Category Archives: Celebrate

Animals - especially dogs, Celebrate, Food, Winter

Second Christmas

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Because our daughter Shannon and our son-in-law Mike spent Christmas in North Carolina with his folks, we decided to have a belated celebration the first weekend in January. Unfortunately, the weather gods had other plans for us, and a storm kept Shannon and Mike home that weekend. The next weekend, then, we decided.

However, those weather gods were plotting yet again to send a storm our way, but this time we outsmarted them. Shannon and Mike came the day before the storm and left the day afterward. I am happy to report that we celebrated the holiday in our usual simple, cozy way, and it really did feel like Christmas.

It was lovely to see the girls again.

And the storm that came to central Maine on Saturday made it feel all the more like Christmas.

On Saturday morning, there were presents and pumpkin bread. In the afternoon, appetizers and a new game—Betrayal at House on the Hill. In the evening, homemade cheddar cheese soup.

Dessert, unfortunately, didn’t turn out that way it should have. I pressed chocolate chip cookie dough in a skillet to be baked and brought warm to the table and served with vanilla ice cream. But even though the skillet cookie was nicely browned on top, the middle was gooey to the point of being raw. We thought that perhaps I should have used only half the batter. Readers, any suggestions? I’m willing to give it another try.

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While the storm on Saturday wasn’t bad for central Maine—snow mixed with a little rain—it was devastating for our coast, which hadn’t recovered from the previous storm. More flooding, more property damage, more roads destroyed. It’s heartbreaking to see the damage. Even though I live inland, I love the coast, and as a Mainer, I feel connected to it. I have been to many of the places that were ravaged by the storm, driven on  roads now destroyed.

Governor Mills declared a civil state of emergency for all eight coastal counties. And rightly so. Those communities will need a lot of aid to recover from the storms.

All in all, in the past few weeks, Mainers have received quite the punch from storms causing damage that would have been inconceivable when I was young. Yes, we had a lot of snow, and the snowbanks really were taller than I was when I was a child. We plowed, we shoveled, and went about our business. As far as I can recall, there wasn’t much damage, and we hardly ever lost our power.

But these wind storms in the winter are something new, and because of the rising sea, the damage is made worse along the coast.

The effects of climate change are with us now, and we have to deal with increasingly destructive storms.

I can only hope that we have the personal and political will to stop the climate crisis from getting worse.

Here is a clip that shows one small part of the storm’s destruction. All along the coast, the story is the same.

 

Animals - especially dogs, Celebrate, cooking, News

Back Again in 2024

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As many of you know, in September my daughter Shannon, her husband Mike, their two dogs—Holly and Somara—and their cat Penny moved in with us. One phase of their life had ended, and they were starting a new phase with different jobs. Staying with us allowed them to take their time to find a place that was exactly right for them as well as for the dogs and cat.

This Shannon and Mike did, with a lovely new apartment overlooking the water. In late December, dogs, kit, and kids left, leaving the three of us—Clif, our daughter Dee, and me. The house is now very quiet. While I miss the hubbub, it feels great to return to my old schedule, which not only includes blogging but also working on my upcoming book, Darcy Dansereau, a slice-of-life fantasy set in Maine in the 1970s.

Along with Christmas, December included a challenge courtesy of Mother Nature—a rain and wind storm with gusts up to 70 miles per hour. This storm whipped through central Maine with the expected results—widespread power outages in the days leading to Christmas. We were without power for four days, and it was even longer for some people in central Maine.

The storm also brought about an unexpected result—flooding for communities by a river. While flooding is common in the spring, it is pretty much unheard of in December. As I am fond of saying, in these times of climate change, weird is the new normal. These floods were as bad as I’ve ever seen them, but as we don’t live near a river, we stayed dry.

Because we have a wood furnace, we were warm and cozy during the power outage. In addition, we have a camp stove, and in town there is a business with an outside spigot where we could get water. So we were all right during our time without power.

During the power outage, we were still taking care of the dogs and cat while Mike and Shannon were getting settled in their new apartment. Here is the expression on Holly’s face as the storm blew and raged outside.

Because the light was low, the focus isn’t the best. Still, I think it captures her mood, which was pretty much the same as ours: none of us liked the storm one bit.

But through it all we did have a light to shine with an old lamp that belonged to Clif’s parents.

The Thursday before Christmas, early in the morning, the lights came on, and we all rejoiced.

The dogs and the cat settled back into their comfortable routines.

My brother, sister-in-law, and nephew came over to celebrate Christmas Eve with us, and what a jolly time we had. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken of the event.

I did, however, take pictures of Christmas morning, and our first ever Crustmas feast. The idea for Crustmas came from a delightful podcast called Strong Sense of Place: The Library of Lost Time. The hosts, Dave and Mel, explained how they celebrate the holiday with Crustmas, which revolves around their love of toast. (I, too, love toast, and as soon as I heard their idea, I was all in.) They buy a number of nice loaves of bread and provide a bunch of yummy toppings: Nutella, jam, cream cheese, butter. They also have a charcuterie board, which we did not do this year but might next year. However, the genius idea is to bring the toaster right to the table so that there is no running back and forth to the kitchen to make toast. At the table, out pops the toast, hot and fresh for eager eaters.

Here is the table on Christmas morning all set up for Crustmas.

Crustmas was a smashing success, and we will do this again next Christmas. However, as Dave and Mel reminded listeners, there is no need to confine Crustmas to Christmas. The glories of toast can be celebrated all through the year, and that’s exactly what we plan to do.

A very happy New Year to all my wonderful blogging friends. I will be posting once a week, on Wednesday, unless something special comes up that deserves my attention.

Until next Wednesday.

Celebrate, Fall

A Gathering of Scarecrows

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This year, the Winthrop Grange has sponsored a Scarecrow Contest for families, organizations nonprofits, businesses, and churches. The response has been wonderful. Scarecrows are lurking on Main Street. They are settled by light poles. One is even lounging by the library, and he is clearly asleep at the job. All have really jazzed up Winthrop’s downtown.

Here are just a few of the entries. They range from cute

to odd but arresting

to cozy

to elegant

to vibrant

to spooky

to just plain fun.

I can imagine all the scarecrows late at night as they slide off their poles and glide around town, gathering by the lake to have a scarecrow dance, careful to return to their posts before dawn so that nobody knows about their nightly escapades. But those with sharp eyes and a notion for the uncanny might notice clumps of straw here and there by the water, evidence that there was some kind of wild, spooky gathering.

 

Celebrate

Clif’s Birthday Treats

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This weekend we celebrated Clif’s 72 birthday. It included beer, both at home

and at Maine Beer Company in Freeport, Maine (also the home of L.L. Bean, which some of you might have heard of).

Our son-in-law Mike had recommended going to Maine Beer Company, and he raised a mug in honor of Clif’s birthday.

In addition, there was delectable pizza.

But Clif’s birthday was not all beer and pizza. Before going to Maine Beer Company, Clif, Mike, Shannon, and Dee hiked in Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park, also in Freeport. Because of my creaky knees, I stayed home with the dogs and met everyone in Freeport after the hike.

The hike was about four miles, over hill and roots, and here was the view from the trail.

Clif loves Wolfe’s Neck, and that night, at home, after presents and cake, he pronounced the day, with its warm sunny weather, a perfect way to start his 72 trip around the sun.

 

Celebrate, News

After the Hurricane

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As it turned out, Hurricane Lee only glanced the Winthrop area, with gusty winds that weren’t strong enough to knock out power on a large scale. (There were some power outages, of course, and the midcoast area got hit harder, with extensive outages.)

We were all very grateful to keep the limited power we have. The old adage “some is better than none” certainly applies in this case. Yes, we would love to be able to use our oven, our washer, our dryer, and our dishwasher. We would love to turn on our computers with no worries about using too much power, But, we have lights and water and a working refrigerator and freezer. We can use our stove top and toaster.

On Thursday, the electrician will be coming to set things right. We are counting the days.

This week, I am hoping to get back to reading blogs and commenting. I certainly have missed keeping up with all of you.

My birthday was on Friday, the eve of the hurricane. To celebrate, we went to Absolem Cider Company, one of my favorite places that I’ve written about in previous posts.

We had delicious drinks and Thai food. There were cupcakes for dessert. The place was packed, and we had so much fun.

At Absolem, the sky at dusk, before the storm, was glorious.

I am now 66, and I love being an age with repeating numbers. My birthday came on the eve of a hurricane whose winds proved to be mild. A week before, there was a lightning strike.

It seems that 66 has come in with a bang.

Onward, ho!

 

Celebrate, Food

A Very Happy Mother’s Day

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In the United States, yesterday was Mother’s Day. Unfortunately, our eldest daughter Dee is in New York and couldn’t be with us. However, our youngest daughter Shannon and her husband Mike came on Friday and spent the night. Naturally, the dogs came, too, for the early Mother’s Day celebration.

What a treat to have them here. We had Chinese food followed by donuts for dessert. (I am a donut fiend, and I once wrote a piece called “Desperate for Donuts.”)

We spent quite a bit of time on the patio. Luckily, this spring the black flies—those biting scourges of the north—aren’t too bad. A real gift for Mother’s Day. Nothing like having a cloud of bloodthirsty insects swarming around your head to ruin a celebration.

That night, we played a cooperative board game called The Big Book of Madness.

We had a lot of fun with this game.

After playing The Big Book of Madness, we talked late into the night about all the things we love—books, games, movies, and television. It’s wonderful to have Shannon and Mike within driving distance of us. When they lived in North Carolina, we didn’t see them very often.

A sweet, sweet way to celebrate Mother’s Day early.

 

 

 

 

Celebrate, News, Snow-Gauge Clif

Peanut Butter & Jelly Day and Snow-Gauge Clif

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This week’s post is a day early in order to take note of a very important day—National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day, which is celebrated in the United States every year on April 2.  Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are one of my favorites, and I eat them regularly, enjoying the contrast between the salty peanut butter and the sweet jelly.

Naturally, not everyone in the United States loves PB&J, as we call it. My eldest daughter doesn’t like them, and I often wonder why the heck she doesn’t. But in the U.S. so many people like PB&J that the powers that be decided this delicious sandwich needed its own special day. It’s nice to know that sometimes justice is served.

One of my blogging friends, Platypus Man of Now I’m 64, has indicated that PB&J is not universally loved in the U.K. and that  he has a horror of them. Well, each to his or her own.

In honor of PB&J Day, I am sharing with readers pictures of my delicious lunch this afternoon. For those who are celebrating this special day, bon appétit!

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Now on to a more serious matter—Snow-Gauge Clif.

In Maine, the last week of March was quite the week of melting snow. To show the contrast, I will post both last week’s Snow-Gauge Clif’s pictures alongside of this week’s.

Here is last week’s picture, taken on Monday, March 27:

Here is this week’s picture.

Here are pictures from the  walkway.

Last week,

and this week.

Now on to the backyard.

Last week.

This week.

Let’s just say that when the snow decides to melt in Maine, it goes.

By gum, it’s almost staring to feel like spring, and I even took the Christmas wreath down.

I think this alone merits a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Don’t you?

Celebrate, Snow-Gauge Clif, Winter

An Anniversary Weekend and Snow-Gauge Clif

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Our Anniversary

Last Saturday counted as an action-packed day for two homebodies who can be found most days at their house on the edge of the woods. It was our forty-sixth wedding anniversary, and as is our wont, we planned a day of simple pleasures that revolved around food.

First, breakfast. I made a batch of vegan chocolate muffins from my own recipe, one that I have come to be inordinately proud of. With them, we had veggie sausages. A good start to the day.

For lunch we headed to Augusta to the Red Barn, which specializes in fried food. Both Clif and I are crazy about fried food, but for obvious health reasons, we seldom have it.  But for our anniversary we figured, what the heck, and we threw caution to the wind. We brought our own dairy-free ranch dressing for reasons I’ll explain later. The food—piping hot mixed veggies—were oh so good.

Then it was off to our local supermarket to pick up nondairy cream cheese for a taste test comparison. Clif is lactose intolerant and not just a little bit. Because of this, we are always on the lookout for nondairy alternatives to food we love. Time was when supermarkets in central Maine did not offer much in the way of dairy-free products, but that is changing. On Saturday we found two cream cheese alternatives to go with crackers and drinks in late afternoon.

I am sorry to report that neither of the cream cheeses came through with flying colors. Vevan, the one on the left, had a muddy taste where the flavors were jumbled but nothing stood out, and the Kitehill, while marginally better, had a strange undertaste. Readers, if any of you have nondairy cream cheese recommendations, I’d love to hear about them.

Fortunately, we had better results with dessert. We’ve had this before, so we knew what were getting. The “So Delicious” on the carton is no exaggeration. This frozen dessert is one of the most delicious I have ever tasted, and that includes dairy ice cream. It is smooth, rich, creamy, and filled with chunks of cashews and chocolate. Who could ask for anything more? Its one drawback is the price—$5 for a quart. But since it was our anniversary, we figured we could splurge. Besides, $2.50 apiece for a dessert for a special day isn’t so very bad, and it was worth every penny.

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Snow-Gauge Clif

Today is the vernal equinox, and even in central Maine, we are seeing signs that spring just might be coming. I’ve heard the spring songs of cardinals and chickadees.

However, in our shady yard, the snow is still pretty high.

Here is Clif in the front yard.

And here he is in the backyard.

Still a ways to go before we are snow free.

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Listening

While my favorite genres of music are Alternative Rock and Folk Rock, I am also very keen on Baroque Music. I know, I know. Quite a spread there. When I work on my fiction, I always listen to Baroque music, and I’m particularly fond of Vivaldi.

So on this vernal equinox, here is a farewell to winter from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons: Winter. In Maine, we still might have a snowstorm or two, but we are definitely heading toward spring.

Celebrate, Movies, People

South of the Border for a Birthday

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On a brisk Saturday morning,

Clif, Dee, and I headed south, south, south…to Massachusetts, to celebrate our son-in-law’s fortieth birthday. Mike’s actual birthday was at the beginning of the month, and he and Shannon had a weekend extravaganza in Boston, where they went to a French restaurant and were served food  that was oh so good.

Mike is a pizza hound, and the natural choice for our get together was, of course, pizza from one of his favorite places.

The pizza was pretty darned good as my Yankee husband would put it.

There was a toast to the birthday boy. Some of us had wine, and others had beer.

The dogs waited patiently for their pieces of crust. Somara in her comfortable spot on the couch. (Sorry the picture is so out of focus.)

And Holly at attention.

Finally, there was chocolate cake, and here’s a happy picture of Mike and Shannon with Holly in between.

For a special present, we all chipped in some money so that Mike could pick out a nice watch. He is still doing research on various watches and hasn’t decided what he wants.  No need to hurry because as Mike noted, this is a watch he will have for the rest of his life.

So happy birthday, Mike. It’s wonderful that we live within driving distance and could celebrate with him, Shannon, and the dogs.

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Watching: Navalny

Navalny, a CNN documentary about the Russian opposition leader Alexy Navalny, is as gripping as any spy novel. In 2020, Navalny was poisoned in Russia, and what follows is so astonishing that I will end the synopsis here. Best just to watch this incredible story unfold without knowing too much. Navalny has been nominated for an Oscar for best documentary feature, and I hope it wins. This gripping movie is showing in theaters and is also available on HBO Max.

 

 

Celebrate

Happy 2023

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The holidays flew by at such a dizzying pace that I hardly had a chance to take any pictures. But what a good time we had! Our daughter Shannon, her husband Mike, and their two dogs stayed with us all the way through Christmas and beyond to the next day.

I did manage to take a picture of our Christmas morning brunch. The pumpkin bread was homemade; the cinnamon roll was not.

On Christmas Eve day, my brother, his wife, and their son came over for a celebration. By gosh, with everyone grouped in our small living room and the coffee table filled with appetizers, it felt like old times. Lots of talking and laughing.

As for COVID…all our guests had had it recently, and they were up-to-date with their vaccinations.  We felt as though the odds were in our favor, and as it turned out, they were. None of us caught COVID over the holidays.

Good things sometimes arrive in the mail. From two of my blogging friends, I received two delightful Christmas packages.

The first one came from Judy of New England Garden and Thread. She knows how much I love my home, and she sent me this beautiful calender with a picture of her own home. Her granddaughter did the artwork, and what a wonderful job she did. You can bet that this calendar will never be used to wipe hands or dishes. There is a pocket for a dowel, and I plan to hang it in my office, where I can see it when I work.

The second came from my friend Betsy, who follows my blog but doesn’t have one of her own. She knows I have a Santa collection, and she sent me this delightful duo. The larger one is a candle, which will never be burnt.

Many thanks, Judy and Betsy!

After Christmas, there was a much-needed week of rest. Our daughter Dee, who is staying with us, took a week’s vacation from her job, and we did the same with our work. Except for an errand or two, we stayed home. We also took a week off from our rather stringent low-carb regimen and ate what we wanted. We slept late. We read. We played board games. We watched, among other shows, two seasons of Britain’s Best Home Cooks. In short, we had a wonderful time.

Reflecting back on our staycation, I am both amazed and gratified by how little it takes to entertain us. The term low maintenance really does describe us, and I can’t help but think that if you take pleasure in simple things, then your days are full and happy.

On New Year’s Eve, the three of us—Clif, Dee, and me—had a tasty appetizer night.

We watched Avengers: Endgame and nearly timed it right so that Iron Man snapped his fingers at midnight. (We were off by 30 seconds or so.) Ah, well! The New Year came anyway, a little after Iron Man’s snap of the fingers.

In 2023, I plan to continue blogging once a week, on Monday, unless something comes up and I need to change the day. Occasionally, I might add an extra post.

A very happy New Year to you all. I am so grateful to be part of this blogging community, and I look forward to reading your posts in 2023.