raise your glass

here's to (in no particular order):

the nearest and the dearest!
2011!
my family!
enjoying the ride!
laughing 'til you cry!
dancing 'til dawn!
olives!
no judgements!
no questions asked!
peace on earth!
best friends forever!
cold dog noses!
my faithful blog readers!
those who are there on a moment's notice!
those who have your back!
sunday morning (and new year's day!) and lazing around with pajamas on!
seizing and squeezing the most out of each day!
taking time to smell the roses!

happy new year and happy weekend to all....see you next year!

light forms around portland



beautiful blue balls at a private residence in cape elizabeth. december 2010.

pandora lacasses's light sculptures brighten even the darkest coldest nights in portland, maine. in downtown portland her lights are everywhere. l. l. bean in freeport has many of her sculptural forms in the park-like area outside the store. at a private residence in cape elizabeth, where we enjoyed a festive christmas party, lacasse's work in blue illuminates and dresses up a large tree. i like how the multi-colored christmas tree in the background peeks out around the right side of the big "blue" tree's trunk. the blue lights are my favorite of all lacasse's colors.

lacasse creates these works of art, these bursts of brightness, with spring wire, stainless steel tubing and LED lights. you are drawn to the lovely, almost floating, sculptures which exhibit stunning color, light and form.

loving a blizzard

 snowy lille smiled a lot during monday's blizzard.

lille, lizzi and i love a good blizzard, a good whiteout. (as long as the whiteout is happening in our yard and not while we're driving!) finally i have some decent snow to talk about. lille went crazy in the snow on monday. (so did i.) lizzi has arthritis so she took it easy. we dashed around the yard. i threw sticks. lille fetched every one and dropped them neatly at my feet as she always does.

while i was shoveling lille amused herself by making up her own game. lille tossed a lacrosse ball in a pile of snow and then burrowed her entire head in the pile to sniff it out. if burrowing didn't produce the desired result, she began to dig in the snow until she retrieved the ball. she messed up my nicely shoveled paths a little, but who cares! we had fun!

it snowed all sunday night and most of monday, adding up to a grand total of 12 inches. the wind was fierce, so we played and shoveled for a while, went inside and warmed up, and then went back out again. we repeated this scenario several times on monday. as you can well imagine, the dogs and i slept deeply and soundly on monday night!

tropical seas

diving off the florida keys, october 2010.  photo by jonnie yaptengco.

around this time of year we mainers know that there are obviously still months of cold and snow and ice left. in our neck of the woods, snow shovels, four wheel drive and wood stoves had not seen much action so far this winter until yesterday's blizzard. (more on that tomorrow.) yet, around this time of year, knowing the deep biting cold has hardly flexed its muscles and shown its power to turn our toes and fingers and brains to icicles, we never-the-less still start to imagine the warm air and warm seas of summer. we torture ourselves with these visions despite the fact that we love maine, and enjoy [some aspects of] winter. or else why the heck would we live here? (good question, huh?)

right now i'm thinking about warm air and warm seas. i will leave my beloved maine in the near future and allow the seductive power of warm southern seas into my heart. but just for a little while; i'll be back in maine before ya know it. here is a picture of the deep rich blue green sea off the florida keys, where james did some diving in october. just as warm as bath water....i'm headed in that direction for a good soak myself.

merry and bright

this is my christmas "post" card: on this christmas eve a little wish is drifting out from me in the maine woods to you and yours, helped along by the song white christmas.

i'm dreaming of a white christmas
just like the ones i used to know
may your days (and your dreams!) be merry and bright
and may all your christmases be white.

wishing you merry and bright and happy
days and dreams and christmas!

glittery reflection

 all that is light, bright, colorful and glittery catches my eye today.......

portland at night

lights and colors are everywhere! we were zooming around in downtown portland on our way home from having dinner in a restaurant, and as ed went zipping along i pulled out my camera thinking that when he stopped at a traffic light i would take a snap. i love all the holiday lights that seem to be growing on every tree, bush, building and pole. stop he did, but i was busy doing something else at that exact moment so i ended up taking this shot not at a standstill, but as the car started to move again at congress and high street. the christmas trees are great triangles of light. i think the red was holiday related, too. various mundane, non-holiday-related signs and lights make up the rest of the blue and purple colors.

white pine

many white pines grow in the woods around here. back in early december, right outside the door, these white pine needle clusters were decorated with frozen droplets of water. the rain had dribbled down to the needle tips and then froze in place overnight, creating the look of tiny glass beads suspended on the strands of green, nature's own wonderful attempt at seasonal decorating.

speaking of decorating, i am going outside in the snow (yay!) to get some fresh greens for 2 vases on the table. the white pine sprigs that are on the table now are a little dry and brittle. while i am outdoors i am going to haul in several armloads of wood (if i have the energy-i have a nasty cold) for the fireplace.....there is always one more thing to do, isn't there?

a tiny snowfall

late yesterday afternoon, on the cusp of winter, we had our first real snowfall, a tiny lovely two-inch snowfall. it came down hard for while and was absolutely beautiful.....my husband called and asked if i was happy because it was snowing. yes, yes, yes. delighted. i hope some more comes this way....

getting ready

cooking, cleaning, decorating, wrapping presents (just a few of those since we have a family tradition of keeping christmastime more meaningful and relaxed, and less commercial, by keeping it simple) and stuffing stockings.....oh and doing a little artsy-fartsy ornament project thing (i'll do a post about that when i get a chance after the holidays) that's what's been happening around here. i am now ready. i think. the kids will be home soon. i love it when everyone is under one roof. are you ready for christmas yet?

a little scandinavian folklore

http://sweetwhisperdreams.blogspot.com/2010/11/maine-coast-fairy-brunch.html

a tomte spotted in our maine woods. hand-made figure crafted in sweden by rolf berg.

this tiny, 4 inch tall gnome, is called a tomte in swedish and a nisse in norwegian and danish. he is a mythical character in scandinavian folklore; gnomes are related to fairies. my of-norwegian-descent friend got me thinking about the tomte/nisse when she commented on my fairy brunch post.. she knows her norwegian folklore.

this is what i know about him. if anyone wants to add more, please do. the tomte is small and magical and has a long white or gray beard. he usually dresses in a gray clothing and always wears a brightly colored (often red) knitted hat. a house and farm tomte is a solitary fellow who is in charge of protecting a farmer's house and barn. he is very good at his job. if you have a tomte around, you must not EVER forget to leave something for him to eat (he is a vegetarian) to thank him for his protection. at christmas, the tomte especially likes a bowl of oatmeal. if you fail to take care of him (extremely unwise), he will leave your farm unguarded. even worse, he might tip things over or break things, OR even tie your cows tails together! ghastly!

so, if you have a tomte/nisse in residence, please feed him, and DO NOT FORGET the oatmeal at christmas!

wishing you all a splendid weekend!

everything's coming up roses

i love roses. i love to buy roses. i wish roses would last longer than a week or so because i don't like it when they die and i don't have any more roses left. when the roses die, i throw them away. or not. i have found a way to extend the life of a bouquet of roses. these rose leftovers really turned out well, and looked good in a little pottery vase, although i admit they are obviously not as glorious as roses in full bloom. even after the rose blossoms faded and fell off their stems, these star-like seed pod shapes that were left behind were cheerful and quite nice, i think. festive and even a little christmasy. roses coming up roses.....

snow

i am sitting here tapping my fingers on the table and waiting. ok, so where is the snow, huh? more accurately, where is OUR snow? the real stuff. (a dusting does not count.) paris, france had snow. most of great britain had snow. athens, greece had snow. all around buffalo and syracuse had snow. places out west had snow. iowa and wisconsin and minnesota and a lot of the midwest had snow. vermont had snow. northern maine had snow. we have not had any snow, we have had tons of rain! what is the deal? I WISH FOR SNOW in little old southern coastal maine, and so does my pillowcase snowman buddy up there.

evergreen

the holiday wreaths at our locally owned garden center boast a magnificent scent and lovely shades of green; the greenery is a combination of fir, balsam, juniper and cedar. 

i hang the wreaths on the lamposts and door at the beginning of december and usually leave them up for a few months. one year, though, the wreaths greeted spring, and they stayed exactly as their name implies -evergreen. i have heard that birds will occasionally nest in a wreath if it remains in a quiet and undisturbed location through nesting season.

i like displaying the wreaths for a long time. a coating of fresh snow on the deep green brings out the wreath's wintery lushness. (there is no coating of fresh snow around here, though...only rain, rain. rain....) the greens will remain outdoors all winter; they are simply too beautiful to toss in the compost heap too soon. who knows, maybe i will even leave one out until summer this year and see if any feathered friends take up residence....

wrapped up



hannah montalvo, shell. wire, plaster, plastic, glue.
november, 2010

in maine, as we draw near to the winter solstice, we think of wrapping up gifts for christmas -and wrapping ourselves up snugly in warm layers against the icy cold that has descended on us the last few days! so many things are wrapped up....

wrapped up

outer layer
shell, carapace, husk,
integument, cover,
crust, plastron,
package,
case,
pod, wrap,
rind, skin, hide.

safely
guarding,
swaddling,
encapsulating,
encasing, enshrining
that which lies
hidden beneath.

inner layer
the gift,
essential essence,
priceless seed,

core

heart

self

soul.

and now we've wrapped up another week....wishing you gaiety and glee this weekend (and still wishing for snow, too)!

winter holiday inspiration

the mailbox has been full of holiday catalogues over the last couple weeks, signaling the season of celebrations ahead. some catalogues offer the same-ho-hum-old-things, but others offer truly unique and fun items. my winter inspiration note board includes hand-made stockings for the fireplace, vintage furniture, one-of-a-kind still life bags, ski motif pillows, playfully painted dishes and lots of animals to liven up the space.

two catalogues stand out - the november and december anthropologie and the winter gifts garnet hill. anthropologie had some fun in the november issue by featuring cute and whimsical photos of animals with its gift ideas. also, the artist original still life bags are lush. the december anthropologie used a backdrop of woodland scenes. my favorites were one with a huge moss covered boulder and another with a tiny cabin with a moss covered roof....absolutely green and delightful!

as always, garnet hill's clothing is classic. the beautiful sweaters stand out; they create a feast for the eyes, and are truly practical for our maine winters. and, of course, something a frugal new englander really notices is the fact that just looking at all the pretties doesn't cost a penny....

welcome christmastime

i remember this: at christmastime in the early 60's, when i was very little, we had wonderful cardboard christmas houses that my mother would decorate with around the livingroom. she would put a few of them under the tree, and when the only illumination in the room came from the christmas tree, the small village of houses glowed merrily in the soft, dim, welcoming light of those big, old-fashioned, colored bulbs. i would lie on my stomach under the tree, head resting on my outstretched arm, and gaze into the lit up village for a long time. i would imagine the people who lived in the christmas houses, and what they might be doing inside. were they snug in there? (it was stormy outside because several of the houses had snow on their roof and chimney.) were they playing games and drinking hot chocolate? were they busy enjoying their own winter celebration?

i don't know what happened to those houses from the 1960's. these are some of my own 1990's collection of cardboard christmas houses. the brown gingerbread house welcomes you with its tiny sign. welcome, christmastime.....

a charlie brown christmas tree

growing straight and strong and mostly nicely shaped right smack against our deck, was a 7 foot pine tree. since it was growing in such an awkward location, most people would probably have cut the tree down and burned it up ages ago. not me. i have been keeping my eye on the tree for several years, and i have had big plans for it all along. now that it was blocking the stairs, the time had come. this christmas, the charlie brown tree is going to be our christmas tree.

the tree is no beauty. far from it! it is a runt compared to some of our past christmas trees (we have had 14 footers a few times). its branches are not lush and full and even, and it has a small bare spot on one side. but somehow the thought of simply getting rid of the little tree makes me sad....

i guess it comes down to this: most people spend a lot of time in search of the PERFECT christmas tree; i, however, find joy in an IMPERFECT one, one that most people would ignore or ridicule. i am delighted this scraggly tree decided to sprout and grow under the big ma and pa pines right beside the house. we cut the scrawny mite down on sunday. soon it will not seem so small anymore; it will stand proud and tall in the livingroom with the magestic designation of c. b. christmas tree 2010. once it is decorated, the small wild tree will be as beautiful as any pampered farm-raised christmas tree. actually, make that more beautiful, since our little tree has been loved since it was 6 inches tall.....

christmas with alpacas

on saturday i drove over to estabrook's "christmas with alpacas" event in yarmouth to see the alpacas and the wonderful maine alpaca wool crafts. alpacas are nice animals. (and man, do they have the most beautiful eyelashes!) they did not at all mind having their pictures taken; they were much more interested in eating. not to be confused with llamas (several people insisted the larger animals were, in fact, llamas and not alpacas), the largest alpacas in yarmouth on saturday were 150 pounds, versus around 300 pounds for llamas! no sir, no llamas were present - the name of the event should have been a clue!

there were alpaca/merino and alpaca/silk sweaters, scarves, shawls, socks and more. the colorful skeins of yarn were exquisite. all these maine artisans raise their own alpacas, and spin and dye their alpaca wool themselves. also displaying at the event was portland fiber gallery, where they offer lessons in weaving, spinning, dyeing and felting.

sweetest of all were the baby alpacas, who were just a few months old. the babies, and the adults, made the cutest humming sounds, their only sound, except for a seagull-like shriek, which is a warning call when alpacas think there is danger nearby. a festive and fun christmas with alpacas....but still no snow! i think all our snow is in the british isles. sigh....

bells on her toes

these are jingling in my mind this thursday....bells....music....christmas....a nursery rhyme....

with rings on her fingers and bells on her toes
she shall have music wherever she goes....

i have always liked that sentiment. i think it would be fun to wear bells on my toes, but here in maine, that's only gonna happen when my flip-flops get dug out of the closet in the summer. tell me, where do you buy toe bells? and to have music wherever i go.....fantastic. music brings joy; it lifts the spirit; it sends sweet sounds soaring to our ears. music is a good thing. classical, rock, oldies, blues, jazz.....and have you ever heard those maine bell ringers? 'tis the season for holiday music played non-stop on the radio. most people get sick and tired of it. i'm weird, i don't. tra-la-la-la-la....have a marvelously melodious day!

the st. croix river taketh....

.....and giveth back. before i tell you what that's all about, i just want to say that since it's the beginning of december, holiday party time is here again - as if you didn't know this fact already and needed me to inform you. anyway, party time made me think of wine and beer and martinis and so on. my husband and i do not drink much, and, for me, parties do not mean time to get wasted (sorry for being so boring). parties mean getting together with friends and family, yakking non-stop (i excel at that) and laughing uproariously, without the help of a lot of alcohol. ok, so now you have heard my holiday party philosophy.

what does all this have to do with rivers? you will soon see - booze is the common thread here. bear with me. the river in this story is the mighty st. croix in northern maine. james and five buddies canoed the st. croix river this summer. only one canoe dumped during the entire trip, and, not to worry, the two guys in it were fine, albeit soaked to their bones. all their gear floated downstream, and everything was recovered, with one VERY IMPORTANT exception: the extra special, extra large, "the lumberjack!" cast-iron frypan (from l.l.bean) had (naturally) sunk with alarming speed straight to the bottom of the st. croix.

trevor, who had conveniently brought a mask (where did he think he was going, the reefs off the florida keys?), was ready for his first dive in seconds. he had a vested interest in all this -he was the keeper/pan master of "the lumberjack!" frypan, which was an absolutely necessary item on a camping trip where the main food group was meat.

into the river trevor plunged. (well, it was really only 3 or 4 feet of water in this section of the river, but doesn't "plunging" sound so much more dramatic, folks?) each time he surfaced, his hands remained empty. no frypan. tragedy. (how were they going to cook all that bloody meat?) down he went again. trevor's arm suddenly flew into the air. he had found, not the frypan but (drumroll, please) a snorkel! that would certainly aid in the search! unfortunately, things were not going well. after lord knows how many more attempts at locating the pan that the river had obviously claimed for itself, james shouted to trevor over the river's din: hey, man, give up the search!

trevor decided he'd try one final time. down he went, and when he came back up this [hopefully] last time, he was determined not to ascend empty-handed. with renewed vigor, trevor fought the current, and with mask and snorkel in place, stuck his face in the water and looked down into a shallow rocky area of rapids where the canoe had tipped. what was that down there? he reached into the mighty st. croix river; then trevor's arm shot triumphantly up in the air. the river had decided to make a trade: one extra large (the lumberjack!) frypan for......a full, unopened, unscathed bottle of vodka! oh happy day! as trevor turned to his buddies to savor the moment, the snorkel suddenly slipped out of his hand and was never found again. the st. croix, to the very end, was master of the maine wilderness and had the last word: an even trade, one bottle of vodka for one (the lumberjack!) fry pan....

up on grover hill



in the hills above bethel, maine. november, 2010.

joyce and i took a drive up grover hill in bethel. the town and its surroundings are eerily quiet at this time of year between summer and ski season. nothing much going on in this neck of the maine woods. we stopped for a while and looked out over the magestic blue peaks of caribou, haystack, butters, tyler, speckled and lots of other mountains, in the white mountain national forest in maine. over yonder, a few miles in the distance, is evans notch, which is on the new hampshire border. the mountains extend far to the right and left of the photo, offering a great panoramic view. we stood in complete silence - no cars, no birds, no wind, no people. a moment of peaceful meditation up on the hill....

saltypaws on casco bay

saltypaws alert and waiting patiently on stockman island, casco bay, maine. october, 2010. photo by denny denham.

my name is addie saltypaws. i am a labrador retriever. my human, denny, and all the rest of the humans, call me addie, but once you get to know me, you'll see why saltypaws describes me best.

last month, denny and i, and some other humans, were out hunting sea ducks (common eider, longtail, black, surf and white wing) on the ledges at stockman island. what i love most in the whole world, besides running in the yard, riding in the car, and being with my human family, is retrieving. that's what i do; that's what i am, a retriever. remember that. seems obvious, i know, but people forget sometimes, and it's important to this story.

when we motor out to stockman, it is still pitch black outside, and rather nippy. once we get there, denny and his friend, bill green, host of bill green's maine on television (wcsh6), set up 2 strings of 12 decoys each in a "v" formation in the tidal zone beside the ledges. the sun is starting to come up on the horizon. we position ourselves against the rocks to minimize our profile, and wait....and wait some more. i hate waiting. i am quivering from tail to toe in blissful anticipation.

finally (yes!) some eiders fly into view. the guys fire. the ducks drop. i am a shaking mass of dog fur. this always happens to me. it's kind of embarrassing, but i am so excited and happy thinking about when i get the ok from denny to play my retrieve game, the game where i jump in the water, and swim out to bring the ducks in. it feels like it's a game to me, but i have been trained well, over countless hours, by denny, to get even better at what comes naturally. at long last, denny lets me get on with it. all this time, while we waited, i have been in my "heel" position. now he tells me "fetch it up" and with hand signals and whistles directs me to the duck that is the farthest out. i leap into the frigid water lightning fast. to me, the cold sea is heaven. one by one i bring in the ducks. i am so happy. if i were a human, i would be wildly laughing out loud.

bill green, host of bill green's maine. daybreak on stockman island. photo by denny denham.

one time bill green, on facebook here, got an angry email from a lady who was quite upset when she saw a story he did about me playing my duck retrieval game on the ocean. she said why would you put a dog in a situation like that? it is cruel and abusive. dear lady, i can honestly tell you if my human did not take me out duck hunting, that would be cruel and abusive. i do not want to stop swimming when the humans are done for the day. i want to keep playing. i am not cold. i am wearing my neoprene vest, the most advanced technology for dogs out on the water. it keeps me afloat - ha, like i need help! - and oh-so-warm - ha! like i wouldn't jump in the water without it!

my human takes great care of me. the bond between us is strong. he loves me and i love him. we go everywhere together. the maine woods, the open fields and the salty sea are my home......

note: addie saltypaws is our lille's mother - and also mother of alex's montana, james' harper, christina's ollie, and denny's luc, as seen here.

thanksgiving in maine

happy thanksgiving! here are 3 non-traditional maine thanksgivings i have heard about over the years: 40 guests, which required 3 ovens (2 of the ovens belonged to the host family, 1 oven they borrowed from a neighbor who was out of town); a meal which consisted of entirely maine game meat (wild turkey, deer, moose); a thanksgiving meal held outdoors (brrrrr) on 2 pinic tables put together to form 1 long table (actually, now that i think of it, that's probably as traditional as you can get, since the pilgrims, on that first thanksgiving, ate outdoors).

anyway, at our home in maine, we have 1 oven, 1 (23.83 pound) domestic vermont turkey, and an indoor table. how boring. the stuffed turkey is about to go in the oven, the apple tart and goodies are baked, the pumpkin-carrot-potato soup is simmering, and the silver is polished and gleaming. the table just needs to be set, potatoes require peeling, and then we are well on our way to making this feast a reality. naturally, there are always all the last minute preparations still to be done: uncorking wine, making gravy, lighting a fire in the fireplace, and so on.

i love AFTER thanksgiving almost as much as turkey day itself. homemade thanksgiving sandwiches (bits of turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy....all piled on crusty bread, which we first discovered at the mom and pop store down the road);  home-made turkey soup; and leftover pie...for breakfast! sometimes i think all this food tastes better the next day....

but back to today. i am giving thanks for what i see right here in front of me: a husband, a son, a daughter, a mum, a dad, a turkey, 2 dogs, tons of food, a roof over our heads, and ALSO for the family and friends who are not right here in front of me....you get the idea. this is a day for good food, good conversation and, quite simply, togetherness. let's get to it.....

a cozy fire and a good book

brrrr....the past few days have been chilly, chilly, chilly. yesterday, as evening approached, the damp rainy rawness increased in our little nook of the maine woods, and blustery winds began to whip past the windows. high time for a fire. i gathered some kindling and paper. we needed to burn up the rest of the fallen pine trees that we cut up almost two years ago. at this time of year, especially around the holidays, our maine field stone fireplace frequently displays a huge roaring fire. the crackle and sizzle and warm glow of a good blaze is one of my favorite things.

it was also time to grab a book, maybe something by louise erdrich, and pour a cup of tea....or perhaps something stronger?

i have heard people say you shouldn't burn pine. what are you supposed to do with it then? can these people possibly be from maine? in fact, you can burn it just fine. it won't mess up your chimney! i throw pine in the fireplace with some hardwoods. the problem with pine, if you're trying to heat your house with it in a woodstove, is that it doesn't give off the amount of heat that hardwoods do, so, like i said, just add some other wood. in a fireplace, pine is fine. mightly fine. my toasty toes say so.

my kitchen god

thanksgiving is almost here. this week is a week of kitchens and cooking and getting together with people you love. speaking of kitchens, i have a wonderful sculpture that james made (thanks james!) on the kitchen windowsill. james calls him fat boy. i call him my little kitchen god. in china, the kitchen god is sent from heaven to keep an eye on the family. he is the important guy in chinese new year celebrations, which start on the second new moon after the winter solstice. the kitchen god's name is zao jun, which literally means stove master. in chinese homes, a statue or picture of zao jun is found in the central, focal point of the house, the kitchen, near the stove.

on the day chinese new year festivities start, sacrifices are offered to the kitchen god. incense, sweets and water and grass (for his horse) are left for him as he leaves earth and goes up to heaven. once in heaven, the kitchen god reports to the jade emperor, the supreme deity of taoism, on what the family has been doing during the year. rewards and punishments are given out by the jade emperor, depending on each family's behavior.

so be good. the kitchen god is watching you.....

flower on the wall

during all the painting, repairing and cleaning that had been taking place around here, i noticed a lovely shadow on the wall one day. hannah's bamboo plant was on the windowsill in the blue bedroom (that i wrote about yesterday), and on a sunny, bright morning it was casting this flower shadow on the newly painted blue wall.

looking at flowers on the wall reminds me of the old song, flowers on the wall, that the statler brothers sang, and lewis dewitt wrote....countin' flowers on the wall, that don't bother me at all, playin' solitaire 'till dawn, with a deck of 51, smokin' cigarettes and watchin' captain kangaroo, now don't tell me i've nothing to do.....of course, that's about counting flowers on the wallpaper. but still, i had a wonderful flower on the wall, even it was just a fleeting shadow flower. i only know that song because nancy sinatra sang it on her boots album. i loved that album when i was little, and i even owned a pair of white go-go boots (just like nancy's on the cover of the album) to dance to the song these boots are made for walkin'....

well, i wish i had more shadow flowers on the wall as nice as this one. i would count them all....and whatever happened to my white go-go boots? happy weekend dearies!

take a look around

have you ever thought about how little we actually notice about the world around us? you know, the little things. cloud pictures in the sky. the stranger beside us in the supermarket. an intricate spider web in the garden. we tend to focus on what is important to us, what interests us, at the moment. we are often too preocccupied with the daily dramas swirling around our heads to really take in the totality of our surroundings. how often do we hear "i am so busy i don't have the time to...." whatever. everyone is busy, too busy, and our short lives, and probably some important little things, easily slip away from us and are gone forever.

yikes, that was kind of serious, so here's a thought that's a little lighter. i know i could walk into the room with a brown goldsmiths diamond tiara on my head (now that is silly, and not such a little thing, and does judy even sell tiaras?), and if i asked ed how he liked it, he would say that's nice, dear. but first i would have to get him to look up from his iphone or ipad, or whatever, and get him to notice that i had diamonds on my head!  (i am being a bit unfair with this quick example; ed oftentimes notices lots of little things, even before i do, with his keen photographer's eye.)

when i was a teenager, my parents planted a whole row of new bushes in the yard - forsithia, rose of sharon, lilac. they asked me how i liked the new plants. what? where? ha, i could have fallen into those bushes and not noticed they were new. a teenage girl, generally speaking, does not look at landscaping. she looks at boys and clothes, and boys. at that time, what was important to my parents was not necessarily important to me.

today, of course, i notice plants and gardens, whether i am here in maine or elsewhere. it is what i like, what interests me, what grabs my attention. what about you? what grabs your attention? what do you look at, look for, look forward to, dream about, see? do you ever take the time to notice the little things outside your usual sphere of activity, things which are not necessarily something you normally would look at and focus on?

maine coast fairy brunch

today i am daydreaming about what to include in a maine coast fairy brunch menu. perhaps this.....

millet seeds
phlox seeds
sunflower seeds
black eyed susan seeds
acorn shell with water

in order for fairies to notice a meal left for them as they fly around in the garden and woods, and also for them to be able to dine properly, the food should be served in an appealing, natural setting. for example, a good place for fairies to eat is on a lovely bed of moss, a large fallen tree, or, in this case, a nice, flat stone of pink speckled maine granite. do you think a fairy will fly by and see that brunch is ready?

look up. there's a fairy. the fairy sees the food that has been prepared for her. from high above in the trees, she will slowly, cautiously, fly down and eat. welcome to our maine garden, tiny guest. enjoy!

happy weekend kiddos!

note: a delightful book about fairy gardens is maureen heffernan's fairy houses of the maine coast.

some color for the walls

before you can paint some color on the walls, you have to pick the color you like. my problem is that i like so many colors. every color looks marvelous on the paint samples. i mulled over some samples from a couple paint stores, and also from the lovely maine cottage colorbook. it has great ideas and suggestions for color. aargh! these were my thoughts a few weeks ago: which colors am i going to choose? ok, i said to myself, i will go with shades of blue for two rooms. the rest of the paint i need will be bright white. hmmm...but the clay, bark and moss shades are so inviting...whatever! blues and bright white win! more about color and home renovation next week....

the sunday river covered bridge

the sun broke through the gray, cloud-filled sky just as jon and shannon's wedding ceremony was about to start on the sunday river covered bridge in newry, maine. forget that the weather was a bit chilly. all 100 of us on the bridge were quite cozy as we snuggled up in our specially made fleece blankets embroidered with fall leaves, pumpkins, and the wedding date.

imagine the beauty of the scene: the guests are seated on the old 1872 covered bridge spanning the rushing sunday river, and in that moment, before the bride walks down the bridge's wooden planks from one end to the other, there is a hush. the sun suddenly sparkles, and the sweet music of icy mountain water playing over the ancient stones and earth below us fills the air. we are in nature's cathedral listening to nature's song -so simple, so stunningly peaceful, so quietly calling forth the presence of god in this age of unrelenting noise. the wilderness in newry can truly refresh the soul....