Snow Birds

The enjoyment of a Maine Summer is all the sweeter knowing you can handle a brutal Maine Winter, much like we've been having this year.  Henri plans to eventually turn us into snow birds, but for now, I'm content to enjoy the bright spots of our winters.

I'm reminded of an old Maine expression that goes:  "If you can't take the Winter, you don't deserve the Summer." 

Guess I'll have to come up with a retort for that when we eventually head South for the winters. 

So that's why I've decided to take lots of pictures showing I do indeed deserve the summers.    

Although the birds are the ones doing the enduring, as I sit inside by a cozy woodstove with my camera.

I'm not saying we've completely lost it with this year's huge amount of snowfall, but secretly we think the starlings mean to taunt us with the sight of their snow dotted feathers.   

No, really, we're good.  But now is that a downy woodpecker?

Why yes, I do believe it is.  So, how's the weather been lately in your neck of the woods? 

Getting Through Winter

At the peak of our winter this year, here's what it looked like outside our place. 

But life has a way of providing warmth both physically and inwardly when you least expect it.  Like yesterday when I received this cheerful and very warm  sweater cowl from my sweet friend Vicki over at 2 Bags Full that I was lucky to win in her most recent giveaway.  Vicki also sells these lovely upcycled sweater cowls in her Etsy Shop that she creates out of retired or vintage sweaters.

She also included this beautiful card with a handwritten message sending me more warm hugs and bloggy love. 

And then, out of the clear blue my sweet friend Kat of Low Tide High Style brightened up my day with a beautiful metallic print of her amazing photography!

Kat just recently opened an Etsy Shop too where you can order notecards that she had made up from her beautiful captures.  They are the perfect breath of fresh air when Spring can't come quick enough! 

And now I will show you something that my dear Henri gave to me too.  Permission to paint over his beloved knotty pine wood in this one small area of our home.  (We have a whole room full downstairs, but for now I'm just happy for this one small spot over our woodstove.) 

All I can say is Ahhhhhh!   I have been wanting to do this for a long time. 

It's amazing how a small thing like this can really change the entire mood of the room. 

So take that Winter. How much worse could  it possibly get now anyway?

Oops! Well actually, Henri took this one in the parking lot of our local Home Depot a couple weeks ago while I was inside buying the paint to cover that knotty pine.    It IS kind of scary though, isn't it? 

Local Dives

This past Sunday we met up with friends at a local place known as The Galley By The Bridge.   I love this place. Especially in the middle of Winter.  The traditional rush of  tourist season where lingering too long after your meal would be rude, no longer applies this time of year.  Besides the casual atmosphere, variety of menu offerings (even pizza!), and the panoramic views from every table, there is another reason why I enjoy coming here.   

There is a display case full of treasures recovered from a few of the locally known shipwrecks that occurred in this area a long time ago.   You see, the owners of this place are local dive instructors.  A husband and wife team with over 30 years of experience diving together.  

  I am smitten with this pattern of transferware. 

The notes included along with each treasure, no doubt add to my fascination with them.  Before 1900, the town of Sorrento was part of present day Sullivan.  Who knows, this soap dish may have been slated for delivery to the Hotel Sorrento. 





And here is a stack of ironstone treasures that I have found in the area.  Except all of mine were found above water. 

 Meakin transferware plates that I have hanging on my wall. 

Here are some of my old bottles too. But they don't have any barnacles like the ones in the display case at the restaurant. 

There are numerous other fascinating items in the display case, but due to the glare from the glass, the other pictures I took did not turn out like I had hoped.  So instead, I will leave you with a picture of Sorrento's Treasure Island, which may have gotten its name from something I recently learned from the owner of this restaurant. 

Apparently there is an abandoned gold mine located there.   But I will have to wait until July to find out more about this, when he is scheduled to give a lecture about it at our local historical society. 

Kindness That Warms The Heart

Today I received a surprise package in the mail from Rachel, a blogger friend that I had the pleasure to meet in person this past summer.    Oh if she could only see the ice forming in the very ocean that she and her husband went kayaking in while on their honeymoon here. 

When I saw her name on the return address of the parcel that was delivered to me today, it made me smile.  When I saw what was inside, it warmed my heart.  Because she knows I love sprinkles. 

And then to discover that she hand made something for me too.  I was so touched by that. 

Rachel's thoughtfulness came from her desire to participate in a Pay It Forward event.  A powerful gesture to inspire kindness to others. 

No matter how remote we may be from each other in distance, this world of blogging has a way of drawing us closer. 

  

Connecting us with people that we may have never known,

oftentimes inexplicably, from just the random click of a mouse.