25A and 25B

The flight portion of our 2019 missions trip with Praying Pelicans began around 4 pm as we flew out from Logan. Our group occupied seats on the left side of rows 23-25. Realizing that Maddie and I would be seated together I knew Boston to Panama would not be boring. Only minutes after our arrival to the cabin the first duo of giggles escaped and Greg, two rows ahead, turned back and quipped, “Should we apologize ahead of time to the guy sitting next to you two?”

Perhaps we should have.

One conversation began with Maddie stating, “I can’t believe I’m twenty years old and I just learned how dish detergent works.” We discussed this for a few minutes and I ended the conversation with, “Don’t be too hard on yourself, Maddie. At least you don’t eat the detergent.” We may have had a few people turn in our direction when we laughed.

When the time for supper arrived, one of our Copa Airlines attendants, Michael, came down the aisle with the small covered dinner trays, concealing a mystery dinner. Aaron remembered the experience from his previous trip and had commented at the airport earlier, “I can’t wait to see what my surprise is.” Standing in front of our row Michael asked, “Beef and mashed potatoes or a pasta with kind of a sweet cheese?” I passed the message to Maddie who had not heard the choices over the roar of the engine. A quizzical look passed between us. “Sweet cheese”? What could this surprise dish possibly be? Maddie figured the unknown was better for her than the beef (which was pretty good) and boldly stated “I’ll take the sweet cheese.” This struck the rest of our crew in the two rows ahead as uproariously funny. We loudly laughed as quietly as possible and ravioli will now forever be known as pasta with sweet cheese. Michael also laughed but I’m not sure why since he began the entire episode. Language barriers are a funny thing.

Giving it a Whirl

Atira has long desired to learn pottery. A wheel that was originally Jodi’s, a lump of clay and encouragement from Maddie and a set of tools from Uncle Chobie and Aunt Laura, small things have fueled her interest. Last night was her first class at Neighborhood Clay in Damariscotta. I’m excited to see how much she enjoys this art form. The wheel has begun to spin.

Labor of Love

Two decades ago I was enduring the labor pains that heralded the birth of the interesting human being known as Nolan Gilbert. This afternoon I endured the labor pains of baking a birthday cake to celebrate the long ago event. My cooking skills are known far and wide to be desperately lacking which begs the question, “Why does Nolan continue to ask me to bake him a cake every year?” Each attempt, I manage to achieve an edible or better product. This year’s request was a chocolate fudge cake. Nolan is a bit of a food snob when it comes to quality ingredients and so I made sure not to skimp on the ever important chocolate ingredients.

The cake was a complete success, although very rich with its fudgey center. My small piece paired nicely with a tall glass of milk. 

Another very pleasant pairing were the notes of “Happy Birthday” being sung on two continents as Jim’s parents joined us from Australia in the familiar refrain.

Happy 20th Nolan! You continue to be a blessing in our lives.

Cat Before Kid

Late last evening Atira, Tell and I entered the near empty Portland Jetport to bring a Hawaiian family member home. No. Not my son, Jubal. Not even my daughter-in-law, Casey. It was the grandkitty, Binx.

She is a whole lot of fierce in a tiny package, as we learned while visiting Jubal and Casey back in May. Casey may have been the one who acquired her but she prefers the company of Jubal. I’m pretty sure it’s because of the way he fights with her and sends her soaring across the open living space. She loves it. Our cat SID Franklin is twice her size; before our introduction in May I worried that he might not treat her well while they are staying here. Now I’m a little worried for SID! 

This morning I thought I would try a brief “hello” between them. SID was at the top of the stairs and showed some interest when he spotted Binx. She, on the other hand, gave him a huge “hisss” that left no doubt that friendship was off the table for the moment. Fortuitously, SID spends most of his time roaming the local West Bath woods and Binx is indoors only. She has been found staring longingly out several windows in the house today and I can only imagine that she is waiting for her “people” to arrive this evening. 


I think we’ll postpone the feline meeting until tomorrow...

Manly Men and Lotion

It’s slightly chilly in Vacationland today. Stepping out into the crunch of snow at the peak of today’s heat brought me face to face with a wind chill of -10.



Nolan gave his assessment of today’s weather as he crossed the kitchen floor, rubbing his moisturized hands together. “Well it’s that time of year when men can still be manly and apply lotion to their hands.”


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Jim vs. Electronics

Jim is generally very talented when it comes to household fixes. Need another bedroom built? A new roof put on? Bathroom plumbing reoriented? (Although I must mention that 7 years later our bathroom is still not finished. Tilesetters bathrooms are never tiled....Tradesmen’s wives, you know the story.) Need a chair or table fixed? A water line to the refrigerator installed? A set of stairs built? Want to almost double the size of your house with an addition? Jim is your man. In our 21 years here on Ledgewood Drive he has accomplished all of this and more, but like all great superheroes he has a weakness.

Jim’s Kryptonite comes in the form of a plug. In the second year of our marriage a fax machine that Jim had been attempting to fix went crashing down the basement stairs. This was the genesis of a long line of appliances that would “meet their Maker” at the hands of my husband.

Yesterday the dispensing mechanism on our Keurig began to malfunction. I researched and tried the online advice from others that had encountered the same issue, but to no avail. It still took 7 minutes to brew a half a cup of coffee.

What happened next was predictable. The doomed appliance landed in the calloused hands of Jim. I verbalized my amusement. “I don’t want to discourage your attempt to fix this but we all know how these projects usually end.” With a chuckle, he admitted, “I cannot disagree with you.”


Nolan, who has patience with electronics, was helping this time so I did think that maybe this Keurig had a chance.
Alas, no.

After 10 minutes the crack of plastic heralded the announcement of my new coffee-maker. Twenty-four years of experience, I should have known.

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Morgan Stewart Shelter to RPH