OOOOO, I'm driving my life away...

Yikes, where'd THAT come from? Wow, isn't that Eddie Rabbit??

I love to drive. I used to drive all the time. I lived in Boston. I could drive anywhere, for hours if I wanted to. When we lived DownEast we would drive old logging roads for hours and not see another vehicle. Bears, yes. People, no.

I live on a rock now, with one mile of paved road. Top speed? 25. That's not driving, that's rolling.

I miss driving.

So I look forward to the long drive to Boston, which we do a few times a summer.

However, The Big Guy + 2 kids + long drive to Boston at 5pm = TORTURE.

(He never comes with us. It's not his thing. Too many people, no fishing.)

We normally do this drive early in the day. And though I'm SO not a morning person, I have to say I love the 3am ride home (have to leave that early to catch the ferry).

We've got a system, the Things and I.

I plug them into the tv with headphones, and I turn on my ipod (plays thru the car speakers). They don't speak to me until we hit Ellsworth, which is about the time I wake up.

It works very well.

Going down is a little trickier, because it's later in the day, and well, they want to eat and stuff.

Once we hit Bangor, however, they know there might as well be a wall between the front and back seats, and for the most part they leave me alone.

This time we had The Big Guy with us.

He does not get the system.

And he tried to converse the whole ride.

I tried to put him out of the car twice.

Highlights from the ride:

He sang along to every song on my ipod, but with incorrect words.

Sometimes he just made stuff up that rhymed with the real words, which, if I were in the mood to hear, would have been funny. But I wasn't. I like to zone out to endure that tortuous, long, construction-filled ride.

(Hello, Maine Turnpike Authority? Where do you get the bottomless funds for the perpetual construction projects you do? I'd like some. Thank You.)

But other times he thought he was singing the song, with the right words.

Carly Simon's You're So Vain:

You're where you should be all the time, and when you're not, you're with some underworld spy, or the wife of a postman, wife of a postman,

oh...you're so vain...

I thought I was going to drive off the road.

And Chicago's

twenty five oh six two four.

250624.

What does he think that means?? But what do the real words mean, 25 or 6 to 4?

It was a long drive.

I'm going to bed.

And the winners are:

The Knit Drawing....

number 61, Gail from Kansas!

The Amazon Drawing, and a gift from the Frenchboro Bakery...

number 2, Mary!

Congratulations, ladies!!! Email me at happyplace99@gmail.com to claim your prizes.

Thank you all for playing along!

This was way too much fun, just as fun as winning. I will be doing this again very soon!!

It's ON!

Comments are now closed while the random number generator works it's magic.......

Good Luck everybody!

Last day of the Contest

One day and counting.

One more day before I can get off The Rock.

There isn't a vegetable to be found in this house.

I know this because I ransacked two refrigerators yesterday, and they are devoid of anything green (unless you count the mess on top of a really old container of sour cream) or antioxidant -containing.

And, sadly...this is what I fed my children last night.

Does basil count as a vegetable??

On a completely unrelated note, Thing Two lost tooth # 2 yesterday afternoon.

Pardon the green fingernails. He hadn't been bathed yet. (They were in the pool all day, and I do mean ALL day...like 9am to 6pm. So that may not be dirt, it could be algae.)

Warning: blood alert. Hide if you need to.

The Big Guy came home, saw him wiggling that tooth, and told him to just pull it out.

Yeah, right. Not this kid.

Two seconds later, he calmly announced that he pulled it out.

Just like that.

Oh, no. They aren't looking real straight, are they? I'm going to have to sell a kidney to put braces on these kids. And I don't know what I'm going to have to do to put them through college. I'm going to have to re-think my moral code.

And on another completely unrelated note, I found this huge bowl of crabmeat while rooting out the fridge yesterday.

Seriously huge.

Three pounds of crabmeat huge.

I have no recollection of picking this bowl of crabmeat.

I need to start sleeping more. I may be having blackouts. During the day.

Lastly, I have knitting to show you.

Oops, I mean crocheting.

Not my crocheting, but, still, crocheting.

And I take full credit for screaming at my sister until she 'got it' teaching my sister to do this.

Awww, she made me a dishcloth! And it matches my kitchen!

And I won't let the kids use it because they will do something gross with it and ruin it and I'll be so mad. So I pretty much just dry my hands with it.

It works for me.

Look how even her stitches are.

I'm so proud.

Did I mention that I taught her that?

Yup, fresh mozzarella, home made bread and cherry peppers, fresh basil, and a dishcloth.

And three pounds of mystery crabmeat.

That's all it takes to make me happy.

Today is the last day of the contest. I will close the comments at 8pm, Eastern time.

Good Luck, everybody, and thanks for playing!

I'm fondling your yarn

Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream, no?

I'm torturing myself.

Remember I said if I ever found the colors of a certain beach rock, I'd never knit with anything else ever again?

Geez, that's close. (I have the rock here on my desk. With 482 others. Need to make a deposit at the beach. Don't tell the kids.)

Soooo soft. Incredibly soft. Baby's butt soft.My brain soft.

I still have not told The Big Guy what BSJ stands for.

It's way too much fun.

It's the little things in life....

Reminder: the Coveted Yarn contest ends Wednesday night, 8pm Eastern time.

Still Life On Water

I love this picture.

I'm not really sure why.

Monsoon Fridays

It's getting to be a trend, so we might as well label it for what it is.

It poured buckets all day today.

I can't say it was such a hardship for me, as I never left the house, but it did have some adverse effects.

Like this one:

and this one:

and this one:

oh yeah, and this one:

I think I gained 5 pounds today.

Like I needed to do that.

Tomorrow, they all get listed on the bakery website. Calories like these MUST BE SHARED.

And I started a BSJ. The Big Guy is very concerned. He wants to know Exactly What That Means.

And I'm just enough of a jerk that I won't say.

(I'm headed to the phone right now Mother, and I'll explain it to you. Don't hyperventilate. Sit with your head between your knees while I find the darn phone...and keep Daddy away from the computer for a few minutes!)

Reminder: the Coveted Yarn Contest ends Wednesday the 29th!

Anyone for Sunday Brunch?

Waaaay back when The Big Guy and I were newlyweds (I know, I can barely remember it myself), we lived Up North. In Maine they call it DownEast.

I called it the End Of The Earth.

We were very close to the Canadian border, on the coast, and would drive to Canada routinely, just because we could. We found this great buffet at a hotel named The Algonquin.
Can I just tell you- click on the link, and then picture The Big Guy and I at this place.
Remember Cousin Eddie from Christmas Vacation??? How did they ever let us in???

I can remember clearly the very first time we had brunch here. We had heard it was a nice place, and the brunch was excessive.

Nothing could have prepared me for what I walked into that morning. I will never forget it as long as I live.

Walking through the gilded entrance, I was confronted with two round tables, the type you see at weddings which seat 6-8 people.

And they were covered with lobsters.

The table on the left held cold lobsters. The table on the right held warm ones.

In the center of both tables was a coffee urn, which I thought was odd, until I saw somebody use one.

They were filled with butter.

The two round tables were just the beginning, my friends.

Beyond them were lines of long tables set end to end, covered with every single possible seafood dish on this Earth.

I was rooted to the floor. I'm sure my jaw was resting comfortably on my boobs. I paid it no heed; I had other concerns.

Like my hands.

Which started to shake uncontrollably.

We still laugh about this. When I walk into a buffet, we check my hands to see if it's a 'good one'.

I walked around that room for over half an hour with a plate in my hand. I scanned. I sized up. I took stock. I planned my strategy.

There was no way to taste every dish. No way.

Every bite had to count.

It took me over 4 hours to satisfy my curiosity, and in the end my stomach gave up. I did the best I could, but probably only got to taste half of what was there. I had one bite of half the dishes at that brunch, and I thought I was going to explode.

It remains, to this day, the best brunch I have ever attended, and I'm not sure the title will ever need defending.

We went back a few months later, and discovered that the weekend we had attended was a special seafood brunch, only occurring once a year.

The second brunch was wonderful, but it was a standard brunch, not the Spectacular seafood wonder.

We later heard that they also do a special Chocolate one.

The Big Guy will not allow me to attend. No good can come of it, he says, no good at all.

I go along with it, because I'm sure he's right.

But I imagine it.

I see it in my dreams. And it is Spectacular.

Reminder: the Coveted Yarn Contest ends Wednesday, July 29th.

My blueberries are almost ready!

What does it say about me that I laugh like crazy when I see this word?

I will seek help immediately, but first, I want to share this recipe.

Go make this. Right now. If you don't have all the necessary ingredients in your kitchen, do what I do and beg from your neighbors. Send your kids to do your begging- they cute and small and way harder to say no to.

Trust me.

Blueberry Scones. Because it's getting to be blueberry season here in Maine.

2 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar, plus more for sprinkling tops
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, cold and cut into pieces (3/4 stick)
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/3 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing tops ( I totally cheated and used canned milk. Cream! I never have cream!)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Sift together flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Cut in butter until the largest pieces are the size of small peas.
Stir in blueberries and zest.

Whisk together cream and egg in a liquid measuring cup.

Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and pour in cream mixture. Stir lightly with fork just until dough comes together.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead a few times to mix well.
Pat dough into a 6-inch square about 1 1/4 inches thick.
Cut into four 3-inch squares.
Cut squares in half on the diagonal to form eight triangles.
Transfer to baking sheet. Brush tops with cream and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake until golden brown, 20 to 22 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Soooo good.

And if anyone on this island makes these and doesn't invite me over I will never forgive you.

The End.

Contest Day!

The yarn prize for the contest:

There is a little bit of everything in there!

Mirasol Hacho- hand dyed merino, Mirasol Sulca-merino/alpaca/silk, Antuco- 100% cotton, Debbie Bliss -alpaca silk aran, Ella Rae- lace merino, Araucania Chacabuco- hand dyed cotton, Noro Chirimen- cotton/ silk/ wool, Siam-nylon/acrylic/wool, Queensland Collection Rustic Tweed-wool/alpaca, Sequins yarn-poly blend, Blue Heron- rayon metallic, louisa Harding Merletto....

and some fabulous buttons from Incomparable Buttons.

So cool!

Naturally, all of the yarns are 'sea colored'. Every one of them evokes the thought of the ocean.

I just can't help myself!

When I started this little blog a year or so ago, it was really to document my knitting. I never figured anybody would read it. I didn't expect other knitters to find and read it. I never dreamt non-knitters would ever find it, and I surely never thought so many of you would continue to visit on a regular basis!

I never thought I would enjoy it so much either.Of all the things I do, all of my jobs, all of my hobbies, this blog...this little insignificant diary of my ordinary life is my most favorite thing.

Because of all of you, of course.

Your comments.

Your own blogs.

Your lives, your families, your humor, your knitting.

I can't do without it, it seems.

So I celebrate you. All of you. And I thank you.

Thank you so very much!

Out of respect to those of you who visit, and do not knit, I have another prize.

I will do a second drawing for an Amazon gift card for $100.00, and a gift from the Frenchboro Bakery.

Please specify your prize preference in the comment section!

Ok- the details:

1. The contest will run Wednesday, July 22 to 8pm Eastern time on Wednesday, July 29th.

Winners will be drawn by random number generator on the 29th, and announced Thursday morning, July 30th. International residents welcome!

2. To receive an entry, subscribe to my blog. If you already do, just tell me.

3. For a second entry, blog about/link to this contest. And come tell me about it in the comments. Spread the love!

4. For a third entry, join Coveted Yarn's subscription here. Be sure to tell me about it!

5. And, you know what? For a fourth entry, follow me on Twitter (Maine Moxie).

I love Twitter!

Happy Summer everybody!

Good luck!

Contest starts tomorrow!

I have barely knit a stitch for over a month.

It took me an embarrassingly long time to finish a pair of 2x2 rib socks...so long, in fact, that I can't bring myself to tell you just how long it was.

Sad.

In order to cheer myself up, or perhaps to remind myself that I am still a knitter while I play Baker for the summer, I made plans to visit the Yarnpimp while in Gloucester last week.

And so I found myself wandering into Coveted Yarn, in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Gloucester ROCKS, by the way. If you are within an hour's drive of it, it is a must- do trip. I went to High School in Peabody, Bishop Fenwick to be exact, and hung out in Gloucester quite a bit.

Love, Love, Love it there.

It's a lot like my little island here in Maine, except it's much bigger, and you know, there's the fact that when you get sick of everybody you can just drive away.

Coveted Yarn is that inviting kind of yarn shop where you can spend an entire afternoon and not be in the way.

(Oh, come on! I'm not the only one who does that, am I? I once brought bagged lunches for my kids. That was at Shirley's, in Ellsworth, Maine. Those girls have a LOT of patience.)

And I would have spent the entire evening with Robert in Coveted Yarn, if there weren't a carload of people waiting for me in the parking lot. And one of them was Daddy. You do not keep Daddy waiting.

I knew I was in trouble just looking at Robert's (aka yarnpimp) website, which I've been ogling for months.

There are a lot of names, there. Seems like a lot of yarn.

And it is.

I walked into that store, and before I could get to Robert, my eyes were darting back and forth over the walls, taking stock.

Two steps in, and it began. My hands began to shake.

By the time I got to Robert, and began talking, I was all but laughing out loud; I know I was grinning from ear to ear.

I was in Heaven!

It must have been the wool fumes, intoxicating as they were; I was all but slurring in moments.

I wandered around the store, petting yarn in a drunken stupor, when the Yarnpimp sprang into action.

He began pulling out skeins of alpaca, waving them under my nose like Opium.

It had the desired effect. I was spellbound.

He went for some merino lace, and snatched it away before I drooled on it.

H rubbed something named Siam, from Italy, against my arm and I knew I would not live long without more of that feeling.

He flashed something shiny at me, and all I could think of was the children's story "Rainbow Fish".

That did it, snapped me out of the hazy fog I was in.

"Come back here! What is that? The shiny one, that looks like Rainbow Fish, what is that??!"

He lead me over to the wall to something called Merletto, by Louisa Harding.

Oh, my.

And there was a scarf, there by the skeins of Merletto. In green and blue, looking for all the world like the ocean. Waves in the ocean.

(Would you believe it was the Drop Stitch Scarf- the very first pattern I ever queued in Ravelry, and the very scarf that Kathy, in Oregon, knitted for me? Serendipity, indeed. I love that scarf. Thank You again, Kathy!)

And I thought, 'This must be shared with the world at large'.

I think things like that. I'm thoughtful that way.

And thus, this contest was born. Because I don't have the time to knit the things I want to, so I will enable you guys, and you will show these things to me. And when I need to feel yarn, I will go visit Robert, and he pluck things from his walls that make me swoon, and I can go back to my Mother's with glazed eyes, and she will say things like, "Your children are watching you! Compose yourself!"

I'm not sure, but I think she is not entirely happy with Coveted Yarn.

Non-knitters, they just don't get it.

She was smelling me when I got in the car. I felt like a teenager again.

I won't share what my Dad said. I made them very late for dinner. Me, in a nutshell.

Who says you can't go home again?

can I tell you I just want to roll around in that pile of yarny goodness?

The contest begins Wednesday morning. It is a very, very difficult contest.
Entries will be based on...um, visiting my blog. Subscribing, to be exact. Following, even.

And then you must visit Robert. Not because I want you to...trust me, because you will be glad you did.
It's summer. I need you all to be relaxed and knitting, so that I may live vicariously through you.
All I ask is that you continue to share the lovely things you make with me.

I'm easy.

Don't tell my husband.

Get a second entry for blogging about the contest. (Come back and tell me about it with a link.)

Get a third entry for signing up for the Coveted Yarn Newsletter.

And a fourth entry for following me on Twitter (Maine Moxie).

Good Luck!

No sign of slowing down...

Some pictures of the craziness that happens when we leave the island...

Are you all lovin' the Hawaiian shirt on The Big Guy?? I AM!

Ah, the joy of waking the kids up at 3am for the long ride home.

While in Goucester, Mass, I visited my friend Robert, aka yarnpimp on Rav, and owner of Coveted Yarn.

What a nice guy. And what a yarn shop! Holy Moly!

Robert has earned the nickname yarnpimp. Just let him show you some alpaca. Go ahead, I dare you to see what happens.

Robert and I have decided to team up for a CONTEST.

A YARN CONTEST.

A FABULOUS YARN CONTEST.

Details will be announced Monday and Tuesday, and the contest will begin Wednesday.

The yarn...oh, the yarn.

Is it wrong of me to sit and ogle the prizes for this contest?

Oh, well.

I had such a great time running all over New England that I did something really bad to my back.

Now, a smart person would take full advantage of this opportunity to sit in her screened in patio, knit voraciously, and have everybody wait on her hand and foot.

But you all know I can't stand anybody in my kitchen...and if I slow down, I may just fall apart completely.

And there is just too much going on!

Dog days of summer? Not on THIS island!

Saturday we celebrated the Grand Opening of the Offshore Store!

The Bakery raffled off a drool-inducing chocolate dessert (all you had to do to enter was visit the store), and the Store sponsored some door prizes.

We gathered at dusk for S'mores around the fire pit, and had a blast!

Tim won the Mystical Layer Bars, Cody, Brody, and Johnny won GIANT candy bars, and we all stuffed ourselves with smores.

And guess what???

WE'RE DOING IT AGAIN TOMORROW!

Another dessert 'raffle', more door prizes, more smores, and a PINATA!

Fun starts around 6pm.

There will be cinnamon rolls for breakfast (in a few hours, it seems...how is it almost 4am already??), and Lobster fra Diavolo for Sunday Dinner.

See you at the Store!

Vacation!

We left Friday morning on the Gott boat for what The Big Guy called "The tour of the Colonies".

Let's just say we did a lot of driving in a short amount of time.

We packed a lot of activities into that drive, as well, but I'll wait to show you the pictures.

Right now, I am sitting poolside, with Pina Colada in each hand.

Why? Because there are other adults here to watch the kids, and I can, that's why!

And I'm celebrating the completion.....that was COMPLETION, in case you missed it, of the Big Birthday Gift!

We have a few more glorious days here in Boston, and then we head back to The Rock, with sister #2 and another niece and nephew. In one car. With no wine. (Wait, I must correct that...I'm sure there will be whine, but not the kind I want.)

I have a 2gig SD card full of pics to go thru and upload, and I just don't want to play with it right now.

In an effort to save my sanity, I have decided to stay off the computer until Thursday afternoon, and relax with pina coladas, and frozen margaritas, and babysitters. I'll do things like get a haircut, and wax various parts of my body, and have other people paint my toenails. (Except for the one Meathead killed. It's still there, held on with super glue. I'm pretty sure the super glue is inhibiting the growth, but it's flip flop season, and, well...a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.)

And with any luck, I will look and feel human again by the time I have to leave.

I'm pretty optimistic that it can be done.

So come visit on Friday. I have so much to tell you!

Love, Marissa

pool party!

It only took three years and one Brother-in-law to get the pool up.

The Big Guy was dead set against this, for reasons I do not understand. I know they won't get a whole lot of use out of it (We live on an island off the coast of Maine. Our average daily temps are in the 60's. Seriously. Which is great for sleeping, not so much for pool-ing...), but if it's just going to sit in the attic anyway...we might as well set it up for the few days they can get in it.

It's good exercise, right?

I mean the setting up, not the swimming.

And having a pool gives one the perfect excuse for margaritas.

Frozen Strawberry Mango Margaritas.

Now, she'd like you to think she was drinking one, and carrying one to somebody else....

...but I refer you to this picture of an aimless stroll around the yard...with one in each hand....

Still Celebrating!

Because, well, why not??

Sister #1 was on the Sunday ferry with hubby and the kids...and an extra.

We've named him Chunks. I wanted to go with Spew, but Chunks was the majority favorite.

He won the name by projectile vomiting in the car on the ride to Maine. All over everybody in the backseat.

The girls were not impressed.

We grabbed them off the ferry, puked-on clothes and all, and jumped on our boat for a ride to Swans' Island- the island next to ours.

Note: this is the first time in YEARS I have just ''jumped on a boat" like that.

The gods were smiling on me that day, because there was nary a breath of wind, just a bit of chop, and...wait for it....the sun shone all day!!!

Swans' island PIK (People Interested in Kids, like PTO, but open to everyone) hosted a lobster dinner fundraiser. There was the dinner, lobsters and steamers and everything you'd expect to go with it, a chili cook-off, a pie bake-off, a 'bouncy house' for the kids, and the big hit- a dunk tank! There were lots of other games as well. The Things and my nieces were laden with prizes when we left.

We had a blast at the dinner. The ball field was small enough that the kids could run off on their own, and big enough that they thought they were on their own.

The food was fantastic (we had hot dogs, sausages, and lobsters), and Chris and I were asked to be judges of the pie bake-off.

Sweet!

Swans' Island is huge compared to Frenchboro! They have roads you can actually travel 40mph on!

Everybody we met was so nice; we made some new friends, and enjoyed some old ones.

People allowed us to tie up at their docks, picked us up (um, all 10 of us!), and drove us back to the dock at the end of the day. So nice! We were even offered a vehicle to use for the afternoon by somebody we hardly know. Who does that?! We politely declined, since we had Chunks with us...

I hope they do this fundraiser again next year! I know (believe me, I know!) how much work it is to put this kind of thing on, but they did a great job; it was very well organized.

Fabulous Fourth!

Things have been hopping here on The Rock. We've been in high gear getting the Library straightened out and ready for summer traffic. It's a great space, and I'm happy that there are some willing to volunteer to keep it a happy haven.

So much to do, so few people to make it all happen....

We started off our 4th of July activities with the annual parade. It was the usual cast of characters, with some very funny floats. We vote on a favorite every year, and this year's winner was Joe Lunt, as Fred Flintstone.

Hilarious!

Wilma and Betty. Wait, that's not right...

My other favorite.

Possibly because of this:

Barely room for the kids. The rest of the truck wasn't much better. In fact, I had so much stuff packed into the 'front' (meaning, not the bed- it looked like rain) of the truck, I had to call Tammy to meet me in Bangor to move some of it into her truck. Like, a whole Sam's order. And Thing Two's bike (more on that later).

The Things get really mad when I pack things onto their laps.

"Oh, it's just a short ride to the ferry! You'll be fine. It's a 30-pack of toilet paper, how heavy can it be??"

Following the parade, there was a cookout, some games, and an all-afternoon volleyball tournament.

....And, We Saw The Sun.

Swear to God we did! It was faaaantastic...I tried to sneak home mid-day while the kids were occupied to get some Bakery work done, and just couldn't make myself get out of the glorious sunshine!

After lazing in the sun all afternoon, we headed home for a relaxing hour or two on the patio, and then another cookout.

All through the day, I wandered back home to make up another batch of homemade hot fudge sauce for the ice cream social that evening.

I ended up doing 5 batches- the equivalent of 10 jars of fudge sauce. That was the most powdered sugar I've ever used in one day! It was worth every minute of stirring- that was hands-down the BEST fudge sauce I've ever had, and everyone loved it.

The ice cream social was my way of giving back to the community. I enjoy getting together with all my neighbors, and we were pretty sure we wouldn't see any fireworks because of the fog/rain.

And we were right!

When I mentioned to Tammy that I wanted to get together at the ferry pier, regardless of the fireworks, and have ice cream sundaes instead, she jumped on board and said the Offshore Store would love to help with the cost and provide free brownie sundaes to all!

It was wonderful! Darn near every islander showed up; even the less than stellar weather didn't keep anyone away.

tailgating!

every last drop of that fudge sauce was gone...which was a very good thing- I maxed out on it long before the ice cream party began. ooof.

It is a scientific fact that one cannot frown while eating ice cream. How great is that??!!

I love these get-togethers!

It was suggested that we charge a small fee, and donate the proceeds to a charity. Not to be a Grinch, but I rejected the idea.

We were celebrating our country's independence. We do a lot of fundraising on this island, and it was time to just have a celebration of ourselves.

And man, did that ice cream do the trick!

On behalf of Tammy (The Offshore Store) and myself (The Frenchboro Bakery), I would like to thank all of you who came to visit at the ferry pier, who rubbed elbows, and grinned from ear to ear with childish delight that only a hot fudge sundae can provide.

Same time next year!!

uh-oh

Marissa can't come to the phone right now, because of this:

Oh, yes.

Apparently I will be very busy reading 2747 emails from the last 2 months.

If you have emailed me, and are waiting for a reply...keep waiting!

I'm gonna be a while.

But, hey! At least it all works correctly now!