29 June

As I look back on the day it has been full of the kind of things that you want to remember as part of your childhood...now, remember that I'm writing this as a 63 year old adult and trying to see how it will work out for a 6 year old. We started with a trip to Betsy's kiosk for coffee, town gossip, and to see Drew. He is the 10 year old boy who will be spending the summer with Betsy. Liv really likes Drew and for good reason, he's really neat. We delivered some eggplants from the garden and made our presence known.

Later we went to the Norfolk zoo.

This was my first visit and I want to be the first to say that I should have gone much sooner.



The zoo is really neat. Here are some shots from our visit.









The train travels around the entire zoo and gives a wonderful view of the place.



After quiet time and a visit to the library for new books we had a visit from Kay Carl.



Later Kay's husband, Steve, joined us for dinner. Sue Worbois stopped in as did Matt Icamp. It was like old home week.

28 June

We met a bunch of our friends at 0630, at the marina. Mike Dunbar has a 45' deadrise that he has totally restored (that is a fancy way of saying he threw thousands of dollars at the boat and now it is better than new...the engine alone was...well, huge bucks).

At any rate, we went over to where the BASF plant was to be imploded and waited.


This is the plant prior to the blast...actually a bunch of blasts.
The official announcement said the event would take place between 0700 and 0800. Sure enough, at about 0715 we heard the ripple of explosions,








saw the cloud of dust rise above the building and slowly blow away to reveal....the building still standing.




Somebody is having a very bad day! Later he heard that a good number of the explosions did not take place. Now the contractor has a site with live demo, unstable structures, and a contract to clear the place. I bet his insurance company has already gotten a call. Well, after such an early start on the day everything else was anti climactic. I worked on the schooner all day. The ladies did some work, some shopping, took a walk, and had some quiet time. We are now contemplating dinner. All in all, a very large day. Looks like we will be making tomato sauce for pasta. We will use veggies from the garden.

27 June

It's late and I'm pretty tired from being on the schooner all day. Still, we had a large day in Portsmouth. Starting with Liv waking us at 0600, coffee and paper on the upstairs porch, breakfast (oatmeal with cinnamon), a quick check of the garden, then a walk to the marina. I worked on the Spirit of Independence so Sara and Liv walked with me to the marina to get on the boat. The ladies then went home and spent the morning pulling weeds in the garden and getting rid of plants that are no longer bearing fruit, so to speak. After lunch came quiet time (for reading but it usually turns into a nap) and then a trip to the mall where they had their nails done and did some shopping. That sounds like quality girl time to me. Thank goodness I did not have to go with them! Anyway, by the time I got home at 2200 the house was quiet and I have just enough energy to take a shower and go to bed. Tomorrow we have a surprise. A local chemical plant (BASF)has closed and moved all operations to Texas. The vacant plant will be imploded tomorrow between 0700 and 0800. This plant is right on the river so we are going to take the boat out to see the explosion from the river. This should be just like what you see on TV...really cool.

26 June

There was so much excitement in our house this morning that Ruby simply could not sleep past 6AM. She woke Liv, Sara, and Peter. We ate a quick breakfast, checked the garden, and went to the boat to go fishing.

We found some new lilies in the garden.
We anchored at Hospital Point and baited the hooks with squid. The girls really like squid because they get to mess with the mushy squid guts and pick at the eyeballs.


We caught a total of four croakers, Liv got three, Ruby one.




Only one fish was too small to keep so we took three home for dinner. Grandma Carlton showed up right after lunch to take Ruby to North Carolina for a visit. That was also the beginning of nap time so as soon as Carlton and Ruby left we all took a wonderful nap. Later Sara and Liv did some shopping for clothes. The fashion show is below.

25 June

Today I was the lazy slug in the house. Sara was up at 5:30, Liv at 6:00, Ruby at 6:15 and they all ganged up on me at 6:20. At least the coffee was made when I came downstairs. After reading the paper I made French toast in response to overwhelming demand. The girls ate enough for a small army even though they had to make time for talking to their Dad between bites. We packed ourselves into the car and headed to Hopewell to see my stepmother, Jean.

Sara insisted on a last minute combing of the hair.

I knew that Jean would appreciate how much these ladies have grown and that was certainly the case.


After completely wearing Jean out with all this excess energy from breakfast we went to see my sister, Ann, for lunch.

Jan (Ann's daughter) stopped by to say hello and we all commented on how much she and Ann look alike.


Since gardening has become a Youngblood event we helped Ann harvest from hers. That's Justin in the photo, Jan's son. He loves to read, a man after my own heart.

By that time we had hit the witching hour when a nap is the only solution so we got in the car and headed home. It sure is quiet in the car when both Liv and Ruby are asleep. It's a 90 minute drive home so by the time we got back to Portsmouth it was about time to wake the sleeping beauties. We did so as we pulled into the parking lot for the YMCA where we signed Liv up for four weeks of swimming lessons. The lessons start on July 6 and will be with the same instructor she had last year. Then it was back home, more sidewalk chalk, dinner, bath, and bedtime. Everyone is tired but happy. Tomorrow we plan to go fishing right after breakfast.

24 June

The start of a good day is a good breakfast. Too bad I was the only one who likes grits with cheese. At least the bacon was a hit. We checked on the garden and discovered a new eggplant. Wow, that thing seemed to come out of nowhere!


We took the garden harvest over to Betsy's kiosk to share with Nancy Psimos.


Next was lunch, nap time, and then a trip over to the marina. The city is tearing down the old Holiday Inn so we watched the construction guys tearing the building down. That's way cool!



Then we walked over to visit J.C. Waters on his boat, The Spirit of Independence






There is always something to see when on the water. In this case it was the jellyfish.

Back home we did some more harvesting, this time carrots. I guess it's still a bit early to be pulling up the carrots.


All of a sudden it's time for dinnerand a game of 'Go Fish' before bath time.

23 June, the first whole day

There is a lot of anticipation to live up to so we simply had to start off with pancakes for breakfast. I cooked the bacon while the girls played with some 40 year old toys.


Later the girls helped cook the pancakes. At the same time we called Wendy and Chris to let them know that we got to Portsmouth OK last night.

We have some habits that the girls soon learn are simply part of life. We start off with a cup of coffee and some quiet time to read the paper. After breakfast we make the beds.

Then we can do whatever is planned for the day. Today the first outside item was to check on the garden. Since nobody was here for the past four days everything grew like mad and we got to harvest squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, and zuccini.




Of course Liv has to keep track of all our activities so she will have some show and tell when she starts the first grade this year.




Next we walked over the the local coffee kiosk and talked to the regulars.



On the way home we went to the children's park.




Since is was such a nice day I took the girls out on my tugboat and we did a bit of fishing. Liv caught three Croakers. Ruby got to feel the fish, listen to them saying "CROAKER", and then to throw them back so we can catch them again.



Next was lunch and nap time. Thank goodness for nap time, I needed it!

Beginning at the beginning

Sara and I are lucky. Every year since she was two our granddaughter, Liv Casey, has come to spend a few weeks with us. This has become a month long visit that we all count on for the month of August. This year Liv's Mom, Wendy, will be in Turkey for six weeks so our visit is extended to six weeks plus. In addition, we have Liv's sister, Ruby, for part of that time. Ruby is four now and this will be her first extended stay but it will only be for a short while and then she will spend the rest of her time with her grandmother, Carlton Watkins.

Sara and I picked up the children in CT and after a 10 hour drive home we finally got settled back in Portsmouth. The girls traveled well with only the normal sibling chatter in the back seat. You can only imagine the excitement of seeing the house again, allocating out the bedrooms so each girl has one of her own, and making plans for tomorrow. I thought it would be a race to see who fell asleep first, Sara or the girls, but Sara won hands down. The real excitement starts tomorrow when we make a pancake breakfast and check on the garden.