Scene (and seen) at the mall in Burlington, Mass

I chased these boys down to take their pictures and their mom was just as proud as could be. ick

Congratulations Graduate!!

This is my sister Leslie. She is the smart one. She graduated from Harvard last week!

We are all just as proud as punch of our girl Leslie.

FYI, she got her Masters of Education.

Summer Camp

I dropped the kids off at Camp Rita and they were overjoyed.

Look at these two girls with Aunt Rita. It will take me ages to undo this decadence!

 

So I leave the dogs in the yard while I go to the grocery store and when I get home, Sophie is fast asleep in the middle of the street(!) This means that she went swimming and when she got out of the water, she found herself on the other side of the house and so, outside of the fence (which is 2 feet tall but she doesn't think she can jump it - not too bright, that dog.)  Lucy can and does occasionally jump the fence. 

So, the animal control lady comes to my house. She says an old lady called in saying that two dogs at the Salt Shed had come after her and she was afraid for her life. 

So, apparently this lady comes walking by and the dogs rush her, Sophie because she is outside the fence and Lucy must have jumped it, and she - get this - picks up a stick to ward them off. Hello? A stick? Labrador Retrievers? Honestly! What does she expect?

Not to worry. I make nice and say OMG please have her call me so I can apologize. She doesn't so I don't have to.

End of story.   I hope.

Best thing since sliced bread and scourge of the earth

So, when my great-niece, Genevieve, was visiting me this winter, I spotted her cereal bowl and HAD to have one of my own. I mean, could there be a better invention? I love my blue cereal bowl and I use it every morning. Thanks, Genevieve!

Oh, and get this: You can get them at the grocery store for only a few dollars. Who knew?

(If it's not obvious, the straw is for sucking up the milk when the cereal is gone. Genius!)


OK, yesterday I finished putting my garden in. I planted lots of tomatoes, lots of lettuce, radishes, some french tarragon, rosemary, dill, basil and this year, pumpkins. I got all of my flowers planted and put out the red, white and blue so: Ready for the summer! And it's a good thing because it is supposed to be in the 90's today! Well, it's always cooler at the coast so I'll see 70's but still, it's only May and this is Maine! I'm thinking it's because my friend Tom decided not to come to chilly Maine until the end of June this year. haha Tom!

I also got my first (and please let it be my only) black fly bite. I despise those blood sucking vampires. Now, I have this huge pus cone on my head (how's that for a visual?) I do not see the point of flies in this world. And, snakes. What good are they, I ask you?

  It's the females that bite, you know. Sort of the Rielle Hunter of the insect world.

The bank foreclosed on my neighbor, Little River Lobster. It's letting the guys fish out of here but with no one to provide bait or fuel or buy their lobsters, they are for the most part fishing out of Boothbay Harbor now. I have never minded hearing the boats go out at 4:00a.m., in fact I can name many of them by the sound of their engine. Now, I rarely hear even one. There are four lobster boats left here in the Little River. So sad what is happening to Maine's working waterfront. I read somewhere that out of roughly 7,000 miles of Maine coastline, there are only 25 miles of working waterfront left. So many families have sold out to wealthy people "from away" and moved inland. Then, up go the mcmansions and the "no trespassing" signs. It is very sad. My wish is that when it goes up for auction, whoever buys it will let it remain working waterfront.  Here's what happened over the winter:

Here is what the Little River looks like this morning. Very quiet.

Putting my house in order

The lawn is mowed and there is a fresh coat of paint on the doors of the shed and the house and the love is back up, as you can see. 

The playground is ready for the grand-babies visit next month.

I've been busy. And for once I can say there ARE enough hours in the day because the sunrise is at 5:09am and sunset is at 8:05pm!

  

I'm off to buy veggies for the garden this morning at the annual plant sale at the Boothbay Harbor Library.

Sunshine!

And, here is the view from my house this morning. It's a beautiful day.

I love a rainy day

Here is the view from my house this morning.

Look at my lilac bush! I can put my nose in these flowers (my absolute favorite) and be transported back to childhood. 

And, speaking of flowers, I had my orientation to be a volunteer at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. I am going to be a shuttle driver, driving a 6-passenger golf cart - WATCH OUT! Also, will be bartending at the various events throughout the summer.

Here is their website and I hope you can visit some time as the gardens are unbelievably gorgeous.

http://www.mainegardens.org/

After my quick family fix, I continued north to my beloved Maine and it is so lovely to be here in the early springtime.



My buddy Jasper came for a visit, bringing Rita with him and they helped me unpack and settle in. Thank you guys - so much!

(After their broken engagement of a few years ago, Sophie and Jasper have agreed to coexist but that's about it . . . )

So, Miss Rita cooked us up a mess of steamers and oooooooh, were they good. We had a couple of lobsters too from Atlantic Edge (that way we didn't have to kill them) and they were wicked good, let me tell you!

The weather has been unseasonably cold so I got to have a fire in the fireplace and flannel sheets on the bed, and after the 90 degree weather in Florida, what a treat. It is quiet here pre-tourist season which suits me just fine. There are a jizillion stars at night and this morning I saw a red fox with a huge bushy tail on the beach. (Luckily, Lucy's worsening cataracts precluded her from seeing him. Could have been messy.)

So, lots to do what with opening my studio, getting the gardens in and planting the window boxes. There was a lot of wind damage in the early spring so I'll need to have a little work done to the deck and fence.

Anyhoo, that's the report from LizzieAlone in Maine. toodle loo for now

Moving right along, Stacy and I went our separate ways Thursday morning early. She to Northern Virginia and me to Lexington, Mass to see my sister and family. It was a long day of driving but the girls and I made it in time for dinner and stayed, as I always do at the Aloft in Lexington. Shout out! It is fabulous.  Here are some pics from my visit:

First up: sister, Leslie - about to be a Harvard grad, dontcha know!

Next: bro-in-law, Tom, one of the sweetest men I know. This is their cute house.

Now, two of the loves of my life: Will and Anna. Even if I wasn't related, if I were a complete stranger, I would still say they are beautiful inside and out. Really. This is their new trampoline.

Lastly, here is the beauteous Zoe with new baby girl, Izzy. How cuuute are they?? (Sophie the beast, mauled Izzy first thing, of course. oy vey.  Luckily no blood was spilled.)

So, yes I've already been in Maine for a week as of today but I need to go back and fill you in on my incredibly interesting life leading up to my arrival. haha

Stacy and I toured Gettysburg last Wednesday and when I say toured, no no no, not the battlefields. Duh! We toured the shops!  I did stop to snap this sculpture of Lincoln downtown. His hat is pointing towards the 2nd floor of the Wills House where he supposedly finished the Gettysburg Address. The dude next to him is supposed to be a 20th century tourist but I think he looks like Andy Williams.

(And, FYI, I have explored the battlefields and historical points on a previous trip.)









Wednesday night, we went to Mercersburg Academy and picked up Josh for dinner at Flannery's Pub in downtown Mercersburg. I hesitate to publish this mug shot (I mean photograph) because he always does this to me. It is rare I get a smile out of him for a picture. Here he is in all his glory. Seriously, he is a great kid and I love him dearly.

Check out his tux shirt. Thanks for dressing for dinner buddy!




Ok, so we dropped Josh off at school and Stacy and I went home to the psycho Bates Motel. When we pulled into the yard, I noticed that two of the cows were outside of the fence. Uh oh. I jumped out of the car thinking to herd them back towards the fence where I thought there must be an escape hole or something. As soon as I got out of the car, they came towards me. Now, I know they were just curious but those suckers were HUGE and getting closer. I jumped behind a tree and said, uh Stacy? As usual, my friend was the voice of reason and told me basically not to be ridiculous. So not wanting them to wander out to the road we brainstormed for a minute and then I found a gate on the other side of the house and unchained it. Then, with Stacy behind them on one side of the house and me on the other to prevent them from getting past the gate, we herded them right through the gate. While I tended to wave my arms, I noticed that Stacy talked to them in her no-nonsense mother voice. V. effective.  Spontaneous high five!!! (which really hurt my hand-ouch!)

Here is Stacy posing and me, showing those bovines who's boss!

Yeah! Who's yo daddy, cowface!!

I wanna be a cowgirl

Lucy has found a new calling. She wants to move to Montana and become a cowgirl. Check her out!

In other news, I finally got to take a shower as my friend, Stacy, has arrived for a visit. At last, someone to stand guard against Norman sneaking in and slashing the shower curtain and, by extension, me. She was initially quite impressed with the Bates Motel but now admits that yes, it is creepy (and filthy.)

We had fun yesterday exploring the little towns of Chambersburg and Greencastle. This morning, we are taking a day trip to Gettysburg and later we will meet up with Josh.

Just wanted to give a shout out to my peeps in Key Largo. We had so much fun at Bayside on Friday. Quite the send off. Thank you, Lu and Tom, for footing my bill! I am so lucky to have such wonderful friends. For those of you who have been curious about Gloria's man, here he is in all of his glory (or should I say in all of his gloria!)

I swear I am not making this up!

So, I thought cool, I'll kill two birds and get stoned (or however that quaint saying goes). I will visit my nephew, Josh, for a few days and rent a place where the girls and I can get some exercise and unwind from the drive, not some generic motel where they have to be on leashes.

The place I rented sight unseen is sort of Alfred Hitchcock Goes Down on the Farm. It is in the countryside outside of Mercersburg. Beautiful setting BUT then you have the house. How many words do I need? Just one: creepy. Well, ok, here's another: filthy.  Here it is:

(cue scary psycho freddy krueger music)

Lucy and Sophie are a bit freaked out too - not so much by the house but by what's in the front yard. Check it out:

Lucy's eyes bugged out of her head when one of these ladies mooed!

And the piece de resistance? Just a quarter mile down the road? Yup, you got it:

A snake handler church!!!!!!!

I will stay here one night and then we'll see.  Hmmmm, which of the 12 or so shabby bedrooms shall I choose? The one with the motheaten Barbie bedspread or the one with horse hair sprouting out of the mattress? Or hold on, how about the one with Jack Nickolson gripping the knife behind the door; the twins? I could go on . . . )

Oh, also forgot to say, there is a squeaky door to the attic, probably where the blood sucking zombies hang out. Did I go up? hell no!

Death of a Coconut, starring Sophie the Psycho Dog

GET READY:

GO:

DROP:

ROLL:

IN FOR THE KILL:

WHACKO!!

OK, I should play catch up here. I got my stitches out on Friday and can use both hands to type again.
Thanks again to Sarah and the kids and here are some pics that should have gone with that post. (oooo, I hated that sling. When I got my stitches out, I handed it to the nurse and asked her to throw it away and my doctor said, kind of like burning your bra . . . ) Here I am with the lovely Miss G.

Here is the fabulous Seth, so SWEET!

and, lastly, I title this "Cool Chicks"