Nice entrance June!

It's 95 degrees in the shade!

Red Neck I spy

This is embarrassing.

Preparing the way of the....

Pigs :)

Happiness is...

Toes in freshly tilled garden soil!

Spring has sprung

Three wonderful signs of spring: the hammock is hung, the buds are bursting, and SP is tilling the garden. I love Tillulah our tiller. Go check her out at this link. She's a beauty and my first Mother's Day presents after we moved to Maine.

While I was away...

SP did play! (At least in the garage!)
Yea for him - he's been wanting a work bench for a long time!

Sand bottles

I got this idea from Pinterest of course.
I am in love! Each bottle tells several stories. This is a lovely idea in sustainability.
Bottle two has begun and will contain some very exciting adventures!

Trout is a local food!

I love that my husband likes to fish!

First Herbs of the season

I used these to make a cucumber relish to accompany the fresh trout! Yum!

Strange things we see at Hannaford

One day in the refrigerated section....

And no... the list is not mine.

Our three trees

I have discovered a problem with working full time. My problem is that I have no time to blog, so I end up over 5 months after a particular event and I am slowly getting to blog about it. Like this fine example: I had three different Christmas trees this year. Yes three different trips out to find our perfect trees. I lie, one was a rescue mission after a slight trim to the bottom turned out perfect Christmas tree























into a pathetic Charlie Brown version that had to live on the porch.

















  
Our third and  smallest tree is proudly referred to as the bird tree.

We try to do it every year, but many years we don't have the time and skip it. I am really happy we did it again this year. It adds a springtime contemplation to my dining room. 

My Favorite Bridge

Can you name this bridge?

Vitamin D for the stomach bug

Sick kids make me sad, but the beautiful day Mother Earth provided meant lots of sunshine soaked in through the skin.

Sonnental Dairy

Another local cheese has stunned me and made my life complete. I just wish that Sonnental Dairy had a website so I could give it a much deserved shout out for its raw milk tomme that was perfect for my bruschetta.

Local Salsa

One of my favorite local products has had a packaging make over so drastic I almost missed it! Has there been a buy out of sorts? I wonder...
You can find them here.They even have their own recipes section.

Ruby's washcloth

Now that I have run into a gauge issue with her hoodie, I have moved into something productive.

Now that it is done I am absolutely in love with this pattern. It was such fun to make! Thank you winter storm Nemo for the time to be a shut in.

Homemade laundry detergent

Thanks so much to my friend Heather! It is even HE safe! Recipe to follow.

Pickle's request

Great request!

Kids Gone Raw

These Kale chips are hands down my favorite new snack.
Please support this local company Kids Gone Raw.

The chips come in many flavors and they conveniently have an Etsy story.
They are also on Facebook.
I inquired with them about buying in bulk and they said that they can make big bags like the do for restaurants.
If you are not into Kale chips, they also have "grawnola" and fruit leathers.
Yum!

Our new heating strategy

A fan  at the top of the basement stairs to pump air up into the space between the first and second floors. Lets hope it works!

Caring for Antique Furniture

I learned at a young age that if someone was stupid enough to leave a sweaty glass on an antique there was a rapid fire treatment you could use to hope the ring went away - MAYONNAISE! I can't tell you how many Christmas Eve's, after everyone went home and before we left for midnight mass, that I went around with a jar of mayo to goop on the white rings and pray that with the magic of Santa they went away overnight. This Yankee skill was one I came by honestly (see prior post). What I love about this gem I kept is the name of a "Glass man" in Meriden, CT listed. Meriden is not only near where dear KK lived, but also close to where my now husband is from. Small worlds, seeing that we met at UMaine. For those of you with at least one piece of antique furniture, here is an article and KKs notes from 1978!

Household Helpful Hints

My paternal grandmother KK was a tried and true Connecticut Yankee. She was also a tough as nails single Mom. KK was the Queen of thrift and short cuts which, in her later days, included using the oven as a bread box and the dish washer as additional storage. This was much to my chagrin the day I preheated the oven for a batch of cookies. The Cheerios did not survive.

 I recently moved some file cabinets to the basement and discovered a file I had named Scrapbook. I found quite a few gems inside, but this post, and the three that will follow, were safely tucked away. My father must have passed these copies along to me when KK died in the 90's.

 Today I find these priceless. Enjoy! I'm off to find my Magic Eraser and some Windex! :D

Is it a 2 egg day?

Riddle me this!

How did the chicken get in the bird cage???

The many shades of Cherry

Firewood stacked so start a fire!

Our living room is directly above this:

It creates radiant heat in the hard wood floors upstairs. 
I love a warm floor in the winter!
The basement is very full of wood, in fact this is the most wood we have ever put up for a winter.

Above is the kids big TV and Xbox space.
 It get SO warm in there now I have to turn the stove off today before the teen boys sleep down there!

Boa started laying in the flower bed

Gladly she now lays in the coop.