Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Well, I saw my first red leaf. For me, that means it’s time to head home! It seems as though people who do not live in the northeast always want to come to New England to see the colors of autumn. When I see orange and red leaves I immediately think the beautiful leaves are just going to fall off the trees and then it will be winter…forever! Anyway, I trick myself by going home to Chicago. I will be able to buy a few extra weeks of warm weather before there is a sense that autumn is upon us. I will also get an extra dose of summer by going to Texas for Labor Day weekend. I can get my fill of extreme heat over the long weekend, which is enough. The thing that makes it hard to leave Maine is it's shear beauty. I always hope for dense fog the day we leave!

Posted by Mary at 01:59 AM CST

Saturday, August 16, 2008

I am beginning to gather things up to take back home with me. We leave for Chicago on Tuesday. I have mentioned the downtown coffee shop in an earlier post, but what I have not mentioned is the fact that all the goodies we ate there were made by many of the women in town. I have been trying to be good, but I just can’t resist some of the things that were offered in the coffee shop. It got worse when they offered free samples! This summer I think I ate the best cookie I have ever had, truly! I asked Pauline, the creator of this cookie, if I could share this recipe. She told me she tweaked another recipe and added a few of her own ingredients. The result is pure cookie heaven! Here’s the recipe:
Pauline’s To-Die-For Cookies (my title)
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip/Butterscotch Chip Cookies

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl combine:
1 ¼ cups brown sugar, packed
1 cup butter, softened
½ cup granulated sugar
Beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.
Add:
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
Beat at medium speed until well blended.
Add:
1 ¾ cups flour (or possibly a little more)
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 ½ cups oatmeal (either old-fashioned or quick)
6 oz. package chocolate chips
6 oz. package butterscotch chips
1 cup of nuts (optional)

Drop by teaspoons on an ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 9-10 minutes for a chewy cookie or 12 -13 minutes for crisp cookies. Let cool 1 minute before removing from cookie sheets.

You won’t be disappointed!

Posted by Mary at 09:36 AM CST

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The weather here today is beautiful. The water is so blue and the sun is so bright. It's awesome. Because it has been a foggy summer, every time the sun peaks out I dash outside to enjoy it. While I have been sitting on my deck, I have been reading a book that I thought those of you who love Maine would like to know about. Several of the women in town are rereading this trilogy about lobstering families that live on an island in Maine. The first book of the trilogy is entitled "High Tide at Noon." It is written by Elisabeth Ogilvie. She wrote this first book in 1944. Books that are written during this period seem to be far more descriptive, in my opinion, than books written today. When you read "High Tide at Noon," you can almost picture the island, the harbor, etc. It is difficult to find old books such as this, but I have a great source! It is called Abe Books. If you are having trouble finding any old book, just try to find it on this site. I have had wonderful luck with a variety of books. Here's the link:
http://www.abebooks.com

Posted by Mary at 04:19 PM CST

Monday, August 11, 2008

Blueberry season is in full swing here. I asked my husband to go pick some blueberries by our house to eat with some other fruit I had on hand. He got carried away with his new rake and brought me enough blueberries for a small army. I actually like the wild blueberries better. They are smaller and much sweeter and they are literally everywhere! With all the wild flowers, wild roses, and berries of every kind, it makes me think that on a small scale this is what the Garden of Eden must have been like. I wonder if it had this much fog?

Posted by Mary at 02:16 PM CST

Friday, August 8, 2008

Speaking of looking for treasures, today we went down to our bay to go clamming. The red tide has finally subsided after six weeks so the clammers are back. Actually, my husband and I mainly watched as our friends dug for clams. I did dig a couple of times and I found one big clam (very exciting!). If you are going to dig for clams, first of all you need a permit of some kind unless you live on the bay where you are going to dig. Second, rubber boots, really old clothes, and gloves are necessary. The most important thing though is the clam hoe and bucket! Next, knowing where to dig for the clams is all important. Apparently when you get out on the clam flats you want to find holes in the sand. Our friend told us that the larger oblong type holes are the best. Chances are there is a clam underneath the sand large enough to keep. Finally, the actual digging for the clams is really an art form. It was fun! While we were out there, I couldn’t help but think that our son especially would have loved digging for clams growing up. It’s just a giant sand box that has large worms (yuk!), bugs, and clams which were all the things he enjoyed finding and playing with as a little guy.

Posted by Mary at 05:29 PM CST

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

One of my favorite new activities here is to look for sea glass. What I like about it is the fact that as you walk along the beach and listen to the waves, which is always fun, you can look for treasures! Sea glass is nothing more than old pieces of glass that have had waves roll over them so much they look like little shiny colored stones. This has become such a popular activity that you have numerous people turning their wonderful treasures into all sorts of jewelry and mosaic style pictures. I think people have always enjoyed turning found objects from the sea into various forms of art. I haven't decided what to do with my sea glass. For now, I just like looking at it!

Posted by Mary at 01:09 PM CST

Sunday, August 3, 2008

This past week we had our children (minus one!) visiting us. We planned lots of fun things to do and we generally had good weather, which up here where nature is the main attraction was very important. On Friday, we had a special dinner with some of our dear friends in town. The men are lobstermen so we naturally had lobster and other fish dishes. Our kids loved it. When we were about to leave, our hostess told us to please take home the remaining lobsters. She said if we didn’t take them they’d just be thrown out...thrown out!! LOBSTERS! I love them so you didn’t need to ask me twice. I think lobsters are wonderful! I remember the restaurant lobsters. My father always made it clear that ANYTHING that had “market price” where the price was supposed to be was too expensive for us to even consider eating. That always ruled out lobster. My husband has taught our kids the same lesson. I am staring at five lobsters in my refrigerator and for once “market price” is a moot point!

Posted by Mary at 06:26 PM CST

Monday, July 28, 2008

I thought I would tell you what I am planning to do this next year. This fall I am going to send out a newsletter and then with each new season I will send out an additional newsletter. In the newsletters I will describe what I plan to do project wise. I will also give you more information, history, and interesting tidbits associated with the projects as well as provide a free chart and scrapbooking drawing to download that will go with my latest project(s). These free items will only be available through the newsletter and not available on the web site next year. The newsletter is free. Just put your email address in the box and click on the “subscribe” button. As I mentioned earlier, I will do NOTHING with your email address except send you four newsletters next year. You will be able to unsubscribe at any time. To find the subscribe box on my side bar, just scroll down a bit.

Posted by Mary at 05:40 PM CST

Friday, July 25, 2008

We have had friends visiting us for a couple of days. Since they have been to Acadia National Park several times with us, we decided to take them to Canada. We went to West Quoddy Head lighthouse and walked on a trail along the coast, which is the most eastern point in the US on the Bay of Fundy. We then crossed a bridge over into Canada to see Campobello Island and FDR’s summer home. This is their summer “cottage” pictured above. I absolutely love this house. It is filled with comfortable furniture, fireplaces, lots of windows and beautiful views from every room. I could just move right in and not change a thing, which is unusual, because I usually do find something that I would want to change. I even liked the dishes! We ended our day in Canada at a popular restaurant on the island called Family Fisheries. The fish was fabulous! This picture is from a website of a couple who I think travels more than we do! They have a lot of great travel tips hence the name of their site is
http://www.travel-tidbits.com
I would check it out if you are planning a trip. Chances are these people have been where you are going! I will write about my newsletters soon. Please sign up if you want to receive them.

Posted by Mary at 03:10 PM CST

Monday, July 21, 2008

Isn't this little guy cute? It's a puffin with some nesting material. These birds look more like cartoon characters than REAL birds to me. Where we live in Maine is the best place to see them. There are tours that can take you out to Machias Seal Island where there seems to be a large concentration of Puffins along with other amazing birds. Weather permitting, you do get to see some awesome coastline and lots of birds. If a birding tour is something that interests you then you need to visit Captain Andy Patterson's web site.
It is http://www.boldcoast.com

I hope you have noticed the new feature on my side bar. It is hopefully a more organized way I can let everyone know what I am going to be doing this next year since we will finally be home and I can get back to work. I have actually been working the whole year we have been gone. If you want to hear more, please put your email address in the subscribe box. I will not do anything with your email address except send you about four newsletters over the course of next year. I will explain more about my newsletters in my next post.

Posted by Mary at 01:26 PM CST