A Saturday in June
The morning began warm and sunny as I enjoyed my coffee on the porch. I often struggle sitting still and just being. This morning was no different. A Yellow Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly in the lilacs caught my attention, and then I was up and...
Denison University Graduation 2021
Denison Graduation 2021 was a whirlwind of a week. We arrived home last night, and I woke this morning so tired that I could barely think straight. The adventure started last Wednesday with Gidget in tow. She's very attached to us, and we were...
Return of the Black Bear – In Broad Daylight
Yesterday it was a hummingbird on what I've dubbed "the bear cam" since the bear raided our feeder earlier this spring. https://youtu.be/45dgvVNQG94 Today it's the bear that made an appearance. He/she looks like a small one - the base of the...
Maine Cottage Fabric Pot Holders
Maine Cottage has beautiful furniture and fabrics. If I had the means, I just decorate my entire home from their catalog. They were gracious enough to donate fabric to WHRL for curtains and pillow cushions in our new office space. The fabric is...
Weekend Miscellaney
We were blessed with a glorious weekend. I bounced between work, house cleaning, and yard cleanup loving just being at home. I feel accomplished. The tide was out when I headed into town. I paused to photograph this white-tail deer crossing the...
Return of the Hummers
I find myself leaving my office to visit the kitchen entirely too often to sneak a peek at these little guys out the window. It's been four days since they've returned. It might be more productive for me to put a hummer feeder outside my office...
First Heron Sighting of the Season
When I pull into my road, I always scan the river to see who's visiting. On this drizzly gray day, it was a Great Blue Heron - the season's first sighting.
Grandma Jordan’s Quilt
I received so many messages when I shared my grandma Jordan's quilts last week. Everything from suggestions for displaying them and things to make with them. And full out horror that I would consider cutting them up at all and ideas for...
What to do with vintage quilts?
On my last visit with my mom, she sent me home with two quilts from my maternal grandmother. I finally pulled these out of the bag to take a closer look, remembering the quilts from grandma's guestroom beds. I called dad to see if he knew any more...
April Showers
I knew it was snowing last night because the outside security camera kept going off. I thought it was the return of the bear, but the snow was the culprit. Snow is pretty common in early April - like the 8-10 inches of snow we got in 2014. And...
Spring Chickadee
I finally got around to removing the remnants of my destroyed bird feeders pole. I'm hopeful that Paul can repair my fancy feeder pole. My lovely red feeder is toast - the central part of it squashed like an accordion. Enjoying the weather, I...
The History of the Downeast Thunder Farm Pond
After posting this video on Facebook yesterday, I've had lots of questions about our pond. My favorite one is "Did you look to buy waterfront property?" 😂 I know what you meant, Carol, but I got such a kick out of this as I'm not sure our...
Life at the Beach
I received an exceptional package in the mail today. Hannah sent a birthday gift on Monday for my birthday on Wednesday. She was horrified to learn that USPS 2-day Priority mail isn't - and was disappointed her package wouldn't arrive on time. But...
Rude Bear
It was a long night. I woke around 2:30 am and never got back to sleep. In the wee hours of the morning, I heard a sound outside but was too tired to investigate. When I finally dragged my weary behind out of bed to let Gidget out, I spied...
Monarch Butterfly Gift for Spring
Mary sent me this picture of how she's packed up the Monarch butterflies she's created for springtime gifts for family and friends. I shared Mary's work before with her Covid Christmas tree. I LOVE this presentation - such a cool idea. Thanks for...
First Bear Sighting of the Season
The video camera was slow to pick up this black bear lumbering passed my bird feeders early this morning. Of course I didn't discover the video until after I'd filled the feeder with new suet cakes. https://youtu.be/h5-z2LnVGlA
The Beautiful Buckeye Butterfly
The Common Buckeye is such a pretty butterfly with its big, colorful "eyes." For something so small, there's a lot of detail in recreating them in felt. I've tried to do her justice! Enjoy!
The Bustling Black-throated Blue Warbler
Warblers in Maine are such a happy sign of Spring. I've had this Black-throated Blue Warbler on my list for ages. Download the pattern for free below, or order a kit in the SHOP. I've also added the Yellow-rumped Warbler to the SHOP. He first...
Welcome Spring Robin Giveaway ~ Winners Announced!
It's time to celebrate! Yes, it's the first day of Spring, but I have another reason for celebrating. I've made my last college tuition payment to Denison University. Yippee! I started selling my kits, then felt, and then books back in 2018 after...
Family Desk Makeover
I've been working from home almost exclusively for a year now. You'd think I would have spruced the place up on the front end of the pandemic and quarantine. Paul says it's because it took me this long to figure out how I should arrange the...
A Year Ago
A year ago tonight, the notice came that the US's borders were closing due to COVID-19 and Hannah's study abroad program in Denmark was shutting down. We had 48 hours to get her out of the country and on her way home. It was a crazy scramble. The...
February
“There is always in February some one day, at least, when one smells the yet distant, but surely coming, summer.” - Gertrude Jekyll Today was that day.
One Thing Leads to Another
I don't know what it is about February, but it often involves some variety of home project. Last year it was painting our built in book shelves - all 15 feet of them. The year before it was painting the living, dining, and kitchen space. Before...
The Humble Hairy Woodpecker
The Hairy and Downy woodpeckers at my suet feeders bring such joy. I designed the Downy Woodpecker a few years ago. I've planned to create a Hairy Woodpecker for some time, but they are so similar to Downy Woodpeckers. How to make him different? In...
The Pugnacious Rufous Hummingbird
It's a little challenging to shoot a realistic photo of a hummingbird in Maine - in the winter. He surely looks out of place! I struggled with the colors for this throat. The color "Rufous" is a brownish-red. Yet when they sun hits this little guy,...
