Archive for September, 2006
September 6, 2006 at 10:01 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
I thought I’d share a couple of pictures today of the crew “at work.” I am usually found at my laptop doing something most days, but I don’t often post pictures of any of us because work is not the exciting part of our lives. Work is, however, the focus of many days.
Here you can see Emma at her workbook, practicing skills for reading. She’s coming right along, which I like to see. It’s as exciting as when she was learning to talk and every week I noticed new words in her vocabulary.
Eleanor spends time on her laptop too, once in a while. Usually she’s emailing friends or researching recipes.
Today was tumultuous. Emma’s uncle Steve departed this morning after breakfast. The rest of us worked through about 2:30 and then drove up to Bowdoin College to pick up Adam. (He caught the bus from Boston to come back up here and hang with us for the rest of the week, which is very cool.)
While we were out, a friend called from Vermont to ask for some advice about a business partnership that went bad. I had to give some hardnosed advice. I always hate having to tell people to get a lawyer. And, I worry about my friends who are having trouble, although in this case I’m certain they will land on their feet. (I should worry more about myself, since inevitably someone threatens to sue me for libel at least once a year! Such is the downside of being a publisher …)
In the afternoon I bought the Nissan Extended Warranty for the Armada. It’s comforting to have that resolved since our original warranty is up in 5,000 miles and I expect to log another 25,000 miles in the coming year — most of which will be towing. If we eat another exhaust manifold, it will be covered. We’re good until we hit 100,000 miles.
And then, in the late afternoon, I got word that an old friend, and a fellow who I respect very much, is battling cancer. I think we are going to try to rearrange our plans for October so that we can drop by and see him and some other old friends in Maryland. I’ll have to start researching places to put the Airstream as close as possible, or find courtesy parking in someone’s driveway.
Finally, Adam came over and we all had dinner together, and talked about everything while the moon rose over the Atlantic. It has been a day of work but nonetheless a good one. I am reminded that we are fortunate to have great friends, family, and freedom to roam the country visiting them.
September 5, 2006 at 7:14 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Susan and Adam have left to go back to work today, and I’ve had to hit the laptop again myself. But there has been time for Emma to go for quick snorkel with her uncle, who is visiting, and we took a walk along the rocky shore at low tide as well.
Last year we were here for three weeks, but this time we are only staying a few days. There’s no real deadline on this visit but we have many things to do back in Vermont. Otherwise, I would prefer to stay a couple of weeks and then head up the coast to Acadia National Park. Acadia is a terrific destination, and really underappreciated. You can hike there for weeks and keep finding excellent spots. It has everything: beaches, mountains, carriage trails, hiking, history, historic houses, wonderful restaurants, boat tours, and fantastic scenery. From here it would be about three hours drive.
But we didn’t bring the Airstream, so there’s no temptation. That was a deliberate choice. I would really like to go up to the Canadian Maritime provinces (Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, PEI, etc) to join Bert and Janie. Bert will be testing the difficulty of getting online up there, so I’ll have that insight to use when planinng a trip next summer or fall.
September 4, 2006 at 6:20 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
It has been a wonderful couple of days with our friends Adam and Susan. Yesterday we took in the Maine Maritime Museum, which is a great institution in Bath, near the famous Bath Iron Works.
Emma waits her turn to pilot a tugboat. Click for larger.
The museum is filled with great maritime history, including model ships, paintings, fishing equipment, cargo, and interpretive exhibits for the kids. Outside, there are sheds and barns with the historic equipment used to make wooden ships.
There’s also a great wooden fishing schooner on site which was built in 1942, although it seems much older in design. You can go aboard and check out everything up close, which is cool.
Not actual ships, but a painting! Click for larger.
Today the weather is a bit better than yesterday, but still cloudy most of the day. We’ve been out walking and talking about everything in the world.
Adam and Emma. Click for larger.
Sign of the week! Spotted at the Maritime Museum
Today a neighbor (a former schoolteacher) came by and gave us a homeschool project for Emma. Irish Moss (a type of seaweed) is commonly found on the beaches here. It’s the source of the food ingredient carrageenan. We collected a cup of Irish Moss, cleaned it, and boiled it with milk, sugar, and chocolate.
Irish Moss ready for boiling. Click for larger.
The Irish Moss releases carageenan, which thickens the mixture and makes a sort of pudding. (You strain the Irish Moss out after boiling, before things thicken up.) Actually, it came out more like chocolate gelatin, so the mouthfeel is peculiar, but it tastes just fine. Emma likes it. I think we used too much Moss relative to the milk.
Now we are all in the cottage, and Susan is helping Eleanor finalize what promises to be a spectacular dinner. Here’s the menu:
Vietnamese salad rolls with shrimp
Tom Kha (Thai coconut soup — sorry Brad)
Salad with Asian greens, plums, mandarin oranges, cucumber, snow peas
Rice
Stir fry noodles (tofu, snow peas, black bean sauce, ginger scallion, coconut water, sliced chicken, lime juice, garlic)
On the side: A dipping sauce made of satay sauce, peanut butter, coconut milk, ginger, black tea, mint, scallion, lime juice, and red curry paste
So that’s our Labor Day 2006. No barbecue this year. Your results may vary. 😉
The Luhr family examining periwinkles on Bailey Island.
September 3, 2006 at 10:54 am · Filed under Uncategorized
The tattered remnants of Hurricane Ernesto have arrived here in Maine, shortly after we did. We pulled in late Friday night and our unwanted neighbor Ernesto started to show himself on Saturday, with cool wind and gray skies.
As Adam says, “Maine is always nice, no matter what the weather.” And it is. We are once again in Adam and Susan’s lovely cottage and taking our semi-annual break from the Airstream. The last time we left it was January in San Diego.
It’s not that the Airstream gets tiresome. Our constantly changing scenery keeps us from getting bored or confined. But moving out once in a while gives us new perspective and helps us re-evaluate whether it’s time to move into a house. (Or, it keeps us from wanting a house.)
Last night Emma took out the Monopoly game and asked us to play with her, so we did. It turns out Monopoly is pretty handy for teaching math! We may be playing again.
Our Google Earth location (note: fixed 9/4/06)
September 1, 2006 at 10:35 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Yesterday we found a bat roosting under the umbrella which goes over the outdoor dinner table. Actually, we found two, but the first one flew off before I could get a picture of him. I believe these are “little brown bats” (myotis lucifigus), but correct me if I’m wrong. We’ve seen quite a few of these bats in our old caving days. (Eleanor and I used to spelunk in upstate New York when we were active members of the National Speleological Society.)
A little brown bat looking at me. Click for larger.
We love bats. Our old house had a bat house on the side, which I bought from a vendor recommended by Bat Conservation International. I always like to see bats flying around at night because I know they are eating bugs by the pound. A small colony of harmless bats nearby is the most efficient mosquito killing device you can have — and they are free!
I was sorry that the bat couldn’t stay in the umbrella. After I took a few photos he decided to find a quieter place to sleep, and flew off. I think they have a colony somewhere near the house, because we are seeing them every night at dusk. If you take some time to learn about bats you’ll be amazed at what they can do, in terms of flying and capturing bugs.
We have moved the trailer. Our neighbor was perfectly happy to have us stay indefinitely in her driveway, but we needed to dump the tanks and get propane so it was time to hitch up and tow over to the nearest campground. After getting the holding tanks empty, the water tank full, and a fillup of propane, we brought it back to my parents house and shoehorned it into their driveway. I hope I can get it back out later!
The Airstream is squeezed in behind the house.
The trailer will stay there for the rest of the month. Since we aren’t using the trailer for much more than sleeping now, I expect one tank of water to be sufficient for the entire time.
Today we are leaving for Bailey Island, Maine, to visit Adam and Susan and spend a week in their cottage. This is one of our rare times of living outside our Airstream. It’s important to get some variation in lifestyle, at least for us, when you live in a small space for long periods of time. I plan to use the bulk of the week to work on the book, while Eleanor intends to go visit some long-lost friends of hers.
Emma loves the tube! Click for larger.
Emma took a spin on the ski tube yesterday afternoon, which was a good chance for me to get more experience with the new Nikon lens. In a perfect world I would have bought a 28-200 zoom but anything close to that was much heavier than I wanted. The new 55-200 is great when I need it, but it’s too long for a lot of shots. I hate switching lenses while hiking or boating but there will be circumstances in which it is necessary. For action shots of Emma on the tube, the new 55-200 lens was perfect.
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