May has been a good month around here. We've been busy in the yard with lots of changes due to the kids growing up. No more sandbox. No more pool. No more chickens. More and more lawn and chairs. Lots of archery, golf, and bocce ball. I've been riding like a fiend this year and loving it. This is a photo from Wanda Clowater who was the ride photographer at the Crooked River Ride in Maine on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. It was a 30 mile ECTRA ride and this photo was taken right toward the end of the ride. He's still going strong at 30 miles. :) The day was horribly wet and cold and windy. Challenging weather for sure.
Here is Charlie out with me on one of my walks around the yard. He was enjoying the carpet of violets and the warm sun that day. This year is a poison ivy year again. It's back in areas where I thought we'd been rid of it before. The yard is taking some attention this year. Lots of mowing and weeding and cutting back of overgrown areas. Clearing downed branches from trails. Fun to have a kitty along for so many of those chores.
I'm still knitting. This little shawlette was called Holden by the designer. I knitted it up on some sock wool that was nice and drapey. It became a mother's day gift to my mom. 
Speaking of moms....lots of them are around lately. Here are the Canada Goose families moving from the little beaver pond where they hatched out to the bigger brook and eventually down to the river. A nice sight to see on a Memorial Day Monday.
We were walking up to the game camera and our middle son noticed a doe bounding away and caught sight of this little one crouching on the ground. It blended in so well that even pointing him out to our other children from 30 feet away they couldn't see him a all. Neither could I. It was a smart little fawn and stayed perfectly still and waited for a very long time until it's mom came back to collect it later on.
So nice to see them walking away on the game camera. Many snapping turtles are out laying their eggs, the bluebirds are already out of the box and the swallows are getting really close to flying now. The pheobe with a nest on top of the light in King's stall is still sitting on eggs. Fun to watch the wildlife in the spring. I'm finding it difficult to do the in the house chores now. :)
