missing this heavenly kitchen...

I am missing this view... It was such a wonderful sight to catch while I was in the kitchen during our week in Maine. Heavenly. A nice breeze coming through the door was one of the perks. Although if the back door of the kitchen, opening to the clothesline area, then the cross breeze blows put the flame on the gas stove... Kind of a pain, but tolerable. The accoutrements in the kitchen are, at times, lacking. Who really needs a baking pan not crusted with years of food anyway? That said, I love cooking there... Many people, always clamoring for what I've made.... Figuring out how to make do with the things we have... Fun, good energy. I miss it all year. What a wonderful kitchen to be blessed with.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.8

away too long.... and back from Maine

I miss blogging. It has been too long, and I need to start writing again, and taking good photos. I have just come back from a week in Maine that was glorious. The weather was exactly what I needed. The weather in CT has been unbearable for me this summer: mostly over 90°F for weeks, and very humid. Ugh. I must be part polar bear, as this type of weather makes me miserable, unproductive, and wanting to be indoors all the time where it is cooler.

So, Maine, where the days are warm, and the nights are cool for good sleeping.... wonderful. A large group of people gathered, that I can make food for... happiness. A kitchen where the view out the door is  beyond compare. The scenery and backdrop for photos is spectacular, and makes one appreciate the natural beauty around us, and keep fresh in our minds that which is truly important in the scheme of things.

the view from the house... standing on the back deck

I took many photos, as usual, but this time relied on my new-ish phone to take the photos. An 8 mega-pixel camera... they look pretty good, but now that I have loaded them all onto my Mac, I see that they are not up to snuff at all. They are grainy, and the definition and lighting isn't quite right. So, never again, will I rely on that for quality photos. But, alas, I must live with the consequences of my actions, and settle for the only photos I took.

Wordle... totally fun to make!

This was so much fun to make! go to wordle.net and create one!

the dock...

the cove was great for a few days. We had a feast of lobsters the first night. There 16 people, including 7 kids. we had a dozen lobsters that we got for $60!!! yum!!! I was just starting to feel like wI could settle in to being there on the third day, when we had to leave. too short this year. will have to make up for it next year! :)

you can see the boathouse in the distance across the cove to the right. Was so nice to have stayed there last year.

a sparkling island week

This is the view when sitting inside(!) in the boathouse. We just spent a week in this little slice of heaven. and yes, the ocean is as close as it looks in the photo below! -about 25' away at high tide!


the view from up the hill from the boathouse. the sleeping cabins are to the left of the photos (out of view) ...

just about sunset , taken from the other side of the property... with Camden hills in the distancethe boys on top of TipToe Mountain... looking across the FoxIsland Thoroughfare, with NorthHaven in the near distance...
Our friends that came and stayed with us for a few days....
fabulous blackberry bushes all over the place.... these gathered from just beside one of the sleeping cabins....
our campfire one night at low tide....
super beach glass finds!
the best shower... EVER! the wall comes to about neck height (on me) and a view onto the cove, with tons of hot water to keep you warm..

packing to go

we are off to "the boathouse" tonight in the middle of the night, so we can catch the early ferry there. Vinalhaven is our destination......

I am really excited to go this year, more so than usual. We are staying in the boathouse, which is my favorite of all of the dwellings we stay in up there. It is the most rustic, and has the most personality... a heavenly shower (the wooden attachment on the left of the building) where the wall comes to neck height and you look out on the cove and have tons of hot water. fabulous.

the inside is kind of comfortable chaos and is one big room with everything....

sleeping is done in two other 'cabins' which are just small structures with beds. there is a flush outhouse up the hill a few steps.

when hanging out in the boathouse or on the porch of it, the water, at high tide, is about 25 feet away. so the doors are typically thrown open and it is an indoor/outdoor space. the boys will spend time hunting crabs and messing around on the rocky beach. I will do the same with them, and hunt beach glass, and knit, and cook, and hang out with our friends Sheila and Paul who are going to join us for a few days.
can't wait.....

Beautiful view

I would love to be here again....
I can breathe when I have somewhere like this that I can get to.
I need wide open spaces, but I also need to be near people and have community. There is a tour for cohousing that is coming up in a few weeks, and I would love to go on it. Not necessarily to join one of them, but just to learn more about them, and to see them in action, so to speak. I do want to be in Canada for so many reasons, as I am so weary of all of the politics and attitudes, and more, here in the US. I want to start looking in to cohousing in Canada, but also building a house "off the grid". So much research, and things to keep me physically and mentally busy.

It is hard too, as I feel like things here are good in certain ways: I have a yoga studio I love, and a teacher there that I really connect with and enjoy, I have access to some great little ethnic shops that I love to get food in, I have some good friends, the kids have good school situations and friends, within a 20 minute drive we have a ski area, a hockey rink, schools, playgrounds, a great town pool, and more.

But at the same time, I feel like there is so much missing... and there are no wide open spaces around here at all.

I had a conversation yesterday with someone about college towns. There is a vibrancy and energy to them that I love. Usually there are shops, restaurants, and many fun little places to poke into. There are usually some kind of museums or something along that line to expand your mind. There is the opportunity to mesh with the learning that is going on, in some way, shape, or form: classes to take/audit, performances to see, exhibits, places to visit, and more.

Saratoga Springs, NY was a place I called home for many years as I was a student at Skidmore. Loved being there, walking into town, studying, watching the horse races, going to concerts at SPAC, etc. I had taken a few years off before starting there, so I was a bit older than the other students. It gave me a different attitude, and more life experience, to draw on. I miss being there.
......change is a brewing......
just a matter of when and where....
and needs to be more thought out since there are kids involved.....

Some Maine photos.....

Some random photos I like from our trip to Maine....

Glass bottles

These were kind of cool......
in the pantry on Vinalhaven......

Yoga

I missed my yoga class today. but I did heavenly yoga last week in Maine....

me doing 'tree pose' on Misty Mountain on Vinalhaven
view toward the Camden hills....