New England Thanksgiving and Contemplating a Cut

I hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving. We headed back up to New England for a very busy holiday.

I wanted to take some more pictures of the New England headstones, but the one time I got a chance to hop out of the car, my camera battery died. That has never happened, especially since I had charged the battery the night before. I was so bummed, but it gives me an excuse to go back to New England sooner.

My very generous mother in law bought tickets for herself, my sister in law, my daughter and myself to see Boston Ballet perform The Nutcracker. The seats weren't bad, but the small child in front of me's strange posture forced me to watch the entire ballet leaning over my seat. Nevertheless, it was a magical experience and reminded me of seeing the ballet for the first time when I was about 8. After that, my mother enrolled me in ballet and I performed in the ballet every year until I was seventeen.

We had to take a bunch of toll roads as we headed up north. We had planned on getting an EZ Pass, but something happened that is making us rethink that. My husband was so upset he asked me to write a blog post about it because "You have a bigger audience than I do."(I don't know how true that is.) I'm currently working on that blog post, but if anyone has any input about the EZ Pass, I'd love to hear it, good or bad.

I've been having this hankering to cut layers into my hair. Every year I get bored and I guess it's happening now. I've thought about bangs (so trendy right now) or just long layers to break up the shape of my hair.

I keep having to remind myself of how patient I've been and how long it would take to grow out any impulsive hair cuts. I've been thinking about how my updos won't be quite as nice looking with layers poking out all over the place. I think as long as I get through Christmas without a cut, I'll be in the clear, so I've promised to wait at least that long before deciding.

Have you had layers or bangs added to your hair and regretted or loved it? I'd love to hear from you!

Also, I'm considering doing a beauty give away for my 100th blog post. I'm putting things together and it should be a good one, so keep checking back. I'm guessing the give-away will be happening around the New Year.

Pumpkin Overload

Before I start, I want to welcome you over to my new blog. I really fell in love with the artwork and designs at the top of headstones. I know it's a bit morbid, but I really think it's beautiful. Check out my new blog (which is mostly pictures) at Requiescat In Pace.

Moving right along...Today we took a drive around the countryside. We drove by the site of an old glass factory in Lyndeborough, NH.

Those are the old stone foundations of the glass factory. I would have loved to hunt around for bits of old glass, but it was too steep to climb down and I didn't relish falling in the water.

We drove through one of the famed New England covered bridges. This time I really did get flashbacks of Beetlejuice!

Apparently, you need to take turns going through the bridge because that bus waited on us, even though we had just stopped to take pictures.

We took the kids to the playground and I got on the swingset for a while. It's been so long since I was on a swing that I forgot how to pump my legs. My husband had to push me, which was pretty embarrassing.

In a little shop in town, I found the perfect ending to the day; a giant chocolate chip cookie and Dogfish Head Punkin Ale. Since I've been devouring everything pumpkin in sight (pumpkin coffee, pumpkin butter, pumpkin cookies...) I had to try the ale.

"A full-bodied brown ale brewed with real pumpkin, brown sugar, allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg."


I hardly ever drink and I don't know anything about ale, so I wasn't sure what to drink. My mother in law showed my how to pour the ale into a glass to let it breathe.

It was really orange! To my surprise, it wasn't  pumpkin-y. I could taste a hint of the promised spices, but the flavor didn't knock me over the head.

With this ale I think I'm pumpkined out. I'm not buying anymore pumpkin flavored foods until next year. I'll still be on the hunt for more seafood chowder, though.

Parker's Maple Barn, New England Tombstones and a Covered Bridge

I went to Parker's Maple Barn in Mason, New Hampshire today. We perused the gift store for a little while, then ate at the restaurant.

I ordered a bowl of seafood chowder to split with Winnie. I will be having dreams about that seafood chowder, it was so delicious! It had chunks of lobster, shrimp and crab along side lumps of potatoes. It was so good, I almost ordered a second bowl just to take home with me. Seriously, if you love clam chowder and happen to be around Mason, New Hampshire, stop in and get yourself a bowl of seafood chowder.

My husband ordered Eggs Benedict. The Canadian bacon was half an inch thick!

Sorry the picture's so blurry. He was so eager to eat the food that he wouldn't keep the plate still long enough for a picture.

Ever since the Keene Pumpkin Fest, I've been lusting for a jar of pumpkin butter. No one around here seemed to have any. At Parker's Maple Barn, I lucked out. They had three jars left and I bought all of them.

I didn't open any, but I smelled the lid and I could faintly smell (or hallucinated that I did,) rich, spicy pumpkin. I'm saving it until I get home(!), but I cannot wait to spread some on bread.

I'd never heard of maple cream, but the restaurant sold Peanut Butter and Maple Cream sandwiches, which seemed pretty popular. I saw different sized jars of the maple cream and decided to take the plunge. I have no idea what to expect from it, but hopefully someone in the house likes it.

While apple picking, I also purchased some Apple Butter to send back to Hawaii. I forgot to post pictures, so here you go!

Moving right along...we stopped off at a few places on the way back from the Maple Barn. I've discovered I have an interest in New England tombstone designs.

This is a beatifically delicate design of three weeping willows over two urns.

Another weeping willow with at least one urn. I'm not sure what the egg-shaped items on the ends are, but they are possibly urns or trees. My husband tells me that weeping willows are very popular for putting on headstones in New Hampshire.

This weeping willow comes with poetry:

"Know all ye who pass me by,
As you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, so you shall be,
Prepare yourself to follow me."

Another delicate weeping willow motif.

Open gates...to Heaven?

I think this simple rose is absolutely gorgeous.

I'm not sure what the symbology of the pointed hand is, but I'm going to research it to see if I can find out what it means.

So as not to end this on a somber note, we also took a short little walk across a covered bridge. I'd noticed it before because it reminded me of the bridge from Beetlejuice (the ones the Maitlands crashed their car on.) Unlike the Beetlejuice bridge, this one was a walking bridge.

The bridge crosses over a creek that apparently runs from Potanipo Pond.

I think that might be Poison Ivy. My only encounter with it was during a walk I took with my mother in law three years ago. I wore flip flops (I have no idea why I thought that was okay) and apparently brushed against some poison ivy. I've heard the saying "Leaves of three, leave me be," so I took some pictures to look up later. I was careful not to touch it...just in case.

Picturlicious- New House, Hairstyle and a Butterfly

I was watching t.v. with my daughter today and saw a commercial for a cool toy that I wanted. The new Disney Pixar movie, Tangled, is coming out soon and they've already started to release toys. The commercial was for a Rapunzel doll.

You clip the ends of her hair to these birds and turn a crank and it makes a three strand rope braid. I wish birds would rope braid my hair. It sure would save me a lot of time. But I guess then I'd have to worry about bird poop.

Anyway, the doll was very pretty and of course I have a soft spot for Rapunzel. I know what Sofie will be getting from Santa Claus this year.

 The sellers of the house I wanted finally got back to us with a counter offer, which we promptly accepted. Now I just have to wait for the contract to be signed by the seller. The one thing I'm concerned about it whether or not it has 100 amps and if it's knob and tube wired. If it is, I'm going to have a hard time finding home owners insurance. I'm pretty sure that it's not, but I could be wrong since I'm not an electrician. These are things we'll find out from the inspection. Fingers crossed!

It's listed as a Cape Cod style house, but I've heard it referred to as a Dutch Colonial, as well. My best friend's husband said it looks like something from Amityville. I think it looks like AWESOME!

The back yard is fenced in with chain link fence which is covered in English Ivy. I love English Ivy and I think it makes the fence look beautiful.

The kitchen is tiny and will eventually be remodeled, but it's not something that I'm overly concerned about at this point. Look at these handles on the cabinets. I absolutely adore them and hope I can find them in silver.

While I was on the mainland, I had numerous people comment on my hair. It was so nice to hear people appreciate my hair. I had one lady ask my if I braided it myself or if I needed help. I style my hair all by myself with no help at all.

Just for fun, here's a picture from a few months ago. I was playing with styles and while I'm not thrilled with the results, I do think it has promise.

Also, while on the mainland, I got a few good pictures of a butterfly on a cockscomb (a type of flower that resembles the red "comb" on a male chicken's head.)

Anyone have any idea what kind of butterfly that is? The cockscomb was absolutely covered in them. I haven't seen that many butterflies in ages. It was so exciting to see so many of them at once.

Sale Alert: Grah-toe and A Beautiful Fog

I woke up in Pennsylvania to a beautiful fog. We don't really have fog like this in Hawaii, so I was so excited and took a short walk to take it in.

Also, Grahtoe Studios is having a sale! The "End of Summer" Sale includes everything in stock, but does not include customs. Have you had your eye on a special fork or mermaid tail? Now is the time to buy!

For Saturday and Sunday, everything in stock is 25% off. The 25% will be refunded via paypal after purchase.

Look at this gorgeous mermaid's tail;

The wood is absolutely stunning!

These leaf sticks are so cute;

I love the grain on these ones.

Make sure to head over to Grahtoe Studios to check out what else they have before everything is gone!

Aiea Cemetery and Ewa Beach Train Tracks

Today Lyndsey and I went on a little trip and visited Aiea ("Eye-Ay-Ah") Cemetery and old train tracks out in Ewa ("Evah") Beach.

Aiea Cemetery has long been of interest to me. It's just this tiny little island of earth surrounded by major roads. The tombstones seem mostly to be just rocks set up on one side. Unlike most cemeteries, which are lush and green and thriving with life, everything in this cemetery is dried up and dead. I believe that most of the names I could read were either Japanese or Filipino.

We couldn't find a grave more recent than 1947. Most seemed to be from 1910-1930.

Many of the headstones were merely poured cement which had the names of the deceased and their dates written by hand before the cement dried. Only a few weren't obviously homemade.

Some of the graves had these odd structures made from metal and piping which were reminiscent of a bed. I believe this next photo is of an infant grave. There was nothing to indicate anything about the space it occupied except that it seemed to be a crib.

I think this next one is probably one of the older graves.

This next structure was unique among the graves. It was apparently an old Japanese grave which housed several members of the same family.

Next, we headed out to Ewa Beach to see the train tracks. Admission to the Museum was $10, so we opted to stop on the side of the road and walk down the tracks. They haven't been in use for years, but still seem to be in good shape.

Hawaii has a large wild chicken population and we saw a hen with five little chicks. I've heard a rumor that the chickens came from an abandoned chicken farm, but I'm honestly not sure if that's true. The chicks were cute, either way.

That's Lyndsey taking a shot of a very strange fence we found. The fence was made of wooden slats, old mattress frames, cots and chicken wire.

It even looks like they included the bottom part of an old crib. I guess that's one way to recycle.

Here's a picture of my bare foot on the train track, just for fun:

I really wonder what the reason is behind the way the graves are set up. If anyone knows, I'd love to hear about it.

We have about nine weeks left here in Hawaii and I'm trying to cram in every bit of sightseeing I can in that short amount of time. I'll be sharing as much as I can with you guys. I hope you're enjoying seeing a side of Hawaii most tourists miss.