Home-Time in My Small Town

Since retirement, my home-time is very pleasurable. 

I have "stations" around the house for:

Painting • Drawing • Zumba & Exercise

Special Projects • Writing • Reading.

I am grateful for a working kitchen.

This is one time where being an Introvert comes in handy.

My life is less disrupted than are many others' lives.

In my small town the changes don't seem drastic to me,

 even though we do run out of toilet paper. 

We are lucky that we can afford to be calm & accepting.

We walk outdoors, & passersby are pleasant.

We are still a town of Hello's & waving to strangers. 

Yesterday as I was walking the Harbor Walk,

 a woman on a bench called out to me:

"We can still do this!" & she did a thumbs up,

& I replied "Yes, we are lucky!" 

and raised my thumbs to her.

 Kathy at the blog Catching Happiness 

(click Here) 

has a post about "Staying Positive..."

She mentions "Stress Cleaning."

I've been enjoying "Stress Organizing," like

taking inventory of my colored pencils. 

At some point I will do a phone order/roadside pick up 

at Fiddleheads,

my local art shop, which is closed...

Temporarily.

 Oooh, order & labels for my fountain pen inks!

(the small ones are samples I get from Goulet Pens.)

 Writing in my journal remains a daily pleasure.

On this day I was listening to France Bleu radio

& decided to create a sort of dictation & to search words
in the dictionary (Reverso online).

I just started a new Rhodia daily journal.

A new Lamy "Turmaline" fountain pen arrived from Goulet 

just before things shut down. 

Goulet is a small business with heart, 

that is paying its employees during this time. 

Voilà. 

Nice to reinforce good feelings via online networks 

in a time of physical isolation. 

How are you occupying your time 

in your "confinement" and "sheltering."?

Common Ground Fair 2018

The Common Ground Fair: 

Delights every year as if for the 1st time!

Put on by Maine Organic Farmers & Growers Association.

Waiting to get in at the gate when you arrive early!

The Fiddler's Showcase, put on by Maine Fiddle Camp,

included various traditional instruments & even a clogger.

Different ages & levels perform. They must wait their turn.

Storytellers Showcase. And a tent across the way.

The Veggie Parade!

 You can bring your own, 

but there is a tent full of costumes made

by a woman who lives on the coast.

 The Farmer's Market, a variety of stands!

Lots of vegetables, dried flowers...

Natural soaps, tonics, honey... 

The scents, the sights!!

The tastes!

Unlike most places, 

here I have healthy, delicious choices!

 The handmade crafts to buy! Pottery, clothes, bags, 

caps, jewelry, wooden furniture...

Anne Brooks woven woolen scarves, my favorites!

Not your traditional horse show.

Riders were putting large workhorses 

through their paces.

Bareback!

The animals!

The Fair celebrates bicycle power, wind power,

& human hula power.

 One of the pleasures, walking over a half mile through 

cultivated woods to get to & from the Fair.

(Though hay wagons are there for those who need a ride.)

It's pretty & artistic, yes, but it is also a place 

where people of good health, good will, of cooperative spirit

and kindness come together to celebrate

traditional arts & local enterprises. 

Sketch Group at the Home Garden Boutique

A cold winter's day at a local home garden shop. 

The proprietor of Brambles welcomed 7 of us sketchers,

& even lent us stools. (I ended up buying mine!)

 

Brambles is one of 

the most artistic and nourishing to the senses shops 

I've ever been in! 

The owner, so friendly, so happy, and no wonder! 

She is surrounded, 

all day long, by gorgeous colors, scents, 

handmade objects that she herself has selected, 

plants that she has grown, 

and by cheerful customers and visiting friends!

Aaah, can you smell the flowers?

This in mid January! Note the contrast!

Outdoors, let it snow (and be monochromatic!)

Brambles will infuse you with happiness 

during any season!

Photo: Dream Summer Winter Nightmare

Kathy, at her blog, Catching Happiness, always gets me thinking about how one has the ability to choose how to go through each day. Her recent post, about summer verses winter in Florida, got me thinking about these seasons here at the other tip of the United States. 

Last last winter I spent some time in a living nightmare because of some unlucky circumstances. But I experienced a phenomenon that I had known to be true from inspirational writing & stories: In the midst of fear & despair one can find fortitude, joy & serenity. With some hard work, & a little (a lot of) help from friends the nighmarish circumstances seem to finally be floating away.

And summer has drifted in like a pleasant dream. I first started living in Maine when I was in my late teens. I feel as youthful today as I did then when I am kayaking...(well, almost...) There I go, paddling gently into happiness...

Color Mixing Charts: Photos

I'm in a process of exploring color via my watercolors.

Everywhere I go, I see color mixing charts,

including at the Deering Oaks Farmer's Market.

As Jeanne Dobie says in her book (previous post), colors sing!!

Umbrella Personalities

My town's Arts in the Park Fair, down by the Harbor, got a rainy Sunday morning. I donned my new yellow raincoat & blue umbrella & went down to take photos. Of people with umbrellas.  I have loved umbrellas since I was a wee little girl. My colorful umbrella gave me fancy dancing powers. Singin' in the Rain. 

I looked forward to rainy days ~ still do!

Diane Horton, (with her Monet Poppy Field umbrella) is a popular local artist.  

How cheerful people were even though the rain was washing things out.

 Ooooh, colorful umbrellas, reminding me of my first one. 

Umbrella Personalities!

Blog Post, October, 2012. Boston Rainy Day. 

I was sketching  through a café window that faced a busy intersection. 

Umbrella. Parapluie. ParAsol. (Polish with accent on the 2nd "a") 

Even its names are fun to say!

And you, do you like rainy days?

Flowers for Easter: Photos

 Happy Easter, Joyeuses Pâques, Wesołych Świąt Wielkanocnych.

I had thought, how nice it would be to buy a few flowers

to mark this day. 

But at the grocery store I couldn't feel any spirit in

the mass quantities on display.

Meanwhile, a friend received a super abundant bouquet, brimming with color & love. 

She decided to share it with friends by making mini bouquets, 

delivering them by car, a veritable Flowers on Wheels.

Mine was minimal & elegant, 

matching my current need for lightness, airiness, & simplicity.   

      (I'm still working hard at clearing out possessions.)

How lovely, these stems, full of Easter floral tradition,

expressing a spirit of caring & the return of earth's colors.

(Outdoors, there's still a lot of snow on the ground,
& gray atmosphere,
but I did see some crocuses yesterday.)

 Happy Easter, Joyeuses Pâques, Wesołych Świąt Wielkanocnych. 

Cross Country Skiing in Acadia ~ Photos

Cross Country Skiing on the Eagle Lake Carriage Path in Acadia National Park. 

It's been years since I was there in winter...

It is my Heaven on Earth, skiing there.

Across the Lake is Cadillac Mountain & one of the Bubbles.