A Valentine Morning in Maine

After yesterday's snowfall, it was a beautiful winter Valentine's Day morning here in Maine. 

 I love coming up with little unexpected holiday surprises for people I love;

today was delivery day!

 So I left 22 Applegate Lane early with my little red mini-Cooper full of  Valentine treats.

My first stop was Dunkin' Donuts to wish "the regulars" a Happy Valentine's Day and bring a jar of candy to my  coffee-friend, Sue.

Then I headed to my daughter's group home. She and her housemates celebrate every holiday with gusto and were excited with their Valentine goodies. (Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are the annual favorite!)

Next, I stopped at Plummer School to bring a rusty Valentine lock to my friend, Mary Elizabeth (she loves rust!) and then two more bags of candy to "the sisters", Margaret and Jo.

My route took me from my house (the red dot below), past our local landmark, The Town Landing Market (on the corner where the red line turns right), down to the ocean.

I decided to stop in to the Town Landing Market to warm up.

No "Native Ice Cubes" needed today!

But fresh Hazelnut coffee hit the spot!

It was a little early for a  lobster roll, as tempting as that was!

Since it was a little too cold to enjoy my coffee outside . . .

I headed down the hill   . . .

to the Town Landing, our municipal marina and beach area.

What a beautiful morning at the beach!

The little "hump" you can see in the distance is a small island (one of 360  "Calendar Islands" in Casco Bay) called Fort Gorges.  

It seems that Portland's famous "Valentine Bandit" made it out to the island before dawn to decorate the old fort for Valentine's Day.

Back at the Landing, things were quiet, waiting for Spring.

It was low tide

and the snow was taking turns  on the beach with the ocean water.

I feel so lucky to live within walking distance of Casco Bay and the Landing. 

I'm not sure I could survive without being able to smell the sea.

But, after a very cold morning, it was good to get home. 

My plan for the afternoon was to make some tea, read in "my chair" and work on my blog - 

with the fireplace going, of course!

Happy Valentine's Day from Maine!

Snow Day

There's something magical about waking up to the sound of the wind gusting outside the window, hearing the pings of hail hitting the skylight, and slowly opening the bedroom curtains to expose a world turned white.  I feel like a kid again, ready to yell, "Snow Day!"

As a kid, that meant getting out our ice skates and and heading to "the Pond".  Now, although my choices are a little less physically challenging, I still love that gift of unexpected, unplanned time.

Time to  . . . 

          Work on the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle.

Sew buttons on the two cardigan sweaters my friend Margaret just completed. Margaret is my knitting "mentor". In exchange for her help with my simple projects, I sew the buttons on her more complicated ones.

                    Margaret's sweaters are always colorful; just what I need to work on on this gray day.

Yesterday, Margaret showed me how to interpret the directions for this hat project which I got at Fiber College. I love the hand-dyed yarn. I promised to allow myself some time to start this project today. We'll see. Snow Days have an uncanny way of flying by!

And, every Snow Day should include some time for a good book, right? 

Here's my current stash!

In addition to everything else, DH and I spent an hour of our snow day working on travel plans. We're headed to Portugal (a magical place!) and Spain in October. I finally hit "Purchase" and booked the airline tickets today: Boston to Lisbon, Portugal and then  home to Boston from Barcelona, Spain, Can't wait!

                  And finally, this unplanned Snow Day is providing time to catch up on my little blog.

So much to do at Applegate Lane.

Happy Snow Day!

This post is linked to:

Sundays at Home Party at Little Farmstead

Happiness Is Homemade Link Party #254 at Bluesky at Home

Amaze Me Monday #298 at Dwellings

485th Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Through Life

Step by Step

We've been in our retirement condo at Applegate for six years now (hard to believe!) and for all that time, I've put off addressing the elephant in the room - our staircase.  It's the first thing you see when you enter our home and, until now, was covered with aqua wall-to-wall carpeting.

When I was blog-hopping one day I came upon this post, from Sherri at To Simply Inspire.



Sherrie removed all of the wall-to-wall carpeting from her stairs by herself . . . in an afternoon! "Well", I said to myself, "If Sherri can do it, so can I!"

My husband, who isn't always sure he likes change, was away helping a friend so it was the perfect time for me to sneak this project in before he got home. Sherri's directions were clear and she seemed so happy doing her stairs! How hard could this be???

I hadn't give a thought to the weather:  Maine was having an August heat wave on the day I decided to rip up 40 years worth of wool carpet. And the day after . . .

Removing thousands of sharp little staples was a special kind of h*ll, as was prying up the nailer strips while trying to avoid shedding any more blood than absolutely necessary.

Four days later, I was completely miserable, feeling sorry for myself . . but almost done!

The stairs really do look beautiful . . .  

and Sherri'e directions were perfect. But . . . 

But this was one of those projects I don't think I ever want to ever attempt again. 

As much as I love DIY, some things are probably just worth paying for!

Yours in dust mites,

This post is linked to:

Amaze Me Monday #283 at Dwellings

Downsizing in the Garden

Now that Spring is here, we realize that we're not quite done downsizing.
We almost forgot that we need to downsize outside as well.

 

Gone are the three acres, trails through the woods, pool, fruit trees, and potting shed. So it's Goodbye to the lawn tractor, wheel barrow, and hoses for every occasion. Goodbye to the garden benches, broken, lawn chairs, yard art, soccer balls and pool noodles.

 

Cold Hands, Warm Hearts

Last week I wrote about the "snow fort for adults" that DH created in our front yard. Since then, he added a "snow fire pit", inspiring our neighbor across the street to do some digging of her own. She made two "snow caves" and encouraged us to have a party Friday night to celebrate what we all hope will be THE END OF WINTER!

So we invited neighbors, friends, and family to the 1st (Annual?) "Apple Freeze" Party here on Applegate Lane. We got the fire pit ready, lit luminarias, and heated up snacks and cider.

 

We could hardly wait for darkness to fall!

Snow Forts Aren't Just for Kids Anymore!

 Here's the view from our kitchen window tonight.

 

  

This afternoon, we built a snow fort!

 

 Our friend, Corlia, who is visiting from sub-tropical South Africa, has been waiting for the perfect day to play in the snow.

 

 

DH, who is a big kid at heart,  got out his shovel and gave her a hand.

 

 

After a lot of digging, this is what they created.

10 Beautiful Things to Have In Your Craft Room

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."              ~William Morris

Welcome back to my craft room!

In my last post I had some fun thinking about the perfect craft space. I looked around my own craft room and came up with a "Top 10 List" of items in it that I find to be the most useful. Today I'm thinking about how to make a craft space so beautiful that it inspires you to sit right down and start making something.  So, here's my . . .

Top 10 List of Inspirational Items to Have in Your Craft Space:

1. Natural light

You can't top this one. Not only does natural light help us to see what we're doing (and at my age, that's becoming more important!), it allows us to really appreciate color and texture.  In addition to a big window, my craft room has a skylight located right above my work table.

 Ott light over my sewing machine

If you don't have the luxury of natural light in your craft space, or if you do a lot of work at night, an Ott light may be able to provide you with task lighting that approximates natural daylight.

2. Color



I believe in surrounding yourself with your favorite colors. I love orange and turquoise, my friend Mary Elizabeth loves pink . . . our personal spaces reflect the colors we love. Who cares if no one else likes it? Who cares if the rest of the house is "builders' beige"? This is your room; it should make you feel happy and inspired.




3. Words that inspire

I love words and find them both soothing and encouraging as I work in my space.

These words were stenciled on the wall in my sister Nancy's yellow and red Mary Englebreit inspired craft room.

4. Objects found in nature

The shapes and colors found in natural objects inspires a sense of balance and design.

 

This strange looking piece of bark is on my craft shelf because it is shaped like a goat's head (?). Call me crazy but I'm saving it because someday I hope to make something out of it for a friend of mine who owns goats and makes beautiful things from their wool. (Yup . . . you know who you are!)

the view of Casco Bay from the bottom of Applegate Lane always inspires me

5. Things with interesting shapes or textures

Who knows what these things will become . . .  or not?  Right now it is simply their textures and shapes that make me covet them.

 6. Old Things

What can I say besides . . . bring on the rust . . .

and chipped paint, and beautiful wood, and faded lettering, and steampunk goodness!

7. Collections

 Sometimes I think I have too many strange collections lurking in my craft room, but . . . I love them so, there it is.

 

 

 I collect sea glass, buttons, door knobs, sand dollars, rusty tools, old keys, scrabble tiles, beads, vintage postcards, clothespins, tie clips, girl scout patches, miniatures, wooden spools, belt buckles, vintage linens, magnets, children's blocks, vintage Shiny Bright ornaments, old dolls . . .

oh, my!

 

 

I also have quite a collection of Cat's Meow buildings depicting some of my favorite places.

DH attached molding high up on the walls of my craft room so that I can display these without having them in the way when I work.

 

8. Books that teach

 

I love my craft books even more than I love Pinterest. Call me old-fashioned but I like to hold them, come back to them again and again, and have directions and photos right next to me as I work. Thank goodness for my local bookstore and, when that fails, for Amazon Prime.

 

 

9. Things that evoke memories

 

My craft room shelves are chock full of things that bring back happy memories, like this old Patsy doll, with her steamer trunk full of organdy party dresses.

 

 

And my Mom's buttons. Many of them came from clothes she made for my sisters and I when we were children; she would remove the buttons to use again.

 

 

 I love being surrounded by my favorite family photos . . . even the silly ones!

 

 

10. Handmade things

 

Having a few completed projects on display in my craft space reminds me that I really can finish what I start, frustrated as I may get with a project at times.

 

 

And displaying  things that others have made for me just makes me happy when I look at them. This amazing 3-dimensional book was made by fellow blogger, Paula Clare, from Paula's Palace of Altered Art.

 

 

 

So, to recap, here are my Top 10:

 

1. Natural Light

2. Colorful things 

3. Words that inspire

4. Objects found in nature

5. Things with interesting shapes or textures

6. Old Things

7. Collections

8. Books that teach

9. Things that evoke memories

10. Handmade things

 

 

 What are the things that inspire you the most in your creative space?

 

 

 

This post is linked to:

Party Junk at Funky Junk Interiors

Nifty Thrifty Sunday at Nifty Thrifty Things

Weekend Wrap-Up at Tattertots & Jello

Flaunt It Friday at Chic On a Shoestring

Show & Tell Friday at My Romantic Home

Amaze Me Monday at DWELLINGS