Small Towns To Visit #1: Cornish, Maine

Last week, we decided to take a day trip and headed for the little town of Cornish, Maine. It's a beautiful ride, especially in the fall when the foliage is at its peak. Once you leave the Portland area, Route 25 twists and turns as it follows the Saco River back in time to Cornish.

 

 Cornish is about 35 miles inland from Portland and the hour ride is perfect for day tripping. Cornish is a tiny old New England town (settled in 1794) in the foothills of the White Mountains, close to the New Hampshire border.

 

Part of our reason for treating ourselves to a mid-week adventure (aside from the fact that I can do that now that I'm free to do whatever the hell I want whenever I want to retired) was to try out our new Toyota 4-Runner. We needed a heftier tow vehicle for our camper now that we'll be taking longer trips in it...so we got one with all the bells and whistles. Now we just need to figure out how to use them all!

For a small  town, Cornish has some great antique shops so it's a treasure-hunting destination for me. We also love to just walk through the town, stop and sit for awhile in the town green, and admire the old homes, churches and shops. In case you live close enough to visit yourself some day, here's a link to an article on antiquing, lodging and dining in Cornish from Boston.com.

There are also a couple of interesting jewelry shops in town. For funky costume jewelry, I like Trilby & Friend.
 

On our last day trip to Cornish, DH treated me to this expansion bracelet with alternating pieces of silver, copper and gold (the costume jewelry versions). It has just enough bling to make it fun. For $16.00, it was a steal.

Crafts, books, jewelry, a quilt shop, and antiques...it's all here, just in small doses in the tiny Main St. shops.. Here's a link to shopping in Cornish in case you go.

The window below is at Trilby & Friend...doesn't it make you just want to stop in?

 

One ulterior motive for a day trip to Cornish is always a chance to have lunch at Bay Haven. From the outside, this place does not look inviting at all...a low, white roadside diner-type building on the outskirts of town. But inside...Yum! Bay Haven has the best (and biggest portions) of seafood in Southern Maine. Locals from as far away as Portland travel inland to eat fish here...go figure!

 

 

 This is a lunch portion of the Seafood Platter. Anything fried is a major treat for us after three years as Weight Watchers but we plan for it and share one order...it's plenty for two plus some to take home.

 

 

Fortified by all those clams, scallops, and shrimp, we need another walk...and more antiquing, of course. This place is amazing...right in the center of town...and stuffed with a huge collection of unique advertising and country store items. The owner told us that he has been collecting for over 40 years.

There is so much here that it just spills out onto the sidewalk in one chaotic (but tempting!) mess. There is no order here either...you just step over and around things and hope to see it all.

The town is anchored by the Cornish Inn, which has been catering to travelers since the early 1800's. From the porch, you can see past the town green all the way up the main street to the old mill. We haven't tried the food at the inn yet but have teacher friends in the area who eat there often and really enjoy it.

It was beautiful day to be retired and on an autumn adventure. I only wish you all could have come along with us!

 

p.s. For those of you who live in northern New England, I had to include this photo. DH took it on the day we picked up the new car at Prime Toyota...yours truly with Ira Rosenberg. I think he's adorable, even if he is made of cardboard!

Sewing a Smile

My daughter, Kristen, is a challenge to buy clothes for...so I often sew them. I liked this jumper in our local Bass Outlet but knew it would be too short for her. I decided to use a similar pattern from my stash and copy it.

 

The most difficult part of the project was finding cute corduroy dress-weight fabric. I used to be able to find it everywhere this time of year but not so anymore. I finally found four choices at JoAnn Fabrics and got to work.

The pockets on my pattern were plain rectangles so I modified them to mimic the ones in the jumper from Bass.

 

When my sisters and I were children, Mom saved money by sewing most of our clothes (and they were beautiful). I think one of the reasons that I had difficulty finding corduroy dress-weight fabric is that fewer and fewer people sew clothes today because it is no longer cost effective to do so. The jumper at Bass was $50.00. Cost to sew the same jumper: 3 1/2 yards of fabric at $10.49 per yard = $36.72, 1 package red trim = $1.99, four  buttons = $2.97,  dark brown thread = $1.99...total = $43.67 + tax (without the cost of a pattern as I used one I had). No savings there.

This photo is not the best...I was rushing to bring the jumper to Kristen and the lighting was poor... but here my the finished jumper. I copied the trim around the neckline and pockets from the inspiration jumper at Bass.

In spite of the cost and time, I still make time sew clothes for my daughter. She is very difficult to fit and today's "slinky" styles for Juniors don't work for her at all. By sewing, I can adapt patterns and styles. I also enjoy sewing as a creative outlet...when I'm in the mood to sew, that is. It's fun choosing colors, fabrics, textures and trims to make a unique garment.

But, most of all, I like sewing for Kristen because I love to see her smile!

 "Never underestimate the power of a woman with a sewing machine!"

Acorns...Felted & Glittered

I've been having fun this week crafting with acorns...lots and lots of acorns!

 

I purchased a bag of felt balls from a vendor at Fiber College just because I liked them.  There are directions for making your own on Pinterest here.

 

The easy part was collecting the acorns...we have lots of oak trees in our neighborhood.

 

I learned the hard way that before crafting with acorns, you need to heat them in the oven at 200 degrees for two hours to kill any acorn borers that may be living in them. (If you skip this step, the acorns will get wormy...guess how I know?)

 

 

  

After the acorns had cooled, I sprayed them with a clear acrylic finish to seal them and add just a little sheen. (I used Krylon Matte finish).

 The final step was using a hot glue gun to attach the felt balls to the acorn tops.

 

 

 

I think I will use these as dinner party favors and Thanksgiving decorations. They are so cute and colorful that I could see them being used as jewelry and embellishments as well.

 

But...I couldn't stop there.



I decided to try coating some of the real acorns (pre-baked, of course) with Modge Podge and rolling them in glitter, twice. I love how they came out! Maybe I'll use them on a holiday table, wire them to a wreath,  or tie them on Christmas packages.

  

 

 

These little "acorns with attitude" were super easy and lots of fun to do.

Happy holiday crafting!

 

 

 

No-Sew Bed Skirts

Call me crazy, but in our last house, I sewed just about everything, including bed skirts like this one. Making them took hours and involved measuring, cutting and sewing huge expanses of fabric...expensive and time-consuming.

This time around my goal is to keep life as simple as I can and use my "me" time for more creative pursuits than trying to get yards of Velcro to stick to box springs. 

 

But, I have to admit, exposed bed frames and under-bed storage totes don't exactly create the look I'm going for. (This is the room our grandsons stay in when they visit...they made their own beds!)

 

 

Since I had four beds to find bed skirts for, I ruled out Pottery Barn for this project...beautiful bed skirts but too expensive, especially on a retirement budget.

 

Last weekend, I ran into Target to get last-minute supplies for my daughter's birthday party when I happened by a whole aisle of bed skirts and decided to take a quick look.

 

Look what I found...

 

Tailored twin bed skirts for $12.99 each. No Velcro required and they came I black! These are from Target's "Room Essentials" line.

 

 

A simple white Queen bed skirt for the guest room for $15.99...also from "Room Essentials".

And a turquoise Queen bed skirt with a tailored pleat for $27.99 form the Target's "Threshold" line.

 

The bed skirts I purchased fit perfectly...and they each came in a cute little recloseable fabric pouch that I'll reuse for travel or craft storage.

 

Total spent for four bed skirts...$70.00.  Total time at the sewing machine = 0.

Who knew?

 

A Quick Trip to Florida

One of the best things about being retired is being able to travel anytime we want instead of just during school vacation weeks.

 

 

What a treat to watch our grandchildren (Brian from Maine and our two grand daughters from Florida...Hannah and Taytum)  play in the surf on Clearwater Beach on an October evening...

 

 

...and to enjoy Japanese food  with Hank's daughter, Crystal, and her significant other, Ronnie...

on a "school night"!

 

 

The purpose of our trip was to take our grandson Brian, a high school Senior, to look at two possible college choices in Florida.

 

 

 

First we visited the University of South Florida in Tampa. A good friend of mine is a very successful alumna of USF and encouraged Brian to look at the school.

 

 

What a beautiful campus!

 

 

 

 

From the parking garage we could see the roller coaster at Busch Gardens and the Tampa skyline.

 

 

 

Guess who was speaking on campus the evening of our visit? Dolvett...one of the trainers from The Biggest Loser. I guess if my Weight Watcher leader, Mary Elizabeth, couldn't be there to remind me to stay on program, it's good that photos of Dolvett were all over campus!

 

 

We also visited the University of Central Florida in Orlando. This school was huge and, in addition to high-quality academics, was housed on another beautiful campus.

 

 

Brian will have some tough decisions to make!

 

 

Between our two college visits, we managed to squeeze in a family day at Busch Gardens...

 

 

Where Brain and Hannah went on Safari...while Taytum fed the baby kangaroos.

 

I loved all of the animals.

 

 

 

This guy was smart...he found himself a fan to use on a hot Florida day...mid to high 80's and sunny every day we were there.

 

The day after we got home, USA Today published the results of a Readers' Poll on the "Best Place to Watch a Sunset". #1 was Clearwater Beach, Florida.

 

 

I agree!