Partying with some Packers

Hmmm, wonder what’s going on here. Do you have any ideas?

Well, first up is me with Gilbert Brown. I know , I look goofy!  I think he had just told me to eat a cookie!

Here he is signing a photo for me. These Green Bay Packer players were at the huge annual fundraiser for Angel on My Shoulder. It’s a huge event that happens every June - maybe you want to plan a trip up here for the next one? Gilbert was there last year as well and he is loads of fun! This year he brought his brother with him - they look a lot a like. About a month ago they were in our favorite Chinese restaurant when we picked up some food.  So you never know where he'll tunr up, but if you see a Hummer painted like the Hulk, he's nearby.

Here’s William Henderson signing my photo. He brought his father and his sweet son along. The families spent the day fishing while we all went to the golf course.

Craig Newsome was also there and here he is signing my photo. He was the quietest of them all. They all like to raz the 'paparazzi' and we give it right back!  We were impressed that they all prayed together before eating.

And here’s the one of me with Craig and William. All of these were taken during the Party with Pack on Thursday evening.

Before the golf course, Friday morning starts with a breakfast at the Wolf Pack Café, and those Packers were hungry! But I will not let them in the door until we get the mandatory shots of them with the owners of the café in front of the sign. Amazing that lil ole me can stop three huge football players isn’t it?

We spent 14 hours shooting photos on Friday but had loads of fun doing it!  All of the photos in this post were taken by my husband, which might be obvious since I'm in so many of them but I feel I should say anyway.  Credit where credit is due kinda thing - ya know? ;-)

If you want to know more about Angel on My Shoulder or see Leroy Butler and Gilbert from last year then please visit this post.  It's truly a great organization that I'm proud to help out!

Hope Cemetery, Part III

My last installment of Hope Cemetery.

You don’t expect to see pyramids in a cemetery but there are two here.

Larger-than-life soccer ball.

"Set me as a seal upon thine heart for love is strong as death" - Song of Solomon 8:6 William and Gwendolyn Halvosa sit in their marriage bed in pajamas, holding hands, with their tombs stretching out before them.

The mausoleum with the carved granite insets in the doors. While I was looking around, the owner of the crypt came to place flowers - she was very proud of the tomb. In fact she searched for her keys to let me in to admire the stained glass - but she could not find them. Too bad I would have loved to step inside. There are 8 crypts inside, the roof weighs 23 tons and the Last Supper in stained glass adorns the back wall.

The saddest (oldest?) grave in the place.

Looking at the stained glass you could forget it was raining outside.

Hope Cemetery, Part I
Hope Cemetery, Part II

What a Man!

I’m sure you have heard of the Old Man of the Mountain but did you know that New Hampshire also has an Old Man of the Valley?

We decided to take the short walk and check it out.

No, I don’t think this is the result of the crumbling of Mountain Man as my son tried to convince me teasingly.

But he is pretty cool. And you can get right up by him.

In fact, I even gave him a little kiss, which Haden snapped proof of for me.

Macro Monday - My son loves me (?)

Macro Monday is easy to play, snap a macro (or any close-up) photo, post it on your blog and come back here and sign Mr Linky. Don't forget to visit each other. :)

My son brought me a present - Moose Poo - sadly that's the closest to a Moose we got. It's sweet that he gathered it so lovingly in some birch bark though, isn't it?  And doesn't anything look great under a macro lens? ;0)

Maybe I would have preferred a wildflower present - but then there's the issue of the bug. . .

Hope Cemetery Part II

There was too much beauty at Hope Cemetery for me to only dedicate one post to it. Too many hours of labor, and love, built into each piece.

Louis Brusa's own grave features a strange sculpture of "The Dying Man," slipping away, held by his wife. Brusa succumbed in 1937 to a common stone carver's ailment, silicosis, from a lifetime of sucking in airborne stone particles. Ventilation equipment added to the stone carving buildings in the mid-1930s eliminated the hazard. ~Roadside America

This entire stone is covered in carved flowers. Just think of the time involved to create such work.

Hope cemetery was established in 1895 and originally contained 53 acres. Since that time it has expanded to a total of 65 acres. Edward P. Adams, a nationally known landscape architect, created the original plan for the cemetery. Each new section of grounds is the result of expert counsel and modern design. The careful planning and architectural standards of Hope reflect the most progressive principles in cemetery development.
~Central Vermont Chamber of Commerce

Hope Cemetery was on my list of must-sees as soon as I learned of it. Weird New England made it sound very intriguing.

Even the doors on the tombs are magnificent.

These doors have carved granite panels.

Hand-carved Pieta from the original Michelangelo.

With Bleeding Hearts nearby.

If you missed the first installation on this cemetery please check it out.

New Vermont friends

We scared up a red squirrel while geocaching in Vermont.

And there were several Bobolinks around, but they never do cooperate with me very well.

We saw more butterflies than fossils at the Goodsell Ridge Fossil Preserve.

Goodsell Ridge contains the most complete fossil record of the world’s oldest reef dating back over 480 million years ago. On Goodsell Ridge, between stands of cedars and clusters of purple clematis and snowy aster, the ancient bedrock juts out from the soil, displaying in swirls and fossils organisms of extraordinary antiquity. ~Lake Champlain Land Trust

Haden found a wasp busy building a nest on a rock.

I thought these fish were pretty cool, but I don’t know what they are. They seemed to be fighting.  We found them at Chazy Reef at Isle LaMotte, along with the turtles of a few days ago.

Hope you are having a great weekend!  And Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!