Vacation for Real!

Ah...Fall...so...well...dazzling!  It is a pleasure to live in the country and lift your head from ones work and find beauty all around.  But, a body needs a rest now and again, beyond those moments of head lifting.  If you know us or follow this blog regularly you have probably become aware of the fact that DH & I, just, might be workaholics.  I am not a real fan of that term but, I will admit that we need a bit more R & R in our lives (Rest & Relaxation for my foreign friends)  Just as we scheme the latest project we also scheme for ways to have more fun.  Three or four years ago we had a very wet year and the gardens drowned.  I gave in and called it a bust year for vegetables.  It turned out to be one of the most fun summers ever.  We started going out in on our canoe almost every weekend!  At the time we had an 18 foot lake tracking trekking canoe.  Before we had our son (& gardens) taking week long canoe trips was a big part of our summers but those days seem to have passed.  So we got the bright idea of selling our big canoe and downsizing thinking that it would be much simpler to transport a smaller canoe in our truck for a quick day trip.  Well, we got the smaller canoe, an Old Town 13 footer.  But the next couple years were busy garden and building years.  Last year we never went out once and this year it nearly didn't happen.  We analyzed the problem.  The conclusion was at the end of a day or even the second half of the weekend were just plain pooped.  Solution::: small, quiet, electric motor!

We bought ourselves a Minn Kota Motor for vacation instead of a camping trip.  The maiden voyage was in our own pond.  DH loves it!  I stood and watched him go around and around as long as I could take it.  I had canning to do..... 

A few days later we went to a local lake that is only 15 minutes from our home, Branch Pond.  Maine is blessed with many lakes.  There are quite a few we can explore with in 45 minute drive from our home.  I made a sandwich and grabbed a couple of water bottles and away we went.  Branch Pond is long, narrow, and shallow.  It has only a few homes and camps on it's shores.  It is beautiful and quiet.  Lots of wildlife around.  We saw and Osprey this day.  I didn't get a photo of the Osprey but, here is some of the autumnal splendor we experienced on this day.

Love those hipster sunglasses!  Matching the life jacket was NOT by design! ;)

This is the old mill at the end of the pond.  It was a, totally, lovely ride!  We paddled a bit but, mostly, we let the Minn Kota do the driving for us.  Definitely, a relaxing afternoon.  Packed the canoe away for the winter now.  But next year things should be different!  DH is even threatening to get a fishing license!  This could be a whole new chapter in our lives!

Yes, we have matching hats...too cute!  

Mine is the original..after years of hat envy he got himself one too!

Vacation?

Three weeks ago from today my DH started a 2 week "vacation".  I use quotes because we both had pretty long to-do lists.  I always joke that I am either always on vacation or never on vacation.  I, definitely, feel like I need a vacation after my husbands time at home!  So to keep things from being to workie I made a Fun List for the time off.  We got everything except the 3rd lake checked off our fun list.  DH finished his work list...I am still trying to get mine done...never on vacation?

The next couple of blogs I will share bits of our mostly stay-cation.  We did go out a few times but never further than a 45 minute drive.  These will be photo rich blogs...We have a lot of far flung family and my blog has been a great way for them to keep up with our lives.  Very efficient too!

I did some more canning, dehydrating, and giving away of tomatoes.  Finally, I had enough and pulled the plants.  8 hours to plant them ~ 6 hours to clean up the patch. Final Tomato Tally still to come...

I pulled a lot of stuff and my DH hauled it away for me.

As a matter of fact, DH spent a lot of time working with his tractor.  I lovingly call it his Tonka Toy.  It's real name is Agent Orange...when he first got the thing he had a bit of buyers remorse and didn't really want to use it...or get it dirty?  So I called it Secret Agent Orange waiting for his mission...the name stuck and DH got over the getting it dirty thing.  One of the jobs he got done was brush cutting our fields. He does this every couple of years.  We just want to keep the fields, fields.  It is amazing how quickly open land wants to turn to forest here in Maine.

A work and play thing we did was to go down to DH's folks lake place.  They didn't make it up this year so we have been checking on the place and mowing the lawn.  They have a year round house on the land but, we decided to have a sleep over in the old camp part of the property.  It is right down by the water with a view of the lake from the bed.  Pretty sweet!  I packed a picnic dinner and a couple of bottles of wine.  Runa came with us...we left Vern and the Ducks at home!

We had an evening paddle...

A misty morning~~~ I took a swim...very quick swim!

We had a nice old campfire at our place.  We cooked dinner on the fire and ate outside.  We would have had another fire but the weather became hot...in the 80s!  Crazy!

A rare moment when DH grabbed the camera and caught me in the act of having some fun!  He made me this swing at my request last Mother's Day.  It is a wonderful way to release stress and strain.  I find it to be a nice stretch after doing something like digging carrots.

That's enough for today...more to come...I hope to be back tomorrow.  Time now for me to finish the Garden Beet Borscht I am making for dinner.  Until~~~

~~~Gratitude~~~

The view from just up the road a quarter mile

Today I wish to express gratitude for the place on earth that I live.  Hardly a day goes by that I am not grateful to be living here in Freedom.  I have always been a wander of fields and woods, beaches and ragged shores, hills and dales...you get the picture!  I am so happy that each day I can ramble out my door and experience what nature has to offer each and every day!

Here are some of my encounters from the week......

My Raven Friend

A Surviving Nest

Up the Road

View from the Top

More Earth & Sky

I DWELL in possibility
A fairer House than Prose,
More numerous of windows,
Superior for doors.

Of chambers, as the cedars--
Impregnable of eye;
And for an everlasting roof
The gables of the sky,

Of visitors--the fairest--
For occupation--this--
The spreading wide my narrow hands
To gather Paradise.

Emily Dickinson

As written in The Oxford Book of American Verse co 1950

It is my intention, each Sunday, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your gratitude moments. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~~