Just Coasting

Otherwise known as vacation, part 2. We left PEI Wednesday morning and drove about 4 hours into New Brunswick. We were not too excited about getting back in the car but the drive was positively lovely. My husband says taking a car trip with me is like riding in King Tut's tomb. I must have all my 'stuff' around me. I need it all y'all. It's the books that tell me what we're seeing (or missing as Mr. Leadfoot zips by the little brown signs), my phone of course because as sure as I don't have it right next to me daughter1 and/or 2 will call and I'll annoy hubs trying to dig it out of my purse (or the black hole as he likes to call it). Then of course there are the twizzlers (which need no explanation, duh), maps, as in my twenty pages of google maps just in case the sat nav leads us astray. And the Atlas that is approximately 3 feet tall because I have midlife eyesight these days and because the google maps and the sat nav might both be wrong. And sat nav is gps in case you're not up on what the Brits call it.

Anyway....as we meandered along the coast we saw not one but two bald eagles overhead. My husband really wanted to see a moose on this trip and we saw alot of signs telling us to watch out! because apparently they are way bigger than our car but...sigh...not a moose in sight.

Enroute to the adorable village of St. Andrews by the Sea we stopped in a town called St. John to see what is known as The Reversing Falls. These are caused by the enormous rise and fall of the tides in the Bay of Fundy, which are the highest in the world. Basically the low tide leaving the bay runs into the new high tide coming into the bay and this combination makes a higher wave coming in so it is like a reverse fall. And it is crazy. And you can take a wild boat ride right through the middle of it all.

After we peeled ourselves away we headed on to the very quaint little village of St. Andrews by the Sea. Even the name is cute. We stayed in a pretty little inn and oh yeah, we had another lobster roll lunch sitting next to the sea. Ho hum.

I did sort of wonder how I would ever go back to a sandwich lunch??? Blech.

Thursday morning we were up and on the road again, headed to Bar Harbor Maine. Before arriving in Bar Harbor we made a short stop to see the island of St. Croix which is located in the middle of the St. Croix river and is viewed from the park across the water.

The island forms part of the international boundary between Canada and Maine. A French settlement was established here with Champlain playing a part in that and it was one of the first efforts by France at establishing a year round colony in the territory known as Acadie. You didn't know this was going to be fun and educational did you?

Still coasting....Let me just say that I always wondered about people who talked endlessly about vacationing in Maine every summer. I mean the water never really gets warm and the air doesn't really get HOT but, after two days in Bar Harbor I totally get it. It is just so utterly beautiful. The Acadia National Park is situated around Bar Harbor and there are breathtaking views and stunning scenery everywhere you look. Oh, and seafood. I don't think I mentioned the lob-stah. Fab-u-lous! We walked out on Sandy Beach in Acadia and there was indeed a real live person swimming. And yes indeed the water temperature was 54 degrees. I was in a fleece.

On this trip I was reminded once again of why I don't like visiting places filled with steep rocky ledges with my husband. Or 'the mountain goat' as he is sometimes called. He just loves to get as close to the very edge of nothing-ness as he possibly can.

And sometimes in response to my hyperventilating he'll say something reassuring like,' Don't worry....there's a big rock ledge just below." Super. So you won't plummet directly into the churning sea....your fall will be broken by a rocky ledge. Thank you. I feel much better now. Friends who know him well visited the Grand Canyon and the first thing they told us when they returned home was they were glad he wasn't with them. Not that they don't love him but they didn't think their hearts could stand the drama. It's not just me y'all.

Will this post ever end? Yes. Shortly. Bar Harbor...you should go there.

And hike the park.

And watch the birds.

And eat the seafood.

And stand above the water.

And relax.

Believe it or not I've got more. I think I will save the last day for its very own post because we may have semi-stalked a former President and our efforts did not go un-rewarded. In fact I suspect the Secret Service is reading this post as I type. I will post that on Thursday because tomorrow I'm going to participate in Linda's random meme...she posted the questions for it on her blog today so go here if you feel the need to blog your own randomness tomorrow. And if you check back here on Thursday you might just read a little something about a certain #41.

There was Plenty of Scope for the Imagination

Growing up my younger sister and I walked back and forth to elementary school. We lived about seven blocks away so we also walked home for the hour long lunch break each day. My mother would read aloud to us while we sat and ate our lunch and we shared many wonderful books this way. We all have sweet memories of those days spent sitting at our kitchen table but my favorite by far was the year I met Anne of Green Gables. My mother read the entire series to us at lunchtime when I was in the 5th and 6th grade and I fell in love with Lucy Maud Montgomery's character Anne Shirley and especially with her words. The books are filled to overflowing with wonderful words and phrases. So guess what? Last week I was here-

Yes that is me standing at the signpost entrance to Green Gables on Prince Edward Island, Canada. Honestly, when we got out of the car I wanted to burst into tears. I felt like my 10 year old self standing there.

My husband and I went on vacation last week. I know some of you who read here are thinking, 'Do these people ever stay home?' It does seem like we've been on the road pretty much every weekend since we arrived back in the states and I guess it seems that way because it's true. However, I don't really consider riding 17 hours in a rental truck only to move furniture upon reaching our destination to be an 'actual vacation'. Nor do I consider moving from one country to another to be anything remotely like an 'actual vacation' so last week we took an honest to goodness vacation. As an aside here...I think you'll be relieved to know that I'm going to write two posts about our holiday because, like Anne Shirley, I too love words.

We drove from our home in NJ alllllll the way to Prince Edward Island Canada. It felt a little bit like driving to the end of the earth but it was so worth it. We spent three full days on PEI visiting friends from the UK. They relocated back to the island a couple of years ago and it was so much fun to see their home and catch up in person. Here is the very lovely view from the very lovely deck of their very lovely home.

We arrived around dinnertime and were greeted with this-

We knew right away we'd come to the right place for a holiday. We spent our first full day on the island seeing the sights around PEI with our friends kindly acting as tour guides. We visited some cute little villages including this one known as Rustico...so charming.

We walked on Brackley Beach which is absolutely beautiful. The wind was blowing in case that's not completely apparent but it was such a nice day.

Oh, and speaking of the weather? Di-vine! My husband spoke to people in his office once or twice and the weather at home was dreadful. Yes he was on vacation and he really did do a great job at keeping the Blackberry mostly turned off. The sea is the one place he can truly relax so this was an ideal vacation spot.

We stopped around lunchtime for what would be the first of many wonderful seafood meals. PEI is known for its seafood and in particular for the mussels and oysters grown there. If you eat mussels in the US chances are good that they were grown in PEI. Coincidentally my friend L is involved in the Aquaculture industry on the island and more about that in a minute. The white buoys=mussel fields.

After lunch we headed over to Green Gables. I can't believe I actually get to write that. Lucy Maud never lived in the house but did spend alot of time there and especially loved exploring what she called The Haunted Woods and Lovers Lane. The house itself belonged to cousins of her grandfather.

Our second night in PEI my friend and I went to see the musical version of the story and it was terrific. I've imagined the characters for so long now that I was a little bit worried about the casting but the show is so well done.

If I'd done nothing but visit Green Gables I would have left PEI a happy girl but our hosts had so many great things organized for us. On our last day in PEI they arranged for us to see inside a Mussel plant which was located just at the base of the bridge leading onto the island.

It's still a very hands on process and much less automated than I would have imagined. After the mussels came the oysters. What fun this was! We went out with a fisherman on a little dory and got to try our hand at tonging the oysters. This is way harder than it looks! (Especially with a leather backpack on).

The riding in the boat part is simple but the actual tonging part...it's tricky! These tongs are seven feet long and they are heavy.

Not only did we get to try tonging the oysters but our very nice fisherman cracked them open right there on the boat and we ate them straight out of the sea. And they were delicious! And I believe the technical term is 'shucked' not cracked.

Yes, my husband did get close enough for you to see every pore in my skin -sorry 'bout that.

We celebrated our last night on the island with...you guessed it...a seafood feast. We had fresh shucked oysters, steamed mussels, fresh scallops, and corn cooked on the grill.

I could go on and on and oops, I have. I'm going to write about the rest of our trip in another post because all of the above happened and it was only Tuesday night. When it comes to my blog I think Anne said it best, "I know I chatter on far too much ...but if you only knew how many things I want to say and don't."

The Cheeky One

I love the word cheeky. You hear that word alot in England and it sometimes has a negative connotation but very often when a child is referred to as a 'cheeky monkey' it means they are naughty but in an endearing sort of way. Hello Daughter 2!

Our daughter2 will celebrate her 19th birthday this week. Away from home. At college. Surrounded by friends because this child is always surrounded by friends. I wrote a post about my hubs on his birthday recently and let me just say the apple didn't fall far from the tree here. This sweet girl has always been so full of life beginning with the moment she entered this world screaming like nobody's business.

She was a beautiful baby. And I know I'm her mother and all mothers say their baby is beautiful but this one y'all...she was truly a beautiful baby. A perfect head, strong and healthy and curious...and the eyes...oh my the eyes. They could get you past any naughty thing she ever did. Big and blue and twinkly. And it was a good thing too because have I mentioned this one was just a little bit cheeky? Let's just say she loved to have the last word from an early age and she spent more than a few minutes of her young life 'sitting on the step'.

As a toddler she made my hair gray. Literally. I honestly wasn't sure I was gonna survive her 'let me leap and then look' approach to life. (Again, see post on husband). This little girl entered this world with more confidence than most people develop in a lifetime. All her life I've been asked about it starting with her very first preschool teacher who informed me that, 'A more confident child I have never known in my 23 years of working with preschoolers.' Now I think we can all agree that confidence is a good thing. Determination, drive, passion, spirit...these are wonderful qualities that most adults wish they possessed. In a toddler though...they can make day to day life a bit challenging. A battle of the wills. When she was a little girl I prayed every day that God would somehow use these qualities in her. And I'm pretty sure by 'use' I meant that He would squash them.

But you know what? Those qualities in a little one that make the day to day parenting never dull but completely exhausting? Those same qualities in a teenager are a beautiful thing. In a young adult living away from home they are essential. This is a child who rises to a challenge. Who is completely focused. Who knows her mind. Who loves God wholeheartedly. Who doesn't do things halfway. Who challenges herself. Who believes she can do anything she puts her mind to.

Just like she did when she was three years old.

We moved to England just before daughter2's 13th birthday. While the rest of us were coming to grips with the fact that we'd just had a major life change and were slowly adjusting to life across the pond, Daughter2 was living and loving it all. Every moment. She didn't want to miss a single minute. She hit the ground running and never looked back. She could have wallowed just a bit and it would have been completely understandable. But this one...she loves life and is willing to go where it takes her and to embrace every new experience.

This past spring she phoned home with 'something to tell us'. If you don't have college kids you maybe can't relate to the bazillion thoughts that pass through your brain when you get a call like that but those thoughts? They are doozies. So we braced ourselves for who knows what and she says, 'I wanted to tell you that I tried out for cheerleading and I made the team.' Huh? What? Cheerleading? Now this doesn't sound like much I know but my daughter2 has never ever in her entire life been involved in cheerleading. And most cheerleaders have been cheerleading and involved in gymnastics for many years before getting to college. Not this sweet thing. My husband and I laugh and say she just woke up one day and said, 'hmm today I think I'll be a cheerleader.' And she would never for a moment doubt that she could do it. And so she does. And this is her approach to life always. And I love that. I love to see how God took her sweet 'cheeky' spirit and has shaped and molded her into a remarkable young adult. And in the process I've been changed as well. This child has been handed some challenges in this life and she has met them head on with courage and determination and humor. This one has taught me a few things y'all.

Oh, and one more thing about miss sweetness...she has always loved her mama fiercely. Some of my happiest memories of living abroad were trips each December when daughter2 and I would travel with a few other moms and daughters to the Christmas markets in Germany. We've shopped and eaten and laughed and talked (especially talked!) our way through Stuttgart and Nuremberg and Dresden. She will hate that I've put this picture on here because we both look so... cold? Is that the word I'm looking for? It was absolutely arctic-cold in Dresden that December! But I like it. I think of happiness and chatter and mother-daughterness.

A daughter's love.

Could there be anything sweeter in the whole wide world?

I think not.

Happy Birthday to my 'cheeky little monkey'....she knows I say it with a smile.

It is the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius

I don't know why I picked that title other than the fact that I started out calling this post Hair which made me think of the musical and the music hence the shout out to The 5th Dimension.

Where was I going with this again? Oh yeah...I finally broke down and got my highlights done today and yes of course that is blog material. It is the first time I've had them done since I moved.

I know.

I put if off as long as I could because thinking about training a new stylist from scratch causes me to break out in hives. Actually I had a haircut about 3 weeks ago and I've been trying to recover ever since. Despite my very lengthy, in-depth, and precise instructions that day it did not go well. Why do they always want me to be more trendy??? Oh, you can totally do trendy they always say and I remind them that when it comes to my hair I know what I know.

Anyway, I went to stylist number 2 today...different salon because I think we all know I couldn't go back to the original salon and see a different stylist, right? I mean could I? I've never been completely clear on the etiquette with that so I just played it safe and went to a salon waaay on the other side of town. And I even let new guy put in highlights but of course that was after I'd given him some instruction which included, but was not limited to-

Do not make my hair any shade of orange.

Do not make my hair any shade of purple.

Do not make my hair skunk-like.

Please, oh please, make it look sun-kissed.

Doesn't that sound delightful? Sun -kissed. Ahhh. My stylist in England used that term and I've adopted it. In the UK we took our sun where we could get it. Anyway, my girl in England was just too adorable. She came to the house to cut our hair and she'd sit and talk and look at our family photos, and ooh and ahh over the girls prom dresses, and she was always taking fabulous trips and she was upbeat and smiley and oh we do miss our hairdresser. And its not just because we loved the way she cut our hair. We bonded. Do you all feel like you need to bond with your hairdresser on some level or is that just me? Moving on...

To those of you who love all that trendiness and maybe you have purple, orange or blonde-on top-and black-underneath kind of hair I mean no offense. I know there are women who can totally pull it off. London is nothing if not trendy so believe me I've seen trendy. But I imagine if you do fall into that category then you are probably, ahem, younger than me. Something happens to your skin tone once 40 whizzes past. Or maybe it was 45? hmm...something also happens to your memory. It's not just me is it? No, I know it's not because there were two other women having their hair done beside me and we discussed this very topic.

All this to say, stylist 2 just might be my new best friend. And I'd post a picture except hubs has been in Mexico on business all week and he took the camera. And although I have indeed written an entire novella on my hair dilemma I feel like taking a picture of myself and my new highlights and then posting it on the world wide web might suggest to people that I've spent a little too much time alone this week. I gotta draw the line somewhere.

Anyone for a little bit of random?

Linda at Second Cup of Coffee is hosting a meme today and its theme is 'random'. If you read my blog you know I can do random and in fact I like to think I excel at random so I thought I'd give it a go....if you'd like to participate just answer the questions in a comment below or on your own blog.

1. When you go to Wowmart, what one thing do you get every single time, besides a funky-wheeled squeaking cart full of frustration?

I don't spend alot of time in Wowmart (please don't hate me) Except of course in the past two months I may have been everysingleday thanks to moving house. When I do go...strawberry twizzlers baby

2. What is something that people are currently "into" that you just don't get or appreciate?

twitter....really I am just not getting it people...'nuff said. Oh see I can be succinct. Maybe I should be on twitter.

3. What is something that really hoists your sail that other people might feel "ho-hum" about?

blogging : )

4. Favorite song to sing in the shower or car?

this is too hard and I've strained my brain trying to limit my answer to one...How Great Thou Art. There. I picked just one.
5. A really great salad must have this ingredient:

uh, lettuce?

6. Advice in a nutshell to new bloggers (one or two sentences):

write with your own voice, don't try to be someone you're not

7. What was the alternate name that your parents almost named you? Do you wish they had chosen it instead of the one they gave you?

Nathaniel . Obviously that would have been the boy name. And obviously I'm a girl.

8. What in your life are you waiting for?

at the moment a little clarity about what to do next

9. You get a package in the mail. What is it, and who is it from?

chocolate. And really it wouldn't matter who it was from

10. Today--what song represents you?

Blessed (Martina McBride)

11. What is one thing that blogging has taught you about yourself?

I love to write. I have alot of opinions. I talk too much. Actually that last one I may have already known.

12. How are you going to (or how did you) choose the clothes you're wearing today? What do they say about you in general or specifically how you're feeling today?

Well, going walking now so will wear my walking clothes. Then, hmm...probably jeans and a top (its cool outside) and I don't know that this says anything about me or how I'm feeling other than that I do love a great pair of jeans. And a great pair of shoes but that would be a whole 'nother post.

They Say It's Your Birthday

Almost thirty years ago I met and fell in love with my husband. Today he is celebrating a milestone birthday. I use the word celebrate very loosely because he is working and traveling all day and I'm not really sure how much fun you can have in an airport. I will say this though...if there is any fun to be found he will be the one to find it. Because he knows how to enjoy life. To seize a moment. To pull you into a moment right along with him. To laugh. To make me laugh. To embrace opportunity. To love a challenge. To be spontaneous.

He never met a stranger. He is the person you sit next to on a plane and you find yourself telling him your life story. He draws people out. He makes people feel comfortable when they are not. There isn't a microphone on any stage that he wouldn't love to step behind. He believes I can do anything and he encourages me to try. He gets teary eyed when he talks about his daughters. He has passion and drive, integrity and determination and he admires that in others too. He has boundless energy. He is honest. That sounds kind of like a boy scout. Oh wait, he was a boy scout. An eagle scout in fact because he doesn't do anything halfway.

When I imagined the post I'd write in honor of his birthday today I was thinking it would be funny and a little bit lighthearted...like him. Instead I find myself feeling rather sentimental. But this is okay too. Because he feels deeply and loves completely.

A couple of months ago I saw this video on Steph's blog and told her I was totally going to steal it. And I have.

Happy Birthday to my husband... he reaches the half century mark today but inside he's still that boy with the mischievous grin and the twinkle in his eye. He's still the boy I married.

Boys will be Boys

My husband has some British colleagues in town for meetings this week so we've had a few houseguests coming and going. It's been fun and I love that people he worked with overseas consider us friends and want to come hang out in our home. Last night we had a bbq and the weather was perfect so we sat on the deck for dinner. I think my husband had really built up the whole wild kingdom aspect of our garden and our British friend (A) was really hoping to see a bear. Or at least some deer. He did see that pesky groundhog which is something I suppose. At least he didn't see it stalked and eaten by a fox which has been known to happen before my very eyes in my own backyard. I think it's likely that would have spoiled dinner so it was all good.

One of the girls who came to dinner was celebrating a birthday and I had a few balloons tied to her chair. What do you suppose husband and A did after everyone else went home? If you guessed discussed world politics and how much longer Gordon Brown will remain England's Prime Minister you would probably be wrong. If you guessed inhale all the helium from the birthday balloons so they could sing Hotel California in high squeaky voices and then laugh hysterically you would probably be right.

Speaking of birthdays...my husband is celebrating a BIG birthday next week. And I've decided I may need to mention that at least 50 times on my blog just because I'm nice like that. I mean what's the point of having a BIG birthday if people can't make a BIG deal out of it. Right?

Have a great weekend everyone!