Monthly Archives May 2008
Camping Trip Highlights
May 31, 2008
Last weekend the kids came home with sandy pockets stuffed with seashells and I came home with a memory card filled with not-so-great photos. But some of the weekend's highlights couldn't be collected from the beach or captured, poorly or not, on camera. I'll call them my trip treasures, and ...
Cookin' in the kitchen
May 30, 2008
The kids and I spent the morning at the Nutrition Center Kitchen cooking with the Lots To Gardens crew, preparing food for a supper & live music fund raiser at the Franco-American Heritage Center tonight. Nutrition Center Kitchen We love what Lots to Gardens does, "challeng(ing) the cycles of poverty ...
Front Yard Chives
May 29, 2008
I used a few techniques presented over at Pioneer Woman Photography to tweak this photo of my front yard chives. Gotta say I love the result. Even though I don't have a kick butt camera I can still manage to take some decent photos and GIMP sure helps for editing ...
Peafowl Art
May 28, 2008
Laurent and Celine's combined drawing of the peafowl we saw today at Claybrook Farm. Brienne and Celine's collaborative drawing. (notice the horses in background - too cute)
Farm Appreciation
May 28, 2008
I love being an urban family, with a 5 minute walk to work for Daddy, yet 15 minutes from real, honest-to-goodness farms. The kind with horses, cows, chickens, llamas, organic vegetables, pastures and occasionally pea fowl. Not gazillion acre soybean or corn "operations". I love Maine. This morning Celine started ...
Camping at Camden Hills State Park
May 27, 2008
This past weekend we camped for 4 days and 3 nights at Camden Hills State Park. A great camping area; lots of trees & hot showers with easy access to miles of hiking and ocean. The area itself is touristy with lots to do and see (if you want to ...
Celine's Day
May 23, 2008
My oldest child turned 9 today - yikes. It was a lovely day. This year Celine's birthday coincided with day one of Patagonia's Memorial Day weekend sale. An annual event in our family's clothing shopping. We also make a pilgrimage to the Freeport store on President's Day weekend and Labor ...
Easy Shadow Craft & Poem
May 21, 2008
Found an easy & fun craft for the 5ish and under crowd today in Brienne's June edition of Your Big Backyard. Instructions Cut animal shapes out of thick paper, we used file folders and cardstock. Punch holes for decoration or to define features, like eyes. Hot-glue a popsicle stick to ...
Weeds & Wildflowers
May 21, 2008
My mom gave me a copy of this poem years ago when our 9 year old was still a baby. I love this poem and it has given me perspective when I've badly needed it and also been a reminder that I'm doing a good job. I had hoped to ...
Taking Care of Business
May 20, 2008
I think the mental gymnastics of the past couple weeks is over. The period of spring transition, any transition really, predictably hits me with feelings of insecurity and inadequacy as well as general overwhelm-ment (not a word but suits my purposes) with life. Problem is I forget that I go ...
Homemade Laundry Soap
May 19, 2008
I've been trying for a couple years now to make all our own cleaning products. I've succeeded fairly well with cold process hand & body soaps. Clean, Naturally: Recipes for Body, Home, and Spirit by Sandy Maine is a great start for basic soap making. (This is an older book ...
Soul Journey up Speckled Mountain
May 19, 2008
The journey had a difficult start. A challenging conversation in the car with my best friend about our purpose - loving and serving others, and how to do that - simplifying our lives. Ouch. My current creative pursuits and general spring time busy-ness hasn't left a lot of time for ...
Out the door to Blueberry Mountain, National Forest
May 17, 2008
We hadn't planned to hike last Saturday. Damien was gone all week to Boston training for work, by midweek Celine still wasn't walking and the weekend forecast was for rain. But a Thursday visit to the Dr. confirmed that Celine's knee was healing well and she would be fit to ...
Raising Beds, Lowering Expectations
May 17, 2008
It started innocently enough when there was still 2 feet of snow on the ground. Reading a book or two that encouraged me to grow more of our own food. Just a few more tomato plants than last year, a couple rows of corn (Brienne's favorite summer vegetable), some strawberries, ...
Garden Report - Mid May is too busy
May 15, 2008
Life's too hectic these days to give a full garden report. I forget from year to year how BUSY May is. Everything seems to collide. The garden, camping, hiking, Celine's birthday and this year I've added the creative pursuits of photography and blogging. In the garden all the early spring ...
FIMBY Goodreads
May 15, 2008
Back in the days before I spent all my spare time creating FIMBY I used to respond to family e-mails (sorry guys I haven't forgotten about you), watch movies with my husband, write the occasional blog, take hot baths, make luscious homemade soap, go to bed at a decent hour ...
Treehuggers and proud of it
May 14, 2008
My children don't even know they are environmentalists but they do know they are (gasp) tree huggers. They don't know this could be a shameful admission in some crowds. Don't tell them, I'm proud of who they are and so are they apparently. Out of the blue Celine had this ...
Mother's Day - The Day After
May 12, 2008
homemade soap curing in kitchenToday I surrender to the realities of homemaking and motherhood: breakfast dishes dirty floors an empty fridge I determine to quiet my restless creative spirit and appreciate the beauty of: ordered clothes drawers clean counters food prepared with love Keeping a home of peace, love and ...
Mother's Day gifts
May 11, 2008
I know you're all dying to know exactly what kind of card Laurent was making me this week. This morning it was unveiled. A picture made by pounding flowers onto paper and outlining with ink. My kids are amazing. The sun and its rays from dandelion The ground made from, ...
Dandelion Love
May 9, 2008
This afternoon I listened as Laurent hammered a Mother's Day card/gift for me. "Thunk, thunk" followed by running downstairs (he was working in his room upstairs above the kitchen) and "I gotta go outside for something". Back indoors and upstairs. More banging, more trips outdoors. I know flowers were involved ...
Biologist Cowboy - Cleanliness Optional
May 7, 2008
My youngest two decided to be cowboys today. But even cowboys need to take a break from the open range now and then to investigate microscopic pond life. In this photo Laurent is using a pipette to "suck up" minute wiggling animals from the water. He can stare at last ...
How to make an easy comfrey poultice
May 6, 2008
I recommend comfrey as one of the first things to grow in your yard, especially if you have little kids who can be prone to injuries.
Spring Beauties
May 6, 2008
Two of my favorite photo subjects - my beautiful kiddos and my garden. Correction, these are Laurent's pansies.
Jan Brett website
May 5, 2008
The kids and I love the work of author and illustrator Jan Brett. This past week we read The Mother's Day Mice by Eve Bunting (another fav author), illustrated by Brett. Such a sweet read about finding the perfect gift for mother's day. Anyway, this weekend we discovered Jan Brett's ...
Shutter Sisters
May 4, 2008
If you're a photography junkie like myself, learning how to hone your craft or just plain have more fun with your camera check out Shutter Sisters.
break time reading, watching and listening
May 4, 2008
My blog break was useful for: Starting a good book, Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry. First Wendell Berry book I've read, should of read his stuff sooner. Watching a great documentary, King Corn with my best friend. I can more appreciate the corn allergy in our family because it's given ...
Break's over
May 4, 2008
I thought I might be obsessed with blogging and photography so I forced myself to take a break. I thought it would be possible to simply enjoy the beauty around me without processing it with my keyboard and and sharing it with my camera. Couple things I've discovered. 1) Turns ...
