Campin' on a Monday

You've gotta love technology. Eric sent me these pictures from his Blackberry from the wilderness surrounding Goshen Scout Reservation in southern Virginia.
This is the closing ceremony from the first day of Boy Scout camp yesterday. That's Nicky in the light blue shorts with the American flag over his head. After the closing, they hiked about a half-mile away and had the week's religious ceremony (I know it was Monday, but they didn't have one scheduled for Sunday as it was the arrival day for all the troops). This serves as the chapel at Goshen.

It's nice to see what they're doing from so far away!

This Couch was Made for Sleepin'

We replaced our couches for our living room last year. The set we had was my parents', and it was old and in bad shape. The couch went to the dump, but the love seat was still in decent shape, so we brought it to the basement for extra seating. It faces the back door and windows leading to the back yard. It gets lots of sunshine in the morning and has a lovely view of the woods. The dogs have claimed it for their own and love to nap in the same corner, sometimes at the same time.

Here's Muffin with Nicky:

And Bingo:

I guess we'll keep the love seat for a while longer...it looks like it's still getting some use...and love.

Another 7-Year Marker

Seven years ago today I lost my father, Bill Whitten. Pop had been in the hospital for a few weeks with pneumonia, and never recovered. It was only 3 months since Ma had passed, so I think he was just done and ready to follow her. Here's one of my favorite pictures of Pop, from his early Army days in the 1950s:

My dad was the greatest; he never met a stranger, and would do anything for anyone, no questions asked. He was one of the nicest men you'd ever meet.

Little girls never get too old to need their daddies. I wish I still had mine. I miss you, Pop.

Withering Salad...But Great Table!

I posted a picture a few months ago of Eric building a salad table. Here is the finished product along with some wilting lettuce leaves:

The weather has gotten really dry and we have gotten lazy, so the greens have begun wilting. But the table is fantastic, and we hope to plant some herbs in there and keep it going!

Happy Independence Day!

Pirate Booty in Outer Space

I am a Camp Visitation Specialist for the Boy Scouts of America. (In layman's terms, I'm a camp inspector.) I visited a Cub Scout Day Camp in lower southern Maryland today, at the St. Mary's County Fairgrounds. What a great camp! These Cub Scouts are so lucky to have such a great team of dedicated volunteers creating such fun and interesting activities for them to enjoy. The theme was Space and all the stations had cool space names like Apollo and Enterprise.

One of my favorite stations was the obstacle course. (Space name unknown to me. LOL) The kids were doing the army crawl under ropes and traversing moving planks suspended by more ropes. But my favorite part of the station was this sign:

Obviously these were Space Pirates!

Cute Bug!

JJ and I went shopping in Bowie today and saw the cutest bug!

No, not an insect! I loved all the stars on the Beetle. In the back window is a website: nighttime.com. I came home and checked it out, thinking it was probably some sort of sleep aid. Ha! It's an urgent care center that's open all night. Fooled me!

But it sure got my attention!

Happy Father's Day!

Today was a lovely day. After our small celebration here at home, we drove to Delaware to Eric's parents' house. His dad seemed to like the 2 cards and bottle of wine we brought him. Then we attended a cookout given by one of their friends. Good old fashioned Sunday cookout food.

Along with the meat, we had potato salad, baked beans, and deviled eggs. Brownies and cookies for dessert. Delish!

The one sad part of the trip? We had to leave Nicky there. He is attending a musical theater camp in Rehobeth, and will stay with Grandma and Grandpa for 10 days. He went last year and loved it, and wanted to go back again this year.

I'll miss you, Nickster. Call me every day!