'Frankly Scallop, I don't give a clam'.

This past weekend we went to the Yarmouth Clam Festival. It was just about exactly what Milwaukee's IrishFest would be if it were held in Maine. Where IrishFest would have music stages, ClamFest had art tents as far as you could see. Where IrishFest would have beer and brats, ClamFest had lobster and, of course, clams. Simple enough. We enjoyed a bag of steamers and wandered around a bit before we moved on to the next activity,








Which was spending the evening with some friends who happen to have a neighbor that begs people to come and use their (really nice) in-ground pool.




























And after swimming, we grilled our dinner and settled in for a nice game of Euchre. I've learned how to play so many times now, I really should be catching on. But so much time passes in between one time and the next, that I basically start over every time I sit down to play. Honestly, I was surprised to find people who know how to play the game here in Maine. I had never heard of it until I met Mike, and figured it was something unique to the UP. Needless to say Mike and I lost, and I think he is pretty serious about giving me Euchre lessons so it doesn't happen again.

And, our garden continues to grow veggies. This is four zucchinis, a cucumber and one of about three handfuls of beans I picked yesterday. The plants seem to have veggies in all different stages, so it looks like we'll have a pretty continuous supply. Its really amazing.















Anybody have a great zucchini recipe for something other than bread? If not, who wants a loaf?

Ceiling Fan Issues

Back when Jim and Teresa were visiting, we tried to put a new ceiling fan in the kitchen. What we thought would be a quick job turned into a half-day project which was ultimately abandoned. Until yesterday, we had just a few wires sticking out of the ceiling. But Mike and I were able to finally get the fan installed (and working!) with very little problem. I think the first time around we were in too much of a hurry to get on to other projects to really take the time to figure it out.














We have also continued to stuff ourselves with fresh veggies out of the garden. I don't have any pictures, so you'll just have to believe me when I say the tomato and zucchini plants have really taken over and are not even close to being contained by their planting boxes anymore. The watermelon plant heard me talking about its lack of growth, and has since spread out over the lawn just like the tomatoes. The bean plants have been producing enough that we have fresh beans with just about every meal, even breakfast. We got our first broccoli and cauliflower snacks as well. When I planted everything this spring, I figured we'd get a few beans, maybe a zucchini. I didn't expect it to be incredibly successful, just because I don't really know what I'm doing. I never imagined we'd have this much success.

With Pictures!

Another project crossed off the list: the basement stairs. We proved once a gain that a coat of paint makes all the difference. The white walls were all scuffed up from hauling stuff up and down, and the stairs really needed a fresh coat. Really the pictures don't even do it justice. In short, it looks great (before and after, if it wasn't obvious):
















Tuesday, we decided to take a quick camping trip with Claire, just to test her out and see how much work we have to do if we wanted to go camping with her regularly. Turns out not much. She did great sleeping in the tent, even when it was bedtime for her, but Mike and I sat out by the fire for a while longer. A fire that was fantastic. Its been really wet lately, and though it didn't rain Tuesday, the woods was still damp. We couldn't even find leaves that were dry enough to catch fire. But Mike was patient enough to start a fire that was hot enough that the coals were still smoking in the morning.












And then, when we got home we realized we had a cucumber ready for picking. Definitely the best cucumber I've ever tasted!

Green Thumb?

This year was the first time we've planted a garden. We've never really had the space, and though I wanted to plant something last year, I didn't have the time since we moved in during the prime planting days. The previous owners of our house, however, had built great planting boxes which were filled with strawberries. We were excited when they started ripening. We picked one barely red and bitter strawberry, and then over night they all disappeared, enjoyed I'm sure by the beetles.

I'm doing everything I can to prevent that this year. We have zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts, watermelon, and various herbs, all doing very well. The zucchini and tomatoes have kind of taken over. They are high enough you can't even see the rest of the stuff behind them. I have a feeling that if anything, we'll be eating lots of zucchini bread this fall. And so will everyone we know.


















Its going much better than I expected, actually. I was excited when they started flowering, and even more excited when I started seeing tiny little veggies. I'll really be happy the day I need a cucumber and can go out in the backyard and pick one. The watermelon is the only one that hasn't flowered. It sprouted quickly, but seems to have slowed way down. Mike's money is on us NOT getting a melon from the plant, but I think we might. I'm not really sure what to expect yet.










And I love this little tiny broccoli. Its taken a lot of willpower since I discovered it to not eat it. Its perfectly bite-sized right now. Claire's pansies are doing great as well.

What a break (term used loosly)!

Well then. I believe that this might be the first time I've sat down for more than 10 minutes in a week. I went to Wisconsin and spent some time with the Halbergs and some time camping with my family. We had a great time, especially Claire. She loved the camping. My parents have a camper permanently set up at a campground in Door County. Our days were full of catching butterflies, sitting in the hammock and feeding the fish. There was even another cousin named Clare there, who (my) Claire called 'Other Claire', as in "Excuse me, Other Claire, will you play with me..." Very cute. So here are some pictures of that:


























And before I got back to Maine, Jim and Teresa had already arrived for a week of working. Much like last year, I believe Jim had a hammer and screw driver in his carry on and started fixing things before he even set foot inside the house. I thought they had the house looking fantastic when I got home, all power washed and sparkling with new doors, but that was nothing compared to how it looked when they left. Fantastic. Everyone worked very hard, and it shows. I only have one set of before and after pictures right now, but I'm sure there will be more to come. I think the kitchen is my favorite part. I really wish I had a before picture of the light fixture. It was just about the ugliest florescent fixture you can imagine...that didn't work.

Before, with Confused Mike and a stove older than me:













After, with the trimmed doors, new knobs and new stove:













Lights! And the wonderful new storm door in the background.










Now that everyone is gone, and Mike is back to work, the productivity will slow way down. But it has been a really great week, and it feels good to have made some huge improvements. Thanks Jim and Teresa!

Fathers Day Ideas. Feel free to borrow any of them.

I asked Claire what should we do for dad for Father's Day today. Here are some of her answers:

I know! We could finish my doll house!
Wait wait wait. I remember. We can buy him a hiking pack! (Well, now that sound like a planted idea, doesn't it, Mike?)
We could get him a donut! And one for me too!
We could hide from him when he comes home and then jump out and say 'suprise!!'
We could wash all the dishes for him.
We could give him a new eraser and pencil.
We could get him a new computer!
We could make him a picture!

I think we'll do that last one. And probably do the dishes for him as well. I'm going to be doing them anyway, I might as well claim it as a gift, right?

The Golden Key...and More

by: Claire Halberg, who has been talking since she woke up this morning.

A long long time a go, a big blowing storm blew the Golden Key all the way to the Golden Hotel. And a big basket caught it. And then the key and basket blew into the Golden Hotel, and sailed into 1-1-10. Thats the door that we were in. All the owners said "Where is the Golden Key?" They lost it in the Golden Hotel. And then an owner with yellow shoes came to get the key from room 1110. Do you know who it was? It was Claire. I'm the owner of this key. Its for the Golden Hotel. Not the Red Hotel. Not the Blue Hotel. Not the Green Hotel. Not the Yellow Hotel and not the Gray Hotel. Only the Golden Hotel. The owner has all different kinds of keys. They keep all the keys that they have found. And the Golden Key is special because it opens any door in the whole Golden Hotel...

So then I make sure I have room in my suitcase for the Golden Key. I'm taking a vacation to Milwaukee to see all different kinds of things. I'm coming back in eight days. I'm going on a blue plane, and you are going on a red plane. I tied a rope to your plane so you can follow my direction. Everyone has to buckle their seat belts. I have a special button that buckles our seat belts. Now our belts are buckled, and every one else is buckled too. Now we are there! Now we are ready for the bus. We have to go on one plane and two buses to get to Milwaukee, and now we are going on the bus. Its tricky, so follow my bus. Its going to go East, West, and then North. Here. I'm going to show you a map. It shows everywhere we will go, and a big line for the bus. The big brown dot is the bus station. The blue dot is Milwaukee. We have to go through the big dark cave. But there is a big short cut. We'll take the big short cut...

Now we are on the black dot. Thats the subway train. The subway train will take us to the big Children's Museum that has the Big Mouth. Do you know what that is? I'll tell you. The Betty Brinn Children's Museum! It has a Big Mouth!











It has drums and a big TV you can watch different things on. And a big sand table. Oh boy! I'm hungry! We did lots of things at this children's museum, and now its lunch time. Lets go to Subway! I get a sandwich with olives and lettuce and tomato sauce and cheese and tomatoes. And juice. You get a salad with tomato sauce mixed in. And lettuce and cheese and some olives and some strawberries mixed in. You can have some water. There you go, there is your salad. Wait!! First you have to pay for it.....

Two Weeks of Jack

I was really surprised when I looked at the calendar and saw that we've only had him for two weeks. It seems like much longer. He's no longer the timid pup that I first described. He doesn't spend time voluntarily in his kennel anymore, and he is really making progress with learning commands. So far he does really well with 'sit' and we've moved onto 'stay' which is coming along nicely. Next is 'come'. Right now he only does that when he feels like it. Usually what he feels like doing is playing, and Claire is always ready for some tug-of-war.

Happy Birthday (yesterday) Mike!

Since Mike was camping this past weekend, Claire and I took the opportunity to finish up the office as much as we could to surprise him for his birthday. He came home a day early due to the rain, but we rushed and in the end, we were successful. I still have to move two lamps into the office, but they are currently being used. They will have to wait until we can find some replacements. The whole process of finishing the office had kind of a domino effect. A table that I was using in our bedroom was moved to the office, but it had to have a replacement in the bedroom. So I spray painted some shelves that Mike's dad and I built and used them as a replacement, but then the items that used to be on those shelves needed a place. You get the idea. Doing one room spread into three others. Anyway, here are some pictures of what we did. Nothing very drastic, just moving the components around a bit, and also adding things to the walls. Its pretty surprising that we have lived here for a year and there are still walls that are entirely empty. But that is no longer the case in the office!




























As far as room decor goes, Mike is all about theme. So the theme I picked was 'Places We've Been'. It was really fun to choose the pictures. We've really been to some cool places and have some pretty amazing pictures that have done nothing but sit on my hard drive. It was really satisfying to get them up in a place where we can look at and enjoy them every day.

Then we had macaroni and cheese (the request was that I find a copycat recipe for Boston Market's cheesy macaroni, so I did. Its very cheesy, to say the least) with cornbread and angel food cake with fresh fruit for dessert. I think Claire enjoyed Mike's birthday as much or more than he did. Every day she pretends it is someone's birthday. Usually its Uncle Jim or Uncle Dave, but yesterday was the real thing and since she's had so much practice, she definitely knew what to do. I think Mike was served pretend birthday cake (complete with singing of Happy Birthday) 6 or 7 different times. It was definitely a fun day for all of us.

New York City

We just got back from an unexpected trip to New York. Actually, Mike knew he was going, he was attending a conference. But the people he planned to go with canceled at the last minute, so Claire and I went along instead. It was a great opportunity and really it couldn't have worked out better. We ended up having a fantastic time. We stayed at the Sofitel right off 5th Avenue. It was about 1.5 blocks from Times Square, where Claire and I spent most of our time while Mike was at his conference.















The one night we had there, we used very well. After Mike was finished for the day, we walked to Central Park and FAO Schwartz. Along the way we saw Rockefeller Center, Saint Patricks Cathedral, Trump Tower and the NBA store.


































Then we walked to the Empire State Building. We obviously went during a non-peak time, because we didn't have to wait. But it was obvious from the large areas with the mazes of ropes that we were lucky. We bought the audio tour, and it was well worth it. It was fun to be there and look out at all the buildings, but knowing what you were looking at really turned it from 'pretty neat' to 'favorite part of the trip'. On the way back to the hotel we picked up some Subway sandwiches and ate them in Bryant Park while the Yankees game was shown on a huge screen (Mike quickly removed his Sox hat and hid it in a bag). It was just like a drive in movie. Then we went to Times Square to see the lights at night, went back to our room, and crashed.















































The next day Claire and I spent most of our time in Bryant Park waiting for Mike, and then we started driving home. I've only driven through Connecticut four times, but three of those times the entire state was one big traffic jam. The only time we went through without a problem was on the way to New York this trip, and that was because it was the middle of the night. It took us 10 hours to get home last night. Twice what it took us to get there because we spent five hours in traffic in Connecticut. Its a pretty state from what I've seen, and we sure did get to spend some time looking at it while we were parked on the freeway.

Its good to be home. Mike left today for a camping trip at Baxter State Park. I'm sure he will have a great time hiking. Hopefully the weather holds out for him. Its suppose to be rainy. And hopefully, Claire and I can get some stuff done thats been on our To Do List for far too long.

Happy Memorial Day

We had a great weekend. We spent a lot of time outside, spent some time inside re-arranging and re-delegating spaces in the house, and Mike spent some time putting together a new toy he bought for himself. He found a fantastic deal on a miter saw.














And since he now has a 'work bench/area' downstairs, buying the miter saw at about 80% off was an obvious decision. It fits perfectly downstairs, and now Mike and I can stop carrying the neighbor's saw across the yard every time we need to cut some wood. Just about as soon as he had it put together, a branch randomly fell off one of our maples in the front yard. I'm sure the storm in April had something to do with weakening it. It doesn't really look like that big of a branch in the picture, but it was. Luckily it didn't land on the house or car, so not a big deal. Unfortunately, Mike bought a miter saw instead of a chainsaw, so we had to use a hand saw to cut it into manageable pieces, which took a decent amount of time.




























We were also able to spend some time getting to know Jack a little better. I don't have any more pictures of him yet, but I'm sure I will soon. He is still a pretty timid guy. He really likes his kennel, and spends most of the day sitting in it with the door open. He is very quiet and submissive. He does seem to have a bit of a Shih Tzu personality. For example, yesterday when Mike and I took him for a walk, he got to the edge of our lawn and refused to walk any more. Because why walk when someone will carry you? That will have to end soon enough, however. I brought him to the vet today and she thought he might be a Shih Tzu-Labrador mix, and would easily weigh 30 pounds. I guess time will tell.

We got a dog!

We just picked him up today. Claire named him Jack, he's a shih tzu, and he is only 8 weeks old. His original name was Triscuit because the first owners kept him and his five siblings in a cupboard. Jack's foster mom said the 'pantry pups' hadn't seen the light of day for the first six weeks of their lives, and had a hard time walking around at first. But being puppies, they all bounced back rather quickly.

Obviously, he is quite the cute pup. What we know about him so far, is that he loves to lay in the grass and watch cars drive by when he's not chasing Claire around the yard. He hates his collar and has no idea what a leash is for. I'm sure we'll add a lot to that list quickly.

Enjoy the photos!

One Year Later

It was one year ago today that we closed on our house. It really doesn't seem like that long ago. In fact, just the other day someone asked me when we moved to Maine, and I started to say 'about six months ago' and then I realized it had actually been a year. And it has been quite the year, full of a lot of firsts. Having our first house obviously being the big one. And then the first time making improvements/repairs on the house, the first huge storm (weathered nicely from Hawaii) which lead to our first home insurance claims. I feel like we have really seen and done a lot in Maine in the year we have been here. We've done a lot outside the state as well. Looking back through the blog I think we have really made the most of the opportunity to live out here, and its been a lot of fun.

Happy Summer!

Yesterday Claire got a "Happy Summer" package in the mail from Jim and Monnie (and Howie!). It had a bunch of great summer things inside like wind-up water toys, those sponge capsules you put in water and they pop open and turn into something (in this case, bugs), gel pens, a Push Pop and bubbles, which was the big hit. I've already re-filled the container twice, and I'm sure thats just the beginning. She loves it. Thanks Jim and Monnie!

Workbench

Today we are putting polyurethane on trim for the basement. To clear room we cleaned out the unfinished basement, build stands to keep the wood piles off the floor and I got a workbench. I thought I would post a picture for my dad who I thought would be pleased with the new addition.

Claire's First Bike Ride

I put training wheels on Claire's bike and she is getting ready for cycling season. She is amazing and the basement is a perfect place to start. Monday is supposed to be warm and dry so look for an update with outdoor pictures.

New Denim

Last week was finally the tipping point. I knew I needed new jeans, but I was unwilling to spend the time shopping for some. But like anything else, you eventually get to a certain point where you can't put it off any longer. And that point happened to come on a day that I had to take Claire with me. So I left with a strategy: look at my current favorite two pair of jeans, and then go looking for the same name brand. I knew I wouldn't be able to find the same style, but I figured the chances would be good that there would be at least something I liked from that brand. But, I was wrong. I finally had some success at Macy's, but finding something I liked was much more difficult than I thought it would be, and it didn't have anything to do with Claire coming along. She actually went from store to store very willingly, and even had some very genuine sounding compliments like "Mom! You look fantastic in those jeans!" or "Oh, I like those ones, they are real long!" and even "Try sitting down on the floor, Mom. Like we are playing a game." Pretty helpful, really.

The problem was, at least at the stores I was in, there isn't anything I like or would actually wear. I found two choices: Mom Jeans in the Women's Section or Glittery Ripped and Rhinestone Studded Jeans in the Juniors. There have got to be more options between the high waisted pants that go up to my ribcage and low rise jeans that are so low, you can't sit down in them. Something between relaxed fit and painted-on. Maybe I'm just overly picky, because I don't want to spend too much money on a pair of jeans either. Obviously I'm shopping in the wrong places. But mostly, I'm surprised there isn't more between the two extremes. I did find two great pairs, but it took a lot of work to just find the correct style, much less size and fit. In the end, I think the solution is that I need to look in different stores more often so I'm not going to too many stores in one day, and getting nothing but frustrated. And, from now on, Claire comes, Mike stays home. She is a much better shopper than he is.

I don't have a picture of the jeans, but I do have one of Claire planting some pansies we bought at the Portland Farmer's Market.

The Seven Wonders of Maine?

Maine has a great small newspaper called the Portland Herald. It doesn't have much national coverage but it is easy to read and tells you everything you want to know about Maine. Today they have a story called "The Seven Wonders of Maine." I hadn't heard of one thing on the list! Sounds like a busy summer.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/sevenwonders/

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mothers (especially mine!) It is a beautiful Mother's Day in Maine. We've actually had an amazing run of beautiful weather. Just about the opposite of last year, when it rained every day in April and May. Its fantastic. I forgot how nice it is to have green leaves on the trees around our house.

We don't have a lot planned for today. Claire and I went out for breakfast, and Mike was able to get some sleep after his last call day (woo!) of intern year. We'll go watch him play in a tennis tournament shortly. Claire made me a card that said "Mom I love you up to the sun" which is very sweet. I'd also like to go check out a trail I thought I saw on a map of Great Diamond Island, but I'm not sure if it exists yet. I have to do a bit of research first, so I'm sure we won't get to it today. But speaking of islands, we did get to Long Island this past week. The beach we found was covered in sea glass. We all had fun collecting it. Its a great island, and I'm sure we'll go back when we have a bit more time to explore.

Misbehaving at the Children's Museum

Today started off stormy, so we went to the Children's Museum. Its a rare treat for all three of us to go, and today was no different. After hitting all the favorite spots, we checked out the Ranger Station which was still new to us. We walked around the room looking at the various nature displays such as stuffed (real) animals, wasp and bird nests, sections of tree trunks and those boxes you stick your hand in and try to ID the pine cone or whatever that is hidden inside. Then I found the fun stuff: a table with fake animal poop on it. It was rubbery rather than plastic-y, so it not only looked real, but felt a little more real than I expected as well. I showed Mike, and then I mentioned something about how it would be funny if we'd replaced all the stuff in the ID boxes with the fake animal poop. That was all the suggestion he needed. He did the switch quickly and sneakily.

We are still laughing at our imagined outcomes.

Saturday is for Sleeping.

Its the weekend. And unlike last weekend, when we worked day and night on the basement, this time we are taking it easy. And speaking of the basement, we have some pictures here. We don't have everything in its place yet (couch, ping pong table, foosball table etc), so there aren't any FINAL final pictures, but you get the idea. Its come a long way from the creepy-crawly basement we bought with the house. It sure cleaned up well!

On to this weekend. Claire and I spent most of the day at Crescent Beach State Park. We were hoping to do some tide pooling, but the tides didn't cooperate. We have the Audubon Society's Guide to Seashore Creatures, and I was hoping to identify a few of them, but there were none to be found. We still found a bunch of treasures, of course. Crescent beach is fantastic for finding treasures, plenty of neat rocks and seashells. Today there was actually quite a bit of debris (both natural and not) washed up on the beach. I've only been there a few times, so I'm not sure if its normal, but I would think a lot of it is from the storm a few weeks ago. Today, however, we had great weather. It was sunny, warm, and calm. It wasn't even windy at the beach, which was wonderful. I believe its suppose to be just as nice tomorrow. I've been wanting to go to Long Island (Maine, of course), so maybe we'll hop on the ferry and check it out.

Pep Talk

As I was tucking Claire back in bed after a bathroom break late last night, she said, "Mom, you are the best mom in the whole world."

Somehow, she knows when I need a little lift.

Tennis at the Head

Tonight I played tennis at a public court that overlooks the Portland Headlight. I hit with Alex Kay who is a friend from work who was a top junior in Wisconsin and then played at Cornell University. The hitting was great and the view was spectacular. I want to start taking pictures of tennis courts in great locations. There are clay courts on Peaks Island and also at Ferry Beach so those will be our next stops.