Early Autumn visits....

The first thing that "visited" Callum and Maira came in the mail, in the form of a fall gift box from Nannie--there was a "ghoul bus" t shirt for CS, a Halloween outfit for MairaBeth, some window clingy stickers, and some wooden bats complete with glitter pens and crayons in order to decorate. Callum wasted NO time getting right over to his seat and beginning the process of decorating the bats for the season ahead; he hadn't even checked the rest of the contents of the box! (blow up the pic for a better view!)

Our second visit last week came from Timmy the Greek and his lovely Eleni--can you believe Amanda and Eleni had never MET before this past weekend?? A wonderful, spontaneous visit...thanks so much for coming up!!! The got to Maine last Friday afternoon....they came to my Cross Country meet at Waterville....they came back to the house and we enjoyed some ice beers while we put the kids to bed....and then, in true Central Maine fashion, we got takeout from Asian Cafe!

On Saturday morning, Callum and Maira got right to work with Eleni, playing "Thomas's Birthday Surprise," this game that the Fitzpatrick's got him for his birthday earlier in June....

While I snapped this picture, Tim was out with Star, their dog, showing her the 'finer points' of our town (they hit the trail across the street....had a conversation with 'Mr Marcoux'....hiked a bit through the woods....saw some scurrying beaver....and Star swam in a stream or a pond or something....)
Amanda and Eleni just really hit it off. Excellent stuff. Eleni is a terrific person.
Maira really loved her too, offering a rare smile......
We went over to the Apple Farm in Fairfield later that morning (after introducing Eleni to HILLMAN'S BAKERY, of course!). At the farm, Callum and I walked Star in the orchard and Tim, Eleni, Amanda, and Maira stocked up on Macs. Amanda and I bought twenty more pounds of tomatoes, which have now all been canned. And, finally, after visiting with MISTER Z (a five year old horse) we took a delightful horse pulled wagon ride through the orchard and land surrounding the park. The same folks do SLEIGH RIDES in the winter....can't wait!

The THIRD and final visit this early fall came in the way of the CLINTON FAIR--our ULTIMATE favorite fair in Maine. Small. Simple. Rural. Shady. Perfect. Callum broke new ground and, for the first time, went on some rides (okay....ONE ride....) He rode his blue motorcycle!! He went on this ride two times in a row!!!
You can kind of tell how much he is beaming from ear to ear....I assure you he LOVED it!
One of the nicest weekends I had in a long time!