Incompatibility

Nolan to Jim:
"I thought all apple products were compatible."


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School, Soccer, Supper

Thanks to Meghan Gillespie, I took Tell to a 4-H hosted homeschool event at the Bowdoinham Library today. Atira was sick, so she missed this week's butterfly theme. Last Thursday they were divided into groups and were required to create a wind boat that would "sail" the length of the table.










It's a shame that we missed the first two weeks of the sessions because Tell thoroughly enjoyed them.

After dropping Nolan off at Karate, the family shot up to Waldoboro for Jubal's soccer game against Windham Academy. Coastal lost, but we still enjoyed the company of Fishers and Hodgdons on the sidelines.

If you must lose a game, at least follow it up with a delicious meal at Moody's next door. While there, I opened my very belated birthday gift from Don. It was a Sumo-sized and themed coffee mug from Japan. I love it!







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I Have Nothing To Wear

I realize that God created men and women differently. This is not news to me. Sometimes, however, we are given glaring reminders of truth we already know. This morning, I heard "Mom, I have nothing to wear." from Nolan. I have also heard it (much more frequently) from Atira. When Atira says it, she is standing in front of her closet, looking at an array of clean, hanging clothes and there is nothing that she feels like wearing or nothing that fits the occasion. When Nolan said it this morning, it meant he was standing in the middle of his room, surveying the floor, which was well-stocked with previously worn clothes and there was nothing clean to wear.


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Maine State Aquarium

Friday morning found us, along with Jen and Asa Hodgdon, arriving at the small octagonal building known as the Maine State Aquarium, overlooking a foggy Boothbay Harbor. Arriving a few minutes before it even opened was a novelty for this habitually late girl.








Once the doors were opened and the Gillespies and Johnstons joined us we entered the large dimly lit room to enjoy the many tanks filled with mostly local marine species. When local lobstermen find oddities in their traps, many times they offer them to the aquarium and so we observed a lobster that was split down the middle, half red and half black, as well as one that sported six claws. An hour into our visit an educational presentation on Maine lobsters was held outside on the covered porch.








The highlight of the aquarium were the two touch tanks where the kids handled sea stars, sea urchins, hermit crabs, sea cucumbers, and scallops as well as lightly touching some dogfish and some gorgeously patterned cat shark. The field trip was a fine finish to another productive school week.







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Tie-Dye Time

We kicked off AWANA for the year on Wednesday with homemade ice cream and tie-dying t-shirts. Both were a hit.











Atira opted to have a diagonal stripe pattern achieved with accordion style folds.








Tell and Ben Foreman decided to be Elf Bros and do a Christmas-colored swirl pattern, and even though their colors and design were the same, and the dyes were applied by the same teens the finished products were distinctively different. I couldn't help but be reminded of the uniqueness of each one of us in the human race, the difference being that the creator of the tie-dye design is never sure EXACTLY how the design will come out. Our Creator, however designed us perfectly and knows us intimately. God does not deal in randomness or accidents.













Psalm 139:13-16

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.








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Maine State Park Passport, Stamp #3

Atira, Tell and I spent a couple of hours walking the State Park Trail that hugs the shore of tiny Mackworth Island, the home of the Baxter School for the Deaf. A causeway links the 100 acre island to Falmouth. That was a treat, as the feel of driving over a causeway brings a bit of my childhood in Eastport back to me.




At the end of the causeway was a Ranger Station. I was offered a guide book to borrow and directed to park in the one empty spot of the tiny parking lot. I had read beforehand to avoid coming at peak times as the lot only holds about 20 cars. That information would have been more helpful if the peak times had been designated. I'm fairly certain that lunchtime is one of those peak times. When we first arrived, just after 11:30, we encountered many runners and walkers, presumably on their lunch break, along the path. By 1:45, when we left, our trail encounters had thinned out, so note to self: mid-afternoon might be a better time if we go again.







Benches, allowing a chance to relax and enjoy the view, have been placed all along the trail. We utilized one for our lunch break and toward the end of the trail Atira and Tell enjoyed a swinging bench overlooking the panorama of Casco Bay.












In several places there are stairs that allow shore access and of course Atira and Tell used them all, including one on either side of the the old civil war pier.



















Governor Percival Baxter, of Baxter State Park repute, and a breeder of Irish Setters, deeded Mackworth Island to the State with the stipulation that the cemetery of his beloved dogs be maintained forever. They are buried under a massive boulder with three plaques showing the dogs' names and when they died. The governor's horse is also buried in this plot and a horse tombstone was one of the most unusual things that I saw on this field trip; the other was a fire hydrant in the middle of the woods. I'm still trying to figure that one out.










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Everything In Its Place

This morning Atira and Tell took some time to amuse themselves by filling up some water balloons and rolling them down our driveway. While clearing off the kitchen counter after lunch, I picked up the package of tiny yellow and purple balloons and wanting them to be put away in their proper place I asked Tell, "Where did these balloons come from?" He responded, "The bathroom." My voice and face conveyed my confusion. That's not the first place I would think to look for water balloons. I confirmed his response, asking, "The bathroom?". I could tell that my confusion was perplexing to him as he replied without hesitation, "Yeah. Doesn't that make sense? They ARE water balloons."

I guess so. It's hard to argue with 7 year old logic.


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Not So Fresh Start

This morning was the first day of classes for my Senior, Jubal and my Freshman, Nolan. Knowing that I needed to pick up Emily, I went out early to tidy the van and discovered that Atira's drenched shoes from our flooded tent had been left in the van overnight. There's nothing like the smell of wet sneakers to invigorate you on your first day of school.







It was strange not having Nolan around the house but much easier to manage the schooling of two kids rather than three. On a completely unrelated note, I said to Jim a few minutes ago that sometimes the toughest part of writing in my blog is coming up with a title for the post. He suggested that I just name each one "My Husband is Awesome" regardless of the subject matter.....this is one of the myriad of reasons why I write the blog, not him.


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Just Go With The Flow of Water

At the end my party, spur of the minute plans were made for us to spend Sunday evening tenting and relaxing with the Brunks around Greg's handmade firepit. By the end of Sunday afternoon the group coming over for the evening had expanded to include the Raymonds and Pendletons as well.





It felt like a smaller version of the previous night's party, this time with Mosquitos, sparklers and a tent with the rain fly just sort of thrown on.







That last one mentioned was of great significance when the heavens opened up in a downpour with thunder and lightning after midnight. Jim and Jubal had stayed up later and slept in the house and I thought maybe we should do the same. I began waking up Nolan and Tell to go inside. Atira was already awake and discovered that the tent was leaking. By the time we bolted inside, there was already a pool of water at the entrance. The sunken, water-logged tent was quite a hilarious sight in the morning.







Before leaving Buxton we stopped to visit my grandparents. Although we missed Papa, who was running an errand, we were glad to have the whole family visiting Bau Bau at once. It had been a long while.


Jim and I ended his Labor Day break together with a shopping trip to Freeport. I found the $80 backpack that I wanted for Jubal for only $25 at the L.L. Bean Outlet. Those kind of bargains make my day! Jim also took a wander through the British Goods store and was excited to pick up a small jar of Vegemite to replace the previously consumed one. I was not nearly as excited about this find.








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The 40 Finale

My week of celebrating 40 ended with my party last night. The Battys arrived about a half an hour earlier than the designated time, coming straight from Bill's steel drum band gig. He immediately made himself at home, discreetly creating havoc on my Facebook account.





I really don't need a pink drumset, a friend with a bright orange shirt or a strapping tiler. When I finally saw "my" status later in the evening I knew who had messed with it. Bill is a drummer, so of course the drumset was a clue, but "strapping tiler" is what he has jokingly called Jim for years. He works with computers so several years ago, during one of our visits, he messed around so that when you googled "strapping tiler", Gilbert Tile Installation was the first hit. Yep. I knew it was him.

The Morrills arrived in a timely fashion. I knew they would because Heidi had to head out fairly early in order to be up at 2:30 in the morning to make "melt in your mouth" Frosty's donuts.







The Buxton Crowd (minus the camping Redlons) mostly arrived on time and the Foremans and Hodgdons came later.





Sue and Sandy, who both have twin boys, met and clicked like old friends. It was fun to have my friend groups mixed together and meeting one another. I'm so thankful for all of them taking the time to hang out with me for a bit and make my 40th very special.















Before the Battys left, we made sure to enjoy the cake she made for me. It was my traditional crumb-topping blueberry cake that I love. No one wanted a scented votive candle on top so I just held a lighter over the cake while my group of largely musically talented friends sang a perfectly harmonized version of "Happy Birthday". (I also sang along because it was less embarrassing that way.)







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