Perform It!

The show is on! We've been ultra busy with the preparations for the play this spring. Especially during the last few weeks of April. Brian & Andrew have been very much enjoying their experiences in Perform It! young people's stage company. The play this year is Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor". There is a cast of 52 students and a student runs the lights, one plays guitar and many have painted the set. The moms made all of the costumes and we have put in hours and hours of rehearsals.

Benjamin goes along for many of the rehearsals and plays with other younger siblings while hanging out at the theater. I help out where they need me. We've had 3 of the shows and there is another tonight and a matinee tomorrow. Wednesday's show was a daytime one for local schoolchildren to watch. Thursday's was about 3/4 of a house and we are sold out for Friday, Saturday & Sunday.

Here are the "Windsor Boys" posing for the camera. I'll try to get a full cast photo sometime. Or, there might be one posted on http://www.performitstagecompany.org/

John has been busy lately but expects to blog soon!

~Rachel

Critters

Critters!

This is Tide relaxing and enjoying a summer sunset. I'll find, er...take better photos of him soon. He loves it here. His favorite activity is to chase the ATV when I'm driving it. I can honestly say he runs at 25+ mph. He is (in typical Border Collie fashion) my shadow and constant companion. We love our daily walks on the land.

Tigerlily is not a friendly Critter. She does love Brian though and sleeps on his bed every night. That is, when she is not out hunting bats.

Mouse is the sister to Tiger and she is a lap cat. She is usually on a warm lap, but this day had to find a good spot and found our towels!

Lady only looks this "arab" on special occasions. This is when she was meeting her new friends. There are 2 horses on the other side of their fence. She likes her little barn and the new pasture.

Brian's rooster from his 4-H project last year. Isn't he pretty? You should see him today...he's molted and has just one of those fantastic tail feathers. Pitiful!

Brian also keeps a dozen or so laying hens and we enjoy the fresh eggs.

Ben's guinea pig already made it in here and Andrew's hamster, Velvet, finishes out our Roll Call of pets!

Happy Easter everyone! And to Mary H. : It is spring around here!! even with another 10 inches of snow. Happy sugaring in VT.

Knitting

John's been encouraging me to post something. It's been a struggle. With the computer dying and going to the shop, then a power outage for 26 hours with our last storm and the usual challenge of getting us both in the same room at the same time in order to learn about blogging!!!

Here goes...

I've spent my early mornings watching the 6:30 local news and knitting. I usually get some free time to knit while the kids are at rehearsals for their upcoming play, Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. And on occasion I still drive over to New Durham to check in with the ladies of knitting club. This winter's projects have been little tiny mittens for ornaments, a cotton baby blanket for my sister's adorable newborn baby Hannah, and a very large lace shawl.

I have very much enjoyed knitting lace and I'm working on a tiny shawl to use up the extra yarn. The project I've shared here was knit with a 70% Alpaca 30% Silk yarn and it is very soft. I'm off and running again now, but hope to post again this weekend about our "4 legged family members". John tells me that Mike N. in Kuwait was asking about them. (the border collie I assume) and Lyn M. in the Berkshire's was asking about that too...(the horse I know!) So I'll do my best.

Fun outdoors again

With spring finially arriving we took advantage of the weekend to do some geocashing (using a Global Positional Sensor - GPS, to locate caches other people have hid). It's a great way to have a "goal" for a family walk out in the woods. Our "pirate savy" boys like the idea of buried treasure and "maps" to unravel.





We've also added another pet to our family. Our grown-up Benjamin (6 years old now) now has a guinea pig of his own.


The house is still being arranged and will come to equilibrium in a year or two. It's neat trying out new arrangements and trying to see what works the best for the family. For now, we'll just enjoy the place and let the calmness of the area slow our lives down a bit so we can enjoy it more.




There once was a family of 6,
who lived way out in the stix.
They slowed to a walk,
and had more time to talk,
and that's how they got all their kicks.

They had one girl and three boys,
who always were frantic about toys.
Till they found a new place,
with plenty of space,
now everything brings them much joy.



The parents were Rachel and John,
whos lives were too fast and soon gone.
New sunrises they found,
in this quaint little town,
and wildlife settled by the pond.


Take care and have a nice evening. Cheers!

Spring is here

Finally, spring seems to have arrived. We had, I believe, our last snowstorm which gave us a beautiful memory of the view from our bedroom.

Most of the snow has left our fields and the stream and brook are running full. Brian and I are enjoying a bit of wood splitting (from the logs we had delivered in January). As my knee gets stronger and more flexable, I hope to spend more time laying out the new garden and clearing up the poison ivy patches along the woods line. We figure in 2 or 3 years we should have the worst ivy areas thinned down (along the stream and brook) so we can enjoy the land without fears (our first year on the land we had gotten a severe case of P.I. to the point of going the the emergency room for medication).

Spring has sprung and life has begun, to come out of its sleep. We never know, just when things grow, to make our spirits leap. The sun warms all, and plants grow tall, the better to help the land. In gracious health, with visual wealth, it shows the createors hand. (JAT 3/27/07)

Enjoy your seasons!

New Home & Land

Most of you have seen pictures of the house and land, but I thought we'd put some photos into the blog for interest sake. Enjoy (I know we are)!


This is our "stone bridge" connecting the front half of the land to the back pasture. The craftsmanship is wonderful and very functional (they harvested logs by truck over this bridge for years).


This is a picture of the back field from standing on the bridge. Very peaceful and wonderful for the horse. Lots of rock removal in our future.


This is our home from the front. What a wonderful place to live! Many cudos to Rachel for the majority of the design. It is definitely becoming our "home" over just a short time.



Louise (Shields) & Rachel on our 4-wheeler. Don't they look dangerous?

Well, it's fun sending out a quick snapshot of our lives. There is so much to be thankful for, especially our family. Enjoy and have a good day!

John's Work Place Link

If folks are interested, the home page for the company I work for is: http://www.tycotelecom.com/SystemSupply/index.asp
Check it out.