More Richardson's Farm Photos

Apple trees at the top of the hill at the Richardson's Farm in East Fryeburg, Maine.

A rustic birdhouse.

Cattle grazing in the distance.

Generating wind power? (probably not...)

A grape vine (?) and the rustic birdhouse.

May Flowers

I came home on Monday, Memorial Day, after being away since last Wednesday to see that the Siberian iris was in full bloom!

And this magnificent bearded iris is also blooming! There are even more blooms today, as I'm sure you can imagine.

This is the new garden in (almost) full bloom. I must congratulate myself for carefully planning this one. I've learned a lot over the past 10 years of gardening here. In the foreground are daisies, then morning glories will grow up around the trellis I made, behind the morning glories is a false indigo which is also in bloom, then bleeding heart (still blooming) the huge bearded iris and way in the back is evening primrose and 2 more small bleeding heart plants (one white and one fringed). The evening primrose will bloom in a few weeks and look good for most of the summer, I believe.

More photos as more blooming occurs...

A Horrible Way to Go (Even if you're a Raccoon)

Poor fella...

We discovered this dead raccoon in one of the trees on the FNCA campus.

I thought a taxidermist might be interested in the carcass, but I don't know any.

The Good Old FNCA

I first attended the Fryeburg New Church Assembly in Fryeburg, Maine in 1980 as a teen. I was initiated into the Fryeburg Flames (the teens) that summer and went every August until 1985 or so... Then I took 13 year hiatus and returned in August of 1998 when Trevor & I were dating. He proposed to me at the summit of Jockey Cap in Fryeburg that summer and I've been going every August for 2 weeks ever since!

I simply love being there. It's a beautiful spot - 20+ acres along the clear, cool Saco River. For me, it's a little slice of Heaven I get to experience every summer.

I was there this Memorial Day weekend for the annual Work Weekend. We had a group of about 20 people there and got lots of projects done. Everything from cutting down dead trees, to installing shower stalls in one of the cabins, and building trusses for the roofs of cabins to give them more support so they can handle the weight of the snow during those long Maine winters. (glad I don't live there!)

Looking forward to this August! Counting the days...

Richardson's Farm

Martha and Dave Richardson have a beautiful farm in East Fryeburg, Maine. Every year when we're here for work weekend they invite us up to the farm for a BBQ. They raise cattle on their farm so these are the best burgers possible!

A view of the barn.

It's so lovely there.

Sunset at the Richardson's farm. You can see Mount Washington from there and there was SNOW on Mount Washington in May! Rev. Gard Perry, who lives in Conway, NH tells us that this is not unusual for Memorial Day weekend. BRRRR!!!!

Relaxing around the table after a delicious BBQ.

Dear Shelley

Having a great time here in Fryeburg, Maine at the good old Fryeburg New Church Assembly for work weekend. It was wonderful to see you as always. See you soon.
Love,
Nancy

Silly Cousins

Here are my adorable nieces being super silly at Chloe's house in Brownington, VT. Chloe (2 1/2 years old) adores Ivy (almost 5). Ivy wanted to go home after we'd been at Chloe's house for an hour but I managed to convince her to at least hang out long enough to have lunch with Wendy and Chloe. After pizza in West Glover and a short stop at Wendy's favorite place in the entire Northeast Kingdom, Red Sky Trading Post in Glover, VT, Ivy asked if we could go home yet (Grandma & Grandpa's house for the day) but I successfully managed to distract her a while longer at Wendy & Chloe's house with a super cool trike. We headed back to the Northern Chicken Ranch in East Burke around 4pm. Just in time for Pete to get home from work!

After a nice walk down to the East Branch of the Passumpsic River and a short lesson in skipping rocks (I'm still bad at it...), we headed back to the house. Just when we were walking out of the woods and across the field back to the house who should we run into but Ivy's good friend, Aiden, who's 7 and lives in the house next to Grandma & Grandpa. Ivy and Aiden had a nice 1/2 to play dolls together right before dinner.

Ivy and I were "two peas in a pod" today, except when her Dad or Grandma were around, but what Auntie could possibly hope to compete with that???

Weekend in Cambridge

I spent the weekend in Cambridge, MA. Thanks to my "fairy" godmother I have an apartment in Porter Square that I can use pretty much whenever I want. It's conveniently located 2 blocks from the Porter Square Red Line T stop, and 1 mile from Harvard Square. On Sunday, I walked the 1 mile from Newport Road, down Oxford Street to the Swedenborg Chapel at the corner of Quincy and Kirkland streets. These photos aren't in the order of my walk but too bad.

A huge beech tree somewhere on the Harvard campus on Oxford Street.

A pretty urban garden.

The Swedenborg Chapel.

Memorial Hall across the street from the Swedenborg Chapel.

A really cool fountain on the Harvard campus in front of the Science Center. Really cool rocks.

This is typical for Cambridge.

This was very funny. A pair of toddler-size jeans on the sidewalk which had apparently been there, from the looks of them for a while. Like, maybe weeks. I'm always curious about stuff like this. Like, did the parents notice the child was pantless?

A new stone walkway for Wendy's house

Trevor working on a stone walkway for Wendy and Jon's house. (Higgins supervising in the background).

While we were on our mini-vacation in Vermont we went to my sister Wendy's house in Brownington and actually did some outside work. After we finished the little garden (photos below), Trevor asked Wendy what else was on the "to do" list and she said she wanted a stone walkway. They have plenty of nice flat rocks on their property so Trevor got to work.

All of the rocks are from their property. Most of them are from the "dumped" stone wall behind the house. They look like schist to me.

Higgins really likes the new stone walkway.

Chloe likes it too. She's helping to stomp down the stones.

She's really good at walking back and forth on the stone walkway.

Day 3 of the Mini Vacation to Vermont

Right behind my parents' house in East Burke are the Kingdom Trails, an extensive network of single-track mountain biking trails. They're really good for walking, too. I like to do a nice half-hour loop walk down to the river and then back up to the house. Sometimes I take Buddy, my parents' silly dog with me. He's usually pretty good but needs to stop and sniff everything!

An artistic view of the Ridge Trail of the Kingdom Trails.

Of course you walk the dog on the Dog Trail!

There's a really nice river down there. It's the East Branch of the Passumpsic River, part of the the Connecticut River watershed (thanks Dad for clarifying!). Maybe by mid-July it'll be warm enough for swimming.

Day 2 of the Mini Vacation

Trevor & I did a little gardening project for Wendy. First Trevor finished the rock border around this garden and then weeded it. Then I dug up and moved a bunch of irises from another place on their property and planted them in this spot. I also built a small rock cairn. I think building rock cairns is becoming my "signature" on a garden.

This is the final product. The small rock cairn is on the old tree stump to the right of the bird house. But with one small child at their house and others that visit, I doubt it'll stay there long.

Miss Chloe on the counter at her house. The stairs are at the just the right for a 2-year old to get on the counter. I was tempted to say "Chloe, get down." But she's a child, not a cat.

Elijah likes to go on walks with the people.

A trip to Vermont is incomplete without a close-up of cows.

Elijah looking very serious.

We went to my sister Wendy's in Brownington, VT on Monday to spend a little more time with her and Chloe. Jon was at work, since it was a weekday. After lunch we walked down the driveway and had a closer look at the cows that had just recently arrived at the farm across the street. Higgins (the dog) got too close to the electric fence and got zapped. He spent a good ten minutes after that shaking. We think he won't be getting close to the electric fence any time in the near future.

Mini Vacation to Vermont

My brother Pete's Little house in Island Pond, VT. He lives there for about 1/3 of the year these days. The rest of the year in Mount Pleasant, MI.

Pete tormenting me with a snowball in May! Go away!

The Upper Falls of his really nice waterfall.

The adorable Miss Chloe being carried by her mom, Wendy.

Those musta been some really tall beavers, Pete! How'd they do that???

We had a really nice mini-vacation in VT. We left Saturday late afternoon and drove to my parents' house in East Burke. On Sunday we went to my brother's place in Island Pond for a Mother's Day brunch. Pete owns 75 acres in Island Pond. He built a little 5 room house there that is "near" the grid not exactly "off the grid". He runs his fridge, heater and light on propane, and has running cold water. The running hot water, internet, and cable TV can either be found at my sister's house in Brownington or my parents' house in nearby East Burke. Pete also has plenty of friends in the area who are willing to let him indulge in their hot water and cable TV (Go Sox!).

After a delicious brunch of scrambled eggs, bacon, coffee cake, fruit salad, coffee, and tea we had a nice hour-long hike on his property. We first headed to the waterfall, which is always spectacular in the spring. I'm usually thinking about how nice it'll be in July on a hot day...

Pete has some pretty busy beavers on his property. We checked out a rather large beaver dam. Then headed back to the house.

Trevor's cousin, Sarah Dole, who lives in Colebrook, NH and his brother, Ian (who was in the NEK from the West Coast) came by around 4 for another nice walk to the waterfall and dinner. It was really great to see them both. Particularly Sarah, who I've known since 1980 when we were teens together at the Fryeburg New Church Assembly. We had a nice visit with them and then headed back to East Burke.

May Day!

A non-traditional crowd dancing around the May Pole.

Sam Auciello with giant hat and bubbles.

Lucinda Childs (our hostess) prepping the cloth for the May Pole.

Getting the kids ready to carry the May Pole.

Kids carrying the May Pole to the upper field.

The Musicians.

Festivities around the May Pole.

Since May of 1999 I've attended the Annual East Hardwick (MA) Spring Jamboree with Trevor. It's a weekend camp-out family May Day celebration hosted by our friends Eric Vollheim and Lucinda Childs on their property (70+ acres) in East Hardwick, MA. This year marked the 30th year, not to be confused with the 30th anniversary, which will be next year. (Can you see how that's confusing?)

I have, what I think of, as a love/hate relationship with attending May Day (as we call it). I love the people (most of them), I love the setting (except for the black flies and ticks), I love being outdoors all weekend (except when it rains for most or all of the weekend), and I love the lack of schedule (except when I forget to bring a book). This year was borderline for me. I LOVED seeing people I hadn't seen for an entire year and getting caught up. I also loved spending time with people I hadn't had much opportunity in the past to get to know a bit better. I love the leisurely pace of the weekend. The only planned event for the entire weekend is the May Day parade and dance on Sunday, usually sometime around noon, maybe later. I really could have done without the rain. Spending most of the weekend in my rain gear is not fun. I was extremely grateful to the early risers who got the cook fires going in the morning. I've done that job several times in the past. It's so nice to be able to just make a cuppa tea and eggs and toast without first having to build a fire! Makes me all the more grateful for the modern conveniences of my home.

Trevor & I usually arrive on Friday. This year, due to my current state of unemployment, we arrived Friday at 1:30PM. This allowed ample time to set up the tent (the Kelty Grand Canyon 9 - "sleeps 6" - yeah, right - sleeps 2 very comfortably with ample room for stuff). We also had plenty of time to set up the new screen house and arrange our coolers, chairs and other equipment. After doing this for 10 years, I've gotten quite good at it.

What did we do for the rest of the weekend until the traditional May Day parade and dance around the May Pole on Sunday around noon? Not much! We just hung out, took a nap, ate when we felt like it, imbibed when we felt like it, went to bed when we felt like it... You get the idea. It's just another little slice of heaven that we get to experience once a year. I'm looking forward to next year.