Grace: gradually coming of Age......

September 13, 2014.  It takes time, "Coming of Age".  In blogging mode the most recent pictures often come first and that is the case here today.  What this is all about is Granddaughter Grace.  I envision a reflection consisting of pictures taken over time of her journey.  I will date the additional postings as they are added to this master.

 This is a fantatic one to start with.  Grace is 9 years old here.  The picture was taken earlier today by her brother Will.  He sent it to me as a message stating that Grace was learning how to drive the mower.  Will had to know how this would warm my heart not only as Grandpa but because of my love for mowing and the various TORO toys we have in the family.  Anything to do with mowing puts me in a good mood.  Seeing Grace as she is here is just a shot in the arm.  Thank you Wills if you are reading this

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Where to from here.  Well I have a few photos loaded on my IPhone so lets do a quick search and see how many there are of Grace that might fit in.  I have lots more but for now this will give us a start.

Here's one I took on Sandy Hook in August.  Sandy Hook is now part of a National Park and I have been biking there quite regularly this summer.  Grace has gone with me a few times since Pointer & I agreed to watch her during portions of August when her scheduled activity expired.  It was a great thing for us cause it gave us time to really get to know her during the day and she was able to be home with her family each evening.  (Not to stressfull on the Grandparents.)  Here she is in front of the Sandy Hook Light House which dates to the early 1700's and is the oldest light house still working in the country. Sometime I will post a better picture of the light house so you can see it but that is not our subject today.  There is a little mini theater in the bottom of the light house where the Rangers show a video about the light house.  We got to see it the day we were there.  Its quite good and addresses a message to all audiences.  I can't continue with out calling your attention to her bike.  She has almost outgrown it but it still goes like a rocket and she is very proud of it.  She likes to lead the way and she frequently does.

Two More Photos from Early August

Great.  This first photo was taken only a week or two before the one above - again in August of 2014.  Grace spent three weeks at the Rumson Country Club Summer Camp this year (a five day a week program from 9 to 3 weekdays).  The Camp has grown so there are over 100 kids participating and she had a great time.  As I mentioned Grandma and I were helping with transportation as needed and then we hosted Grace at The Hill and Out and About for another week.)  I do not recall actually what the campers are doing here but that's the reason for the tie.  I believe it was a magic show and her trick required the outfit.  

The. Second photo shows the energy left over after a day in Camp 

Now we will move to an earlier photo.  I confess I do not have the exact date but I believe it was earlier this year.

Notice the short hair.  I think it may have been from the early part of the summer while Grace was attending the Summer Camp at Poricy Park.  I love the shoes and the matching shorts.  Elizabeth took this picture and sent it to me.  Can you imagine the sweet little girl pictured here in just a few months swinging on ropes and driving mowers.  Age approaches.

GG

Cellar Man Cave at Pockets Meadow

CELLAR AT POCKETS MEADOW

The photo below is truly what most people would expect to see in a Vermont Cellar.  The office work area.  No Surprises here.  But there is so much more in Pocket's Cellar Man Cave

Living in Vermont its necessary to adjust to the extremes in our weather.  Winters are very cold and summers while beautiful have a few extremely hot days.  We live in a wonderful home here in Weston but we do not have all of the environmental tools that we have in our primary home in New Jersey.  We have ample heat with our oil furnace, we have well water, we have a generator (although it does require manual hook up and start), refrigeration, indoor plumbing, flush toilets, dish washer, cloths washer & dryer, forced hot air heating with a built in humidifier. We have satellite Direct TV, we have a land line phone, we have broad band internet, we have our IPhones, IPad, Kindle, and 3 1/2 bath rooms and plenty of bed rooms.  What we do not have is Air Conditioning.  That may not seem like a huge omission with all the rest of the mechanical comforts .... but there are times in the summer when it can be God Awful Hot in the house.

We do have a wonderfully cool cellar which extends the whole length of the house.  Its a huge area, cement walls, wide open with all kinds of room.  There is a stairway up to the house.  A stairway to the exterior yard. And a garage door to the meadows outside.  In fact you can drive a John Deere tractor or Wheel Horse Lawn Tractor or a huge Toro Zero Turn Mower inside and park them in their individual space along with various attachments.  There is a huge area where I have stored all of the excess lumber left over from the house addition in 2003/4 - along with the most fantastic work bench tool area and shop where I can store all of my tools with an ample work area for projects.  There is a land line phone in the work area along with my Mother in Laws old Stereo and speakers as a sound system. There are a host of overhead lights, ample electrical outlets placed in strategic areas.  I can also store all of our outdoor furniture during the winter.  Almost everything I have described so far is in the new area of the basement which was added as a result of the addition.  In the basement area that came with the house as originally built we have a huge shelf area which serves as a pantry mainly for kitchen and house hold items.  A refrigerator.  Several wire baker's shelves bought a Costco with unbelievable excess "stuff" stored for posterity. (If you haven't thought of it for 5 years this is where it probably is stored).  Our furnace, water heater and oil tank are also down here along with a huge open cloak room for hanging cloths and winter ski and sports gear.  There is also some extra furniture which is in transition either having been displaced by something different upstairs or having be acquired along the way without an actual place to use it yet.  Even left over carpeting in case we need to repair an area. 

In all aspects its a wonderful place for me to hang out.  No other person would dare to spend more than a few hurried minutes in this wonderful cavern.

AND NOW FOR THE BEST PART.....

Earlier this summer I set up my office here - computer, printer, monitors and all of my support materials.  Not in a neat finished office environment.  No my office is a disaster zone with nothing in a proper place..... no everything in my office is in a functional place.  I have in the few weeks I have been able to use the office come to really appreciate its privacy.  It just flows so well.

What follows are a few pictures so you can get a sense of how it works.

Pockets Man Cave Office Area

Notice how everything just fits.  Everything is used.  Mostly out of place. Yet strategic in it placement






Actually the Office Area is neater than it seems at first glance.

The really important thing is to keep Pockets toys close at hand

Here are two of my favorite toys.  On the left is my Wheel Horse (Toro) Lawn Tractor.  It is over 10 years old and was the first model that had a water cooled engine and was fully hydraulic when it comes to lifting the mower deck etc.  No clutch or gears .... fully automatic with a 20 horse 2 cylinder water cooled Honda engine.. The deck is 60" and it is the work horse for the finished lawn look.  Not necessarily popular here at Pockets Meadow but handy for the lawn area around the housel   On the right is my Toro Zero Turn.  Again with a 60 inch deck but with almost 30 horsepower it can mow acres and hour.  On a good day I can do all of the meadows and the lawn area around the house in a little over 4 hrs.  Regrettably my John Deere is currently in the detached barn with Nancy's JAG so I can not picture it tonight.  (The JAG gets nervous here in remote Vermont and rests better in the company of the John Deere.)

 

I Phone APP

Would you believe there is an APP for this Blog program. It links to all three of my Pockets Blogs which means a full range of updates while on the move are simple. The comments on the Blog App are "so so" bit for my purposes I am hopeful it will be okay. It's to bad it's 3am and I'm flat on my back fooling with my IPhone. There is a camera feature with the App I would like to experiment with but no light.