Flag Hill Vineyard

This month I had the pleasure of harvesting grapes for the third year at Flag Hill Vineyard in Lee, NH. Every year there are three harvests over two weekends. Participation is limited and every year the activity is sold out within the first few days. Flag Hill created a brilliant plan when they designed the Harvest Fest. Locals pay $7.00 to labor for 2 hours harvesting grapes and then eat a buffet lunch. Where can any other business find laborers that PAY to work?! The Harvest Fest is a full day of activities: face painting, a group photo, grape harvest, games, lunch, and wine tasting. If you are interested in signing up for next years announcement, check out their Harvest Fest page. Below are a few photos from the day. To view a full album, check out my Flickr page.

Marathon Key: Day Five

Due to the cool temps and questionable weather, we spent the day lounging at the condo. I took a few pictures on my morning walk. As you can see from the final photo, there is quite a bit of trash on the beach. Unfortunately, all of the beaches we have visited in the Florida Keys have been littered with sharp shards of glass and debris. Cruise ships, fisherman and cargo ships dump their trash into the Atlantic Ocean once they have left the waters of the United States, which is about 7 miles off the main land. If you ever visit the Keys, I recommend a good pair of water shoes! Looking forward to our trip tomorrow... Key West!

Marathon Key: Day Four

Visited the Bahia Honda State Park today. A cold front came through this morning bringing with it thunderstorms and showers. However, the storms blew off by 11AM and we were able to get back to exploring, snorkeling and swimming. Looks like an end to our record breaking temps of 90+! Below are photos of the view from the Old Bahia Honda Bridge.

Marathon Beach: Day 3

Even though I was on vacation, I woke up at 6AM to take a few shots of the sunrise. It was well worth it!

Today, we noticed signs warning swimmers of Portuguese Man o' War. We did not know it was jelly-fish season. We'll be trying out new beaches tomorrow!

Keys Fisheries Restaurant was our destination for dinner. This restaurant is known for its lobster reuben sandwiches. I had the lobster mac'n cheese. Delicious! After dinner, we watched the sunset and fed the tarpon.

Finished the evening with a portrait of my brother and I.

Marathon Beach: Day Two

Day two consisted of a short walk on the beach, lounging by the pool, exploring the 7-mile bridge and swimming at Inch Beach. Below are pictures of the 7-mile bridge, a man I met fishing for his lunch (which he caught), and the entrance to Inch Beach.

I found this bike in our parking garage. If it wasn't locked up, I would have taken it for a spin!

Below is my first attempt at a self-portrait. :) It's my shadow as I am looking over the bridge at the schools of fish . Plus I wanted to show just how blue the water here is!

It is early to bed tonight for me. Tomorrow morning I am getting up early to take some shots of the sunrise!

First Day in Florida

Finally made it to Florida after 12 hours of travel. Spent a little too much time in the Philadelphia Airport. I'm sure many others can attest to a similar experience. The temps here are about 50 degrees warmer than NH! My goal is to soak in as much sun as I can before NH's 6 month winter! Below are a few pictures of my first walk on the beach.

The dog below met me on my walk!

Where I will be spending my day tomorrow.

I will continue posting pictures during my week. Be sure to stay tuned!

Birthday Party for Karen

Wednesday I helped celebrate my good friend, Karen's, birthday at the Firefly Pottery in Portsmouth, NH. Every Tuesday night is 'Therapy Night' and all items are at a discounted rate, the studio is open late and you can bring in as much wine, food and fun as you want! Below is a story in photographs of our evening and all who were involved. To all who could not make it, enjoy!

Karen was quite excited about her choice!

Karen and Greg goofing off as usual.

J.J. Hebert , from Mindstir Media, and Rachel Rees also came to enjoy the festivities.

Gail, hard at work on her coyote.

A few finished items waiting to be fired. Can't wait to pick them up on Tuesday!