Happy Birthday, America!

From Giddy's Garden.

After a long couple of weeks of sanding and staining the deck, H and I will join our friends at their summer camp for a Fourth of July celebration. We're bringing salsa, bean dip and chips and everything else will be a surprise when we get there, although, I'm pretty certain there will be grilled Maine Red Snappers!

What's that, you ask? Up here, most places serve red hot dogs in natural casings. It's the casings that give the dog their famous "snap" when you bite in to them. The red comes from food coloring. Back in the old days, they would smoke the dogs and unfortunately, the smoke did not always color the dogs evenly, hence, the food coloring to turn them uniformly red. It's quite a surprise to tourists when they see their first red hot dog!

H, staining the deck

East side of the deck

It's nice to have all the flowers back on the deck!

Coastal Maine Botanical Garden

This past Monday, H and I took a road trip to Boothbay, Maine to visit the new botanical garden. This garden has over 200 acres of both native and non native plants in over a dozen separate garden areas. It took us about 2 hours to walk most of the paths and I could have spent more time gawking, but then, H is not nearly into the garden scene as much as me.

Below, are some of the highlights:

The rockwork throughout the garden was spectacular! I wish I could have taken some of the granite benches home with me.I loved the serenity of the Meditation Garden.



H was in charge of the backpack with the water. Unfortunately, the garden, being quite new, many of the plantings are still immature and the annuals will not be in full bloom for another few weeks. I look forward to visiting again in a couple of years to see how it matures. I think though, that we will visit in mid to late July so we can view it in full glory.

This pond was full of croaking frogs! The native ferns throughout the gardens were beautiful and although marked, I still had difficulty telling one variety from another.

One of the things I especially like about visiting different gardens is that I can see plants I really like. This Veronica was absolutely stunning! A must have for next year's garden. The blue stood out from a distance and I can imagine it a glowing centerpiece of the garden.

Last, but not least, a visit to midcoast Maine must always mean a stop at world famous "Moody's Diner" in Waldoboro for a quick bite to eat.

And, so ended a wonderful day. The three hour road trip to Boothbay was such fun. We meandered through quaint coastal villages and spent the hours enjoying the beauty of our chosen State. Life is soooooo good!

Of Birds and Bats

(My apologies to John Steinbeck for the Title of this post!)

We had company over the Memorial Day weekend. They were delightful and we so enjoyed showing off our little corner of Heaven. They, in turn, gifted us with an oh so appropriate hostess gift from their corner of the world. This week, UPS delivered the most unique bird house we have ever seen! It's made of California wine country grape vines/roots and lots of ingenuity.

For the past couple of years, we have had a little brown bat roosting in our deck umbrella every day. He doesn't seem to mind when we open the umbrella and returns every dawn to sleep. I've been doing a bit of research on the internet and have discovered that bats are our friends, each one eating between 500 and 1000 mosquitoes every evening! My kind of friend, so, we ordered a bat house that will eventually, hopefully, encourage a 100 bat colony to roost in our neighborhood. We shall keep you informed as to our success in attracting these voracious insect vacuums.On another note, the blooms are beginning to burst in the garden. This morning, the first of the brilliant Oriental Poppies bloomed! They are absolutely spectacular, however, alas, only grace us with their beauty for such a short time.

The New Dawn Rose blushed forth with her first bud, and beside the dusky purple of the May Night Salvia, they are positively stunning!

Spring Launch of the Mango Moose

Yesterday was the first day where the weather, tides and timing were perfect for the first launch of the season for the kayak. She's big, she's beautiful and she's orange, so she was aptly christened "The Mango Moose"

We had a wonderful paddle on a relatively smooth sea, with a side trip to our favorite island picnic spot. What a great day!Fried chicken always tastes better at a picnic!

Our collapsible "dining set" comes in quite handy for those off shore lunches.

Today is another "perfect" day, so off we go again. The garden needs tending, but that will have to wait for a day where the tides prevent us from casting off.

Boats at Sorrento

Yesterday was one of those days where I just could not get enough photos. Everywhere I looked was an opportunity to get a great shot - the sky was clear, the sea was like glass and the boats in Sorrento Harbor were as colorful as flowers. I came home with 21 pictures on the camera, one prettier than the other. Now, I have to choose which ones to add to the blog. The reflections of the boats in the water really caught my eye.




I think this shot of the lone sailboat with Cadillac Mountain and Mount Desert Island in the background was my favorite.

I could have sat on this bench all day just watching boats go in and out of the harbor


This little chipmunk was sunning himself on top of the fire hydrant.


And last, but not least, the beach roses were just beginning to bloom, we had a beautiful 3 mile walk and found lots of beach glass along the shore. A perfect day!

Bananas in Maine?

Yes, I know I'm sometimes a bit goofy, but I'm talking about real bananas. Two years ago, my son in Florida sent me a small, six inch banana pup. I've been nurturing it through two winters in the house and it spends its summers on the sunny deck. Last year, she grew three pups and the original plant is now taller than me! Who says ya can't grow nanners in Maine?

I took a walk through the garden this morning to see what was new and found the "Firecracker" clematis blooming.

The plants in H's planting boxes have begun to bloom. They each have a spike, black and lime green sweet potatoes, pink verbena and a beautiful double petaled, swirled petunia. Can you tell I like pink?

I'm always looking for interesting pieces of driftwood while walking along the rocky shore. A few days ago, I found a very straight piece about 7 feet long with a "hook" on it. H just rolled his eyes and asked what in the world I was going to do with that thing as it didn't have the usual snarls and whirls I find unique in driftwood. Well...... why buy those expensive wrought iron shepherd's hooks when Mother Nature and the sea provides perfectly good ones free!


I have a small planting bed in the middle of the yard which I refer to as my "Zen Garden". The rock sculpture changes frequently when the rocks fall, or I just take a notion to change things around a bit. Finding the rock's center of gravity often takes a few minutes of calm concentration and deep breathing.

Unproductive Week

Between trying to get over a nasty cold and worrying about not being able to get out to plant the pine seedlings which came in the mail a while back, I've not been able to get much else done in the garden.

The perennial garden needs weeding, the veggie garden needs tending and planting, the pots on the deck need attention, etc, etc, etc. It's enough to make a good garden gnome frantic. So, what does a good garden gnome do instead? Since being house bound is not my idea of fun, H and I decided that despite the foggy weather outside, we were both desperately in need of food for the soul, so off we went for a foggy walk along the shore in Sorrento.

The stroll through the enveloping fog was just what the doctor might have ordered. The eerie stillness in the white mist heightens the senses. The tide was out and the aromas of ocean and seaweed filled the air. The gulls were quiet for a change and our ears strained to hear even a peep out of the normally raucous crows or the joyful, lilting songs of the warblers and sparrows.

I love the fog.

Giddy's Back!

Giddy has been on hiatus for a couple of weeks due to gardening priorities and getting ready for a house full of company over the Memorial Day weekend so there is much to catch up on in this post. Please excuse the potential length and verbosity of today's missive.

First of all, Ms. Giddy has a partner! Gunter Gnome arrived as a surprise package in the mail one day from my German cousin. He and Giddy have become fast friends while sitting near the front gate, and invite everyone to visit in their garden. When asked why he was named "Gunter", it was because our eldest son, Jason, for some strange reason, always called his Dad, Gunter.

H's sister, brother in law, nephew and wife visited with us over the Memorial Day weekend. We did warn them that May was not a good month to visit Maine due to the hordes of black flies which descend upon us during that time, but since they were visiting their kids in New Hampshire, it was the only time they would be able to visit.

Giddy, in her infinite wisdom DEETed herself liberally and often and managed to avoid any hits from the nasty little insects, however, our poor company did not fare so well and took many a lovely souvenir back home with them.

We had a whirlwind tour of the Downeast coastline on one day with a great lunch in Eastport overlooking the Passamaquoddy Bay. The crabrolls were great, piled high with lots of yummy crab.

The next day, we headed out once again, this time over to Acadia National Park for another whirlwind tour. After a stop in Sorrento, we stopped by Jordan Pond to stroll along Jordan Stream and ended up taking some great photos of the Cobblestone Bridge.

Chad and Lora brought along their Greyhound, Keeper. What a beautiful animal he is and quite the good house guest.

Keeper did make himself right at home, including digging a new flower bed for Ms. Giddy. We had been planning on putting some really good compost into that bed and he save me a lot of back breaking shoveling!








Well, dear Readers, I must away. There remains much to do in the garden and I have 100 pine seedlings to plant quickly before the rain sets in. Oh my achin' back!

New Planters

H finished both of the planters he was working on a few weeks ago. They turned out great and I can't wait to plant some colorful flowers in them!


Of course, that will have to wait for a few more days. Local lore has it that one should not plant tender annuals until after the last full moon in May and I'm not one to buck the odds.

Time Out

H and I have been working like a couple of oxen, trying to get things around the house and garden prepared before the sea warms up and we get our kayak back into the water. Our first paddle usually happens around the first week in June and we take every opportunity after that to get out on the water. He has about 2 of the 5 cords of wood stacked, so far.

However, we took a nice little break from the chores yesterday to get out and have a Mother's Day hike in Acadia.

The sky was the most incredible color of blue and though a bit chilly starting off, we warmed up nicely by the time we had gone about 3 miles.

Jordan Pond is lovely this time of year - no black flies, mosquitoes or tourists. We felt as though we had the whole place to ourselves.

I took a few great pics of rocks - I know, how interesting can rocks be, but I found the colors of the granite fascinating and took quite a few photos, much to H's chagrin as he wanted to keep moving so he'd warm up.
















Once out in the sun, it felt really great, reminded me of the song "walkin' in the sunshine, sing a little sunshine song". Gratefully, I didn't have to sing as the birds trilled beautiful melodies from the treetops. It's amazing how loud a tiny warbler can sing.

Jordan stream was rippling right along. We could tell it hadn't rained in a few days as the stream was not nearly as swollen as the last time we hiked here, shortly after the last snowstorm.

Ok, fun's over - time to get cracking again at the woodpile and garden. Hope everyone has a beautiful day!

She's Back!

Our hummingbird, Mabel arrived precisely on time last Monday, May 7th! What excitement to see her feeding at the deck feeder while we were having our lunch. Now that she's here, I feel like spring has truly arrived in eastern Maine.

Of course, with spring, also arrives tons of work getting things ready for the gardening season, putting up firewood to season for the summer and all the other chores that have been neglected all winter long. To wit, we had 5 yards of soil delivered so we could landscape the side of the driveway opposite the garage and to fill the hole I made while moving rocks on the side of the house.

H has so far stacked about 1 1/2 of the five cords of wood we had delivered earlier in the week and I've managed to fill the aforementioned hole (which was quite large) and moved more soil around the middle planting bed of the yard. This photo shows the 5 yards but it sure doesn't look like that much!





H is looking unbelievingly at the pile of wood he will have to take down to the back of the house and stack. Oh my!

Oh well, such is the life of those who choose to live here. I'm sure all this work will keep us young and hopefully healthy!

My Gnome family seems to be getting a bit larger lately. I just got an email from my parents who seem to have adopted a couple of homeless garden gnomes. I'm thrilled. Every garden should have a gnome or two! Giddy is excited about her new family members.

Signs of Spring

Spring arrives achingly slow in eastern Maine. While the rest of the country has long since heralded the season with blooming trees and the chartreuse colors of new foliage, we here, have been counting every minute, cheering every red bud on the maples and watching the birches s-l-o-w-l-y begin to open their buds, exposing the new leaves to the fickle elements.

Each day finds me in the garden, closely inspecting every single plant for signs that it has miraculously survived another frozen Downeast winter. With so little snow cover during the coldest part of the winter, I fully expect to lose a few precious plants. My Climbing America rose is toast, for sure.

So, as the moon sets on another frosty night, I'll head out to see what greenery is poking its head tentatively out of the chilly soil.

The Goldfinches began chirping long before daylight. They are better than any alarm clock, in fact, I cannot even remember the last time I set an alarm.

H is up and about around 4 a.m. every morning and the aroma of French Roast coffee slowly heralds another day.








This morning, as I look out the window, I can see even more maple leaves beginning to make an appearance. With today's warmer temperatures, I'm hoping we'll see some significant "popping".





We finally found a nice spot for Ms. Giddy, sitting near the front porch, she welcomes all visitors to her garden. In another month or so, she'll be surrounded by ferns, hostas and colorful impatiens

Awaiting Mabel

Mabel is our resident hummingbird and according to my past years' journals, she arrives like clockwork sometime during the first week of May. So, in anticipation of her much joyous return to Acadia Cove Farm, I hung out the feeder on May first. Since I can see the feeder from my chair in the living room, I've been keeping an eagle eye on it. So far, nothing to report.

H and I spent the morning in the garage working on various projects. When we moved in to our Maine home, the first meal we enjoyed was steamed clams which we had purchased from one of the clammers digging in the cove. H went down with a plastic bag and for $5 got a huge bag full of freshly dug clams. You don't get them any fresher than that! At any rate, for some reason, I kept the clam shells.

This week, I was looking at the small wicker star baskets hanging on our bathroom wall as decoration and decided they really needed some perking up. So, with a can of silver metallic spray paint and some gold craft paint for the clam shells, I spruced them up. They look so much better hanging in the bathroom!
















Since I had lots more clam shells left over from this project, I looked around to see what else I could do with them. I had some sea heather from last season and an old grapevine wreath, so in a few minutes I had a new wreath to adorn the front door.

H was in the garage along with me, working on building a couple of planters for the front of the garage.

His project will take considerably more time than mine, so I'll have to post the finished photos at a later date.