Heirloom Tomatoes...YUM!

My husband came home the other day with a white Addidas bag full of these odd looking tomatoes (and two cute little yellow squash that looks like hats). A woman at one of his surveying sites filled up the bag and sent him home with all these heirloom tomatoes. I have always wanted to try these colorful tomatoes but they are way too expensive in the grocery store.

Slices of mozzarella, homegrown basil and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil....amazing appetizer before a meal of grilled marinated meat, grilled asparagus and grilled/steamed green onions (dipped in a smokey, lime sauce!).

Who knew a tomato could be so interesting in flavor and texture. Love all the colors, love the taste!

And a New School Year Begins

I have been working through An Artist's Way the last 2 months so not writing as much on my blog(s). Writing for that 1/2 hour a day seems to satisfy my need to empty out the contents of my mind somewhere :) This morning, and for the last couple of days, I have been thinking a lot about the beginning of the school year. I forget the little tragedies that I am confronted with on a daily basis in my work. I forget them while I paddle a canoe up and down a peaceful lake, sit and read a book by the river on my private deck, paint the bottoms of wine glasses on a quiet and rainy afternoon. I forget that I am so lucky to have such a great life. I forget that there are so many children who not only have their own woes to manage, autism, heart failure, mental retardation but then, tragically, have parents ill-equipped to take care of them. This week, my first week back at school, I heard stories about parents living in vans, parents arrested for public intoxication, parents barely able to tend to their own lives, filing for custody of disabled children. It makes me unbearably sad. If I can do any little thing for such children, in the short time I know them, to make their lives better, happier, less difficult, then, I will be grateful. And although I am at a good place in my life (thank you God for that!) and need to remember how lucky I am, honestly, deep within I just don't understand why life has to be so difficult for such innocent little souls....I just don't get it.

?

Me at age 2 (the age of my granddaughter!)

I had a conversation with a wonderful friend the other day. We talked about our families because my self-reflective friend was seeing his parent's behaviors in his daily life and a little weirded out by it all. He has a weight problem and his eating habits are just like his mother's. He heard his father's "voice" coming out of his mouth recently when he was upset. Of course, I could completely relate. I told him that sometimes I wonder who I would be if I had been raised by different parents or in a different era or in a different country. Obviously I'd still be short with a head of curls, but who would I be? Is there a "me" independent of my rearing, I have wondered? The older I get the more I believe in that unique "me" or soul or whatever. And, I see for me, my personal goal, for the rest of my life, is to figure who I really am, as independent as I can be from the influence of my mom, my dad, my time in history. It always strikes me as so peculiar that I am myself but may not know who I really am. Of course, my behaviorist friend, Dr. Mike would tell me that who I am is all a function of my rearing......we are a product of our environment, he would say with confidence. But I think otherwise :)

Loving the Artist's Way...a book that has started me once again on this who-am--I adventure, through the lens of who ever I might be as a creative person.

Addie Looking Grown Up!

What a beautiful little charmer in her new pink sparkle shoes and Tigger backpack we got her for her birthday. She's only 2 but looks 4. She walked all around the condo with her new shoes on and her backpack packed and ready for action :) What a cutie pie!

Fun with Grammie and Grandpa

Headed out! I'm a little unsure or maybe tired but I know
the day will be fun!

Look at Hank, the finger puppet guy Grammie bought me at the
Saturday Market!

At the park!

Eating Hebert's scallops! Yum!

The backpack Grammie made me for my birthday!
I love it cause I love pink and I love Tiger!

Isn't it lovely?

Painting a little birdhouse...I am artistic, don't you think?

Hank the Finger Puppet

So, how cute is this little handmade finger puppet. There were adorable "girl" puppets with long curly blonde hair, cute little "girl" puppets with lush, long hair and Hank, the lone male. It was her choice! Hank the finger puppet guy....she loved him!

Batman to the Rescue

Who knew there were so many different types of bats. In New Hampshire, where our rental unit sits, there are 7 different varieties. Turns out they are are shy little creatures. As our Batman told me, they think of humans as grizzly bears...something to avoid. They are helpful to the environment, eating a lot of insects on their nightly forays into the wild or suburbia, depending where they roost. Why do I know so much about bats? Well, picture this, husband on a much-needed 4 day vacation, ocean kayaking way up in Maine. I get a phone call Saturday. "Ah...sorry to bother you, but this is one of your tenants." "Yes," I respond, wondering why I'm getting this call. "Ah....we have 4 bats in our house." OK...this was my husband's project before he left for his trip and I was hoping he had solved the problem but, alas, not. So, who to call when husband is unreachable on an island in the Atlantic Ocean? Whatever Batman will answer the phone on a Saturday afternoon! Turns out, David, our Batman to the Rescue, was a wonderful man, providing advice via the phone as to how to get the bats that are now hiding in the rental (somewhere in the kitchen the tenant thinks!), out. You open a window 1/2 way, make sure the screen is up. Set up a fan 5 feet away, blowing directly to the window. Wait overnight. In the morning bats will be hanging from the window, awaiting escape. Apparently, wind currents are how bats find their way in and out of a space. And, did you know a hole the diameter of a pencil is big enough for bats to squeeze through? Tonight David, the Batman, will assure tenants that all holes are filled so they'll be no more bat flybys in the wee hours of the morning, scaring the giant cat that jumps on the bed and awakens the tenants who scramble. So glad husband will be home shortly....he can take it from here! And, from here is how to manage removing the bats roosting in the attic (one-way doors I am told)..... Life, always interesting :)

Sea Smoke at Sunset

This evening I took Olivia out for a walk but we didn't make it very far.

We stepped out the back door and moved no further....
watching the sea smoke moving slowly on down the river.

Pretty cool!

The Peace of Wild Things...Wendell Berry

When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Charlotte's Webs

This morning when I let Olivia out to pee,
the fog was thick up and down the river.
The air was damp and heavy.
And as I yawned and looked around...
Spectacular and intricate spider webs
Were everywhere
The invisible made visible....
Alive in the morning dew!
Just outside my door.

New Found Me!

Newfound Lake, New Hampshire. Heard of it? It's right up there in the New Hampshire lakes region. The only bigger lake in the state is Lake Winnipesaukee, just around the corner. My dear and very generous friend asked if anybody wanted to come spend time with her at this fabulous little lake-front cabin she rented for pretty much the month of July. I immediately said, "Yes!" And now I say, "Bless you..." I tried kayaking for the second time in my life...first time was tandem...definitely not the same thing as floating along under your own paddle power. Seriously wonderful fun :) Can you say, "Hey that lake looks like glass!"

56

So hard to believe but I am 56. 56. My husband tells me as we ride home from the airport on the eve of my birthday Tuesday night, we are 4 years away from 60....yikes. There is no denying I am getting older.

I waved good-bye to my 85-year old father on Tuesday morning as we pulled out of the driveway and headed to the airport. He is healthy but....85. He has a hard time walking, has nearly lost the sight in one eye, needs hearing aids so that he can tune into the noisy world around him. But, he is a model of how taking care of your body keeps your body alive and free from major disease. I hope I am on my way with that by working out, eating healthy and managing stress and emotion in my life.

My dad is also a world traveler. He has driven with his brother through the green hills of Ireland, rode a camel through the dusty Egyptian desert, been in a car accident in Iran! He has traveled the world and at 85 has many great stories and memories. Listening to him last week as I visited him in Idaho, I vow to travel, with my husband, to one unique and amazing destination that we haven't been to before, once a year from now on. We plan on doing this when we retire in our mid-60s. But after visiting my dad and hearing about a colleague's husband who died unexpectedly at 60, I am reminded, once again, that I should not wait to live my life.

I begin my 56th year with plans for the next 30 years (God willing) and those plans include continued work on my health, plans for travel (love to travel with my brother again!), and living a creative life full of love and laughter, friends and family with my wonderful husband. My life is what I choose to make it.