It was a great Hallowe'en party!

Nikki (Cianchette) Steeves drove up to Machias from Pittsfield with her two adorable (and extraordinarily sweet and well behaved) boys for a special Halloween celebration with my daughter. The two "girls" were schoolmates and have remained close. There was pizza, a scavenger hunt and lots of making scary faces! Cole was a vampire and Drew was The Hulk, but had to forgo his mask because it scared Kiley!


It took him a while to figure out how to get the stem, but Drew did well in the apple dunking contest.

Cole plowed right in and went under - he was a bit tentative about biting, though - he has a loose tooth in the front!

Even my daughter Faye got in on the act!

And here is Kiley's booty: She thought it was much more fun to grab an apple from the water, eat a bit of it and then go for another. Not a bad idea after all....

cranberries galore!

Aren't they beautiful?? I went to a harvest this week and it was so interesting: men and women in waders, waist deep in 47 degree water, and the berries were so beautiful. Berries grown in Maine are three times the size of others and a much darker red...Yummy. I swear I would eat dog poop if it had cranberries in it. My favorite? Cranberry Orange Marmalade....wow.

What a week: a stabbing, a trial for two boys accused of beating some other kids because the other kids are Indians, and a WHOLE bunch of other stuff. I'm not complaining though - some of my dear friends had to literally lock themselves in their homes because there was a manhunt for a killer in their neighborhood...Luckily they caught the guy nonchalantly having a cup of coffee this morning in a nearby restaurant. Clearly looney....

Today and this weekend are likely to be just as hectic. They still haven't found the two missing fishermen and I'm headed back to court today to deal with forgers!!!

Here I am ! Thanks for all your kind words....

This is my daughter, Faye, getting a tattoo from Tom - more on that later.

Friday actually was quite special. I was able to turn off and put away my little light in the window that I keep lit for Eric, who has been serving with the Army in Afghanistan. That handsome sergeant left Thursday night for the good old U.S.A.!!! He'll be home soon and I can't wait to get my hands on him!! We thought he wasn't going to be back until between Thanksgiving and Christmas so this is even more special.

In an effort to put that rotten week behind me, my daughter and I went on a shopping day in Ellsworth. No baby, no husband, just the two of us - I think it was the only time we've been just a pair in the 18 months since she had Kiley!

We had a ball - we hit Mardens first: great items!!! I got three new tops and a jacket, two new Halloween decorations and a Halloween book for Kiley that plays creepy sounds and I didn't spend $50!! We then went to Reny's and scored new winter mittens, etc., and some amazing malted milk balls covered with expresso and latte - oh my goddess, they are heavenly! We went to Home Depot and I got that puffy stuff that you seal up cracks with?? Wish me luck, I am attempting to seal the skunk out of my crawlspace tonight. I have already sprinkled flour around the hole so I'll know when he leaves, I have a dozens rocks that I'm going to fill the hole and pile on top and then I'll seal the whole thing with the puffy stuff. I also have a pile of golf balls waiting so that if he returns, I can pelt him and scare him away. If this doesn't work, I'm moving...

Our last stop on the shopping spree was Tom's Terrific Tattoos. I got the crown put on my little girl, officially making her a Queenie, and Faye got a sprinkling of stars that start up high on her shoulder and go to the front. Each star represents a family member and is the color of their birthdstones. It came out beautifully!

It poured on the way home and the wind and rain POUNDED all night but today is gorgeous - we spent much of the morning finishing outside chores to get ready for winter. I smashed my left pointer finger with the hammer - oooooo it is a ghastly shade of black and red - but we got so much done. Now I'm putting the finishing touches on my dinner. Faye and Matt and Kiley are coming over and I'm making a special caramel pudding cake for Matt since he not only let the dog out yesterday while we were gone, but he kept filling my woodstove so the house would be all warm and cozy. Now this is the kind of son-in-law everyone should have!!

Can't post tonight. I'm broken hearted.

I spent the day talking to sea urchin fishermen who are mourning the loss of three of their colleagues.

The Bottom Basher sank late yesterday in Cobscook Bay taking three young men with her to the bottom. One body has been recovered.

I am numb as is the entire Down East fishing community. This makes the sixth loss at sea in 11 months.

Quebec is a city full of art!

Even the garage doors are masterpieces - stupendous! Quebecians take advantage of every little space to bring art and beauty into their lives. There were tiny rooftop gardens, little backyard sanctuaries, and the window boxes were extravagant and still in bloom. The old city is enclosed in a wonderful stone wall - this is where the British and French fought with Canada as the prize - and even though the French lost, it is the predominant language. The beauty of the people, their language and their ways makes a visit oh so special.

Their ability to fine beauty everywhere obviously extends to the food - here at a restaurant called Largo - fabulous staff, unbelievable food. This is an olive tartine...

Even a simple Cobb Salad is divinely presented...

A little chocolate shop offered these amazing desserts....

And of course there is art at the Museum of Quebec - this chandelier, made completely of mismatched cups, saucers, dessert plates, candy dishes, etc., all in colored glass strung with fishing wire was so inspiring...

Even a simple door becomes art...

Or a light that represents a sea urchin.

Art, friends, wine - what more could I ask? We had a ball - we walked and ate and visited and laughed. All 11 of us enjoyed the weekend. Even the 4 1/2 hour ride up was entertaining because we had walkie-talkies in the three car caravan. Each evening, exhausted by all the walking up and down the hills of the old city, we gathered in my hotel room. We purchased salami, prosciutto, cheeses, olives, pate, fruit and candy at an amazing French market and then fig bread at a nearby bakery. We talked and laughed until we all began falling asleep.

Over and over this weekend I was struck by how fortunate I was to have this group of friends. They are smart - they are funny - and they are so dear to me. They are kind and caring, students of the world and loyal friends. I will save up each memory of this weekend and hold it close all winter long....

A vacation week...

Heading out tomorrow to spend a day and night with my dear friend Sue on Unity Pond before she heads to Florida for the winter....
All those chairs the artists decorated will be auctioned off Friday night, and then Saturday morning 11 of us good friends leave for Quebec City. Oui oui - it is a French vacation for me!
I'll post when I can but be assured I may be in a food and wine induced coma.

The tax man went DOWN!

I met with the Machias assessor today - he had revalued my home at $30,000 more than I paid for it, based on faulty information. He was able to remove two bedrooms that I don't have, a 1/2 bath that I don't have, a full basement that I don't have, remove the deck as it is dangerously decrepit, and since the kitchen and bathroom haven't been redone since the 1950s, mark them as "not modern.'' The result? He dropped $14,000 off my assessment, cutting my taxes by nearly $300.

Not bad.

Thank you Trudy. Sometimes it really does pay to speak up for yourself.

I am never swimming in the ocean again!

I was on a sea urchin dragger today - for those of you not from Down East, sea urchins are spiny little mollusks, about the size of a small apple, that crawl along the bottom of the ocean eating seaweed with a beak on their underside.
When cracked open, they reveal a bright orange-colored roe called "uni" in Japan, where it is an expensive delicacy.
Just 10 years ago, urchins were considered a nuisance but after the Japanese fished out their own urchin, they turned to Maine, Russia and China for a new supply. The critters are now worth around $2 a pound and the Cambodian importers were meeting the boats right there on the dock this afternoon. The guy whose boat I went on got $4,000 for just today's harvest.

So, I was on this urchin dragger and when the basket is opened up and dumps its contents on a big work table at the back of the boat OH MY GODDESS what unGoddessly creatures there were to behold:
There were sea cucumbers, a shapeless thing that sort of looks like a cucumber on steriods that can puddle itself into a black, slimy pancake. oh so gross.
There were sea caterpillars, all hairy and tentacley on one side, and all fleshy and ribbed on the other. an even worse gross.
There were unknown and unnamed things that looked like a big giant snot and then small red and white critters that looked like a shrimp gone beserk.
There were also rocks, lovely starfish, small green crabs (which eat the urchin and so the deckhands stepped on each and every one of them) and scallops that sat and clacked their big shells open and shut.
We were only in about 31 feet of water. I am never sticking even so much as a toe in the ocean again now that I now those disgusting creatures are so close to shore.
NEVER.
I just know I'm going to have nightmares tonight....

The Cardinal Family: who knew?

Here is Mr. Cardinal - I call him Red - watching carefully from the branches of the evergreen next to all the feeders.

Here is his daughter, Coral Cardinal, boldly gazing back at me while eating the seeds that have spilled on the ground.

And here is the son, Rusty Cardinal, who is completely ignoring me today....All these pictures were taken at the same time: I have a cardinal family that visits my feeder center several times a day. Who knew that cardinals were so family-oriented? There is papa - so gorgeous in his brilliant red coat; mama, a soft brown with touches and hints of red and a pretty feather sticking up on the top of her head; and the kids, at this point I think there are two females and a male but they move back and forth so quickly I may be counting someone twice.

They come in and hide in the brushy limbs of the evergreens and then jump down to get all the seeds off the ground that the chickadees and nuthatches have dropped from the feeders.

Twice or three times a day they visit: parents watching from the branches, kids much more brazen about eating. Is this normal, for a bird family to take outings to the local drive-in together? I really thought that birds were solitary creatures....

I may be projecting but from my desk, but the view outside my window of this family coming to visit is the highlight of my day.

wounded and barely walking...

Last weekend Kiley stayed with me while her mom and dad got a bit of a weekend away in Bar Harbor. We had a ball! We went to the library for a bug show, visited the playground at the nearby school, washed windows, picked up pine cones in the yard and had a feast on grilled cheese sandwiches.
But on Sunday afternoon, I did it again. Ms. Clumsiness personified went into the attic to get the Halloween decorations and in my rush to hurry back down the stairs to show Kiley, I fell. I broke my big toe. Actually, I cracked the area at the base right where my poor bunion is.
Damn this hurts. ouch. ouch. ouch.
I've been icing it and taking Tylenol (the ER doc told me that any other pain product inhibits the healing of bones - did you know that???)
I did too much Monday and paid dearly. My foot looked like it belonged to the Stay-Puffed Marshmallow Man. Yesterday I behaved myself and it was much better, although it has turned all black and gray. It still keeps waking me up throughout the night but it better be completely healed for the gang's upcoming trip to Quebec City!!!

Work has been amazing this past week - I found a new trail and beach: Bog Brook Preserve in Trescott. So incredibly isolated and beautiful. I will be bringing ALL my visitors to this one. Interviewed two guys who used to sell fish off the back of a truck and are now launching a national seafood product...and drove to Eastport to interview scallop fishermen (In case you want to know, I got it from the fishermen's mouths that it absolutely is pronounced SCOLLOP.)

I also got unbelievably lost trying to find a fatal tractor accident. The road dispatchers indicated was not on any map or in Google so I headed out blind and kept calling my photo department, other reporters, photographers, even our secretary to help me find my way. Of course I lost my cell signal every three feet so it became really challenging, to say the least.
I ended up on the back of the radar site in Columbia in the blueberry barrens when I should have been miles to the east in the woods. Eventually I spotted a rescue worker and followed him in. A poor young man had lost control of a farm tractor and tipped off the side of a wooden bridge (with no side rails) and ended up crushed under the tractor in the water.

The setting was incredibly beautiful - just feet away was a spectacular waterfall and this lovely bubbling brook was shrouded by autumn colors on the trees....so often I am struck by the raw horror of events that take place in some of the most spectacular environments. It seems so wrong, so inappropriate somehow. We all know that bad things happen to good people...as unacceptable as that is, it is insult to injury when the setting is beautiful. I've stood in peaceful woods while police recovered bodies; by the side of a lovely river, while accident victims were pried from their mangled cars; under flowering apple trees when firefighters collapsed and died at house fires.

I suppose I can find some peace in that if this horrible thing had to happen, let it happen in beauty. But it seems so oppositional - death should not visit in lovely places. It should not walk in gardens; alongside babbling brooks; near stunning waterfalls. It should creep through dark alleys that are littered with stinking garbage....

I am also finding that it takes longer and longer for me to spiritually get past one of these accidents. This boy was 21...what an incredible waste.

Today I have an a.m. interview with an amazing music professor and an afternoon story at a large animal rescue farm. And I'm looking forward to Friday - taking a pottery lesson at a nearby learning center. yay!

Going, going, almost gone.

I stopped by my favorite beach today after lunch. I sat for a bit and read, wearing long pants and a sweater. The sun warmed my face and I slid my bare feet along the hot sand.

But it won't last. As I tucked my beach chair into the back of the car, I wondered how long before it is replaced with the snow brush and scraper.

Even the beach roses appear to have shrunk, as if in readiness from the cold onslaught from the sea. Only a blossom or two can still be found and the rose hips are red and ripe and full.

Last night I heard an owl and then the haunting sounds of geese flying overhead.
It's time to settle in; time to await the cold, the wind, the solitude winter brings out in me.
For me, this is a sad time. A tipping point - waiting on the edge of winter. And mourning the loss of summer.

The amazing walk....

Look at the people!!! There were more than 5,000 people - men, women, children and one crazy guy who painted his entire self pink - in the Race for the Cure Sunday in Bangor. Eight of us - nine including Kiley - were the Tu Tus for Ta Tas team. We raised more than $500 and I still can't get over how good I feel!

Here's the amazing team: workers at the Fat Cat Deli, my daughter's business, sons and boyfriends (my son in law behind the camera) myself and Kiley - perfect weather and perfect company.

Just when my feet started to hurt and I thought about complaining, I spotted this guy and said there was no way I wasn't finishing all 5K - and I did! Today my hips hurt a bit and my feet were killing me last night but it was worth every step.

On the backs of walkers/runners were the people they were walking for. I wrote the names on my sleeve: Babe Mack, Beth Hathaway, Brenda Beal, Sherry Thomas.

And this was how Kiley felt when the walk was over and we were enjoying a great dinner at the Texas Roadhouse - a great day!

ahhhh the beauty of art and artists...

It was a breezy and chilly Saturday. Even the seagulls huddled on the breakwater at Lubec. It was this coastal town's fall festival and a whole bunch of brave vendors lined Main Street: homemade jewelry, homemade sweaters, felted purses, little girls' dollies, extraordinary photography, dried sea grass wreaths... It was really nice and I bought a beautiful, funky pair of glass earrings.

My friend Chessie and I left the fair and headed on the Two Countries, One Bay art tour....45 different artists along Down East's most northern coast and around Cobscook Bay.

We visited four in Lubec: the glass artist, an assemblage artist (I didn't care for hers), a gallery full of wonders and an amazing, fabulous potter and weaver. I may be taking weaving lessons this winter! Her work is extraordinary and an inspiration...

Then, we crossed the FDR bridge onto Campobello and went to several more artists there. Chessie then showed me some beautiful beaches and hiking trails in Provincial Park, across from FDR's summer home and camps. The park is immaculate, with lovely viewing platforms, incredible views and wonderful beaches. To get to the different beaches you drive through woods where the trees have grown as a canopy, creating tunnels of the roads. I can't imagine how incredible it would look in the winter. Each little road off one of these "tunnels" brings you to another special spot: Sunshine Beach, Raccoon Beach, Friar's Head.....amazing. I can't wait to show my friends and family some of these places next summer!

It was a day of inspiration and regeneration. I haven't painted much (except walls!) since I've been here and I really needed to recharge my batteries. I have a half dozen ideas swirling in my head now. I just need to find the time! I've also been asked to teach a late-winter art class at Senior College at the University of Maine here in Machias. Stella needs to get her groove back!

Sunday was the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Bangor - more than 5,000 of us. Our little team - The Tu Tus for Ta Tas - numbered nine, counting Kiley, and we wore tu tus for all 5K. Can't wait to show you the pictures tomorrow...it was so moving and impressive and meaningful.

Now I have to go soak my feet.....
Just a bit of color for you - some flowers in pots on one of the artists' porches Saturday. Thought you could use a bit of springtime as autumn bears down on us.

Oh I know I have been a slacker.....but I have a very good excuse!

I was kidnapped by PIRATES! Avast me hearties, it is true. This scalawag (who, I might add with a sad smirk, looks NOTHING like Johnny Depp) who is clearly impaired by too much rum and a bit of B.O., slung me over his back and whisked me away from all the fun I was having at the Eastport Pirate Festival! It was frightening...it was scary.....it was entirely expected... He offered me silver beads and gold doubloons but I refused. "You shiver me timbers! Away, you dirty buccaneer!'' I said, fighting for my long lost virtue. He wanted me to walk the plank but he forgot where he put it, so, it was off to the stocks for me...

My cries for help were not heard...the wenches were too busy baring their booties and the pirates were all over at the salmon tent gulping down kebobs. Where or where are my rescuers??? Then the fiend of the seas threw me on a big bed and raced me down the Main Street - everyone thought my cries of terror were screams of joy. ARRRGHHH - not true!! Luckily he gave me a helmet...and a life preserver.....

Then, just when I had given up all hope of seeing my loved ones again, who should appear but THE CENTRAL MAINE PRECISION MARCHING LAWN CHAIR DRILL TEAM!!!! (This is where the symphonic music plays.)
There was an amazing struggle but the scalawag and his motley crew were no match for middle aged people armed with webbed aluminum lawn chairs. My long lost virtue intact, my friends whisked me back to the parade, we all took a rest in chairs, and then hit the streets much to the delight of hundreds of people - the cheering was awesome, the compliments were many and we truly felt like heroes.
There was no trophy, no prizes, but since we were the only PRECISION MARCHING LAWN CHAIR DRILL TEAM in the parade, we declared ourselves the winners. Of course we then retired to other fun events and ended with a party in my living room - all my dearest of dearest of dearest friends....it was spectacular!
Here they are: MY 16 HEROS and SHEROS!

Vacation Day #14: A wonderful shower

This is my sweet daughter-in-law Amanda - opening gifts at her baby shower Saturday. It was held at her home in Detroit to make it a bit easier and she isn't due until Nov. 9 so she has plenty of time to go through her gifts and see what she is missing. I don't think she can be missing anything - she got a bazillion outfits, stroller, car seat, bike carriage, swing, diapers, books. Everything was wonderful!

Look at that crazy pile of presents!

There were 11 little girls in sundresses at the shower - the older girls grabbed a front row seat for present opening.

And then they spread out in my son's fields to find butterflies.

Some of the younger ones decided that under the dining table was a great fort while Kiley pointed out that the food was on top!

And here is a tasty treat! Cupcakes and cheesecake - the buffet was scrumptious, with finger sandwiches, lots of salads and a great punch.

I stayed at BFF Donna's house which was lovely - it gave us a chance to talk and catch up. Faye and Kiley stayed at my son's and we all headed back to Machias early Sunday. Only one more day of vacation and I'm going mackerel fishing on the Eastport pier. I know my fishing ability so I'm bringing lunch and a good book!

Vacation Day 12:

A whale watch trip extra-extra-ordonnaire!!!!! This is the lighthouse on the end of Campobello Island, New Brunswick - gorgeous! The herring pens are empty because the fish haven't started running yet.


Here is a finback - the second largest whale in the world!! They were everywhere and at one point the boat was surrounded - when they blow the water we were getting showered..


Here are THREE finbacks, playing together - they went up and down dozens of times.


This was a tour boat nearby and you can get some perspective on how really HUGE these whales are!

In the cove at Wilson's Beach, this minke whale decided to put on a show - propelling herself completely out of the water and then (below) slamming back down - wonderful!!!


One of the most special moments was the surfacing of an endangered right whale - I wasn't quick enough on the camera to catch anything more than the tip of its tail as it submerged again....I was awed!

All in all, a wonderful day - which also included dozens of seals and other wildlife. Anyone who wants to go and be 100 percent guaranteed of a good time and plenty of sightings: Captain Riddle's on Campobello. I promise it is an adventure you won't forget!

Vacation Day #10:

What a spectacular day! Under a brilliant sky, I got to tour Cobscook Bay and watch seaweed harvesters work. These boats are loaded with rockweed, a seaweed (the one with the little pods that you can squish and make them squirt your friends) that is being harvested in Cobscook Bay and near Jonesport. The seaweed is used for livestock feed supplements and fertilizer. It is harvested by Maine people who work for Acadian Seaplants of New Brunswick. The seaweed is dried on runways at a NB airport that the company owns. In the photo, the harvesters are loading the seaweed into net bags on the platform that will then be closed tight and floated alongside the platform until the processing barge picks them up.

This is a very hunky 17-year-old (I feel like a cougar) harvesting the seaweed. The rake they use has tines on top and a VERY sharp blade on the bottom. Because he is experienced, he can harvest about 5 tons a day at $43 a ton - pretty good job for a high school kid! Can you even see the boat under all that weed? The harvesters usually start about 5 a.m. and they said they can often hear the whales blowing in the bay, even on a foggy morning.


The bales of seaweed are being loaded onto a barge that will take them to Canada for processing. Each bale has the tag of the harvester hooked to it so they will get paid. Each bale weighs about 1 ton. Below, Bonnie, one of the barge workers, walks on top of the floating bales and uses her body weight to push them closer to the crane. She then jumps up on the boat and climbs the bales to help guide the new bale in place. She is amazingly lithe and strong!

Vacation Days 8 and 9

Day eight included a late afternoon trip to the beach. Some days it is about the water, some days about the sand. Yesterday was about mud. It was too cold to swim but Kiley had a wonderful time digging, sitting in wet holes, throwing rocks, filling her little hands with mud and then flinging it willy nilly. We had to strip her in the parking lot and bring her home in my sweatshirt - what a wonderful mess of joy and discovery!!

Then it was back to reality and the renovations........................


This is one wall in my guest room - which my home's previous owner used as an office. Yes, that is a Delorme map of Washington County on the wall! And isn't that the most stunning ceiling light - which isn't even a ceiling light and has to be plugged into the MIDDLE of the wall!?! There was no removing the map so I primed over it and that worked. All of the rest of the room was dark, dark wood paneling. I began the makeover by removing it. That's when I found.......

Plastered walls.....
With lots of damage......Now I know why they paneled everything.

And some amazing vintage wall paper.

I consulted the Internet and figured out how to repair the plaster. Once it dried and was lightly sanded, I began painting. I picked a beautiful color called clay - which is sort of a creamy grayish cream. I painted all the walls, all the trim and even the ceiling in the same color. The room now looks about twice the size as before, and is so fresh and clean....
Pictures of the completed (nearly) project will come tomorrow. I ran out of paint with a bit of trim left to paint.

Meanwhile, I'm still painting my bedroom floor. It takes two full days for the paint to dry and I couldn't do another coat while I was babysitting Kiley because the floor enamel is so stinky!! Tomorrow I will begin painting the green stripes - such a soft color, it doesn't even look green until it is up against the white.

But - this afternoon I went on a boat trip!!! ON THE OCEAN!!! It was a seaweed harvesting trip - what an event. Informative, interesting, hunky guys in boats, brilliant sun....ahhhhhhh.
I'll post those pictures tomorrow. Now I am pooped and it is time for a glass of wine and an early bedtime.....