Father's day was spent on the newely expanded deck with now plenty of room for entertaining. My brother Greg and his family came up for a BBQ. Here are the two DADs with their kids. Earlier in the day I had received a poem written by Cait and some fishing poles and a book from Lola and Bella. Can not wait to use them. Note to self....get fishing license! 
This is what pure contemplation looks like, a dog deciding whether to swim or not
He must think I'm a fool or something, that silvery stuff looks cold.
This is my stepfather Ashley, at his 80th birthday party celebration. When I was three years old Ashley asked my brothers and I if he could marry my mother. My brothers at ages 8 and 10 did not have a problem with it. Me being only 3 replied "No!" When Ashley asked me why, I told him it was because he smoked. He then said if he quit smoking could he marry my mother. I replied "No!" He then asked again why? I told him "Becuase you don't have a dog." You see when my parents were divorced my mother got us three kids and my father got our dog, mother told us kids MAYBE if she ever re-married we MIGHT be able to have a dog. So in the mind of a three year old I thought she would have to marry someone who already had a dog. When Ashley assured me that he would quit smoking, and we could get a dog I then gave my approval to marry my mother. He never had a cigarette after that day and he took us to the pet store without my mother knowing to pick out a dog the week before they married. Our dog Daisy was part of our family for 15 years. Being only three years old when Ashley became part of our life I don't remember a day in my life that he wasn't my father. Many of you would describe me as a strong independent woman, i guess thats the advantage of being raised by two fathers
How I spent a few hours on my days off!! A pile of lumber and no place for summer furniture.
Let's see how fast this will go. Posts and ledgers ready for joists, getting there quick. Called in to work OT, had to stop work for the day.
Next day back to work. Almost there, have to rebuild the rails. Building Codes yah know!
There!, deck space, summer furniture up and set, just have to add bottom trellis and finis'. Whoops don't forget a cold beer and some sun! Lola and Bella had to inspect the work of course.
I get to play now, right!, RIGHT! PLEASE.!
When the 7th/8th grade chorus took the stage it appeared as if the entire school was participating. WOW. Look at all of them. We heard music ranging from Irish ballads to the Beatles and onto the Doobie Bros. Great night!
Cait is 5th from left back row. Go Cait.
he didn't need to help. I'm very good at taking medecine and getting shots. I didn't even flinch. "Dad, I feel woozy. I'm just gonna lay down right here, OK."
After touring RISP, we continued on to Narragansett to help Heather pack up her old studio and move to a new one. This is just one part of the job we had ahead of us. I was not long before Donna was rocking and rolling and we were making headway. The trash pile started slowly and just grew and grew. We found unopened papaer from RISP days (about 17 years ago), RSIP assignments, film.....film? who uses that anymore? In the end we moved two jeep loads of cardboard and stock and 6 or 7 55 gallon trash bags. We sorted and boxed everything going to the new studio.
ainting was not finished and was being applied at a snails pace. You know the guy...ex-rocker, work ethic in toilet, real jobs too hard....I know I can paint.... Was way too funny watching this character work. Show up around 10am, start painting and by god it's noon time for lunch. What a guy!
I spent the morning of the next day reinstalling Heather's drop down backgrounds. AS with any install the studs did not line up anywhere near where i needed to hang the brackets. Only a few screws were sunk into wood the others had sheetrock fasteners. Don't fret reader I installed metal strapping from the extensions up thru the drop ceiling, tied into the joists above. In a phrase "They ain't going anywhere!"
After finsihing what we could it was time to break. We ate at a little Italian Resturaunte'. Try the spinnach pie!! yum yum. Rob, Heather's husband joined us after work. Don't let the smiles fool you, we were dead tired, well at least I was. Donna and I were happy to lend a hand. Can not wait to go down again and see it fully set up. Gonna be a cool studio. Check out Heather at http://www.hfphotography.com/ or http://www.hfphotography.blogspot.com/
Here it is....this is it......believe it.....I did not! One building! In a rough neighborhood of Providence. Webster Ave for those who know the area. Donna says it looks better now than it did during her attendance. The building now is a Church for the Latter Day Saints for Jesus Christ. WOW!
This FINE looking building is the dorm that Donna spent her years at RISP in. At that time this was a brand new duplex newly constructed just for her and Beth....not really....they were the envy of the other students when they learned of it. The door on the left is the side they occupied. This building does not look so good today, completely opposite of the school building. Just a side note a stabbing took place just houses away the night before we stopped and took this photo. Go Union Ave!
Cait, Donna and I traveled to Hyde Park this weekend. I was to attend a practical pistol shoot with friend Ed Davis, which just so happens to have been held in same town where Donna's mom lives, so it worked out perfectly to visit and have a place to stay. Cait and I got up at 6am to go to the range in the rain. We watched the shoots for about an hour and half until Cait was too cold to keep going. Here is a shooter running a course called "Window shopping"
After visiting for the rest of the weekend, we headed home and while going thru Waterbury decided to stop at Ben and Jerry's because Donna wanted to visit the grave of her favorite flavor "Coconut Almond Fudge Chip" which they had discontinued at the scoop shops this winter. We arrived to find the flavor cemetary had not been set up yet for the summer season. So what do you do? Go for the tour of course. Cait even found her favorite flavor, which just happens to be the number 5 best selling flavor.
At the end of the factory tour we stopped at the scoop shop, and low and behold they still had..... you guessed it! COCONUT ALMOND FUDGE CHIP!!!!!!!! You can see here someone finishing hers.......standing next to the handsome man in black. .Oh what a day! As it says below Come Back Soon!!
Donna and I treated Tanya to dinner at Candeleros in Manchester.
Greg does not like Mexican food but he sure did put it away between stories and funny remarks. We all shared stories about growing up and parents. Ending the evening just telling gossip.
