Friday, November 26, 2010

THANKSGIVING

I was lucky enough to have an old friend and her nearly four year old daughter come to Maine to spend the long holiday weekend with me. Lynne and I go back over 20 years to when we waited tables together in a restaurant in Baltimore. We then were roomies for two years when we were in graduate school at the same time. Despite months passing without contact, we manage to pick right up where we left off and she has been great about making the effort to trek up to Maine to visit on a fairly regular basis. It is a real gift to have her and H. here for Thanksgiving.
We enjoyed some doll time
although the girls weren't sure what to make of all that.

And a walk down the lane in the cold sunshine.

And of course, a lovely dinner

followed by a dessert with assistance making the whipped cream


The next day, we even ventured out to some local stores for Black Friday


Now everyone is safely tucked in for the night...









Tuesday, November 23, 2010

B'day weekend in Beantown

Some time at the conference (not the best one I've ever attended). 


Some time walking along the waterfront near the Convention Center where the conference was held.



An almost-full moon.

Some time shopping. Two of my faves: Anthropologie and Paper Source are mandatory stops when in Boston. Was so excited to be in each of those places that I didn't even think to take pics except when I saw these...

They weren't for sale but were all around as seasonal decor. Just rolled up felt in acorn caps yet genius in their simplicity. What do you think Ellen? Could do this with other fabrics too. 


And... some time dining and imbibing. 

















Tuesday, November 16, 2010

No rifles here

A minor mystery was solved this afternoon just by answering the phone (and a bit of internet snooping). Over the past few years, there have been periodic messages left on the home machine that involve gun orders and gun repairs. Have to say that many times the actual messages have not been entirely intelligible but we tend to get the gist but still a bit creepy. 

So when the phone rang today and the caller ID showed an auto repair shop (that I later discovered was in Tennessee), I picked it up and said hello. There was a bit of a pause before the fellow on the other end of the line said, "Good afternoon, I was calling about my rifle you just repaired." To which I replied, "not me", and told him he had called a private residence. He was then kind enough to recite the number he was trying to reach and turns out that the only difference in our numbers is the order of the second two digits in the area code which turns out to be in Kentucky. 

Nancy Drew would be proud.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

A fifteen minute break

Sometimes that's all it takes to clear my head. It was so beautiful yesterday that I just had to leave the office for 15 minutes and drive around in the sunshine. So lucky to be so close to such beauty!





Thursday, November 11, 2010

Veteran's Day

T
hank you!



I listened to this show on Sunday while working on my quilt binding and it made me cry a couple of times with the sweetness of some of the stories. I love the Vinyl Cafe, even if the cadence of Stuart McLean's voice takes some getting use to. He is a great storyteller. This show comes out of Canada so it was for Remembrance Day and Veteran's Day.





Monday, November 8, 2010

Wind storm (and...we still have power)


Following a night of howling winds and lashing rain, we woke up to find a tree across the driveway and another tree down in the backyard. 


While this is obviously not what a homeowner wants to see, we can't help saying how lucky we are that a) nothing hit the house and we are all safe, b) the tree out back missed the new deck, and, c) we have such good great neighbors to help out.


Following a not-even 7a.m. call, Tim was over in a flash with his chainsaw to help clear the driveway. What a guy! Thank you SOOO much.


Ironically enough, this is one half of a double trunk tree that was scheduled to come down a week from today. The tree people will still have the other portion to cut down and this to clean up, but you can see that nature felled this with the least amount of damage. As you can also see, it even missed the raised garden bed (ignore the rain drops on the lens and Max skulking around). No telling if the tree folks will still make it here as scheduled because surely now there are likely to be folks in more desperate need.




Sunday, November 7, 2010

Stocking up

This Saturday was a hunting and gathering day of the best kind. First it was up the coast to take advantage of the "late risers" sale at Alewives with a stop at Rock Paper Scissors on the way. Two of my favorite shops anywhere so it was a great way to start the weekend. Then later, in the afternoon, headed to Portland for a stop at Artists and Craftsman then the new Trader Joe's before dinner at the new noodle bar, Pai Men Miyaki. Yeah, it was a good day although the crowds at TJ's were CRAZY!




Paper (no rocks or scissors)


Corner of Alewives (where I cowered for a moment or two in a state of confusion).


So after recovering from the state of confusion, 
this is what I ended up with. Don't know 
why but I was drawn to greens and melony shades of orange.
Have some ideas where this may lead but nothing concrete yet. 
Currently being inspired by Elizabeth Harman's new book:



Part of the grand plan for some handmade holiday gifts
via Artists and Craftsmen. 


And finally, 


a yummy dinner.