Skywatch Friday - the view from Allis

The view from the lean-to we stayed in at Allis State Park in Vermont. The website for the park touts it as one of Vermont's best kept secrets. Sadly, it was a little too secret and it seems there were not enough visitors to justify keeping the campground open. When we visited there were at most three other families on the entire site. The kids are disappointed as they would have liked to go back there but my guess is that, given that the site had a small number of campers and no easy access to water for boating or swimming, it will remain closed in future summers too :-(

30% off - 4 days only

(For my US readers only.) This weekend (July 30 - August 2) you can get 30% off at Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic stores with this coupon. 5% of your purchase price will then be donated to Donors Choose, an organization that helps teachers in the United States fund classroom projects.

Sadly, the kind of requests teachers make are very often for basic items like paper and crayons! I had a project funded earlier this year so that I could do some multimedia projects with my students. I had already spent several hundred dollars on materials this year, so it was nice to have someone else spend a couple of hundred on my behalf. So, if you were planning on shopping at any of these stores this weekend, please take the coupon with you. It'll save you a few dollars, and help some teachers and their students out too!

Skywatch Friday

Oops - sorry - the link for Skywatch Friday for July 30 should have taken you here!





View from our back deck a week or so ago.

Here Kitty, Kitty!

Sitting eating dinner tonight, watching the wild rabbits running around, the Littlest American suddenly said "And there's a skunk on the lawn next door."

"No there isn't!" we said.

"Well, what's that black and white thing then?" So we looked -

and sure enough, it was a skunk! As the batteries had died in my camera yet again, DH headed out to take a photo, muttering "Here kitty, kitty!"

I wonder if this is the critter that came up on the deck the other night and dug up the herbs in the plant pot by the door?

Weirder than asparagus

This morning I read about the death of Mollie Sugden, the actress who played Mrs. Slocombe in the BBC sitcom Are you Being Served? Shortly afterwards, an online acquaintance coincidentally mentioned a relatively new ice cream shop in San Francisco called "Humphrey Slocombe." The name is a reference to that same TV show. They have the usual wide range of ice cream flavours, but some rather odd ones too: foie gras, salt and pepper, and peanut butter curry for example. I wasn't too sure what the flavour of Secret Breakfast was likely to be, but it turns out it's bourbon and cornflakes!

Wordless Wednesday - Magic Hat #9

Tonight's beer:
Tonight's beer cap: