Thanksgiving

 

Starting the Thanksgiving Day hike

If it seems our lives are full of magical hikes, you have deduced well. Grasshopper. Hmm. Don't know where that came from. 

Thanksgiving day was brilliant and cold. Not as cold as it should have been perhaps, but still cold and clear. Sanders Hill is becoming our go-to holiday hike. It's a little further away than our daily hikes (about a 25 minute drive), but close enough to feel like ours.

Thanksgiving is such a lovely uncomplicated holiday. I know it's not that way for everyone, but having family so far away, and not being anxious to travel this time of year makes ours pretty simple. Friends asked us to share their Thanksgiving dinner with two of their adult children. How wonderful. And uncomplicated.

Where the trail begins

And of course, pies had to be baked, and John's Famous Buns made for The Dinner. We're still eating the Pumpkin Chiffon pie, a recipe that a friend recently shared with me. Breakfast of champions.

This was where the morning started. We have been amazed at the change in trails since we vacationed here decades ago. We used to have to really hunt for a public trail to walk the dogs on. But while many things Maine have stood still in time, their trail system has flourished. And we keep discovering new ones.

Jasper

Jasper is a great excuse to spend time finding and hiking trails. And of course, he's the best looking of our motley pack. I was reflecting to the daughter of our friend that while body parts are falling off or defecting, we have this gift of time now. We can decide that we're going to drive an hour to explore a new hike. It's a strange point in our lives where we can see that we will run out of time in the long run, but in the short run, we can spend it as we chose. 

I'll close with a video of our stopover place on Thanksgiving. Water, woods, and creatures I love. "Grateful" only begins to describe my feelings.

This and That on a November Day

 

Jasper at home

Well. I finished knitting a sock today. It's been a sweet task, taken a round at a time on size 0 needles. Fine Yarn. I know. Who does that?

But before I post an image of it for posterity,  I'm going to wax poetic and pragmatic about living with Jasper, our roommate and best friend. We make for a fierce threesome.

A friend recently picked up a book on Border Collies from a free books bin for me. Such a thoughtful thing to do.

The title of one of the chapters made me laugh out loud.

Not many are Border Collie Material

Years ago we had a border collie mix (her mom was purebred) named Calico. She was was what some would call a difficult child. She was full of energy and smart. If not kept busy, she found her own occupation, and it wasn't often what we would have chosen for her. John called her the dog I deserved; I called her my familiar. She settled somewhat by the time she was five. Losing her at 15 was one of the hardest things I've ever had to endure

Another day, another hike. Yay.

Enter Jasper, a purebred Border Collie. We got him when he was 10. . . well beyond the settled stage. He was a working dog (1200 sheep, 13 other dogs) who could no longer Keep Up. It was a huge transition for him. . .all those dogs and sheep to US. He either thinks he won the lottery, or that he lost it. It's tough to tell.

Jasper is our exercise machine. Well, I guess we're also his exercise machines. I don't think there is anything any of us enjoy more than hiking in the woods with one another. We have seen so much together, and traveling with Jasper necessarily means that there will be a long hike. Today.

The Royal Winter sock. #1

Now. To the promised sock. Here she is. This is sock 1, and of course sock 2 will be just the same. Another couple of months work, if this last one is any indication.

Thanksgiving is upon us. . . this Thursday. It heralds a holiday season that promises to be less tense with disease and political discord, and I can't help but feel hopeful about that.

Calico

Ok. And since I mentioned her, here is Calico. Fondly remembered friend.

Winter!

 

As if fulfilling some dramatic climate change prophecy, we lurched from 70 degree temperatures to winter in a day. The snow was just a dusting, but the temperature (20's) wasn't messing around. Boots, hats, mittens. Check. Dog. Check. 

Our usual Wednesday group hike was cancelled, but Jasper needs to walk every day, regardless of weather, so we were off on our own. Jasper agrees with Christopher Robin. He doesn't care what the weather is doing as long as he is out in it.

Messalonskee was the hike of choice, given that it's close (the roads were not great), and breathtaking in the snow. 

I find myself ready for winter. We had such a long fall that we were able to winterize everything we could think of (snow tires, garden hoses away, etc etc) but of course we'll find out what we forgot. John also put in some drains in front of the garage. The ice there was really treacherous last winter, so we're hoping that we've solved (or lessened) that problem.

Life feels oddly hopeful. Covid is still with us, but not the threat that it once was. It's true that could turn on a dime with a new variant, but we still can't help but feel hopeful. The elections are over, and they offered some hope as well. The daughters fare well. No one is blissfully happy, but I don't suppose we often are, even in the best of times.

And in spite of annoying age related health issues, I feel like we are living our best life now. We sometimes need to marshal our resources, naps in the afternoon, blahblah, but we both feel like we have the time to do what we want to do, and to contribute to our world in a meaningful way.

The lovely snow melted then froze so that there was a good bit of ice everywhere. The roads were clear, but our lawn was an ice rink for a day. It melted today. . . we are routinely reaching 40F. 

I love this time of any season when I am still looking forward to the cold, the snow, the holidays. Spring, Summer and fall likewise. And then, with the passing of a couple of months, I'm ready for the next season.

I've been able to work in both the studio and in my office. I feel like we get to take a long deep breath for several months now, and I'm looking forward to lighting the dark, and making things in the light. And the plants sleep.

Voting Day

Sunset from the deck. . . and a place for bat-spotting!

 

Just a quick post on this day when winter is finally suggesting she might actually drop by this year. We voted today. I love to wait until The Day Of, rather than voting early. The ritual of it is poignant. And one of our neighbors was volunteering there at the Fire Hall, so we felt like we are starting to belong.

I had an odd reaction though. I left the Fire Hall with tears streaming down my cheeks. Enough so that it was embarrassing. I felt so grateful for the structures and the people that allow this voting to happen, and something else. Something else so subconscious that I can't really give words to it. . .maybe fear? Maybe the feeling that this experiment in democracy is coming to an end? I don't know. But I wonder if I'm not the only one. Just as William Shatner described crying when he saw the earth from space, maybe some sad knowledge, or at least a nagging suspicion, is wedged deep in all of us.

It is, however, a beautiful day today. Winter is coming with cold, but also with bright bright sun.
 

Late Fall, Oddly Warm

 

Bedroom window, foggy fall morning

What a difference a couple of weeks makes. While the weather has remained unseasonably warm, fall leaf drop moves ahead. We've also had a good bit of morning fog lately.

I came home to harvest the last two Very Small eggplant (for soup, I think!), and the herbs, except for the basil, are still hanging in there. Leaves need to be raked, but most of the other fall chores are now done. Gutters cleared (ready for snow and ice!), the new garage drain cleared and ready, and leaves waiting to be blown and raked.

Color and form. Flavor needs work?

I know a lot of folks have little regard for eggplant. While I am no fan of eggplant fried, or even in parmigiana, I do love Ratatouille. And Caponata. Baba Ghanouj. All take a little more work than the average vegetable, but I find them worth it. Or maybe I just want to be able to look at their purple voluptuousness. They are a truly lovely form.

F's birthday sweater. 5 years old

Transitioning backward to finish up my thoughts and images on our Canadian vacation, I finished this sweater for F's birthday while we were gone. I don't know what possessed me to buy this color of yarn, given that pink is definitely not a favorite of mine, but "Dark Pink" is F's favorite now. Working on it also gave me an excuse to check out yarn shops in many Maritime towns to find the buttons. I had originally intended to make enameled flower buttons, but after doing the calculation, realized that I would be out of time to do so. So, I supported the local yarn stores instead.

Mt. Dessert Island; one of many bays

Once on Mt. Dessert Island, one of our first stops was to check out one of the southern bays. I forget which one. It was clearly a working fishing area, though, and we seemed to be the only tourists there. Bass Harbor, perhaps? John and I are good at nosing our way around, but I'm a lousy note taker these days.

Beach at Rose Bay

After 2 days of hiking around Acadia, Bar Harbor and Mt. Dessert Island, we headed on to Canada. The Maritime Provinces. 

 

Hockey-ready!

As mentioned yesterday, we found Rockwood Park in St. George. It would take more time than we had to thoroughly explore it. . .there were at least a dozen lakes, some wide dog-on-leash trails, and a ton of dog-off-leash trails that wound through forests. At one lake, we stumbled on these. . .a set of hockey skates and a goal. The Canadians are Ready!

St. George, the city, is a place brimming with potential. There is a lot of construction downtown right now, and I expect there was a lot of destruction from Fiona, who had made her way through just a few weeks before we got there. But there is also some absolutely wonderful and old architecture. Churches, especially, but also row houses and shops that are reminiscent of old Philadelphia, though older and more varied.

 

Urban tunnel sculpture

The city center has a complex set of tunnels underneath (testament to hard winters, I expect) that are full of shops and end at a convention center.

This was one of the sculptures in the tunnel, second shot is with John participating. Pretty cool.

Urban tunnel sculpture plus one

After that, it was on to Halifax, and to celebrate John's birthday. We went to The Black Sheep Restaurant downtown, and had an epic dinner. Jasper has to wait for us in the car when we do this sort of thing, but he had had a long walk prior to, and we had a long walk afterwards around the harbor area. It was lively and fun. Dogs seem to be welcome everywhere, which is a lovely change. Of course, Jasper can always charm, but some are harder to charm than others, and this was an easy crowd. 

The view at The Black Sheep

 

 

Well, Friends. I find myself tiring of the travelog. It was really a wonderful trip and we'll visit again. There were more hikes, a great hat shop where John was able to find his summer hat, and I can't tell you how many yarn shops. 

 

Last course, The Black Sheep

And I didn't mention the pewter, did I? Pewter is a big deal in Nova Scotia, and has been something I've loved, both for it's work-ability and its appearance for a couple of decades. I'll leave you with a couple more images and a video of the Birthday Waterfall hike.