nautical vacation

the little touches matter,

like these peonies from Annie's garden

Very rarely do we get to actually vacation together as a family. And how nice to take a vacation in our own Vacationland playground! But we had that luxury these past few days aboard the schooner J & E Riggin, with our hosts Captains Annie and John, sailing in Penobscot Bay---it's a terrific way to experience Maine. You may remember Annie, who catered my graduation party? She also is a captain and the chef on the schooner all summer, cooking meals for 20+ people using a wood-fired cookstove. Yes, the whole she-bang!

This stove is the animal that cooked us pork loin, peach cobblers, sticky buns, fresh bread (see it, up above in the corner?), soups, and homemade tortillas, to name a few. I'm a little bit in awe of that.

the schooner Heritage (?) rounding the point into the harbor

Yes, it was foggy, but we did have some sun too.

Some of us swam in the 55 degree water. That wasn't me. Check out the death grip to get back up the ladder.

We worked for the boat. Two little helpers also found work in the galley each morning.

hauling up the anchor in the morning,

using my core, because it was seriously heavy

(OK, WTF blogger, why can't I get rid of the underline?!)

furling the sails at day's end

We worked with our hands.

will have more pics of this little number in a few days,

when it arrives at its intended recipient,

who was born yesterday

I made two lanyards for the window pegs in the galley

We laughed and played games.

This is me, spying through the galley windows at an in-process game of Spoons (the rules seem crazy, though I haven't played it yet). The light was too delicious to pass by.

So relaxing, so fun, so much laughter. I wish I had taken some photos of our amazing meals, but the galley is quite cozy, and I never had my camera with me down there. Also, Annie has hand-made all of the quilts on the bunks, yet another photo op missed. I'll just have to get on board again for the photos I missed. The crew of this vessel is a good bunch (both on the boat and on shore...Hi, Elizabeth!), led with kindness and humor by their captains. We're so glad we got to sail with them again!

More Eggs

I can tell Spring is coming. We have sap on the woodstove. And more than the Occasional Egg appearing in our henhouse. (Wouldn't Occasional Egg be a great blog name? Free for the taking if you want it.)

The Time Change of Saturday has completely devastated the rhythm of one of our boys. It is hard to see him in such a fragile place, out of sorts with sleep, going to bed later and waking up tired, needing more cuddles, sad and mad and REALLY mad about things that seem small to me. But clearly they are Big to him. With his growing skills and talents, it is a hard thing to still find himself in a child's body with adults telling him that he can't just eat bread for supper or that Calvin and Hobbes is not really a bedtime story.

The only things I have control over, now that both my boys are in school for most of their waking hours are: serving healthy food at mealtimes, providing a gentle rhythm that is predictable, and being an anchor adult who is also *mostly* predictable herself. That's it.
March in Maine is a pretty intense time for everyone. We can see the light is coming back, we can feel the growing strength of the sun on our faces, but each and every year I feel a bit devastated by the winter-spring fluctuations. You can't tell your heart not to feel hopeful, but when the next snowstorm comes, or you drop the full bucket of maple sap on your bare toe, your heart is broken anyway. Maybe this is part of what is going on for my boy.

And just so I don't have to end on such a bleak note: Check out Annie's blog Artichokes and Asparagus for some great tips on No-Knead sourdough breads and the care and feeding of your sourdough starter. And she is offering some of her own starter to readers of her blog, from a 100 year-old organism, which is just so cool. Annie is a captain and chef on one of our local schooners---a great way to experience Maine from the water---and she does all of this amazing cooking (homemade breads and sweets, wonderful gourmet meals, etc.) from a wood-fired cookstove on her boat all summer, for you know, like 30 people. Thanks, Annie, you've got me thinking of summer now!