The Storytellers came...



and settled in right away with Jay--telling sparks
(short little stories inspired by a single word or image),

then working on longer stories...



here I am, preparing my Peace Corps story--45 years in the making!




Jay and Carole figuring out a story together.




We talk in the barn about our stories, our dreams, our goals.
And have fun-- Katie's on the swing.


Actually, play is a BIG part of the days together---



walking to Heron Pond--Toby's testing his story out on Jay,




swimming in the lake--we had three gorgeous, cloudless days,




eating very delicious meals,




dancing before breakfast to "Let Me Call You Sweetheart."




And of course the infamous "dress-up" night. The theme was "French"--Toby's from the Left Bank and I'm Coco Chanel.




Pam, a French garcon with a tiny mustache,




Steffan, a very aloof Henri Matisse.




Jay as a Chilean tourist in gai Parie!




The house, lake and the mountain starred--
they spoke silent stories of their own, all about peace and magic!

Chocorua-Just About Ready



Well, a lot of progress has been made up here in the last few weeks. Toby and I have been working round the clock. With the help of Thad, we got the pump installed and now we have water to the barn--finally!!




Endless sweeping out of the barn




and scything of lily pads from the lake.




Thad and Harry replaced rotting boards on the porch.




Tom and Clarice came over for the weekend to add their help.
Tulip really took to Clarice--no barking, lots of tail wagging, and here concentrating on a flea AND Clarice's sandwich.




There was time for play: here Clarice throws a long, hard ball.




Tom gets it--quite gracefully.




So now the red lanterns are out,




the lake is ready,




the mountain too.
All waiting for the story tellers to arrive on Sunday!

Relaxing in Chocorua

So far in the week and a half that we've been here, there hasn't been much time to relax.



We had to dig out the pipe behind the barn to see why the water wasn't flowing.




It was hard to work in such a tiny space.




Next we had a giant tree cut down that was too close to the barn.




I love the writing on the side of Jim's car: indeed the tree was in a tight place.




Then Tulip woke us early one morning barking at a porcupine sauntering around the barn. Toby set the Have-A-Heart trap and, almost instantly




we caught him (hard to get a good photo--he was quite scared). We released him in a nearby forest.




In the intense heat of this last week, it was pure pleasure to go down to the lake and fix up the beach.




And we did have a relaxing meal with Malcolm one night,




with Tulip sleeping peacefully on the lawn nearby.

Burbank Blog

What Taisie and Toby do when ALONE!!! with the littles:



slowly saunter to the park and back (so slow they fell asleep on the way back),




and show them how to really eat a slice of orange,




with this successful result!




On Sunday, the grandkiddos were very happy to reunite with their parents. They love to watch old blog movies of themselves and their friends on Jess' computer.

Bye, bye little ones--we love you!