halfway through 4 days “off”

We have been looking forward to this weekend for a long time.  A has been on the road a lot the last few weeks, and she was ready to stay home and relax for 4 days.  I am always ready to stay home and relax for 4 days!

So what are we doing to relax?  Well, not much!  I had a sleep study Thursday night, followed by an early morning mammogram and bone density test.  I’m not saying middle age is a nuisance, but there sure are lots of “baseline” tests to get through! I had a few odds and ends to get for the big birthday bash Sunday, and still was home by 9 am. A was just getting going for the day.  I had grabbed the mail, which held wonderful large checks.  So we hopped in the car and drove back to Ellsworth to go to the bank.  Since we were there, we went to the “big” grocery store, two banks, a quick stop at the office, and the hardware store on the way home.  THEN I spent a hot hour sifting sand for that pool relocation project you know I have been working on FOREVER. Then we went to EBS for the stuff that wouldn’t fit in the car on the first trip, and then the little grocery store for all the things we had forgotten (starting with the list!) at the big store.

Friday was not relaxing.

Today had promise, I woke up at 4:30 but stayed in bed until 7. WOW, this could be a vacation… then I did some wash, headed upstairs and cleaned off the craft room table.  I have finally gotten the room so it functions, although I still have boxes of stuff to go through, they are neatly stowed.  Anyway, I cut out the test top half of Mom’s wedding outfit – got it all ready to go, and decided to keep going.  I was doing great, until I tried to pin in the sleeves.  Nothing lined up right.  I double checked the pattern, I did cut it out right and mark it where indicated.  The sleeves simply don’t fit the armholes.  Argh!  So I packed it up to take to Mom’s tomorrow, and see if my brilliant sister can help figure this out.

Then I went out and HOPEFULLY FINISHED sifting dirt and tamping it down for the pool.  I say hopefully because I am heartily sick of the project, and it is buggy out and I want to return the tamper tomorrow when we go to the party…and because I want to put that pool up – it is getting hotter and hotter. I am ready for it!  And the sieve is falling apart. I changed the bed and made a roasted potatoes and asparagus for supper.

While I was doing all of this, A was doing more laundry, dishes, working on a table she is building, and grilling the meat for supper.

Neither of us did much relaxing today.  And I still have raised beds to move so I can plant my veggies sometime before there is no point… so I am guessing Monday will be full of work, too.

The thing is, I find all of this work relaxing.  I love having time home to work on my projects. I think A does, too. I love having my craft room organized so I can just go sew for a while, or find some yarn to make more hats for Nest Maine (http://nestmaine.blogspot.com/) and I love being able to go outside and work until the bugs chase me in and being able to a million little puttering things. I think even the cat loves is too – she comes out with me and wanders off, looking relieved when I go looking for her and carry her back to where I am working. She also loves when I sit on the couch typing.  She is curled up next to me, snoozing, relaxing safely on the gray blanket.  The one that is supposed to be cat free…  🙂

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drip drip drip

Here I am at Sunday River for a conference, and all there is to do here is go to workshops.  Sigh.  It just keeps RAINING!  I tried going out for a walk the other day – lord, everything is down hill!  My old knees don’t like down hill.  Of course, it is followed by uphill, which is a lot of work!  Anyway, it was raining, so it really was no fun to walk.  Today I tried the fitness room.  It was dry, but boring. I did swim in the outdoor heated pool – one activity that is OK to do in the rain.  I was the only one in the pool – it seems CAP employees would rather sit in the bar and drink than swim in the rain and get all wet.  🙂

This afternoon I played hookie from workshops and explored the state of microenterprise in Bethel.  It is interesting.  Lots of lodging and eating places.  Not too much retail that doesn’t involve skis or golf. I managed to buy A a little giftie, and a few cards to send to a friend. All of the beautiful old houses are wonderfully maintained – all painted and pretty. I wonder if all the money comes from skiing?  What does everyone do all summer?

I have been knitting a hat while here, made from scraps.  It is interesting ow it is coming out, I will try to remember to take a photo on if for the site when it is done.  I call it my Sunday River hat.  Original huh?  It is generating lots of interest and comments.  I guess no one else thought to bring their knitting.  I would go MAD if I had to sit here all day every day listening to people talk and I couldn’t do anything with my hands! MAD, I say!

Oh, and in case anyone cares, it is May 19 and  there is still patchy snow on the trails.  I know it is probably manmade, but this is ridiculous.  Shouldn’t it all have washed away by now?  It has been raining steadily for months now, hasn’t it?  That also would drive me nuts. Seeing snow every day would drive me nuts.  It is supposed to be spring with FLOWERS and SUNSHINE not snow and rain.

It’s good I can knit. Scary to think what I would be like if I couldn’t.

procrastination

Not my favorite word, but certainly my favorite activity.  I should be upstairs working on getting that craft room sorted and organized – I have a wedding outfit to make!  I have worked pretty hard to avoid doing that this weekend, with some success. However, shortly I will have to make my way up there.  Truly, I will.  Friday, I did a few chores around the house and laundry; I worked out on the relocation of the pool project for about 15 minutes before the black flies found me; I took the blind kitty for a walk;  I met my cousin P and had lunch and window shopped in some flea markets and antique shops in Searsport – we stopped in the Pumpkin Patch Antique store – I had been by a million times and never stopped.  They have some beautiful pieces in there, not junk. and prices to match. We did spot the funniest thing on the book shelves there.  A book by Kate Douglas Wiggin titled “Penelope Prevails” or something similar, leaning up against a book named “Uncle Terry”.  P snapped a photo of it, we will do something creative with it eventually.

Friday evening A and I watched some TV and I crocheted a hat for the coats project at work. Saturday was even less productive – I dropped A off for a haircut, ran to the dump, stopped at the bookstore for my book club books (Post American Economy and This Life is in Your Hands – I’ll let you know about them when I actually read them.  One needs to be done by 5/25… we will see), dropped food off at the PO, and DID remember to pick A up again.  We walked along the Bucksport River walk for our daily exercise, and then had lunch at one of my favorite take out places around here – Wo’s Barbecue, which opened Friday.  It was so yummy – if you are on Verona Island, plan to stop, and don’t be afraid to try their specialty ice cream flavor, Wo’s Sweet Heat!  They are great folks there, it is all family run, and they are good to me – making me tiny portion sizes and letting me just have a sample bite of the ice cream instead of buying a whole dish.  Then we came home and totally vegged on the couch.  What was going to be one episode of Gray’s Anatomy turned into a DVR afternoon.  The good news is I made three more hats, but I did not get upstairs at all.  Except to get more yarn.

So.  this morning, I am determined to make it up there and spend at least half an hour on the project.  For that reason I have taken a shower and dressed, emptied the dishwasher, started laundry, eaten breakfast, done some research on low potassium foods, and decided that writing a blog post is very important.

Yup, I do love to procrastinate! At least I make hats while I do it, so it is not totally wasted time.

Right?

Oh, come on.

OK, I am going.  Just as soon as I strip the bed.

clearly not a daily blog…

I guess when there is work instead of vacation, the writing doesn’t happen as often!  Maybe because life gets boring?  But the weekend did come and go, and again, no writing. Not sure why, unless because it was such a beautiful weekend and we were BUSY!  So I’ll take  a few minutes now to get you all caught up – but just a few as I do need to get ready for work.

Friday was chore day – the usual errands and running around, as well as puttering around the house.  Got the hummingbird feeder up, and it was utilized immediately!  Have to put that up earlier next year. Also got the fabric washed and ironed that will be Mom’s wedding “dress” in July.  I am looking forward to making it, I think it will be pretty.

Saturday we went to Bar Harbor for a ride on Oli’s Trolley – they offered discounted tickets this week on their tours.  It was fun – learned some things I hadn’t known about the park and Bar Harbor.  And it was good to see Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, etc without having to do the driving. It was a gorgeous day, given the rainy forecast.  A bit chilly, but nothing unusual.

Sunday was spent celebrating Mom, of course – baked a couple of chickens and fixed some strawberries and chocolate ricotta, and carted it all over to her.  Everyone else brought salads and dessert, so we had a good cold supper.  Only missing three nieces, so it was a big crowd.  Came home early, A packed to head out on her first overnight trip in almost two years – wow!  She got right into the routine, though, and headed off bright and early this morning.

Which I clearly am not going to do, but I do have to get going!

sunshine! good day

Last day of vacation had the best weather of all, yea! And it was a good day – started with breakfast out – always a good start. Went to the “funny place” with its new owners, the food was very good, the service pretty spotty. We’ll try it again sometime, see if it gets better.

On the way home, A dropped me off at EBS.  I walked home while she chose some nice straight 2×4’s. We can carry a lot in our little cars, but all the passenger seats need to be folded down. Lucky it was a nice day, huh? Then she played in her workshop and I played in the yard for a few hours.  Not sure why I decided the pool needs to be moved, but I started the process of digging out the rocks and weeds for that.  Oh, and moved the remnants of the wood pile, and half the rock pile. So now, gosh darn it, the pool WILL be moved.  🙂

I also took a risk and planted the poppy seeds.  The package says after all danger of frost… but Martha Stewart says you can scatter the seeds on the snow if you want, in early spring.  So I figure I am good.  We will see. I planted a nice mix on top of the septic tank, and along the back bank.  I hope I will see glorious flowers there later this summer. 

I checked out the volunteer lupine along the driveway – there are a lot!  Most of them are second year plants, so should bloom this year.  There aren’t as many as there were last fall, but still, I am pleased to see that some survived.  There is hope for my plan to have the whole edge of the drive drenched in them someday.

I was not so pleased to find blackflies and other flying insects!  They had better hurry up and live their little life cycle and go away.

After lunch, A’s sister L came over, and we went down to Blue Hill, for a walk at the Carter preserve.  It was a glorious afternoon for wandering along the shore – bright sun, calm blue water, low tide, so lots of tidal pools and shells and rocks to check out.

Stopped for supper at Crosby’s, and finished off a good day with a good supper – and no cooking all day – wow, what a finish to a vacation!