Lions and Tigers and ....Marina in bike shorts

Yesterday I took Marina by the Albany Carousel Project. I have been by several times but it has never been open and have only been able to see the animals in progress through the window. We were lucky yesterday to find the volunteers hard at work. They welcomed us to their workshop and explained the goal of building an entire carousel of 52 hand carved animals.

We were amazed at the craftsmanship of the carvers and painters. Marina learned that they will teach you to carve if you want to be part of the project.

The carver who created this dog said he spent about 3,000 hours on it. Check out more about it here: Albany Carousel Project


Next we drove to Grandpa's Farm Stand (my favorite) and bought two flats of strawberries. We filled the dehydrator with the first batch last night and then treated ourselves to strawberry shortcake.

Here is Marina and Bucky. She looks great in bike shorts, and she is a strong rider. She whizzed ahead of me to climb the overpass. Ah youth!

When Steve and Brian got back from the mill (where Brian was safety qualified) we took two cars TWICE to Home Depot and loaded the trunks with bricks for a small retaining wall. 60 bricks x 30 pounds equals 1800 lbs of concrete we moved three times -- from shelf to cart, cart to car, and car to backyard. Did I mention my back hurt last night?

Today Marina and I are building a wall! And then Marina, the garden maestro, will design a beautiful flower bed for me. I love that girl!