A Day in Maine

Colette works hard (six days a week) all summer long.  So, yesterday I treated her to a day off…in Maine!  On the agenda were the towns of: Kennebunkport, Ogunquit, York, and Kittery.

First stop, and farthest up the Maine coast on our travels, was Kennebunkport.  It’s a charming seaside town with beautiful, colonial homes on tree-lined streets.

The center of action though is Dock Square with its charming selection of shops and restaurants.  Although it’s impossible to tell from this photo, many of these buildings are up on pilings, as they are above the water when the tide comes in.

Kennebunkport is a popular tourist destination, and we saw many charming inns throughout the town (like the one in the background here).

We sampled a few of the 50 flavors of salt water taffy sold in this shop.  Colette liked the pear and the pomegranate, while I preferred the apple pie.

Every restaurant, bistro, cafe, pub, and shack sold lobster…in almost every form imaginable.

 The day was blisteringly hot…ugh…90 degrees with almost no breeze.  Consequently, what captured our attention the most was this tiny business selling fresh-squeezed lemonade.  The whole business was not much bigger than my pantry, which as pantries go is large, but as businesses go (especially one with three people inside), it was very small.  But the staff was cheerful, and the lemonade refreshing!  Ahhh.

Then we moved on down the coast to Ogunquit, a popular beach destination.

But we were here to visit the bakery...

…and the candy shop, where everything chocolate, and sparkly, and delicious can be found!

How beautiful this little inlet is in Kittery, with its grasses growing along the shore.  All the rain we’ve had this summer has made everything so very green.

It was a beautiful mother-daughter day out!

Triple Berry Pie Bars

For dessert on the 4th of July, I made Triple Berry Pie Bars.  They’re sort of like a lemon bar, but with berries.  Yum!

Click here to go to the recipe.

4th of July

The 4th of July was hot, hot, HOT here in New Hampshire!  But, undaunted, we attended the parade in our town.  We LOVE going to the parade!  It’s just what every small town parade ought to be like.  And this year is the 250th anniversary of the founding of our town, so the parade was bigger and better than ever!

The town hall was decked out with flags and buntings at every window.

All along the parade route, including in front of the general store (shown here), the red, white, and blue crowd gathered to watch the festivities.

The parade’s official start was signaled by the ringing of the Paul Revere bell in the belfry of the Community Church.

One of the highlights of the parade each year, at least for me, is to see the Molly Stark Cannon paraded through town.

Some of the other parade highlights included: a Dixieland band, floats by local residents, cars carrying the oldest citizen of town and it’s newest resident (just a few days old!), Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, horses, reenactors, bagpipers(!), old cars, tractors, and more!

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Then we went to a barbecue, where Melissa’s sweet little face told the story…it’s HOT!

June Visitors

We’ve had some June visitors, but not the sort who enjoy home-cooked meals and a comfy bed.

Each June we have turtles who find their way up from the nearby pond to our yard to lay eggs.  One night, Technohubby was just enjoying a glass of wine on the deck when he spotted this large snapping turtle.

And two days later, Theo got to see this small turtle.  This was as close as he wanted to get.  Cute!

And a week later, I spotted this skunk!  It’s the first time we’ve ever seen a skunk on our property.  And it was quite beautiful…from a distance…with a zoom lens.

Rotisserie Chicken in the Crockpot

Rainy day and a whole day at home to sew?  Seemed like the perfect day to pop something in the crockpot.  No recipe.  I just sort of made it up as I went.  I had two whole chickens and two crockpots.  The leftovers are going into pita pockets tomorrow night and salads the next.  For a rotisserie-like chicken in the crockpot…

Take two lemons and slice one in thin slices and the other in wedges.  Take two yellow onions and do the same.  Peel six large cloves of garlic.  Rinse a handful of fresh thyme.

Rinse chickens (4 1/2 to 5 1/2 lbs. each) and place in crockpots.  Into the cavities of the chickens, place the lemon and onion wedges, the garlic, and three or four sprigs of thyme.  Sprinkle the skin of the chickens with a generous amount of paprika, freshly cracked pepper, and smoked sea salt.

Arrange sliced onions and lemons and a few more sprigs of thyme on the top of the chickens.

Set crockpot to cook on low temperature for about 5 1/2 hours or until done.  Delicious!

Visit to the Cape

We just got back from a very wet visit to Cape Cod.  We went down to spend time with a friend before he moves.  And while we had hoped to do some ocean kayaking and some paddleboarding, the weather altered those plans.  We were grateful that we had about an hour in the morning before the rain began, since we hadn’t explored the Cape since moving here.  So we headed out to Chatham (pronounced: chat-um).  First stop was the beach!  It was gorgeous even with the cold winds whipping and the clouds from the incoming tropical depression hiding the sun.

Trying not to look as cold as we really were.

The lighthouse at the U.S. Coast Guard Station at Chatham.

Some of the other sites of Chatham…

Now that’s a tree!

Exploring a couple of the shops in the quaint downtown area.

Window boxes spilling over with flowers.

It’s lupine season in New England, and their spiky blooms can be seen everywhere.  They look so beautiful when mixed with white wildflowers, or in this case a background of crushed oyster shells, a traditional Cape landscaping material for walks and driveways.

The beautiful, weathered-shingle architecture of the Cape.

At this point, it began to rain and photography became tricky,and apparently people-less, as everyone just rushed from building to car and back again for the rest of the day.  So no pictures of the guys rock climbing at the climbing gym, or of us all standing under a shelter and eating ice cream, or getting a tour of the Coast Guard base, or having dinner at the British Beer Company.  I did quickly snap the following sights for you though:

The Cape’s airport, which has a grass runway.

Here’s the trade sign of an antique store that Colette and I visited.

The antique store’s garden was beautiful even in the rain.

I hope you've enjoyed your brief, wet tour of Cape Cod.

Mother's Day

I hope you all had a lovely Mother’s Day!  We did!  After church, we posed for a picture on the deck.  Then we had grilled burgers and potato salad for dinner.  And German Chocolate Cake Gelato for dessert!  Technohubby and I made phone calls to our own dear, sweet, much appreciated moms.  A fine day was had by all!

Among the Daffodils

Last week I ran into a friend who lives nearby, and she invited our family to come over and pick daffodils in her small apple orchard.  “Bring the kids.  Bring the grandkids.  Bring a camera,” she said.  No need to ask me twice!  She is one of the best gardeners in town (as well as one of the sweetest people) and her gardens are just gorgeous at every season of the year.  So, today Felicity, Theo, Melissa, and I headed over to pick some daffodils.

The little boy and the big red barn.

Looking up from the orchard at my friend’s house, which was built in the early 1800′s.

Sweetness everywhere!

Like a typical boy, Theo had minimal interest in the flowers, but loved the stick he found and went around whacking at things.

The first apple blossoms I’ve seen this season!

Felicity spotted a small snake and called Theo to see.  She touched it with Theo's stick and it slithered away.  Just a harmless garter snake.

Examining the many different varieties of daffodils.

We’re hoping to go back on Mother’s Day and take more pictures!