Two-Wheelin'!

Wash Wednesday

Another pretty tablecloth.

This Moment

Firsts

My sister came out from Colorado to visit last week. It's amazing how much you take for granted when you live in a place. We switched into tourist mode and took full advantage of summer in Maine, and along the way I experienced many firsts:


--First glimpse of the dorsal fin of a whale (my sister, who instigated the whale watch didn't see it at all, nor did E and Z who were asleep by then; C and M, who were in the front of the boat because M was seasick, were the first to spy its blow and saw it surface several times).


--First time I've seen Pemaquid beach look like the Jersey shore, with an extreme high tide shrinking the space between dunes and waves to a dozen feet or so, and a full contingent of swimmers, boogie borders and sunbathers crammed in the strip of dry sand.


--First speeding ticket (big one...though I don't even believe that my car is even capable of going that fast).


--First time using my Better World Club roadside assistance for my first time having two flat tires at once (less than an hour after the speeding ticket, mind you).


--First time sharing an island with the President.


--First hikes on two mountains (Acadia and Saint Saveur) due to my carless college days focus on the front side of the island. Also first time I felt like I was having a stroke while hiking. Dear lord am I out of shape!


--First time at Echo Lake Beach (again with the front versus back side of the Island).


--First time around Jordan Pond and first eating of popovers at Jordan Pond House (waaay too poor for that kind of indulgence in my Island days).


--First time driving up Cadillac Mountain (once I did ride up in a van, for a field trip, and hiked down; otherwise it was all either hiking or biking...and very high and mighty over those who would drive).


--First time attending a movie at the Maine International Film Festival. We saw Howl, about Allen Ginsberg and the trial over his controversial book of the same name. Very good. Highly recommend.


There were some run-of-the-mill things in there too--napping at Fort Williams Park (home of Portland Head Light) until a thunderstorm came in; playing in the huge waves at Reid State Park in the rain; lounging at the lake; picking raspberries and making jam; hiking to Bass Falls (wow that hike is a lot shorter with two five-year-olds than it was with two three-, or two- or one-year-olds!).


It was a lot of fun, but now I need a month-long nap (as I'm sure does my sister, who missed the connection on her red-eye flight, spent the night in the airport and had to work the next day).

Wash Wednesday

Remember the duvet?

It was stuffed in the closet in disgrace when C decided it was too hot to sleep under down (I, personally, could sleep under down at least 360 nights a year). I can't bear sleeping under only a sheet, no matter how hot it is, so at first I replaced it with a thin, thread-bare (twin-sized) quilt. But C must have gotten tired of me sneaking into the closet and heaping the down comforter on my side of the bed, because he replaced the quilt with and ugly, scratchy polyester comforter that we had been hand-me-downed when we had our first apartment. Not that I'm ungrateful; we had no money to buy frivolous things like blankets and it was a kind gesture, especially in light of the fact that the relative who bequeathed it to us surely did not approve of unmarried folk cohabiting.

It served us well for many years, but, as I said, it is ugly. And scratchy. And polyester. Making a summer quilt for our bed is on my to-do list, but very near the bottom, and it keeps getting bumped in favor of other to-do's. In the meantime, the duvet can serve duty disguising the ugly, scratchy and polyester comforter as well as it does the down. It looks much better, though it is limp and heavy and not at all fluffy and cozy like down (I know that as a vegetarian I should be opposed to down, but it is so light and fluffy and cozy!). However, in the spirit of marital harmony, I think I can endure it, if C can endure me turning off the fan when I get in bed!

This Moment

('Cause all the cool bloggers are doing it)

Wash Wednesday

C does most of our laundry--since he often works from home he's able to take advantage of the sunny days when they happen, and hanging out the wash gives him a break from the computer--so I'm rarely home when laundry is hanging on the line to take a picture of it. Believe me, I'm not complaining about this. However, a couple of weekends ago, I was home on a sunny Saturday morning and put in a load. Some things are just never dirty in C's eyes (towels, sheets, table cloths...still, I'm not complaining: he even puts on a DVD and holds a folding party once every couple of weeks, while I will just sort everyone's clothes into different baskets, hand M his to fold and put away, put away my own and, occasionally fold E and Z's--if I have time).

I love vintage printed table cloths, but they rarely come long enough for our big table. For a while I would layer them on top of a plain white table cloth (=more laundry), but now I just reach the table cloth to one end of the table and leave the other end bare (the end that usually hosts mail, homework, magazines, art projects). C prefers to use plastic, wipe-off placemats, but I think the tablecloths are much more cheerful (especially since I'm not the one who does the laundry!), don't you?