In Which I am Reminded About the Greatest Tea in The Whole World


In May, Burns and Nat and I traversed down the coast to Chincoteague, where we met a lot of local people and saw the wild horses and made gluten free pancakes. This you knew. This I talked about.
But...what I didn't detail...what you don't know... is that we went to a real afternoon English Tea With Tiny Sandwiches and Awesome Scones.


It was at the Channel Bass Inn, and Barbara (the English innkeeper) was awesome. She made little cream cheese sandwiches, and really delicious ginger scones and told us stories of her Friesian exhubs, whose name was "Fokker" and you can imagine how hilarity insued.
Then we met David, her husband, who is a CHIMNEY SWEEP! No, for real!
And we shook his hand, because Burns said it's good luck!

(um, his tshirt says "Your Chimney Sweep Loves You" - awesome.)


And we may have danced around the living room a little.



And we took a tour of her gardens, which ranged from English to Japanese and everything in between. Barbara's gardens were rivaled only by her extensive collection of outdoor cats (!).


So, to sum up, if you're in the area - go hang with Barbara and David - you're in for a treat. Just don't eat breakfast - it's a three course tea!

Blast from the Past

IMG_9490, originally uploaded by feathermar.

Carter, 3 years ago. Now, she has no more baby face and all little girl face.

When the Bear was very tiny

Baby Sean with Grandpa's fingers, originally uploaded by feathermar.

When Seaniebear was first born, John and Bean lived here in New York. When Seaniebear was first born, Lochlain was a year and a half old. When Seaniebear was first born, I only had a FILM camera.
A lot has changed since then.
But now he is four. Happy Birthday, Seaniebear! I love you!

And I am late in blogging it.
(But I won't apologize because his dad hasn't written about anything since THANKSGIVING!)

In which Z is for Zeppelin



While in Maine, perusing the shops, I did see this awesome set of blocks with a Z is for Zep wooden block. I think that's weird and awesome.

In Which We Recap Some Excitement!

Katie and Gail and I went to Maine! To see the puffins, round two! We traded Colleen for Gail this year. I wanted to have them both, but the Stones keep telling me I can't always get what I want.


There it is. The great puffin. We learned that it is called "the clown of the sea." Gail was laughing while she recited that fact, but after she saw one she said, "Hey, it really is the clown of the sea!" True story.

On the boat, you stop sort of by this island with a lighthouse and a regular house on it. Then, you see the puffins far far away. Scientists reintroduced the puffins to Maine. They borrowed some from Canada, and then brought them here to mate. Next, they waited for the babies to come. Then all the puffins left, because that's what they do. But they come back to where they've mated or where they were born. Then the scientists left some kind of dummy puffins (fake, not stupid). And when the puffins came back, they thought it was safe, because the dummy puffins were there and having a safe time!

After you see the puffins, you leave to look for whales.
And guess what? We saw a mama and a baby whale and they were HUGE!

We saw them for a long time. Then we went back to shore.

Of course we wore some funny headgear...because why would you go on vacation without funny headgear?

and we ate at cool Bar Harbor places! (BA - Hah -Ba)

And saw Iron Man 2 at the Criterion!

And I got this awesome vintage Florn clock!

And this very cool orange tea tin!
Katie got some Gone With The Wind stuff. I also scored some birthday presents, which is always super awesome.
After we got home, I met Luke Healy!

Who was very suspect of me the whole time. I must say that he has a very nice round head.

Then it was July 3rd and Gail and Joe's Big Bash for Birthdays and Anniversarys and Of Course Our Nation's Independence. It's a long title for a party, for sure.

Our chocolate faced friend!

And we had a great time!

And Gail and Joe danced!

And Ed brought an island! (RIP the swan)
And I'll put together a cute kid montage for the next post! But I'm running out of daylight! And gas in my brain tank!