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We had a relaxing Labor Day weekend with Jen’s parents and with Erica and Geoff.  I let Erica win at Boggle because she is an English professor and it is important to her.  Here, Lew and Sarah relaxed on the back porch.

On Sunday we met the Ostroys’ new dog Ringo, who is part Golden Retriever, part Border Collie, and altogether sweet.  We are hoping he will reform his co-dog Willie, who is a nightmare.

We had a big crowd for the fair this year, with visits from my father and BJ, Paula and Jerry, and Julie and Stacey.

Sarah befriended goats, sheep, and really any other livestock that seemed like it might be friendly.

Very few of the pigs at the fair were awake.

No visit to the fair is complete without a visit to the midway, where Sarah enjoyed favorites such as the Hamster Dance (above), the tilt-a-whirl,  and the bumper cars.

We met exotic chickens and bunnies.

The fair involves a lot of walking.  Here, BJ, Paula, Jerry and my father rested on the porch in front of the horticulture building.

Back at home, Sarah spent hours and hours on her latest enthusiasm, sewing.

I got my rotary mower back from the shop, where it’s spent most of the summer.  The invoice from Keil Equipment (which was breathtaking in amount) included a note to call the owner, Kim Keil — a little like getting a “see me” note on a test.  He wanted to stop by on Sunday to find out why I kept driving the mower over rocks and stumps.  I am woefully behind on my mowing, but I got a fair amount done this weekend.  In the picture you can see, at far left, Jen tending her garden.

She is growing lots of tomatoes — possibly more than we can eat.

Here’s a bunny I surprised on my way to the mailbox.

We are freshly back from two weeks in the country.  Sarah spent both weeks at the Mill Street Loft arts camp in Red Hook, Jen pottered around her various gardens, and I plied my trade, remotely.  Here are Sarah and Jen enjoying an afternoon dip in the town pool.

We had a visit from the Harris family, and climbed Burger Hill.

We also stopped by Stickles in downtown Rhinebeck, which has absolutely everything.

Sarah appeared onstage in the Mill Street Loft’s play.

A metal barn roof lasts about 100 years.  We are lucky enough to get to replace ours.

Jen is growing lots of tomatoes and lots of flowers.

And Sarah spent plenty of quality time with her dog.

This weekend was our last before Sarah returns from summer camp.  Daisy is waiting patiently for her return.

This chipmunk likewise has been pining for Sarah.  (Get it?  Pining??)

Here’s a Great Spangled Fritillary, feasting on our endless supply of milkweed.

Our fawns are growing up, and soon will assume their life’s work of laying waste to vegetation farm-wide.

Just after I took the picture above, our young friend snorted and bounded off through the high grass.

We arrived at the farm Thursday night in the middle of a monsoon, which claimed about a third of a big maple tree in the back yard.  We had no power until 3:30 a.m., which gave us the opportunity to play Boggle by candlelight.  No plaint here.  It continued raining all day on July 4.  Chuck helped clear the tree away on Saturday, when the sun came out.

Here’s the view underneath the hammock on Saturday afternoon.

We spent most of the weekend in Maine, where Sarah will be at camp.  We stayed in Belfast, on the Penobscot River, with very nice views.

We dropped Sarah off at camp on Saturday.  Each child was promptly issued a kitten.

Sarah is participating in the Brumby program, a camp-within-a-camp that allows her to muck out stalls and ride two hours a day while still participating in the other activities of the camp.  Each camper is matched with her own horse to look after.

More kittens!  In the foreground is Sarah’s friend Marin, who is in the bunk bed catty-corner to Sarah’s in their cabin, Halley’s Comet.

We spent Sunday night at the farm and gathered about two quarts of black raspberries.  The jam must go on!

As the sun set on the longest day of the year, we decided that it was so nice that we would stay Sunday night and head back to New York Monday morning.

On Sunday, the Ostroys had a pool party so all Sophie could see all her friends before heading off to camp for a month.  Sarah too will spend a month at camp — we’ll be driving her up to Maine on Thursday.  We will miss her!

In unrelated news, here’s an Eastern Comma.

Jen and Sarah had simultaneous riding lessons on Saturday.  I watched with Sarah’s friend Marin, who visited for the weekend – they’ll be bunkmates at Hidden Valley Camp in just a couple of weeks.

In the afternoon, they planned a kayak trip, only to find a garter snake coiled in the cup holder, as well as a very large spider roaming around the cockpit.  Lots of shrieking.  Jen rowed across the pond to help them, followed by Daisy, who swam clear across the pond(!).  The girls got in the rowboat and rowed to safety – but then another garter snake slithered out from under the seats.  Now everyone is afraid of snakes, even the previously aphobic.