8/30/09 The Summer of 2009

Summers in Maine are what Mainiacs live for. Some say you "earn" the privilege after surviving the winter. I'm so used to traveling in the summer. I never minded being away from Dallas in June, July, and August. Next summer maybe I'll start spending more time in Maine. This summer, not so much. I spent 51 days out of the state. I traveled to 9 states (VT, KS, MD, VA, OR, WA, TX, NM, NY), British Columbia, and Washington DC. Unfortunately, I was having so much fun and accomplishing so many things I didn't find time to blog about the travels. But when I do, you'll find the stories in my travel blog, not here. I did do a teeny bit of traveling in Maine. Those travels, whenever I can find time to blog, will be described here.

My other big project this summer was to unpack the living room. In December I had the last of my stuff shipped from Dallas. It was all that sentimental stuff that you don't need but have to keep. When I thought I was only going to be in Maine for 2 more years, I put the stuff in storage in Dallas. When I found out I was going to stay for a while in Maine, I had the stuff moved here. For 7 months, I just lived with the stuff stacked in my living room. It took up over 40 square feet of my 600 square foot apartment. In July, I finally started unpacking. Then I built shelves and then filled the shelves. There's still a lot of stuff here but at least I can get to it now. AND I have 20 square feet of apartment back. :-) Phase 2 is to do the same for the dining room.

I took photos along the way. I compiled them into this 2 minute slideshow. Enjoy! My friend Michael suggested I should've had a last slide of me "collapsed in organizational exhaustion in the comfy chair." Great idea. However, I'll have to let you picture that photo in your imagination. Meanwhile, enjoy the transformation.

10/30/08 morning sunshine

This looks like a bunch of golden trees, but in fact, there are no leaves on those trees, that's just the golden morning sunshine. I love the view from my verandah. :-)

10/4/08 Autumn from my driveway

That pretty much describes it. If you stand in my driveway (or near the driveway), you can see this view to the south . . .

...and this view to the north...

and this is the view to the west, or down the sidewalk to my humble little apartment (The Verandah). The Verandah is closed for the season. The landlady gathered up the plastic lawn chairs and table and the cute little grill they loaned me. I have folding camp chairs in the house and plan to sit out there on any unseasonably warm days and maybe even on a cold day or two, just to soak in that view. But otherwise, like the ice cream stands . . . when summer's over, you settle in for a L O N G winter's nap.

8/18/08 They're harvesting again

This is NOT a duplicate of the photos you've seen before of the harvesting of "my field" that I watch from my verandah. We've had enough rain, sunshine, and time that whatever is growing there grew back enough that they could cut it and bale it yet again.

8/2/08 Krazy Kite Kind of Afternoon

So it's a rainy drizzly Saturday afternoon (we're growing quite accustomed to this, which doesn't mean we like it, it just means it's been a very rainy drizzly summer) and MRM, RBF, Rodney and I are sitting around trying to think of something fun to do that doesn't involve getting wet. We're not having much success when MRM and RBF decide that they'll go on a walk around my neighborhood and get back to us later. There was some whispering going on before that announcement and MRM had a mischievous grin as they made their announcement. Soon, I get a phone call. "What are you doing?"

"Hmmmm, still sitting here like we were when you left. Why, what's up?"

"I have an idea of something to do, but it's a secret. You need to either stay there for 25 more minutes and not go anywhere, or meet us at the river in 5 minutes."

We opted for the meeting at the river option (this is the same as the field outside my window and is also known as The Dog Walking Park). We arrive first and as soon as they pull up, I knew what fun we were in for. You could see the giant bouquet of color through the car window. We were kite flying!

It turned out the little bit of breeze that MRM had seen in the hydrangeas at my apartment was what inspired the idea, but when we got to the park, the wind was very slight and not very consistent, so it wasn't the best kite flying after all. But it sure was fun to spend time with friends doing something different. From there we went out for Chinese food at Fortune Fountain restaurant. There are two Chinese restaurants in town and though I've never eaten at the other one, I've only ever heard people recommend the Fortune Fountain. After a fun dinner, we went back to MRM's and watched part of the Red Sox game and ate snow cones topped with tangerine snow cone syrup and Midori melon liqueur. MRM invented it as we watched and taste-tested. They were quite delicious.

7/23/08 Internet on the verandah

I did it. I broke down and got Internet access at the house. It's very expensive compared to Dallas and wasn't sure I could justify it, but I was going crazy without it. I figure since I don't have a TV here and am not spending money or wasting time on that, then I can justify getting Internet. The cheapest provider right now is Beeline Cable. I'm paying extra because I don't subscribe to their cable television. But at least they'll still provide the service to me! I bought the wireless router and was ready when the installer came "between 8am and noon" today (it was actually close to 9:30). He only installs the cable and the cable modem . . . the wireless is up to me, though he did give me a telephone number for support. But I didn't need any support and got it hooked up on the second try.

One nice thing about Beeline is that I don't have to sign a contract, so in two months, I can choose to not have their Internet service anymore and there's no penalties. Since I don't have a landline telephone, DSL is not an option for me (though the pricing on that seems pretty comparable to the cable prices). There is a startup satellite company and if the rumor is true that the man down the road from me is in on that, I will at least pursue learning more about it. Until then, this will have to do. So far so good!!

7/20/08 Tourist Shop Next Door to Pemaquid Point Lighthouse

Through the fence at Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, I spotted this very large lobster statue (along with a pirate, an Indian, and a few other tacky tourist statues). I knew I had to have my photo taken with it. Rodney took the photo for me and then we went inside.

Who knew what treasures we would find?! Does this scream tourist shop or what?? It was great! They actually had great stuff and a very quaint restaurant that looked out over the water. I bought some Christmas presents but I'm not telling what or for whom. I also picked up a cute napkin holder for the apartment in the shape of an Adirondack chair. But it's okay because I actually had "cocktail napkin holder" on my shopping list and have been looking for one for a few weeks now. I was thinking traditional basket, who knew exotic and hysterical Adirondack chair-shaped holder was a possibility?

Socks. Who knew Maine could have so may socks for tourists?

AMEN!! If this wasn't $14.95, I might have bought it. It even has blueberries on it. I've been going with a blueberry theme in my kitchen/dining area of the new apartment. Don't tell anyone, I don't want a bunch of blueberry stuff all over the house like I had pandas in the last house. I picked out a few blueberry things to start off the theme and then all new stuff I buy is in some shade of blue. It's more subtle that way.

7/19/08 First Harvest . . . and Margaritas

Oh, you're going to be so jealous of the amazing and wonderful landlords that I have! I hate to call them "landlord" and "landlady"--they're really great friends, Darlene and John, who happen to live upstairs. But technically, they're also my landlords. Here's a great story about them and about how lucky I am to be their tenant.

So I'm sitting outside on the verandah, reading a mindless book (what better way to pass the time of a guilt-free summer, eh?) with the radio on in the background, waiting for the Red Sox game to come on. I hear "knock knock." Not the sound of someone knocking, but the actual words, "knock knock." I look up and Darlene and John are standing on the grass a few feet from the edge of the verandah. "Come in!" I reply laughingly. John needs to paint a few spots on their sundeck (my verandah ceiling) that Darlene was not able to get to last week when she painted while he was out of town. She points and describes the places, then he gets the ladder and drop cloths and sets out to painting those spots. He and I start chatting about the ball game while he's painting, then we talk about his time in Dallas doing his pilot training, and then we talk about Abuelo's restaurant. During the time he was down there, Darlene flew down for one of his 48 hour breaks to celebrate their anniversary and they went to Abuelo's. MMMMMmmmm yum. Good Mexican food! He then mentions how much Darlene enjoyed the mango margaritas. Mango margaritas? I love a great margarita but had never had a mango one! Then the game comes on, we listen to the game for a while, he finishes painting and leaves and I stay on the verandah reading and listening to the game.

Soon Darlene comes through with her bucket and gardening tools and she's on her way down to the garden. Next thing I know she's back on the verandah with handful of green beans. "Do you like green beans?" she asks. As I'm nodding yes, she's putting a handful in my hands. "There's not enough there for the two of us, but we'll have plenty in another day or two." Oh, were they yummy. I ate a bunch of them raw and then saved the rest to cook for dinner.

Later I finish the book and go inside. Next I hear the rattling sound that means someone is knocking on the screen door. I look up and it's Darlene and John and they have glasses in their hands which are obviously filled with mango margaritas. But they have three glasses. :-) So we sit on the verandah and enjoy mango margaritas together. We talk about lots of things including that Abuelo's wouldn't give the recipe for mango margaritas but gave them a general idea of the ingredients and so they were trying to recreate them. For a first attempt, these were incredible. I couldn't think of anything to make them better 'cuz I couldn't imagine them getting any yummier. As we all finish up our drinks, they decide to go make a second batch and see if they can refine it. They invite me, too, and next thing I know, I'm in their kitchen as they perfect the mango margarita and then I'm sitting down to watch the rest of the game on television. The Red Sox may have lost the game but I certainly had a winning afternoon and evening with my neighbors!

First harvest of green beans from Darlene's garden.

7/17/08 Where the Sidewalk Ends

This doesn't quite capture it, but my walk home is eight tenths of a mile from my building on campus and the last tenth of a mile is uphill. It's not a steep climb, but it's noticeable. And near the top of the hill, the sidewalk ends. Fortunately, my apartment is not very far from that. In the winter, I don't know if the sidewalk will be plowed that far up like it was in my old house. We'll find out. Meanwhile, it's a most pleasant walk and twice as much exercise which is a good thing.

7/15/08 Dinner and Ice Cream

Are you sitting down? Last night I cooked. I know. It's hard to believe. Ashley will never believe me again when I tell her that I don't cook. It was such a departure from all that I know to be normal. Is it the air in Maine? Is it the after-effects of a guilt-free summer? Enquiring minds want to know. But until we know those results, here are the details:

It's Monday in the late afternoon and I'm sitting in my office pretending to get work done. Suddenly, I'm struck with the desire to eat beef strogonoff. Where did that come from? As a kid strogonoff was always one of my favorite meals. (I think any combination of dairy and pasta is good--mac and cheese, pasta alfredo, . . . ) I never fixed it for myself but in the last 10 years or so, my mom has gotten in the habit (and what a great habit it is, too) of fixing strogonoff one night when I'm in town whenever I visit. That means I only eat it two to five times a year, but that's better than zero which was where I was at before.

Anyway . . . so I get this urge for strogonoff and I start looking online for a recipe. I found one that sounded good and was meant to make only 2 to 3 servings. That's a desirable recipe for anything that can't be frozen when you're cooking for one. But it involved making it from scratch. There was even something called a "roux" involved in the process. Eeegads, what was I getting into? Oh well, I've got the time, why not?

Next, I'm shopping at Wal-Mart because not only do I need the ingredients for this recipe, but I need a pan, too. My little 4 pan set that's barely getting me by for frying eggs and making granola does not have a pan big enough or heavy enough for this task. I finally get to the meat aisle where I'm looking at beef tenderloin which is what the recipe calls for. Eeegads! Have you seen the price of beef tenderloin??! I quickly shift down to the stew meat section which is what my mom always uses. Hmmmm, this looks good but the smallest package is 2 pounds. But even so, 2 pounds of stew meat is cheaper than 1/2 a pound of tenderloin. I decide to rethink the concept. I whip out my iPhone and start searching online for beef strogonoff recipes that use stew meat 'cuz I know when my mom makes it, she "stews" the meat but I never paid attention to how she did that. I find another one, double check that I've got the ingredients for that one, finish my shopping and head home.

It's now 8:30pm and I'm just starting to make dinner. Oh well! It's an adventure! I've decided on some combination of the two recipes 'cuz the one tells me how to do the stew meat part but the other ones sounds yummier with fresh dill and some other cool ingredients. That means I have to triple the one recipe to make it fit the quantity of meat I have. All this for a non-cook. Why not start out simple? Because that would be too easy! And away I go, whisking flour into melted butter and searing stew meat in my tiny kitchen with no countertops. I put a cookie sheet over the two burners I'm not using to create a flat worktop and keep hounding away. Three hours later, the end is in sight. I decide not to cook the noodles that night and in fact, I'm going to eat it for dinner tomorrow. It's too late to eat it now. It turned out fabulous except for the very very last part where I should've drained the concoction the mushrooms were saute-ing in before I added the roux. Now I have very yummy beef strogonoff but very runny beef strogonoff. RATS! Oh well.

Hmmm, if you've read this far you're wondering why I called this post "Dinner and Ice Cream" on the 15th when I'm writing about the 14th. Well, it's just a long lead-in to [thank you Paul Harvey] 'The Rest of the Story'.

This morning as I was coming out of the post office I ran into MRM walking down the street. I love it when that happens! We start chatting and I'm inspired to say, "If you and RBF are free tonight, would you do me a favor and help me eat some beef strogonoff that I made last night. It's yummy but runny so I'm not inviting you to a dinner party, I'm asking friends that I trust to come help me clean out my refrigerator." Even though she rarely eats meat, I promise her I'll have enough salad and veggies that she can get a meal out of it. Then I call Rodney and invite him to the same event.

Of course, it did turn into a quasi-dinner party 'cuz I needed something a little bit more than just strogonoff. I went back to the store for some lettuce and crescent rolls; I had enough other stuff. I also bought some corn starch to see if I could thicken up the strogonoff sauce just a tad. I had spinach and artichoke dip plus the chips left over from Games Night, so they really were helping me clean out the refrigerator. We "dined on the verandah" and had a really good time. MRM was able to make pasta salad out of what I had available so we all ate to our fill. The strogonoff was a little less runny but now had a funny texture to it from the corn starch. I don't think I'll try that trick again. But I will try making strogonoff from scratch again (not during the semester, though) and I will invite friends over for dinner again. All in all, it was a worthwhile and not unpleasant endeavor.

After dinner, we all went to Gifford's for their famous ice cream. It was my first trip of the season to Gifford's. MRM and I split a strawberry shortcake. Wowser was that good! No matter how mediocre the dinner had been, the dessert made up for it all.

7/12/08 Games Night

Games Night was at MY place! This is our sixth Games Night and I got to play hostess. It's actually my second time to host 'cuz MRM and I co-hosted back in April. Whooop! We started on the verandah and actually just sat around and ate, yacked, and drank for 2.5 hours until the darkness and the mosquitoes got to us. Then we went inside and played Tri-Bond and yacked, ate, and drank some more. People brought chairs (I was worried I wouldn't have enough), food, games, and FLOWERS! I liked that part! Here are roses from Michelle:

and here are sunflowers from Pearia:

7/6/08 Life on the verandah

Since it isn't attached to a doorway, I don't think it's a porch. I guess it could be a patio, but since it's covered and has columns and since it has such a lovely view, I do think verandah is the right name for this location, don't you? I do love it. And with all the sunshine lately (have you been looking at the sky in all the photos of the field lately?), I get to spend more time out here. (If you note the slits in the deck above, you'll know I haven't been sitting out there too much in the all the rain we had on a daily basis prior to July 4.) You're welcome to come join me on the verandah!

7/6/08 more progress in the field

7/4/08 Harvesting in the field

7/2/08 something's up in the field . . . or down?

Hmmmmm, I came home today and noticed that something was different over in the far edge of the field across the highway.

6/24/08 A Perfect Match

One of the things I got out of storage in Dallas were all the blankets I could find. In my old furnished house, I had plenty of blankets, so I didn't bring any with me. But in the new place, the bed is provided but not the linens. And even in summer, I need extra covers. This throw is two pieces of fleece that have been knotted together at the fringe. Dr. Mari made it for me for Christmas one year. It matched the turquoise and brown in my old living room but the dusty rose patches in it match the chair in my new apt. perfectly. I love it when things come together like this. :-)

5/24/08 the view is changing

Check out the dogwalking park/river banks of the Sandy River. I think those are all dandelions down there dotting the grass with yellow.

Compare it to the photo from just 8 days ago when I first moved in.

5/16/08 outside my new digs

Here are views of the porch and from the porch. The green tarp is over the lawn mowers--that's only temporary. The 4 chairs and table are provided by the landlords. What a deal!

That's the Sandy River way down there. The field in front of it (the river bank/floodplain) is nicknamed The Dog Walking Park and I can see all the dogs and dogwalkers from my porch. You can also see "The Highway," the lawn, and Darlene's vegetable garden (she promised me green beans and tomatoes through the summer...I didn't harvest any rutabaga even though she told me I could).

Notice the crabapple tree on the right of the house in full bloom. There's a closeup of it in the next photo. Yes, it's the end of May and fruit trees are just blossoming.

5/15/08 First guests

After signing the lease, I went downstairs and put my food in the refrigerator and just started looking around. I had some stuff in the car and I unloaded that. Then Rodney called and asked what I was doing. :-) So he and MRM came over to see the new place. I hadn't been in 20 minutes and already I had company. I love it! They looked around the place, sat on the porch with me (I do love the porch), met the landlords (hmmm, that new tenant is already having folks come over to party), perused the property, and gave it their seal of approval. Then we all went out to Dunkin Donuts for free iced coffee (well, I didn't have any, but I went anyway) and then to Farmington House of Pizza (F-HOP . . . not to be confused with I-HOP) for dinner. What fun!

In this photo you can see the entrance to my apartment and my "covered" porch. The porch goes the entire length of the front of the apartment and above it is Darlene and John's sundeck which shades my porch for me.

Half veggie/half pepperoni pizza from F-HOP.

5/15/08 more new apt. photos

This one photo captures the dining area and pantry (metal cabinet), the step up, the door to the bathroom (see the white vanity and sink?) and the entrance to the kitchen (the counter space you see between the sink and the wall is the only counter space in the kitchen).

Here's a close-up of the sink and you can see its proximity to the refrigerator.

Bathroom--tiny but functional:

This is the broom closet . . . big enough for one broom. I love it when people make efficient use of space. Instead of just covering up the pipes, they put a tiny door on it and created enough space to store a broom and dustpan.