Pumpkins at Smiling Hill Farm

We got a late start on our fall activities thanks to some serious colds, but we're getting there! We made it to the pumpkin patch on Sunday, and the apple orchard on Wednesday, so we're all set on Autumnal produce. 

We Cleavers are creatures of habit and tend to go to the same places every year - so this is LMC's third year at the Smiling Hill Farm pumpkin patch. It's always interesting to see what's different with each round - what is she most interested in? (Answer: rainbow ice cream), what isn't she digging? (Answer: that incident with the turkey has made her nervous about all barnyard fowl).

It's also fun to get the random recaps that she'll spout out days or even weeks later, when she sees something that reminds her of her little adventure. 

I'm hesitant about pulling out the carving knives just yet, so we painted our pumpkins again this year. I didn't put on any sealant first, so they're already peeling, but I think they're beautiful anyway.

We've hung our bat lights and have been watching Curious George A Boo Fest on repeat, which means she goes around wishing everyone "Happy Halloween, hold on to your hat!" We're thinking about making a No-Noggin scarecrow this weekend. I have to admit of all the children's programming, I like Curious George the best (which is good, because LMC loves him).

 I've also been prepping LMC for costume wearing in the hopes that she'll actually wear her costume I'm making (since the wear rate of things I make for her is dismally low). What are you going to be for Halloween? Alice! What's mommy going to be? The queen. What's daddy going to be? The hatter dance! (Close enough).

I love prepping for Halloween.

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Fair Times, Fun Times

I think I say this every year, but I love fair season so much.

This is a big turn around from my feelings on the county fair when I was a kid, and never got to go on any rides and had to represent my dance studio on hot awful concrete stages, or at it's least appealing, that one time in high school I volunteered to do an anti-drug puppet show from beneath a folding table. Then, the fair was always an obligation, but as a grown-up - it's way more fun, and as a parent? A blast!

A grand time was had by Cleavers young and old, but Little Miss Cleaver, who is tall enough now to ride the rides, had the best time of all I think. She particularly wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel, and had a blast going up and down and up down. The Carousel took second place in her affections, I think. 

Speaking of placing things, I knocked another item off my bucket list by winning a blue ribbon at the county fair. I entered in two categories - pie (other) and coffee cake (quick). My Blackberry Pie with Lemon Streusel got me the coveted blue ribbon and my Prize Coffee Cake netted my a third prize (knocked down by "Way too much cinnamon" and my inclusion of some wheat flour which made it "heavy"). My efforts also netted me a check for a cool $8. Not too bad for my first try. It appears that if you want the really  big ribbons you have to go in for the sponsored contests, so I may try my hand at one of those next year. 

 We petted all sorts of animals and marveled at giant pumpkins, ate junk food, got poop on our shoes, and braved ourselves against the chill. Another fantastic day at the fair. 

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The Penultimate Weekend of Summer

How it is already September? The local schools start back up this week and when I dropped Little Miss Cleaver off at daycare they had changed all the decorations to leaves and pumpkins. Don't get me wrong, I adore Autumn, it's my favorite season, but summer seems to go so darn fast! It doesn't help that it doesn't start feeling like summer until July, but still. 

I have kept to my goal of taking more time off this summer and we seem to manage two weekends worth of activity in every one (having a kid that gets up at 5 AM helps there). I took a half-day Thursday and all day Friday off, so we could do this penultimate weekend of summer right. 

We took LMC to our favorite beach, which she adored. Splashing in the water, playing in the sand, screaming and running from imaginary lobsters. Mr. Cleaver and I aren't huge beach people, being easily burned, but her joy at it, makes the multiple sunscreen applications and big hats worth it. We lost a sand shovel in the tide and the tide gave it back. We took a beach break for shuffleboard and burgers and ice cream and then returned for more surf and sand angels. The weather was perfect and it was a glorious day.

Sunday, we grabbed a discount pass from our local library (Libraries are awesome!) , LMC picked out her fancy new kitty-cat party dress and we went to the Maine Wildlife Park. We saw all sorts of critters, but if you ask her about it, LMC will tell you all about the turkey that she tried to feed popcorn and that bit her finger and that she told it no more biting. (She's fine, didn't break skin, just scared her.) Both mornings ended with an insta-crash in the car seat and an epic nap at home.

Good summer living if you ask me.

A Walk in the Marsh

It's just one of those things. When something is so available you never think to take advantage of it, because it's always there. The opposite of the shamrock shake/limited time only effect. 

I drive by the Fore River Sanctuary twice daily, it was in the background of my wedding photos. but I never actually hit the trails until a few weeks ago.  Truly, I've been missing out.

Mr. Cleaver and I both agreed that we'd need to come back in the Fall, (there's not a lot of shade on the trail, so it gets hot) and maybe LMC will be interested in walking more than just the bridges (so much riding on shoulders!).

We only walked a small portion of the trail (see riding on shoulders comment above), but it was worth it even for that. 

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Raspberry Picking

At Snell Family Farm

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Summer Groove

It's mid July and we're settling into that summer groove. The kind of groove that makes me want to wear a swimsuit under my clothes all day and listen to nothing but oldies. Hot, humid days require that we pull out the kiddie pool or sprinkler in the afternoons, and if we have more time, a trip to the splash pad or beach may be required. 

It seems like there are five choices of what to do every weekend. This week we chose the free "Discover Ballet" class at Portland Ballet. Mr. Cleaver and I both got in on the action, and it was loads of fun, though I think Little Miss Cleaver is still a bit away from actually taking classes on her own.

The garden is hitting it's groove too. We've been harvesting a handful of sugar snap peas every few days, the tomatoes are getting bigger, the lettuce is growing, the bush beans are flowering, and our first blueberries have started to turn blue. We had fresh pesto for our pasta. last night.  It's a good time to be outside. 

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4th of July Weekend

We had a wonderful, summery long 4th of July weekend. There were strawberries, birthday cake (for Mr. Cleaver) and Inside Out at the Drive-In, which LMC stayed up for the entirety of, and fireworks watching on PBS.

What are your favorite summer things to do?

• Martha Stewart's Marvelous Black Forest Cake
• Maxwell's Strawberry Farm
• Pride's Corner Drive In

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Maine Fiber Frolic

Since I was either hip-holding or hand-holding a toddler for the majority of my time there, I didn't get many photos of this year's Maine Fiber Frolic, but I did have a great time. It's been a few years since I've been up to the Windsor Fairgrounds, (blog says 2012!) but it seemed like high time to return. 

I spent several days talking up the sheep and bunnies to Little Miss Cleaver and then picked up a few from my knitting group and we were on our way. The car ride was just long enough to have some good conversations about knitting and wardrobes and work and plans and lupine season in Maine always makes the highways so pretty. 

Doing anything with a small child is about expectations, so I knew that this visit would be pretty animal-centric. In any case, as I hardly need anymore yarn at the moment, my shopping list was brief. Bunnies were petted, and alpacas visited. I picked up a pretty shawl stick and some perfectly-matched vintage buttons for an upcoming sweater, ate a gyro and some fries and called myself content. That I got pie at the A-1 Diner and did some card-handing out/networking with local dyers/yarnies, was an excellent bonus.  

One of my favorite things about these types of events is seeing just how many crafters there are, and the variety of things they love. From the woman who weave masks, to the felters and rug hookers and spinners and knitters, there's a place for all. 

Did you make it up to the Fiber Frolic this year, or is there a great fiber festival in your area? 

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Memorial Day Parade

Touring Ogunquit, Kennebunkport and Prout's Neck

Last week my Aunt and Uncle out from California came to visit. This was their 4th trip to Maine, which meant that we had to dig a bit deeper for the "things to see" list.

Fortunately, they were staying in Ogunquit, which meant that we spent most of our time in the very Southern part of the state, which I hadn't spent much time in myself. So with no real plans and some surprisingly good weather, we mostly just wandered about - popping into a shop or two,  consuming a lot of good food and drink, and walking a lot of local trails. We also, after brief google search of things to do, ended up at a quirky little monastery (!) in Kennebunkport.

LMC charmed other tourists in her mama-made tutu, and collected dandelions and rocks,  and rode on my shoulders. She ate french fries and ice cream cones like a true tourist, and did surprisingly well with the lack of naps.

On the last day of their visit, LMC went to her regular day-care day and we had a grown up day at Prout's Neck, sipping cocktails at the Black Point Inn and taking the cliff walk.

The great thing about having visitors is the chance to 1) see things you normally don't take the time to see and 2) seeing them with fresh eyes.

When you live in Maine, its easy to take for granted how gosh-darn beautiful its coast line is, but to see someone take it all in for the first time reminds you of just how truly wonderful it all is. Wandering around the rocky beaches, it's easy to understand why so many artist are drawn to Maine. It certainly had me itching to pick up my long-neglected paintbrush.  

Ogunquit

• Marginal Way Footpath

Kennbunkport

• St Anthony's Francisan Monastery
• The Ramp
• Walker's Point

Prout's Neck

• Black Point Inn