September 2010

John and Chuck built a new grape arbor! Next summer we look forward to a table and chairs under the arbor, and the grapes will have something to grow on other than the fence and anything else they can find to grab on to.

Mama Duck and her almost grown baby girls. A real feat to raise a family with a new bob cat and a coyote pack in the neighborhood. We are missing out grey cat for the past three days and wonder if she was dinner for someone. The mice, voles and chipmunks will not mourn her passing, but we do.

winter kale and winter beets...second planting

The garden is still giving us lots of things to eat.

The barn is finally restored. It took three years and lots of help from local craftsmen plus John and Chuck. Nathan came and painted the high parts and put on a new copula!

We have a few grapes, although most of them got the dreaded black spot and had to be destroyed. I am only planted old Concord from now on. It has been a good year for the garden. I am leaving it in good hands as I get ready to go to Ireland tomorrow.

September 2010

Our old barn is finally painted and has a new copoula! It only took three years to complete it. It was a labor of love and lots of help from local craftsmen and a few ducets....

Now that was one fast summer!

Salt Marsh.....I do not know where the summer has gone, slipped by fast...and here we are in Sweet Grass picking time....a beautiful day...but the grass was scarse, so we did not pick but one small bunch. My friend Sierra took some beautiful pictures!

Grandmother Spider was busy gathering too, and the beaver were their usual busy selves! This is why I live in Maine!

Somewhere there is an unpronouncable icelandic volcano who

decided to erupt, not checking with me first as to

how it might interfer with my travel plans to Ireland.

Shows one who is in charge.

I forgot to bring in the laundry last night.....and the snowdrops live up to their name...but that is spring in Maine.....I am reminded to slow down and not rush, spring will happen all in good time.

Happy Eostar.... today at 1:32. I went early this morning and walked the labyrinth for the first time since the snow melt...worked on the tiny altar at the center...the path survived , with only one place where it is indistinct. The altar in the studio is decked out in pussy willows, witch hazel and alder katkins...

Saturday is Ostara...the spring equinox. Today it is well above 5o degrees. The warmest for this date on record. The crocus are up in the front, the snowdrops on the wall garden and the witch hazel is blooming on the back patio. I planted one bed of chard, spinich and kale. This is the earlist I have direct seeded. It felt so good to kneel in the dirt! The last sign of spring is JHW doing income tax!

Rhubarb, Rugs and Orchids

The sixth day of March. The gusty rhubarb pushes it bulbus nubs up through the still frozen soil, taking advantage of any day over 40 degrees. The whole hillside echos its' dark purple hue, alder buds, grapevines, maples and the very tips of the birch. Perhaps early spring in Maine is the color of rhubarb. The new swedish rugs in the kitchen even have a strip of it. Orchids bloom in the kitchen and they remind me of my Maui grandaughter.

We ran out of wood, but Mr. Haslam had a beautiful dry load for us. We went for a walk yesterday and I did not have to wear a hat. Eben King diary (1873) refers to these February thaw days as "soft" days. A maple on our walk seems to have sprouted wings. The kitchen dooryard was filled with the tiny almost inaudible voices of a hundred gold finches. They are looking less drab every day, but we are not fooled by these days, snow is predicted tomorrow.

things that bloom

exotic flowers....all blooing at the same time....must be spring somewhere.




I have always been facinated by sunrise/moonset.
These pictures were taken less than a minute apart
one facing east and one west. -2degrees this am.

Ashes to ash, rust to rust

Out behined the compost/ash dump sits George King's Model T. or what is left of it. We think sometimes of moving it, but stories still circulate that it was his treasure, so we leave it, don't want to disturb the ghosts.

The upper pond's overflow has been running all winter and the January thaw is coming to an end as we expect snow and cold to return.

We had one of those dark and stormy night experiences last night. High winds and lots of rain. Most of the snow is gone. I do not know how the chickadees hold on to their branches in 50 mile in a fifty mile an hour wind, but they were there this morning asking for breakfast. Their cheery calls and the sound of the pond water rushing out of the overflow were the only two sounds at 5:00.

The sun comes over the forest and lights the tree tops of the pines on the hill. At 4:30 the sky was so clear I could see Pluto, Mars, Saturn, Sirius and Procyon. I like to speak their names to them, as I am relearning them. So many people cannot see the stars anymore. They look to the web to see them. It is my responsibililty to say their names out loud to them because I can.

winter finches and more snow

We put up a new thistle sock....I counted more than 40 finches. And we have a heavy wet persistant snow. Mike came and plowed us out. We have over a foot so far.

animals are such agreeable friends--they ask no questions they pass no critcisms--George Elliot

Cricket, Rainbow and Penny our three resident rescued greyhounds. Cricket was rescued from Oklahoma working as a coyote hunter. Rainbow raced in Arizona, Penny raced for five years. The only time they run now is for the pure joy of it, on the beach and up the hill.

snow this am...no wind and each branch is outlined. It is so quiet here I can hear the snow landing on the trees.