The new season

A lovely corner at the Common Ground Fair in Maine to remind us that fall is here !

December

Yikes - Thanksgiving has flown by and it's already the first week of Advent. As you can see by the picture on the right, I have a new Advent calendar this year - it's a culinary one and each door will open with a recipe from a German food blogger. Yum ! I can't wait to start baking .

November

There has been no hard frost yet and the garden is still going strong - we're still picking Swiss chard, peppers,arugula, beets, carrots and lots and lots of potatoes. In the background cilantro has self-seeded and now covers a huge area - yum !!

The dahlias love the cool nights and the more I cut them for bouquets for the house, the more blossoms seem to open. This beautiful fall just doesn't seem to have an end !

Trick or Treat

Billy goats, queens and pussy cats - even Sarah Palin promoting her new book - came out last night to celebrate Halloween.

and just look at all those treats they got to choose from !

Maine !

We spent the night in a delightful Bed & Breakfast called LeVatout in Waldoboro. It's run by a German ( ! ) writer and an American photographer and gardener extraordinaire. The two of them have created an incredible garden filled with an amazing array of plants, all of them tucked in many garden rooms and secret corners. There are places to sit and relax, a fire pit, a vegetable garden, a little building with a stage for workshops and lots more. All of this on less than an acre, but it feels like the garden is at least 5 acres in size.

Inside, the house is just as wonderful as the garden with lots of rooms and corners to explore. Just look at our room, it had a wonderful bookshelf with lots of books by and about Virginia Woolf among other authors. Someone loves books and loves to read !!

And best of all, the writer is also a fabulous cook . We enjoyed her shrimp and egg breakfast tremendously in her huge kitchen which is in the center of the house - truly the heart of this home. The gardener came in and joined our breakfast conversation and when I admired the bank of blooming streptocarpus in the window, she gave me two of her plants which are about to flower. I was so blown away by her generosity. Here they are on the balcony of our hotel room enjoying the view of the ocean.

We spent the day poking up and down some of the peninsulas near Waldoboro, enjoying the glorious fall weather, the ocean, the woods which already are changing color and the fine old buildings you can glimpse on small country roads and in the little villages as well.The old boat builders had not only high standards for the boats they made, but their houses as well. The architectural details and the craftsmanship are probably unique in their excellence and artistry.

The day concluded with the obligatory lobster dinner. Totally delish - 'nuff said.

First day of fall in New England

and it's time to celebrate by taking a little trip to one of the many used book stores in the area.

After a lovely drive along the Connecticut river on a winding country road through fields where pumpkins and squash were being harvested and turning left at Montague Center just past the village green, I found a little bridge and then this old mill - just stuffed full of lots and lots of books - heaven !

Lots of cozy chairs and sofas invite you to get comfy, have a cup of tea and enjoy the rushing water just outside the window while you try to decide how to reduce the stack of books to a manageable size to take home.

I can't think of a better way to welcome the new season !

The morning after

Now that the euphoria and excitement of the workshop has worn off a bit, I am breaking out in a cold sweat thinking about Mr. T's fabulous, valuable, and much-loved Civil War book. I totally took it apart, ripped off its covers, pasted and sewed things and now I have to put it all back together and make it look better than before.

What was I thinking ? People charge hundreds of dollars to do this job ! Why didn't I stick with the ratty old hymnals everyone else was practising on ?

Time to call on my inner Obama and cry " Yes We Can !"