So it was to be another weekend at the Cottage in East Andover, only this time Jessica was home from Phoenix so it was another excuse for a party. We loaded up the car on Saturday morning with our typical one night stay amount of ‘stuff’—coolers, a single backpack of clothes, Cheri’s water pillow, Jess and Cheri’s bicycles, the normal one night load—and headed out on the road.
We arrived in East Andover late morning on Saturday, picked up Jess, and headed right out for Ellacoya State Park on Lake Winnesquam for a Fenton Family reunion picnic. We did leave Thomas Morris and Kristina at the cottage to watch over things and to make sure that the diving float did not drift away. They accomplished this by putting as many lawn chairs on the float as possible and then using their combined body weight to hold everything in place…while absorbing as much sun as possible and keeping themselves well hydrated.
 Cheri and Jess connected with a younger sect of the Fenton Family—Patrick and his wife Mary Ellen, with Erin looking on from the side and Karen’s back to the camera. Patrick, Erin and Karen are all Cheri’s second cousins—making them Jess’ second cousins once removed  | When we arrived at the State Park we found that Papa was already holding court with his generation of the family members. The first cousins—his generation—appeared to be in charge and some stories about the three of them were certainly flying about. How many are true we may never know since it seems one will tell a story and the others will swear to it no matter how large!
The picnic also included a fair amount of us outlaws—no connection by blood—but we were able to eat and enjoy the setting as much as the celebratory family. We spent a full afternoon and enjoyed catching up with family members we haven’t seen in years. |
Then it was on the road and back to the cottage for a late evening dinner. By the time we got back to East Andover Robert Morris had arrived. Robert brought some steaks from a butcher he knows in Boston and Thomas agreed to do his magic on the grill. A little seasoning, a sip or two for the cook, some fish for Nana on the grill, and soon we were ready to enjoy another great meal at the cottage…funny how that always seems to go together; good meal…cottage…hmmmm.
There was good steak, many salads, baseball discussions between Papa and Robert, and a great time was had by all. As the evening wore on Cheri, Nana and Papa headed back to the house and I stayed on for a short while to make sure the evening activities were within keeping of the cottage traditions.
We did start a fire down by the beach, and since there was a nice fire going it only made sense to have some nice scotch to accompany the setting. Even with the gorilla tripod it wasn’t easy to take a low light photo—probably because the tripod was resting on my chest—but you get the idea. An enjoyable evening with clear skies and the nice glow of the fire. |  |
The time spent by the fire was kept reasonably short since we had a busy day ahead on Sunday. Thomas and I did manage to get up early to arrive at the Country Club of NH by 7:10 and tee off by 7:15. We played through 15 holes—and both drove on the 16th hole—before time caught up with us and we hightailed it back to the cottage—time, tide, and cottage parties wait for no man!
As we arrived so did Kevin and Courtney as the first guests of the afternoon. Soon we saw Capt. Dave cruising up to the dock with the newest member of his fleet…a Playbuoy Pontoon boat.  Just after Capt. Dave pulled up to the dock we were pleasantly surprised by the arrival of Dad at the party and his guest, in from Florida for the event, Debbie! I wasn’t as serious as I look in the picture…just concentrating and thinking that I have to get Dad his lunch and start cooking chicken for everyone.  Just to be safe I began cooking up fifty very meaty chicken thighs. Before going on the grill they were patted dry, seasoned with salt, thyme and basil and then put over medium low heat with the grill cover up. I turned them about every ten minutes and basted with apple cider vinegar to keep them moist. Timing-wise I kept them on for 40 minutes first and then ten more minutes while I brushed on homemade barbeque sauce that I had made a couple of days earlier. According to the reviews, the chickens did not die in vain!  We did get almost everyone else into some photos down by the beach, in the water, and out on the boat.    What another great Adventure…so nice to have Jessica home! To see the full on-line album of pictures, click on the photo of Capt. Dave below. |   We did manage to get out some salads and fruit to keep everyone’s hunger pangs down. Between those items and some wonderful fruit salsa and guacamole that Jessica made there was enough food to keep people from fainting of malnutrition.  Additional guests included Aunt Beth, seen here with Jessica and Thomas, and Uncle Tim, who didn’t seem to make it into any of the pictures. Likewise Aunt Louise came for a visit and to see Jess (Uncle Dave was busy haying on one of the few genuinely good days we have had this summer). Also I am sorry to see that I did not get Dan and Monica captured in a photo, but it was great that they stopped by on their way home from Maine.     |
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| Cottage Party Aug 2009 |
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