All posts by Laurie Graves

I write about nature, food, the environment, home, family, community, and people.
Celebrate, Food, People

More Birthday Brouhaha

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As I have written in the past, our philosophy is to celebrate early and celebrate often. Along with escaping Hurricane Florence, Shannon and Mike had timed their trip north to coincide with my birthday, which was yesterday. Since Clif’s birthday is a week from now, we figured a double celebration was in order.

Yesterday was a sunny day—not too hot, not too humid—so off we went to the Red Barn for seafood and chicken. I, of course, had a lobster roll. Utterly delicious, with just a touch of mayonnaise to hold the lobster together.

Then, for dessert, a whoopie pie.

After lunch, it was onward to Waterville to see the new waterfront park by the Kennebec River. Since the late 1960s, when in a fit of urban renewal all the buildings were torn down, a piece of land off Front Street had been empty and pretty much neglected. Not anymore. How spiffy and lovely it looks.

We walked across the Two Cent Bridge, a suspension bridge that connects Waterville to Winslow. Time was when walkers had to pay a two-cent toll to cross the bridge, but that time has passed.

For no fee at all, we went across the bridge, where I took a picture of Shannon and Mike.

Here’s a shot down the blue, blue Kennebec River, toward the Hathaway Mill, which no longer produces shirts and is instead used for businesses and apartments. (You can’t really see the Hathaway in this picture, but it is on the right past the bridge.)

And here’s a shot up the river. On the right is the old Scott Paper Company, which looks deserted. So many factories closed, and while they polluted the Kennebec River, they also provided good-paying jobs. So far, nothing has come to take their place and lift the area’s economy.

But it was too fine a day to brood on a stalled economy. (I’ll save that for another day.) After walking across the bridge and along the river, we went to Cancun, a Mexican restaurant in Waterville, and had drinks at a table on the sidewalk.

Happy birthday to us!

Animals - especially dogs

Kit, Dogs, Sacks, and Kids Have Arrived

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Yesterday, ahead of the storm, ahead of the floods, under bright blue skies, the kids—Mike and Shannon—arrived in Maine with the kit—Penny—and the dogs—Holly and Somara. The dogs haven’t been here for two years, but they remembered everything, from the backyard to the the bulkhead down cellar, the main way they go in and out. The dogs have settled in nicely and have also remembered who is the soft touch when it comes to treats. (That would be me.)

Penny, on the other hand, was fairly traumatized when she got here and bolted directly under the bed in the room where Mike and Shannon are staying. However Penny ate and did other things she needed to do. She also came out when Mike and Shannon went to bed.

So everyone is here, and we are loving it.

The doors at the end of the hall are working beautifully. So far, no cat fights. In fact, I don’t think our cats even know there is another cat in the house.

Behind our house, there are trails in the cool, green woods, and this morning Shannon and Mike took Holly and Somara there for a walk, where they could both run off-leash. Here they are coming back from their romp.

And here are Holly and Somara resting  in my room as I write. Shannon and Mike have gone to visit a friend, and we are dog sitting.

I must admit I am in seventh heaven to have two dogs in the house.

 

Animals - especially dogs, Food, News

Hurricane and Instant Pot Update

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The bad news is that Hurricane Florence has strengthened into a category 4 hurricane and might even reach category 5 before it hits landfall.  And the damage won’t be done as Florence loses steam. Weakened, Florence is still dangerous. The forecast predicts that Florence will stall over land in North Carolina and could bring up to two feet of rain to an already saturated state. This, in turn, will bring floods, toppled trees, and massive power outages.

But for our little family, the good news is that kids, dogs, and kit have left Dodge, as it were, well ahead of Hurricane Florence. They will be with us sometime late tomorrow night, and how good it will be to see them.

Now for the Instant Pot. It worked exactly the way it should. Within an hour, we had a very tasty vegetable soup for our dinner, and most of that time involved cutting up the vegetables. We couldn’t believe that the five minute cooking time of the recipe was correct—that was after everything had come up to temperature—and so we cooked the soup for fourteen minutes. While the vegetables were good, they were too soft, and we were thinking that perhaps five minutes wasn’t so far off after all.

Before:

Fourteen minutes later:

This particular soup recipe called for a sprinkle of nutritional yeast in the bowls once the soup was done.  We substituted soy sauce, and the soup was tasty. But I am now intrigued about nutritional yeast, which I have never used. (I know, I know. I am behind on this one.) I plan on picking some up soon to use on vegetable soups and perhaps other dishes.

So all in all, a good day, but my thoughts are with those who must evacuate and don’t have family up north to stay with.

And I certainly hope that the aid to the Carolinas is better than what Puerto Rico got last year after Hurricane Maria. Three thousand dead. Some people without power and adequate housing for nearly a year.

A national disgrace.

Animals - especially dogs, Books, News

And So It Begins: Editing, Hurricane Florence, and a Full House

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As fall makes a tentative appearance with weather so cool that it actually feels brisk—going from 95° to 60° in less than a week—the tempo at our house has gone from busy to out straight.

Dee has finished editing my YA fantasy novel, Library Lost. For new blog readers, this is the second book in my Great Library Series, the sequel to Maya and the Book of Everything. Now comes the hard work of copy editing. Only basic housework will be done. Meals will be very, very simple. The book must be edited! I am so glad I now follow my blogging friend Jason’s lead and no longer cut back perennials in the fall. Instead, I wait until spring. (Jason’s wonderful blog is Garden in a City.)

To add to the merry chaos, our daughter Shannon, her husband Mike, their dogs Holly and Somara, and their cat Penny will be coming for a visit the end of this week. That’s right, even the cat. Hurricane Florence, a most unwelcome guest, will be pounding North Carolina, where Mike and Shannon live, just after they leave for Maine. Mike and Shannon are afraid that flooding will make it impossible for their pet sitter to tend Penny.

So when Shannon asked about bringing Penny, I immediately said, “Yes.”

The complicating factor, of course, is that we have two cats who just barely tolerate the two dogs, whom they know. As for a cat they’ve never met…well, I’m sure you can picture the results. A lot of hissing and fighting.

But never fear! We have come up with a solution. We had folding doors in our basement, and Clif has brought them upstairs to put at the end of the hall so that Penny will have her own little suite of a bedroom, a reading room, and a half bath. Sounds pretty nice, doesn’t it? I hope she likes our selection of books.

I probably won’t be blogging much in the next few weeks, and if I do, most likely it will be a picture along with a few lines.

So onward, ho, to editing and dogs and cats and sacks and wives.

 

 

Flowers, Home

The Waning of Summer

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Summer has pretty much come to an end. While the days might still be warm and sunny, the gardens around the house tell a different story—autumn is coming.

The back garden is definitely ragged, no two ways about it.

The bee balm is no longer in vibrant bloom, just a few red petals here and there.

Except for the border of annuals, the rest of the garden doesn’t look much better. But the impatiens are positively thriving—I have never seen them so big and full. Clearly, they liked the heat and humidity, even if I didn’t.

And the begonias, troopers that they are, continue to provide welcome color.

The front yard actually looks a little better, and it’s all because of the hostas that I divided and planted in the many holes in my garden. Hostas might not be showy, but they maintain a cool, even presence. Surely there must be a lesson in this.

One plant that is coming into bloom is the sedum—autumn joy. Here’s a close up with a little friend on the top.

Farewell, summer. You might have been too hot and humid, but I treasure those evenings on the patio, the nights with the windows open, the gatherings with grilled bread.

 

 

Celebrate, Community, Nature

A Labor Day of Blue Skies and Water

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On Sunday, we took Dee to the bus station so that she could return to New York City, where she lives and works. Always so sad to see her go, but what a fun time we had celebrating our birthdays.

Monday was Labor Day in this country. Here is a short explanatory blurb from Wikipedia: “Labor Day is celebrated on the first Monday in September. It honors the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made to the strength, prosperity, laws, and well-being of the country. It is the Monday of the long weekend known as Labor Day Weekend. It is recognized as a federal holiday. ”

Very fitting that we should honor laborers who made the workforce a better, safer place. However, for many people it is the long weekend marking the end of summer. Tourists aplenty come to Maine on Labor Day Weekend, but luckily for us, central Maine is not a hot spot for vacationers, and the roads are fairly quiet.

In keeping with our quiet area, we decided that Monday would be a no-car day and that we would bike along Maranacook Lake, one of our favorite places to ride. The day was hot but beautiful, and after our ride, we sat on a bench at Norcross Point to watch the water, the boats, and the sky.

Hydrangeas are in bloom, and I liked the way the blossoms look with the sky as the background.

Also, I liked the way the two bright kayaks punctuated the water. Blue and pink, pink and blue.

As we sat at the park and watched people paddle and swim, we reflected how lucky we were to live in a town where there is ample access to free public areas by the lake. Not every town has this, and in Readfield, the town next to ours, their beach is billed as “a user supported beach.” The town charges $40 per family for an annual permit.

Certainly, $40 is not a great deal of money, but lots of people in central Maine live on a tight budget, and I wonder how many families decide they can’t afford the fee. Much better, in my opinion, to have the beach and the park free for all to enjoy. (I do realize that taxes pay for the maintenance of the Winthrop beach and park, and I am happy to have a portion of my taxes used this way.)

After these musings, Clif and I decided to head home. And what did I see? Leaves just beginning to change color.

It is September, after all, and while the calendar tells us that autumn isn’t here until September 23, the trees are telling us otherwise.

Soon, the most  beautiful season of the year will be upon us.

In the meantime, Clif and I will enjoy as many evenings as we can on the patio.

Those days are numbered.

 

 

Celebrate, Food

Pizza Palooza

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On Wednesday, when the temperature was in the mid-90s but because of the humidity it felt like 100°, this family of pizza hounds went to Cushnoc Brewing Co. for a pizza palooza to celebrate our birthdays. Normally when we go out for pizza, we use a reasonable amount of restraint. We share a large pizza, and while Clif might get a beer, Dee and I usually get iced tea.

However, this was a birthday celebration for the three of us, so we pulled all the stops.

We started with spicy nuts,

and we all had special drinks.

Here’s a closer look at mine, a humdinger of a bloody Mary.

Then came the pizzas. We each ordered our own, and they were all beautifully baked.

Naturally, there were leftovers and lots of them. (Truth be told, I was pretty full after the drink and nuts.) Did we come prepared? You bet we did. Not only did we bring a cooler with two ice packs, but following the example of our friends Alice and Joel, we also brought containers from home for the leftover pizza.

After the pizza it was off to the movies, a perfect air-conditioned way to spend a very hot afternoon. We saw Alpha, a beautiful, soulful imagining of how wolves and humans bonded 20,000 years ago in Europe. It’s told through the point of view of an adolescent, Keda, who, in an accident, becomes separated from his tribe’s hunting party. He forms an unlikely and an uneasy alliance with a wolf, and together they travel across a harsh winter landscape to return to Keda’s village.

If you are a canid lover, this is a must-see movie. If you are not a canid lover, Alpha is still worth seeing at the biggest screen you can find. Imax, if possible. The cinematography is stunning—dazzling even—and so immersive it feels as though you are traveling with Keda and the wolf.

And something unexpected happened as I watched Keda and his tribe hunt buffaloes. As the small band of hunters stood there with their slender spears, they looked so vulnerable that I actually felt sympathy and tenderness toward them. It reminded me that we were not always a scourge on the planet, that once we were small and relatively weak in a harsh environment.

What comforts we have now in comparison to those who lived in the ice age. In a neat coincidence, Dee bought Clif and me an Instant Pot for our birthdays, which will make soup, among other foods, much easier to prepare. Looking forward to cooking with it.

After the movie and presents, we sat on the patio and had drinks. Beside us, the blue fountain rippled with falling water. Birds came to the feeders, as did squirrels. Crickets sang.

We all agreed that the patio was one of the finest places to be in late summer and a fitting end to a wonderful day.

 

 

 

Celebrate, Food

If There Are Chocolate Chip Cookies…

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It can only mean one thing…the kids are visiting. In this case the kid is Dee, who is a cookie monster with a passion for chocolate chip cookies. (Yes, even though she will soon be forty-one, Dee is still a kid to me.)

Dee will be here for the whole week, and because she is a film buff as well as a cookie monster, we’ll be going to plenty of movies. The temp is supposed to hit the mid-90s this week with the dreaded high humidity, so going to air-conditioned movies will be the perfect thing to do. However, I have to admit I had hoped we were done with the high heat and humidity, which comes under the category of “No Fun at All.”

Back in the day… Well, not much point in mentioning what the old days were like, when late August in Maine was sheer delight. Anyway, this absurdly hot weather weather in northern New England certainly reinforces the need to reduce my carbon footprint.

On a happier note, we’ll also be celebrating birthdays—Dee’s is in October, and Clif’s and mine are in September. A little early, but we are all together so we will strike while the iron is hot, as the saying goes. Besides, this ties right in with my philosophy: celebrate early, celebrate often. This year won’t be the birthday palooza we had last year, when Dee turned forty, and I turned sixty. But though the celebration will be more modest, we’ll still have fun.

As Bill and Ted of the Excellent Adventures often said, “Party on, dudes!”

Flowers, Food

The Dream of the Fish and the Chips

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Last night, I dreamed that Clif and I were making fish and chips. We seemed to be in the hall of the Methodist Church in town. You know how dreams are. People kept coming for our fish and chips, and I was afraid we were going to run out. But lo and behold! Suddenly there was plenty, and when our friends Alice and Joel came, we had enough to give them. I have no idea what the heck such a dream could mean, but it makes me giggle just to think about it.

Now on to other matters in the hinterland.

My birthday is right around the corner—in September—but my friend Barbara will be home in Pennsylvania by then. So we got together for tea and cookies, and she gave me a lovely tea towel.

“I thought of  you when I saw it,” she said.

“Oh, it’s so lovely. I don’t want to use it,” I replied.

Barbara gave me a stern look. “I gave the towel to you to be used.”

She’s right, of course. What’s the sense of having the towel and not using it? So here it is, covering rising bread dough, and this is how the tea towel  will be used from now on. But the tea towel is pretty, isn’t it? Wouldn’t you hate to use it?

And speaking of pretty…I am slowly, slowly coming around to begonias. They’re bright, they do well in part sun, part shade, which is the best my yard gets, and they last straight through until fall. In short, they are troopers. (I hope you noticed the little fairy hovering over them.)

Readers might recall that this was the year I succumbed to hostas. I had lost far too many flowers in the dry shade that is the reality of much of my yard. Finally I snapped, digging like a fiend, splitting up hostas I already had, and planting them wherever there was a hole left by a dead plant. And there were holes aplenty. Now, in late summer, I see the wisdom of all that mad activity in the spring. The front yard actually looks pretty good. There are no masses of flowers, but that’s pretty much true for the entire season. Most important, there are no ugly bare patches.

In the backyard, a plant has crept onto the patio, and Clif thinks it might be an evil creature from Doctor Who. But Clif is wrong. Instead, it is a cucumber, exploring and expanding. So far, I’ve only gotten a few cucumbers. I hope I get more before the frost comes.

This last shot might seem a little odd. This really is our kitchen wastebasket, and there is nothing distinguished about it. I included the wastebasket because in an effort to reduce trash and my carbon footprint, I had set a modest goal for myself. Instead of a bag of trash a week, I resolved to have a bag of trash every other week. I am happy to report that this goal has been met, chiefly by buying more in bulk, cooking more from scratch, and being careful about the packaged goods I do buy.

My next goal? A bag of trash every third week. That one will be harder to achieve.

Stay tuned!