What a Lovely Day For a Parade!

Yesterday was the annual Lincolnville Strawberry Festival and everyone in town turned out for the event. The parade marched down main street, past Petunia Pump and the old General Store, leading all it's followers to the town Church grounds. While there, folks enjoyed music played by the Lincolnville band, games for children, a book sale, ponies and even a clown. Of course there was enough strawberry shortcake and strawberry pie, served up by local ladies, to feed three towns.

 Lincolnville is in the middle of an effort to raise funds for their new library. They are moving the old, one-room school house from one location to another and that old school house will become the new library. Right now, a temporary library is set up in a small building called "Grandpa's Hall". I have included a link to my Flickr page at the bottom of the post so you can look at the photos I took of the day.

Here is the link to look at the other Festival  photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/82121288@N03/sets/72157630470372114/


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After spending some time at the Festival, I headed over to the cottage to do some work. It was terribly hot so I had to take a water break every 15 minutes but I was still able to get a lot done.

This is an old bush that was pretty much dead except for the offshoots it put out from the old wood. It was much too close to the house and needed to come down in order to paint and put on a new roof. It was also blocking the view of the meadow from the front of the house.

I also pruned the Scotch pines that border the property. 

                          After

Before

This Sunday morning is breezy and cool. Such a nice respite from the heat of last week. I think I will take my time this morning and read my book, sip some tea and enjoy the pumpkin muffins I just made. Then later off to the cottage I will go to trim another tree or weed another garden. 

Life is good and I am joyfully thankful!

This recipe makes enough for 2 large loaves or 1 large loaf, one mini loaf and 12 tiny muffins...

(Note: Notice 7 muffins are missing...those darn mice!)

Here's the recipe I used: 

Pumpkin Bread and Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 small sugar pumpkin, seeded or 1 can of pumpkin
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil 
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup raisins and 1/2 cup walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups or loaf pans.
2. Split pumpkin in half. Remove seeds and strings. Place on baking sheet, cut side down. Cover with foil and bake in preheated oven until tender, about 90 minutes. Remove pumpkin pulp and puree in blender. Measure out 2 cups pumpkin puree; set aside or open one 12 oz. can.
3. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, nuts, raisins, baking soda, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together 2 cups pumpkin puree, vegetable oil and eggs. Stir pumpkin mixture into flour mixture until smooth. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

An Apple a Day...

The old adage is "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" but in this case, when there are NO apples the doctor must perform major surgery. I played the doctor yesterday when I decided to perform a complicated surgery on an apple tree that has clearly not produced fruit in many years. This tree, which stands in the front of the cottage, was being strangled to death by several offshoots or suckers. It was a mess.

I got out my loppers and bow saw and delicately began removing each of the offshoots without cutting into the main trunk, until it was completely free.

Then the pruning and cutting back began. It's kind of like life I guess, when I'm not feeling productive or things just aren't going the way I want them to, I start cutting back and pruning things out of my life until I get the desired results. In the case of the unproductive apple tree, I cut it back hard. The object is to keep it low for easy picking and to try to train the branches to bend downward, clipping back most of the secondary branches that grow straight up. It will take years to do that with this tree because it was left unattended for so long. It doesn't even look like the same tree anymore but I bet it will have some apples next year. I can't wait! I'll keep you posted.

It has been exactly one week since I bought the house and so much has already been done. Each day I try to do a little inside and out but since Michael has been working on a few other construction jobs 

this week, I have pretty much spent my time outside. 

While weeding, I found this rock buried in one of the old gardens and thought how appropriate it was since Michael lives in the Town of Friendship, Maine and our friendship is what is inspiring us to restore and care for this little house.  

My son Tim gave me a Nikon Coolpix P500 camera last Christmas and I am finally putting it to good use. The property offers many opportunities to use it.

I shot this dragonfly yesterday from 8 feet away and look how clear it came out!

A close up of a moth.

A Ride With Clyde

Yesterday I was treated to a unique opportunity. I got to take a ride in a 1923 Model T named "Clyde" which is owned by the Cellardoor Winery in Lincolnville, Maine. The Winery and The Youngtown Inn, also of Lincolnville, are teaming up this season to offer guests a very rare experience...a  ride in an antique automobile that will take folks down a country road to a private wine tasting at the Vineyard and then off to a four-course gourmet meal prepared by French chef Marcel Mercier at the Inn. The Model T will be driven by local historian Rosey Gerry. The car was named Clyde in honor of 

Clyde Young who was one of the earlier owners of the Winery property when it used to be a family farm in the early 1900's. The cost is $130 per couple. 

What a deliciously romantic way to spend an evening, don't you think?

If you are interested you can call 207 763-4290 for reservations. 

The real Clyde is pictured here in the center on a wagon, with his father Winfield Young and his brothers Albert and Bradford. His mother stands in the doorway. The photo was taken by sister Ellen around 1921 at the family farm which is now the Cellardoor Winery in Lincolnville, Maine.

The Youngtown Inn

Overlooking the Vineyard at the Cellardoor Winery.

This is Clyde, the 1923 Model T with owner Bettina Doulton (L) of Cellardoor Winery, MaryAnn Mercier owner of Youngtown Inn and local Historian Rosey Gerry at the wheel. 

Flowers Galore

 A few days ago, while checking out a large rhododendron that will have to be moved within a few weeks,  I caught a glimpse of a little pink bud poking it's head out from behind the knee high weeds in the garden by the side of the house. When I pushed the grass away I discovered a lovely little rose bush. Because the buds had not opened yet, I was not sure what it would look like.

What a delightful surprise I discovered yesterday when I checked the rose again. It is so bright and fragrant and hopeful! I will have to find a better place for it because where it is now is not sunny enough and I'm actually surprised it's done this well in that spot. Obviously it's a very hardy rose.

The meadow provides bouquets of gorgeous wildflowers. The fragrant heliotrope fills the air with it's delicious aroma and all around, the black-eyed susan, crown vetch, 

daisies and Queen Anne's Lace bloom. 

Milkweed flowers are everywhere too, so of course, we have hundreds of Monarch butterflies fluttering by each day.  

The Cupboards Come Down

                 Happy 4th of July everyone! This summer is just flying by.

So much happened yesterday. We continued mowing the large lawn around the house, which is taking a long time because the grass is so high. We do a little bit at a time.

               Michael took down the rest of the walls in the bedroom with the help of his son Matthew. 

      He also took out a window and installed planks so we can walk right out to the dumpster.

Michael then installed a piece of plywood with hinges so we can lock the place up 

when we leave at night. We just slide the planks in and close the door. Genius!

     Matthew ripped out all the rugs and pads in the living room and dining area as well as the hallway.

After that, we moved the clean refrigerator down to the basement and then started to tear out the cupboards and range from the kitchen. 

                                                 We found a bit of a mess under the range.

We'll reuse the cupboards in the new kitchen after they are cleaned, sanded and painted. The cupboards are still in good condition and it will help save a lot of money. The half-wall you see in this photo and the sink base will probably come out next. The door is also going to be removed and a window will go in it's place. 

This is the wall where we will put the range in the new kitchen. We just wanted to see what it will look like so we put them there temporarily. The upper cupboards will also be installed above the range. 

The light in this room is just lovely. It will make a great kitchen space.

At the end of the day, I walked around the property just to look at all the beautiful plants and 

trees growing there. 

This is a magnificent old Walnut tree growing just outside the house. Very rare to see one of these in Maine so I am going to take very good care of it. 

The ladder and line will come down soon.

Although they look like sumac, I found a small grove of young walnut trees growing at the edge of the meadow. I think they are small enough to dig up and transplant around the property. A squirrel must have buried the walnuts in that place a few years ago and they all grew up. 

How lucky for us that he forgot about them!

A Busy Monday

Today we had a dumpster delivered and we got our new lawn tractor...all before 9:00 am! We've already started to fill the dumpster with the trash left on the property and then we'll fill it with debris from the renovations.
                                                   Michael takes the new tractor for a spin.

The dumpster

Michael mowed part of the lawn today while I collected lots of pots I found discarded in the woods. I'm going to dig up all the lovely perennials on the property and create new gardens with them, after we finish the exterior repairs on the house of course.

Here I am, getting to know the new tractor.

The pots I collected.

After we worked in the yard, we started to take down the ceiling and walls in the master bedroom. You can see the insulation in the attic before we took down the ceiling. We were very happy to see how well insulated it was. We'll keep the batts of insulation and reuse them in the new ceiling.

                                 Here Michael is taking down the wall between the two bedrooms.

Lastly, I started to clean an old refrigerator that was left in the house. We'll use it in the cellar for storing food while we renovate. It was so dirty, but after hours of cleaning, it's starting to look new again. I found an old spiritual book tucked in the back of the fridge. I hope it's a good omen!

The day ended with a beautiful rain storm that swept across the meadow. 

  

Sunday......A Day of Rest?

Although Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest and relaxation, we just had to get over to the house and at least try mowing a little path through the high grass. We also needed to trim the branches blocking the driveway.

                         Michael mowed a small path with the push mower just so we could get 
                                                         to the door and around the house.

                                                            So much more to do but it's a start!