Ahh, Maine!

I drove over to Portland, Maine on Friday to visit my beautiful friend Felice Boucher, Photographic Artiste Extraordinaire.  AND she's famous.  No kidding, we were stopped at the Farmer's Market by fans who wanted to take her picture.  This is one of my all time fave photos of Felice and her Wheaten Terrier Finnegan taken on a visit to see Felice in Houston, TX.

We hadn't had a girls' weekend in too long due to busy schedules, etc.  It was just lovely to see her.

I know you think I only travel for the food and you're partly right, of course.  Our first stop on Saturday morning was The Holy Donut, owned by Felice's friend Cynthia's daughter and a partner who also sell to Whole Foods.  The donuts are made with Maine potato flour, all natural ingredients and are the best treats I have had in a while.  There was a long line out the door which Felice says is normal and continues until they sell out for the day.

Since I was in Portland, I had to visit twice (!) and tried three flavors:  Sweet Potato Ginger, Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt and Fresh Lemon Glazed.  That's Cynthia on the left taking a break from donut production.

Next stop, the bustling Portland Farmer's Market.  We wandered along gazing at beautiful veggies, flowers and crafts in Deering Oaks Park, two blocks from Felice's home.  It was cool and shady, full of families, artisans, growers, performers.  Perfect.  We were intrigued by the 'Hay Ball' (above lower left) which we saw around the downtown Saturday and Sunday - you can 'Like' it here.

There are Felice's fans, members of the Portland Camera Club.

We also stopped to visit the hula hoop lady Tracy from Hardcore Hoops, handcrafted in Maine for maximum hoopability.  Felice bought two for her grandchildren and so did I.  She swears it's real exercise, so I am going to try it out.  Honestly, I DID hula hoop when I was a kid!

Yes, I had to photograph the radishes.

We were invited to dinner in Brunswick by Felice's friends Julie and Larry.  They are Finnegan's second family where he goes to catch up with his Wheaten Terrier pals when Felice is traveling.

 

We had such a nice visit, sipping wine on the deck, chatting and munching smoked oysters (if my sister Barbara is reading this, yes, I had some for you) and then...lobster fresh off the boat for dinner.  It was the best!  Thanks you, Julie and Larry for great food, company and conversation.

Portland is home to many notable lighthouses and we visited a few, despite the drizzle on Sunday.

I love Vermont and don't want to move, but a person does need an ocean fix every one in a while.  Nothing compares with cold ocean waters, if you ask me.

Tropical beaches are lovely, of course, but the bracing air, rocky shore, pounding waves and overall sense of power and menace are what draw me to the seaside.

So we walked and talked, traded photography tips and stories, laughed A LOT and ate, of course.  After Felice's frozen banana-peach-mango-cashew dessert I asked to be adopted.

Felice is plunging into high wedding season and may not come up for air for a while, but I want to say what a wonderful time I had with her and hope we can get together again soon.  XOXOXO

SCIENCE WEEK!

Anthony and I just completed "Science Week".  Lucy was in gymnastics camp, so I tried to plan fun seven-year old stuff for a budding scientist.  We were so busy we didn't even get to some of the plans.  Well, I'm sure we will eventually!

My thrice weekly water aerobics class at The Edge is not exactly science, but it was great fun now that Anthony is a fish, or at least swims like one.  Thanks to instructor Renee Allen for taking our photo!

On to Healthy Living where I try to try to follow my son's instructions and have a veggie juice cocktail several times a week.  Spinach, carrot and ginger - yum.

Both Anthony and Lucy are great eaters and fairly adventurous.  There's always something delicious and healthful to load their plates with and, yes, they eat it all.

On Monday we read a book about apes and played cards with Grandpa who had the day off, pasted pictures of birds onto a journal Anthony will use at Audubon bird camp next week and played with the dogs.

Tuesday we went to St. Johnsbury to visit the Fairbanks Museum of Natural Science, right downtown.  We listened to Stuart Little in the car which made for a very nice drive.

The museum was fascinating.  A huge collection of wild animals (beautiful taxidermy work) kept us busy, along with many other interactive exhibits and the planetarium with at look at the July night sky.  This little museum is a gem and, if you live in Vermont and have never visited, get going!  Besides the great exhibits, there was a lovely little shaded picnic area right out the back door.  We are definitely going back someday soon.

I decided not to take my camera along on several of our outings so I could just 'be' there, not snapping away all the time.  This is unlike me, as you know, but I do take some flak for always living through the lens.  The bird photo on the left is from the Museum Web page.

After "Bubble Class" at The Edge on Wednesday we took a trip to one of our favorite haunts, The Birds of Vermont Museum in Huntington.  Another hidden gem!  We said hello to Mr. Bob Spear, the founder and carver who's 92 and still working on new bird carvings every day.  Anthony made some notes of the birds he liked best that day, including the Cardinal and the Peregrine Falcon.  Raptors seem to be a favorite category at the moment.

Thursday brought at trip to The ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center in Burlington (how lucky are we to have so many great places to take kids around here?)  We love to watch the turtles, eels, frogs and fish, including one huge huge sturgeon Anthony and Lucy call "the King".  For kids who are so into animals and fish, it's a wonderful morning outing.  Buy a family pass and you can drop in any time, all year long.  Do I sound like a spokesperson?  Well, I think it's a bargain and kids love it!

Friday was a big day.  As you may have heard, Anthony broke his wrist about a month ago and has been sporting a neon green cast.  It came off Friday, replaced by a wrist brace.



This procedure worked out well as part of "Science Week".  All the adults connected with Anthony spend a lot of time answering more and more complex questions and the whole cast and broken bone scenario was a great topic.

The wedding of the decade...

Or any decade!  Our great friends Donna and Brad GoodHale got married at the beautiful Batcheller Mansion Inn in Saratoga, NY on June 10.  Donna is the best known photographer in Rutland, VT and Brad works for the Rutland Police Dept.  I the photo above are all their photographer friends and their families.  A who's who of some of out best friends from every New England state and as far away as Illinois.

There are 20 professional photographers in this image taken by Charlie Parker of Quechee, VT, who later added himself to the group.  Can you guess where he is?

It was a wonderful celebration.  We've known Donna since she was a 16 year old photographer, rarin' to go AND she was "never going to get married".  She met her Superhero, though and, well...  Two of her attendants, Lola and Lexie stole the show.