Debra LaValley's Blog

I can’t believe it is June already! For the past few days the skies have been hazy and smelling of campfires. Quebec has approximately 60 wildfires going on right now and the wind is blowing the smoke over New England. It is a bit better today. We hope and pray that the fires get under control soon. Many in Quebec have been evacuated from their homes. Yesterday, my eyes were burning (even Molly, my cat, was squinting her eyes).

On another subject relating to my last post – I found the photo of my mom in her youth dressed in her Girl Scout uniform.

Memorial Day Weekend: This weekend brings back many memories. Growing up when I was in Girl Scouts we would be marching in a parade in downtown Penacook. We would all be decked-out in our uniforms and it would either be raining or HOT HOT HOT! Penacook no longer has Memorial Day parade and who knows if there are any Girl Scouts left. I am sure there are because there are still Girl Scout cookies – but I can’t remember the last time I saw a Girl Scout or even a Brownie in uniform. Of course, in this day in age -their peers would most likely tease them terribly. I was a Girl Scout all the way up into Senior Girl Scout – but only stayed for one year. My mom was a Junior Girl Scout leader (and a Brownie leader one year) for many years too. I loved the camping the best and could go on and on about the fun and mischief during these camping trips. Good times! We learned a great deal as well. I haven’t camped (really camped aka in a tent) in a few years. Our family used to go to Orford, NH and stay at Jacob’s Brook campground on Memorial Day Weekend. It is in the woods and far from the maddening crowd. We really need to go back there again sometime soon. It was a more rustic campground – where you could walk the country dirt roads – see a waterfall and lots of wildlife. The view of the night sky was also wonderful since the lights of the city were miles and miles away. We will all be gathering at my sister’s house for a cookout tomorrow. That will be fun. I am sure some of us will walk to the small pond nearby to see if the big snapping turtle is still around. We will also talk about past Memorial Days, I am sure. So – enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend with friends and family. Stay safe and take a moment or two to remember those brave men and women who gave their lives for our country.

Spring is certainly here and summer is well on its way. We have snuck in a few very summery days already. I snapped this shot of Kimball Pond (lake) that was hand dug many moons ago. One of my favorite places to eat used to be the Horseshoe Tavern that is now Blaser’s Fireside Tavern. It is located on the shores of Kimball Pond. I never knew there were trails along the pond. It is a beautiful area. I love walking along bodies of water – rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, and the ocean. It is very peaceful and calming. Today – is perfect … in the high 60s …sunny and breezy. I am waiting for the cable guy to come – but once he leaves – I will be heading out to enjoy the beautiful day. I hope that all is well with all who are reading this and that you too can go out and enjoy the day!

This morning, my mom and I left the house early to go see Einstein the World’s Smallest Stallion in Barnstead. They were having an open house. It was PACKED! They did not allow flash photography so my photos were not great. Also, little Einstein was sleeping and hard to get a good shot. They had him in the barn in a stall with his mother. He was born 4/22/10 and weighed 6 lbs. and 14 inches high. He now is 14-15 lbs. He looked about the size of Molly 🙂 I wish we could have seen him running around the field. Unfortunately, it was a rainy cold day today.

http://www.einsteinminihorse.com

Can you believe that it is May already? Last week, it was very windy and chilly here in NH – this weekend it is like July! It may hit 90 today! I don’t think that I will need my heat on tonight!

Yesterday, I walked by Horseshoe Pond in hopes of getting some Tree Sparrow shots. They are fast little guys! I got lucky and got a handful of decent shots. I used my Photomatix HDR program to tweek a few of them. I think they came out pretty well. Check out my flickr photostream for more.

I just came back from volunteering 10-1 at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discover Center’s Aerospace Day. It was starting to get to hot – so I am glad that I only volunteered for 3 hours. I spent an hour and a half guarding the back door.

Happy Spring, Everyone!

I was looking around the apartment and decided to take a photo of some of my “toys” aka collection. Pictured is a vinyl troll house and various Wishniks (aka trolls). My favorite toys that I can remember receiving were Wishniks and the vinyl troll house that I got for Christmas one year. That is the same year that I got a Polly Pocket Doll too. I used to play for hours and hours with my Wishniks, the little Polly Pocket doll and my vinyl Tiki Troll house. A couple years ago – I found a vinyl troll house on ebay and purchased it along with the two-headed trolls in the photo. I remember having a two-headed troll (black and red hair) that I purchased at the Giant Store with a dollar that I found. I don’t know whatever happened to my original trolls/Wishniks, but I can tell you that the originals made by Uneeda in the 60s are collector’s items. About 10-15 years ago – the stores were filled with troll/Wishnik remakes which were never as good as the originals. I remember buying Wishnik clothes and having a scuba outfit for one. Seeing my collection again – brings back many wonderful memories of creative play.

Above are some itemes that I purchased on ebay a couple years ago. These are all vintage as well – but not items that I remember seeing. There is a “Wishnik/Uneeda” cow, two Goon/Alien Martian type creatures – I think these are fairly hard to come by, and a Wishnik pony.

I certainly enjoyed my Wishniks. I have two on top of my printer’s box that holds various nik-naks in my living room. When I look at them – I have very fond memories.

What was your favorite toy growing up?

I recently had a nasty encounter with a deer tick and had to go to Urgent Care to have it extracted. I am pretty phobic about ticks – even more now. Growing up, we never cared about or saw ticks of any kind. I spent most of my childhood in the woods and tall grass and never saw one. Maybe it is another thing to blame on global warming – I don’t know – but I HATE TICKS! This time of year – I start wearing my bug jacket (I have matching bug pants too) to protect me from the vile ticks and disease carrying mosquitoes! No – I am not too paranoid … twitch twitch! I can handle the mosquitoes – but anything that burrows its head into you etc. is GROSSER than Gross. 🙂 Have a nice day!

What a glorious day! 85 degrees in Concord! I had to dig out the shorts – it was like summer! A bit too warm for my liking -but no complaints for April 3rd. I can’t believe tomorrow is Easter – it seems like Christmas was only yesterday. I did my laundry and hung my sheets and towels out on the line. Nothings smells as good as sheets etc. hung out side! My mother and the neighbor were amused at my clothesline technique. It seems that I hung my sheets upside down – who knew?!

FYI – on Friday, I was on Jewett Road and passed Equinox Farms. They have alpacas. They are the cutest things!

Have a wonderful Easter everyone!

Today was Earth Hour – around the world individuals and cities turned off the lights at 8:30 pm local time for one hour. I decided to do it – tv junkie that I am. I succeeded. I did use a headlamp so I could fold my laundry and put it away. I also realized that when your in the dark and have a headlamp on – cobwebs come out of the woodwork! There were TONS that I had never seen. I spend a good amount of time cleaning them.

Earlier in the day – I took a long walk. I decided to walk by the river to see how high it has been after all the rain we have had. The river was really high and powerful. It was a little chilly today – but the walk warmed me up so I decided to walk to Hannah Dustin. I am glad that I did. When I left the island and was starting back down the road – out of the corner of my eye I caught the sight of a crow chasing a large bird. It wasn’t a turkey vulture and was flying like an eagle though I could not see any white head or tail. I snapped away with my camera and it flew closer. It was an immature bald eagle. The white patches on its underside resembled a Halloween skeleton costume to me 😉 Really . . .I thought the eagles had left time. I am glad at least one has stayed longer. I watched it for 4-5 minutes before it flew down river. (You can see a couple of the photos on my Flickr photostream.)

It was a good day! Enjoy!

Happy 100th Birthday, Nana! Alba was born in Hardwick, Vermont on 3/13/1910. We have about 100 friends and family attending the big bash this afternoon. More photos to come.

100 years – WOW! She still lives at home too and is active.