Summah Vaca Continued

So I hung out at camp reading, kayaking (two days in a row - a (pathetic) record so far this summer), and chillin.  I went over 36 hours without speaking to another human being - nice.  Doesn't seem that long but having never lived alone it's quite unusual for me to go that long.  Some year I'd like to try to go a whole week!

I returned home Wednesday night and Thursday we took the camper down and set it up at White's Beach in preparation for the bluegrass festival over the weekend.

We purchased a camp table and a quickshade which was an excellent investment; made our campsite much more spacious and homey.  We stayed up until 2 a.m. Saturday morning and had a huge crowd picking around the band's campsite.  At one point I counted at least 15 pickers.  

On Saturday we ended up taking an emergency run home to fix the water at the house.  The boys called to say that there was no water pressure.  Sure enough it was just the filter.  However, why the filter would have plugged so quickly I'm not sure.  We left shortly after the NitPicker's third set on Sunday at noon.  

By Sunday I couldn't stand it anymore and made Rick take down the top half of the wall blocking the new addition.  There's still a half wall and still a bunch to do but it feels more real being able to actually see it.  

Tuesday I went out to camp and finally planted a couple of perennials the boys had given me for Mother's Day.  Decided not to spend the night and returned home and pulled out my clay and started playing.  I'm really jonsing to get my hands dirty with it but I'm pretty limited in what I can do without a wheel or a rugged table to throw slabs on.  So basically I've been making some stamps that I'll be able to use for some handbuilding projects once we build my table.  

Of course they'll need to be bisque fired before I can use them.  I'm thinking I should go ahead and get a kiln asap which will allow me to do handbuilding right away.  I can wait a while to get a wheel as I want to continue to take lessons with Malley anyway.  But it will be great to have a space where I can spend time doing the time intensive detailed work that I don't like spending class time on.  

I'm now almost at the end of my 3rd week of vacation.  I'm certainly rested but I don't feel like I've done anything very eventful, which in fact I haven't.  I'm headed up to Stratton this weekend to see Cindy, Grace, and the rest of the girls and check out the Plazapalooza on Saturday and maybe the East Benton Fiddler's Convention on Sunday.  Next week Rick and I are planning to take off in the camper and head up towards Cobscook Bay State Park, maybe Campobello, maybe come back via Moosehead, depending on weather and whatever.  Unfortunately, we're unable to take the kayaks with us on the camper but maybe we'll be able to rent some along the way.  

The Beginning of Week 2 of 2010 Summah Vaca

Got to camp about 7 last night after a stop for some supplies from Hannaford: sesame chicken with brown rice, broccoli and raisin salad, grapes, yogurt, cheese, butter, and raisin bread.  I knew there were crackers and plenty of beer and wine already here.  Jared left the camp in very good shape after his party last night.  I put away my groceries and made the bed with the fresh sheets I'd brought, ate dinner and banged on my djembe for a while as the neighbors weren't around it seemed.  The feeders have been empty for the last few days so the critters have moved on temporarily.  They'll discover the supplies have been replenished quickly enough.  In fact the flying squirrels showed up after a few hours but the reds didn't discover them until well after I was up out of bed this morning so I didn't have to listen to them fight over it starting at 4 a.m. like I often do.

I woke up and made a pot of coffee, ate a yogurt and went for a paddle on The Cobb.  The prediction was for hot and humid so I wanted to be back before mid afternoon.  A nice breeze kept me cool enough and I enjoyed rediscovering all the familiar landmarks.  Very few swallows under the bridge this year.  This purple flower that looks like some sort of water lupine is more ubiquitous than usual it seems.

Upstream about a half a mile I saw a sweet little kitten on the screened in porch of one of the rickety camps nestled at the very edge of the water.  I had never noticed it in use previously but this little guy looked pretty content to be there.  

The only other person I saw on the paddle was my neighbor and his daughter who were apparently there after all.  

It's always nice to see camp come into view on the return trip.

I love seeing all the flowers in bloom.  

I took a quick shower and sat on the deck in my towel and let the warm breeze dry me off.  The broccoli salad and a couple slices of toasted raisin bread made a delicious lunch.  It's great being able to get internet out here through my blackberry.  The deck is shaded enough that I can see my screen and with the sun sparkling off the flowing stream, an occasional osprey or heron stopping by to fish, and the flowers dancing in the wind that has picked up some, I realize it's one of those perfect days where I have absolutely nothing I have to do and I'm exactly where I want to be. 

Vacation - Week #1

Just got back this morning from a week at Popham Beach.  It's the second year we've spent the week of July 4th there.  We rent a little one room cottage with a deck that overlooks the ocean.  I love hearing the constant lapping of the waves all night long.  If we leave the curtain open we can see the ocean right from bed.

I took an early morning walk down the beach and sat in the lifeguard station and drank my coffee.  That island you can see in the distance is accessible via a sandbar at low tide.

On Friday Rick and I did the short hike up to Fort Baldwin and climbed the tower hoping for some fantastic views.  Unfortunately, the trees have grown up so much in that area that the views are just of foliage.

We probably wouldn't have seen much anyway as it was a fairly foggy day.

The first five days the weather was sunny with temps into the 80s and 90s.  The fog didn't move in until Thursday and Friday though it gave us a brief break on both days.  I read two books:  The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo by Steig Larsson and Pocketful of Names by Joe Coomer.  The latter takes place on an island off Stonington, Maine so it seemed particularly apropros.

Lots of music around the campfire at night with the NitPickers and others who happened by.  And a great fireworks display for the 4th.  We thought we put on a pretty good show but was matched by one other group on the beach and actually outdone by another.  I think between the many parties shooting off (illegal) fireworks we got as good a show as any I've seen in recent years.

This part of the coast is not great for kayaking.  I tried it there last year and found it very difficult to  maneuver due to the shallow water and breaking waves.  It's been a couple of years since I really had a good ocean paddle.  We talked about whether to look for a different location for our oceanside vacation for next year - perhaps around Stonington where the kayaking is good - but decided to go ahead and book the cottage for another year.  Maybe we can go to Stonington for a day or two and do a guided kayak tour around the islands.  Rick has never ocean kayaked and doesn't have an ocean kayak so he'd need to rent one.  And I'd feel better if I wasn't the most experienced person in the group.

Overall a nice week but it will also feel great to sleep in our own bed tonight.