When we were in Maine at the end of the summer, a prominent color in the landscape was red. Legend has it that Johnny Appleseed covered the countryside with his namesake product and it definitely shows up there. I think his middle name must have been Rose because there’s an equally abundant number of those growing wild. As with the apples the rose bushes produce … Continue reading Do these roses make my hips look big?
Do you know why we are really moving to France? So that Bill will wash the dishes and do the laundry. He will do anything for the aroma of grapefruit. We found that out by accident years ago in Germany when we bought a bottle of dishwashing detergent that was scented with orange and grapefruit. He encouraged me to eat on several plates just so that he would have an excuse to fill our vacation rental apartment with the fresh smells of spring. We brought home two bottles and on subsequent trips to Europe we tried unsuccessfully to find them again. Continue reading “Will work for grapefruit”
Time in New England took me away…. You might recall the song Weekend in New England written by Randy Edelman that could have easily been inspired by the magnificent views in Acadia National Park. We took this photo from a stop along the park loop road on the east side of the island near Thunder Hole. That’s a cave that emits a thunder-like sound when a … Continue reading Long rocky beaches
Normally, if I’m going to take a photo of dinner, it’s after the meal is ready and sitting on the plate in front of me. In keeping with the “locally grown” campaign that is prominent in grocery stores across Maine, here you see the before and after photos of the delicious lobster dinner that our friends Anne and Paul prepared for us. Because it was a Sunday afternoon, there were few fishing boats in operation but Paul knew exactly which dock to go to for fresh lobster. As you can tell, this boat has just arrived and the crew members are sorting their catch. The guy in the yellow slicker is slingling that blue crate with our six lobsters inside over to the scale to weigh them. Continue reading “From surf to turf”
When was the last time you had a really good time at a wedding? For us it was just a week ago and the party started two days before the ceremony and continued on through brunch the following day. My guess is that no one had any trouble falling asleep on Sunday night. We were in Rockport, MA where our guesthouse was right across from the beach you see here at sunset. Elaine and Fred, parents of the bride, were the first to stop by to enjoy a glass of champagne on our front porch and to take in the view. Later we saw Lynn, then Lucy, met up with Pam, Al, and a delightful group of new friends including folks from France and Germany. Continue reading “Any excuse for a party”
If you’ve watched the British television comedy Keeping Up Appearances you’ll be familiar with the lead character Hyacinth Bucket who prefers to put a French spin on the pronunciation of her last name. It would seem appropriate, therefore, that we should have a bouquet list of things we wanted to do before leaving the US. Since we won’t have a big oven in our French house, Bill’s been baking all kinds of bread, and besides, we’ll be walking to the boulangerie every morning for our daily baguette and maybe even a pastry or two. From our pantry we’ve already had our fill of tapioca and gelatin (yum?) so it’s time to see what else is on the list. Continue reading “The bouquet list”
“Clunk” is not a sound that you ever want to hear coming from your computer yet that’s exactly what happened last week. Bill and I each have two computers (or more, but this is not Truth or Dare) and his large laptop emitted that ominous noise indicating an eminent hard drive crash. He started looking online and several times found what appeared to be exactly what we were looking for except for all of the terrible reviews it received or the fact that it didn’t have a DVD drive, or it wasn’t touchscreen. Continue reading “Things that go clunk in the night”
Let's Live In France 