interesting, and that it was. The owner designs all of the clothes and works right in the back of her store. If she doesn't have your size, she whips it up or alters it right on the premises. No shopping, as the clothes were beautiful but not appropriate for my lifestyle now. If I were still working in the office, I would definitely consider them!!

And then there was this adorable bakery which screamed "Fresh Green Mountain Coffee"....and so we stopped.

Duh....of course a bakery would be full of evil temptations!!! And again everything baked right in the back room.

We loved the ambiance.....

Then on to Quechee Village....An amazing antique mall where I actually found a green Depression Glass butter dish which I have been looking for over the last 3 years! Great find! You are right Jill, the antique shops are amazing. So well organized!

This was a furniture store with beautiful handmade items....again the workshop was right in the back room. The guys invited us back for a visit and pictures.

They were getting ready to start filling Christmas orders......

next door to the candle/soap makers....she was making candles.....

And then on to the Antique Malls.....We both got lost in the isles, and isles of very nicely displayed antiques.....

Then on to the Cabot store.....cheese samples anyone????

Next to the General Store where they had a working honey bee display.

A quick stop at Christmas Past And Present.....

And then on to the Quechee Gorge.....

Tomorrow on to Bennington......

I'm remembering the days before I went away...Back in the hills of Old Vermont. And the orchard on the hill....I think I see it still.

Our adventure in Quechee, VT started out with a trip to Sugarbush Farm http://www.sugarbushfarm.com/ . This is where we first found out how much "free food" there is to be consumed in VT!!!

Although it has been warm, we have had enough breeze that we haven't been able to go up in the balloon yet. They are calling for a beautiful week coming up so if we don't catch one in VT we will try again in New Hampshire or Massachusetts....

This was the store at the farm.....samples of everything!!!

I am serious....everything!!

A farm chapel, so tiny but the setting for many weddings and celebrations.

All kinds of animals....these baby goats were SO funny; I swear they were putting on a show butting each other and frolicking.

The owner's shirt...

The really cool thing about many of these places is the fact that so much of the work is done right in the home or in the back of the store. All of the owners/workers are so willing to let you watch and take pictures. These girls were packing cheese for shipment and were SO funny and friendly.

then back to the sugar house....for a movie and self guided tour of the plant.

OK...so all these famous brands have "0" natural maple in them!!!

On our way to Billings Farm and Museum..... www.nps.gov/mabi we actually crossed our first covered bridge!

Salt and I both loved the Farm Museum......lots of memories revisited!

This particular display reminded me of my dad milking our cows when we were small.....it also reminded me of the time I bought cigarette loads at the county fair and put one in my dad's Camels and it blew up while he was milking. Scared the crap out of both my dad AND the cow. The cow kicked over the whole pail of milk and I think I am still grounded!!! If it had been one of the boys they would have had their bottoms paddled....I however just got a tongue lashing!

And you all think Emma is a devil.......

The treadmill (which I DON'T remember).....

George and I both spent many hours pouring water on the sharpening saw while my dad sharpened saws!!

There was a great quilt exhibit this weekend......

We took a tour of the "Farm Manager's home"....WOW, nicer than many wealthy people had in that time period. Again I have tons of pictures but will post only this one of the bath which I loved because of the tub!!!

After the tour of the museum we toured the farm which is actually a working farm. All the milk cows are prize winning Jerseys....and top of the line breeders.

And here is one of the new calves (2 days old)......

The beautiful draught horses....

The buildings are all so well kept!!!!

On the way back to the motor home, we decided to stop at one of the many local farm markets. It just so happened they had a bunch of their providers giving samples of their products....oh my gosh, pumpkin filled ravioli, grilled chicken, grilled veal, cheeses, slices of wonderful whole grain home made breads, pies, and I can't even remember what else. And of course when we stopped it was right before dinner and we were starving......

More touring tomorrow.....we are having SO much fun!! The weather has been beautiful (warm days, cool nights) and the colors are really starting to pop!!