Scattered Thoughts . . .

I n mid-August, we went to another one of Kenzie's figure skating lessons and practice sessions.  I really enjoy going to these sessions because, when the rink is empty such as it is during these sessions, I have access to the ice from one of the team benches rather than from behind hockey-puck-marred glass in the stands.  When I'm on one of the team benches, I have no marred glass in my way...  no safety nets in my way...  I can even open the door in the boards to get down low to the ice rather than shooting down on Kenzie.  Shooting photos at ice events is far more difficult because of all of these aforementioned obstacles when needing to sit in the stands.   I always shoot a lot of photos during these practice sessions so, as usual, I came home from this practice session with far more photos than I need.  I sometimes shoot video during these sessions and I did on this day too but, for some reason (really multiple reasons), I'm never really happy with the video files.  

We had Kenzie overnight again late last week.  She came to visit so we could do some back-to-school shopping with her.  Lukey was out-of-town with a friend so Kenzie visited us alone. After some penne and meatballs for dinner, we watched "Bride Wars"...   The next morning we headed toward Williston and Burlington.  By the look on her face and her hand gesture, I think Kenzie is saying, " What are you talking about?" Kenzie likes Old Navy so that was our first stop...  Kenzie seemed to have a jumble of different faces throughout the day... And, another face... And, another face... A quick visit to Ulta to pick up a few things (not for me!) for Kenzie... And, a stop at Barnes and Noble for some books... We had a good time with Kenzie, as always.  I just noticed the socks with sandals in the above photo...  like a lunatic who just escaped from a cell somewhere...   It was fun having Kenzie around for a couple of days and we look forward to the next visit with one or

A bout two weeks ago, we went to one of Kenzie's figure skating lessons.  It was actually nice to step into winter for a bit rather than be in the heat and humidity! This was the first lesson of Kenzie's we've seen since purchasing her a new pair of figure skates.  We're happy to say that we noticed a significant improvement in her skating since her ice show back in February!  I'm sure part of the reason for such a significant improvement is simply due to her getting older and stronger.  However, since she was clearly more sure-footed and fluid at this lesson and practice session, we have a very strong feeling that the biggest reason for her significant improvement is due to the new skates. Both Sheila and I feel as though she could be a pretty good figure skater so we're hoping she sticks with it.  Of course, getting ice time for practice is difficult for various reasons so growth comes slowly which can be frustrating for the skater.   _________________________

Shortly before arriving at our house the other day to spend some time with Gee and Papa, Kenzie got whacked under the eye by Ace's hard head.  I'm not sure Ace felt anything but Kenzie's eye quickly started swelling up.   Even after arriving at our house, she still spent much of the night with an icepack on her eye trying to bring down the swelling.  That night the swelling was just in a relatively small area right where Ace's head made contact with her face...  right on her left cheekbone.   By bedtime, her eye was becoming more bruised and it was becoming more obvious.  By the next day (yesterday), she had a more noticeable black eye and the swelling was more like a puffy swelling all across under her eye rather than just on her cheekbone!   She kept asking us whether or not her eye would be better by the time school starts later in the month.  Of course Gee and I teased her by telling her "oh no...  it will just keep getting worse...  with oozing puss and you

The day after our cruise on Lake Champlain, we did some typical tourist sightseeing around Waterbury with Lukey and Kenzie.  It was a quiet weekday morning so we beat the tourist crowd.   We started at Cold Hollow Cider Mill... Tasting the apple cider...   I found it to be a little bitter on this day but the taste does vary from season to season. After tasting the apple cider, we roamed around the store looking for things to purchase.  (We found plenty and went home with plenty.) Making the cider donuts... The kids and Gee had planned on getting some apple cider slushies but the slushie machine was being cleaned so they had no slushies available.  We did, however, get a dozen freshly made apple cider donuts instead of the slushies...  oh...  and quite a few other products that would have been purchased regardless of whether we got slushies or not. This is a view from out behind the cider mill looking toward the Worcester Range (and our house)... After the cider mill, we went to Lake Ch