Acadia National Park

Yesterday we woke up to a perfect summer day. We scrambled to load up the minivan and head to the beach. We got to Popham only to find a parking disaster! The lot was full, every 'no-parking' spot was full, all private parking was full and there was even an ambulance trying to get through the mess! It was totally ruining our summer buzz. We pouted, turned around and headed back to Route 1 trying to figure out something else fun to do.

Every time we're up on Route 1 north of us, we always say to each other 'Acadia?? NAH, too far!' Well... yesterday we bit the bullet and at about 1 o'clock we headed up to Acadia! We got there about 4 o'clock after many stops ... one in Searsport which has the MOST delightful town park I've ever seen in Maine.

We did the Acadia park loop and drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain where we took a really nice, fairly quick hike. Then we drove down the mountain and enjoyed Sand Beach. It was getting late by then ... 7 o'clock! We picked up some road food and headed home after meandering through Seal Harbor and Bar Harbor.

We pulled in to our driveway at 11:30 last night. It was a stunning and incredible day. Bonus: Free admission this past weekend to the park! This will happen once more this summer: August 15-16. We had SO much fun and saw so many more things we wanted to do/see that we'll definitely be going back soon.

Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

CMBG in Boothbay is one (of the many many) of my favorite places to visit. I wish I could say that it's just a short drive but it is not... it's well over an hour from our house. But it's totally worth the drive because the drive itself is one of my favorites as well. We went out for a quick walk this past Wednesday because we got there about 45 minutes before the gardens closed at 5 o'clock.

The daylilies, astilbe, and Japanese Irises were all in full glory. I've noticed that these flowers are in abundance all over the area... even along the interstates the ditches and forests are thick with flowers... all three of the aforementioned are naturalized all over the place! It's pretty amazing. I especially love the inky purply blue japanese irises.

It's gloriously warm and humid here today... warm as in there is an actual heat index. The folks at the grocery store were sweating buckets and complaining about the humidity... I suppose it isn't the norm around here. But to me, it feels WONDERFUL!

Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

CMBG in Boothbay is one (of the many many) of my favorite places to visit. I wish I could say that it's just a short drive but it is not... it's well over an hour from our house. But it's totally worth the drive because the drive itself is one of my favorites as well. We went out for a quick walk this past Wednesday because we got there about 45 minutes before the gardens closed at 5 o'clock.

The daylilies, astilbe, and Japanese Irises were all in full glory. I've noticed that these flowers are in abundance all over the area... even along the interstates the ditches and forests are thick with flowers... all three of the aforementioned are naturalized all over the place! It's pretty amazing. I especially love the inky purply blue japanese irises.

It's gloriously warm and humid here today... warm as in there is an actual heat index. The folks at the grocery store were sweating buckets and complaining about the humidity... I suppose it isn't the norm around here. But to me, it feels WONDERFUL!

Maine Island Trail Association

America's first water trail created, protected and enjoyed by people who love the coast of Maine. (link)

Maine Island Trail Association

America's first water trail created, protected and enjoyed by people who love the coast of Maine. (link)

Midsummer

The sun has finally arrived and we're enjoying a taste of summer here in Maine. It's typically in the low to mid 70s during the day and chilly at night. Perfect weather, really. It'd be nice to get one of those rogue HOT days, but I'm not complaining!

We've settled in to the perfect summer routine. No schedule most days, sleeping in, taking the day slow, splashing in the kiddie pool on the deck, hitting the beach, hiking, exploring. It's all good. This cooler weather has me constantly thinking about fall! I'm trying not to get ahead of myself but I'm totally a nut for fall. Every year when the trees finally leaf out, I just see potential for a glorious fall display. I'm sure that we are in for a treat to be living here in New England. I'm already gearing up for major drives and an obscene amount of photos of foliage... just you wait!

Thinking of fall always kicks my knitting in to high gear. Honestly, so far this summer I've had many knitting failures. I've frogged more than anything. Perhaps it is just my mental state spilling on to the needles... indecisiveness, feeling fickle, at odds, etc. It affects everything. I figured out that I should just knit my go-to knitting... stock socks. Simple stockinette socks with a trusty old friend yarn -- Opal in this case.

But last night I dug out my Staghorn pullover that has been hibernating for quite a while and knit a few rows on it. I snuggled under my afghan in front of the open window... chilly Maine summer air spilling in and knit away on my sweater. It was awesome. It filled up my spirit a little bit and I feel motivated to get this sweater done.

I want to get this done not only to enjoy the process of learning something new (saddle shoulders). But also so I can move on to another sweater. Can you believe I've already accumulated a lot more yarn? (I sent most of my stash back to Iowa to friends earlier this year). I have several sweaters-worth sitting in the stash tote and it's beckoning to come out and play. I am eager to knit some more sweaters... I'd love to knit the Central Park Hoodie using the autumn-red/orange Cascade Sierra in my stash, I'd also love to knit the Cable Down Raglan using the purple Ultra Alpaca I have. I'm also always on the lookout to find a nice vest pattern for the Kathmandu Aran.

I did knit a sweet little hat for my 2 year old son using Berocco's new Vintage Wool. I have to say that I do like the yarn a lot. It's not scratchy at all but still warm which is perfect for my boys' noggins. I have enough Vintage Wool to knit each of them a sweater as well.

This is the tough part -- so many sweaters, so little time! I best get knitting and hope I can stir up a whole lot of mojo so I can get at least a few of these done.

Midsummer

The sun has finally arrived and we're enjoying a taste of summer here in Maine. It's typically in the low to mid 70s during the day and chilly at night. Perfect weather, really. It'd be nice to get one of those rogue HOT days, but I'm not complaining!

We've settled in to the perfect summer routine. No schedule most days, sleeping in, taking the day slow, splashing in the kiddie pool on the deck, hitting the beach, hiking, exploring. It's all good. This cooler weather has me constantly thinking about fall! I'm trying not to get ahead of myself but I'm totally a nut for fall. Every year when the trees finally leaf out, I just see potential for a glorious fall display. I'm sure that we are in for a treat to be living here in New England. I'm already gearing up for major drives and an obscene amount of photos of foliage... just you wait!

Thinking of fall always kicks my knitting in to high gear. Honestly, so far this summer I've had many knitting failures. I've frogged more than anything. Perhaps it is just my mental state spilling on to the needles... indecisiveness, feeling fickle, at odds, etc. It affects everything. I figured out that I should just knit my go-to knitting... stock socks. Simple stockinette socks with a trusty old friend yarn -- Opal in this case.

But last night I dug out my Staghorn pullover that has been hibernating for quite a while and knit a few rows on it. I snuggled under my afghan in front of the open window... chilly Maine summer air spilling in and knit away on my sweater. It was awesome. It filled up my spirit a little bit and I feel motivated to get this sweater done.

I want to get this done not only to enjoy the process of learning something new (saddle shoulders). But also so I can move on to another sweater. Can you believe I've already accumulated a lot more yarn? (I sent most of my stash back to Iowa to friends earlier this year). I have several sweaters-worth sitting in the stash tote and it's beckoning to come out and play. I am eager to knit some more sweaters... I'd love to knit the Central Park Hoodie using the autumn-red/orange Cascade Sierra in my stash, I'd also love to knit the Cable Down Raglan using the purple Ultra Alpaca I have. I'm also always on the lookout to find a nice vest pattern for the Kathmandu Aran.

I did knit a sweet little hat for my 2 year old son using Berocco's new Vintage Wool. I have to say that I do like the yarn a lot. It's not scratchy at all but still warm which is perfect for my boys' noggins. I have enough Vintage Wool to knit each of them a sweater as well.

This is the tough part -- so many sweaters, so little time! I best get knitting and hope I can stir up a whole lot of mojo so I can get at least a few of these done.

New England Blog

New England Travel: I've spent a lot of time at this web site. It is a great resource for all things New England. Keep it handy if you plan on vacationing out here.

Kim's New England Travel Blog
Best of New England

LL Bean Summer Concert Series

For Tips for Attending a Free Summer Concert at L.L. Bean in Freeport, Maine, click here.

New England Blog

New England Travel: I've spent a lot of time at this web site. It is a great resource for all things New England. Keep it handy if you plan on vacationing out here.

Kim's New England Travel Blog
Best of New England

LL Bean Summer Concert Series

For Tips for Attending a Free Summer Concert at L.L. Bean in Freeport, Maine, click here.

New Summer

Summertime is upon us and I've been feeling, once again, out of sorts. It's a whole new adjustment period. Our old routines are no more and we're transitioning in to a new lifestyle. Summertime in Iowa meant daycamp, swiming lessons, going to the park, playdates, central air conditioning, heat index, humidity, our town fair, parades, cub scout campouts, family and friends, peaches and cream corn on the cob, bbq.

So far summertime in Maine has been completely different. I didn't sign the boy up for any camps this year. We are in the midst of heavy house hunting and that means yet another big transition in the near future. It also means that we aren't tied down to any particular metro area so it is hard to make camp plans with that in mind. That is OK because the boys and I are just playing tourists this season. There is still so much for us to see for the first time that there really is no shortage of things to do or places to see. It does completely throw any sort of routine out the window though and that's hard on all of us.

It's been so cool and rainy that air conditioning has been the furthest thing from my mind. In fact, homes in Maine pretty much don't have central air. That does not bother me at all though because I've never liked a/c. I can't stand being shut in from the outside. I'd much rather sweat it out inside as long as I can still hear the birds sing and smell the flowers.

Last night I was headed to the grocery store to pick up a few things. It was a beautiful evening and very quickly my plans changed. Before I knew it, I was headed to the Portland Head Light again. It's really not that close by, but I do end up going there about once a week. The boys absolutely love to run around and take it all in. There is lots of open green space for them to run. Plus, the drive out there is pretty, too.

I could take hundreds of photos of the Portland Head Light. I feel sort of silly taking so many though considering they all look the same. I could create one photo album just of shots of this lighthouse. I love it. It makes my heart sing. It also brings back memories of how I felt as a visitor here.

It's still so surreal to be at these amazing places and think to myself 'I live here.' I know its silly, but I've started to claim some ownership. It's so fun to watch far flung people grasp the magic of it all. I just think to myself 'I get it! I know! Isn't it amazing!?' I don't think I'll ever lose that feeling.

New Summer

Summertime is upon us and I've been feeling, once again, out of sorts. It's a whole new adjustment period. Our old routines are no more and we're transitioning in to a new lifestyle. Summertime in Iowa meant daycamp, swiming lessons, going to the park, playdates, central air conditioning, heat index, humidity, our town fair, parades, cub scout campouts, family and friends, peaches and cream corn on the cob, bbq.

So far summertime in Maine has been completely different. I didn't sign the boy up for any camps this year. We are in the midst of heavy house hunting and that means yet another big transition in the near future. It also means that we aren't tied down to any particular metro area so it is hard to make camp plans with that in mind. That is OK because the boys and I are just playing tourists this season. There is still so much for us to see for the first time that there really is no shortage of things to do or places to see. It does completely throw any sort of routine out the window though and that's hard on all of us.

It's been so cool and rainy that air conditioning has been the furthest thing from my mind. In fact, homes in Maine pretty much don't have central air. That does not bother me at all though because I've never liked a/c. I can't stand being shut in from the outside. I'd much rather sweat it out inside as long as I can still hear the birds sing and smell the flowers.

Last night I was headed to the grocery store to pick up a few things. It was a beautiful evening and very quickly my plans changed. Before I knew it, I was headed to the Portland Head Light again. It's really not that close by, but I do end up going there about once a week. The boys absolutely love to run around and take it all in. There is lots of open green space for them to run. Plus, the drive out there is pretty, too.

I could take hundreds of photos of the Portland Head Light. I feel sort of silly taking so many though considering they all look the same. I could create one photo album just of shots of this lighthouse. I love it. It makes my heart sing. It also brings back memories of how I felt as a visitor here.

It's still so surreal to be at these amazing places and think to myself 'I live here.' I know its silly, but I've started to claim some ownership. It's so fun to watch far flung people grasp the magic of it all. I just think to myself 'I get it! I know! Isn't it amazing!?' I don't think I'll ever lose that feeling.

Knit Tidbits turns Five

My friend Libby is having a great giveaway right now to celebrate her five year blogiversary. I entered a drawing that she had not long ago and won an awesome prize. Instead of entering again, I wanted to pass this little tidbit of information along to you so you can get in on the prize-y goodness. While you're over there, stick around and check out why I've read Libby's blog for the past five years... she has great energy and creativity. What are you waiting for?

Knit Tidbits turns Five

My friend Libby is having a great giveaway right now to celebrate her five year blogiversary. I entered a drawing that she had not long ago and won an awesome prize. Instead of entering again, I wanted to pass this little tidbit of information along to you so you can get in on the prize-y goodness. While you're over there, stick around and check out why I've read Libby's blog for the past five years... she has great energy and creativity. What are you waiting for?

get outta dodge!

We haven't had much 'play' time the last couple of weeks, so when today rolled around and hubby had the day off... we knew we just wanted to get the heck out of here for a while and like usual, we sure did.

Today I just wanted to find some sunshine. We've had a swirling cycle of clouds and rain sitting over us for what feels like forever and after a while it really starts to wear on us. I noticed on the radar that sunshine really hasn't been that far away. We decided to head northwest just to see some blue sky and sunshine and we did indeed find a few peeks of sun...

We drove up through North Conway, NH.... through the spectacular Presidential Range, and then continued north to Errol, NH before winding back home. I have to say that on rainy gloomy days, the place to be is in the mountains. The swirling fog and clouds are really beautiful among the mountain tops.

Today we drove through a portion of the Great North Woods of New Hampshire for the first time and WOW was it spectacular! It is just wild, open coniferous woods, rivers, streams and lakes. We didn't see a house for miles and miles. It was awesome. The best part was the sun shining brightly in between the big puffy clouds... all while making amazing shapes and shadows on the blanket of trees that covered the hillside.

In the middle of the woods, three baby bears scampered across the road in front of us! They climbed right up a tree on the other side of the road. We did not wait around for Momma bear! They were SO incredibly cute. They were so black that they looked like shadows crossing the road. We've never seen bear in the wild so it gave us quite the thrill!



On our way home, we also saw Umbagog Lake and then Grafton Notch State Park which was just SO cool! The rain was pretty relentless though. I swear once we turned our way back toward Maine, the mist immediately started up again. New Hampshire in general was quite sunny and nice! The forecast for rain is supposed to let up for ONE day tomorrow and we may see a good chunk of sunshine. The boys and I plan on worshiping the sun by planting ourselves on the beach somewhere. We can't wait!

get outta dodge!

We haven't had much 'play' time the last couple of weeks, so when today rolled around and hubby had the day off... we knew we just wanted to get the heck out of here for a while and like usual, we sure did.

Today I just wanted to find some sunshine. We've had a swirling cycle of clouds and rain sitting over us for what feels like forever and after a while it really starts to wear on us. I noticed on the radar that sunshine really hasn't been that far away. We decided to head northwest just to see some blue sky and sunshine and we did indeed find a few peeks of sun...

We drove up through North Conway, NH.... through the spectacular Presidential Range, and then continued north to Errol, NH before winding back home. I have to say that on rainy gloomy days, the place to be is in the mountains. The swirling fog and clouds are really beautiful among the mountain tops.

Today we drove through a portion of the Great North Woods of New Hampshire for the first time and WOW was it spectacular! It is just wild, open coniferous woods, rivers, streams and lakes. We didn't see a house for miles and miles. It was awesome. The best part was the sun shining brightly in between the big puffy clouds... all while making amazing shapes and shadows on the blanket of trees that covered the hillside.

In the middle of the woods, three baby bears scampered across the road in front of us! They climbed right up a tree on the other side of the road. We did not wait around for Momma bear! They were SO incredibly cute. They were so black that they looked like shadows crossing the road. We've never seen bear in the wild so it gave us quite the thrill!



On our way home, we also saw Umbagog Lake and then Grafton Notch State Park which was just SO cool! The rain was pretty relentless though. I swear once we turned our way back toward Maine, the mist immediately started up again. New Hampshire in general was quite sunny and nice! The forecast for rain is supposed to let up for ONE day tomorrow and we may see a good chunk of sunshine. The boys and I plan on worshiping the sun by planting ourselves on the beach somewhere. We can't wait!

LL Bean Summer Concert Series

"Enjoy the incredible talents of local and national performers at L.L.Bean’s 11th Annual Summer Concert Series. There’s music for everyone–from jazz to folk and country to zydeco. Best of all, concerts are free."

How fantastic is that?! Madeleine Peyroux kicks off the series this Saturday evening. Due to circumstances I don't want to talk about here, we're not going to Iowa this week. I'm sad about this, but I am looking forward to seeing Madeleine Peyroux. I've been a big fan of hers for a couple years. In fact, our whole family is. I remember listening to Peyroux pretty much non-stop during my pregnancy with Tommy... so Tommy has very regularly heard Peyroux since before he was born. It's going to be a good time!

The concerts at LLBean are held at their Discovery Park which is sort of like a courtyard in between all of their retail stores . We've heard nothing but rave revies for these concerts. I do expect them to be crowded, but we're just going to stay mellow, get there early and take it in stride. That's really all we can do, right?

We're looking forward to many of the other upcoming shows. I am excited to see the Wallflowers... they were a big part of my personal soundtrack when I was in college. Dan Zane and Friends is going to be fun for the whole family. The great thing is that since these are free shows, we can go and possibly discover some other artists we wouldn't otherwise see in concert. The other wonderful thing is that they're family friendly which is pretty much the only way we'd be able to enjoy it at all since we still haven't found a babysitter.

[click for more info]

Cape Farm Alliance

www.capeelizabethfarms.com

A great web site with links and news about numerous local farms!

LL Bean Summer Concert Series

"Enjoy the incredible talents of local and national performers at L.L.Bean’s 11th Annual Summer Concert Series. There’s music for everyone–from jazz to folk and country to zydeco. Best of all, concerts are free."

How fantastic is that?! Madeleine Peyroux kicks off the series this Saturday evening. Due to circumstances I don't want to talk about here, we're not going to Iowa this week. I'm sad about this, but I am looking forward to seeing Madeleine Peyroux. I've been a big fan of hers for a couple years. In fact, our whole family is. I remember listening to Peyroux pretty much non-stop during my pregnancy with Tommy... so Tommy has very regularly heard Peyroux since before he was born. It's going to be a good time!

The concerts at LLBean are held at their Discovery Park which is sort of like a courtyard in between all of their retail stores . We've heard nothing but rave revies for these concerts. I do expect them to be crowded, but we're just going to stay mellow, get there early and take it in stride. That's really all we can do, right?

We're looking forward to many of the other upcoming shows. I am excited to see the Wallflowers... they were a big part of my personal soundtrack when I was in college. Dan Zane and Friends is going to be fun for the whole family. The great thing is that since these are free shows, we can go and possibly discover some other artists we wouldn't otherwise see in concert. The other wonderful thing is that they're family friendly which is pretty much the only way we'd be able to enjoy it at all since we still haven't found a babysitter.

[click for more info]

Cape Farm Alliance

www.capeelizabethfarms.com

A great web site with links and news about numerous local farms!

Maine Fiber Frolic

It's about time I try to catch up on all the things I've wanted to blog about lately. I'll start with some fibery goodness... the Maine Fiber Frolic. It was last weekend, June 6-7, in Windsor. I didn't think I would be able to go, but then we just sort of happened to be in the area... no really. We were headed to Lake St. George to canoe and the road to Windsor just happened to be on the way there. I knew my guys really wouldn't care to go, but my husband insisted (isn't he sweet) so we went.

We were there about two hours before the end of the festival and I have to say it was the perfect time to be there. I don't know how it was for the rest of the weekend but by the time we got there, there was no crowd. The vendors were all sort of winding down but still had a great selection of yummy yarns. We caught the Maine Llama Drill Team doing their antics which was hilarious and entertaining for the whole family. We also ran in to our neighbor who was there with 4-H showing a Llama... small world!

I had fun looking through the goodies at the vendor stands. This was another thing about fiber festivals that is hard for me... restraint from buying as much as I can carry! I did alright though... I bought some amazingly soft alpaca yarn from Upper Farm Alpaca, luscious merino/cashmere/nylon sock yarn from String Theory, a sock kit from French Hill Farm, and one not-so-local yarn because I have been searching high and low for it... Kauni Effektgarn in the EQ (rainbow) colorway. I'm so excited to knit up my finds.

The best part of the festival was admiring all of the animals. I didn't really think that I'd be one to really ooh and aah over them, but they were all so cute and had such personality. By the time we left, my sons wanted to take a pygora goat home for a pet, and my husband was asking the farmers about start-up costs. Seriously... sometimes I wonder who these crazy people are. ;)

Maine Fiber Frolic

It's about time I try to catch up on all the things I've wanted to blog about lately. I'll start with some fibery goodness... the Maine Fiber Frolic. It was last weekend, June 6-7, in Windsor. I didn't think I would be able to go, but then we just sort of happened to be in the area... no really. We were headed to Lake St. George to canoe and the road to Windsor just happened to be on the way there. I knew my guys really wouldn't care to go, but my husband insisted (isn't he sweet) so we went.

We were there about two hours before the end of the festival and I have to say it was the perfect time to be there. I don't know how it was for the rest of the weekend but by the time we got there, there was no crowd. The vendors were all sort of winding down but still had a great selection of yummy yarns. We caught the Maine Llama Drill Team doing their antics which was hilarious and entertaining for the whole family. We also ran in to our neighbor who was there with 4-H showing a Llama... small world!

I had fun looking through the goodies at the vendor stands. This was another thing about fiber festivals that is hard for me... restraint from buying as much as I can carry! I did alright though... I bought some amazingly soft alpaca yarn from Upper Farm Alpaca, luscious merino/cashmere/nylon sock yarn from String Theory, a sock kit from French Hill Farm, and one not-so-local yarn because I have been searching high and low for it... Kauni Effektgarn in the EQ (rainbow) colorway. I'm so excited to knit up my finds.

The best part of the festival was admiring all of the animals. I didn't really think that I'd be one to really ooh and aah over them, but they were all so cute and had such personality. By the time we left, my sons wanted to take a pygora goat home for a pet, and my husband was asking the farmers about start-up costs. Seriously... sometimes I wonder who these crazy people are. ;)

Hello, June!

Wow... June 12? Where does the time go? Where to start? Full Moon post? Maine Fiber Frolic? Latest knitting projects? Latest Maine-y excursions? I don't know. Hmm... maybe tomorrow. Until then, HELLO and HAVE A NICE WEEKEND, my friends. :)

Hello, June!

Wow... June 12? Where does the time go? Where to start? Full Moon post? Maine Fiber Frolic? Latest knitting projects? Latest Maine-y excursions? I don't know. Hmm... maybe tomorrow. Until then, HELLO and HAVE A NICE WEEKEND, my friends. :)