Karen enjoys a meal with Gordon at one of our favorite places, Lone Oak in Rochester. Delicious burgers and sandwiches and (of course) ice cream.
Click the picture to see the full vertical panorama of Gordon's very long shadow on the beach.
William tried to win a stuffed Pikachu (a Pokemon character) at the ring toss, but kept winning a tiny little plastic lizard instead.
Karen used Gordon's phone to grab this selfie at the beach.
Daniel was the only one who braved the waters at the beach in York. For August, the water was decidedly chilly.
William and Karen take a stroll along the beach in York, Maine.
William rides one of the go-carts at York Amusement Park. He went because Danny wanted someone to race with, but at over six feet, William barely fits in the cart.
Daniel sets up his new tent on the back deck, not to camp out, but to make sure he can set it up easily, and that he fits in it. He does, barely, and probably not by next camping season.
Karen looks at some old Saturday Evening Post covers by Norman Rockwell. The museum has a display on Rockwell's work during the war and post-war years, including a lot of things that neither Karen nor I had seen before.
Daniel watches one of the many informative videos at the Wright Museum, and museum devoted to American history during World War II.
Gordon and Sukkie sit on the sofa. Sukkie has been hiding in William's room a lot lately, suspicious that we're going to do some kind of medical procedure on her whenever she leaves, so we bring her out to socialize whenever we get the chance.
Danny grates some zucchini for chocolate zucchini bread, which is delicious and very unlike regular zucchini bread.
Gordon gets in a little practice with his Gibson Maestro guitar that he picked up for camping trips. For a cheap guitar, it sounds very nice!
The bread board had to share the kitchen table with tools and materials while Gordon worked on trimming out the kitchen window.
Ambush gets distracted from her view out the window by something in the house. Probably, this time of the year, a bug of some kind.
Karen made this tasty banana-bread French toast, inspired by a dish that Gordon saw in John Irving's "Last Night In Twisted River." The syrup is homemade blueberry.
Karen gets a chance to show off her new tie-dye hoodie, which was sort of an anniversary present.
Thomas, Daniel, and William play a video game for awhile in the evening. They don't get a lot of chances to play all together because of Tom's work schedule.
Karen mixes up a Hawaiian frozen dessert known as guri guri, which is made from Seven-Up, strawberry soda, and sweetened condensed milk.
This is Gordon's recording of his song "She Works So Hard" made on our unfinished back deck.
While Gordon was watching Karen and the boys swim, some ducks gathered around his ankles, and then went off to the water. That's Karen in the water in the background.
Click the picture to see the full vertical panorama of this shot of the docks at Lake Winnipesaukee.
Daniel works at his computer. His teacher wants him to practice writing and, especially, editing this summer.
Daniel sets up some Duplo tracks on the table. We're paring down our Duplos to one box to keep for grandchildren to play with when they visit, and giving away or selling the rest.
Gordon watches Karen and the boys swimming in the lake. Not much of a swimmer, Gordon still enjoys sitting on the beach and watching the scenery.
William and Daniel dry off after an evening swim in the lake.
Karen found some ripe blueberries on the south shore of the pond. Blueberry pancakes, anyone?
William brings up his kayak from the first trip on the pond of the season. Schedule and weather have kept the boys off the water this year until now.
Karen takes a sunset swim in the pond.
A spectacular sunset over the mountain west of the pond.
A rare chance for a family brunch.
It's a Brooks Brunch! Cheesy scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes, and Karen's homemade blueberry syrup, topped with a dollop (or so) of whipped cream.
Click the picture to see the full panoramic shot Gordon took of the Durgin covered bridge in Sandwich.
William and Daniel wait with Erin for the start of a video game tournament in Dover that Thomas is running.
Karen and friend Curt sketch a covered bridge in Sandwich. We had an outing of lunch, galleries and art, without the kids.
A look inside the Durgin Bridge in Sandwich. The main beams are made from 24 curved planks each, held together with bolts that run through all the layers and set on angled concrete pylons below the level of the bridge.
Wearing a Ben & Jerry's T-shirt while eating ice cream that doesn't come from Ben & Jerry's is becoming something of a family tradition. This ice cream comes from Bobby Sue's in Freedom.
Thomas and girlfriend Erin enjoy the fireworks shot over Lake Winnipesaukee from Brewster Beach.
Danny's face lit up by bright red fireworks over Lake Winnipesaukee.
What do you do when your son won't get out of your favorite chair? If you're Karen, you threaten to sit on him. Funny, though: the threat worked a lot better when William was still less than six feet tall.
Daniel cleans up after some early fireworks. We mostly took this picture for blackmail, in case Daniel later tries to convince us he doesn't know how to wield a broom.
William misses a high thrown from Danny at an Independence Day party.
Daniel helps make ice cream. No, really! The ball is filled with the cream mixture, with a layer of ice and salt in the outer ball. Rolling the ball churns the ice cream.
One example of the amazing orchids cultivated in the greenhouse at the Doris Duke Gardens in New Jersey.
