Pemaquid Point Lighthouse

The lighthouse that is pictured on Maine's state quarter: 

I confess to being the one of the world's worst tourists. Our plan after leaving the lovely beaches of Ounqunit behind was to drive up the coast of Maine to Acadia National Park. However after half a day of driving on congested roads and meditating on the fact that Acadia is the most visited national park in the United States, the idea of going there at this time of year became less and less appealing. Then we turned off the main road to visit a lighthouse on a peninsula . Five minutes off the main road,  the traffic disappeared. 20 minutes later, we arrived at the lighthouse and lo and behold, right across from the lighthouse was a lovely old hotel with a little cottage that practically had my name on it. 

My husband and I looked at each other and we both were thinking the same thing. An hour later we were settled into the little cottage and then spent the next two days exploring Pemaquid Peninsula. 

This set of photos is from our first evening there. 

More photos to come. 

Linked to Skywatch Friday. 

Mushrooms in a Maine Woods

Walking the trail at the Rachael Carson Nature Preserve headquarters in Wells, Maine, felt like stepping into the pages of one my favorite nature blogs--Gardenpath-life around a small garden in Maine.  The woods that Sandy has so beautifully photographed over the years seemed so similar to this little patch of woods on the edge of a massive salt marsh complete with the same soft light filtering through the white pine trees. I took many photos on the one mile trail and will start with sharing a few of the  mushroom photos I took.

Linked to Collage Obsession.

After 10 Days of Vacation...

I'm putting out a request that the remainder of my siblings who aren't married yet plan for a winter wedding. A destination wedding on a lovely beach in some tropical island in the month of February would be perfect. Then I wouldn't have to worry about coming home to a huge pile of ripe (and overripe) vegetables and a garden that is looking miserable because it was 90 degrees and sunny the whole time I was away. 

Not that I am complaining that my youngest brother and his bride chose to get married in her home state of Maine. It just meant that I would have to plan my vacation in the middle of harvest--because if I am going to drive 18 hours to a state I've never been to before, I am going to need some time to explore--especially if that state happens to be Maine!

Stay tuned for several posts on our adventures in Maine--and the couple of days we spent in the Finger Lakes area in upstate New York (which will be written in between canning and freezing the green beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers pictured above which I spent all picking today after getting home late last night). 

In the meantime, here is a small sampling of photos from some of the places we visited...

Lobster traps on the wharf and tubs full of sorted lobsters floating in the harbor in New Harbor, Maine, one of the few remaining working fishing villages in southern Maine.

There were many mushrooms in the woods at the Rachel Carson nature preserve in Wells, Maine. 

Dawn at Seneca Lake, the largest and deepest of all the Finger Lakes. 

Pemaquid lighthouse at Pemaquid Point near Bristol, Maine. 

Linked to Macro Monday and Mandarin Orange Monday. 

Beach Roses and Atlantic Skies

The Atlantic Ocean as seen after sunset from Ogunquit Beach in Ogunquit, Maine.

Wild beach roses line the beach...most were already past bloom when we were here on Sunday, but a few blooms and buds are still holding on. 

(Look for more photos from our recent Maine and Finger Lakes vacation coming to the blog...)

Thistledown

Linked to Macro Monday and Mandarin Orange Monday. 

Spiderweb

Four different views of the same spiderweb. 

Simple Skies

Some glimpses of everyday skies here in Michigan's countryside...

Into the blue. 

Sunset

Harvested wheat field. 

Linked to  Skywatch Friday. 

Free Range Kids

For the time being when we are home, we are letting the little goats out of the barnyard so they can run and play. They are definitely much happier as free range kids than  as barnyard goats. As soon as we open the gate and let them out, it is as if a switch is flipped and they start to romp, and leap frog, frolic and  play. Inside the pen, though they have plenty of room to run around, they are pretty sedate...which is not the way a kid should be. 

.So even though they are bound to get into trouble, and nibble on the hosta plants,  knock over  the onions I've set out to dry, and spend half the day racing back and forth on the balcony, seeing their joy in being free makes it all worth while. (Well, that and  the fact that they really do seek out the poison ivy to munch on-- makes it so much easier to sacrifice a few hosta plants and repeatedly pick up the onions.)

Quiet Corner

There is a quiet sadness 

in a broken tombstone 

in a forgotten corner--

yet that is where I 

would chose to be laid 

where the footsteps

that grace my grave

are of those who would stop 

and reflect for a moment 

before turning  back 

to the land the living. 

Forgotten --photo by Teresa Perin

Linked to Real Toads. Photo is  from Teresa's blog--Photography by Teresa. 

Teresa writes poetry at Razzamadazzle,

 blogs about her farm at Eden Hills,

and my favorite blog of all is by her feisty matriarch nanny goat, Millie, and the handsome young son,  Myson--A Goat's View of  Eden Hills. 

Modeling for the Camera

White Washed Sky

Rose of Sharon blossoms against the sky. 

Linked to Skywatch Friday. 

Moonlight and Evening

 Barefoot, I walk out to the garden. The air is gray and cool and smells of dirt and dill. Dodging water droplets, the wet earth soft on my feet,  I move the sprinkler to another section of tangled weeds and vegetables. In the distance goat bells chime. 
I stop at the barn yard to latch the gate and offer a goodnight treat to two little goats. The moon rises round and serene over the treeline.
Before heading  back inside where pickles and green beans wait to be processed, I stop and breathe deep of moonlight and evening. With each breath of evening, perfect contentment fills my lungs and courses through my veins. 

Linked to Real Toads. 

(This is my attempt at writing Zuihitsu, which is a genre of Japanese literature consisting of loosely connected personal essays and fragmented ideas that typically respond to the author's surroundings. The name is derived from two Kanji meaning "to follow" and "brush", and thus works of the genre should be considered not as traditionally planned literary pieces but rather as casual or randomly recorded thoughts by the author. For more information about Zuithitsu, click here.)