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....

the perfect name

sitting framed on a shelf in the kitchen is a list of names. you can see some of the list above. the old devil. the shire horse. the seven stars. the blue cow. boot and shoe. the black horse. white house. the grapes. the names go on and on. what are these names? where did these names come from?

here is another list of names. can you guess what these names are? the peach tart. the pop eye. 5 orange potatoes. whiskey marie. the best life ever. pants with names. not enough mud. the blue yak. the time crook. slugs in the refrigerator. lobster and swan. skybluesea. the gentlebear....

give up? the first list shows pub names in great britain. one time when we were traveling in the north of england, i wrote down all the names of the pubs we encountered as we were driving. and no, we didn't enjoy a pint in every one of them (just some of them), but we were tempted.

the other list is blog names. i follow a couple of these blogs. to be honest, what gets me looking at something is, in fact, that oftentimes i am lured by the name. i love names. how do people come up with names?  how do people finally decide on what, to them, will be the perfect name, be it person, pet, pub or blog?

before the frost

i was thinking about what the outdoors looks like before the first frost. in the fall, frost can surprise us one morning as it sneaks in and turns everything brown and brittle. these are a few glimpses of what was, and what will be again.

as the cold weather approaches, we can at least think about warmer weather by directing our thoughts toward spring and what we'll plant next year. but first, here in maine, before we feel the warmth again, we have to slowly make our way through the snow and wind and ice. winter is beautful. just be sure to wear toasty layers of clothes (think L.L.BEAN) to enjoy it!

sunset

it was the cooling hour, just when the rounded red sun sinks down behind the azure hill, which then seems as if the whole earth is bounded, circling all nature, hushed and dim and still, with the far mountain-crescent surrounded on one side, and the deep sea calm and chill upon the other, and the rosy sky with one star sparkling through it like an eye. -lord byron


what is life? it is the flash of a firefly in the night. it is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. it is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. -crowfoot quote


serenade in red
haiku by dorothy holmes

red velvet sunset
serenades the earth and sky
opera in red

photo credit

putting the garden to bed

it's that time of year again. we have tons of leaves to rake in our yard, so i tackle them a little at a time. i am very fond of my small i-push-it-myself mulching lawn mower. it does a great job, and i get in about 2.5 miles of walking each time i mow the lawn. most of the leaves are cleaned up not by me, but by my hard-working mower. i mow over the leaves and then rake up any little piles the lawn mower spits out. it is much easier raking small bits of mulched leaves than it is raking big piles of regular leaves.

i also mow over some of the trimmed (any big stalks removed) flower beds - the mower is small enough so i can get into little nooks and crannies - and i toss in some extra well-mulched leaves on top of the beds. it is a good way to start putting the garden to bed for the winter. in this picture, i like how the leaves on the lawn look like pieces of fall colored confetti. did you know that the first confetti was not colored paper confetti? confetti (same root word as confectionery) was originally sweets and nuts coated in sugar, or candy wrapped in colorful paper. the sweet nuts and candy bits were then tossed at celebrations and carnivals.

portland head light

the day we drove to portland head light in late september was the last hot day of 2010. it was 84 and sunny, but a thin fog bank was hovering out over the ocean. we got to hear the slow, mournful wail of the foghorn, which is located right beside the lighthouse. i enjoy a bit of fog, and the low repetitive "hooooo" of the foghorn. to me, standing on the shore, foghorns somehow sound cozy and comforting. mystical. a little spooky. out on the water foghorns are, of course, a dire warning to sailors, signaling the perils of the rocky maine shoreline. but as long as the sound doesn't get too close, a foghorn's muted announcement of the stoney coast's presence will always be a comfort to mariners as well.

the fog began to lift. as we walked on the trails along the shore, we saw all the usual maine sights. there were sailboats and seagulls enjoying the salty sea. bits of white on blue. there were people, young and not-so-young, busy building tall cairns with small loose stones down on the giant rocky outcroppings. chunks of gray on gray. there were two young men technical climbing on a sheer face of cliff. spots of orange and red on gray.

that day was a perfect maine day, just the way we like it. have a nice weekend everyone!

yay maine

when ed was growing up in new jersey, his family always drove to maine for a long vacation in the summer.
on one of those seemingly endless drives, when ed and his three siblings were still quite little, they were making the journey across the bridge over the piscatauqua river from new hampshire into maine. half-way over it, they passed under the green maine state line sign. suddenly, ed's mother shouted out "yay maine!" the joy and relief of finally being in maine was just too much to keep contained, and needed to be expressed by a loud cheer.

from that day on, whenever ed's family passed that sign and drove into maine, the "yay maine" yell could be heard loud and clear from everyone in the car. the tradition has continued to this day in our family. since the time our kids were small, we have always delivered a firm "yay maine" shout. today, when ed and i are alone in the car, i still say "yay maine!" out loud. i confess, even when i am alone in the car, i utter those two words quietly to myself. yay maine. a little benediction which expresses my happiness about going back to the place i love.

it's friday, and the weekend is here once again....have a good one!

a glass half full

today i ask you this: is the glass half full, or half empty? it is interesting how different people answer the question. in my whole life i have always seen the glass as half full. i can't see it, or think of it, any other way. the glass is NEVER half empty. i remain forever the optimist in all things. i tend to see the positive side to issues, be they weighty, worldly dilemmas, or simply the day-to-day problems and snags we all encounter.

there is a story behind that glass, by the way. during my recovery period after foot surgery, ed would always make sure i had a fresh, tall glass of simple, cold, tap water (in addition to making sure i had a hundred other small things), my favorite, which in our case comes from a delicious, deep well. on this day, the glass remained untouched for part of the day-i must have had some juice, too-and all those bubbles formed. that was not sparkling water in the glass, and it certainly was not so fresh anymore! but i'm glad i didn't drink all of it, because now i will always remember this: how nice it is when someone takes the time to be considerate, and do [a hundred] little things for you.

note: foot surgery is not fun. it is nasty. but it is the people around you who care who help make the recovery time magically pass in the blink of an eye...well, kind of the blink of an eye...

maine colors

colors, colors, colors....just a couple weeks ago, the colors really started to get all heated up. the trees had started out with a few dabs of dusty reddish-brown. now look at all the crazy reds.....

and yellows and oranges! the maine colors are unbelievably gorgeous. we have the best fall foliage colors around here, although my daughters in vermont would argue they have the best colors. of course, as the name of the season implies, the leaves are already sailing through the air to the ground, helped along by the rain and wind. still, the range of fall colors is beautiful, even spread out all over lawns and yards.

and that, my friends, is just ONE of the reasons i love maine.....

graffiti

one day i grabbed a piece of chalk, went out in the yard, and wrote some words. i wrote on trees, boards, wooden chairs, stones that line the garden, and pathway stones. i got a little carried away. i took pictures of my graffiti which are bound to turn up on these pages someday-how about today?

anyway, for me, words are fun. words frequently make me want to SMILE. pick a word, any word, and write about whatever pops into your head. one little word often inspires more words. wordplay a bit: persnickety...roiling...redolent...captivate...compel...verve...whoosh! mulling over a single word can be a good way to jump start the brain and get some thoughts moving around. i am fond of making lists, all different kinds of lists, but especially lists of words, in little notebooks. you can grab a word off the list if you get stuck; it helps you to express, voice, say, declare, announce, tell what's on your mind....

and, of course, i like to write. yup, soon the yard was filled with scribbles. then it started to rain, and all the words washed away.....anyway, remember to SMILE right now: it's friday and the weekend is just about here....have a good one!

the last vegetables

one day recently i was walking around  in the vegetable garden at my parent's house, and i helped my dad pick some of the season's last vegetables. there were still some beets, tomatoes, kale, and peppers left to harvest. it started to rain while we were pulling and plucking, so we quickly tossed the veggies in the basket and headed up to the house. unfortunately, we discovered that some of the tomatoes had a little rot on them, or even holes bored into their skin. we salvaged what we could (some of the spots were quite small and could just be trimmed off), and tossed out the yucky ones. no need to mourn for the lost tomatoes, though. according to dad, this year's harvest was unbelievable. lots of boiling, seasoning, and then freezing tomatoes for future use as sauce and soup stock has already taken place. we just have to be patient and wait until next year for fresh tomatoes right off the vine again.

shells, sponges, corals

small treasures from faraway places

 long walks along the shore, whether here in maine or in faraway tropical places, open up a world of discovery, a revelation of treasures:
 birds, dolphins, sponges, rocks, driftwood, corals, sea glass, shells... some of these treasures are small enough so they can even be dropped in your pocket and carried home....

i have been scooping up stuff from the seashore for a long time. many of these shells were found in sanibel island, florida. the sponges and coral are from the virgin islands. these are some of my best little treasures....i like to keep them displayed in clear glass bowls around the house.

the shells contain memories, each from a different time away from home. within the smooth spirals are thoughts of happy moments from the past.

i love the different shades of brown and tan and orange. it is interesting that shell color is determined, to a great degree, by the diet of the inhabitant. funny to think of these shells as little homes for sea creatures. what i can hold in my hand was actually, once upon a time, a snuggly mollusk living room, with a small opening at one side to allow the little creature to peek out to search for food.

even more intriguing are the line, spot and zigag designs that make up the exterior decorating schemes of these tough, portable living spaces. amazing that such intricate beauty kept a single life form safe from hungry predators and the rough violence of the surging sea. at last, the shell is abandoned, outgrown, and finds its way onto my palm....