Driving a Fuel Efficient Vehicle

I volunteered to take the special education candidate back to the airport in Portland on Saturday morning. We agreed to leave an hour earlier than we needed in order to stop off at L. L. Bean in Freeport. I reserved a university car for the trip--it saves the university money and it saves wear and tear on my car. Turns out that at UMF, our university cars are Toyota Priuses. When we arrived at L. L. Bean, there was a great parking spot available right next to Employee of the Month...and we were eligible.

Dining Out

I'm on the special education search committee that's looking for a new professor to come to UMF to take over the spot that will be available in fall 2011 due to the retirement of Sue. We did phone interviews with all the applicants and we picked our top three to bring to campus. It's actually a lot of work, but one of the perks is getting to go out to eat a nice meal with a candidate. We had three candidates scheduled to come to campus over a three-week period. But the first candidate got iced out of leaving her home town (and would have been here for our snow day), so that candidate was rescheduled for the next week. That meant two candidates in one week. Four nights of dinner with candidates. Good thing we have some really great choices of restaurants in the area. Two dinners at The Homestead, one night at Calzolaio Pasta, and one at The Granary. That's my idea of a good time. :-)

Sunshine 'n Snow

This is what I love about winters in Maine . . . sunshine and snow. Cold weather without humidity and without wind. It's the best!

Big Snows

It hasn't been much of a winter so far. Titcomb Mountain didn't even get to open until January 8 and missed the whole winter vacation opportunities. But we are making up for lost time, now. These are snow pics from February 2nd and February 5th. About 3 inches fell on February 1st, starting in the late afternoon. By 6am on the 2nd, the University announced it was closed for the day. Many more inches fell on Groundhog's Day. Below is a lazy person's version of time-lapse photography. Every couple of hours, I stuck my head out the door to the apartment and snapped a photo. You can't really tell much unless you look at the garden wall in the lower left corner of the picture. There's not much of it to see with all the snow, but as the day progresses, there's even less of it to see.

Photo 1: Feb. 2nd at 9:40am

Photo 2: Feb. 2nd at 11:20 am

Photo 3: Feb. 2nd at 1:20 pm

Photo 4: Feb. 2nd at 3:10pm

Photo 5: Feb. 3rd at 8:00am

Photo 6: Feb. 6th at 8:00am

Wire Bridge in winter

I did it! Last night, I was inspired by the photography at the Orcutt gallery and today, I went to the Wire Bridge to take my own photos. I love the Wire Bridge and have been 3 times with friends/family. This time, I went by myself and just soaked it in and took photos. There wasn't lots of fluffy snow sitting on the wires like the Orcutt photos, but they didn't have gorgeous blue skies and big white puffy clouds in their photos, either. And they had to have Photoshopped out the warning signs that are plastered on the bridge. But that's okay. I will be back. Thank you Maine for preserving this wonderful piece of history and cool architecture.

Goldilocks' 3rd Birthday

Once upon a time, there was a very special young lady who had a very cool and creative mom and a talented dad. The little girl was named K-Locks and she was going to have a birthday. K-Locks Mommy wanted to have a very special birthday party for her. Since Mommy knew K-Locks loved the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, she decided to invite the bears to the birthday party along with all of K-Locks' friends. Mommy knew the bears loved porridge (she read it in a very special book that K-Locks loves to read) so she made some porridge. But it wasn't just any porridge, it was very yummy porridge and she served it with everything delicious that bears love to eat and things that can make porridge magical: raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, raisins, nuts, brown sugar, milk, orange slices, and grapes (and more).

When K-LOcks' friends came to the party, they wanted to help the bears feel very welcome, so they all decorated some magic ears in order to look more like the bears.



After eating their delicious breakfast, they each had the chance to build their own little bears. That way they could take their memories of their new friends with them.

There was singing (of bear songs) and dancing (of bear dances) and lots of fun.

And of course, there was cake (in a special bear-cake shape made by K-Locks' daddy) . . . and ice cream.

Happy birthday, K-Locks!!

Thank you for inviting me to your birthday party!

new hidden posts

I'm catching up on my blogging (well, at least for 2011) but I'm publishing each post to show up on the day that the events happened. So you'll need to go back to find these new postings. Look for:

2/4/2011
2/3/2011
1/27/2011
1/22/2011
1/16/2011
and 2 posts on 1/2/2011

Kingfield Artwalk

http://www.kingfieldusa.com/



Last night at the movie, Stephanie asked me if I wanted to join her and Margaret. I didn't really understand what the adventure was that I was being invited to, but I knew if I went with Margaret and Stephanie, whatever the event was, I would thoroughly enjoy it. So I accepted. I didn't even know what time or where, I just knew it was going to be on Friday.

Stephanie picked me up at school around 4:00, we headed to Margaret's and from there we walked to Sugarwood Gallery in Farmington for a little art gallery opening night. A local art teacher had the works of her students on display (many of which were also for sale). They will stay on display at the gallery for a month until the first Friday of March at which there will be a new display. Apparently, this has been going on for quite a while and I just never knew it. There were some beautiful pieces of art, lively conversation, light refreshments, and a lot of fun.

Then we walked back to Margaret's, got in the car (after helping push the car over the last hump in the snow-covered driveway), and headed to Kingfield. Tonight was their Artwalk. A travel site's article about this event states, "Unlike most Art Walks, which run during the warmer months, leave it to Kingfield, in the shadow of Sugarloaf Mountain, to schedule its new first Friday of the month Art Walks from December through March."

We ran into Joe and Doris, who both work at UMF, and about a million friends of Margaret's. We went to 3 galleries and an exhibit in the offices of a local real estate agent. The art was wonderful and the amount of people quite surprising. We started at a gallery that has a barn for one gallery and a small room for a second gallery. This was so weird to me, though I started to recollect that I've heard of it, but the barn was really really cold inside. It was colder inside the barn than it was outside in the elements. Each gallery had some kind of refreshments to offer and we met the gallery owners and even some of the artists. It was all so personal and so much fun.

The gallery in the old schoolhouse had beautiful nature photography. The gallery is owned by the Orcutts--the couple that takes the photos--so it's gallery, studio, and living quarters all rolled into one. Their photos were all of winter in Maine. They were spectacular. They had some of the Wire Bridge that I love so much. I've never been to the Wire Bridge in winter but now I'm inspired to do so. The Orcutts created these cool candle holders made out of ice. They were a beautiful way to welcome us to the gallery. As the 3 of us stood admiring them, we started talking about The Ice Hotel in Quebec City. hmmmm sounds like a road trip to me!!

We didn't go to one of the galleries or the Ski Museum or the antique shop. That means we'll have to go back, right? :-) But by now, we were hungry, so we went to Longfellow's, which I had heard of and has been recommended to me many times, but I had never been. I ordered the special-of-the-day pork loin and it was delicious. (This photo doesn't do it justice....bad lighting and not-so-hot photography skills.)

Spontaneity

Some people in Maine think I'm not very spontaneous. Friends in Texas would tell you otherwise. I'm glad to prove the Maine folks wrong but that comment also made me stop to analyze and determine that I think my spontaneity has declined since coming here. Partly because of fewer opportunities for spontaneity and partly because I get to engrossed in my job during the long semester that I only practice the art of spontaneity pretty much during winter vacation and summer vacation.

Time to seek out more opportunities for spontaneity!! It will help a lot that I'm hanging out now with spontaneous people. Thanks, Stephanie, for the call at 5:20 to see if I wanted to go see The King's Speech at 6:50. I did and I went and I loved it!!

I really need to go to the movies more often. The Narrow Gauge Cinema is minutes from my apartment and has great seats, great sound, and incredibly reasonable prices. $6 for a prime time viewing of a first-run feature film. You can't beat it. Oh wait, you can: If you buy a 10 pack of tickets, they're only $5.50 a ticket. And even better, you can buy a 10 pack of combination tickets for $70 which means I paid $7 for a movie ticket, a small root beer, and a small bag of buttered popcorn. And actually, I paid less than that because I bought my 10 pack during the Early Bird Sale which means I got 10% off of that.

Come any time and I'll spontaneously offer you a chance to go to the movies with me on the cheap.

XC x 2

I went cross country (xc) skiing again tonight! It was a balmy 23 degrees tonight . . . 4 degrees warmer than last night. There was only 1 "customer" out skiing when I arrived. The two staff members on duty were a student named Natasha and Leigh. Leigh is an amazing woman who headed up UMF's nationally famous Ski Industries program at UMF for many years. Her office is on the second floor of the Education Center with mine and I've really enjoyed getting to know her this past year.

I explained what a rookie at all of this that I was and I knew from a conversation with Leigh earlier in the week, that Natasha was a really good cross country instructor. I got my equipment and was getting ready to head out, uncertain if I was going to have the great personal service from the night before or if I was on my own. Suddenly, Leigh is by my side ready to go. Oh my goodness!! I got really good coaching last night, but tonight, I had my own private ski lessons from a gifted teacher. About every fifteen minutes as she would find a way to explain the subtleties of what I needed to do next to REALLY cross country ski (and not just "get around" on skis, or as I called it, cross country walking), I would have to stop and just say, "Leigh, as a fellow educator, I gotta tell you that you're phenomenal!" It was such a treat to be in the presence of an amazing teacher and I had to pinch myself as I realized I was having the privilege of being the student! I learned so much that night. I was able to build on the confidence and balance I had gained the night before, but I leaped forward about 9 weeks of personal coaching in this one night. I ached from using muscles that have never flexed before but I not only understood what to do, I could feel when I was doing it and when I wasn't, I knew how to correct it. Wowser, was it awesome.

Thank you, Leigh!!! Thank you UMF for arranging for this equipment loan and providing this week of free skiing and coaching!!!

Cross Country Skiing

UMF is hosting a week of cross country skiing. They got a big trailer full of equipment from some association that promotes winter sports in Maine. So M, W, F they're offering cross country skiing from noon to 1:30 and M, T, W, Th they're offering it from 6 to 8pm (headlamps provided). And on M and W nights, they're offering clinics for newbies from 6 to 7.

I was aiming for the 6pm clinic tonight but didn't realize how long it would take to put on all those layers, so I didn't get there until 6:20. I was their first customer of the evening. Jim, who runs the Fitness and Recreation Center, and Lucas, a senior political science/geography major, were in the trailer just waiting for me. :-) They were both incredibly patient and they were really good teachers. They got me all outfitted with boots, skis, poles, and a headlamp. Since no one else was there, they decided to both go with me! Talk about special attention! I started out slow and uncertain and did "a lot of rookie moves" but as the time wore on, I got better and more certain. It was pretty fun!

Around 7:00, two UMF students came to ski. One of them had been there both M and T nights. I guess the temperature (18 degrees F) and the falling snow might have scared people off, but there was no wind and it was not very humid. I was appropriately layered in my clothing (on top I had silk long johns, a long sleeved t-shirt, a sweatshirt, a hoodie, and a windbreaker with a hood . . . that's a lot of layers!). But I actually brought an additional layer (a big thick jacket) and didn't need it. It was quite pleasant. I was never cold.

I've only been cross country skiing one other time . . . three years ago when I first moved here, MRM took me to Titcomb. That was a fabulous introduction and tonight was a great re-introduction. Now I've gone twice and I think I'll go again tomorrow. w00t!

White and Gray

That's not a cloudy day, that's how thick the falling snow is right now. :-) It's 5 below zero and sunrise was a few hours ago. Yep. It's winter.

Have You Seen Harvey?

I braved the cold (and the slippery sidewalk conditions) to go see Harvey. I love the story and the 1950 movie. I knew whoever played Elwood P. Dowd was taking on a thankless task as everyone would be comparing him to Jimmy Stewart, but I went anyway.

The Sandy River Players did a phenomenal job! The stage setting was fabulous as they artfully co-mingled the Dowd's home and the sanatorium and never had to do a scene change. The actor who played Elwood was fabulous. He made the role his own, not a hint of Jimmy Stewart, and yet just as lovable and convincing. The woman who played Veta Louise, the sister, however, stole the show. I read an interview where Jimmy Stewart said the woman in that role in the movie had the hardest part because she had to believe and not believe in Harvey at the same time. This woman did that convincingly. She had just enough "drama" to pull it off without getting melodramatic. The whole production was fabulous.

When I arrived, I saw some friends and I also saw some graduates. I ended up sitting with my former students, one who had come from Portland and one from New Hampshire. It was so great to see them. This was about the fourth time I had run into the NH grad at a play at UMF. The other three times he was a student on campus, but it was still unusual that we kept picking the same performances of the same shows to attend. It turned out that none of them (there was another UMF student with them that I hadn't had in a class) had ever seen the movie, so I was wrong that most people in the audience would be comparing this production to the movie. How could someone have not seen the movie?? Oh. I guess since it is 60 years old, not everyone watches the classics. ;-)

Great drama with good friends--What a great way to spend a cold winter's evening.

New look

I rejuvenated my blog. Put up a new picture (taken from my verandah looking across the Sandy River on a snowy sunset) and tried out the new Google Web Fonts. As an amateur calligrapher, I love a good font. But when my friend Dawn is part of the Google team that put together the fonts, I'm especially excited to try them out. :-)

Since the day and date appear right above the blog title, my "new year's resolution" is to leave the date out of the title starting this year. Now if I can just keep my new year's resolution of getting back into the blogging habit. You'll know when I know!

How cold??

The prediction for tomorrow night is a low of 23 degrees below zero. How cold?? Minus 23. Start at the temperature at which water freezes and go down more 55 degrees. I can't even get my head around that number. I think the coldest it's been since I arrived is 13 below. Wow. I have no idea what to do except "hunker down" and wear my long coat. Oh, and they say don't count on your car battery working very well in those temps.


We'll see . . .