by Susan | Sep 26, 2010 | Odds and Ends
I really do enjoy the birds we have here at the house throughout the year. I have a number of bird feeders and put suet out in the winter. Bird watching from the comfort of our warm cozy house is cheap entertainment. Lately we’ve had a visitor of the bird...
by Susan | Sep 25, 2010 | In the Kitchen
I’ve tried a variety of ways of making bread at home, but I really don’t get into the whole kneading thing. So I really do enjoy the bread machine my mother gave me for Christmas last year. I’ve made countless loaves of oatmeal bread with this. We...
by Susan | Sep 24, 2010 | Garden
About a month ago I reported that the deer had found one of my raised bed gardens. I took action to try to protect my lettuce and carrots by surrounding the bed with string and little flags that flutter about in the wind. It seemed to work well until this past week....
by Susan | Sep 14, 2010 | On My Mind
Things are changing. The days are feeling crisper, the garden is slowing down, the geese are flying south, and the humming birds are gone. I didn’t see a single humming bird the entire weekend. The sugar water level in the feeder hasn’t changed a bit. For...
by Susan | Sep 9, 2010 | Projects
My birthday present to myself earlier this year was a garlic basket kit. That first ply-split basket made from Danish cord didn’t turn out quite like the instructions and pictures. I’ve since attempted two more garlic baskets and seem to have the technique...
by Susan | Sep 9, 2010 | Family
Hannah started the sixth grade on Tuesday. Although Paul and I were dancing and singing “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” one member of our family is not celebrating. Snape the cat, AKA “Boo” or “Boo-boo Bear” has...
by Susan | Sep 7, 2010 | Out and About in Maine
We took advantage of a gorgeous end of summer day on Sunday and took Hannah to Fort Knox and the Penobscot Narrows Bridge Observation Tower. Fort Knox was established in 1844 to protect the Penobscot River valley against possible British naval incursion. It’s in...
by Susan | Aug 29, 2010 | Out and About in Maine
Yesterday Hannah, my friend Carol, and I went on a chicnic. Paul coined the term “chicnic” some years ago. A chicnic is a picnic attended by women where chic food is served. You know what I mean. Food where meat is not front and center on the menu. Fro fro...
by Susan | Aug 28, 2010 | Garden
Yesterday, I spied this doe in the the garden area – right about where the chicken coop is going to live. As soon as I stepped outside with my camera she went on alert. She studied me calmly as I snapped her picture before darting down the ravine barking as if...
by Susan | Aug 23, 2010 | Garden
One of the first things I noticed when I moved to New England is that summer weather doesn’t really hit until July. Paul enjoys the saying that in Maine we have two seasons – winter and the Fourth of July. While this often seems like only a slight exaggeration,...
by Susan | Aug 20, 2010 | Garden
This week I purchased a few end of season butterfly bushes from a local garden and farm store. This one is laying on its side in the driveway waiting to be planted, but that doesn’t seem to bother the butterfly. Upon closer inspection the butterfly is looking a...
by Susan | Aug 7, 2010 | Family
My Grandma Jordan was born in 1900 and lived in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania for all the years I knew her. My grandparents had a splendid old house on Penn Street in Punxy. I have wonderful memories of summers there in my early years catching fireflies, Saturday night...
by Susan | Aug 1, 2010 | Garden
Today I had the time and the cucumbers to attempt another round of pickles. The first batch we made turned out good, but not awesome, so I’m told. Apparently I have a family of pickle connoisseurs. This time around we made pickles with a different recipe. We...
by Susan | Aug 1, 2010 | Family
This morning I was lounging on the front porch with my cup of coffee and a book, just taking pleasure in life. Hannah came out to join me and curled up in a chair with a blanket and turned on her Nintendo DS. After a few moments I asked her to turn the volume off – it...
by Susan | Jul 28, 2010 | Garden
I’m not sure what this says about me, but I get really excited about growing garlic. A bit garden geeky, I know. Today was harvest day for my Russian Red. It’s like Christmas day digging up the garlic and see how Mother Nature treated the little cloves I planted in...
by Susan | Jul 27, 2010 | Out and About in Maine
August is wild blueberry season in Maine. This year, a stretch of great weather has bumped the blueberry season up a bit and the berries are in now. So Hannah and I took advantage of a quintessential summer afternoon and went in search of berries. We drove over to...
by Susan | Jul 26, 2010 | Family
Thirteen years ago today I married my best friend. Lucky me! Other than marrying Paul, the thing that stands out the most as I think back on our wedding is the group of people who celebrated the day with us. It’s the last time that we had our family and closest...
by Susan | Jul 25, 2010 | Garden
More than half of the flowers in my garden are hand-me-downs or gifts from Mom. Over the past couple of years Mom has given me a couple of dozen baby dwarf Korean lilac plants that she dug up from her garden as her lilacs began to spread. Three of these plants...
by Susan | Jul 24, 2010 | In the Kitchen
I’ve never made pickles before, but my family loves them. So this year I planted four pickling cucumber plants. I raked in my first lot of cucumbers and took a stab at my first ever batch of dill pickles. Apparently Paul has done some reading up on pickle making...
by Susan | Jul 23, 2010 | In the Kitchen, Recipes
Some years ago, when Paul was attending a cardio-rehab program, he sampled a healthy low carb snack of cucumber salsa served with pita chips. Over the years we played with recreating it, but our attempts always fell short of the original. This week, with our first...
