We got home two days ago from a lovely trip to Florida.  While away I was able to post a few pics to Facebook, but I’ll make up for that here soon!  Just wanted to check in and let you know I’ve got lots coming–I just need to nail my seat to the chair and process photos and blog about it!  One of the nicest things about coming home is seeing the Camden Hills — once you spot them, you know you’re almost there!   Florida was hot and humid, and we were looking forward to a respite here in Maine.  The temps have been about 20 degrees cooler (in the 70s not 90+) but it has been mighty humid–the weather should change (PHEW) tomorrow!

This was my first flight coming in at dusk, with the lights of the coast visible. The town you see in the mid-ground is Rockland, a dozen miles or so south of our home. The Camden Hills are in the distance, and Camden town itself if off to the right of the photo. BEAUTIFUL!

One of the reasons I love flying in is seeing the familiar places from a bird’s-eye perspective.  And flying in at sunset gives you great pics of the sky…..

And as always, there is quilting inspiration.  As I was lolling in bed this morning, I was thinking about a quilt I want to make–something Quilt Modern-ish:  equilateral triangles in blues and aquas and spring greens, and how I would quilt it (bed size this one will be!).  I want the quilting to be easy and approachable (thinking ahead to a book on quilting design) for the beginner or the advanced-but-busy quilter, and was thinking about the patterns of the currents on the surface of the ocean:

Looking southwest over the peninsulas of mid-coast Maine as we approached Owl’s Head / Rockland airport at sunset.

Now I need to go get some exercise, run some errands, then get home before the next downpour adds to the already 100-percent humidity outside!

Yesterday I went to pick up our farm subscription (organic, locally grown vegetables) so took the back way around to our drive, and what should appear to my wondering eyes but:

The blueberry field at the end/corner of our road

I’d never before seen the commercial blueberry harvesters.  The old way is to use a “blueberry rake.”  Think of a dust pan, but above the flat base is a set of tines (line a fork) that “rake” the berries and pull the berries but not (in theory at least) the leaves into the pan.   Pan gets dumped into big plastic “flat.”  Well, now I know how the big guys do it….   the field above is about 1/4 mile from the bottom end of our driveway (that’s maybe 500 metres?).  There were several of the harvesters in the field…. here’s a closeup.  Looking carefully, I could see that there is a sweep of some sort on the far side, and the driver in the center was leaning over looking out the far side and down.

The arrows show the vacuum/rake/whatever it is on the left side of the harvester. There appear to be hoses going from next to the driver to the blue box thingie  at the rear left.  The yellow things are plastic bins into which the berries go.

This shot shows (on the right) where there is something on the far side that harvests the berries. On the left you can see a shiny silver metal chute. The berries roll down the chute/funnel into the yellow bin. From the looks of it, when one bin is full, the next one comes down, etc., until the driver has a full load.

Regular store-bought blueberries are big… like the tip of a finger big.  Wild Maine blueberries have SO MUCH more flavor…they are tiny, the size of what is sold as “Petite Green Peas” in the frozen section of the grocery.  I found a great recipe for muffins in Cook’s Illustrated a while ago, and Eli and I love them!  We add frozen raspberries, too!

Cool beans…or maybe I should say Cool Berries!

On a clear day, you can see almost forever…or at least from Hope to Liberty, Freedom and points north and west in Maine….  Today we went for a walk onto a neighbor’s hilltop / blueberry barren, and it was glorious.   There were some woods on one side, but I stood and took photos in an almost-complete circle…more than 270 degrees.  When I got home, I discovered my Photoshop Elements would create a panorama for me automatically.  I fiddled a little to fine tune it, so here is a hilltop in Hope, Maine, about noon today:

A panoramic collage...click to view larger

Clearly it was GLORIOUS!   The puppy was hot and panting though it is only about 70 degrees outside.

Here are two shots, larger and not collaged, of the view:

The view to the northwest. The building in the center is the Robbins Lumber mill.

And a bit to the north/east of the previous photo--the house in the center is the one we look out on from our land (trust me, that small gray blob in the middle of the photo is a house), which is about halfway between where this photo is taken and the house on the next hillside over

I spotted some rocks that might be good for doing rubbings (grin), and these little gems will be wild Maine blueberries ready to eat in about two months–the flower is bunchberry, a form of low-growing dogwood (cornus canadensis I think):

Wild blueberries, currently not much larger than the head of the glass-ball-headed pins

Then we meandered home:

Looking east toward Camden...I am pretty sure that is Mount Megunticook with the knobby edge. Love the falling down old stone wall. They actually have these walls on the official town plat-maps.

Paul and, quite a bit farther ahead, Eli with the puglet!

I feel somewhat guilty, that I have neglected the blog.  I’ve been busy with end-of-year for our 8th grader (graduates Thursday), house stuff, quilting/work stuff, and generally not working myself into a ground up pulp.  I promise before too long I’ll take a few days and do nothing but write blogposts, prep the photos etc.!  Hope you are all having a wonderful early summer, Cheers, Sarah

Eli met his biggest challenge in the Busline League Track and Field Championships...see below for all the glorious details!

Preface:  I should follow my husband’s example on FaceBook and start with with a “Parental Pride Alert”!  We now have a three-sport champion at home!

Back in September, about halfway through the Cross-Country running season, Eli had just won another meet.  From the back seat of the car on the way home, he said something to this effect:

“You know, I think I want to go out of 8th grade with a bang!

• Be on  the equivalent of honor roll [note from mom:  they changed the grading system and eliminated honor roll…do NOT get me started!]
• Win the Cross-Country championship
• Repeat as Eastern Regional Champion in wrestling and
• Win States in Wrestling [the Pine Tree League covers about 70 percent of the state, minus only the big class A schools down near Portland, Maine]
• and win one individual blue ribbon in Track and Field.”

With his first event today at the Track and Field Championships for our portion of the Maine Coast, Eli achieved his goal, and then some!  He began the day at the Shotput:

Eli ready to heave the 8-lb shotput 34' 6" feet; despite a couple of good kids from Belfast, he won!

Next up:  Triple Jump!  For several years, we lived near the Vitagliano’s; Eli would play with Chris and admire Matt’s athletic abilities.  When the family moved down to Virginia, the boys kept in touch by Facebook.  Eli copied Matt and set up a throwing zone in our yard, weighing rocks that were from 10-12 pounds to practice!  Matt told Eli that he had looked up Olympic athletes on the internet to study their form, and Eli promptly did the same, to the benefit of his field events.

Even though a lady almost walked in front of me, blocking my shot, I managed to get this great shot of Eli airborne! Makes my ankles and knees hurt just to think about the landing!

Eli landed a personal best of 32′ 7″ and WON!  Second first place ribbon!

Skipping the running for just a moment to complete the field events, Eli came in third in the discus (his last event…he was tired by then and the overcast skies had cleared and the heat soared to near 80):

Throwing the discus for 3rd

and in the Turbo Javelin (a new event last year, the middle school boys use a plastic javelin that has blades on the back like an arrow) got a second place, logging a personal best in competition and breaking his own record at school to hit 133 feet (about 50 feet more than most of the other kids! to qualify for the middle school championship competition you had to throw over 6o feet!).

But saving the best and sweetest for last:  the 1600 metre race, about a mile.  When Eli began track three years ago, then 8th-grader Ben Trapani would lead in so many races, by such a long distance, that he seemed unbeatable.  He held the school record in several events, including the 1600 metre with a time of 5 minutes 19 seconds.  Eli wanted to beat that record and trained hard, going to the high school on Sundays where Coach Morse would run optional extra practices and time intervals so the kids could learn to “feel” if they were running a lap at 1 minute 21 seconds, 1 minute 26, 1 minute 15 and so on….. how they can do that I have NO idea!  Right off the opening shot, a kid from Medomak took the lead:

A large pack for the 1600 metre race. The boy on the left (Med. for Medomak) with red arrow (not the boys in yellow in the foreground) is the one who took and held the lead for 3 1/2 laps. Eli is the arrow on the right.

I took photos of the clock, and Eli’s first lap was EXACTLY what he wanted:  1 minute 20 seconds.  If he could maintain that through 3 laps, he would increase at the start of the fourth, then “book it” for the last half-lap.  By halfway through the third lap, Coach Morse hollered at him to close the gap of over 100 feet (maybe 50 yards?) sooner.

Rounding the end of the track for the last half lap, you could watch Eli kick it into gear–he and the Medomak boy were wwwwwwaaaaaayyyyyy ahead of everyone else.  Eli mustered heart and guts and closed in, to the screams of many of his teammates, and with maybe 15 metres to go pulled even and then passed him!   The photo at the top shows how close the two were.

Eli WON with a time of 5 minutes 16.16 seconds, beating Ben T’s school record by 3 full seconds!!!!!!!  And the boy in 2nd (previously undefeated this season) finished also in 5 min. 16 seconds, but still second.  Both boys were gracious after the race, and Eli correctly noted it was good to be pushed.  Without the Medomak kid, Eli would have won, but he might not have had the push he needed to beat Ben’s record.  After the race, many parents came up to us and said that was “THE” race and finish of the meet! Well done to all!

After the meet, we waited for team results.

The kids gather to hear team results

The girls’ team has incredible depth, and had a commanding lead in team standings.  Both boys and girls teams are, by the way, made up of kids from Camden-Rockport plus the H-A-L (Hope, Appleton and Lincolnville) schools, as those are too small to have their own teams.  The girls won, again, with an undefeated season:

The Girls team wins!

The boys race to the finish was tight–we weren’t sure up until they announced the second place team who would win…literally every single kid who placed 6th or higher contributed an essential point or several to THE WIN…yes, another undefeated season!

The boys collect their plaque for the school

Oprah Winfrey is quoted as saying “Surround yourself with people who will lift you higher.”

At first I thought how this applies to how Coach Morse has helped Eli, but then I realized it really applies to ALL the team:  To Coach Jim Morse, Coach Dee Kopesky, and ALL the kids are ALL lifting each other higher.  Mr. Morse (the School’s awesome 6th grade Social Studies teacher, and who seems to me a bit like a pied piper–Jim, we’re so glad for all you’ve given to Eli and that we had one more season with you) recruited a huge team…nearly 90 kids!  What is more amazing, I think we had something like 60 (?) kids qualify for the championships (meet certain times or distances/heights for the various events)–not sure how many, but it was a HUGE squad!  The training and dedication of both coaches and kids together lifted them all higher.  WELL DONE, everyone!  And Eli…. we are so proud of you!  Even more than your sports ability, we admire your brains, determination, dedication, and good sportsmanship.  WOW!

Here’s to a three-sport honor-roll champion–you deserve a rest!  Want waffles for breakfast whenever you wake up tomorrow?

Just took these a few moments ago and had to share…..

And to skip back to the first in the sequence….and then in order.  Taken from the living room side windows and (the last one and the one above) the porch, looking west over the lawn and the big meadow below the stone wall/hedgerow…

Pinch me… I really get to live here?  Where’s the best place to live on Earth?  MAINE!