From Where I Sit.

There's a toddler happily rearranging her kitchen, fill bin up, bring to living room, dump out, repeat.

There's a Puppa mastering the latte machine, almost out of beans, where's the vinegar, hummmm.

Sunlight on the stove.

My sweater shielding the brewing beer.

Costumes at the ready.

Plenty, oh plenty to tidy up in the house (always it seems).

A huge catering gig to prepare for, roast beef open-face sandwiches, squash tarts, pickle platter, cheese platter, apple sweet.

Cats leaping across gates.

No snow on the ground in Eastport.

Life in Image

The Hole.
The People.
The Beans.
The Land.
The Girl.

Work

All of a sudden I have all this work I'm doing this week. Eat Local Eastport, 2 catering gigs, plus stringing 100's of glass ornaments for a glass artisan in town. I'm also taking a business class on Wednesday mornings, not to mention my normal job of caring for Cecilia. It is an interesting feeling to go from having one job of leisurely caring for a daughter and a home to adding on bits and pieces in your spare moments. Filling breakfast time with making sandwiches, filling errands with extra errands, filling post bedtime with emails and ordering systems. Having a patient and flexible husband makes his all the more possible. I think about a week from now, a month from now, a year from now and five years from now which are nice/overwhelming things to think about, however I try to think about today's to-do list most of all. Inhale, Exhale and do.

A Success Is Shared:

I'm very pleased, I did something that a year ago I was not confident was possible. With Cecilia at nearly 18 months I fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans! I was desperate for a pair of pants on Saturday afternoon so in a very off chance I went up to my box of clothes in the attic. I dug through and found a pair of jeans, held them up, questioned my judgment in even trying to fit them over my hips, but then I did. Right there in the attic. I wobbled on one leg putting myself into the cold old pants. My legs felt alright and I scooted the material up my thighs and held my breath a little as I got to my hips (I was convinced my skeleton had gotten wider). And there it was, that graceful slide of jeans over butt, a quick button later and there I was in something that had not fit me for exactly 2 years. I remember it was my trip to New York at the end of October in 2009 that I first felt the feeling of my baby belly being too big for my pants.

So here I am doing something I thought may have been impossible. There IS grace in the universe. Thank You!

Bean Hole Bean Day

We woke not too early on Bean Hole Bean Day in chilly cabins. Our little family was quite cuddly and Miss Ce was pretty excited to wake up in The Sunshine Cabin. Puppa hopped out of bed and walked down to the sauna to light it off for a high-tide sweat. Ce and I dressed ourselves, made the bed and she pointed out the window shouting "Ba!" at all the apples on the ground. We found Lissy and Jake back at the Pond House feeling the ground on each hole, which was warm! A warm Bean Hole is a good sign! Coffee, Mate and Chai were all made and Bacon Ends were fried and Rafi's World Famous Doughnut Pancakes were cooked. Lissy and I sat and chatted and knitted. It was a nice lazy morning feeling, with periodic trips down to stoke the sauna.

I took Ce for a walk in the Ergo and she swiftly fell asleep on my back, we created a little nest for her in the sauna foyer and she snoozed while we all had several rounds of sweat and bay dipping. The sun was shining and the water was not as cold as it can be! Really nice. Really relaxing.

As noon arrived we migrated back up the hill and people began to arrive. We brought a small table outside to hold all the food and dug up the Veg hole! It was easy to dig those beans out! and they were warm! and soft! and needed salt! We went over to bean Hole number 1 next and made quick work of unearthing the pot, this one was hot! And oh my how those Marfax had softened and melted into the pork fat, and the water level we got just right on this pot. We brought our beans to the table and they were joined by cornbread and baguettes and butter and kimchi and jellies and pickles. And then we all stood and sat in a circle around the table and feasted. Bowl after bowl of delicious goodie. As we scraped the bottom of the Marfax pot we decided to go shovel out bean hole number 3, and my they were as beautiful as the last! I'm fully convinced that the most delicious baked beans come out of a bean hole now.

As we all began wanting to lay down on the grass we decided to take a walk, so 13 of us plus a dog went for a walk down the old logging trail. We stopped at the Old Elm and then continued on to Little Birch Point overlooking Straight Bay. Some ventured along the shore, some chatted on the large boulders, but all were enjoying the day. Homemade, homegrown food in our bellies, tradition of the ages on our minds. Wholesome fun and activity enriching our souls and spirits. Bean Hole Bean Day was beautiful.

Bean Hole Bean Eve

This weekend was the first Bean Hole Bean Day at Race Point. What none of us realized as we were planning our Bean Hole Bean Day is that it requires a Bean Hole Bean Eve, which was perhaps one of the best parts of Bean Hole Bean Day. We arrived late afternoon, Rafi, Cecilia, Elisabeth, Jake and myself. We dug three separate holes for three separate dutch ovens of beans. We scouted the hole locations in preparation for planting apple trees next year, perhaps a walnut tree for my grandchildren. We then brought a wagon down to the shore to collect two loads of rocks to line the holes with. Large fires were built just as darkness came.

We went inside to create dinner, a vegetable soup from our gardens. We all chatted and cozied and checked the fires. There was knitting and candlelight and handholding. The weather was clear and crisp, warm enough for wool, but not too chilly. After dinner Rafi snuggled with the girl at bedtime and we all went out to watch the progress of the fires in our holes. The glow of three pits of flames from across the landscape was a beautiful sight. We ate chocolate around the holes and as the embers burned down I crept into the cabin to bring the beans up to a boil and to rouse Rafi. We did two pots of meat beans and a pot of vegetarian. They all had molasses, maple syrup, pepper, mustard, onions and a wee garlic in them, each meat pot had half a pound of bacon ends rough chopped as well, we put vegetable shortening and butter into the vegetarian beans. (I think next year the veg beans will get extra molasses and the addition of nutritional yeast). We omitted salt as we were nervous about the beans not getting soft; and the water level was ideally about a quarter inch above our beans.

Hole number 1 was our biggest hole, we put the Marfax beans that Jake had grown (Jake grew all the beans!) into that hole. The Veg beans were a variety of a Maine Yellow Eye and I don't quite remember Bean Hole Number 3's variety, it had a ladies name though and beautiful cranberry and white coloring. We covered each pot with tinfoil before lowering it into it's nest of coals. We then used our shovels to nestle in the pots and push the hot rocks in closer to the bean pots, 2 hot rocks went on the lid of each pot. We then shoveled in dirt by the glow of Lissy's headlamp. We blessed our lovely bean holes, brushed our teeth and migrated down to the Sunshine Cabins along the shore to retire for the evening, it was a lovely evening.

And what happened on Bean Hole Bean Day? I'll fill you in tomorrow!

Life in Image

My daughter loves drinking pickle juice.
She also likes to eat cereal with her Grandpa Ed.
Napping on the couch is pretty great too.
She's a popcorn hound, we all are here.
Just another day in the life a squash at 3 Brighton Avenue.