Monday, January 31, 2011

Food, Inc.


To say that Food, Inc. is an interesting movie is something of an understatement. It's more akin to distressing, alarming, even a bit horrifying at times.

I had no idea the extent to which the food market in America is controlled by a handful of conglomerates. It's pretty amazing how far removed we are from the sources of our nutrition, and how far from it those conglomerates are as well.

It seems impossible to have a diet that consists exclusively of food grown without hormones, antibiotics, genetic modifications or pesticides (also known as crop protection chemicals in the industry).

When did food get so complicated? As if my emotional eating wasn't complicated enough already. :)

Sunday, January 30, 2011

No Friend of Mine



I'm celebrating 10 days of sugar-free living today.

I had no idea how this was ever going to work, but it has been surprisingly easy.

And I've lost 5 lbs!

Mostly, though, I just want to be healthy and have more energy.

Still waiting on that. :)

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Seeing Through Rain


I love this photograph, taken by maine momma.

Initially I loved it for its beauty. Today I love it because it reflects how I feel. Like there's a sunny world out there, but I can't see past the rain on my window far enough to get a good look.

Two people who are dear to us have lost loved ones this week...one a mother, the other a son. My heart grieves for them.

Friday, January 28, 2011

A River Runs Through It

This dam is across the street from our house. The pond beside us crosses this dam and runs into the lake across the street, which runs into the St George river which runs into Muscongus Bay which runs into the Atlantic Ocean.

All from our little pond.


Wednesday, January 26, 2011

He's Got His Own Back



Tracy has created a monster. A monster that lives in our house and eats our food. A monster he reads to and wrestles with and loves.

But Tracy doesn't turn his back on that monster when that monster has a snowball in his hands.

Because monsters can't be trust with snowballs, you know.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Do You See What I See?


Do you see those little white dots in this picture? (click on the picture to enlarge it for better viewing)

Can you guess what they are?

Before you answer, notice the sunbeams coming in through the break between the two houses. Give up?

Those white dots are something I don't think I've ever seen before...snow falling in the sunshine.

I wish a better photographer had captured the beauty in this moment...it was magical.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Surfer Dude, Maine-Style


Jed seems more like a native Mainer these days than the Midwest boy he really is.

It was -12 this morning at 7:00am, warming up to a balmy 4 degrees F by late this afternoon. And it was late this afternoon that Jed was outside sledding in our yard. And it was after dark before he came in, protesting all the way.

If only he was that tough when it comes to work!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Welcome to Maine


We would invite you in, but we're having a little trouble getting the door open right now.


So why don't you sit down and enjoy the view by the pond instead.




Or, if you're in the mood for a little picnic, this sweet spot is just on the other side of the pond.

Free refills on iced tea included. :)

Saturday, January 22, 2011

The More Things Change...

...the more they stay the same.



I had to laugh when I saw these pictures, taken this afternoon while we were playing in the snow. They reminded me so much of the exuberant baby Jed once was.


Friday, January 21, 2011

Baby, It's Cold Outside


You know it's bad out when there's a picture of an igloo on your local weather forecast.

However, by this time Sunday night these temps will feel like a veritable heat wave.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

World Art


I have no idea where I learned about this fabulous piece of art featured on RecyclArt, but I'm so glad I came across it...isn't it absolutely stunning?!







Six ft high and made of 15 world globes, it was created by Benoit Vieubled and is called “Monde à l’endroit, Monde à l’envers," or, in English...

World right side up, upside down world

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Whoa, Dude


Remember the snowman my son Brad made and photographed? He sent that picture to me last week, and last night he thought to ask me if I had liked it.

Apparently my son is not one of the six people who read my blog. :)

I told him I loved it...and then he asked the question I knew was coming...."and what about the ninja turtles pic?"


What can I say? I'm not a TMNT fan...never have been, probably never will be.

But he was - many, many years ago - and apparently still is.

I may not be a fan of the turtles, but I am a fan of Brad's, so here's my salute to him and his love of all things mutant.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Only in Maine




You know it's bad out when you see a sign like this in Maine. :)








Photo courtesy of Maine Office of Tourism

Monday, January 17, 2011

Too Cute



It is amazing to me how much snow the South has gotten this winter.

Case in point: snowmen in Charlotte.

Created and photographed by the amazing and talented Brad Davis.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

The Way Things Go


Mom and Dad gave Tracy a DVD for Christmas called The Way Things Go, a Rube Goldberg-style engineering extravaganza.

We watched the DVD while they were here visiting, and come to find out, Jed was pretty fascinated with it. I found this out when he came downstairs with a sign which read:

The Map to the Show
The Way Things Go











The map led me up to his room, into the under-eaves closet that is home to his toys. That's where I found this elaborate set-up:








It was quite a successful run, if you don't count the 5 or 6 times Jed had to get things started again. After all, it's "The Way Things Go" show, not "The Way Things Run Continuously without any Assistance from Jed" show. :)

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Phew!


Don't you LOVE it when you finish a project you've been putting off??

Our friends Rod & Cynthia lost their beloved chocolate lab, Annabelle, about a year and a half ago. Not long after, Cynthia showed me a plaque she had been given at work, and asked me if I thought a picture of Annabelle could be decoupaged onto it.

She apparently thought I knew about such things. That was her first mistake.

Her second mistake: thinking she would be getting it back anytime soon. :)

Cynthia had a specific photograph of Annabelle in mind. Years earlier, a professional photographer had seen Annabelle and fallen in love with her (not so unusual, if you met Annabelle), and asked Rod & Cynthia if she could photograph Annabelle in exchange for some of the prints. They readily agreed, and the photographer used the images to make products for sale.

(One day Rod & Cynthia were in a gift shop on Bailey's Island when Cynthia spied a magnet with Annabelle's picture on it. She exclaimed to the owner of the shop that that was her dog on that magnet! The owner agreed that it was indeed a chocolate lab like Annabelle, who was with them in the shop in her role of service dog. Cynthia had a hard time convincing her that it really was HER dog in the photograph, but she finally did. And she bought the magnet.)

I took the plaque and the photograph and told her I would try. The first order of business was to get copies made of the photograph - lots - because I had a feeling this would be a trial-and-error kind of project. Once again, I was right.

I won't bore you with all the products and procedures I tried, or how many times I had to strip the plaque down and start over when those things failed. I'd rather forget all that myself. I kept wondering who I could ask that would know how to do this, but kept coming up empty-handed, even after scouring the internet.

I was talking to the owner of our local hardware store a while back and all of a sudden it occurred to me that this might be a person who knows a thing or two about finishing wood. She did! She made a couple of suggestions, and I chose the product she said had gotten the best feedback from customers - a two-part epoxy kit.

I was so excited - until I got home and read the instructions inside the package. It seemed way too complicated, and way too easy to mess up. It took me a couple of months to finally work up the courage to try. As it turns out, it wasn't nearly as difficult as I was thinking it would be. That is a rarity in my experience...I find things are usually way harder than I expect them to be. :)

Not that this process was without incident.

I had the plaque resting on top of an upside-down clay flowerpot so the edges would be exposed during the pouring of the epoxy, which dripped off onto wax paper placed underneath the pot. What I didn't realize is that the epoxy ran underneath the plaque (because our floor isn't level) until it reached the flowerpot, at which time it spread around the entire circumference of said flowerpot. That realization hit me the next day, when I picked up the plaque so I could remove and discard the wax paper.

The flowerpot (and the wax paper) came up with the plaque, in one solid mass.

I knew I was going to have to sand the epoxy drips off the edges of the plaque on the underside. I didn't know I was going to have to bust a flowerpot and use a hammer and chisel to try to remove chunks of clay stubbornly cemented to the underside of the plaque, before breaking out the Dremel and attaching a metal file to finish removing the clay and the huge amount of epoxy cementing it to the plaque.

Anyway, it's done and I couldn't be happier. I love, love, love the smooth glass-like feel of the epoxy finish - you can't even tell the photograph is sitting on top of the wood plaque, it's so even. This is exactly what I wanted it to look like.

Here's hoping it's exactly what Rod & Cynthia wanted it to look like! If they even remember giving it to me, that is.


Friday, January 14, 2011

Snow Day




We played hooky from school this morning to go sledding with some fellow homeschoolers.



Aside from the fact that Jed is still doing math work at 6:00 in the evening, it was totally worth it!










Jed killed me, watching him run and jump on his board head first. I suspect his fearlessness is in direct proportion to my fearfulness.













Grace, bless her heart, is a little more like me. :)











Mostly I think she was concerned about the evil plots Jed was concocting at the bottom of the hill while waiting for her to come down.








Not a bad place to do some sledding.











One of the benefits of always being the photographer is not being photographed in your more unglorious moments...like when you're racing down a hill at breakneck speed screaming your head off, spilling out, and finally coming to a rest in an unceremonious heap at the bottom.

Not that I did any of that. :)

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Goodwill Hunting


The Goodwill in Rockland is by far the nicest thrift store I've ever been in.

I've discovered several treasures there, but one thing always breaks my heart...finding someone's handwork for sale at a mere pittance of its worth.








This is my favorite piece of rescued art...beautifully done, no?











And this - can you believe the work that must have gone into this lovely needlepoint?


I like to imagine what the women who created these (for surely, it must have been women) were thinking as they was working. It makes me happy to have made a place in our home for something that was probably dear to their hearts.

note: click on the images to enlarge for detail

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Sub-Blizzard


We got quite a storm today...but no blizzard.

Which is interesting, because it had enough oomph to it to produce, along with a very heavy snowfall at times, near white-out conditions.

Is there anything that feels cozier than being inside a warm house, snuggling on the couch, while snow whirls around you?

I don't think so.





This is our garage. That little speck of orange at the bottom left-hand corner is my kayak, peeking out.








Same garage, just the end of it with the door (see the little speck of my kayak?). Snow drifts cover the bottom half of the door.

And it's still snowing!

On a side note, I wish I had removed the window screens in the fall...besides the snow sticking to them like crazy, they make for some rather psychedelic-looking photographs. :)

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Day Tripping with the Grands




While they were here, I took Mom and Dad on a drive down the peninsula from Owls Head to Port Clyde.














The boats in Owls Head Harbor were picture-perfect New England.










I am still amazed that I get to live here.









The general store in Port Clyde has a little bit of everything.




I'll take you there myself if you come for a visit!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Backyard Sledding






Tracy had Christmas Eve off, and he and Jed spent the day creating a sledding hill in our side yard.











Not exactly Olympic caliber, but enough fun for a 7 year old Midwestern boy.









Then there came the blizzard...










...and there's Jed, trying to find his sledding hill. :)

Sunday, January 09, 2011

The Results are In...




Not as much snow as I would have expected from a blizzard.

But still plenty of shoveling to do. :)












And snow angels to make.