House- part 1

There have been a few requests made for a pictoral introduction to our home (i.e. where is it, what does it look like on a sunny day in August, do you have shutters on your windows, do you have electricity in Vermont etc). All valid questions. So here is the first installment.


The short version of our place is this. It is one of the oldest houses in Bridgewater Vermont. It was built by a guy named Abner Atwood in 1798. Abner moved to Bridgewater following the Revolution and built this home in the decade following. He built it well using timber felled from a nearby spruce grove. He cleared the two hundred and fifty high mountain acres granted to him under the statehood land grants and turned it into pasture. He raised sheep. His flocks helped turn Bridgewater into the woolen 'capitol' the East coast by 1850. Decades turned into centuries and the house fell away from glory. By the time we got to it it looked like it does in this picture below. The guy playing the piano is my brother Justin. We were getting ready to tear the interior apart in preparation for the restoration and the 2 ton, out-of -tune piece had to go.

Here is what we made it look like. Everything is new. Even the baby.

Backyard

Frontyard

Permit Now Required For Reincarnation in China

If any of you had any doubts about China and its breakneck march into the enlightened halls of Western thought and culture, consider this headline from earlier this month. For Beijing it seems, Christians are not the only ones to keep an eye on. Like all governments though who have attempted over the course of history to quench the movements of any organic genesis with a censure on excersise, they have only given creedence to its existence by outlawing its practice.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article2194682.ece

Confidence

Tua has been much more confident now that she can stand up. We come in to her room to find her in this pose, sometimes happy, sometimes crying. We are now teaching her to bend her knees so we don't always have to rescue her from her new activity. We will see how that goes. Any one have any other suggestions?

Family Reunion

My Grandmother and Tua

Tua snatching Jaedyn's shoes (notice Tua's already worked on her own!).

Home Stretch

Home is such a good place to end a journey. We pulled into the yard tonight with more speed than normal. Tua had had just about enough of the backseat and was ready for dinner and bed. However, we're very proud of the fact that she traveled as well as she did. The loudest and most prolonged cries on the 2631 mile trip were on the last fifteen miles. Here are a few shots we took along the way. There will be more to follow.

Tua gives me the go-ahead to pass a semi on I-75.

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Swing Theory

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The dining experience where Tua learned to play 'catch'.

Actually, we did the catching as she threw objects from tray to floor.

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Tua learns just why it is that people drive all the way from

Vermont to Kentucky just to sample the finest ginger ale.

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The following shots are of the Thursday night swim at Buckroe Beach with Brian and Arlyce.

Buckroe Beach

Tonight, Tua was introduced to the Atlantic Ocean. We brought her to Buckroe Beach, a small sandy strip along the Chesapeake Bay in Hampton Roads, Virginia. The water was warm but refreshing and the fact that it was past bedtime didn't seem to affect the occasion at all.

Post From Kentucky

Dear Reader,

We are all fine and barely this side of roasting here in a record heat wave in the Southeast. It is 101 degrees. Hot" is the best modifier in this situation. Bugs family reunion was great. Pictures can be found at the Waggoner News link to your left.