Summer, 2013

 So, does this look like a place a family of 6 could call home?  Well, they did and they traveled back and forth to Belfast with me on a regular basis.  I opened the trunk (after many years) to get an insulated bag for Bob and there was a mouse sitting there looking at me.  And it went from there.  I'm going to drive the car again tomorrow equipped with multiple mouse traps to make sure it doesn't happen again.

 Bob and I took off in early June and went out to Cincinnati for a a family visit with Kathleen, Mag, and Kate and her family.  While there Bob made a new friend and gave him some helpful advice on drawing birds

Kathleen also made a new friend and they discussed the finer points of the book he was reading with music playing in the background.

It was a wonderful visit and it was great to spend time with everyone out there.  Hopefully we'll be able to get out there again soon.

This is the new addition to the house.  If you look closely you can see Joe DiMaggio at bat.

 And this is Joe from a distance. Depending on the time of day and the lighting you can see more or less of the obituary.

 For the 4th we went to the Brooks parade which was larger than I expected and a lot of fun to watch.

 Pizzas for a party we went to later in July.

 And our favorite Saturday activity, going to the Brooks Farmers Market.

 Remember the pictures of the cows along my walking route from last year?  This is Carrie and she's the woman responsible for them.  She and her sister run the farm down the street from us and we get our meat from them.

2 of Carrie's girls

And this is Bob and in the background Val talking to a customer.  Val and Mark are the vegetable farmers where we get what we didn't grow in the back yard.

All in all, a great summer.  Though the weather has been kind of strange, the gardens have loved it and we have so much frozen for winter already we had to start up the freezer in the Bob house to hold it all.  And tomatoes are just starting to come in.  Hopefully, if we're lucky we won't have to buy any tomato sauce or diced tomatoes this winter.

Finally we purchased 2 watercolors (one framed and Bob is making a frame for the other) of illustrations that a friend of ours did for a cookbook.  Susan Tobey White doesn't usually do watercolors so it's fun to have them and when they get their permanent home in the kitchen area (kind of where they are now, but re-arranged when they are both framed) they will show up better and add a lot to the kitchen.

And look what Bob just brought in from the garden!

The Malcolm G.

 It was another incredible day at the boathouse down at the Belfast docks.  And today was the launching of the Malcolm G. , The new Cornish Pilot Gig that was built for the Come Boating community boating program.  And it is beautiful.

 Here's a view of the boat before launch

 This is Malcolm G., for whom the boat is named.  He started the community rowing program.

 These are the other 2 boats that are used in the rowing program.  There are 2 branches to the rowing, competitive and casual.  Bob is thinking about doing the casual, I'm not even considering either. Kayaking will be fine for me. They row either early in the morning or early evening and you sign up or show up.  No assigned crews.  The competitive group is completely different and travel up and down the East Coast to participate in races.  Belfast has an excellent team and has been winning quite a few lately.

And they're off with Malcolm in one end of the boat and his wife in the other.  The people rowing the maiden voyage are the people who volunteered the most and did the most to make it all possible.

It was a great day to be out and watch.  Kind of my favorite way of participating in most sporting activities.

10" of snow in March.

The sun is out and we have about 8-10 inches of new snow.

As the day goes on it will start to melt and by this weekend most of it should be gone.

It's been a long time since the last post, mainly because Google blogs wouldn't let me post any pictures and what's the point of the blog without pictures to document it?  So, let's see what you've missed.

 Asparagus pizza partially cooked waiting to be finished when you arrive for dinner:)  And it was really good.  Too bad you weren't here.

 A new arrangement in the living room and if you look closely and zoom in on the chest you can see our Christmas gift from everyone.  We love the picture of the 4 boys.

 The really big storm this winter, as opposed to all the other storms we've had.

 New glasses.

Teddy Christmas

 The little Italian baker (?) and his biscottis

A new friend in the yard.

Apparently Google is letting me post pictures again so we're off and running for another year.

Curling ends this weekend and I'll try to get some pictures of the Belfast Curling Club and some curling games before they melt the ice for the summer.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

For some reason my photo storage has been limited to 1g which I have used up, therefore, no pictures.  I will find a new way to post pictures and will put the link here.  Bummer.  Any ideas of where I can go with the pictures now would be appreciated...

That was yesterday, this is today

So, I was going to post some comparison pictures with yesterday's entry and something is screwy with the blog so I'll start a new post.

 I haven't posted a food picture in awhile so when the onion tart came out of the oven last night I thought it might be fun to put a picture of it in the blog.  Onion tart you say? pastry dough, creme fraiche (sour cream), onions and some chicken sausage.  really good.  So good and easy that I think we'll do it again sometime.  Tonight is Eastern chicken from the crock pot and I doubt that there will be any pictures.  Tomorrow we're thinking of making some preserved lemons, but only if there's nothing else to do and we have no power.  Will take pictures of the lemons if we do it.

 A totally unposed picture of the sheep, but kind of cute so I put it in.  They are all tucked in and ready for the storm.

 The house is all put away and looks rather empty and alone.  I raked leaves out of the garden yesterday but so many oak leaves dropped last night and today that you can't tell I did a thing.  We left the bench up because neither one of us wanted to carry it and if it gets blown over by Sandy it will be really something.

 It's not a pumpkin on the front porch, it's a generator.  At least it adds color...

 Getting it all hooked up and ready to go if we need it.  The pellet stove needs electricity to run so if we do lose power we will have heat and some lights.

 A completely different look from summer.  Really isn't enticing at all.  However, if you look closely you can see that we have carrots, beets and some greens growing.  We were going to put some garlic in to winter over, but we haven't gotten around to it yet.

 Just some water on a dead leaf and some seed pods.  I thought it looked rather artistic so I took a shot.

 Here's another angle.

And this is the same plant that is in the picture from yesterday with the comment about it looking like it was out of focus and rather yellow?  This is what one day can do to a plant.  Interesting.

Right now I'm reading Mrs Woolf and the Servants. An interesting look at life in well to do homes in England at the turn of the century and the relationship of the help with the families.  Also trying to keep up with the New Yorker and The New York Review of Books.  I don't remember the New Yorker endorsing a candidate and being so political before.  I guess times have changed, but that magazine always seemed to stay out of the fray.

It's Fall

It's fall.  The leaves have fallen from the trees and the  ones that are left are dead oak leaves which are brown.  Most of the color has left the garden and we're left with shades of brown, yellow and a little green.

 The lambs ears are still soft and fuzzy-and green, but they are about the only thing that will stay that way till covered with snow.

 A desparate attempt at color.

 Weirdly enough, this picture is in focus and it's disconcerting to look at it because even in person it looks out of focus.

The Amish chairs are so darn heavy that there is no way Sandy will be able to move them even an inch.  It looks like we'll get some wind and rain, but that's about it.  We're missing the storm again this fall.  Last year Irene went South of us and this year it looks like Sandy will do the same.

 Fall decorative Kale.  On the table outside the door.

Even the Sheep look ready to be tucked in for the winter.

But Bob isn't ready to go in yet.  We're going to curl together this year.  It will be interesting and fun.  I'll curl 2 nights/week, one of them with Bob and the other on my own.  I'll keep you posted as to how that works for me.

Retirement, or lack there of

I really thought that I had retired from motorcycling and was quite happy with my decision.  The bike was sold, the money saved and the summer went well.  Then Bob went with Owen to Max's to pick up Owen's new bike and Bob saw this.  The next day Bob and I went down, he test rode it, fell in love and we brought it home.  Today I tried it out-just to be polite of course, and decided that it was a fun bike to ride. Now let the arguments begin as to who gets to ride it and when.  It's that nice a bike.

There's Bob fixing it up with tank bags and other bags so it will be ready to go at a moments notice.  Too bad its the end of the season instead of the beginning.  But it will be there in the spring and ready to go.

Last month we went to the The Common Ground Fair which is one of the most unusual fairs you'll ever attend.  No rides (other than on wagons pulled by draft horses or goats), no cotton candy or coffee (not raised in Maine), only organic veggies and some of the most unusual foods you'll ever find at a fair.  There were the usual assortment of  farm animals , veggies some of which were wonderful and fun to see.

There were buildings to suit every need.  The perfect guest house which would look sooooo nice snuggled down in the woods behind the house, greenhouses, furnace houses, pizza ovens, all kinds of things.

 Goat transportation for little ones or things.

And a chicken coop with a white picket fence.

 www.thegoodtable.me started their Wed evening cooking classes with a crepe class taught by Michael Roy who is the owner of Phi Home Designs.  The goal of the class is to get people who have fun cooking to come in and demonstrate their favorite recipes and Mike did a great job.  It was a nice evening.

Mike with one of the attendees, swapping notes on crepes,  backyard ice rinks and the state of cooking.










And, we had a great visit with the family last weekend.  It was so good to see everyone and even though the pictures didn't turn out that well, we all had fun and Kristine was missed.

 The nice thing about having 2 sons that look alike is you only have to take one picture and it can pass for either one.  Brian or Colin?  You make the call:)

 And then there's Owen cringing in fear of the "long bomb" that might not go that long.