Frozen

Check out these pictures that my dad took…I think they are gorgeous!

Mom and Dad's backyard

See that little pathway in the snow? That's the "trail" to our house. No one is currently living in the house inbetween us, so we blazed a path right through their yard. And see that porch beyond the for sale sign? That's our place.

View of the church from mom and dad's. Did you notice the "glow" from their porch? Read on!

That's my grandparents aluminum Christmas Tree, hauled across the country from the farm in New Mexico. Complete with working Color Wheel! Gasp!

Y’all, it’s officially too cold here. I think with wind chill we were supposed to be around zero degrees today. And you would NOT believe it; God is so gracious…Erick decided to check on our house in Dexter yesterday; our snowblower is in the shop so he hasn’t been up to the place in a few days (kind of need to snowblow so you can get up the driveway!) but he stopped anyway, and found that our oil tank was EMPTY. Zip. Zero. Nadda. He obviously scrambled to the gas station and bought some kerosene, enough to get the house through the night, and then borrowed his dad’s snowblower to make a path for our oil man to get there. And our precious oil guy was more than accommodating and hit the house first thing this morning. WHEW! Luckily there were no breaks or bursts or whatnot, but if Erick hadn’t of discovered a dry tank yesterday, that would have been very, very unfortunate. Thank you Lord. The house had burst pipes when we bought it, and that is not something we want to have to fix again anytime soon.

I have one more book review on the docket, I think I’ll share it with you tomorrow. You won’t want to miss it-my favorite so far!

White Christmas?

I don’t think there is any doubt we’ll have a white Christmas this year. It’s snowing again as I type…but it’s gorgeous outside! I made some pumpkin gingerbread a few hours ago and walked some over to mom and dad’s house; the snow was gently falling and it wasn’t very cold at all. There were quite a few people out walking, as a matter of fact. When I came back, I took this picture from our porch; minus the power lines, isn’t it peaceful? You can’t see the snow, but it’s there, alright.

I like this one too, with the lights in the porch off:

Handy thing, living across the street from church!

Right now I’m bundled under a blanket on our couch. I thought I’d give you a small snapshot of this place-no big before and afters, yet, but I’ve painted the mantel and brick surround on our fireplace and put the tree up. The photo is just a glimpse-our tv is now above the mantle, but until Erick installs our cord keeper to hide those ugly cords dangling away, no full-size view! It’s hard enough for me to look at!

Have a wonderful week! And don’t forget about the upcoming fun happening here, and the difference you can help make by donating to Project 320!

Happy Friday!

Dad took this picture of the Kennebec River last weekend. We love Maine Fog.

Today is a little bit like the picture above; foggy and cool. Mom and dad invited us over this morning for a breakfast of biscuits from scratch, bacon and eggs; hot coffee, a fire in the woodstove, and a James Taylor Christmas Album in the stereo. What a start to the day!

Yesterday was stunning; the weather was beautiful so mom and I took off to Portland. It was a no-jacket kind of day, especially on the waterfront. Sunny and warm! Stores were keeping their doors open to let the sunshine in. And…I shopped! It’s rare that I shop, especially since Erick teaches and I’m a stay at home mom. We are pretty frugal around this place and are VERY anti-debt, thus no credit card purchases…we like to save up and wait awhile for what we want. However, I’ve been saving money aside from income tax refunds for a good long while, and I was able to not only order a loveseat for our living room, but a very nice rug, also. Eek! We’ll pick up the loveseat next week, the day before Thanksgiving. This weekend I’ll be painting the trim in the living room, so hopefully once everything is put together I’ll have some before and after pictures for you. Well, after to an extent. I still need a couple of chairs to complete my ultimate “plan”, but that might be awhile from now! But I think what we have right now will make a big difference. It’ll be so nice to begin putting our own stamp on this place!

One purchase I did make, at the LL Bean Homestore, are these beautiful glitter tags-

They are so sparkly! I think I’ll string them on a garland for our mantle, and maybe use them as ornaments for our tree. With some other ornaments I uncovered this year, I’m definitely feeling a vintage Christmas theme!

Well, that makes 2 posts this week, haha! I’m getting back in the groove! Have a great weekend everyone!

Blue Skies!

The above picture is what we experienced last Thursday and Friday…isn’t it beautiful?! Big fluffy flakes-I think we must have accumulated about 3 inches. But weather changes quickly, because today is Tuesday, and this has been the last few days:

Coming in for a landing...

beautiful weather for the park!

zoom!

It’s been gorgeous since Sunday. Thank you Jesus!

Grandma came through Surgery fine but is understandably worn out and still has a few little heart issues to deal with. So keep the prayers coming…we love you Grandma!

And to all my friends who I have neglected sending emails to lately-I’m waaaayyyy behind-so sorry! Let me catch up on my house a bit and you’ll get a well deserved hello!

Stay up there, already!

Don’t you wish the leaves would just stay on the trees? They are so pretty up there in the fall, and are even pretty on the ground, but then they start to pile up. Therein lies the problem.

Beautiful! When it's a leaf, here or there.

And pine needles...let's not even get started with pine needles.

Combine the two, and you're really asking for trouble.

Maybe the boys could haul 'em all away?

Maine life ain’t nothin’ to sneeze at! Or it is, actually, depending on your sinus situation in the fall. But boy, you have to be of hardy stock to live in a place like this. Because it not only involves raking, but hauling and stacking, too.

from this...

to that.

But for me, it’s still The Way Life Should Be. (Although I could be easily enticed to move south about mid-February through, oh, April. I would have no problem with that. Just so you know.)

Mini-Date on a Sunday Afternoon

Too often lately, this little family has been workingworkingworking (two houses is no small matter…two houses which need work, that is!) That includes Sunday afternoons…a day in which we so desperately wish to “rest”, so today we decided to do just that.

While Daddy took Jack, Momma took Ryan on a mini-date. Ry is my Mr. Independent, and Jack is Mr. Momma’s Boy, so my dear oldest doesn’t often get the attention he really, truly needs. Therefore, today it was the two of us and the park.

Leaf peeping, rock throwing, seagull chasing, picture taking. Perfect afternoon. And this verse kept running through my head…

“You will go out in joy, and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands”. (Isaiah 55:12)

Tell me now, does it not look like this nature is bursting forth into song? And aren’t the trees clapping their hands?

pretty ladies, all in a row...

happy kid by the river

big splash!

(oops)

Sorry, I couldn’t stop!

An hour with my son at the park, reveling in the fantastic display that God created for our enjoyment…equals “rest” to me. Having fun with my family this evening, enjoying each other’s company instead of painting/sanding/floor laying…even better!

So Many Posts, So Little Time!

I have a plethora of things to share with you, but I don’t want this post to be a mile long, either!  I’m just so…joyful lately, that I can’t get enough happy thoughts out of my head.  Although I was hesitant to let go of summer, and although it really hasn’t even sunk in that it’s gone yet, this fall has wiped those sad-that-summer-is-over thoughts right out of my mind.

It’s GORGEOUS here!!

Mom called me early this morning and said “I just dropped dad off at work-get ready right now because I’m coming to get you!”  And she did!  I woke the sleepy boys up by saying “Let’s go to Dunkin’ Donuts!” which made them pop right out of bed, of course.  Not every morning that you get to start your day with a donut.  We hit up Waterville and bought pumpkin coffee and pumpkin muffins and chocolate donuts, then headed straight for Belgrade Lakes.  The fantastic thing is that although the color is awesome on the way to W-ville, it’s tempered a little bit after that, meaning we get to enjoy it that much longer down south.  Yipee.  

Here is a little “photo tour” of our morning…

Dock behind Day's General Store

When we arrived at Day's, there was a couple sitting at a picnic table with coffee and newspapers. Once they finished, they hopped in their boat (far right) and toodled on home across the lake. My kind of life!

The flower shop

Minus the shadow of the power line, isn't that climbing vine pretty?

I want to use this color scheme for our house someday.

Just beginning to turn...

"Riding" sculptures at the art gallery

YeeHaw!

I’ve often said that some of the best picture opportunities are right on I-95, but it’d be a major risk to pop out of the car on the side of the road and snap while vehicles are whizzing by!  So I took a few anyway, which aren’t that superb since we were going 65 mph and they are through the window.  But what can you do?

river, stil as glass.

home we go...

Oh, I have so many more pictures.  You have no idea.  When I start snappin, I start snappin!

I want to share with you soon some memories of our evening walks, and some really, really fun vintage finds I uncovered that will definitely be gracing my walls and couches…and of course I have more Nora for you!  Oh, and I was chosen to start doing book reviews for Waterbrook/Multnomah!  Ahhh! (I’ll be blogging all about the books).  All that and I’m strongly considering moving my blog to a format that is better for photography.  Do y’all blogspotters enjoy your formats?  Are they easily customizable?

Well, that’s that for now.  Have a fabulous weekend, filled with apple cider and pumpkin hunting!

More Nora

Fall flowers!  I love the light in the first picture; it’s on our neighbor’s stoop.  And I’m crazy about the color of the fence in the second picture.  It’s right outside of Uncle Deans in Waterville, for the locals.  It’s the prettiest pale blue. My camera didn’t focus on the flowers so much, but that fence is something else.

Speaking of pale blue-I was wandering through our Dexter house yesterday, and realized that although I am NOT a pastel person, our house is filled with it.  Pale blue, sage green, buttercream…what is WRONG with me?    Actually, it does really lighten the house up, and with what I had planned for the walls, it wouldn’t of turned out very girly at all.  But it still made me laugh.  Poor boys, surrounded by all that day in and day out.  Hopefully prospective buyers will either love it or think “at least THAT will be easy to paint over!”

And here is our second Nora letter, for your laugh of the day!

The Country Fair

Oh, ya’ll I shouldn’t be blogging.  You should see my kitchen! (No you shouldn’t).  I tell you, I never realized how spoiled I was having a dishwasher.  Actually, for the first 5 years of marriage I didn’t have one, but it was just the 2 of us, so no biggie.  But after having one for the last 4 1/2 years, and then moving here and NOT having one…good grief.  Blessedly, we ordered one which Erick is going to install tonight.  In the meantime it’s taking up space in the middle of my tiny kitchen, the countertop is covered with the dish drainer and drying dishes and everything is just a grand mess.  But that is not what this blog is about, so I better get to the jist of the story, right?

Monday we went to the Harmony Fair, which reminded me so much of the Curry County Fair which I grew up with.  The animals, the 4H displays…it was fantastic.  There were fancy tractors and cars; even a parade, and I have to tell you that I am KICKING myself because I didn’t get a video of the boys’ reaction to the parade.  We have a special spot for our local parade, up on a little hill, set apart from the crowd.  So the boys have never really caught on to the  fact that floats very often throw candy to kids.

They realized Monday that floats do, in fact, throw candy to kids.  It was absolutely hilarious.  They were almost unbelieving that candy would just be tossed to them willy nilly.  Talk about two giddy boys!  We aren’t really a candy family-it’s a very “special” treat thing, so to have it thrown at them in gobs and masses delighted them to no end.  (It is now tucked away in a hidden spot to be given out occasionally…with the hopes that it will be forgotten about completely!)

After the parade, well, I’ll just post pictures which will sum up what we saw.  What a good day we had!

sweet 2 day old calf!

petting a llama

can't pass up fair fries!

there was a young girl sitting on her grandpa's lap steering his Farmall in the parade. Memories! That used to be me on the farm, sitting in my grandpa's lap with my hands on the wheel...

I have quite a few pictures of bright shiny tractors-I loved wandering through and snapping away. But nothing beats a weathered workhorse!

pretty cars, too...

colorful prizewinners-I am absolutely going to garden and can next year!

Ok, must get to parenting my children.  Ya’ll have a great weekend, and catch those local fairs if you can!

Camden Windjammer Festival

Last Saturday, in pictures:

The crowd starts to gather for the Lobster Trap Race

Would you let your children race across these?

25 traps, strung together with rope...

Standing by, in case he was needed!

Most kids ended up like this, about 4 traps in.

Now THIS kid...made it look SO easy. He literally flew! He was last years winner, running 2500 traps before he gave out. He won this year, too, but I'm unsure of the total count. He was AMAZING. And just 6 years old!

Ryan wanted to run.  I actually think he has a good build for it.  But I can’t imagine ever giving my “ok” for him to do anything like this!

The boys found some shade under a temporary gazebo during our picnic

and then they somersaulted up and down the hill at the park. over and over again!

We were able to tour the sailboats. Jack thought we were actually going to sail, and was seriously distressed that it was just a "tour". He and Ry were able to "steer" in place on the Mary Day, which made up for the disappointment a little bit!

We wrapped up our Camden visit with a sailboat cupcake from Boynton McKay, before heading on to Linconville to let the boys play at the beach. Oh ya'll...I'm not ready for summer to end! How about you?