Sunshine and Hummingbirds
Today is Paul's birthday. I told him that I was gifting him with a sunny day. The overcast morning did not show a lot of promise of obliging me. However, living along the Maine coast means a lot of fog, so I was hopeful. I puttered in the garden a...
Angelique Tulips
My garden has only one cluster of tulips - these lovely Angeliques by the front door. They opened only a couple of days ago and are almost spent with this incessant rain we've had. Still, they are the most amazing delicate pink color. Worthy of a...
Spring Rains
It seems that we have been inundated with rain lately. Despite the wet weather, the early spring veggies we planted a couple of weeks ago are doing okay - and the snow peas are thriving! I think our raised beds might help - their feet don't sit in...
Chicks on Order!
For about three years we have threatened to start a backyard flock of chickens. Paul took a class two summers ago where he learned how to butcher a chicken. It turns out that this is the year! Paul is finishing up a chick brooder and I have just...
Big Bumble Bee
I found this BIG bumble bee in my violas this morning. "A bee is never as busy as it seems; it's just that it can't buzz any slower." ~Kin Hubbard
Indoor Starts
Last Sunday, on April 24 I started three trays of seedlings in my little Burpee greenhouse. Each tray has twelve cells. Burpee Pepper Carnival Mix Burpee's Big boy Hybrid Tomato Burpee Tomato Roma This morning, the tomato sprouts were just breaking...
A Garden Beginning
May 1st seemed like a good time to start my outdoors vegetable garden. I'm really not certain what "early spring" means when it comes to planting - especially for Maine. I guess we'll find out in a few weeks when we see how what I've started today...
May First
Today is May 1st and it's a glorious spring day with temperatures in the upper 50s. My hyacinths and daffodils are in full bloom. I've got a volunteer viola that's taken root. The wild flower seed I threw over my septic field last summer has some...
Little Thief
Every day the kitties take up their post at the dining room window where they have a great view of the porch and yard beyond. Today they became very anxious and alerted me to a little thief on the porch. For more than a year I've kept my bird seed...
Hannah’s Easter Cup Cakes
Granny Gadget of the Ebelskiver fame struck again. She sent Hannah the cookbook "Crazy About Cupcakes" and a truckload of candy. Hannah made cupcakes for our Easter dessert and used the book as her inspiration for decorating. Nice job, Roo!
Big Wind
We had some BIG wind with rain last night and this morning. As we were having a lazy Sunday morning we heard a "shoosh" and then a "thunk". Ten feet to the left and we'd have a bit of an issue. Curiously enough this is a tree that we wanted to cut...
Flash Fried Potatoes
Today's post picture is not a pretty one. Our dinner this evening consisted of fillet Mignon, a cheesy potato casserole, and broccoli. I decided to liven up the potato casserole with some French's Fried Onions sprinkled across the top of Paul's and...
Family Recipe Project – Jubliee Jumbles
During the last trip to my parent's home in Pennsylvania my mother tossed a new project my way. She has this idea to create a family recipe book with a bit of a different twist. She wants to include pictures of the original recipe written in our...
Birthday Ebelskivers
My birthday fell on a weekday, so we put off the official celebrations until Saturday. Hannah did not want the day to go unnoticed so before school she made me some birthday ebelskivers. Here I am parked on the sofa with my coffee. Notice the...
Getting Political with Roo
Since August I've been working part-time for a group called Maine Families. I am a home visitor and parent educator working with first-time parents. It's a wonderfully rewarding job and much needed here in rural Maine. This year to help balance the...
Super Moon Over the Narraguagus
This morning, cruising out of town just before dawn we caught this picture of the "super moon" over the Narraguagus River in Milbridge in a "drive by shooting."
A Muddy Logging Operation
It was a beautiful first day of Spring today. A prelude to the predicted 4-8 inches of snow coming tomorrow. I took a stroll up to where the logging company is stacking the logs they are harvesting off of our property. The stack on the right ...
Ruth Bender Nerviani 1915-2011
I lost my grandmother this week. Ruth (nee Strobel) Bender Nerviani died peacefully in her sleep at age 96 with my mother by her side. Her passing leaves a void in my heart. All of my life I called my grandmother “Mother.” Growing up I heard my mom...
Hannah’s Perfectly Perfect Ebelskivers
Granny Gadget struck again not long ago. The UPS man must think that I am a QVC-aholic as often as he delivers to us. Little does he know that it's Granny Gadget in Pennsylvania (A.K.A. Mom) who is the QVC fan. Our latest gadget from QVC is an...
Over the River and Through the Woods
Work by the lumber company recommenced today. We could hear the rumble of the tree cutting machine running in the background for the better part of the morning. When things quieted down we went for a stroll to see what they had been up to. We found...
Logging Company Moves In
We've contracted with a local logging company to harvest wood off the back portion of our property. They started preliminary work this week. To do this they have punched a winter woods road through the woods. Just beyond the telephone pole on the...
Design Problem?
At our house, snowstorms bring the excitement of watching avalanches of snow fly off the steel roof. During this last storm the snow clung to the roof for days afterward. This afternoon I heard a loud "thwump" and guessed that the mudroom snow...
42 Days Until Spring
I took advantage of a taste of spring-like weather today. At a balmy 40 degrees I parked myself on the porch. It was comfortably refreshing, but the view left a bit to be desired.
A Cook in Training
My wonderful daughter is 11 and is quite the little cook in training. She hates for us to tell the stories about how when she was in preschool she watched cooking shows and would mimic "making" (her term for cooking) on her little kitchen set. We...
A Day Cutting Wood
We heat our home with an outdoor wood boiler. This is a very economical way for us to heat our home given that we live on 49 wooded acres. The only catch is that at some point you have to cut the wood. We believe that the area where our house sits...
