One of the lovely things about kids’ fall sports is being outside in a Maine Autumn.  As I type, I am watching an ever-so-pale pink on the  clouds underlit by the late sunrise (it is 6:56 a.m.) drifting across the distant hills, which range from deep pine to russet, gold, mahogany, bright green (the willows along the drive), deep umber on the trunks of trees that have lot their leaves already, and the burnt crimson of the blueberry barrens on the next hill over.   Going to Eli’s cross country meets is just as glorious, and we’ve had not-rainy weather the entire season!

Part of the trail at Camden Hills Regional High School; Eli is in red. 

Eli had a bumpy start to his season, coming down with a flu just a couple weeks in to school.  That affected his breathing and therefore his running, but he finally had a race with which he was happy last weekend at Homecoming.

The starting gun has just fired, and Ben Trapani. Caleb Love-Webb and Eli are in the lead for Camden (the three in red at the left).

Senior Ben Trapani is poised to come in near the top in the state this year.  I remember when Eli was in 6th grade and Ben in 8th and we would watch him at track meets, a full lap ahead of the field.  Not much has changed in four years, except that he is bigger, stronger, and even more of a fine young man; well, I would say that his confidence in himself and his running has grown, and it is good to see because it is confidence well-placed.   Will sure miss him after he graduates, but his younger sister Emma, a Freshman, is already at the head of the pack in the girls’ races!   Caleb is a Freshman, and is now the second-fastest on the team, something Eli predicted before the season began.

Caleb (left) and Eli (just behind him) coming round the bend side by side after about 1.5 km of the 5k race.

I see in Caleb the same focus and drive that I see in Eli, so it’s going to be a good few years for the boys.  And Eli, though not a typical runner’s build, is determined and fast as ever.

Eli coming around the back side of the second field at the high school. There is a spot where you can get the into-the-woods view then move about 30 feet to see the kids come around the loop to this spot.

Eli has an incredible drive to compete and win, and it comes out at the end of every race.   He can run down kids like you wouldn’t believe if they are anywhere near close.  Here  he’s putting it into overdrive:

How can that kid be so strong? He clearly gets his physical prowess from his dad!

And checking his time after crossing the finish line:

Better! Next up, the very hilly, challenging course for KVAC (Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference) race at Cony High School in Augusta, followed by Eastern Regionals in Belfast and states at Cumberland the following weekends.

What a concept… I actually am making a small art quilt!   I’ve been slamming busy as usual, and this time it is in the “oh I should make just one more new sample for Quilt Festival/teaching” mode!   On Saturday morning, I’m talking about thread-coloring, so decided to make a new piece, a lily.  Here it is in progress:

Pink lily, in progress

I’ve managed to quilt the pink, so this afternoon I’ll start in on the foliage.  I’ve used six or seven different pinks/reds.  As you can gather by the reference photo, it is  about 14 x 20 ish, but will be seriously cropped.  The current proportions/composition need fine-tuning, but decided I’d quilt first and chop second (probably at least an inch on all sides, more on the sides).

It is also glorious color time in Maine.  This was the wooded acres behind our house at sunrise this morning:

This morning at 6:35 a.m., lit by the rising sun

And I’ve got a new chair that doesn’t make my creaky bones ache;  clearly, the cats approve!  I’ve started putting the back cushion down and covering it to avoid them destroying the back cushion by cat-squishing it!

The cats like the new chair…all FOUR of them on the turned-down back cushion!

And a glorious sunset the other evening…. one of the most glorious in quite a while.

Sunset Friday at the high school in Rockport, Maine…GLORIOUS!

Off to enjoy autumn!

One more done…adding reflective paint to the posts and putting up the French house number!   I found the house number on eBay UK–a real French one!  I needed to spray some laquer on it to seal the chipped areas on the back (to prevent rust).  Then I finally went to screw it to the post and discovered the screw holes were too close to the outside edge of the 8×8 post which was, of course, not quite 8 inches wide.  Sigh.  So that meant glue up some leftover baseboard on the skinny edge to make a wide-enough back, prime, paint, then screw backing board to the post, then the numbers to the backing board!

FINALLY got the house number up on the post!  That’s the first part of the driveway…a long skinny bit of land that takes you up to  our real lot, in the center of the “block”

But at last, what a concept.  I don’t have to say “There are three driveways, take the middle one, you won’t be able to see the house but we are really up there.”  Instead I can say take the driveway with the 339 on the post!  YEAH!

Remember when I was painting the exterior doors and screen doors?

The formerly dark brown (lower right corner) door is primed and ready to be painted!

Good news–especially for me—they are DONE!

The “front” door–this is actually the screen door to the entry/kitchen. Like all good Maine houses, the “proper” front door is near the living room. No one uses it unless they are going from the living room to the porch. Everyone else uses the REAL front door…into the kitchen!  PS: no one has anything to fear from our pug…he only wants to love the universe!

The camera is acting weird (and for what it –a Canon G12– cost, it shouldn’t be having the problems it is currently having; I think I should buy a new memory card, as it seems to be wreaking havoc!), so the color looks off, too light.

And here is a photo from the inside/entry/kitchen side:

Better/more true color on this one. The screen door had been painted that ugly dark brown on the inside also (which is OK as a color, just not on the outside of ALL of this low ranch-style house).  I used a caramel color that matches the walls.  Once our carpenter finishes the new latchplate for the new door handle (a lever that my arthritic hands can actually OPEN), I’ll also paint the dark brown  trim on the door jamb inside the screen door.  And in a few years when the outside of the hosue needs painting, it will be a soft gray with white trim like the garage.

Let there be LIME green! Keep reading for more on my August so far….

Hi all…I’m back from two weeks in California, most of it teaching, a little of it travel (and several blogposts coming on that–I PROMISE there really will be quilting and art here, eventually!).  But that seems distant memory because as soon as I got home and unpacked, it was “fix it” month!  This seems to be my cycle:  teaching starts up as soon as the snow melts, then I’m off for August and September before more teaching.  This year is the same, and I’ve been crazy busy with the garden and assorted long-postponed household chores.

First on my list was PAINT THE UGLY DOORS to the house.  Our house is a ranch style, with a dark green roof (just fine) and DARK chocolate brown paint and trim.  UGH.  Talk about a hulking presence.  So eventually it will be painted a lovely dove gray with white trim like the garage we built last fall.   But it doesn’t need painting, so I’m starting with the doors:

The formerly dark brown (lower right corner) door is primed and ready to be painted!

John, our carpenter/builder, is here today installing the new doorknobs–what a concept, a doorknob my arthritic hand can actually turn!   As soon as he is done, I’ll show the “finished” door! The one above is to the entry/kitchen.  Of course I forgot to take a photo of the dark ugly thing before I began priming, but in the lower right corner behind the stepstool, you can see the original very dark paint.  Not a bad color, just not all over the house!

Then I turned my attention to the laundry closet.  I loathe our machines:  old, scratched, mismatched, and one is in that vile almond that I also really don’t like.  Give me WHITE!  But until they die, we’re stuck.   The fridge died earlier this spring, so we’re hoping these last another year, then maybe……   in the meantime, I wanted to spruce up the closet.  The “white” paint was a dingy, gray white and scuffed.  The shelves are wood, installed by the previous owner.  If he had just left them natural and put a finish on them they would’ve been nice.  But like all the rest of the woodwork in this house, he mucked it up with a “Fruitwood” stain that puts this grayish pall over the wood.  Sigh.  Ick.  (You can see the wood in the entry in the photo of the door).  So here’s the closet during the priming phase:

Green painters tape to seal off the areas that will remain white, Margarita/Lime green in the pan

Then partly painted (LOL…I had typed PARTY painted, that could work too):

Cutting in with the green, first coat. Took THREE coats to cover.  And those smudges are UNDER the primer.  Have no idea what the plumber got on there when they installed the burst-proof hoses.

and, from the other angle, DONE!

One of the first things I did when we moved in two years ago was install the closet rod over the washer and dryer. LOVE being able to pop stuff in the dryer for 10 minutes to get the wrinkles out, then hang to dry. Longer life on the clothes with less ironing. WOOT!

And some day we will have high efficiency washer and dryer where the clothes don’t feel like they  need to be put in the spin cycle when they are  allegedly done.  And the appliances will be crisp, clean WHITE!