Paper Beats Rock Everytime!

Check out the very cool site. I used to do this kind of stuff as a kid all the time. Drawing caricatures of sports figures and then making them into paper figures.

http://www.paperrobots1999.com/model04.html

Enjoy!

I'm seeing spots!

Saturday morning we headed to the Stone zoo in Stoneham. It's not a zoo of stone rocks.

I haven't been to that zoo in eon's.
It's a really nice zoo. I like how they fused the exhibits in with the walking paths.

We walked around and saw everything. They have a great collection of animals. Ellie loves the zoo and you can never go wrong with a toddler and dangerous animals... I think the animals would agree.

Harry Potter!

Friday Night we had planned to go see a movie since we were spending
the night at my parents. J got Ellie done and we headed out for a 9:00 show. Thanks again Mom letting us go.

Going to the movies always seems like a new experience. We seem to go maybe 3 times a year... without Ellie. Before Elle we used to go all the time. Things change. Well, Potter was a lot of fun.
Darker and emotional. It's kinda weird to see that kid grow up on screen but it's incredible.

I liked the last movie a lot more if might be my favorite but this one is right up there. We're already plotting to get Ellie hooked on the series when she's old enough to start reading them. We'll be getting them all on DVD.

Yesterday J bought the latest and last book in the series. I read the last page.

Hopefully we'll see Transformer's next time!

Swan Boating with Nana

Happy Birthday Mom!

J, Ellie, Christine, Anastacia, Auntie Elaine and my Mom went to ride the swan boast in the public gardens to celebrate my Mom's Birthday. From the pictures that I saw they had a great time. And Ellie got a magnet and a little stuffed swan to commemorate the day. They saw lots of ducks and of course lots of other kids.

After the ride they went over to Newbury Street to have lunch. Elaine taught us a new trick to get Ellie to eat all her food. Elaine told Ellie she loves grilled cheese... Well, Elle took that as Elaine was going to eat it. Sure enough Elle ate all her lunch.

They headed back Everett And she took a little cat nap in the car.

We're glad you had a great time Mom! So did J and Ellie! Maybe this is the start of a new tradition! QUACK!

Mike Simpson

Go to http://www.simpsonsmovie.com
and make yourself a Simpson's character. It's easy and laugh out loud fun!

DOH!!

Mike

Pink Flamingo Parade

Yup that's right... a pink flamingo. Apparently the Southwest portion of the island officially adopted the Pink Flamingo as their icon. Why? They live on an island and the winter's a pretty freak'in cold... To quote Mike from Maine "In the winter all we do is pretty much gamble and drink". I assume this decision cam from either a very bad bet or an excellent mixed drink. Either way we're glad they did it because we've never seen anything like this.

We're heading off the island and we'll hit the parade as we leave. Perfect. We packed and headed off. Go-at a parking spo-at and found a good space to see the parade. The family we rented from had their son participating in it. They had a pink golf cart in the guest house's garage which was the book mobile that encouraged reading. Logan their son would be driving it. That's him in the picture!

A retired couple in front of us encouraged Elle to sit next to them on the curb so she did. She's getting bolder and not so clingy. She sat with them and then some kids to her right. All them got along great because they were collecting candy that was being thrown from the floats. The kids got candy and I got blindsided in the side of the head with a Frisbee. EXCELLENT PROMOTIONAL IDEA! Projectile flyer's being flung from the parade. I was fine, just let me get this Frisbee for Elle.. Whoops.. there's an old lady picking it up and walking away with it. Enjoy that Frisbee at 82. You looked pretty limber bending over and picking it up. Oh well. I actually smirked as she took it. One of those moments you feel your on camera.

The parade was great. Lots of fun businesses and float ideas. And sure enough we saw a group of people on a float singing... Hey those are the people from the Deck House. And wouldn't you know it... They broke singing to say hi to Ellie. We hear "Hello Ellorie!" Too funny. We felt like we were already a part of the small community. It was a great feeling.... well not the Frisbee to the noggin . We also bumped into Victoria And Dave who we rented from. It was nice to just chat with them for a bit now that all the business was over maybe it seemed easier to just talk. Victoria had lost her voice so she didn't have much to say. It sounded like it hurt. She's a Gardner so she must really talk to all her plants. Ha

The parade ended and we walked the flea market atmosphere of tents and tables. Maybe before we hit the road we should have lunch. Good idea... I see a sign that says $8 – lobster roll. J and Elle got hot dogs. $8 lobster roll... I should have gotten 2 for that price. It was good.

We run into our waiter from last and and another singer from the show. They had never seen anything like this either. And couldn't wait to get back to the local madness. We're off. In the car and on the zoo that we promised Ellie we would go to. Not the best or friendliest zoo we've been too. Next time I'd skip it.Elle liked it so that's all that counts.

5 hour drive from the zoo ( no traffic- we did well) . No nap either but yet the wonder child didn't have any break downs. She played on her own and pretended to read her books. J dished out the occasional treat for all of us. Nutter Butter's and Cheddar Fishes.

When we got home we unpacked and I visited Kit to thank her for watering the yard and plants. It was hot and dry here so she did it every other day. We gave her a bottle of wine from the Sweet Pea Vineyard.

Until the next vacation.

I worked on the grapevine today. Pruned it to expose them to more sun. I'm guessing we'll have more grapes this year than 2 years ago which was around 18-20 lbs. There's a ton in the yard.
I'll post a few photos of what we've got so far.

Night,

Mike

The Blog Must Go On – The Deck House

!Read the blog first before watching the clip!

Our last night on the island and J picked something to do that we've never done before. The Deck House.
http://www.thedeckhouse.com/
A restaurant on the water that has a great menu.. the catch is the wait staff are performers and in between serving's they perform songs. Friday night had a western theme. We were the first diners to arrive and we got more attention than we could handle. The server's loved Elle and kept telling her to go request a Little Mermaid song because the piano player knew it. So J and Elle requested it and a few songs later and when she was mid eating heard a few notes and alerted us "This is my song!!!!"

We were still getting visited by other waiter's and waitresses just to talk to Ellie. She loved the attention but when they started to perform she wasn't quite sure of it. Then something just clicked and we couldn't get her to stop dancing around the table and waving at the performers... she became a distraction ( or you could say she became part of the show). Typically performer's don't like to be upstaged but this group took a surprising turn. They wanted to use Elle as a prop and through out the show she would get visited and some one would lift her up during the performance.

In between songs our performing bartender came over and interrupted Elle as she's stirred her pineapple juice as if it were scotch on the rocks and asked her (not me... they saw right past J and I) if when he came over if she would give him a high five.... Ellie's response "sure". They practiced and then the lights dimmed and he was off. Sure enough he danced over and she gave him a high five on cue. At this point we realized the audience as well as the performer's were loving Elle's enthusiasm for the singing and dancing.

In between each number a performer would visit and chat with Elle.... I felt like a body guard...

"C'mon buddy the chicken finger's are here.. I gotta blow on them too cool them off... beat it!

We can't say enough about it. It was a blast. To be honest J and I had no clue how she would react to the music. She might have thought it was too loud or scary... NOPE! And it was a pleasant surprise.

After the show we got visited by other tables wanting to say Hi to Ellie and guess her age. J & Elle went over and thanked the pianist who also played "Mov'in Right along" from the Muppets... We didn't request it but "how did he know?" hehehe All the performer's were saying good bye to Elle and she was still motoring despite it was pretty late.

We got back to the house poured a glass of wine and walked down to the harbor to smell the ocean and listen to the sounds of the harbor one last evening.

It was a perfect last night. She is spoiling us with her absolutely wonderful behavior. We realize that maybw e can do more with her than we give her credit for. BRAVO ELLE!

Enjoy the above video of one of the songs.

Mike

Maine word of the day:

Ho-am: We're home.
And we have more to post. We went to the Flamingo Festival.

Accordian on the ferry

Wundah-land

We woke up with the sun burning through the screen porch in our bedroom. That hasn't happened yet! With the sun out we quickly got up and ready to do a hike up the road. The trail is known as Wonderland. A mild hike that's perfect for kids. It funneled us out to a beautiful rocky beach that was very quiet. Elle and I wadded in the ice cold water that made out knee's buckle while J took pictures of us and the beach.

Moving up the beach we found some tidal pools with warm water in them that we quickly dipped our feet into. Ahhhh. Elle and I climbed the rocks getting closer to the tide as it crashed in. Of course we were trying to get soaked!

On the other side of the path was the bay side which had another beach but no crashing tide. We decided to go over there for small snack and drink of water from J's backpack. We all looked for shells and those black hot rocks. It was like we were 3 kids looking at the rocks and trying to see sea life. We collected a hand full of rocks and shells and a piece of drift wood for future crafts... maybe a Bar Harbor Christmas ornament in the making.

We had reservations for the horse drawn wagon to take us over to Jordan Pond for afternoon tea. How lovely! Back at the house we cleaned tried to look civilized for our tea with Duke & Ted... the 2 horses that pulled the wagon. J got Ellie all dressed up in a green dress that had a print of tea pots. She also straightened her hair and put it back like a "grown-up".

J and I have done Jordan Pond every time we've come here. This was Elle's first. She didn't care much for the pop-vers or the lemonade or the bubble mountains... she liked Duke and Ted.... and the 4 year old Auggie sitting in front of us on the carriage. I think this is the third boyfriend she's had on this trip. Uhg! He wasn't a very well behaved young man to be having tea but J, Ellie & I thought that sharing some toys with him might just cool him off from making googley eyes at Elle.

J & I loved the pop-overs. She had iced tea and I had iced coffee in the hot sun of the grounds. As Elle would say "How Divine". When we got off the tour back at the stables Elle wanted to give Auggie a hug. Auggie's Mom suggested that Elle get on the grass because Auggie gets a bit excited and could possibly knock her over in the act of hugging... OK then! They were from California and Auggie's Mom talked to J a lot on the return carriage ride back. She was traveling with her parents who seemed to really appreciate the nice little girl sitting behind them more than their own grandchild.

We did a lot in the first half of the day and Elle nodded off quickly in the car. So we're back here giving Elle a nap, J's on the balcony reading her Phillip Craig book and I'm updating you all watching "National Lampoon's European Vacation".

Our last night on the island we're going to the Deck House. Dinner and a live show. Should be fun!

Have a good afternoon.

Mike

Little Cranberry Island

The commuter ferry to Little Cranberry Island left at 3:00. We headed out at 2:30 to catch it. Tucked away in SW harbor is the dock. A small mixed group of people were on the boat – vacationers and islanders. The Capt. counted 8 and turned to Elle, J and I "I saw some porpoises on my way over here. We'll keep an eye out for more". J was more excited about that news than Elle was.

The boat made 3 stops. 1. to a near by dock on NW Harbor, 2. Great Cranberry Island and 3. an unexpected stop to let a local and her son off on an island we aren't familiar with. We stayed on the main deck of the small boat. It seemed the locals went up top. The sun was hot anyway. I took a zillion shots of the boats and mountains. When I loaded the camera up for this entry I saw that we had taken 166 pics just tonight... just a few huh?

We chatted with a local woman who was heading out to the island to have dinner with a friend. She was very nice and reminded me of our neighbor Kit. Physically and personality wise. We all scattered when we exited the boat. J, Elle and I Went East to see a jeweler and some painters. We didn't have to worry about Elle too much walking since there aren't many cars and everyone was either on bikes or in a golf cart ( I didn't see any clubs).

We got to the jewelers and it had closed at 4:00.... It was 4:15. The store was not on a foundation and it didn't look steady. A small woman from the house right next door asked if we wanted to see the store, she had a key and would be happy to let us in (she was a friend of the store owner who wasn't around...yup, we're on an island ah ya). HEAVY MAINE ACCENT! SHe mentioned the store was an old shack from the harbor and instead of destroying things they try and have secondary uses. And at some point soon they'll put it on a foundation.

Next we headed over to a gallery. J's sister Cherie had bought a wood cut print from this gallery years ago. It's a beautiful space. The 2 owners were there and invited us in and extended Ellie an invitation to sit at a drawing table and have fun creating some art. She did and they enjoyed watching in her so we could walk the 2 floors of the gallery. Not typically a trait of a shop owner... they usually want the kids hand cuffed to tree outside the store.

I'll spare you the conversation with them but they were delightful and they really enjoyed watching Elle as they are expecting their first grandchild in Sept. They were both islanders and painters with some great work and if we could we would have bought a painting but they were a little over priced. As J said "most of that stuff is kitchen art with dining room prices". Funny and true!

On to Isleford for dinner.

J had steak, Elle had pasta, I had a Quahog and a Caribbean seafood stew dish. Good, Good and Good!

Elle was an angel for dinner. Completely well behaved and we were told as much by the couple next to us who were clearly marveling over her throughout their dinner and until we getting dessert they finally let us know how impressed they were. That was very nice of them. I think they felt they owed it to her since when our waitress was bringing over dessert Elle squeled in excitement but they dessert got delivered to them... It was hysterical!

We timed it right. Right after dinner we had 10 minutes to enjoy the sunset as we waited for the ferry back. When we got on to the boat we saw our Kit look-a-like and she was with her dinner partner who was toting an accordian. Sure enough he went up on the top deck and played. We went up and enjoyed him playing some great jigs while Elle danced around mesmorized! It was perfect and the views were incredible! I took video of the playing and the dancing.

When we got home we wanted to enjoy the evening a little more so we headed down the road and each got a drink. Listening to the waves and the clanging bells doesn't get old.

Wow, I'm tired!

Til tomorrah

In Addition...

Afternoon,

Thanks for checking on the blog. We really get a huge kick out of seeing you guys posting comments. So thanks a lot!

Also, the postings have been lengthy and I'm trying to do them quickly so the spelling has not been great. My apologies.

As for now it started out foggy but it's very sunny out now! We're all a bit wiped out so we're resting since we''ll be out on Lil' Cranberry for awhile tonight.

I'll try and post some photos from the island later tonight!

Fo-ahg

It's Thursday morning and we just had breakfast at Maddy's again. Mike wasn't there today. J And Elle are out Salt water pottery shopping and I'm updating the blog.

Yesterday was foggy. ALL DAY!
So we shifted our schedule since the views and sights were no where to be seen. We started our day heading north toward the Bar Harbor brewery. I wanted to pick-up a case of the Real Ale. They have tasting's every half hour but we didn't partake... I knew what I wanted. We also picked up a bottle opener I'll mount on the back porch at home.

From the brewery we headed over to the Sweet Pea winery. The only winery on the island. Here we did some tasting's. A young French man poured our wine and gave us the skinny on the wine's. We didn't like the fruit wines which we typically don't like anyways.
The wine was good not great so we picked up a few of the white and merlot.

Onto the Abbey museum. A small Native American museum in the park. Elle bolted in and started to stare at the diarama's. She really took to the museum and the gift shop. There wasn't a ton to see so we left and headed home.

Not far from us is a sign for homemade soaps. Elle had nodded off in the car so J decided to lengthen her nap by stopping in and seeing what they had. A cute small shop in nestled into a wooden area on the grounds of a much larger house was the soap shop. J picked up a few things and raved about the shop and how great it was inside.

At home we settled in for a bit to get ready for dinner. We went across the harbor to Thurston's Lobster pound to "rough it". Outside of Thurston's are giant steamers and boilers. We ordered and found seats on the lower pier. Elle made new friend while we were waiting for dinner. His name was Gabe and he and his folks came from Now York state. Gabe was 3 and chatted up a storm. I think they were crushing on each other. J snapped a pic of them but it was tough since Gabe was a ball of energy and wasn't able to stand still.

My steamers came and then my lobstah. The landlubber's (Elle & J) got a hot dog and a chicken sandwich. Elle and J played with my empty clams shells. As J told Elle to get her attention "this is an early form of playing blocks, just like the Native Americans used to do". I gave J credit for her on the fly completely made-up folk lore.

After dinner we went into SW Harbor and got ice cream. The owner loved Elle she picked her right up and started to show her the ice cream and see which flavor Elle wanted. She was going to bring Elle behind the counter to make the cone but Elle reached for Mommy. We hung outside the shop eating our dessert listening to live music coming from the pub across the street. A few Jimmy Buffet cover's.

We watched the movie "Flika" at home. Another late night but it seems to help Elle sleep the night.

Today. We are heading over to Little Cranberry Island to walk the small island and then have dinner at Isleford Dock. One our most favorite places to eat on the planet.
J and I had a memorable dinner there the first time we came here years ago. Tonight we'll share it with Elle.

Maine word of the day:

Shuck- To divest clams of their inards.

Later,

Skipping stones and seeing stars

Goo-wad Mawn'in,

We had a late night night last night.
After dinner we had a beautiful sunset down the street. So I brought my camera down to see if I could get some good shots.

I sat on the ground on the boat put-in and got some good shots. After the sunset J & Elle came down to join me. Elle walked to the shore line picked up a sea shell and hurled it into the harbor. So we all started doing it. I can't say exactly but we did it for awhile. We got totally caught up in just skipping stones and making plops with the large rocks. Elle would collect stones and hand them out and then tell us where to throw them or what boat to hit. Looking at the clock we realized we had to get back to get ready to enjoy a star gazing talk on Sand Beach in Acadia for 9:30.

On the way to the beach we were driving on Park Loop road which is the main road for Acadia Nat. Park. I'm flicking my high beams on and off so that cars coming around the corner have a clue. I spot something a little different in the road... a deer. Literally a deer in the head lights. She watched us for a bit and then darted into the woods. Pretty Cool. The Native Americans call that "Good Medicine".

When we got to the beach it was pitch black. We could hear lots of kids. Everyone was sprawled out on their blankets and talking to the ranger who was going to give the talk.

Once we all got out night vision settled it started. It wasn't cold at all and it was extremely interesting. The best part was she has a laser pointer that shot out light for 15,000 feet. So she could literally point out the stars and constellations.

We got home late and Elle was an angel!

We're planning our day for today. See ya

Seal of Approval!

Afternoon,

Yup this is an early entry. We had a great morning and afternoon. The day started very foggy. TO clear things up we thought coffee would help so we went in SW Harbor to Maddy's for breakfast. Elle got the biggest pancake I have ever seen, J got eggs and I got French toast. I think we'll go back again before we leave.

Our waiter Mike (who had a wicked Maine accent) chatted us up about where we came fro-ham. When we replied RI he quickly asked "Red So-ax fans?" Well, we started talking about the season and he shared that the only things people do on the island in the off months is drink and gamble. In 2004 he claims to have collected $10,000 in gambling winning due to the So-ax's World Series victory.

Our plans were to go on a nature cruise that left out of the harbor down the street from us. This cool fog didn't seem to want to co-operate with our plans. Despite the claim of $10 g's Mike seemed believable so we asked his opinion on the status of this weather.

Mike from Maddy's weather report: Rainy til the weekend.

We walked around SW Harbor for a bit to sort out what we'll do for the day. We headed into the bike rental shop to get a feel for pricing and where we could go for an easy trail with Elle in tow. They gave us what we needed to hear and then we asked the middle aged spandex wearing salesman his status on the weather was.


Middle aged Spandex cyclist: Clear and Sunny. The fog is going to burn off.

Great but across the street completely says the opposite... I thought this was an island. Oh wait it's still New England and weather controversy's are the best topic of conversation.

We decided to get some lunch for our picnic. We going ahead with our nature cruise. We can change the weather and this fog ain't so bad. As we were checking out we asked the cashier her take on the weather for today.

She agreed with So-ax Mike. Foggy and cool... not good.

We got home and called to make reservations for our nature cruise. Uh oh. They might not go out... it's too foggy to see anything. Call back at 10. As we came up with Plan's B & C for the day 10 came around. By the tone is J's voice we were on for the cruise.

We packed up and headed down the street on foot. A small group of bundled up people got on board. It was cold on the water. We headed out with no guarantee's of any wild life. It would surely be ther but we might not see past the stern.

Hey there's a duck, a seagull, a lobster bouyee a rocky island covered in seals!!!!
JACK POT! Elle giggled the passenger's started clicking away. I've never seen harbor seals in the wild. This was cool and we got pretty close. They seemed completely un affected. The water is too cold for sharks... seals don't like sharks... seals in turn love cold water... smart. A few dropped into the water and popped back up.

We continued on the tour seeing old quarry site that harvested granite for New England and Boston that have since been abandoned. Then concrete came into play and no more granite harvesting. A Boston Court house is completely made out of Black Island, ME granite.

Lots and lots of Harbor seals now. But now we are looking for Gray Seals which had been endangered a while back. They are double the size of a harbor seals and have spots oh and they are gray.. Sure enough we see lots of them sunning themselves... That's right! THE SUN! Spurts of sunshine managed to break through the fog and the seals found it. Still foggy but it was burning off.

We made a leisurely route to Frenchboro, an 80 person population that was so bare with civilization they brought foster children onto the island to continue it's longevity where the other islands were getting abandoned. Very much a lobster and fishing community We waited to dock as the pier was counting a lobsterman's pull.

This time of year is very bad for lobstering. The lobster's are loosing their shell's to grow back another one. While they do this they grow about a half an inch. So the price of lobster is very high here. Dock price is $6.75 a pound (that's the pier owner buying from the lobster boats). Normally it's around $3.75. They expect the traps to be double or triple what they are now come August.

All the passenger's ate their lunch at the deli on the dock. We brought our own so we wandered the island for a bit to find a nice spot. The church had some nice green space and picnic tables. It was a decent walk but it was a great spot to see the harbor.

The tour members had to walk to another pier anyway so they walked by our spot and we just continued on with them when we finished lunch. By now the sun is completely out and we are taking off our jackets and sweating. Mike better stick to betting on the So-ax and stay away from weather gambling... which should be legal in this region.

As we headed back to Bass Harbor our captain had a few lobster traps he wanted to check on. A former commercial lobsterman suited up with orange pants and hoisted 3 traps out of the water. The 1st 2 traps had a catch of crabs. He tossed them back: A. they were too small and B. they get 35 cents a lb. The 3rd trap J and Ellie got closer to the capt. and sure enough a few more crabs but this time a lobster. Too small to keep but he measured him up with his lobster ruler regardless. He did however keep a crab that was a good size.

Shortly after that we were docking and we were all wiped out. We walked up to the house started some laundry and are taking it easy til dinner. We'll be grilling some chicken, roasted potatoes and corn on the cob. But before then I need to go get some Bar Harbor Real Ale at the liqour store. I'm off!

Til later tonight if there's anything to report! Maybe this sunlight will give us a sunset!

Maine word of the day:
Mike the waiter used "wicked" alot today but we're familiar with that. So I chose another one he used while we talked So-ax.

Ro-at: To decompose.
As Mike put it. "Do you think they're gonna let Lester ro-at down in Pawtucket?"

Ellie has never been higher

Literally.

1,532 feet, is the highest point along the N. Atlantic seaboard. Until Elle gets on a plane or climbs Mt. Everest this is the highest she's ever been. The morning started with sun and a warm breeze coming in off the water. We had fresh muffins on the sun porch and watched as our street had more traffic than we've seen since getting here. Along with the port down the street there's a ferry further down the road. So we saw people heading off to their aquatic commute.

We got an early start and headed into Acadia to climb Cadillac Mountain... in the car. The day grew more overcast and gray with spots of sweet sunshine. The drive up the mountain was fun. Elle was looking for dolphins and laughing at Mommy since J was freaking out on the tight turns close to the edge. We took it slow since I was enjoying the views as well.

It wasn't too busy at the top. What it was was windy and chilly. We wandered around on the rocky top taking in the view. We saw cruise ships and the Bar Harbor Wind jammer that sports burgandy sails. Elle counted the islands. She clocked 8. Auntie Elaine sent Ellie some binoculars (or as Elle says Biancalas) and she used them to look for whales and boats. Thanks Auntie!

J and Elle hit the gift shop to seek some refuge from the cold wind. I stuck it out for some more photography. We treated ourselves to some chocolate covered cranberries for the ride down the mountain. We tooled around the Acadia roads for a bit before heading off to Bat Harbor for lunch.

The Quarterdeck. Too cold to go on their deck but the second floor view was just as good. My 1st lobster roll of the week. Chunks of lobster. They knew what they were doing. We watched the cruise ships and different tours come and go off the pier. Bar Harbor was hopping. A small cruise ship brought in lots of flatlanders.

After lunch we walked up the hill into town. J & Elle each got a new BH fleece. I couldn't find anything I liked but I'm sure I will. Poking around into different shops was fun but Elle was getting bored with it and the bribe of ice cream was wearing off. It started to rain so we sought some creamy shelter into an ice cream parlor. Since I had lobster for lunch I couldn't get the lobster ice cream but.

Back home we all took late naps. That was nice.
Still chilly J fired up the gas burning fireplace. It got the house perfectly toasty!

Elle and I hung out while J plotted our course for the week while a Hanaford's pizza was baking in the oven. After dinner we walked down to Mainely-Maine cafe. A little shanty establishment that mostly serves locals and commuters. I doubt it gets many vacationers. They were happy to see us as they were pretty quiet at the moment. We just got some blueberry pie, coffee and tea. The pie was excellent. Choke full of local berries and the crust was slightly overdone to have a bitter taste. It was perfect with he sweet berry.

No sunset tonight since it stayed gray. Tomorrow is expected to be clearer.
We getting breakfast in Southwest Harbor (Maddy's) and getting a picnic together for a nature cruise out to Frenchboro island. The boat leaves right down the street from us.

Until tomorrow!

Maine word:
Yonder– Away from where you are now.

Ship Harbor

We had a not so bright but early start today. Elle was up early (as usual when we can sleep late) and it was fairly overcast which was predicted. We enjoyed a simple breakfast and I ran out to the local market for some fresh coffee to hold me off til we went shopping for all the important stuff.

J, Elle and I went for a damp walk after I got back with my joe. We strolled down the street to see locals waiting for friends and family to get off the incoming ferry. And then spent some quality time with some hungry seagulls looking for early morning bait from the fishermen. We didn't have the heart to tell them it was Sunday and the fishermen clearly took the morning off.

With the weather being rainy we decided to go the the L.L. Bean outlet store. So did everyone else. We didn't see much. They had a lot of winter items...perfect huh?. But we did manage to find Elle a jacket. From there we headed across the street to Hanaford's. We got everything we needed but we held off on buying the $11.99 Red Sox wine. I had heard of it but I had never seen it. We have some wine we still need to drink and I'm a beer away from buying a case of the local Bar Harbor ale.

We had lunch back at the house from our catch at the deli. J and Elle took a nap (Elle slept OK for her first night but not great) so I had the afternoon to figure out how to get the DVD player to work so we could watch our Netflix movies this week. Dave, Victoria and Logan (their 11 year old son who could run this place himself) knew of the DVD problem after we told them the remotes were missing when we arrived.

While J and Elle napped I headed out to see some familiar territory as well as some new. Southwest Harbor has changed a bit. A new plaza with an internet cafe and a bunch of new restaurants. Our old Breakfast nook is their but it's under new management (Maddy's).

Doing a little exploring I found the local lighthouse and took a few shots of the view. Lots of retired amateur photog's carrying their tri-pods. Everyone was spread out and I decided to find a few quiet spots for myself. After taking a few shots I realized I had people on either side of me... Maybe I look like I know what I'm doing and they thought my angle was good.

When the 3 of us regrouped we went out to Ship Harbor. It has a great leisurely coastal walk. We ended up at stone/pebble beach where J suggested Elle and I take our shoes and socks off to wade in the rocky water. Elle loved that idea! Despite me knowing how freezing cold this North Atlantic water was I took Elle in. It was cold... very cold. But we used the rocks to step up to get our feet out of the water from time to time. While taking refuge we would look at the clam shells and pick up shells to show Mommy.

We headed back to the house to grill marinated steak tips, corn on the cob and salad from our 5 Dean Ave garden. While we dined in the back yard Dave came over to replace the tv and the DVD player. So we now can watch DVD's. They have been great. They are really easy going and attentive. I love what they have done with the grounds on both properties. She's a gardener and Dave's a carpenter. They told us if we wanted lobster to tell them. Dave has a friend who's a fisherman and can get us lobsters for less than we'll pay anywhere. Don't need to tell us twice. We'll be getting lobster's Thursday night! We really lucked out with a great spot, great house and excellent owner's.

10 Pm and I'm going tot hit the hay. The sea air get to ya I think.

Nite.

Ayah! Bass Harbor, Maine

We made it.
It was a long drive but we got here. And was it worth the drive!

It was Ellie's first lengthy car ride. She had her ups and downs.... so did Mommy & Daddy. We stopped for lunch in Portsmouth. J took the wheel from there on and got us up here while Elle and I slept most of the way.

The house (otherwise known as Aisling Cottage) we are at is better than we could have expected. After we settled in with our luggage we walked down to the pier to have a nice dinner. It was nice to stretch our legs.. ahhh We ate at a nice seafood restaurant at their outside tables. It's a little chilly up here and since we are so close to the pier I decided to walk up to the house and put long sleeves on. By the time I got back my fired clams were there. We ate our dinners and watched the lobster boats troll in. Elle and J shared some chocolate cake. I however had my own chocolate cheesecake with kahlua. As we finished it started to rain a bit.

When we got back we had the best view of the harbor and the orange sun setting.

J is putting Elle to sleep and I'm sitting on the couch typign this up and debatign about starting a fire on the gas fireplace. I took a few pictures of the place and I'll be posting lots as the week goes on. If time allows I'll be updating the blog each night. Oh yea, the house has wireless. I just have to make sure J doesn't check her work e-mail too much.

Saturday's Maine word–
Summah: Between Soring & Fall

Even'in

Mike

Logo Design

Mornin,

I wanted to post a new logo I created for an electrician. He originally contacted my buddy Kjeld http://www.kjeldm.com/blog/ to design it. Kjeld asked if I wanted to take a stab at it as well.

The direction we recieved was that he didn't want it to have a lightning bolt. He also wanted to use his initials and black & yellow as his colors. Despie his direction we both had no intention of doing a lighting bolt... cheesey. So we were all on the same page. Giving there are a zillion Electrician logo's out there it was a challenge to come up with something that hasn't already been done. Honestly, there are only so many images & icons that are associated with electricians.

Here's the new logo.

– Mike