Looking Down

As we were making our way up the trail, I looked dowon a lot, because I just can't stop myself from looking at the loving things around me, in this case below me. This little reddish brown mushroom is in the russulaceae family which contains about 1,900 species of which are edible and some are toxic. If youare not sure, best don't even try it. What stood out to me about this one was that it grew hroizontally out of the soil and roots aloong the way.

This mushroom is a coral mushroom that grows on decaying wood It is quite a wondreous world right at our feet if we choose to look.

Here is a nice exmaple of a Jack-in-the-pulpit - quite poisenous to humans but very beautiful to look at.

This is most likely an oyster mushroom which is a mushroom in the tree mushroom family.

This moss and mushroom growing on a rock is like a miniture world of its own.

The botanical name for this fungus is tremellaceae. This one is already in its decaying stage of the truited body. The fruited body is a gelatinous substance. tremellaceae does not always produce a visible fruit body.

This is the fruit on a hobblebush

 Here is an example of the amanita family. Again a family that contains many species, some edible and some toxic. 

Lennon and Miles

We have become fast friends with the Harrisons, our neighbors across the street. Their son Miles is the same age as Lennon, and they have really hit it off. Lennon doesn't seek out a lot of friends, so this is a rare thing.

Here they are climbing up Mt. Monadnock today. 

We got around 800 feet to the summit, but we will be sure to plant our flag next to the dozens of other tourists next time we attempt it.

The Middle of Nowhere

Just when I thought I was over the "kid going off to college" blues, Katharine posts these pics on Instagram:

 

Love her, and I am looking forward to squeezing as much time as possible with her up here in the "middle of nowhere" over the next few years.

 One more thing- we started this blog back in 2007 and the first entry was Katharine starting school for the first time. I expect that she will be a bit more excited when college kicks in next week.

 

Daddy's Little Wonder

 Katharine heads off to college this week, so we got some extra time in together this past weekend with a visit to the Norman  Rockwell Museum. He was a big inspiration for me as I grew as an artist, and it looks like the same is true for Katharine.

It has been a joy to watch Katharine grow as an artist and a person over all of these years. I love her so much, and can't wait to see what she does next. She is, and has always been, my "wonder"- cue the Natalie Merchant song now :)

Riding Lesson

I booked a riding lesson for Keira, Kassidy and myself. Both girls have been asking to learn to ride, and it has always been a dream of mine as well.  After conacting a bunch of stables in the area, I found one that could give us lessons. We learned a lot in a short amount of time. The only thing we did not have to do was muck out the boxes, because the horses we rode were in the outside paddocks. We did go and get the horses, groom them, tack them, ride them, untack them, brush them again and bring them back to the paddock. 

Walking Hot Rod back to his paddock.

Kassidy got to ride a pony name Dillon, he was a nice old gentleman that she loved on and hugged a lot!

Here is Keira cleaning the hooves with a hoof pick. She realized how heavy a horses legs/ feet are when you have to lift them.

Keira got to ride an older gentleman as well, His name is Ice.

We had so much fun and can't wait to go again!

Road Trip Tune

Katharine put together this video of our road trip from Texas to New Hampshire.

That girl should get into the film industry or something, right?

 

Secret Gardens

 

Evening Plans

 

Frousins on the Farm

The Martels visited for a few days, and we had a lot of fun hanging out around the house. 

 More pics to follow, but for now here is one very big group shot in front of our apple tree (minus one, as Liam didn't make the trip).

 

 

 

Bubble Fun

 Everything is still a bit un-organized, including our blog posts. While the home is getting more and more organized, and at least Lukas has started a new routine - he started school on July 26th- the blog is still somewhat in disarray and we post as we get to it, not neccesarily in chronological order.  Oh well, better than not posting at all! 

The first time I went to Keene with Katharine, we went to this cute store that carries items made by artisans in the area as well as other unique items. In addition to a handmade honey pot, I picked up a giant bubble maker. We gave it a try about 10 days ago:

Woodworking Camp

 Keira went to woodworking camp at the Hooper Institute from July 19 - July 22nd. She made a Viking chair and a cherrywood canoe paddle.

Wood Stacking

Today we stacked two cords of wood. We now have some nice stacks in the garage, in the barn and on the porch.

Night Swimming

 

Live Free and Climb

So we made it to NH, but I have not been updating because we have been packing and setting up most of the month.

 Family hikes are definitely going to become a thing. 

Here is a pic from the first one.