Fall Update

On Thursday I finally got around to making my annual apple pies. Technically you could say I made six, but I ended up with two, as four went to my co-workers who came over for a pie-making lesson/afternoon.

I might of eaten pie for breakfast. Twice.

In other news, I've planted about 100 bulbs for the spring,  raked some leaves, put the down comforter on the bed, finished my first sweater of the season, and sewed about 70% of my Halloween costume.

Yep. Looks like fall.

[PS - want a sneak peak of my Halloween costume or other projects in process? Check out my twitter account! ]

Puppy's First Apple Picking

On Saturday after several weekends of sickness and rain, we finally, finally! made it out for our annual trip to Ricker Hill for apple picking.

And even better, the the pick your own fields at Ricker Hill are dog-friendly, so we took Steinbeck along for his first apple picking adventure.

Steinbeck wasn't really into the apples, and he definitely wasn't into the slingshot.

But he did enjoy the wagon ride, and was very interested in the porcupine we wouldn't let him within twenty feet of.

As for the people, we got a beautiful crisp fall day, great views, a chubby pumpkin and half a peck of delicious apples.

See ya next year Ricker Hill!

Cumberland County Fair 2011

After a few days of rainy-day postponement and a bit of waffling, Mr. Cleaver and I made our way to the Cumberland County Fair Friday evening having decided to alternate years with the Fryeburg Fair.

The Fair never really changes, the bunnies and fried dough occupy their same spots each year, but there's something comforting in it's familiarity: in the pig races and livestock pulls, the pumpkins and mums, the earnest 4-Hers and the disaffected teens.

I'm sure one year I'll tire of it, but for now I revel in the contrast of the farm and the ferris wheel, and dream of mini-rex bunnies with fur like velvet.

On Common Ground

This Saturday, I headed up to Unity for the Common Ground Fair with Aimee, Eric, and Bristol.  While it was a bit grey and drizzly, there were plenty of interesting things to brighten up the day and a good time was had by all. And now, I'm going to let the photos do the talking.

[The tag reads: "Turkey-tail Hat for walking in Snowy Firs, with Goose + Goat families depicted, ^plus one Beaver, and the 24 lb. Raccoon who opened and squeezed through the 5½" x 6" chicken door.]

What are your favorite things to do at the fair??

Roadtrip: Fryeburg Fair

Since we weren't able to make the Common Ground or Cumberland County Fairs this year, Mr.Cleaver and I headed up to the Fryeburg Fair to get our fall fair fix. The Fryeburg Fair is HUGE. There are tons of people who come in RVs and stay for the whole week. We went on Sunday, which was opening day, and there were people everywhere.

Firemen,

Barbershop Quartets,

Alpaca Farmers,

Blacksmiths,

Chicken Judges, and 

4-H -ers.

But of course I don't go to the fair for the people, I go for the animals.

Llamas, with underbites only a mother could love,

Sweet bunnies (I want a Mini-Rex soooo much!!)

Hungry Piglets,

and chicks still damps from their eggs.

We saw a lot and had a a lot of fun, and oh yeah, indulged in a little fair food :)

Roadtrip: Grafton Notch and Step Falls Preserve

Mr. Cleaver & I took advantage of the wedding to stay at a B&B and enjoy a mini-vacation in Bethel.

Since the wedding didn't start until the late afternoon on Saturday, we took the morning to do some hiking. Based on a recommendation from our lovely  innkeepers at the Rivendell B&B, we took the drive up Route 26 to Grafton Notch State Park.

Grafton Notch is unusual for a state park in that the highway literally runs through the middle of it. The portions of the park we explored were all accessible via little pull-off parking lots off 26. Each of the falls were little mini-hikes that took no more than 10-15 minutes tops.

In all of the spots we stopped at in Grafton Notch, the landscape had been carved by glacial runoff, and nowhere was this more evident than our first stop, Moose Cave Gorge.

As you approach the gorge the temperature noticeably drops from the ice cold waters still running through the cavern. The drop was incredibilty steep, and apparently earned its name from an unfortunate moose that slipped and landed inside.

The next stop south was Mother Walker Falls. Due to the season, most of the falls were less full than they would be in the spring, but the newly turning color in the trees made up for any lack of rushing water.

My favorite of the three stops at Grafton Notch was Screw Auger Falls.

The most sprawling of the three falls, Screw Auger features a small upper and dramatic lower falls, as well as a number of beautiful picnic spots upstream.

Our last stop was just outside of the state park at the Nature Conservancy's Step Fall Preserve. Also off 26 - Step Falls has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it sign, but is well worth the hunt.

The climb to the top of the falls is steep (and due to concerns about time, we didn't quite make it all the way up), but the view is breaktaking.

Now that I know how relatively short a drive Bethel is from Portland, I'd love to make a number of return trips to this beautiful area.

Speaking of trips, I'd added a Roadtrip tab to the top of page to collect the posts on the other lovely spots we've visited.

Mike & Maggie Get Married

I didn't mention it in the last post, but the reason the Notary Dress is named the Notary Dress is because I made for a very special purpose, to officiate Mike & Maggie's wedding this past Saturday. The knitting readers may know these two from Mike's touching Ravelry proposal.

The wedding was held on the Artist's Covered Bridge in Newry in Western Maine.

We gathered on the bridge Friday afternoon for the rehearsal. It was my first time officiating a wedding, so I was a bit nervous, but once we got all the parties there, it went pretty smoothly.

Afterwards, Mr. Cleaver and I got to join everyone for a delicious rehearsal dinner, prepared by Maggie's father, who has convinced me that I will someday need to own a meat smoker.

The wedding day arrived, warm and sunny.

The knitting contingent arrived early.

And while the day of the wedding was beautiful, the bride was even lovelier

Officially got them married!!

Now off to the party!!

Congrats you two - you make a wonderful couple!!

(And a special thanks to Mr. Cleaver for the photos)

Early Apples

So far the votes from the last post are 60% for both  of us and 40% for me (sorry Mr. Cleaver & puppies), so in honor of your vote, here we are together:

But who took the photo, you ask?

Why this lovely lady, who accompanied us on our annual apple-picking adventure.

As other Maine bloggers have mentioned, the apples are super early this year. Since my favorite apple type (Jonagold) ripens a bit later than the first apples, we waited until mid-September, still several weeks earlier than usual, to take our annual trip to Ricker Hill.

The day was warmer than we imagined (hence the short sleeves), but it was a lovely day for apple picking (or slinging).

This trip is nothing is not full of traditions, so as per usual there were many dozens of mini apple cider doughtnuts,

plenty of tasty apples to pick,

(these look like cherries and taste like apples!)

a trip into the depths of the corn maze (dry enough to traverse the whole thing this year) --

including making it out alive (!!),

a race over the obstacle course,

and cute farm animals.

And I get to look forward to days filled with apple pies, crisps, muffins and sauce!

Giving Thanks: Family, Food, and Fun

This Thanksgiving, Mr. Cleaver and I had the pleasure of hosting my big brother Luke and his lovely wife Jen for a few days. I think we crammed two days worth of activities into each one, showed the family some Portland-area highlights and had an all-around good time.

Photos 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 by Luke and Jen

Mackworth Island

It was an unseasonably warm weekend, so Mr. Cleaver and I took a couple of long walks to enjoy it, including another jaunt to Mackworth Island. Where we checked in on out fairy house (the roof had caved in), and got close to the wildlife.

Snacking on a nut.

Letting me know I finally got too close!

Not too much to share today, I just felt like posting something. I also finished knitting a pair of socks for the husband this weekend and will try to post some pics later this week.