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Blogging By the Sea
Monday, August 12 2013

    

Years ago, my kids, who at the time were childless, all came to our family island on a lake in New Hampshire for a long weekend. As we packed up to go home, my son-in-law insisted that we had to do this again and next year, for a whole week. We’ve been coming for that week of family fun and togetherness ever since. As children came along, it became a chance for cousins who live in different states to hang out and get to know each other and for siblings to reconnect and create memories to last a lifetime.

We call the week Mutt’s Nuts (long story) and in addition to being time to swim, play games, have campfires and enjoy time together, we have also had some fantastic parties: safaris and pirate parties, wedding and baby showers, and big birthday bashes.

This year, during Mutt’s Nuts we had an infestation of fairies. They built homes all over the island, next to tents, hanging in trees, even on the beach. Then our own little munchkins got to be fairies for the day, dressing up in fairy skirts with wreaths of flowers in their hair. The fairy luncheon had the most marvelous menu, from real cucumber sandwiches to chocolate kiss acorns. There were snail sandwiches and deviled eggs with tomato caps and so much more. The girls loved it.

      

My daughter, Bobbi, began planning the event months ago and her living room became a fairy house factory. She made the flower wreaths for their hair and conned me into creating the fairy skirts. Jack, being the only boy present got a special crown of feathers that looked very manly, but he opted to copy the girls and wear flowers. My sister even dyed her dog purple for the occasion and both dogs sprouted wings to join the fun.

  

  

The girls later snuck off to build more fairy houses of their own, and in the evening we had fairy jars of twinkling lights. Such fun!  Thank you Bobbi, for bringing the fairies to Mutt’s Nuts.

 

Posted by: Skye AT 08:25 pm   |  Permalink   |  3 Comments  |  Email
Sunday, August 04 2013

       

The Beaver                                                                                                    I'm a Boston lady of 1773

When you get invited to a tea party, you generally think of dressing up a bit and sitting at a prettily laid table while sipping tea from fine china cups. But this summer, my granddaughter, Theresa and I went to a very different kind of tea party.

The Boston Tea Party!

Theresa had read a book on her summer reading list about the original tea party so her mother thought it would be fun if Grammy could take her to Boston to the Tea Party Museum. So, off we went. Although the original Boston Tea Party took place at night, this day was sunny and beautiful for a trip into this lovely old city. There are two replicas of the original merchant ships that sat in Boston Harbor loaded with tea while the Sons of Liberty and the British governor argued about the new tax levied on the tea. The Beaver and the Eleanor sit at the pier and the whole tour is a very fun reenactment.

Every visitor is given a role to play, and the name of one of the original tea party goers. Some of them have speaking parts and join in the assembly where Sam Adams does his rabble rousing best to fire up resentment against the tax and a refusal to let the tea be brought ashore. Then, with feathers stuck in our caps or hair, we troop onto one of the two ships and toss tea into the harbor. The kids got a huge kick out of that part and Theresa hauled her bale back aboard to re-toss several times.

   

Let's have a Tea Party!                                                                       Stearing the ship

The rest of the tour was instructive about how the Boston Tea Party led to the insurrection, with a short presentation on a wide 3-D screen of the first shots fired at Lexington Mass. What a fantastic way to learn about a little bit about  how this great country got its birth. Abigail’s Tea House is a great little place to enjoy a snack when you finish the tour. If you live near Boston, do go. If you don’t, why not plan a trip to this wonderful little city? The Boston Tea Party Museum is only just one of many places to see and things to do in Boston. Lots of history and lots of other great stuff, too.

The Captain's Cabin aboard the Eleanor was well appointed to show his wealth and success.

Posted by: Skye AT 08:05 am   |  Permalink   |  2 Comments  |  Email
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    Skye Taylor
    St Augustine, Florida
    skye@skye-writer.com

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