Where Do I start???

I will start with a trip to Castle in the Clouds in Tuftonboro NH.

I have shown this castle many times from my trips there so I will not go into it one more time. A beautiful day and free tickets from the library. I met my daughter and Grand and we took a tour.

My grand is an old soul she loved every bit of it. Then we traveled to Wolfeboro NH for an afternoon of lunching by the lake and shopping in all the little local stops. Just a perfect day!

My flowers have been very busy. 

Butterflies...

And bees, so nice to see pollinators. 

As you know we are putting a shower in our half bath on the main floor. That meant we took the closet from our tiny front hallway for the shower in the bathroom. I spent a few days painting and cleaning up. I will tell you this I am a horrid painter! I had to keep going back to touch up places I missed.

And in between all of this I had a birthday. Sat we headed out early for a day of shopping lunching and whatever struck my fancy. 

Early evening, we met up with my daughter and family and her in laws for the annual Jackson bridge dance. One of my favorite activities of the summer. Her father-in-law laid out quite the spread! They gave me a cake and sang to me. 

And oh what a dance it was. This band plays a lot of everything. 

And they filled that bridge! We danced and laughed it was perfect!

My daughter and son-in-law think there has been a change in me since my retirement. I asked husband and he said yes there is a relaxed air around you now. I will say I didn't know I was so stressed in my job I now know I was, and I always felt that I was missing out on life with my schedule. 

That ends my birthday, and it was perfect I got a gift of wonderful items that make baking bread an event. Lovely baskets made to raise the bread in and special cutters to make fancy designs. Now I can't wait to start making bread. I also got beautiful note cards and more I do have lots of thank you cards to write. 

This morning I saw this lone turkey come strolling through the yard. 

We haven't seen the bear in a while thankfully.

I heard that the sunset the other night was the last time we would have the sunset after 8pm until 2024. That is my biggest complaint about winter is the darkness. But there is still lots of summer to enjoy.

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One of my mother's sisters died last week she was in her 90's and had broken her hip and was not comfortable at all. They are having services Down East Maine in a couple of weeks. Husband and I are going to make the trip with a stop at my cousins to stay over. 

I am glad to be able to see family even for this sad reason.

Have a wonderful week!