Bring on Fall with DTF’s Free Vintage Autumn Truck Pattern
In our neck of the woods, the nights have suddenly turned crisp - a reminder that we're on the downside of summer. The stores have dishes, signs, and textiles featuring trucks loaded with pumpkins. While I'm not ready to break out the pumpkin...
Lake Retreat
It's been five months since I spent more than a few moments in my colleagues' company. Today, in place of our typical Wednesday Zoom meeting, we had the opportunity to gather outdoors at Gardner Lake for a staff retreat. I enjoyed five hours of...
Senior Year at Denison University Underway
It's 1036 miles from Milbridge to Granville, Ohio. We made the trip to college this year with a couple of stops along the way and moved Hannah into her new apartment suite on Friday. She's in a building of four-person apartments. Each student has a...
The Science of Sea Glass
Low on motivation this afternoon, I talked Hannah into joining me on an outing to explore a new trail to the shore I learned about this week. She said she'd go but wasn't up for a big hike. It turns out that the trail was just our speed. A short...
Party on the Porch
Hannah's 21st birthday yesterday was a quiet day at home, laying low and enjoying life. The menu was the traditional birthday lobster and Hannah's favorite "cheesy potatoes." Paul surprised her with a gorgeous "campus cruiser" bicycle. She had been...
Twenty-one
Twenty-one. How is it possible that my little girl has grown into this amazing woman. Legos, Disney, and Harry Potter - they seem like just yesterday and have been traded for cameras, lenses, and scripts. Hannah, you've made parenting such a joy....
Social Distancing at Acadia
Hannah has a summer punch list to complete before returning to school. Visiting Acadia National Park was at the top. We'd planned to do this on her birthday next week - to make a day of it. Then came word from school that all students should...
Celebrating 23 Years
This is a brave man. Twenty-three years ago, he married me; for better or worse. It hasn't always been easy. But there's nobody else I can imagine spending this life with. There are days he drives me bonkers, and I'm sure the likewise is true. Yet...
A Black Bear Visit
Sitting here last night snoozing through yet another tv show, I woke to a clanking sound outside. My bird feeder pole is about 10-12 feet from the window, tucked between the house and the woods for optimal photograph opportunities. Lately, a giant...
A Birthday Video
There comes a point in gift-giving when it's hard to think of the perfect birthday gift. That's true for my dad this year. As I was "pondering" the dilemma this year, inspiration hit last Saturday at midnight. We'd recently recorded a birthday...
Pond Invasion
This weekend I was following the dragonflies around the yard and landed at the duck pond. A passel of Common Whitetail Dragonflies provided lots of entertainment. And then I noticed all the floaters in the pond and looked a little closer....
Macro Photography at Coastal Maine Botanical Garden
Photography with my iPhone and a clip-on macro lens is a favorite past-time. I find the close-up detail in flowers incredibly appealing. The Coastal Maine Botanical Garden was a treasure trove of subjects. There's so much to see when you take a...
Pattern and Texture at CMBG
I am drawn to patterns and textures in nature. That fascination was nourished at Coastal Maine Botanical Garden last week. I see patterns in the flowers, and in the trees. I notice textures in the contrasts, and in the man made versus the natural....
Coastal Maine Botanical Garden Fauna
The lure of the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden is the flora, but the fauna is the serendipity that makes the experience extraordinary. We spent an inordinate amount of time studying the frogs. It's a frog eat frog world. New this visit is the...
Art in the Gardens
Yesterday dawned cool and drizzly as Hannah, and I embarked on our journey to the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden in Boothbay, Maine a three-hour drive. It's been three years since we first visited, and it's on Hannah's summer "To Do" list. In this...
Weekend Projects – Sewing Lessons and Table Makeovers
Mom taught me how to sew when I was young. I even had an inexpensive sewing machine that I used to sew doll clothes. As an adult, I've not made clothes, but it's been handy to have the power to make curtains, blinds, pillow covers, and now masks of...
The Dazzling Dragonfly
I enjoy designing patterns that are realistic looking. I didn't quite hit the mark with the dragonfly. It was a challenge with their see-through iridescent wings; I opted for white. Make the body any color that suits your fancy. In my test...
Not Your Typical Shore Bird
Today was our mandated weekly beach visit; a couple of hours after work to let the waves wash away the stresses of the day. The fog bank settled over the peninsula and outer islands, leaving the beach mostly sunny if a little chilly. The high tide...
Fleeting Lilac
My favorite thing about my disorganized, overgrown, under-tended flower garden is the Korean lilac mom gave me years ago. Planted from cuttings, they've grown into lush 4' bushes circling my birdfeeder. It blooms for all but a week in June. For one...
Porch Perfect
I've so enjoyed working from the deck since screening it in last month. I’ve been researching roll up blinds for the porch but decided they’re just not in my budget. A search through the linen closet revealed one old curtain panel (just one). A...
Looking to the Future in a Covid-19 World
It's official. Hannah WILL be returning to Denison University for her senior year. She learned the news last week and is over the moon, knowing she'll reunite with her friend and begin classes again. It's been three months since she was sent home...
My Rain Barrel Runeth Over
I've had many questions about my rain barrels since sharing this picture of the completed project on social media. Here's a look at the details of the project. Given our steel roof, no basement, and a foundation drainage system, we never bothered...
Yellow Warbler in the Beach Rose
The weather app reported cloudy all day. By mid-day, the sun was shining on one side of the house while cloudy on the other, so we took our chances and headed to the beach. We parked our chairs and were rewarded with a quick 20 minutes of sunshine...
A Happy Porch
A porch is to a house as a smile is to a person. When planning our house, I was adamant that I have a porch big enough to sit on and enjoy being outdoors. I'm a winner, and we have a fantastic 8' x 33' porch that runs along part of the front of the...
Nesting Eagles
Hannah and I headed up to Meddybemps today to pick up a couple of barrels to turn into rain barrels. Meddybemps. It's such fun to say. On the way home, we drove through the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, and pulled into a river overlook just...
