Recognition & holiday weekend wishes

My good friend Silke of Metamorphosis has given me an award. She says it's because I inspire her -- well, the truth is, we inspire and support each other. Thank you, Silke, for this recognition. Your friendship is the best gift of all!


I'd also like to take a moment to share a photo (above) that I took last night in downtown Portland (Maine) of geraniums on a doorstep, all dressed up for the Fourth, and to wish everyone a happy holiday weekend!

I went to Portland to view the Call of the Coast exhibit at the Portland Museum of Art. I always find it so inspiring and uplifting to see great works of art, such as those by Edward Hopper, Childe Hassam, and Rockwell Kent, among others. I was not able to take any photos of the exhibit, but I did snap one outside the museum. It is a view of the museum garden, which contains this unusual piece of art crafted of wire and filled with stones. (Sorry, I don't know the name of the piece or the artist.) Beyond, you can see some of the American Neoclassical Sculpture exhibit through the window.

A Saturday drive to Western Maine

[North Fryeburg, Maine]

Last Saturday, my friend Julie and I traveled to Western Maine in search of my roots. OK, not in search of them, exactly. It was more like a trip down memory lane for me and a chance for Julie to see where I come from. My father's family is from the Fryeburg area, and there is a farmhouse and 2 summer cabins there that used to be in my family. We took our time driving around, with me pointing out the highpoints. We also went up into Evans Notch, part of the White Mountain National Forest that overlaps the Maine-New Hampshire border.






[This is Julie at the Cold River Overlook in Evans Notch]


Although we had a gray and rainy June, Julie and I were treated to some sunshine and big puffy clouds as we made our way around the beautiful backroads of Maine and New Hampshire.


We also glimpsed some wonderful wildlife, including a beautiful deer dashing into the woods at the side of the road and a family of wild turkeys. Neither of us had ever seen baby wild turkeys before -- they were really quite a sight! Once we got up into the mountains, we seemed to see butterflies everywhere we went. I wish I had photos of these special animals and insects, but they were all too quick for me to capture with my camera.

[The ferns are huge now, due to all the rain we've had.]

Driving from Stow to Chatham, we came across the remains of a yard sale outside the lovely Hidden Meadow Farm. Among the odd's and end's marked free were these two items: a vintage bread box that someone had repainted and a shabby wooden chair. I scooped both of them up. I have a project in mind for the chair. The bread box I may try to decoupage, or it may end up being donated to Goodwill. We'll see.

I'll undoubtedly have more photos of Western Maine for you later in the summer... It's one of the areas of Maine that will never stop calling me home.

Wordless Wednesday ~ red, white, & blue

I'm participating in French Lique's Wordless Wednesday. This week's theme is red, white, and blue - so appropriate for our upcoming Independence Day celebrations! I wish you all a wonderful weekend. Don't forget to take time to appreciate the freedom that we Americans enjoy.

[I took this photo outside Pennsylvania Station in NYC]

Funky Friday revisits the past

Anyone who reads my log on any kind of a regular basis knows that I like to do a post called Funky Friday. This week, I'm posting a picture that looks old but isn't -- although the subject matter is. I found a site online (http://labs.wanokoto.jp/olds) that allowed me to instantly "age" a photo. Here's an example. This picture was taken in Stow, Maine, about a year or so ago. The building is called Brickett House. It is a 19th-century historic brick farmhouse, and it's located right near the Maine-NH border, at the entrance to Evans Notch. I've never been inside, although it is open to visitors during the summer months. I'm heading over to Evans Notch on Saturday, so there will undoubtedly be more photos of that area to follow soon. For now, please enjoy this photo, whose aged appearance certainly qualifies it as funky. Have a fun Friday and a wonderful weekend!

Blue skies... smiling at me...

It's been a very dreary month here in Maine. We've had about 7 inches of rain and just a handful of sunny days. You can imagine how wonderful it was, then, to see blue skies and sun today! I was out and about running errands when I noticed the cirrus clouds in the sky. I remembered them as being called mares' tails, and sure enough, an online check shows that is the colloquial term for them.



Tomorrow the rain returns, but I'm going to post these pictures to help remind me that we really did have some fine summer weather today. Here's hoping it returns to us very soon!

Funky Friday - June 19

It's Funky Friday once again, and I'm back with more photos from my recent trip to Las Vegas. These were all taken inside the conservatory at the Bellagio.



They have created quite a magnificent display there, with plants, trees, giant watering cans, a ferris wheel, and more. Las Vegas is funky, and so are some of these indoor displays. But they are neat too!



Don't you agree?

Funky Friday, once again!

Is ornamental cabbage funky? Yeah, it kind of is! Have a fabulous Friday & an even better weekend! I'll be leaving Monday on a biz trip, so there won't be any more postings from this corner until after next week. Take care!