Introducing Ada and Lula. Or, a little bit about pond life

Alden yelled to me, one morning a little while back, to come and look, there were "some ducks on the pond." We have this little pond at the bottom of our backyard. Alden has a view of it from his bedroom window.

I loved it that he was doing a little birdwatching out his window, and up I went, to see what he was seeing. I figured it would be something boring, maybe not even a duck… I looked, and I looked again, and some more. Got the binoculars out and, after looking through them, decided that what he was seeing was something way more interesting than I ever could have imagined: mergansers. Wow. We made Ray get up and come look and his determination was a pair of hooded merganser hens.

We continued to see them for days, just in the early morning, before the day had really begun. After a number of visits, I said, "one more day of seeing them, and I’m going to name them." and, indeed, they showed up again. So, I give you Ada and Lula, our very own backyard hoodies.

Don't bother squinting: they are not in the pond in this picture. Sorry, never managed to get any pictures of them.

They did then stop coming. Sad. Although, as the days get longer and longer and the sun rises earlier and earlier, maybe it is just that they are there at dawn, but head out before we get up. Ray and I are also both pretty sure we saw at least one of them on a nearby body of water.

In other pond life and pond sightings: we have at least two resident turtles. The one I have seen is impressively big and suns himself on the edges of the pond when there’s good sun for sunning. Ray has seen two of them at one time, so we know there are more than one.

Wandering around and looking in to the pond we have seen fish and crayfish, quite a good number of them, in fact. Then of course there are the frogs, quite a few, cute little things. And, finally, our best recent sighting was of a pair of wood ducks, again, pretty early in the morning. They stuck around for a good long time that morning, and we were able to really get a good look at them. Sadly, they were only here that one morning (so far.)

Note: Ada and Lula are old family names on Ray’s sides. Once upon a time, if we had had a baby girl, we might have named her Ada. Some of you may also remember Esme, our resident nesting mommy robin, last spring in Colorado. Esme was another choice-name for a hypothetical baby girl. Apparently I am still trying to figure out ways to use those names I loved. So, if there’s a bird hanging around my backyard for more than a fleeting moment, I’ve got a good name for her!

New note: Closer inspection of the bird book (I prefer National Geographic), and a bit of actual reading of the labels reveals the possibility that this was not a pair of hens, as we suspected, but rather a male/female pair, with the male being "first spring", and therefore not yet in typical male plumage. So, perhaps Lula is not in fact Lula, but rather Lou, or Louis, or something like that.

Boston: April 2008

Lots of pro and con list making occurred, when we were deciding whether or not to move to Maine. On the “pro” side of things was “being closer to Anne”. Anne has been a good sport over the years, first flying out to Seattle, then to Colorado. But, in truth, she doesn’t love flying, and has long wanted us to live closer.

I also will admit (though she won’t be all that thrilled to hear it) that I also thought living closer to her as she gets older (shhhh… just say it in a whisper) might not be a bad idea. You know, I want to be a good daughter and all....



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Small side story: out of the blue, last fall, she had the occasion to need emergency abdominal surgery. Don’t worry – she’s totally fine and everything was okay. But, there she was, in the hospital, and there was my saintly sister Samantha, going to see her every day and taking care of all sorts of details.

Well, wow, I thought to myself, here I am, just a few short hours away. Now I can do the helpful thing, something I never could have done had we been living in Colorado. So, I offered to go down to Boston to help. No no… Anne said. No no… Samantha said. We’ll be fine. Things are really okay.

Well, okay, I said… but, if you change your mind, or need me, let me know. I’m just three hours away, I really can come down.

Fast forward: Anne is just fine. The post-Christmas slump is approaching (not for me, just for the rest of the world. The skiing was so good here, the slump didn’t hit till about mid-April, okay, early April, when there was STILL feet and feet of snow on the ground), and I’m talking on the phone to my sister, one night. Out of the blue, she cheerily announces that “Mom’s taking me to Sanibel Island, Florida, in March.”

Whoa, wait, I say, what’s up with that?

Yeah, Sam says. You know, to thank me, for everything that I did when she was in the hospital after her surgery and all.

Hey, I said I’d come down and help, and you told me not to!!!

Okay, really, it’s okay, I’m not being totally fair. [But I just had to tell the story]. Mom says she wants to take us all on a trip next year. And, in truth, I have not been having any great Florida cravings lately, so it really is okay. But, here I am, all moved out east and ready to help, and when the call comes....

Anyway, back to the present:


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I wanted to do something for April break, but, it needed to be easy and cheap. So, I decided that the thing to do was to head down to Boston, see Anne, and be tourists for a few days. Spring was coming pretty slowly up here in Maine, and I knew it would be warmer there, and that it would be good for us to get out of town for a bit. It's pretty easy to come up with lots of ideas for fun things to do in Boston (especially when there are still feet of snow on the ground in your own backyard, and Anne is talking about how she is out in her garden planting things). So, I planned to take the kids for a few days and leave Ray at home to work (poor guy).

We headed down on Monday afternoon, and proceeded to have a lovely three days, alternately being tourists: first up,

The Aquarium


then, the Peabody Museum, at Harvard, for Alden's current interest in all things Native American Indian.

On our last day, we met Sam and her kids at the Public Gardens, and took a ride on the swan boats, followed by the obligatory visit to the Make Way for Ducklings duck statues.



And, visiting local playgrounds and skateparks:

the first one, in the posher Arlington suburbs.

Then, on to the grittier Medford one:

and, then, Milo enjoying long distance communication at your better basic playground.


Truly lovely spring weather:

Anne took great care of us and Alden had a lot of fun at the skateparks. Actually, Milo did too, and upon arrival home, had to be pulled out of the car kicking and screaming all the while, going on about how he wanted to go to Grandma’s and the skatepark.

Way more pictures at flickr.

Video: You're Looking at Me

testing testing

Endings and Beginnings

Well, in theory, it is the beginning of spring. Really, it is pretty hard to imagine spring, given how much snow there is on the ground still.

(not going to torture you with more snow photos, there really have been enough, I think)

But, Giffords opened, and that must be some sort of a sign of spring. In the fall, we ate A LOT of Giffords. An embarrassing amount. But it was so fun. So many flavors to choose from, all so good. It was exciting to see that they were going to open, and I quickly pulled over to take a picture. But, in truth, I don’t quite feel like it is ice-cream eating season yet.

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Today was pretty much the end of the ski season for us. It was the last day at Titcomb, and Alden and I had a perfectly wonderful few hours skiing, while Milo was home napping and Ray was stuck at home (okay, home being the responsible adult for Milo, but, in truth, it was all planned as it was because Ray is on call at work, and is therefore tethered to his phone and computer, not really able to leave the immediate vicinity of the house.).

Titcomb was actually supposed to close last weekend, but, they stayed opened one more Saturday, because the conditions have been so good. We are quite sad that they are closed and that we have to be done with the winter fun that we have been having there. But, I guess it is a good thing that we had so much fun there in the first place. Only nine more months until they open again.

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In other juxtapositions, there’s the indoor woodpile, with all the wood we’ll still need to burn, because it is still pretty damn cold.

And, there’s some seriously good late afternoon light – picture taken at about 6:00, or even a bit later.

Seven Days

Only in Maine. Only in Farmington. Only at Titcomb.

Alden and I, just for fun, set ourselves a goal, a challenge, really: ski every day for seven days (in a row, that is).

We did it (concessions, confessions, and more details below.)

It began on Saturday February 23rd.

Saturday: weekend, family skiing (which means the juggling - one parent with Milo, staying home at first and then heading to Titcomb, the other at Titcomb with Alden skiing. Lunch together as a family, parent switch, one person goes back home with Milo for the nap, the other gets to ski.)

[picture is of the "apparatus" at the top of the T-bar. I know it just looks like some strange contraption, which I suppose it is.]

Sunday: repeat of Saturday..

Monday: I pick up Alden from school, we head over for a few runs before going to get Milo.

Tuesday: Alden has his after school ski program. I go over during that, ski by myself for a bit, then he and I ski together after his program ends.

Wednesday: we have our x-c program this day. All season, Alden has been wanting to ski alpine after finishing with x-c. Today, we do it - switching skis at 5:20 or so, and heading up the T-bar for a little under the lights/in the snow skiing.

Thursday: repeat of Tuesday, though Alden skis after the program with Ray, while I manage Milo.

Friday: Annual Winter Fun Day for Alden's elementary school. They spend the day at Titcomb - you guessed it - skiing... Like I said at the beginning - only in Farmington...

That's seven days.

Concessions: I actually only managed 6 days. Alden and I would have needed to ski together after school on Friday for me to get seven. He was so wiped out by his full day of skiing that by then that he didn't want to ski more.

Confessions: Thursday, annual potluck for Alden's Alpine Snow Kids program. Milo ate really well (there were about 6 kinds of mac and cheese on offer. Toddler culinary paradise.) Alden was so busy skiing with Ray, and then playing outside with friends, he never even came in for the supper part. So, cake for supper when we got home. It was carrot cake, though, so, doesn't that make it sort of reasonable??)

more details: Alden went on to ski Saturday - on x-c skis, but hiking up and then skiing down a downhill trail; and then on Sunday we skied at Mt Abram - his first real "big" ski mountain experience.

List of Things to Do: Visit Maine

If you move to Maine, then your friends who do not live in Maine, and who keep lists of things they want to do during their lives (lists which include visit Maine), can come and visit you and check that one off.

Apparently, Karen has always wanted to visit Maine, and now that we are here, she had the perfect opportunity. [Other things on her list include crazy ideas like “go for a helicopter ride”, “go for a glider ride”. Wish I could remember a few more (maybe they’re not all as crazy as those two – both of which, I might add, she has done. Crazy brave woman.)…]

Others (not in Maine) questioned her decision to come in February; and, I know that even though February is the shortest month, people in Maine also think it is pretty damn long and brutal and really want it to be over as soon as possible.

Not me. I am enjoying February tremendously.

For one thing, I got a one week vacation during this short little month. This following only four weeks of being back at work after the Christmas break. How cool is that? I didn’t even have any major sets of papers to grade (sadly, I will when the April vacation rolls around…). So, I have gotten to have a lovely little week off, full of leisurely mornings at home, before packing Milo off to d-care (hey, I have to pay for it anyway, plus he is at the stage where he doesn’t want to leave when we go to pick him up and talks about the place even when he is at home), baking sweet treats, reading out loud to Alden and Ray in the middle of the day (we are reading the Swallows and Amazons series – we’re on the second one, Swallowdale, right now. Highly recommended.), playing Settlers of Catan, and skiing.

And, for another thing, we had really cool friends come to visit in February. Karen said it didn’t matter that it was February, you could still drink wine and eat cake. And so we did.

Other highlights included skiing.

[Samantha: we are really proud of you for being such a brave and good skier and T-bar rider. You were awesome!]

Walking on frozen water.


Reading and snuggling.


And, introducing Milo to the delights of licking the frosting spatula (This is the wacky cake frosting. He already knew he really liked wacky cake, but, he didn’t realize that it could actually get even better than that.)

[further documentation of the eating cake part of the visit to appear soon at make more cakes.

And, more pictures and the ability to see them in a slightly larger format over at flickr.]

Thank you so much for coming to visit us, David and Karen and Samantha. It was wonderful!!

You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two....

I took Alden to see Oliver! (the musical) a few weeks ago. I had these vague but fond memories of it from my own childhood – possibly just from listening to the record that I think my mom had. The show was getting a lot of “local press,” that is, emails sent out over the staff/faculty listserv saying people should go; posters around town, etc. I knew also that various people we at least sort of knew would probably be in it.


It was a totally classic “Community Theatre” production (and just the sort of thing I love about living in a small town in Maine*). A little blurb in the back of the program states:

“community theatre, like the name implies, is theatre produced, constructed, and performed by community members. Among community enterprises, it’s a unique venture. To put on a show at SRP, we use virtually all of the resources that the community gives us. Theatre brings together at times, young and old; skilled and unskilled trades and business people; men and women; children, parents, grandparents, singles, couples, and families; and people of all shapes, sizes, and religious persuasions to create something bigger than ourselves and then present it to the people of the community for their enjoyment.”

Oh, I just love this sort of thing.

The cast included, broadly: kids from Alden’s school, faculty/colleagues from UMF (and their children) – some of whom I know better than others, UMF students, older students from the local school district, teachers from the local high school (some of whom have been mentors/hosts for my teacher ed students). More specifically: the little girl/neighbor who lives across the street from us, one of my current students, and one of the former occupants of the house we are now living in.

Alden dragged his feet at first – I think he thought it would be like a regular big screen movie, and he really has an aversion to those (too scary, still). But, I insisted. For one thing, I had bought the tickets and they were NOT CHEAP. Also, it is just the sort of thing I am always wanting to do but then never manage to make happen. This time I was bound and determined to actually do it. And, I liked the idea of sharing this with Alden. So, off we went, on a cold, cold January night.

As soon as the music (played by a small, but genuine live orchestra) began, I think we were both pretty drawn in. For me, the familiarity of the songs/music, for Alden, the newness of the experience. At intermission, I asked him what he thought. “Top notch!” he says. I offered him the choice of going home, but he said he wanted to stay. In retrospect, I wish I had taken him home. The second half is a bit darker, especially with Bill Sykes offing the lovely Nancy. Alden definitely did not like that and I think it put a bit of a damper on the experience for him.

*My above comments about it being “classic community theatre” and characteristic of small town Maine are not in any way meant to suggest that it was a low quality production. It wasn’t. Alden was right, it really was top notch.

We had some fun the next morning scouting around on YouTube and listening to bits and pieces from some old production. I’ll leave you with this, one of our favorites from the show.