Ice Out :: April 2009

Watching the ice go out on our little pond is probably not much of an event, compared to watching the same thing happen on a larger body of water.

[mid day Saturday April 11]

But, it's what we've got, and I made a day of it.... taking pictures every few hours, all day long. By late afternoon, it was clear we were not going to see it actually happen. There was still a bit of ice as the sun set, but somehow we knew that it would be gone by morning.

[later afternoon April 11]

One thing that turned out to be fun was watching the island of ice float all over the pond, over the course of the day. It really moved around a lot, at the same time that it was getting smaller and smaller.

[Gratuitous cute dad and kid photo. Also taken the same day. Trying to get him interested in the scooter - or, wheeled vehicles in general. At this age, his older brother was already riding a two wheeler. This one? he's not showing that much interest so far..... what's up with that?]

[ice from the other side :: still later in the day, Sat Apr 11th]

When I got up Sunday morning, the ice was really and truly gone, having disappeared in the middle of the night, while we slept...

[early morning, Sunday April 12]

I realize that the pictures are not that great - that is, it is pretty hard to really see what is going on. But, if you look closely, you can see the chunk of ice in the middle with the first few pics. Also, notice the how the light differs in the different photos. And, of course, notice that there is still quite a bit of snow - luckily, not on our lawn, but on the neighbor's...

Maine Maple Sunday

Third Sunday in March, every year. Many of the places that tap trees/sugar open up their establishments for the random public to come and gape. We went with Steve and Emma and Cyrus, and Steve picked the place. Turns out he picked the same place that we went to last year, for this same event. Only we didn’t know it until we were pretty much there (we were just following them, driving), because he led us on a clever back road route that we did not know about, so, we had no idea where we were heading.

Alden points out that Steve knew about short cuts like this “because he’s a map-maker..” , a fact we mentioned while following him there. [He’s a geographer, which was apparently news to Alden, who couldn’t stop remarking on how cool it was, and how surprised he was to discover this. I don’t think Steve has really been keeping his work secret, so, I can’t help but wonder, where’s Alden been?]

We wandered around the farm, checking out the equipment, the animals, and of course the sap boiling.

Last year, it was a different story, since the weather was bad and the sap really had not started running when Maine Maple Sunday happened. This year, things were in full swing, and it promises to be a good sugaring year. Cold nights, warm days.

[this is a view of the ceiling, with the steam from the sap boiling rising up to the top of the room]

Free ice cream with warm maple syrup on it. Alden sweet talked the ladies running the ice cream area and managed to get seconds.

After exploring the farm and syrup operation, we went to the pancake breakfast, held in the old East Dixfield schoolhouse, which is part of the farm. I was all snobby and thinking I wouldn’t eat anything much, since it was pancake mix, not homemade. But, then I got in there, got a plate to share with Ray, and started eating, and boy was it delicious (totally simple: pancakes, warm fresh maple syrup, and good sausages). Milo sat with Emma, who fed him about three pancakes (we are talking HUGE pancakes, not the tiny little things I make…). Apparently I am not feeding him enough at home.

Snow Day

Count so far: two days off from school. First one was before Xmas. Also, so far, two late starts b/c of snow.


Today was a beautiful one: good snow and outdoor potential pretty much all day. The other snow day we had was crap: snow turned wet and heavy and then, pretty much, turned to rain, making it not at all appealing to be outside. Fun to watch the near-flooding on the road outside the house, but, not that much fun...

Milo wearing what he calls his "mittens with pictures."

Alden was outside for hours.

Milo and I also enjoyed some good time in the backyard. Milo has heretofore not been all that psyched about sledding. Today, he was into it.

I had my camera up on the porch, and was waiting to be inspired to photograph something. Suddenly I saw it, as I was sitting in the sled, waiting to start down the hill with Milo tucked in in front of me.


I made Alden run for the camera, and then spent a while trying to get that perfect shot. Yelling at both children all the while: Milo, who kept squirming and not "turning" the way I wanted him to turn, so I could get the snow on the eyelashes just right; Alden, who kept kicking into his snowboard again and again, all the while kicking me and Milo, in the sled, as he (Alden) wanted to head down the hill right on our heels...






Then the snowflakes turned from small to HUGE. Not sure I really was able to capture that, but, I tried.

"A duck...."

...that's what Milo would say, as we drove past these things.

All over town, we began to notice, there were these ducks. Okay, really, loons. Over time, we noticed more and more of them.


[this one is right down town, near the library]


Certainly, the first one we noticed was the one at the top of our very own street. Day after day, we'd drive by, noticing, but never stopping.


Finally, one day in October, I decided we needed to go on an adventure. Find them, photograph them, figure out how many there were. Pay a little more attention to them. I think Ray was away that day, and I hucked the kids in the car, and off we went, for a local drive.



We stopped first at the one that we consider "ours". Closer inspection revealed that it was the "Bass Shoe Duck". This town used to be home to the Bass Shoe factory, and this particular duck commemorates that, with its cobbler's apron, pictures of factory workers on the side, and, a tiny painted picture of one of the factories in the loon's eye.





All in all, we counted seven, I think. Later, we were at the town hall, and asked a few questions about the loons, and discovered that there are a total of twelve, though some of those are privately owned, and therefore might not be visible to passersby.

[this one resides outside the town hall, and has "blueberry" as its theme.]

Sometime in late October, they suddenly disappeared, gone for the winter, just like many of the real birds... We'll look forward to their return in the spring.

Obligatory Fall Foliage Post

The strip of trees outside our house was spectacular, for days.

I actually think I took some of my best and most interesting fall foliage shots the weekend we went to Hancock Point to close up the house.

Then, we moved into the more brown and dull stage of fall, but even that has its beauty.

Including the beauty of taking our children out for a little walk, on a rainy morning that got less rainy and allowed them that classic childhood pleasure: throwing rocks into water.

Time to get blogging again

We've been back for months now, and have I posted? Not once.

Need to change that.

Lots of time spent getting ready for winter. Gathering food and wood. Two essentials.

Unfortunately, I don't actually have any photos of the "food gathering" efforts. But, one of the major ones was blueberry picking. We went, a number of times, to a local pick your own blueberry place. Picked pounds and pounds. In the end, between the blueberries picked this summer, and ones picked this fall, I think I have somewhere in the vicinity of 30 cups. Just the other night, after our quick weekend away to the south, we came home and ate blueberry waffles for supper (and watched ski movies, as we get psyched for winter...).

It's Summer

So, I'll be taking a break from here.

You can find me here for the summer.

I'll be back in the fall.

Blue and yellow flower combo from the side of the road at Hancock Point. Just growing wild.