Bits & Bobs

The woods surrounding the Lodge are showing colour.



But the gardens are still displaying their own colours, too.

False sunflower.



Turtlehead--oh, so popular with the bumblebees!



Winterberry. (Small wonder I've got Christmas on my mind already!)



On Saturday night at the lake cottage, the Chap and I--and the girls particularly--experienced the earthquake that struck our state. Only at first we didn't know what it was. Little did we realise that earthquakes make noise--what we assumed was the furnace loudly coming on or a rumble of thunder or a big vehicle backfire or a boat crashing into our dock turned out to be a temblor of 3.1 on the Richter scale. The dogs raced around barking for quite some time.

In subsequent days we learned that nearly everyone who wasn't sleeping through it (the quake struck at 11.28 p.m.) heard a similar sound and their animals were similarly freaked out by the experience. No injuries, no damage--lots of stories.

On Monday evening I met FFTNC for the final wedding dress fitting in Concord and we had dinner at the Lodge with the Chap and the girls. Yesterday FFTNC went shopping and met a friend for lunch. It was damp and misty all day and last evening was positively tropical! Like a rainforest! Today is bright and sunny and less humid and warm. I've spent the day at the Lodge, updating websites (not my own, alas) and tidying my office (nearly have it the way I want it) and planning a trip and marinated some lamb chunks in red wine and coriander and pepper for tonight's shawarma dinner.

I also walked the girls round the little lake. The breeze carries the scent of autumn, the leaves are turning, the wild asters are blooming and the ferns are golden. Someone had a little sailboat out on the water.

Colder weather is on the way soon, bringing more rain. I'm undecided about when I'll next make for the cottage. At this season we study our respective calendars and discuss when we should start closing up. I'm not quite ready yet. We're approaching our wedding anniversary and the anniversary of my very first visit to the cottage as a bride, and it's a special--and beautiful--time to spend there.

But I must admit, living in 2 different locations for the past 6 months, wonderful as it is, makes me ready to hibernate in one place for another 6 months! Plus I've got a worsening case of travel fever....I so try very hard not to go away during cottage season if I can help it. And as soon as the house on the Big Lake is closed up, I'm desperate to expand my horizons.

Morning on the Bay

After an occasionally stressful week, which concluded with some strangely, unseasonably hot weather, we're all thankful to be together at the lake cottage.

The girls and I came up at midday yesterday and the Chap arrived later, directly from his office. We had a pizza feast and marvelled at the warmth.

This morning, after Ruth & Jewel & I returned from our first walk of the day, we all went down to the dock--the Chap & I took our second cups of coffee with us. It was quiet and peaceful and quite deserted. No boats, no ducks, no people. Only a kingfisher gliding right in front of us--too quickly to photograph.



It's still warm but there's a good breeze now.

Tonight we're dining at El Centenario. It's been a few weeks...I've missed it!

Enjoy your weekend.

Soul Food

Yesterday was busy. On our morning walk, the dogs were all too aware that we were marching through rodent territory. With the acorn crop constantly tumbling to the ground, the chipmunks and squirrels were darting about everywhere, a huge temptation to Ruth and Jewel--plenty of tugging on the leashes. Late in the morning Ruth got loose. I saw her wander onto the neighbour's property and assumed she was either chasing a rodent or going to greet someone. I also assumed she'd come trotting right back but she didn't. I called her back, and whistled--she's always very responsive and obedient but not this time. I followed in that direction. No sign of Ruth.

I walked up the hill. I wandered over to the brook. I searched where our and our neighbours' cars are parked. No Ruth.

Because she didn't respond to my calls, I knew she'd roamed out of earshot. Increasingly concerned, I took Jewel to the car and set out on a rescue mission. Jewel, convinced that we were leaving the lake without Ruth, was more than a little freaked out, whining and fussing: "No, stop, we CAN'T go without Ruth! Why are you leaving her behind?" We failed to find a little black and white dog during our driving tour, so I returned to the cottage hoping she'd be standing at the door. She was not.

I rang the neighbours to alert them to the situation. Then I tied Jewel--still whining and agitated--in the side yard as "bait" and went to tidy the kitchen.

A few minutes later I checked on the dog--and found two of them. Ruth had returned after an absence of half an hour or so. Prayers answered.

In a much calmer frame of mind I walked up the road a few houses for our final road meeting of the year, where we approved the budget and contract for re-paving. Immediately afterwards the girls and I returned to the Lodge.

I'd walked off my breakfast and missed my lunch, so I was really glad the Chap and I had a dinner invitation with a friend who is a most excellent and enthuisastic cook. Especially of Asian dishes.

We sat on the porch drinking apple-tinis and catching up. His kitchen was a wonderland of bamboo steamers and spice containers (as seen in the photograph above) and enticing aromas.

He treated us to a first course of steamed lotus leaves stuffed with sticky rice and his outstanding Chinese dumplings.



The second course was Chinese broccoli. The third course was a wonderful spicy curry over rice.

And then, a delicious pineapple upside down cake.



It was an evening of good conversation about family and faith and London, drinking wine and Grand Marnier, and enjoying the attentions of a large and affectionate black dog. He, like Ruth, had run off earlier in the day, and had returned safely.

All around, the hues of autumn are in evidence. I haven't heard yet whether it's expected to be a "good" year for foliage but in my experience there's no such thing as a "bad" year.

Non-working breeds

Ruth (reclining on upper step) and Jewel (seated below) are relaxing, an activity at which they have considerable experience. I'm fairly certain I can liven them up with the offer of a road trip later this afternoon.

The air feels cool. Here and there, the leaves are beginning to change hue. I need to shift my summer clothes from closet to storage and replace them with autumn attire!

Primary Day

Even if I hadn't known it was voting day, the national media are all over the story here in NH.

I met all my deadlines for this week's articles and tasks and web updates. There weren't many of them but it's nice to have a clear head and light schedule.

After lunchtime the dogs and I returned to the Lodge--my legal residence--so I can vote. I'm catching up on newspapers and having a cup of tea. In a little while I'll head out to the polling place. After that, a bit of shopping, a dinner date with the Chap, and a diocesan meeting that we attendly jointly.

The highly touted high turnout that was expected might have been a myth. Anecdotally I'm hearing that numbers seem low. The Chap voted on his way to the office, at the height of morning workday rush, and was only the 45th person.

For the first election in quite a long time, I shall not find my name on the ballot. It's a rite of passage for me. A positive one. There's more legislative responsbility next month, but this period of public service is swiftly winding down.

This Day Again

The morning dawned exactly like that one 9 years ago. Pure, cloudless blue sky and sunshine and crisp, clean air. Today is, in fact, almost unbearably identical to September 11, 2001.

Last night at the Lodge the Chap and I were reminiscing, prompted by a History Channel special on the grounding of all the planes within 3 & 1/2 hours.

He'd flown out on the 10th for a business trip that was mean to last a couple of days. A very long and lonely week would go by before I saw him again. He had to drive himself home from Wisconsin in a rental car...the airports were still closed. My parents were in Scotland; my brother in Atlanta. The in-laws were scattered about the country.

"I still have the undershirt and knickers I bought in Beloit, on my way home," my husband said last evening. He'd run out of clean clothes.

I suprised us both by starting to cry.

This morning he wore that t-shirt.

I can't not remember the horror and disbelief that walked with me that day, that week, and ever since. Those events are directly responsible for immediate and gradual changes in our lives. Ultimately he chose to work in a different profession. I changed directions in my writing. We committed ourselves to public service and expanded our volunteer activities. The only thing we didn't alter was our habit of international travel.

In a curious way, I'm rolling back time to 2001. I've ramped down some of my public activities. I'm re-evaluating my volunteer efforts. After 9 years of intense involvement in more things than I will enumerate here, I have an urge to nest--and to be more selective in the way I spend my time in service to others.

And I've returned to the very same writing project that I was beginning to work on in the autumn of 2001. My view of it has changed over time, my focus is different.

All of this gives me an eerie sense of stepping back through the years to pick up pieces of a life only vaguely remembered. I'm still me, but different. The world is the same, yet changed.

I woke at the Lodge today. I was lying in exactly the same spot in bed I was when the local radio announcer broke in to say a "small plane" had crashed into one of the World Trade towers in Lower Manhattan. Only this time the Chap was lying beside me, and a different pair of dogs slumbered on the floor beside our fourposter.

I've blogged about September 11 several times. You can read my reflections if you wish: Remembrances and The Longest Morning and Dividing Line.

I came to the lake cottage today with the dogs...so peaceful, hardly a boat on the water even though it's a weekend. If I didn't already know, nothing could more clearly indicate that Labor Day is behind us.

Glory of the Morning

Our mornings and evenings are beautifully cool now, a great relief after our late summer heat wave of last week, with temperatures 90 and above. We've also received some much-needed rain--though not enough, and not from Hurricane Earl, who fizzled to a drizzle by the time he arrived.

I'm in residence at the Lodge this week, for better access to a multitude of meetings, music lesson, and receiving any overnight guest who might care to stop with us (our FFTNC), her wedding dress fitting (oh, it's so gorgeous), and a series of routine annual medical appointments.

At the weekend I cleared out a very scary section of our attic loft where accumulated clay pots and planters and unused plant stands and partly filled bags of potting soil and stakes and other indoor and outdoor gardening items had taken over. I organised everything and got rid of so much. Assuming it might be useful to others if not to me, we set up a little giveaway spot by the little lake with a sign that said "FREE!" and less than 48 hours later all dozen or so items had vanished.

On the home decor front, I've made changes in our master bedroom (new colour scheme, new duvet cover, new pillows.) I think we might next alter our guest bath/shower room, so I've been busy with the measuring tape and I haunt the aisle of the local Lowe's and Home Depot, picking out cabinetry and tile flooring and sink and stuff.

When I surface again, I'll probably be back at the Big Lake...

Home Improvements

I know, it's been a long time since I popped in. Much of the time I was at the lake cottage, revelling in the solitude--although the Chap and I did attend a neighbourhood cookout on Sunday. Perhaps the record-shattering hot weather (nearly a week of over 90 degrees) sapped my mental energies. Yesterday in Concord my car's temperature gauge fluctuated between 95 and 99. The air is better today, as Hurricane Earl approaches New England. We don't expect much out of it except rain, which might give us a chance to test the efficacy of our new chimney cap, which was installed yesterday.

I've spend so much time away from the Lodge of late that whenever I return, I marvel at the changes here. Our kitchen and dining room renovations are completed. I'm doing a bit of re-decorating in our bedroom as well.

Here's a little tour of what has been accomplished.

New granite counter top, undermount sink, and faucet.



When I was growing up we had a set of Harvest Pear china, and when my mother offered it to me I was delighted. I've got so much china of my own, everyday, antique Blue Willow, and 2 fine china patterns, that I use Harvest Pear for decoration and utility. So I've hung some plates over the counter and use the large pitchers to hold utensils and some of the bowls and other vessels for plants.



The kitchen and dining room walls are now a pale green and the ceiling is creamy white. The French Knot cabinet pulls are new. Am waiting on the back-order to arrive so I can install the matching drawer pulls. Also, there will be a shelf over the microwave, for more cookbooks. Many of them fit perfectly into the topmost cabinet.

When cooller weather arrives all the plants on the deck and the porch will come inside. I decided to buy some antique tables for plants. One of them is this old sewing table--with working foot pump. Once I set it in place, I realised that my great-great grandmother's chair would be a perfect match! She was quite a needlewoman, and needlepointed the chair cover.



And in other chair news, one of the chairs in the upstairs sitting room just returned from the upholsterer. After admiring it, the girls insisted on showing off for the camera.



It's a holiday weekend. Other than a political dinner tonight and watching hurricane coverage on telly, we've got no particular plans. The next fortnight will be madness, so I prefer a quite few days.

Wishing you a lovely weekend, too.

Moon Over the Bay

The dogs woke me at 5:45 a.m. for their morning feeding. Standing by the kitchen window I saw moonlight reflected beside our dock and remembered it's a full moon. When we went outside, I took the camera with me.

The sun hadn't yet risen above the hills to the east, and the moon was visible through a wispy veil of cloud.



All was silent except the quiet paddling of the ducks who passed by. Ruth was bravely protecting me from them--or wish she could herd them, I'm not sure.



We all went back to bed. And woke again to bright sunshine.

And returned to the Lodge by lunchtime.

Woodland Walking

The dogs and I are thoroughly enjoying what's likely to be our longest stay at the lake cottage all summer. No, we haven't deserted the Chap entirely. He's away...in another country, in fact.

We received a welcome spell of rain and cool, damp weather. Yesterday the high was only in the low 60's and I ran round the house closing windows. Today we're in the 70's and it's brighter and the windows and doors are open again.

Last night, quite late, the dogs raced around the sitting room and bedroom, frantically barking, sniffing the air. I thought I heard something moving about outdoors but assumed it was a raccoon or small critter.

This morning, on our first walk of the day, we found compelling evidence that our visitor was a deer.



Also on the walk, we noticed this very colourful fungus growing in the hollow of a tree.



My culinary blogging friend says it's a "chicken mushroom" and when cooked tastes like--well, you guessed it.



This is my favourite tree. Because it has a face. Eyes, nose, mouth, ears--or antlers, as my visiting friend said, a couple of weeks ago.



I'm accomplishing very little of substance these days, but it doesn't matter: I don't really need to. Sometimes I do light research and lots of musing about the next book. Mostly I'm pleasure reading, knitting, playing mandolin, cooking meals with fresh fruits and veg and eating them at non-traditional times of day. Watching way too much Home & Garden Television, especially when it was raining.

Return to the Water

The kitchen and dining room are (professionally)painted. I painted the porch bookcase forest green to match the wood trim and shelving. I've taken care of some writerly responsibilities. With great patience I endured a seemingly endless household water system repair. And on Thursday the dogs and I returned to the Big Lake.

Yesterday morning my FFTNC rang me up--the cottage is conveniently situated about halfway between her Seacoast pastoral appointment and her North Country home, so she was coming to bunk with us last night.

A short time before she arrived, the lovely sunset drew us onto the hillside.

Ruth is in this picture...barely.



Jewel pauses from excavating a rodent hole to admire the sun falling behind the mountains.




It was great catching up with FFTNC, and the dogs were delighted to see her again, too. We lunched at El Centenario in Wolfeboro, our first time experiencing the lunch menu but likely not the last. You need not ask if we ordered the tableside guacamole!

It's a spectacularly lovely day--sunny with crystal-clear cloudless sky, and a steady breeze. The Chap is arriving later today, so we'll be able to watch tonight's sunset together!

Hope your weekend is a pleasant and relaxing one!

A Week Near Water

It's been a busy week and no blogging time. At long last I've got a chance to catch up!

Last Sunday morning the Chap drove off to Montreal, after he and I rang up my mother to wish her Happy Birthday. My friend and I and the dogs hastened to the cottage for a few days by the Big Lake.

Our first order of business was staging a photo op with us, the girls, and the Big White Boat. There's a lot going on in this picture!



Our next order of business was dining at El Centenario. After freshly made-at-our-table guacamole we each enjoyed an enchilada feast. This is my friend's 3 enchilada combo--mole enchilada, rojo enchilada, verde enchilada. I had the same thing, only with 2 mole and 1 verde.



We watched Mad Men that evening.

On Monday morning, we had coffee on the dock with the dogs. Not sure what they were all gazing upon so intently.



We spend a lot of time down by the water. This circle of clouds formed over the lake.



Another really important agenda item was baking. On our way to the lake we acquired some fresh local strawberries. On Monday we put on our almost-matching cute aprons (mine was a gift from my friend, and she brought hers to NH) and baked a blueberry pie with a lattice top. We used the recipe of our kitchen guru, Meta Givens, taken from her cookery book.

Oven ready! (Meta's book is open on the table for easy reference....)



Ready to eat!



It was the best blueberry pie ever baked. Or devoured.

Jewel is 39 pounds of loving lapdog.



At the cottage we've got an ice tray that makes actual-sized golf ball ice cubes. Last year my friend--a golfer--decided that on her next visit she would hit some into the lake from our dock. So, for weeks in advance of her trip I made batches of golf ball ice cubes for her. On Monday and Tuesday afternoon she practiced her swing.



Ruth also enjoyed the ice cubes.



We departed the cottage on Tuesday afternoon, stopping at our vet's office for a quickie appointment for Jewel. We all crammed into the exam room.



Jewel came back to the Lodge with some antibiotics.

My friend left us very early Wednesday morning, 2 days before her birthday but we started the celebrations early. We're already making plans for the next get-together. We attended the same grammar school, high school, and for a year we went to the same college. Probably we met at a children's puppetry class but we really can't remember. It was after a youth theatre class that we started hanging out together almost constantly.

The Chap returned late that afternoon. We had scrupulously--and generously--saved him a single piece of the awesome blueberry pie. He pronounced it the best one ever.

Thursday was mad busy...I dropped off an Oriental rug to be cleaned, met my FFTNC to help her choose new bathroom fixtures and lights, had mandolin lesson, resumed bathroom fixture shopping, went out to Thai dinner with FFTNC.

On Friday I visited friends who live in London but have a summer house in Maine. While on the road I rang the Birthday Girl. It was as spectacular a day on the Maine coast as it had been on the Big Lake--clear sky, cool and comfortable air.

After lunch we went to Popham Beach (not the adjacent State Beach but the other one) and spent the afternoon. The tide was all the way in when we got there.



The teenage boys with us spent a great deal of time in the water. I waded in up to my knees...



...and when my legs went all tingly and then totally numb from the cold (which happened very quickly) I emerged.

Not too many yards away, a seal was swimming in the outgoing tide, completed unaffected by the frigid water or my proximity.



On the way back to our house, my friends stopped off at a local ponds so their boys could swim in "warm" water. While watching them splash about, we observed a large kingfisher repeatedly catching fish, and then an osprey diving for its meal. On my visit to them last year we went boating on the river to see the eagles, so for a second year in a row I've had great birding experiences in that part of the Pine Tree State.

Yesterday I continued preparation for the painter who comes tomorrow and Tuesday to paint the Lodge kitchen and dining room. Everything is removed from the walls, and because I have glass-fronted kitchen cabinets that must be painted all inside I've removed all the crockery and china and glassware and baking things and wipe down the shelving. We're coping with the disarray fairly well.

I learnt that it's possible to spend half a day online shopping for new cabinet and drawer pulls, something I hadn't imagined to be possible. We need a total of 26 pulls/handles. I'm stronging considering this one, called "French Twist."



I haven't yet found the fish-shaped black metal ones I most wanted.

I was so involved looking for the perfect design that I was nearly late to the potluck party at the end of our road, a great chance to visit with our neighbours--especially the seasonal ones we see only in summertime.

We sat beside the little lake till well after dark, chatting with our hosts and some friends. For the past 3 nights I've been watching the Perseid meteor showers before bedtime...it's amazing to see the meteors zipping across the sky over our forest.

We went to church this morning and brought home a big load of Singapore curry noodles from Ping's to microwave for supper, as cooking a proper meal would be impossible tonight. The prep for our painter is complete. By this time tomorrow, the kitchen should be finished and I can begin putting things away--the items I'm keeping, that is. I've tried very hard to thin out our possessions.

Hope you've had a pleasant week and weekend, wherever and however you might be spending it.

Saturday at the Coast with Lobsters

The presence of a visitor from away means that we could make the most of the nicest Saturday of the summmer (except for last Saturday when we had the wedding) and head for the coast.

We drove to Portsmouth and crossed the bridge to Kittery, Maine. A little way farther along the coast is Chauncey Creek and a wonderful waterside seafood restaurant.



We timed our arrivel to avoid crowds and succeeded so well that for the first 5 minutes we had the place to ourselves. Then it began to fill up quickly with family parties.

Looking up the creek...



...and down the creek, while waiting for our order.



We also visited the lobster tank.





We started with the awesome onion rings.



We didn't all order the same beverage.



We ordered exactly the same lunch--lobster rolls!



My lobster roll.



Oh, it was tasty!



Full of food, we returned to the Kittery shopping area, stopping at the Trading Post. My friend found the perfect zip-up sweatshirt jacket, with a Maine lobster on it.

These dogs were patiently and calmly waiting for their owners to finish shopping. My girls would have been pestering all the passers-by for attention, I'm sure.



We drove back to New Castle, paused at Ft. Constitution (where the American Revolution really began). Next stop was Rye, a lovely photo op--so many sailboats on the ocean! It was a perfect day for it.



Me and Mrs. Hamilton.



We can't quite figure out why neither of us can find similar photographs of us together as kids and as teens, but we doing our best to make up for it as adult. More to come!

Thanks for stopping by.