Hey everyone,

It's been a nice extended fall season here in Maine this year. Still no significant snowfall at the end of November and we've had pretty good temps up until this weekend. Today we stand at 20 degrees with freezing high winds. Yeah. Here are a few snapshots from the fall. Now we're scurrying to tighten up the outside landscape and button up the house for the winds of change that will bring Old Man Winter knocking soon.

Here are a few things we did this fall:

A visit to the Merrick Country Doctor Museum in Tamworth, NH. Beautiful day in early September. The grounds were beautiful and we learned alot about the responsibilities of the country doctor back then. He was quite the entrepreneur! People depended on him for so many things.

Apple picking day at a local organic orchard in Limerick, ME, topped off with apple cider donuts.

Off to the pumpkin farm (MacDougal Orchards) on the way home. We got 4 big pumpkins, 2 big bunches of cornstalks and some gourds for our fall wreath.

 Carving them up

Harvestfest in York Beach, ME. 

Horse Drawn Wagon rides

 Beanhole Baked Beans

 Artisan Tents

I also had a great day at the Willbrook 18th century Museum with one of me best friends and we went to a very nice tea house for lunch. It was a gorgeous and scrumptious day but I don't have pictures.

Also went on a nice hike with Dave up Mount Blue Job with great views in every direction at the top, ditto on the pics.

Hope you all enjoyed your fall too!

News From the Herb Garden

Hi everyone,

Just an update, in case you're out there thinking I'm being a total slug in this hot and humid weather. I did do some major weeding in the herb garden. The thing I love most about this is that it smells so fabulous! I planted nasturtiums around the birdbath which really pop against the blue. Everything is so dry from this heat wave that I took pity and let the sprinkler go on it this morning for about 3 hours.

Drink my little lovelies, Drink!

Really need to get to the hardware and get a new roll of filament for the weed wacker!

As you can see I still have a way to go, but I thought you'd be proud of me for the large brown area that is now weed free (for the time being).

This year I have lemon & regular thyme, chives, parsley, chocolate mint, dill, and rosemary.

thyme

parsley (previously weeded, now weedy)

Chocolate Mint-smells fab, no idea what to do with it.

Lovely fragrant Dill

Rosemary (my favorite herb smell) & Lemon Thyme

The beetles ate my basil.. 'for which I find it hard to forgive you'. 

(Lisa, you may get that quote.)

Emma has baby tomatoes, lemon balm, lamb's ear, chocolate mint, leeks & strawberries.

Lamb's Ear (I had no idea it got that tall)

Leeks

Baby Tomatoes -yum!

As for the rest of the yard

The Tiger Lillies are almost as tall as me 

(Notice what is left of the cherry tree behind them.)

Hostas are all blooming

Day Lillies

Some hosta type plants I planted bulbs for and thought they were duds.

Here they come!

Ok, enough of the garden.

Ok, is it me or is everyone else sick of the season ending before it's begun and the new season being foisted on us 2 months ahead of time? A couple of days ago we went out to get a new bathing suit for Emma before we leave for vacation. I go to Kmart. Nothing. I go to Walmart. Nothing. Last year I could not find water shoes at the end of June for Pete Sake.  I mean, I won't be surprised to see the Halloween stuff out next week. Maybe some nice cable knit sweaters, boots and winter coats. 

So I find a clerk and I say, "Excuse me, I'm looking for girl's bathing suits... in July...Can you tell me where to find them"?

 Her response, looking at me like I'm a bit off balance for looking for a bathing suit in July, is "Uh, Yah, there isn't any more in girls, but there might be some left in women's"  

Ok, thanks cause I'd love my eleven year old to look like one of the Kardashians. 

I guess you really have to be on the ball to get your summer wardrobe complete before Memorial Day. I'm a Slacker.

So we're going on a vacation and I am really ready. Miss our cabin and the peace and quiet and my mornings kayaking the lake....wait for it..... by myself! I'll be sure to take some pictures to post while we're there. Although, posts may be sporadic for a couple weeks as we go to the library/hence to electricity only once a week due to the distance. You can see last year's addition going on the right side. Bathroom!

Our path to the pond

So, I'm trying to decide on reading materials as this is where I do the majority of my serious reading. I am open to suggestions. I have a few things here that have been staring at me several months and I just keep saying, "I'll be with you in a minute". Some of them are kind of heavy duty, spiritual stuff so if you have any lighter or comedic recommendations to break things up, I'm all ears. 

I have already read all of Betty MacDonald's books in case you're thinking of them. I read them aloud to Emma every summer (so I can do some creative editing) but we both love them. If you've never read them, get yourself to the library now. Start with 'The Egg and I', then 'The Plague and I" (Which doesn't sound funny at all but oh my, it is), 'Anybody Can Do Anything', and 'Onions in the Stew" I discovered these while living in the Pacific Northwest where they take place. Betty was from Seattle. They are all based on her life and experiences and I love her style of writing and her humor. Happy Reading! 

Lastly, today we said good-bye to our Washington license plates. I will miss them. RIP

I know, I'm a weirdo. 

Gravity is not on my side...

Hey everyone,

Today's big adventure was mowing my lawn.

How did I do?

Just kidding, that's not my lawn. Obviously, because this one has no large brown areas from Japanese beetle grubs. Clearly they're doing something wrong. 

But seriously, it was kind of an adventure.

 I know what you're thinking....she needs to get out more. Just hear me out.

So I'm buzzing around the lawn, jamming to my music and looking cool (ahem) when I made an inept decision to make a super tight circle around the nectarine tree at the normal speed. Next thing I know my butt slides off the seat and I fall off the right side of the lawn mower!  Thank goodness I caught myself with my foot so I didn't fall all the way to the ground. (This is the only reason I can still hold my head up.)

Lucky for me some other moron did the same thing and probably got hurt because they have that safety feature where the mower turns off if your butt leaves the seat. 

They're hip to us. Hope none of my neighbors were watching. 

Know your limits is my lesson for today, or at least the limits of physics. 

After I finished and because the grass was so long, it looked like there was a grey-ish carpet on major portions of the lawn. We don't have one of those handy-dandy mowers than suck up the cuttings. So I decided I had to rake. It was pretty warm out and I was in jeans and a t-shirt, hat and sunglasses. My theory is that my hat prevented my body from releasing heat through the top of my head an so I felt like I was raking on the surface of the sun. My internal body temperature gradually rose to just below self-combust. 

I sprayed myself down with the hose a couple of times but decided that the front part of the sun, er...lawn, would have to enough for today and came inside to either have a stroke or cool down in the shower. Clearly I did the latter.

What we put ourselves through for curb appeal!

I never did get back out to do the weeding...the saga continues. I can't even see the plants on the left side of the herb garden because the grass is taller than they are. Maybe tomorrow.

It was a Hot and Steamy Night.....The Night was Sultry.

'Throw Mama From The Train' fans will get my title reference. If not, take it as is because it was indeed a sultry summer night last night. I went for my walk extra early in the morning before the temps were up too high, and pretty much chilled at home most of the day afterward. In the evening I took E to the fireworks in a nearby town. We scored a great parking space, even though we were running late, and walked a short distance over to the park. Even at nine thirty we were in tank tops and sweating, so that gives you an idea how, um- sultry- it was. We watched the display and hoofed it back to the A/C, I mean the car. We had a nice time together, just two girls out on the town. 

That being said I think whoever was in charge of the fireworks budget for the town is sitting on a beach in Tahiti sipping drinks with little umbrellas in them with the majority of the funds. Apparently the local DJ went with him or her because the play list during the fireworks was from another planet. People were shaking their tilted heads and squinching up one eye like, whaaat? Maybe I'll throw a few suggestions their way for next year since I'm scoping out new misic. People were leaving in a pretty steady stream throughout the 'display'. The above photo, it must be noted was not taken at said 'display'.  This would have been a pretty radical combo. Although they stepped it up a bit at the finale. I know, I know. I'm critical. My apologies, I just like a well done show to rock my Fourth of July.

So yesterday I talked about gardening. Here's some of what's co-operating this year.

Blossoms on the Macintosh Apple Tree

Daffodils

Grape Hyacinths

Mixed Tulips 

Pansies. These were a surprise. I thought these were annuals, but they all came up even better than last year. Glad I didn't rip them out last fall! I'm such an amateur.

Dwarf Cherry Tree in bloom

Love these ragged orange tulips. They remind me a bit of the poppies on Lopez.

And finally, my home made bird bath. Two ceramic planter pots, one inverted that covers the well head in the middle of the lawn and the other on top. Also added my mom's Sun bowl from the old bird bath. I think it looks pretty cute and it only cost me about $15 because I got the pots at a yard sale!

I planted the herb garden around this in a circle, which has too many weeds right now to be photographed. I'll post them later....

No matter what the amount of weeds and high temperatures, it beats three feet of snow any day!

Have a great day!

Breaking the Silence

Surprise! 
I'll bet you thought I had disappeared, right? Nope, still here. A few more gray hairs, but not too much worse for wear in general. Though now I look at my eyebrows, I might want to think about a trip to the salon! 

I was thinking today that I miss writing and thought I'd jot down a few things. I'm not prone to write when I feel I have nothing to say, or when I might say something I'll regret having in writing, hence the prior silence. I make no promises about the future frequency. You might want to get a drink and settle in for this one though. I feel a bit of a ramble coming on after my hiatus. Be patient as I get back into my groove.

So, first, I'm not sure if I'm starting to have a mid-life crises or not but I sure have been thinking about my life a lot lately. Things in the past, decisions I made, consequences, etc. Not sure I've worked anything out yet but I'm in the soup.  To top it all off I even got an email today reminding me that my 30th high school reunion is this summer. That was a great e-mail. Not sure how I feel about the whole reunion thing but now I'm thinking about things that happened at school.  Ow.  Anybody feeling me?

Not saying there weren't good times, but it seems the painful ones always stand out.

Maybe I should go to the reunion. Maybe it will help me sort some things out. What does everyone think? I'm open to your opinions and experiences with this.

Second, last year I decided to try gardening. So far so good. These aren't my boots, mine have bold flowers all over them, but they may as well be. I'm a bit behind on my weeding but who isn't? (Don't answer that if you're caught up) I don't want a pressure garden, just something that makes me happy, gives me a creative outlet and lets me get my hands in the earth. There's a huge learning curve and I'm not even at the first arc yet. Some things are doing better this year than last, now being established, and this year I moved and expanded the herb garden. No veggies this year except for Emma's tomato plant, which is pretty much on it's own if I'm honest. Also, beetles ate my cherries and apples. If you only knew how many I hand picked off the plants and trees you'd be sympathetic to my plight. Next round will be Japanese beetles. Pray for me.

Third, I read a book once about how much mental, emotional and physical energy it takes just to have, manage, store and keep a mental inventory of our things. Now, I don't know about you, maybe it's the mid-life thing, but I don't have as much mental, emotional and physical energy as I used to to give away for no good reason, so...sell, sell, sell!
Luckily, we have a great local on-line yard sale site that takes away the pain of actually having a yard sale. You know. You spend a week before getting everything together, clean, sorted, priced and organized. Then you advertise, make signs and put them up, get small bills and quarters together, find an apron and a sharpie and keep the family away from the boxes. Then you spend all the early morning getting everything on the lawn and then spend what is inevitably 6 hours of hell in the sun on what will inevitably be the hottest day of the summer, dickering with people over what your stuff is worth. (No one pays full price unless they're a noob) In the end you start selling everything for pennies on the dollar just to make it all go away and be able to close up shop, put a free sign on the leftovers at the curb and go inside for a cool drink and count the ridiculous small amount of money you made which you will realize netted you about 25 cents an hour for all your work start to finish. No thank you.
I'll admit I like going to yard sales occasionally, but having one is a whole other world.

Fourth, (totally a coincidence) Tomorrow is the Fourth of July, which was about my favorite holiday when I lived on the island. Big day there. Lots of fun with friends. Great fireworks that couldn't start till 10:30 or so because of the lazy late sunsets. Moderate temperatures. And the "traffic jam" lasted about 10 minutes. I'm not a huge heat lover so I'm not as psyched about tomorrow. Here in Maine it will be hazy, hot, high humidity and 95 degrees or more and I pretty much wouldn't think of venturing out in the traffic. I'm thinking I need to make lots of cool drinks, make sure the sprinkler is working and lay low till nightfall. Anyone want to join me? 

Fifth, In my revisiting of the past I have rediscovered my love for music, lots of different music. In particular I've been listening to a lot of old Journey stuff. (The real Journey). Anyone with me out there? They were and still are my all time favorite. Such great songs and chemistry they had. Isn't music the bomb? I mean as I go down memory lane I realize that the music I listened to really was like the soundtrack to my life. It can bring out things you haven't though of in years as soon as you hear the first notes, guitar riff or words of a song. Music is so powerful and if it's done right it can endure and be timeless. I put myself in a self imposed musical box for awhile but now I'm broadening my horizons again. I've also been blessed listening to some classic Sam Cooke, Etta James (loving the R&B), Third Day, Toby Mac, Newsboys and trying out some new music as well. I mean I'm still alive right, I still need a soundtrack. And I don't know about you but I'm not liking living in a box of any kind so, so far I like Imogen Heap, White Stripes, The Eels, 
James Arthur...gosh there's so much out there...I'm taking suggestions...

Ok, Lastly for today, as I don't want to wear you out too soon. 
I am grateful for my family, my adopted family and my friends. 
Thinking of you today, big hugs to all of you near and far, you are loved!