Notes from Maine - 2025/06/01
We had a great week here. My sister and mom came up last Sunday and they leave later on today. The weather in May can call for shorts or winter coats, depending on the year. Aside from Saturday, we were lucky to have sunny days and mild temperatures. Mom had a chance to start her gardens off on the right foot, my sister sowed seeds and populated all the annual flower pots, and we got the camp up and running for the summer. Most importantly, my sister and mom met Lilly. She’s such a delightful little filly. She loves everyone although she does get rambunctious once in a while.
We watched through the window the other day as Lilly ran circles around her mother, jumping and kicking. When she tired herself out, she collapsed on her side in a soft pile of hay and slept without a care as Maybelle continued to graze.
Earl is still separated from Maybelle and Lilly, but only by a tape fence. When they’re all outside together, he keeps a close eye on them most of the day. Looking at the pasture, I don’t know how he gets it all done. He manages to keep the grass very short throughout the entire pasture even though he seems to spend most of his time posted up beside the barn she he can watch Maybelle and Lilly graze. It’s quite a feat.
Inside the house, the kitchen project has reached a dangerous milestone. Most of the cabinets are done and everything is functional. There are still plenty of things on my list—I have to finish some cabinetry, install new lighting, add backsplash tiles, and figure out where all the dishes should live in the new cabinets. But there’s no immediate “need” driving that work. For all of my day-to-day tasks, the kitchen works just fine and looks decent too. I built big pantry drawers into the island, and those sit nearly empty. What would I put in them? The items that I envisioned needing space for, like boxes of dry goods, and tall bottles and cans, are not things that I use. If I fill the drawers, the food is either going to expire or I will have to change my eating habits. I’m not excited about either of those prospects. Somewhere along the way, I started designing based on the books and pictures I was seeing instead of my typical habits. Maybe the next people who live here will make better use of the drawers I built.
It will be November before there’s another party here, so that’s my only real deadline. I don’t want to let these final steps drag out that long. I’ll have to set a couple of artificial deadlines and work towards those to keep everything on track.
Albert (dog) has had a busy week as well. We took several trips to the store and got Dad’s truck new tires and an inspection sticker. Albert was required to sit quietly by my side during all these transactions, stay right with me every time I moved, and wait patiently when I opened doors. He did very well. At the feed store on Friday, a clerk gave him a treat. He held it in his mouth politely until the clerk went back behind the counter. Then Albert spat the treat on the floor—Stranger Danger rules are still in full effect.
He’s not great at sitting patiently as I open the door to the truck. He wants to jump back inside—there are fewer expectations inside the truck than out in the world. The tires were the first major expense for Dad’s truck. They didn’t have a ton of miles on them, and maybe could have gone another year. I didn’t want the uncertainty.
I feel ready for the summer now, and it’s coming quickly. We’re going to have hot temperatures this week and everything is growing at a breakneck pace. Hope you’re looking forward to summer as much as I am (or winter, for you Southern Hemisphere folks).
