Unpredictable

Today was a kind of how-much-can-I-pack-in-a-day kinda days. It started with finishing my lobster for breakfast. For the record I ate lobster for four meals in a row, dinner Tuesday, Brunch and dinner Wednesday and breakfast this morning. I think that is a record for me.

After my lobster breakfast Warren arrived for our trip to Boothbay to meet up with our friend Julie. It was the most perfect sunny day. We started with a trip to the fabulous Maine Botanical Gardens. This is my third visit there and I can not believe how much it has grown. We went in the butterfly house and I had one butterfly loving on my dress who stayed on my arm a while.

We meandered amongst all the gardens. Each one more beautiful than the next. The amount of work made me exhausted just looking at them. After viewing the planted gardens we walked the woodland trails and looked at the giant trolls. Such a fun visit.

The cafe was closed for renovations so we went off to Boothbay harbor for lunch at Kelly’s cafe. Thanks to Warren for treating, but gluten free wraps are just as bad as gluten free bread.

Sadly we bid goodbye to Julie and Warren and I made the drive back to Owl’s Head. Russ’ great friend Gary and his partner Julie were back for a quick visit and dinner. We went into Rockland to try an untraditional Maine place, an African restaurant with a chef from Togo. It was a very laid back place. We let the owner/chef/server Jason pick out everything we were going to eat. We have no idea exactly what we had, but over the course of the three hours we were there we ate yummy things.

It was a day filled with the greatest variety. All of it fun and unpredictable.

Is it Really an Antique?

Yesterday I was driving behind this truck in Rockland, Maine. To me it was just a regular ‘ole truck, but to the state of Maine it is an “antique auto” according to its license plate. As neither an auto or an antique I thought they were stretching it a bit.

Turns out the law in Maine is any car over 25 years old is an antique. Seems very hoitty toitty to call this old dodge an antique, with all the cache that the word antique implies.

Of course anything just old can be an antique. An old ratty chair, or a pair of clogs from the 1960’s as long as it is 50 years old. If it’s kinda old, it’s vintage. If it’s new and crap it’s just crap, but hold on to it long enough and it’s vintage crap and if you put it in the attic and forget about it it can become antique crap.

When I went to the auction on Monday I sat next to a man who collected ephemera, that’s paper. He bid on, and lost, a lot of widow’s insurance policies. That means at least two people wanted those papers. I wonder if the window got as much in insurance as the papers got in the auction. You know that saying, “It’s not worth the paper it’s written on…”. Well that is not the case here.

We have no idea what people in the future are going to want. But if you keep it in your attic long enough you are making antiques.

I would hasten to say that dodge truck was not even close to being vintage, let alone antique, it if the state says it is, who am I to argue? But in the future the owner’s manual might be work the more than the truck.

Same Time Next Year

One of the highlights of coming to Maine every year is the chance to see Jamie Kyte Sapoh. Jamie and I went to high school and college together, although she was two years ahead of me. Jamie is without a doubt one of the kindest and most grounded people I know so getting a visit with her is a highlight of my trip. I was lucky to get to have breakfast with her at Dot’s in Lincolnville.

We caught up and she was happy to know that Dinah Bortz was in Vinalhaven, so expect a visit from Jamie sometime. I am already looking forward to next year’s visit, same time, same great friend.

I got home from breakfast and hung at home just a while before Warren called to see if I wanted to go to Liberty Maine with him. So off on another adventure driving to Liberty, home of Liberty Tool and Liberty Graphics. Liberty tool is the place you go to find some old obscure plane or wrench. It you want a jar of random screws you are in luck. The business and the building are for sale and I am not exactly sure who is interested in taking on this unique business. It also has three floors of random, books, records, and household goods it sells. For the record I did not buy any screws.

Liberty graphics has gone so upscale that the seconds T-shirts are no longer $5. The seconds tote bags are $28. Out of my price range.

There is a new little cafe where the old little cafe was. Warren thought that we should support them so we had an afternoon treat. I had a tiny little swirl of pistachio and vanilla ice cream because it was the gluten free choice. The spoon was so cute, like a dolls spoon.

Warren tortured me with the best looking chocolate chip cookie that was full of gluten. The cafe had nice tables outside and the temperature was perfect so it was a good treat to be there, gluten or not.

We meandered back to Rockport and I realized that I had missed the time to go to the seafood company and get dinner for me and Russ. Warren suggested I go to Shaw’s on the way home, which I did. I lucked into two specials, one on top of the other for lobsters, I had them steam them. I got out of the store with almost 3 pounds of lobsters for $11.95. I thought the first special that was half price was good then the fish monger gave me an additional 30% off managers special coupon.

I brought those lobster’s home and picked them and ended up with a huge bowl of meat, enough for two or three meals. For dinner I made my own homemade lobster “roll” with gluten free bread I grilled in the frying pan. It was the best lobster I have had all summer. Russ said I probably liked it better because it was also a deal. I think it was the way I dressed it with a touch of mayo and a lot of lemon and black pepper. The coleslaw made with the Beth’s cabbage was also better than anything else we have had.

It was a very fun Maine day with friends, great scenery, and fun drives, made perfect with lobster.

When In Maine, Go to the Auction

Since Russ is working too much I am doing things I normally would not do. This morning Warren came and picked me up to go to the preview for Bruce Gamage’s auction. I have bought things from Bruce at his shop, but have not gone to his auctions.

There were plenty of things I was interested in. Since Russ was working and Warren was going to work I decided rather than leaving a bid I would come back to the auction this afternoon. So I put my name on a chair as all the dealers were doing. When I got back to the Elks lodge, where the auction was taking place, the parking lot was packed and the chairs were almost full. Thank goodness everyone honored the little name tags on chairs.

Well, almost everyone. There was one woman walking around looking for her name. She swore someone had taken it off her chair. She ended up sitting in the second row one seat away from me so it was not so bad. Ken, sat next to me. He was a widower spending his children’s inheritance he told me. Thankfully we were bidding on different things.

As a charity auctioneer I like to help out and bid things up if I like them. This put me in good standing with Bruce. I did win two lots. One a blue antique cupboard and one corner cupboard that was not antique, but fabulous and goes perfectly with my dining room furniture. I got one at less than half the estimate and the other for a fifth of the estimate. Good thing since I have to ship them. In my opinion the estimates were low.

Other things I wanted went much too high, such as antique Flip glasses. I had never heard of them but they were very large antique glasses that were very thin walled and therefore easy to break, making them rare.

I did not stay for the whole auction because after three hours I was tired of sitting and everything I was interested in had gone. If I had stayed I am certain I would have bid on more things because the prices fell as people left.

Now I have to go to Bruce’s store to look at what else he has while I arrange shipment home. Thankfully there are no more auctions while I am here. My house is full.

A Little Brown Puppy Goes to Maine and Visits an Historic Town

It’s Sunday so my Mommy and Daddy wanted me to go on a walk and look at things with them. These days I determine how long a walk I am going to take, or not. Sometimes my Daddy gets me outside and I only go a quarter of a mile, some days 3 miles. No one ever knows what I am going to do.

Today I was happy to go walk in a new old town called Thomaston. It is not far from our house and we have only driven through it about a hundred times, but never walked. Being Sunday most everything was closed, except the churches. We still walked past every business and looked in all the windows.

The town has a lot of historical markers and my Mommy and Daddy wanted to stop and read all of them. Most of the 200 historical houses are white or were white originally since it is a town “of White Houses.”

The Main Street has many beautiful houses, but the traffic is constant. There was a nice section that has a little park and a statue to the soldiers and sailors that fought in the civil war. The inscription on one side, “one flag, one country” could apply to today.

The other historical street we walked down was Knox Street. It was even prettier and had some non-white houses and many with gorgeous gardens. Mommy would not let me linger near any of those gardens in case I wanted to leave a calling card. Daddy always has bags, but Mommy does not like me to change the Ph of the lawns on nice yards.

I like towns with beautiful houses because they are good places for me to walk, even if they have dogs that bark at me. I don’t pay them any attention.

A Little Brown Puppy Goes to Maine and Looks at Schooners

I may be a labradoodle, but I am not much of a swimmer. When I was a tiny puppy Carter would take me in the pool at her grandparents farm. I would shiver and clutch to her shoulders. I shivered, despite it being ninety degrees out. I was not able to keep my head above water all on my own. I never learned to doggie paddle.

When I was a little older I learned to go on my friends Lane and Jon’s boats. Their puppies seemed to like it. I would get to wear a life jacket, but still never felt very safe and would shiver in my Daddy’s lap.

So it seems quite unusual for me to be interested in schooners. Today my Mommy and Daddy took me down to the docks where the big schooners come in, but all the big boats were out at sea. There were two smaller boats docked and I thought I looked quite cute standing in front of them. That is probably all I would ever do. I don’t want to go for a trip on those boats.

I don’t want to wear a life jacket and if I were to fall overboard you know I would not be able to swim, even with a floatation device on.

So for now I’ll just look cute and nautical. Not actually be nautical. I would not mind coming back to see the bigger ships when they come in because the people who work on those boats are nice to puppies as most people in Maine are. Please don’t tell any of them that I can’t swim and don’t like to go on boats. They can just think I look cute next to boats. That is enough.

Cold and Rainy, Mainly

Apparently we brought good weather to Maine as our first seven days were gorgeous. Then our luck ran out and it was cold and rainy today, as it apparently has been all summer.

Karen and I took this weather as a sign that we should move more slowly today. So we hung at home while Russ worked and eventually got ourselves out the door and on our adventures for the day.

Karen’s husband Nick had requested that Karen bring back the same yummy jam from Beth’s farm market as she had last year. Well, not exactly the same, just the raspberry and the traffic jam. I agree that those are superior flavors. So we set out for Beth’s.

Beth’s is the most excellent farm stand in Maine. You see hand painted signs for it all over, which leads you to believe it is close by. It ain’t. The first time I went to Beth’s I kept thinking it must be just around the corner. I warned Karen that it was going to be a leisurely drive. She is such an easy going fun friend it was fine with her… until my low tire pressure light came on. Karen was worried I had driven over a nail. I was fairly certain it was just that I had driven my little car so far without putting air in the tires.

To be safe we pulled into the first gas station and drove around the whole thing until we found the air. It’s $1.50 for 3 minutes of air these days. I remember when air was free! So we looked at all the tires and took the caps off to be ready to fill them up. It was raining so this was a miserable task. It took 9 minutes worth of air to make sure the tires were OK. Thank goodness I have a husband who believes you should have a tire gauge in the glove box. Karen took a photo of me filling the tires and when she went to look at it could not stop laughing at what a horrible photo it was. I told her the more horrible the more likely I am going to post it.

Once we were back in the safe zone tire wise we toddled off to Beth’s. They never disappoint, but we were lucky to be there early as they only a few jars of raspberry. If Nancy had been with us they would be wiped out. From Beth’s we went the long way through Union to Camden.

The rain was relentless which of course made finding a parking place tough. Eventually we found one and had a nice wet walk to Petter Ott’s for a yummy lunch, of which the star was the lobster and corn chowder. Thank goodness they do not use flour to thicken their soup.

After lunch we went in an expensive store of things no one needs, like a $145 little brush to sweep crumbs out of your cup holder, or a crystal to put an essential oil on when you practice meditation, just $135. Karen and I decided to go visit Warren at 10 Mechanic his antique store.

I found the buy of the century a bread box for $18. The tag had to be a mistake, but that is what they sold it to me for.

The afternoon was spent stitching and talking and chopping up vegetables we bought at Beth’s for the dinner we made. It was a wonderfully Maine day, but we would like to bring back the sunshine, at least on the days I have to check the tire pressure.

A Maine Day 40 Years In The Making

My Walker’s friend Karen and I were in the same class together. That meant that we also would go to class reunions together every five years. But Walkers was a small school and we were friends with people from classes above and below us, but we don’t go to reunions together. Such a shame because we loved those friends just as much.

A couple of years ago I reconnected with my friend Dinah Bortz on Facebook. She was the year ahead of me at Walkers. She might not have remembered that I was in her very small Latin class my first year, along with the five other smartest people in the whole school. I was the worst Latin student in the class, (Arabella and Cathy, you can attest to that. For the record Dinah, Arabella and Cathy went to Princeton, Harvard and Yale and shit I had to take Latin with them, or more likely they probably thought, “Shit, we have to have Dana in Latin with us.) But I digress.

Dinah lives on Vinalhaven, an island just off the coast near where I stay. So we made plans to finally see each other. The perfect opportunity was when Karen was here for a mini Walkers reunion.

Russ dropped us off at the ferry terminal in Rockland, just 10 minutes from our house, for the hour and fifteen minute ride to the island. It was a glorious day for a boat ride where we watched seals and bird and passed the Rockland light house on our way out of the largest protected harbor in the country.

Once we arrived on island Karen and I walked into the tiny village and texted Dinah we had arrived. She came in a jiffy and we hugged like we had back at walkers when we arrived back at school after summer break. Nothing about Dinah had changed. She was still as warm and fun and friendly and tall!

Kar and I had discussed all the things we wanted to know about living on a small Maine Island on the Ferry and we peppered Dinah with our questions. She toured us all over the island and answered every inquiry about what it was like in the winter and how they got their electricity.

Our first big stop was at her husband Jeff’s boat yard where we got to see the lobster picnic boat he was expertly restoring. We saw the school, the pond that acts as back up water supply in case the aquifer runs dry and the two old quarries used as swimming holes.

Dinah picked up lunch from the Sand Bar, the only restaurant open today and we met Jeff back at their house on the water where we ate at the table Jeff had made that looked like the deck of a million dollar sailboat.

It was a glorious day catching up with a wonderful old friend. Dinah promised to come over to the mainland while I am still here and let me take her to lunch and continue catching up on all the stories from 40 years ago. We missed Nancy Mack who should have been here and both agreed Sarah Sneve will comment quickly on this blog.

We decided we wanted Walkers to do multi year reunions. So all you Walkers girls let’s start a campaign to get that to happen. See, once you go to boarding school with people you stay friends with them for years and years, even if you don’t see each other.

Thanks for a fabulous day Dinah. You are still the best.

A Little Brown Puppy in Maine Goes On A Walk

My third visitor in five days has come to stay at my house in Maine. I know that everyone is just coming to spend time with me as their favorite little brown puppy and I appreciate their adoration.

I am so happy that Karen, Mommy’s friend from Walkers, has come for a few days visit. That means I get lots of snuggle time with her. I wondered where their other friend, Nancy was, since they came together last year to see me. Mommy explained that Nancy had work and we all are sad that she isn’t here. I am sad too, as I know Nancy like dogs, and has one who are almost as big as she is.

The great thing about having Karen here is I got to go walk the Rockland lighthouse breakwater with her and Mommy today. I am a professional breakwater walker, having done it yesterday with Daddy and Rich. I am very agile footed on the big rocks as we walk the mile down to the lighthouse. Today we got to sit on the bench on the upper deck of the lighthouse and watch the boats go by.

There was a bowl for water for dogs, but previous dogs had drunk all the water. I met some nice dogs on my walk, but true to form I didn’t pay them much notice as I was on a mission to keep moving.

After we sat a while we headed back down the breakwater so I could get to the car where my water was. Karen filled my water bowl up. I knew I liked having her here.

I am exhausted from my big walk. I am going to have to rest tomorrow after two breakwater walks in a row. That’s OK because Mommy and Karen are going on a ferry to an Island for the day. I’ll be asleep here at home. It’s tough being a little brown puppy in Maine doing all this walking.

Keep Me Out of The Way

Russ had his business partner Rich up with us for the last two days. It has been a lovely time together, so much like the early days in their business when Rich and Russ often answered to the singular name of Ralph. Because they had a lot of work to do today I left home to spend the day with my friend Warren.

Warren is an antique dealer so we made the rounds at various haunts of his looking for things for him to sell. We went first to Damariscotta to a shop I vsisted with him last year. As he was looking at things he likes, I was looking for things I like. We all know I don’t like much. I really don’t even like looking for myself, but hunting for a bargain for Warren is fun.

I was not much help when I discovered a large textbook of Modern Art that had three blue books inside along with the questions for a midterm. The original owner, Laura Walch, took Modern Art in 1983 from Professor Greenberg, but was not a stellar student as her highest grade on her exams was a B. The other two blue books showed C’s.

I took way too much time reading her exam answers which were the most interesting thing in the giant store. I am not sure if either Laura, or a relative donated this book to the thrift store, but they never thought to check inside to see the evidence of her mediocre grasp on Modern Art History. I did notice it was a three hundred level class so perhaps more was expected of her than she anticipated.

Warren did find a good number of things he wanted so the visit was successful. That meant we were rewarded with having lunch on the river in Damariscotta. Being gluten free in Maine at lunch left me with one choice for lunch, a Caesar salad without croutons, but with lobster. I can’t complain about lobster or the view.

From there we meandered north, stopping at Morses Kraut house, the most fabulous gourmet store in the literal middle of nowhere. I bought homemade sauerkraut, pickles and sardines for Russ and some excellent smelly cheeses. Since we were out that way Warren suggested we stop by one of his favorite haunts for antiques. Some might not consider all they offer antiques but Warren did not purchase a thing from the outside offerings. He did get a beautiful bead board cabinet so the trip was worth it.

It was a gorgeous day out and about in Maine. Thanks to Warren for keeping me out of Rich and Russ’ way while they worked.

A Little Brown Puppy is the Best Vacationeer

Of the three of us I am the best at vacationing. Daddy has worked most of the day. Mommy has done errands, but I have fully been on vacation. I have spent my time going between sleeping on my outdoor bed while Daddy is on calls and sleeping on my indoor bed while Mommy is needlepointing.

I grazed a little at lunch, but then I begged Mommy and Daddy to take me on a hike. We went to Ash Point Preserve at the end of our street. I know this hike well and therefore I like to lead the way. It was much less muddy today than it was two days ago so everyone is happy, not that I mind the mud.

Once in a while I would come upon a smell I wanted to explore and Mommy would get ahead of me. That would only last a little while as I ran to catch up, keeping on her heels until I could find a way around her. We hiked to the water, but did not venture out onto the rocks. We could see down the coast to where our house is, but not see our house.

On the return another dog with his family came down the path. His Daddy told my Daddy that he was friendly, but loud. My Daddy told his Daddy that I would ignore him. So I turned my back to him as he barked his way by me. My Daddy is always right. I didn’t even know there was another dog there, nor did I care.

After the hike it was time for another nap. I knew Daddy was in his outdoor office and would not mind me taking his spot on his bed. My blue dog wanted to snuggle with me and nap too. This is what you do on vacation when you are a little brown puppy.

Tonight another visitor is coming to spend two nights at our house so I have someone new to adore me. That is why I like vacation so much. We never have people come and spend the night at home. Mommy and Daddy are obviously keeping people from me in North Carolina. This is why I love Maine.

A Little Brown Puppy Goes to Maine Part 2

As a little brown puppy I am demanding of all the attention from all my humans. I got up early with my Daddy, but later decided I wanted to go back to sleep with my Mommy, not before waking her up to let her know I was there to sleep with her. Eventually we all got up because we had our guest Gary staying with us and I needed to give him equal time to adore me.

All the adults had breakfast at the table before it was time for Gary to go back to Wisconsin. He said he would be back to visit me and bring someone else to adore me. I was happy I was getting some quality time with Daddy today. I took him on a walk around our neighborhood. I knew all the ways to go since I remembered it all from last year.

Mostly we hung out on the porch and watched the water. I saw boats and birds and some planes landing at our little airport, but mostly just water. It was fine with me because Mommy and Daddy were hanging with me. That was until Mommy started cooking dinner.

My friend Warren was coming for dinner. It seems like we are having people come to eat at our house a lot so far. Warren likes me so I like him. I also get chicken when he comes for dinner since he does not like seafood. He can come and eat chicken anytime as long as he shares. He did share his blueberry ice cream with me, so now I really like him even more.

I was exhausted from doing all my Maine things so I herded Daddy up to bed while Warren and Mommy talked about people I don’t know. That was fine, but I had started my day with one visitor and ended with another and that is enough socializing for one little brown puppy who is on vacation in Maine. I don’t have that many visitors at home. I am going to need a vacation from my vacation. Just being a cute little brown puppy is hard work.

Easy Vacation Day

Vacation Day one was a no rest for the wicked kind of day. As we were so exhausted when we pulled in last night we did not bother to do the shopping. So we woke up early this morning and went to Atlantic Baking where we bought good bread for Russ and gluten free for me. Bread is something I definitely miss as so far gluten free has been not so great.

Then we went to Walmart to do our stock up shopping. Normally I am not a Walmart shopper, but since it is the biggest store near us and toilet paper is toilet paper that is where we went. Russ declared it not a horrible experience.

Our first guest of the summer was arriving at noon today. Russ’ great friend Gary from Wisconsin was bringing his daughter to college in Maine and came to spend one day with us. It was a quintessential Maine Day so we enjoyed time on the deck overlooking the water. Gary and Russ talked a lot of business and after lunch I took the first of my vacation naps. It was lovely.

We went to Claws for dinner. They have gluten free rolls so I had my first lobster roll of the summer and the gluten free part was quickly discarded and I had my first lobster sans roll of the summer.

After dinner we drove Gary around Owls Head, showing him our general store, post office and lobster pound. It was too late to see the light house as the park closed at sunset.

It was a Great Maine Day. Ending with wild Maine blueberry ice cream. As I write now I hear the ocean lapping on the rocks and feel the cool breeze though the open windows of our room.

Sun will be up bright and early so it’s off to sleep now, in spite of my much enjoyed nap.

A Little Brown Puppy Goes to Maine

What a good girl Shay was in the car for two whole days. She was very despondent when her parents were packing up in fear she was being left behind. But when her mommy asked, “Do you want to go in the car?” She bounded to the door and sat at attention as her daddy put on her car harness.

Shay jumped in the back seat and was delighted to find, not one, but two Princess beds. She gladly let Mommy attach her seat belt to her harness and she stood at the ready for the adventure to begin. For the first hour on the first day of the very long drive she scratched at her Daddy’s shoulder begging to be allowed to ride on his lap. Mommy had already had this discussion with Daddy that he was not to let her ride on his lap for two days because that meant that Mommy would have to drive the whole way.

Eventually Shay settled down and looked out the window for eleven states. Only once yesterday in Pennsylvania did she she another dog with his head out his window did she get a little excited. Thankfully she did not ask to have her window open.

Yesterday she spent the night at her Daddy’s childhood home. That meant she slept in his child hood tiny bed taking up a majority of the space. Her Daddy let her do that. Her mommy had her own tiny bed.

Today she jumped right in the car bright and early. “ How much longer until we get to Maine?” It was a very long day. Mommy ended up driving the whole day because Daddy had a lot of work calls. The traffic was very bad, but we missed most of the horrible weather. Finally at 6:00 PM we arrived at our little Owl’s Head House. Shay ran right to the front door and said, “I’m so glad to be back.”

She carried her blue baby up to bed. “I’m ready for vacation. When are we going to walk the breakwater?” Tomorrow, sweet girl, tomorrow.

No Cars is a Bad Sign

People talk s#$t about the pandemic, if there was one thing about it that can’t be beat…the traffic. Two weeks after the lock down I convinced Carter to let me drive up to Boston to bring her home. I made the normally 14 hour drive in 10 hours thanks to NOT ONE CAR being on I-95 for long stretches.

Was it eerie? Damn right it was. There were more than a few apocalyptic moments. As someone who spent years driving up and down I-95 daily I was much more used to traffic jams than no jams due to no cars.

So today when Russ and I were driving north it took me a few minutes to realize that something was amiss as we were in bumper to bumper traffic and not one car was coming south. I altered Russ, who had his head down in his computer, that something was very wrong because I had not seen a car going south for a while. I had a brief pandemic panic, but my own traffic brought me back to 2023.

The bad news was the lack of southbound traffic was due to a terrible accident with at least three cars, one on its roof and cops in every lane all the way across the road. The traffic going south had been stopped long enough that people were out of their cars talking on the side of I-95. The backup went on for miles. The poor slubs who were trapped on the entrance lanes. Imagine turning on the the ramp and coming to a dead stop ten cars in.

Seeing all empty lanes is just never a good sign. Either the world might be ending, like in a pandemic, or an absolutely terrible accident has happened. Neither is good. Be safe out there.

Guilt of Over Abundance

In winter, if I have a small store bought basil plant I carefully dole out it’s precious leaves one by one. If a leaf has a brown spot, I cut it out so I can still use the good part. The scarcity of fresh basil in January makes each fresh leaf a treasure.

Today I asked Russ to cut down all the basil in the garden so I could process it while it was in its heyday. He gathered the lanky and bushy plants in a giant old beach towel left over from a commercial shoot I did thirty years ago. He lay the armload on the counter. I was over whelmed with the work ahead.

I pulled one branch at a time, washing the leaves while still attached. Ripping them from the stems, placing them in my giant colander. Washing them again. When the colander was full I took a handfuls of leaves out and put them in the salad spinner, this being the triple wash. Eventually those dried leaves went into the cuisineart with olive oil and were puréed. The mash going into plastic containers and into the freezer. Ready to be made into pesto or dolloped into soup in the winter, or drizzled onto tomatoes I oven roasted and froze from this summer’s harvest.

As is the case when met with an over abundance of basil I am, at first, careful about stripping all the leaves from the stems. If an edge has turned brown I cut that part away, much like I do in the with the precious winter leaves. Then as the hours go one I become less finicky.

The small leaves that don’t come off on the initial strip I leave on the discarded stem. The leaves that might have a bite out of them from an innocent pest I toss out, the leaves that cling to the towel I ignore. I have so much basil. I know that the perfectly good leaves I don’t bother to process will not be missed. I still have pesto in the freezer from last summer that must be eaten first.

After making two quarts of basil purée I stop. I gather all the spent stems and discarded leaves and throw them away. I have a small twinge of guilt.

Having too much of something cheapens it. This over abundance is under appreciated.

It is a real struggle in life to know how much of anything we actually need. Too much is just as bad as too little. The time that it would take to carefully honor every leaf has value too, so I don’t do it. Happiness is found in the balance. I am working on that.

Stay Home

I was standing at the front door looking out at the storm when I felt something. I think the power went out and came right back on. I tried to text Russ at his office only to discover that the internet was out. I checked the TV and the cable was gone too.

The trees were whipping hither and yon and Shay was crying up on our bed, which serves as her home base. I went to my room to console her. She never likes my explanation that her home base is not the safest room in our house. She insists on hunkering down there no matter the storm.

I called Russ on our trusty land line, which I keep for exactly these scenarios. My cell phone does not work well in our house without the boost from the Wi-Fi. No internet – no Wi-Fi, no texting, emailing or calling. If I walk out to the front of the house I can get two weak little bars and something can go through.

Russ told me he was glad I was not teaching because there was a 32 car pile up at our exit of I-40. I told him to be careful combing home. Turned out that most of Durham has lost its power and apparently no one remembers the rules of the road concerning traffic lights that are not working. Russ pulled up to the light at Marin Luther King and Old Chapel Hill road and he said the cars were flying through the intersection as if MLK had suddenly tuned into the Martinsville Speedway. So much for stopping and treating the intersection like a four way stop.

About then my cousin texted that her daughter was in the hospital in Greensboro and she wanted info on Duke doctors. I told her to stay in Greensboro. Turned out that was a good call because I got a phone call from the Durham emergency response center advising everyone to stay home that the police can not respond to all the wrecks from the lights being out.

I thought the automated call should also have told people what the rule of the road is for lights being out. Maybe that would cut down on accidents.

I hope no one we know was hurt in that big I-40 pile up. Since we don’t have TV or Internet I can’t get any info on it. Stay home people.

Obsessive Cleaning

I hate to go away, even for the weekend, and come home to a dirty house. When I come home I want it to be like a hotel with clean sheets and towels. I want the fridge to not contain anything spoiled and the floors to be dust free. It doesn’t always work out that way because dust happens.

Today I did some deep deep cleaning that probably should have been done months ago. We have a six burner gas stove and though I love to cook on it, it is a bear to clean the star shaped burners. I am the only one in the house who notices if they need to be cleaned so I never expect anyone else to attack them.

It took me a good two hours, dawn, power wash, bar keepers friend, a tooth brush and steel wool to clean these things up. At the two hour mark I deemed the job good enough. There was still a bit of baked on blackness on a couple or burner. If I had gotten the Dremel tool put I probably could have got those last bits, but I needed to move on to cleaning out the refrigerator.

If I cleaned the stove extensively every week this job would not get so hard, but it is enough for me to clean the flat surface every night and not get out a speciality dental tool to clean between the burner fingers. There is something so satisfying about doing this though cleaning, but not compelling enough to want to do it weekly.

I would much rather be with friends, or creating or teaching than cleaning. But I would rather clean than come home to a dirty house. Somehow I notice if something is dirty if I have not been home for a few days, as opposed to be able to walk by it and ignore it if I am home all the time. Thank goodness I go away regularly.

Gladys Kravitz in My House

If you walk by our house I want to give you fair warning you are probably being watched. See, we live with the dog version of Gladys Kravitz. If you did not watch Bewitched in the 1960’s this reference is lost on you.

Shay loves to sit on the pillows in the sunroom where she is well camouflaged peering out the windows taking note of all the neighborhood goings on. She will alert me if another dog walks by or a child on a bike. She doesn’t do it in a way that they know she is watching them. She is not a ferocious guard dog if you are out on the street. But come down our walk way and you will think she is a much larger dog.

Her Gladys qualities are just about being nosy. She just likes to spy on beings, human or animal, and make sure the nothing nefarious is afoot. That is unless you are a deer and then she never rats you out. I have no idea what deal she has struck with the various bucks, does and fawns, but she quietly watches them and never makes a peep.

That is her downfall as a Gladys. I wish she would make all the noise in the world when the deer are eating my plants. They must have paid Shay off somehow. Perhaps they have some dirt on her. For now she only good at spying on the innocent. Just like Gladys.

No Fair

When Carter was little she used to beg us to go to the state fair. The rides, the food, the animals, the games, mom winning her a stuffed animal at whack-a-mole. I on the other hand was less enamored with the fair. The rides, the drug addicts who put the rides together, the calories, the diseases that spread from the animals, the over-priced games, winning a stuffed animal which could easily have bed bugs. Still we went to the fair.

Today I saw in the news that the Iowa State fair is going on and it has something so much worse than vermin and meth heads running the Ferris wheel. They have people running for President wandering the grounds trying to get noticed, flipping pork chops and talking as if they are the reason people came to the fair.

If Carter were little and we lived in Iowa I would have to go pull the spark plugs out of all our cars so we couldn’t go to the fair. It would be child abuse to subject a child to presidential candidates at the fair. Nothing could be worse than being trapped in a long line to see the butter cow and have a candidate stop to shake hands and talk to people.

We didn’t come to the fair to see them, we just wanted to see the full size cow made out of butter. The cow might get more votes than some of the crazy candidates. Is Marianne Williamson running again? Hasn’t she learned her lesson yet. No matter how much love she preaches she is not feeling the love in return.

Today I am thankful I live in North Carolina. I am also thankful that my child lives in Boston. I never have to go back to the fair or my fair ever again, politicians or not.

Who Edits Sign Makers?

As a writer and an accidental editor I know the benefit of a good editor. I was an art major. As a blogger I have no editor. I don’t even have a proof reader, or reread this blog myself before it is published. But blogging for me is a stream of consciousness at the end of my day and not meant to inform people about important of life saving information. I apologize now for any spelling or grammar mistakes, not for any opinions.

I am a stickler for correct grammar and spelling in signage. Last week Russ and I went to Carrboro for dinner. Russ dropped me off and went to park. After dinner I walked back to the car with him. He was parked right in front of this sign that read. “No Parking. End Permitted parking.”

“What exactly does that sign mean?” I asked Russ. Since Russ was parked before the sign I knew he was not in the No Parking area, but was the spot where he was parked one that needed a “Permit,” or was it a spot where parking was Permitted? If it was the former and he got a ticket for not having a permit, I felt like one could easily argue that the sign says the parking is allowed where he was since allowed means the same thing as permitted.

Thankfully, for some poor magistrate or low level judge, we did not get a ticket because I would have loved to go in and argue our case with that sign as evidence. I looked around to see if there was an additional signs that mentioned Permits being needed to park and did not see one.

Back to my title. Who is it that checks the grammar on government made signs to ensure that the meaning is clear? There must be someone at the federal level and the state level, but I am not sure at the city level there is someone double checking the sign makers. Maybe there is a book of standard signs, but if there is I would think this one would be in there. Well, I say that, but since I am unsure of what that sign really means, it might be hard to lookup.

Am I the only one who thinks about these things? Please tell me I am not alone. Mary Mundy I’m looking at you.

Farewell Coral Bay, For a While

Today was my last class of the season at the Coral Bay Club. As the club is being torn down to be rebuilt I will not be teaching there next season. Thanks to the amazing Reba Huckabee I have had five great summers teaching at CBC. It would have been six, save the pandemic. I have made some of the most wonderful friends there and have enjoyed teaching so many students I met there back in their home cities.

The staff at Coral Bay has always taken excellent care of me and I am so appreciative of all they have done to grow Mah Jongg at the beach. All clubs could learn from them. I am hoping to fill those Coral Bay spots at other beach clubs next summer. I am already scheduled to be at Dunes club in June.

After my last class of beginners I had lunch with my beloved friends Kristi and Ann and my new friend Francis. I have no fear of not seeing them as they all live in the beloved Kinston. I had to sneak out of the club just as Thursday play for Mah Jongg was starting because if I didn’t I would have been there for another half hour talking to Mah Jongg players.

I had to rush to Raleigh because Mr. Carter (no relation), the upholsterer had my first needlepoint game chair finished. He kindly kept his shop open an extra ten minutes since I was late. I was so excited to get the chair home. I promised him I would be back in three months with my next needlepoint ready to cover a second chair.

There is nothing so exciting at making your own furniture and having it turn out exactly like you envisioned. I should pass out exhausted tonight, but I need to needlepoint.

Sublime Blue Moon Bistro

When I stay with a friend I always want to take them out to dinner as a thank you for hosting me. I believe in consumable gifts and a yummy dinner out means no one had to do any work.

Since I am in Atlantic Beach with my friend Kristi I thought it would be a good idea to visit one of my favorite Beaufort restaurants, Blue Moon Bistro. Our friends Elizabeth and Doug Townsend are owners so I called Elizabeth to help me secure a reservation.

Kristi and I arrived on time and were promptly seated. We had the lost lovely waitress who went out of her way to make sure everything was was safe for us to eat since both Kristi and I are Gluten free.

We ordered all apps that fit the parameters for no gluten. There were so many fabulous choices and our waitress said that most everything could be adapted. Kristi commented that Blue Moon is one of the best restaurants in the area for really making sure that you are safe eating there.

After we ordered, the hostess arrived at our table with two complimentary appetizers, a gift from Elizabeth. It was such a sweet and generous thing for her to do. Unfortunately one of them had gluten and the hostess wisked it away and brought back some mussels that were perfect. I enjoyed the shrimp on a grit cake which I have to say is one of the best things I have eaten.

What fabulous food, atmosphere and hospitality we had at Blue Moon tonight. I was right to bring Kristi there as my thank you because it was perfect. No surprise, everything Doug and Elizabeth do is wonderful. When in Beaufort go visit Blue Moon, get the shrimp and grits. You will be happy

The Teacher Becomes the Pupil

The best part about being a Mah Jongg teacher is the friends that you make while teaching. Kristi Blizzard is one of the tops. She is hosting me at the beach this week for which I am eternally grateful. It is not just because she has a beautiful house that happens to be very close to the club I am teaching at. Or that she made us a delicious dinner tonight. Or that she just finished reading The Covenant of Water when I got here so we got to have a big discussion about it.

The big bonus is that Kristi has been Gluten free for over ten years so she gave me a huge tutorial on what are the good Gluten free products and what are not. She bought me some gluten free cheese straws and cookies for take home gifts. And she gave me test tasting of many different things so I could figure out if I liked them or not.

I may be her Mah Jongg teacher, but she is my gluten free guru. I am so thankful to have her as the best resource so I don’t have to waste my time or my money buying things that I just end up throwing away because I find them inedible. I had no idea that many of these products existed or that Food Lion and Aldi had such good gluten free selections. That’s what I get for not ever shopping at either of them.

Thanks Kristi for all you do for me, especially giving me this excellent education.

Hysterical

When I was younger I thought Democrats (not individuals), but the party, did not have much of a sense of humor. Every issue was very serious and they probably were, but they couldn’t seem to take a joke.

Then something changed. When Republicans created “Let’s go Brandon” as the clean cover for “F#*k Joe Biden” rather than get his dander up in public Joe embraced it and made a joke about being Dark Brandon. He turned the tables.

Well today Trump included a photo of Dark Brandon drinking from his mug in his legal response To Jack Smith’s request that Trump not release any indictment information to the public. I love that Trump is whining about Dark Brandon as being mean to him when he celebrated the creation of “F#*k Joe Biden.” Joe posting this is not a veiled threat and any lawyer who uses that as justification is not worth what he’s paid. (Oh yeah, he might not get paid, Right Rudi?)

I also love that there are flags that Trump people fly out in public with the F word on it and then they whine about books in school that might be dangerous to kids. Are you kidding me? Stop flying the F word making parents have to explain what that word is to six year olds.

That’s all, no more political talk.

How to Get it to Rain

This summer we planted 15 flats of mondo grass in a section of the front yard that is too shady to grow grass and on a slope where the top soil would wash away. The mondo was well mulched but since they are new planting I had to make sure they are well watered for the first six months.

This last week I drove my black car to the beach and when I got home it looked like a reverse leopard full of spots. The Salt air and spitting rain we had over the four days had left a distinct and I think beautiful pattern on the car, but it had not come off on its own.

After church Russ spent a good hour positioning and repositioning the sprinkler watering the new mondo. Then he took my car to be inspected, got me new wiper blades and washed my car.

That was enough to cause it to rain hard tonight. I am not sorry. We need the rain. My grass and other gardens need the rain and it certainly does not hurt the mondo to get a deeper soaking. The car will survive. It does not have to be pristine for me to drive back to the beach.

So many times I look at the weather forecast and think, I don’t need to water because rain is coming and then it never does. I should know that if I want it to rain all we have to do is water outside and wash the car. It’s guaranteed.

No Southern Hospitality

My friend Shannon came back from Morehead with me to spend the night at our house. My plan was to show her as much southern hospitality as she showed me last month. Best laid plans.

Our power went out at 5:30 this morning. Not that I knew it as I was passed out hard from my grueling week. When I finally woke up at 8:00 Russ alerted me to the news that a car had taken out something major, but the power was scheduled to be back on at 8:30 AM

I know better than to believe those predictions so I asked Shannon if she would like to go out to breakfast. She alerted me that her flight was now delayed an hour so we had all the time in the world.

Russ suggested we go to Press for breakfast and we could show Shannon his office and water his plants. It was a good plan. I suggested we should unlock a door. Russ thought it was a suggestion.

Off we went to a yummy breakfast since Press has lots of gluten free options. We toured Shannon around the ball park, and Russ’ office, downtown and Duke on our way home. We arrived home to no power and a notice that it was going to be 5:30 PM for power.

Just as we pulled up to the garage door Russ realized he had not brought a key and we left no door unlocked. Since we usually go in the house through the garage we were locked out since the garage door opener needs power.

We needed to get into the house to get Shannon’s bags and get her to the airport. I said no problem, I will get the hidden key. Well, the hidden key was not exactly in it’s normal place. I called Carter to see if she had moved it. No and she suggested going in the window she used to use in high school when she snuck back in. Then she remembered that she locked that window when she no longer needed to sneak in the house.

Russ called a lock smith while Shannon and I searched for the key. I kept saying I knew it was there, but as we pulled more and more dead leaves up we did not find it. After about a 20 minute search we did find the key and got in the house. Thankfully it was still in plenty of time to get Shannon to the airport.

She made her flight and went home to 109°temps. At least I can say we gave her cooler weather. On my way home from the airport Russ told me it was now going to be 8:30 PM for the power. I stopped and got ice for the freezers and refrigerator.

We went out to dinner so as not to need to open any appliance. While we were out we got the notice that the power came back on at 6:30PM. Thank goodness I was not having a guest tonight. There is no southern hospitality without air conditioning in the summer.

Morehead City Mah Jongg Madness

Following the spirit of my whole week I had to pack as much as possible into today as it was my last day in Beaufort and teaching Mah Jongg in Morehead city. So Shannon, Annette and I were up early and in our kayaks before most civilized peoples had finished their first coffee.

Shannon and Netta were in the tandem kayak and I rode solo. The tide and wind were against us as we paddled out past Carrot Island with the plan to go into an estuary. It was tough getting there and once we did we changed our plan so we could stop fighting the water. Basically I decided we had paddled hard enough. So we turned back and it took one quarter the time to get back thanks to a favorable tide and the wind at our backs.

So we spent a lovely hour on the porch over looking the water watching other kayakers suffer the current. This was our last morning there and we still needed to clean up and pack, but once we did we had plenty of time to walk the 100 yards to the Front st. grill to have salads for lunch. Then we meandered through the fabulous maritime museum before I had to go to work and Shannon and Netta went to Play Mah Jongg at Coral Bay.

I had my final class at the Morehead City country club with 20 new Mah Jongg enthusiasts. There is nothing more exciting than making your first Mah Jongg. Congratulations to all the students. My friend Mary Jo came to fill in for a missing student. She had a fabulous quints win, which I think was a first for her.

After class Shannon and I made our get away to Durham. On our way we stopped in New Bern and had a yummy seafood dinner. Our only real dinner of the week since we had been in class at dinner time every night. We got back home at nine and Shannon finally met Russ and Shay.

It’s been an action filled week. I am ready to sleep, maybe all weekend. I need to rest up to go back to the beach next week. Mah Jongg never sleeps.

Mah Jongg Day and Night

I’m trying my hardest to get to bed before midnight, but there is so much packed in the day today I am not having much luck. It’s nothing but fun so I can’t complain.

I started with breakfast with my friend Shannon sitting on the porch on Annette’s Nest house on the water in Beaufort. What could be bad. Then we went across the street to see Page and George’s renovation which was almost more fabulous than their Durham house. In Durham I had been Page’s vegetable garden advisor and she show us her vegetables Head and I practically cried I was so proud of her tomatoes.

After Page, Shannon, Annette and I went to Beaufort Grocery for lunch from I went to work at Morehead City. They are the cutest group of women who are catching on fast. I am thrilled to have yet another place where Mah Jongg has taken hold.

I rushed back to Annette’s for the last night with the Beaufort girls class. Everyone passed the class with flying colors and now Annette will have plenty of friends to play with. I can’t wait to come back and continue their education and get to hang out with them.

Now I have to sleep because we are going kayaking in the morning before I finish up teaching at Morehead city. It’s been a wonderful week, but I need some rest.

Burning the Candle on Both Ends

I’m having way too much fun to be working this much. This morning we all got up early to enjoy breakfast on the water, before going out on Annette’s boat for her boating lessons with her instructor Jose. It’s just hard to beat an early morning ride along Carrot Island. We didn’t see any wild horses, but the day was devoid of the normal summer humidity and it made the ride magnificent.

After we got a tour of Annette’s new house, which is across the street from her guest house we are staying in. I am in heaven in her house. We had lunch and I had to leave Shannon and Annette for my first class at Morehead City Country Club.

I drove in and thought I had come in the wrong entrance because although I could see a giant new beautiful club house in the distance I was unsure if I was on a road that got me there. Eventually driving past the cart barn and the giant pile of sand trap sand I found a tiny lane that got me where I was needing to go.

I had a huge class of new players who were a delight and caught on quite quickly. I had one short hour between classes to get from the Country club back to Beaufort, eat dinner and start the second class for the Beaufort gang.

It is Elizabeth Townsend’s birthday so there was a little celebration for her and she proceeded to win all three games at her table. It was not like her opponents were giving her a present and letting her win, she did a great job learning.

Thankfully most other tables had multiple winners and I was especially happy that Page also won since she has been dying to learn.

Everyone left sometime after nine PM and Annette and Shannon and I told each other stories until I realized I had just a few minutes left in the day to write this blog. I am exhausted and have to do it all again tomorrow so it’s off to bed.

Beaufort Bound

Last month I got a call from a woman who wanted Mah Jongg Lessons for Morehead City Country Club. I had just this week available and she took me up on it. Since I was coming to Morehead I thought I should get another class going. You know I hate to travel anywhere and only teach one class a day.

Before I could even think about another class a friend from Durham, Peggy called me about teaching in Beaufort, then another Beaufort friend, Annette called. Seemed like Beaufort was going to be my other class.

Annette jumped right in planning the Beaufort class and invited me to stay with her. I first learned of Annette from my friend Shannon from Fort Worth, because they have been friends since childhood. Shannon told me Annette had gotten a place in Durham and I should meet her. She also lives in Beaufort. So when Annette and I were discussing the Beaufort class, I suggested we get Shannon to come too.

This morning I picked Shannon up at RDU and we drove down to Beaufort. We are staying in Annette’s beautiful guest house and this is where we had Mah Jongg class tonight. Half the people in the class are friends of mine from Durham, including Peggy and at last Page. Page has been trying to take Mah Jongg for the last year and never could get into a class and now she is in one that is across the street from her house. Elizabeth is also in the class and she used to live down the street from me in Durham and now she lives exactly across the street from Annette’s guest house. How fun to have Mah Jongg here. It all just seemed to work out in a wonderful way. I am very grateful for Annette’s generous hospitality and that Shannon could come from Fort Worth and be here!