Well, I actually took the photo in late March, but I loved the look through the car window and rain….

Have been really busy with painting the studio floor (which required soaking and scraping up lousy old paint left by the previous owners so the new paint stands a chance of sticking), Eli’s wrestling, Joshua stuff, more moving in stuff, paying bills and all the general nonsense….have many many many things to blog about…just need time…. anyone have any to spare?

PS—the photo is of The Market Basket entryway.  The Market Basket is a somewhat gourmet-ish deli / store / place at the intersection of Route 1 (the Old Atlantic Coast Highway) and Route 90 (which heads due West to Augusta, the state capitol, a town of under 20,000 souls one hour or so to the west).  They have WONDERFUL tuna salad, good  local and imported foodstuffs, and good breads and desserts.

Well…as I head out to the last wrestling meet of the season (Marshwood, a six-state all New England tournament in Portland, Maine), I thought I should get caught up and share LAST week’s results:   Eli placed second in his weight class –that’s all the kids in middle school wrestling in Class B schools (I think they “class” them by size, as larger schools would have a larger bunch of students and theoretically be tougher?).   The kid who beat him–Nate Boucher– is a two-time State Champ (and came in second last year in a 12-11 loss in the finals!), and is number 3 in all New England. I’ll add that the “middle” weight classes are the most competitive ones, with MANY really good young athletes.  Camden-Rockport had six boys in the finals, three of whom placed in the medals:  Eli, Chris Weiss (both got seconds) and Taylor Crosby (fourth).  Well done to them and to the entire team.

The customary congrats to the winner handshake--I love that the old courtesies are still observed in some places!

We are SO  proud of him:  Eli set himself a goal, he worked hard, he achieved it when he won Regionals and made it to States, and exceeded it by not only placing, but placing second!

The top four: Eli had beat all the others on the podium...way to go Eli!

Plus, he thinks now that he knows how Boucher wrestles, he can beat him if he wrestles smart.  Alas and fortunately, Boucher is an 8th grader, so they won’t meet again until high school.

The finals were closer than the 0 (Eli) – 6 (Boucher) score indicated as they started the third period.  There was a lot of back and forth… oh… in Middle school the kids wrestle three periods:  2 minutes, 1 minute, 1 minute. By the end of four minutes, they are totally exhausted it is so intense.

Boucher is on top (the place you want to be) in the 2nd round

Just a few moments later they are up and Eli is driving...

The third period opened with Eli looking grim but determined.  He had prevented a State Champion from pinning him for two full rounds, and was ready to go for it.

3rd round: Boucher is again on top, and Eli's legs are tucked, which means either he's in t rouble (easier to roll) OR he's getting ready to get up (hard to stand up with a squirming strong wrestler on your back)

REVERSAL! Eli gets out and swings around and takes control: Two points!

Eli said that Boucher seemed a bit stunned that Eli was able to get the reversal, but Boucher’s then 4-point lead was too much for Eli to make up in the final fifteen seconds.  Final score:  Boucher 6, Eli 2.  Well done to both wrestlers!   Eli, we are so proud of your determination, drive, courtesy, athletics and academics.  Way to go kiddo!

Mother Nature has a nasty sense of humor! Today is, I checked the calendar, APRIL.  The snow has melted off almost completely.  Twice.  This is what was outside the window this morning:

From the dining room window. Add 2 inches to the snow on the fence since I took this picture two hours ago.....

That is a Nor’easter in progress.  Now I love snow.  Just NOT in April.  Enough already!

The plants are trying to bud. Harrumph. Under snow?

More of the meadow. I promise. It really is under there. If you look closely, you can see the jumbo snowflakes on the left side......

The porch off the kitchen, and Paul's lousy-traction-van before he left....

Plus Paul and Eli are heading to Portland for the ginormous wrestling meet that is six New England states.  They tried to go via Camden, and Paul’s van couldn’t make it up the hill and into downtown Hope.  So they turned around and went west to go via Appleton and up to Augusta.  Will add about 45 minutes (on a good day) but at least they just got off the back road and onto a semi-main road, Route 17.  That is still a 2 lane “highway” but it will be one of the first plowed/kept clear.  UGH.  It has snowed at least two inches since two hours ago…….and it is heavy wet snow.  Maybe I should paint the basement floor again before the power (and lights) go out….

Looking West out the living room at 8 a.m.

I’ll blog about Eli’s wrestling at States last weekend next, then more on my studio, friend Jacquie Scuitto and Ann Fahl’s new book, Deborah’s 12 x 12 book… lots to write, no time!!!!!

PS…here’s the car, mostly dug out from under the 9+ inches of snow on top… it gets hit by lots of wind.  We had over 12 inches on the walkway….

Notice the snow comes halfway up the hubcaps.....

In his weight class in wrestling!   Every year Eli has improved, but this year he took a qualitative leap forward.  It began last year when Chris Weiss, an amazing young athlete from Rockland, worked out with the Camden-Rockport team since Rockland didn’t have a team last year.  He is an incredibly gifted and hard-working, focused kid, and he and Eli challenged each other to improve.  Last summer Eli went to a top wrestling camp in Boston for a week (the only middle schooler with many high school kids), and learned a lot.  At the beginning of this season, Eli set two goals:  undefeated and regional champion.  Eli admits he made several mistakes in one match about halfway through the season and lost one match.  So  he put that goal aside and focused on Eastern Regional Champion, and he DID IT!

Eli is the one holding the bracket card over his head, the number 2 from Ellsworth is on his left in the burgundy shirt, number 3 from Brewer is on the right in gray sweatshirt, and number four from Bucksport  (the only kid to beat Eli) is on the far left.

Here’s Eli’s match against the Bucksport kid…if there had been 3 more seconds in the period this would have been a pin, but instead Eli won (whomp) 13-3  (previous matches during the regular season were Eli wins by pinning, Eli loses 9-6 but doesn’t get pinned, Eli wins 13-0):

The Number 2, Jack Weeks, almost beat Eli in the first match of the season!   He was ahead 2-0 with 15 seconds left (matches are 3 periods:  first is two minutes long, 2nd and 3rd and one minute), when Eli somehow managed to get a reversal and near fall (2 points each) to win 4-2.  They met again in the finals, and it was a hard-fought  contest. For much of the first period and part of the second, it looked like this, with Weeks (in burgundy on top) controlling the pace:

The boys were well-matched in strength and skill, and Eli had to fight for every point. Then Eli (in red, on top) got his groove back:

Eli was able to hang on, literally and very tightly, to prevent Weeks from escaping and tying up the match in the final 20 seconds.  Eli won 3-2!!!!!!!

The Camden-Rockport team did well.  Last year there were about 9 kids on the team.  This year there were 18, most in their first year of wrestling and many in the 5th and 6th grade years (i.e. have a lot to learn).  Of the 18 kids,  3 placed fourth and  3 placed first!  YES, we had THREE Regional Champions on our team. The six will go on to States next weekend.  Of the 3 champions,  Chris Weiss in the weight class below Eli won his *fourth* regional championship (yes, he is that good!), and Taylor Crosby surprised many including himself in defeating Brandon Waterman (really nice kid and really good wrestler from nearby Belfast) in the weight class above Eli.  Here’s a picture of the three of them with Jared Gilbert from HAL (Hope-Appleton-Lincolnville schools combine to field a team) who won in his weight class.

Just think…in two years these four champions will be on the Camden Hills Regional High School team together:  can you say kick some serious keestker?

Congrats to the boys who won, to the coaches (including dear hubby who is the assistant coach) who got them there, to all the team members -boys and girls- who participated on the team wrestling varsity or back up and learning.  Well done!  See you at States and again next year.

And to end the day, sunset just as I was ready to turn left into the driveway…with the trees reflected on the hood of my car (this was a stick-your-arm-out-the-window-and-snap photo):

Some days, you are filled with life and verve and sunshine.  Other days, the speed with which time disappears can threaten to overwhelm you.  Then I think of people like Melanie Testa (Every-single-day blog here) who is confronting cancer with grace and courage and beauty and strength that inspires so many of us.  We all have small and not-so-small moments of pain or sadness, so I’m thinking every now and then, I shall have to share a photograph or moment of beauty.

Slow down.

Appreciate those in your life and give thanks that they ARE alive and share themselves with you.

And that includes things with four or more feet that love you, too.

And take time to look around you and give thanks.

As I drove to Eli’s wrestling meet yesterday, the fog that had lifted here in Hope was hunkered down along the coast from Belfast north, including crossing the Penobscot Narrows Bridge at Fort Knox-Verona Island and over to Bucksport.  This bridge is stunningly beautiful no matter what, but yesterday it was nearly unearthly…

The Narrows Bridge over the Penobscot, looking up at the suspension cables as I drove over. Photo (c) 2011 Sarah Ann Smith. Photo is clickable to view larger

I had no idea what the photo was going to be.  I saw the wires and reached into my purse one handed, pushed the “on” button and held the camera up to the window to push the shutter.  I just clicked without opening to view screen…. some days beauty comes to find you.