New Hampshire and our Boy

Our son Chris has lived in Chester, New Hampshire for a few years now and last Sunday we took off on a road trip to visit him. 

Traveling is certainly different right now. A majority of the drive between here and New Hampshire is on toll roads; none here in Michigan but then The Ohio Turnpike to the Pennsylvania Turnpike to the New York Thruway and lastly the Massachusetts Turnpike. So the only convenient place to stop were at Service Areas, and the only restaurants opened were McDonalds and Burger King. Blah! Note to self: Bring a cooler full of health foods for the drives!

Anyway, after a little less than 6 hours driving time we made it Rochester NY before stopping for the night. We actually stayed in a hotel in Pittsford which looked like a pretty affluent town at least from what I could see. 

The next day we did another 6 hours driving time and got to Chris's house a little 

before 5:00. 

Here's a selfie I took almost right away to let Shauna know that we had arrived!

It was so good to see him! We hadn't seen him since November.

Chester, NH is a small town and where my son lives is very wooded and beautiful! 

Here are some of the pictures of his house and yards. There is a pond in the back yard and a river across the street, both of which were very low because they haven't had a significant rain for a while!

The pond behind the house is about half the size it normally is. The water usually comes up past the tall grasses you see in the middle of the picture. 

The fire pit and burn pile. We did not have a fire because it was hot and humid the whole time we were there!

He has a huge garden that's all fenced off to keep the creatures out!

This is looking down the road from his house. 

The river across the street. It's a little hard to see but normally the water covers the rocks that you can see at the bottom of the tree on the far right.  

He was a good host. He cooked us breakfast and dinner. One day we went to the closest little town called Raymond that has the biggest grocery store called Hannafords.  

He lives about 25 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean so on the last full day we were there we went to Hampton Beach. It was beautiful with a boardwalk and a huge beach! We had lunch on the balcony of a restaurant overlooking the water. It wasn't busy at all but I bet when there isn't a pandemic it's a booming place!! 

The time went by way too fast and before we knew it we were leaving on Thursday morning. We all had tears in our eyes when we pulled away!

We pushed as far as we could and made it all the way to Erie Pennsylvania. We took a short drive to the state park on Lake Erie where the sun was getting ready to set. 

Almost hard to tell the difference between one of the Great Lakes and the ocean! 

On Friday we only had 4 hours to drive and arrived home a little before noon. 

It's nice to finally be able to picture where Chris lives and see the things he's been telling us about for the past 3 years. I miss him already but he promises to come home (I still consider Michigan  his home) as soon as he can! 

Until the next time.

The Days Fly By

Boy, the days sure do fly by! I have been trying to stay active and take at least one 30 min walk a day and strength training every other day. It's so much easier to exercise in the morning versus after work when I am already tired! 

It feels so good to walk and stretch and move my body! 

I got this mug from Shauna for a retirement gift. 

It was so cute. Maxwell brought the gift bag in and immediately opened it up and took out the present before he even gave it to me! He was saying, "There's chocolate in here!" He wanted a piece!

I bought this toy off of our neighborhood marketplace on Facebook for $5.

Before I brought it in the house I scrubbed it down with bleach and water and left it sitting on the deck overnight! Can't be too careful anymore! 

They love it! We have Hot Wheel cars for it and today I bought a bunch of ping pong balls to roll down it too! We are fun grandparents! 

I worked for 4 hours Thursday and Friday at my old job to train the person who is taking my place. My crappy co-worker called in on Thursday so we had to transfer the phones out so I wouldn't have to answer them! I can't make this stuff up!

Anyway, being there just confirmed to me that I did the right thing by retiring when I did. By the time Friday at 12:30 rolled around I was exhausted and could not get out of there fast enough!

We are taking a road trip to New Hampshire next Sunday to see our son Chris. He's lived there for 3 years and we have never been to his house so I am looking forward to it. It's about a 12 hour drive which we will do in two days, driving about 6 hours a day. I'll have lots of pictures to share!

Until the next time!

Things in my Grandmothers Sewing Box

This is my maternal grandmother. We called her Nonnie or Nonna. That's why Maxwell and Levi call me Nonnie. 

This is her sewing box.

There are a few things in there that I find interesting. Like these garters.

I don't think I ever wore stocking with a garter belt. Panty hose came along before  I was old enough to wear nylons. I'm sure these were easier to put on though! 

And these hair clips. 

My mom would make pin curls all over her head with these things or sometimes bobby pins. Two of them put over the curl in an X shape.

This pin. 

I don't know the back story of this or which one of her kids gave it to her. 

This automatic needle threader and the instructions that came with it. 

It doesn't work very well though. 

This scissor sharpener.

I haven't tried yet.  I'm not exactly sure how to do it. 

This recipe written in Italian and a note on the back. 

Ang was my Uncle Angelo, my mom's brother. He and my grandmother lived together until she got sick and moved in with us a few years before she died. 

This receipt for grapes.

$82.95 for grapes and that was in 1960! Well, we're Italian and my grandparents loved their home made wine! 

This religious medal with a pin attached.

I don't know why but she used to wear it pinned to her bra strap. Couldn't afford a chain, I guess! 

That's all the stuff that's interesting. There were tons of buttons that I put in a mason jar. A bunch of scraps of paper with thread around them. Pieces of elastic, a bunch of zippers and more stuff clearly saved to be reused somewhere else. 

She lived through the depression so nothing was ever wasted!

Until the next time..

Retirement So Far

Since I retired for some reason I feel compelled to grocery shop and do laundry! It's really weird! My refrigerator and freezer are full to the brim and the hamper barely gets 1/4 full and I'm washing away!

I went to Trader Joe's yesterday and stood in a long line to get in. 

It went pretty fast though.  I was maybe in line for 10 minutes and the nice thing was they only allowed 20 people in the store at one time so it was nice and empty!

Got all of my usual Trader Joe's stuff. They have the best frozen broccoli! We also love their frozen chocolate covered bananas and strawberries! 

One of my former coworkers sent me these glasses and this pin as a retirement gift.

She just wants to make sure I never forget them! As if I could!

Other than grocery shopping and laundry, I've been spending as much time as I can with Maxwell and Levi. 

The both desperately need haircuts! Shauna is trying to muster up the courage to do it herself!

According to our esteemed governor, salons won't be able to open her until July 15th! If you try to open you could be arrested! 

But it's fine to gather in the hundreds for protests all over the state! 

Spoke with my former supervisor yesterday and I am going back to work for a couple days next week to train my replacement! 

Anyway...until the next time!