Just a touch blue...

Ivan and Annie in Jamaica VT August 2011

My brother's son and his long time girlfriend are getting married tomorrow in Vermont and none of the Smith aunts have been invited.  Only his half sister has been invited-- that is to say only his half sister has escaped the wrath of his mother.  Since Brian died almost eight years ago, I feel this might be a good time to bury the hatchet but I guess not...  I thought I was okay with being excluded and am surprised to find myself feeling sad.  I have thought of them often today and will do so again tomorrow but I won't have much leisure to fret.  Eliza and I and Baby William (I should say Toddler William) are scheduled to drive from Maine to Greenfield and a six hour drive with a 19 month old is enough distraction for anyone.

 
Soon William will be writing a blog of his own.  He is already an adept at the iPad-- turns it on, swipes to unlock, chooses Chuzzle and dabs madly at the game-- or he chooses Plants vs Zombies and makes monster noises while the zombies have their way with the plants.

Today marks two years since I made the decision to become a vegetarian and this picture says why.  I always enjoyed eating meat and probably still would but factory farming is appalling and I cannot let it be done on my account.  Not eating meat has been much easier than I expected it would be-- wish I could be as successful with other dietary restrictions!
John periodically suggests that I might eat local meat raised more humanely but the longer I avoid meat the less I want to go back to it.

This is only the third (or fourth) double pinochle I have seen in all my years of playing.   Michael got it the other night here in Northport.  We played two rounds on each of two evenings and I had only one hand good enough to bid on--  I got aces around and lots of hearts.

What says summer in Maine more than.....

 Blueberry Field

I picked Joan up at 8:00 am and off we went, buckets in hand.  We walked up through the woods being pestered by clouds of gnats and deer flies but in the clear at the top they disappeared.  We picked and picked, silently moving about among the berries-- they seem particularly lush this year.  This field has been harvested commercially in previous years but has now been abandoned and we are picking with permission. It was hot, as it has been all week, but not unbearable and I was surprised to find, when we finally returned to the car, that we have been picking for about two and a half hours.

We had gorgonzola and walnut risotto for dinner and blueberry shortcake.  I made a quick stock using asparagus ends, mixed dried mushrooms, the tops of a fennel and an onion.  The risotto was particularly good-- next time I will use two cups of rice rather than one and a half.

We have had no rain for about ten days.  I watered some yesterday and will do more this morning.

Long time no write

Cleaning, cleaning-- how the madness takes hold of you once you start.  I can go for weeks (months?) not noticing how downright dirty things get but once I look beyond the surface, the white tornado takes over.  Here are the contents of my dining room shelves removed for cleaning-- and I cleaned so well that I found a jelly bean from some long ago Easter.  And no, I didn't eat it and that means it was really gross.

Last weekend I spent Saturday fretting over three problems -- things that felt like big problems although many people would have gladly traded for them.  First, I misplaced something very important-- so important that I can't say what it was (people would never trust me again) .  In truth, I hid it and then could not remember where.  So, I tore my room apart and just before giving up and going to bed (I was hoping the hiding place would be revealed in a dream), I looked one more time and there it was.  Second the dog smelled horrible and we gave him a bath and he still smelled horrible and I realized that the smell was coming from his ears and I would have to face up to a vet visit.  Third, and worst of all, I could not find my camera.  Without my camera, no pictures, without pictures, no blog!  

Now, five days later, I know where my important thing is, I have been to the vet and my sister found my camera in her car-- yes, the car is in Pittsburgh but no matter, I will soon be back in business.  

So why Pittsburgh?  My sister, see beautiful woman above, was born on 3 July 1952.  That makes her now sixty years old.  Learning that there was a party planned I talked with her on the phone and said that there was no way I could or would drive 800 miles to be there.  When I rang off, however, I started to think about it.  Her 60th... my first sibling to reach that milestone...and a party being planned?  Heck, I would go and I would suggest to Sybil and Kate that they go also-- it seemed a very long shot but right away Kate agreed that it was a big deal...she was in.  Sybil thought she was too busy but in the end she couldn't resist. Monday night July 2nd found me in Greenfield where I met with the other two and at 5:30 on Tuesday morning we hit the road.  It was a great ride with lots of time to talk, no near accidents and safe arrival in Pittsburgh at about 4:00.  We spent the Fourth (hot as blazes outside) hanging out with fans blowing on us and the next morning we beat sticks back to Greenfield.  If I had my camera, there would be pictures.  

33 years and holding strong

John about 1 July 1979

I didn't have a chance to blog yesterday but I remembered that it was the 33rd anniversary of my first meeting my husband, John Langhans.  Liz and Rick Fitzsimmons and I were meeting a group of Connecticut Chapter AMC paddlers in Medway, Maine.  The group was organized to take a multi-day canoe trip on the Machias River.  I had no paddling partner but Bill and Barbara Cushwa, the trip leaders, said I was heaven sent as a partner for John.  This picture was taken a day or two later, somewhere along the river.  John was 34 years old to my 32 and had recently been dumped by his girlfriend-- I had a boyfriend for whom I didn't care a single bit-- he was just to keep me in a holding pattern.  The rest is history.

Liz and Rick Fitzsimmons looking down at the Bowl

Today, fittingly, Liz, Rick, John and I took a superb hike up at Acadia.  We parked at the Tarn and hiked up the incomparable Beechcroft Trail to the summit of Champlain Mountain.  It was very hot and the trail is exposed but we took it slowly as doddering old folks have license to do and there was enough breeze to give relief.  After a restful lunch on top, we headed off on the North Ridge Trail toward the Beehive and the Bowl.  The trail down to the Loop Road from the Bowl has been beautifully relocated and is now a series of comfortably situated log steps...very enjoyable.  I looked longingly at the people scrambling up Beehive high above me but we can keep that for another day-- I have already done it more times than I can remember.

Thanks to L.L. Bean and the Island Explorer bus, we were able to ride in comfort back to our car.  When John and I climbed Champlain in May the bus was not yet running so we took the Ridge Trail (formerly called Bear Brook) down toward Jackson Labs, then walked more than a mile back to our car.  It was dreadful on my lumpy feet and I vowed never to do that again...my plan in future, if no available bus, was simply to retrace the Beechcroft Trail.   The way we did it today was much nicer.

Darby cooling off in a small pool at the Summit of Champlain