Memorial Day Weekend 2012

Happy Memorial Day.  I thought I would give you all a break and do pictures of something other than the garden, though I do have a few more....

Anyway, these 2 tugs and a barge are working vessels and they go up and down the Bay escorting various vessels up to Searsport and some all the way to Bangor.  They are freshly painted for the summer and I just thought they looked really nice.  They work out of Belfast.

 On the other side of the docks are the pleasure and tour boats.  The Wanderbird is in for the summer and does trips up and down the Maine coast, the Caribbean and the Artic.  http://www.wanderbirdcruises.com/  The couple that run the tours are great and it would be outstanding to take one-if you don't get motion sickness. 

 Lets get a closer look at the pylon (or whatever you call it) in the foreground of the Wanderbird shot.

 Apparently there was a man in town that carved faces in just about anything you wanted him to.  They are all over town and in the most unlikely places. The picture below is the Harbor master's (actually in this case, the harbor mistress) office right on the water downtown.  It's not too busy right now, but give it a couple of weeks and it will be.

                                                 Downtown is definitely on a hill

Another shot of downtown. the good table is to the left of the picture and Brambles where all the following pictures were taken, is across the street from the buildings in the picture below.

Brambles is a garden store with note cards, ribbon, plants, art work, soap and oh so many other things.  You could go in there everyday and find something new each time. 

 The Dory Wreath was sold yesterday and if I had the space on any wall in my house I would have loved to have it.  

Reading.  I've been re-reading Edith Wharton and it's having the same effect on me that it did last time I read them all.  Not exactly uplifting. Her books are a study in the rigidness of society at the turn of the century (19th -early 20th) and the futility of trying to change it among other things.  But it did change thank goodness-long after Edith Wharton.

There was a good article in The New York Review of Books on public schools that's worth reading

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jun/07/do-our-public-schools-threaten-national-security/



Just add Bob and you've got the whole crew.  3 guys from Belfast and 1 woman from Pittsburgh.



Time to cook dinner.  Bob's off and about with 3 friends down in DC so I'm having veggie pizza again!  yea!  And I forgot, the church pew is still here and will be put to good use.  More later.  It's actually really good news.

It's Here and It's Gone

It here!  Finally the garden is starting to bloom.  AND, the Hummingbirds are back to enjoy it.  They left August 31st(didn't even stay around for my birthday), and returned May 15th.

If you look at the left side of the bird feeder you'll see the female.  The male eats at the one in the backyard.

 

Third year of the garden and it's filled in and blooming.  And it will continue to bloom all summer.  I lost a couple of plants over time and will have to replace them next year.

 Last night's dinner.  Pizza on the grill.  I did the lazy woman's version.  Store bought wheat dough and the mandolin to cut the veggies nice and thin.  I did the pizza so I could use some of my garden fresh basil and forgot to use it.  Fortunately I didn't even remember to cut it so I'll can to do it again next weekend.  It was sooooo good, I couldn't believe it.

 It's gone.  The bike has sold and is being delivered tomorrow to Max's BMW.  It's the end of a wonderful time period in my life and I'm sorry to see it close.  It's time to move on and find a different way to fill the void.

I'll have to explore with the Subaru.  In some ways it won't be as much fun, but in other ways it will be more comfortable and easier.  Riding was something that made me different and added excitement to an otherwise boring life of reading and knitting.  What now?  Ideas?  Suggestions?  I was thinking of getting a little dual sport to go back and forth to town on.  Lighter and easier to whip around on.  Maybe I will... But maybe and probably I won't.  Time to move on so to speak.

Tonight's Dinner

Tonight's dinner.  Asparagus Tart.

Easy to make and really good.  Fresh asparagus, Gruyere cheese ( I used Jarlsberg) put on a rolled out sheet of puffed pastry and then top with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  Cook it for about 20 minutes on a cookie sheet and parchment paper at 400 and you're ready to eat.

Was good and I ate too much.  I had this piece and another 1/2 the size of this one.  It's a little rich and I should have stopped with one piece.  It's better to let it cool a little before eating...

TACOS!!!

I 'm going to start at the end and work back through tonight's dinner which was homemade tacos. And boy, were they good.  And yes, that is Taco TED making a rare appearance in the work area to help out.

Taco TED, the guardian of all taco shells. 

Now back to the beginning of this wonderful meal.

While I was still at work, Bob mixed up the dough.

Then he flattened it out and cut it into 8 even/equal pieces.

 Next he took each piece (so I've been told) and made each one into a perfect ball.

 And then he rolled each one out to 7" in diameter...

 And then he piled the 8 shells and waited for me to come home so we could cook the shells, fill them with seasoned (his own recipe) meat, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, and sour cream.

And there you have it, a wonderful dinner.  The only thing missing was you.

The Church Pew

This time next week the church pew will be gone.  Hard to believe that after almost 30 years of never being used (I guess you can say that about most church pews) except to pile on, it's out of here. Bob's decision.

It frees up space and we'll either find something else to go under the window or not.  If we don't we'll move the dining room table toward the window and have more room in the kitchen area-I guess.

We're slowly getting rid of all the extra things we've accumulated over the years.  The futon is going along with some extra outdoor table and chairs set and some misc. tools.  Oh and the 4 bicycles.  yup.  Can't really see us riding them into town to go shopping any time soon.  We're getting to a point where we have what we like and need and not a whole lot else.  That's the beauty of a small house.  No extra room for extra things. 

With the futon gone I will be able to set up the loom and weave without having the living room disrupted.  I'm looking forward to that and have ordered a kit to weave some hand towels from Halycon Yarn in Bath,ME.
I haven't given the loom a chance since it's always in the way when it's in the living room.  So now we'll see if I like it when the loom is in it's own room and I can set it up, weave and walk away to come back and finish the project another day.  I'm not quite ready to take orders for towels yet since my edges are still not perfect but pretty soon I hope to have that mastered and then I'll be off and running with towels, place mats and table runners to name a few possibilities.

Mother's Day Weekend

With the front of the house pretty much under control we decided to spend most of the weekend working in the back.  All we can do out front right now is wait for everything to grow and bloom.

Living up to what has gone on in the past here on Mother's Day weekend, we planted, re-arranged furniture and moved lots of dirt around the back yard.

We got the truck filled with dirt and peat moss at Aubuchons and home we came to spread it around, fill the strawberry boxes Bob made and fill all the flower boxes and pots.

 Strawberry box ready and waiting to be filled with dirt and topped off with strawberry plants.  We won't be able to harvest any berries this summer but next summer should be wonderful since between the 2 raised beds we put in 25 plants that someone gave us.  Now all that's left to do are the tomatoes, peppers, carrots and beets which can't be done till May 30th when all chance of frost has gone by.

A picture of the strawberry box filled and planted.     Notice the pants tucked in the socks in the picture below.  It's that time of year with black flies and ticks.  Even though it was in the 70's long pants, long sleeves and hats with nets were what we had to wear or get eaten alive.  Even with all those precautions Bob found a deer tick on his leg when he was taking a shower.  Fortunately it was still walking around and choosing a site to bite and Bob got him before it could do any damage-we hope.

Today we worked on the patio again.  There's the other berry box and the window boxes (which are not going on  any window) are planted with Parsley, Oregano, Rosemary and Basil.  The wood table and chairs just didn't look right so those went

away and we put the glass topped cart in between the BGE and the gas grill which is back on it's stand.  That created a lot more space in the cooking area and looks a lot better. The next project will be to make a wooden deck to go over the stone patio. We will level it out and leave the stones underneath for drainage and to keep the weeds under control.  Plus, we have no idea what we would do with all the stones if we took them out.
And what did I do?  Well, someone had to take pictures and document the work and then after all that I had absolutely no choice.

 I had to rest...

Back to work?

It will be a break to get back to work today thru Thurs. The fire pit has been moved, is settled, and is ready for summer evening fires, marshmallows and family.  The lawn looks incredible but this is what the lawn looks like up close.

These little white flowers, wild strawberries and some grass.  One of the advantages of living in the country-lawns take on a while new meaning.

The back of the house is shaping up and most of the pavers are in place for the cooking/smoking.  The awnings will go up in the next week or so to cut down on the heat and sun on the back of the house.

Now we're thinking of building some portable platforms to put under the table and chairs on the stone patio to make it more comfortable and level.  They will be portable so we can pick them up and store them away for winter.

In a couple of weeks we'll get the herbs, tomatoes, peppers and other things planted in the first raised bed and some big pots we got from across the street a couple of years ago.  That will finish off the back for the summer so once the good weather is here we can play and not worry about yard work other than grass cutting and some weeding in the gardens.

Oh and there's my stone wall at the top of the stairs that needs some serious work.  Now that I am officially not riding any more maybe I'll get the kayak out and get some exercise and pictures in the bay .  There they are, tucked in behind the chairs and fire pit.  Funny what's in the background and what's in the foreground.  Think there'a a message there as to which will be used more????

May

Another Piper's Journey shawl.  I know it's time to move on to something else.  Really.  I started a different shawl pattern with the left over yarn but it's isn't as easy and fun as this one and I don't know if I'll keep going on it.  I really like making these but I don't know what to do with them all since I can only wear one at a time...  I think it's time to go see the woman up with street with the yarn shop and see what she has to offer.

Plants from a home stand on Route 7.  They'll go into one of the gardens soon.  I imagine the front one since the back garden is pretty full.

The front walk is starting to fill in and the walk is looking like it's been there for years.  I think we're done there for awhile.  Today we're working in the back getting those patios fixed up some more.

 The Mother's Day perennial garden is looking good.  One of the plants isn't up yet.  It was there for the last 2 years so I can't figure out what was different about this winter that it didn't make it.  The grasses aren't up out front yet either so maybe we do actually have some late bloomers-in more ways than one.

The woodpeckers are at it again in another tree.  Though they are great and we love them, they are destroying all the dead trees around the yard.  All it will take is one bad storm and they'll all be down.  The upside down TED bird is still hanging out at the bird feeder.  I've never seen such a show off.  He (it has to be a guy) flies in, lands on the bird feeder railing and then drops upside down, looks around stretches and swings back up.  Spare me.  It's a riot to watch. 

More Woodpecker damage.  They are striping all the bark off one of the trees by the Bob house to get at the bugs in the tree.  If it wasn't completely dead before it sure is dead now.