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

My father - Marshall Kitchener Smith

My father was born 97 years ago today in St. Just, Cornwall, England.  He was the fourth and last child of Robert Leslie and Mary (Nicholas) Smith.  He came to the United States on the ship "Imperator", arriving in August of 1920.  The picture is of my parents, Marshall and Lois, my brother Brian (being carried) and myself between my parents.  It was taken by Rebecca Lepkoff.  All but myself are dead and I wonder if there is anyone alive today who will remember that it is Marshall's birthday-- my sisters?

Thinking nervously today about the decision on "Obamacare" about to be handed down by the Supreme Court.  I wish I could be confident that the court will rule according to law and precedent, sadly I am not.  These are my various pill bottles but only one is something I am prescribed that I take every day-- that is the Diovan for blood pressure.  Also on the shelf are naproxen, an OTC pill for pain, antibiotics just in case I have a URI, Loratidine for allergies, Lisinopril that I don't take because it doesn't work and D. Mannose that I also don't take.  Not bad for a nearly 65 year old woman!  On the other hand, these are things I am ignoring:  my feet, full of growths that make walking painful; my left knee that has a frequent sharp pain like an electric shock, often when I am doing nothing; finally, my stomach that produces acid every time food is ingested.

My good deed for last Monday-- I worked with Francine and Irwin Brown and John to get out the annual appeal for the Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition.  We followed up with lunch at the tiny Thai place down by the waterfront-- love their yellow curry with tofu.

Rainy Weekend at Mt. Blue

Our tent is ignominiously upended as we pack up to leave the Mt. Blue State Park.  Rainy hike, crummy trail, no views, mosquitoes, rainsoaked campground...why does this feel like we had a great weekend.  The other side?  Spending time with Margaret and Andrew-- a hike so bad that it was good, a fabulous dinner at Brian's Bistro in Rumford when rain drove us from our "dampsite", a superlative night's sleep in a rainy tent.  What's not to like?  And why upended?   Partly to empty the puddles of water that had gathered INSIDE! and partly just to dry out the bottom of the tent.

Sure didn't feel like 1.6!  Maybe they got the numbers reversed and it was actually 6.1?  The picture looks lovely-- a gentle trail beckoning one to walk on.  The reality was not so nice, lots of rocks, no switchbacks and much steeper than the picture shows.  Never a view to be had and just as we reached the top, the clouds rolled in, the rain pelted down and we huddled in a half finished building hoping that the rain would cease (it didn't)

Brian's Bistro in Rumford was a great discovery for us campground refugees.  A five star restaurant in a most unexpected place. Looking very damp and disheveled, but warmly welcomed in spite of this, we were really happy to find a delicious alternative to the marinated grilled tempeh burgers that we had planned for the campsite.

Here is our excellent camping dog, Darby.  He was slightly dubious about the whole thing at first but stayed right in camp even when we let his off his "string".  His first night on my cushy new air mattress was also something of a concern to him-- for much of the time he pressed very hard into me for stability-- the next night he was an old pro and curled up happily at the bottom of the mattress

Margaret and Andrew - before we got soaked

John's Birthday

When we first came to Maine I transplanted some Siberian Iris from a vacant lot nearby and over the years I have divided the original clump several times.  Now I am deciding that I don't really like the plant-- it has a short bloom and each clump expands outward but dies in the center.  They are tenacious plants, however, and have to be wrestled out of the ground with great heavings and choppings of a mattock-- These are many that I moved this spring and planted beside the ditch that springs from the perimeter drain.  They like wet feet and seem very happy in their new home.  They have done a great job dressing up the ditch and if I get more ferns in with them I think I will be satisfied.

Every morning at eight I meet my neighbors to walk our dogs around the circle.  Darby and Winston are off leash but Angus is deeply traumatized and kept on leash. It is alleged that he was never out of a cage from birth to six months when he was "rescued".  He is terrified of almost everything and even though it has been a year since he has been with Norm, he has never become comfortable with me or Karen.  He cringes from any attempt to pat him and refuses to take any treats.  Darby and Winston get regular doses of dried chicken as we move around the circle-- a treat that insures their close presence through the walk.  Angus is a handsome dog and has a lovely prance.  

These are the pale pink poppies planted near the porch.  My camera or the lighting or just the amateur nature of the photography in general give a poor representation of how beautiful they really are.  I will try again at dusk and see if I get better results.  

Today is John's 67th birthday.  My only presents for him are a rhubarb pie and a strawberry shortcake.  I was up very early this morning and finished all my newspaper puzzles in time to start the piecrust at 6:00 am. We are camping this weekend at Mt. Blue State Park in Weld so we will have the shortcake tonight and the pie for breakfast.  Andrew and Margaret will join us.

Joan had an upsetting meeting with her oncologist yesterday.  She is supposed to go on a maintenance regimen of chemotherapy and has learned that it will cost $3000 every 21 days (with a seven day break between) and that insurance will cover none of the cost. Her doc said she would need it "for the rest of her life".   This is, quite simply, impossible and I have spent many hours thinking about solutions.  It is incredible to think that she is being told, in effect, that she can buy some indefinite period of life for a cost that seems exorbitant-- they might do it for a year or so if they beggared themselves but what sense does that make?