In These Hills: October 2011

Autumn Weekends: A final visit to the beach

>> Friday, October 28, 2011 – autumn

Nelson surprised me with a camping trip to Cape Ann for my birthday.

The girls got to spend some time on their own shopping and exploring. They joined us for lunch, very excited to have met and chatted with a very friendly painter. They realized that meeting locals adds a lot to exploring a place. So does eating local food...salt water taffy.

We toured a historic house, Beauport, and hung out on the lawn by the water.

We danced on the beach at dusk.

We watched a Schooner parade in the morning.

After watching the boats, we spent the rest of Sunday exploring Rocky Neck Art Colony. Where every building looks like this~

It was a great weekend with something for everyone--art, shopping, seafood, the beach, great campground, and boats. We'll be back.

Snowy October

>> – autumn

My phlox, which had beautiful white blooms yesterday, now sport a different sort of white bloom.

Autumn Weekends: Racing on New Hampshire Rivers

>> Wednesday, October 26, 2011 – autumn

Helen joined the Upper Valley Rowing Foundation junior crew team this fall. In the fall they do long-distance rowing. This was quite different from the sprint races in the spring. The head races were 3 miles long.

This day of racing in Concord was gorgeous. She's in the front (or back) depending on your perspective.

She absolutely loves to row. I confess I look forward to when she has her driver's license and can get herself to the 5:30 a.m. practices :)

Autumn Weekends: Handmade

>> Monday, October 24, 2011 – autumn, Crafts

This lovely book has brought renewed inspiration into our house lately.

I can't say that we've actually made anything from the book, but it has been a long time since the girls have sat down to craft together. This project involved leather scraps, buttons, ribbons, and who knows what.

I've been crafty too. Here's a camera strap I made to jazz up my camera. I love using it.

A couple of hats have made it off the needles. This on is the beehive hat by Linda Romens. The pattern is available on Ravelry.

This hat, Helen's favorite, is the Alpine Topper available at Halcyon Yarn.

My winter project is a crochet afghan. I'm smitten with crochet right now. I first saw this one-a-day blanket at Little Cotton Rabbits. I am teaching myself and making lots of mistakes since Simmy first started me on crochet while we were in England.

Even Nelson has been puttering about with weekend crafting. He's been building racks for the canoe and kayaks.

We are all starting to get inspired for Handmade Christmas. I've been hunting about online for ideas and came across this necklace at Martha Stewart made from pantyhose and bouncy balls. I think NOT.

Autumn Weekends: A New Hampshire Ramble

>> Saturday, October 22, 2011 – autumn

One of our favorite weekend activities is to wander about New England, exploring small towns and villages. We stumbled upon the New Hampshire Wool Arts Tour a few years ago and decided to do it again this year. We call these sorts of days "rambles."

We found this sign after driving down a very long and winding dirt road.

There we met Hope Thomas at her farm. Helen and I peaked into her weaving studio where there was a lifetime of knowledge and art.

At another farm we met this cute alpaca and a crowd of men supporting all the fiber artists by hosting a big lamb barbeque.

We stopped for lunch at a tiny farmer's market in Washington, NH. What a beautiful little town.

We picked up some applesauce and huge cookies to go with our cider, bread, and cheese.

Our favorite stop was the Wool Room where we had a wonderful time chatting with the owner. The girls picked up some beautiful yarn which they began to knit on pencils. I knew I should have packed knitting needles.