Windy March on the beach

Since this is the last weekend dogs are allowed on the beach, Lori, Jan and I took Max and Zuri to Popham. It sounded like a great idea this morning because it was a beautiful day but, man, was it windy!! The 35 degree temps felt a whole lot colder but it made us feel like we deserved the stop at North Creek Farm for lunch all the more.

The undulating fence and mellow sky bring summer to mind and belie the frigid temps.

The population was sparse.

 Low tide.

Live entertainment at North Creek Farm.

North Creek is such a great place in all seasons. Their soups and sandwiches are the best! We just discovered the homemade hot chocolate this year that is worth the trip in and of itself.

The Cruelest Month

ne of the joys of living in Maine is that each season has its own character and intensity. Why not have snow to bounce around light on bright days and provide contrast on grey ones in the winter? Summer brings cerulean skies and the chance to observe the dramatic tides as well as the reward for enduring those short days of winter in a northern latitude - the extra long days of summer. Of course, autumn has her showy leaves, pumpkins, apples and bounty at the farmer's markets. But Spring, well, the transformation into the vernal season can try one's soul. We are just officially two days into the season and have had the dreariest snowy welcome possible.
One week ago today I was in PA and nosing around one of my favorite shops that is THE place to be if one is craving an injection of springtime: Terrain. Love this place. Leave it to the Anthropologie folks to come up with a spot like this! If this place had opened before I left this area of the country, I may not have moved...maybe.
There's the flora:

The pottery:

The home goods:

That's my friend, Peg, trying to find the measurements of this table linen.

And it gets even better once the temps mellow enough because their outdoor area abounds with fabulous displays of all sorts of plants and planters. I'm telling you, you want to pull up your lawn chaise and just live there. 

That taste of Spring will have to do for now because this is what we have today...

Can you say monochromatic?

Another Joyful Day at Joy's Studio with Sarah

Paste papers and box structures were the theme of the two day workshop this weekend. It was the first time I have done a two day class at Starfire Studio and it was a wonderful way to spend the last weekend of winter. 
Sarah is a talented artist and laid back teacher who is a natural at making everyone comfortable and pulling her students out of their self-critical, over-editing heads. We spent Saturday making paste papers which was akin to being given free rein with finger paints back in kindergarten. The intent was to just explore the process and to produce the papers we would us for our boxes.

Hard not to feel creative in this light filled space.

Some of us dried our papers on the floor (mine above).

 Some out on the sunny deck.

And, some on a line in the studio.

You can see, we all produced a wide variety of papers. Most of us took the opportunity to amass some papers for our stash as well as producing papers that we would use Sunday.

Today, we made our books / boxes. Most of us just made the latter but some made or plan to make small books to include inside the box. Sarah couldn't be more generous in the way she shares ideas, techniques, and materials. She brought containers of doodads to use as we pleased to embellish our work as well as well as papers of her own making that she shared.

 Joy checking out everyone's work.

Outsides.

Insides.

Mine.

Baggin' it

I'm heading to Philly this coming weekend to see my good friend, Alissa, and her family. I haven't seen her for over three years. Can't wait to see her kids who are now nearing seven and three. When asked what her daughter, the 6+ year old, is into Alissa replied, "princesses and crafts". Didn't take long to come up with a present for that one!
Went to Ellen's to get some big knitting needles (10.5); bulky yarn; and, Kid's Knitting, a book. Thought I'd cover the princess item by digging into my Heather Ross stash for some Princess and the Pea double gauze and making a bag for her to carry her knitting stash.
Here's some pics...

Empty.

Full of the goods.

A peak inside.

Possibly TMI

On this cloudy, snowy day, I'm prepping to "practice what I preach". Tomorrow I will undergo the turning 50 right of passage that I have postponed for a while for no good reason except that time flies and the Scarlett O'Hara syndrome, I'll-worry-about-that-tomorrow. So that means clear liquids only today which is an interesting experiment in and of itself. It takes a lot of chicken broth and Gatorade and apple juice to keep hunger at bay - a bit of a continuous effort. Soooo grateful that black coffee is a clear liquid.
We went for a long snowshoe late this morning and I probably spent more calories than I should have but it was worth it. Lots of new snow has fallen over the past few days.

L. and J. on the trail.

J. was doing a lot of off trail snowshoeing to get more of a workout and got more than she bargained for when she hit this spot where the underlying snowpack was loose.

It was great to get outside even if the weather wasn't great. Now it's more liquids, some time with my current read and maybe even finishing my Tea Leaves sweater I've been knitting periodically for over a year!