To borrow some lyrics from John Denver, some days are diamonds and some days are stones. Let’s face it, most days the mailman brings you bills and junk mail instead of that one anticipated letter.
Around here we try to view our challenges as lemons and choose to make lemonade whenever possible. A couple of years ago, my daughter even knitted me some lemons to thank me for not missing my shift at our family lemonade stand.
I keep those lemons on a shelf where I see them every day – good reminder to think positive.
The state of New Hampshire is known for its many winter activities – down-hill skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, sledding, snowmobiling, skating, and ice fishing to name a few. It’s part of our tourism industry, and people flock here to enjoy the many winter venues.
Although we love living at 1840 Farm, we don’t have a natural hill where the grandkids can sled. The best we have is a very small incline off the front drive. Being a family that doesn’t give up when faced with a challenge, we decided to try pointing the John Deer snow blower in that direction to see if we build something big enough to sled on.
Some years it takes the entire snow season to get a hill they can use and other years it gets going pretty quickly.
This year we’ve got ourselves a good hill already, and the kids are having a blast. Banner year for sledding. And, we have more snow coming this weekend.
Remember, when life gives you lemons choose to make lemonade, or in this case a sledding hill for the grandkids. Happy sledding everyone.
Home-made snow hill
Grandson getting ready to take off
Granddaughter getting ready to enjoy a run
Grandkids enjoying the sledding
Linked to Family Home and Life Grandparent’s Say it Saturday
Linked to Grandma’s Briefs Grand Social
Love the idea of keeping the knitted lemons in view to remind you …
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I grew up in WAY upstate NY (tundra.) Since there was no place to put the (endless) snow, my dad created a big bowl in the backyard, banked the snow around the sides to form a rim, and then hosed the center down with water each night to form our very own ice rink. Ice Cold Lemonade. We were the neighborhood kids’ favorite house in winter. 🙂
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Oh, I love it! I’m going to tell the grandkids. What a fun thing to do. Thanks so much for sharing.
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What a brilliant idea! More people need to think positive like you do.
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Great fun in the snow! I like the idea of thinking of challenges as lemons. We just use lemons as natural pectin in jam making. Lovely post, thanks.
Malc
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Looks like a lot of fun Judy. Enjoy! We’ve had two weeks of snow across the country, but the big thaw has started and we’re in for torrential rain tonight. There’s nothing boring about our weather!
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Seriously, Judy, you amaze me! This is just the latest in the innovative way you live life and I’m always impressed. I can’t even list them all – the chickens, bees, maple syrup, berries, fairies, ugly tomatoes, baseball museum….and now a home made sledding hill! I make a dozen peanut butter cookies with my grandkids and think I’ve gotta blog about it! You, on the other hand, really have something to say and I love reading about it all. And finally, what a life for those beautiful grandchildren to participate in. I’ll bet they never sit there bored, whining, “we don’t have anything to dooooo!”
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Well, thank you! That is a real compliment coming from such an accomplished Grandma. You sure started my day off on the right foot.
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I think you are both amazing — just in different ways. But very awesome and great inspiration to the rest of us.
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Can you imagine if the grandmother bloggers united – we’d be unstoppable.
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WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE……………….
🙂
Those knitted lemons are so cute too!
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Unstoppable! Go grandma power! I love that! I love your snow hill making too. Great idea. I’m going to stop by the 1840 Farm now. I had forgotten that you 2 were connected. Thanks for linking with me.
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Oh what a fun idea! We’ve had minimal snow the last two years. This year, we finally got some snow – about an inch. Not enough as your gorgeous sled hill, but we did have some fun snowball fights, an adorable – albeit tiny – snowman, and “sledding” on their knees down my slanted driveway. Tasty winter lemons, indeed! Thanks for a lovely visit.
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Hope it is warmer there today! I do love looking at your snow pictures — while I sit in my nice warm office!
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Thank you for the chuckle. It was ten degrees when I did my farm chores this morning. Every drop of water was frozen solid. But, the sun is shining so it always seems warmer. But, I must admit I could do with a couple of weeks in your climate zone to warm up.
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Love, love, love the lemons. What a sweet gift and reminder. You and your family certainly do grab a challenge by whatever handles are available and make the most of it. Such an inspiration you are. Thank you for sharing your family with us—here and via the GRAND Social. ♥
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We vacationed in New Hampshire in early October and I fell in love. Such a beautiful place to live. I’m a little jealous.
I’ve never been sledding and probably never will. It was 84 degrees here yesterday on the Texas coast.
Stopping in from the GRAND Social.
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So glad you visited and had a good time. Hope you had some ‘chowda’ while you were here. 🙂
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