The Peanut

Topsfield Fair

Ah, Fall the best time of the year, especially in NE. Beautiful weather, not to hot or cold, trees are beautiful with color, apples, pumpkins and lots of Fairs! The Topsfield Fair is one of the biggest agricultural fairs. Crafts, Flowers, Giant pumpkins, cows, pigs, birds, farm animals, bunnies Oh MY!














And fair food, upon fair food...Kettle corn, strawberry shortcake, funnel cake, chocolate dipped bananas, Turkey legs, fries, Carmel apples...you name it it's there for you to feast on. Oh and then there are rides for you to get sick on and games for you to win crappy prizes at.

Alev had the smart idea of going for breakfast before we went to the fair though, so I didn't gorge myself on fried food thankfully. Weight Watchers would be proud.

We had another weather day and enjoyed looking at all the exhibits. Petting the bunnies was my favorite part of the day though!

Apple Picking

Hurray Apple Picking!

I love apple picking, we usually go to NH, but since mom is down in VA, thought we would try someplace new this year. Cider Hill Farm, big, beautiful, lots of yummy treats in the barn, but totally popular and BUSY! But, Baha, Alev, Sujen and I still had a great time.

Weather was beautiful and the apples were dripping of the tree. I usually only get Mac & Cortland, but this year I got adventures with the new place and all and got all kinds of apples. I would pick one, sample and put some in my bag if I liked it. I don't even know names of all the different apples I picked this year.

We also got some yummy apple cider, apple cider donuts, and a pumpkin. I could have spent alot more time in the barn looking at all the goodies, but it was very crowded.


Now to make apple pie, apple crisp, apple sauce.....

Camp for Dad's Birthday

Baha, Erica, The Boys and I are all going to be at Camp this year to help celebrate dad's birthday Aug 16th. I think this is the first year or at least the first year in a very long time that we are all together to celebrate dad's birthday. I left work at 3pm with a goal to be on the road by 4pm so we are at Camp for 9pm. Mother Nature was against this plan for some reason.
This was one of the worst trips home and definitely the longest. The distance that normally takes us 45mins, took 2 hours! It wasn't just the rain, which from above you can see makes seeing difficult and it gets worse when it is dark out. But there appeared to have been 2-3 accidents as well. Making for VERY slow going.

Mother Nature did provide entertainment though. As you can see from these photos once the rain stopped at one point the sky gave us some spectacular views.




So we finally made it to camp at 11pm, 2 hours late! We actually encountered dad on the road to camp, he was headed down to the house to see if we had left any messages. Being 2 hours late they were concerned about our were abouts. We did call around 6pm and left message on cellphones and answering machines, but I also knew they wouldn't get the messages as there is no service at camp and camp has no phone. But at least there was evidence we tried!

Everyone waited up for us though, and it was a beautiful night by the camp fire. We chatted till 1pm before hitting the hay.


Above is Dad and Uncle Larry's new addition to camp. The screen porch. It's great to sit out side in and eat, especially when the buggies are out too! Below is mom and dad's garden at camp. Lots of yummy tomatoes and cherry tomatoes which we got to sample. And the vine in front will soon have pumpkins on it!

Fishing! I really do enjoy fishing. Don't get to do it much, it's a rare treat.

Baha and I were excellent in feeding the fish! ;) We got lots of bits on our line, but we were just not good at hooking them and reeling them in! Buggers!

Austin caught the biggest fish of the day.

While Alan caught the most.

And Dad caught the biggest animal! A snapping turtle. He caught and reeled this bad boy all the way onto shore with a plastic, scooby-do kids fishing pole! Just goes to show, it's not always the equipment that makes the fisherman, but the skill!

Austin and Alan get rides on the cable car across the West Canada. This is a heavily used little contraption in hunting season. And for times like this when the river is high, it's the only way across.

Darn cute group photo! Erica and I sure are sisters (same smile, eyes, shape face).

Aaahhh!

There's a rainbow, look again...See it?

Happy Birthday Dad and Uncle Larry. Yes, they are twins!

Austin and Alan Potter, man they are growing up fast! And cute as buttons if I do say so myself. But they sure do keep you busy.

Dad and his two daughters.

It was just the most amazing night. The moon was full and it was clear and crisp.

I sure do love going to camp. Wish we could visit more. Peaceful, beautiful, excellent air quality, and our camp happens to be the ritz of camps, so not too shabby.

Reynolds Reunion 2008

Photographed by Melissa Kavlakli
Daughter of Darlene (Reynolds) LaRose: Eldest Daughter of Francis Reynolds

If you would like a copy of the photos please send your address & $5 for cost of CD and postage to:
Melissa Kavlakli
11 Jefferson St #2
Cambridge, MA 02141

Hope you enjoy the photos!

Fun Filled Weekend of PYO!

PYO (Pick your own) and that's exactly what we did, picked our own cherry tomatoes, beans (green & yellow), Blueberries and Raspberries!

We took our second trip out to Red Fire Farm this weekend and picked our own cherry tomatoes and beans. We were also going to pick flowers, but I forgot the scissors AND it started to lightning. We picked the tomatoes and beans in the rain, but when the first lightning flashed I made sure we got back to the car. I was hoping the rain would hold of till 3pm, but no such luck, but we didn't let it ruin our fun. We still got some picking in and we stocked up on organic veggies from the farm. No photos, I had the camera, but with the rain I didn't bring it out.

Sunday we went to Connors Farm in Danvers MA to pick blueberries and raspberries, pretty place


Blueberry picking is alot harder than you think. Especially if it's early in the season and not a TON of berries are ripe. You have to pick ripe ones, one at a time instead of grabbing handfuls at a time. It was getting hot and between the 2 of us we had only filled 1 quart, so we decided to give up and buy the rest from the farm stand. Cheating I know. We went over to the raspberry bushes and it is later in the season for them so they were pretty picked over and there were TONS of bees buzzing around so we ate what we found and bought some from the farm stand to take home.

I made blueberry scones when we got home....YUMMMY!

Nantasket Beach

Saturday we went to Nantasket Beach with Nik, Anna & Sofia. We had never been to this beach before so didn't know what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised! Nantasket Beach is awesome! It's only 45mins from the city, has lots of sand instead of rocks and it's a really lonnnggg beach so nice for walks and so people can spread out. It has the low tide feature so you can walk way in before it gets to deep and has good waves.

Baha and Sofia show off their bathing suits.


We had a fun time playing in the sand and waves with Sofia, Nik & Anna. Can't wait to go again!