When is 35 cents worth a dollar?

Today we decided to take a little road trip, to view a couple light houses, do some sightseeing and just be tourists. We wandered towards York beach which tends to be very touristy and it made us quite thankful that while we enjoyed driving through this town, we were not in fact staying there. There is a huge beach in York that must run for 5 miles. The only parking at this beach is by parking meter. So as my mom and I were stuck in traffic, a beach goer stops at my car window and asks "Can you spare some change?" So I reached into my change tray and handed him what I had only about 35 cents in dimes and nickels. To which he says "thanks for your generosity, here's a dollar." He then hands me a gold coin, a Jefferson 1 dollar coin. I had no idea these things even existed. After he walked a way I felt a little guilty that I didn't search harder for more change for him.

Beautiful Place by the Sea

I'm currently on vacation in Ogunquit, ME. This happens to be one of my most favorite places to visit. It is hard not to relax here. I tend to be pretty frugal as a rule but for this trip we splurge with an ocean front room. Today I woke up, looked out my window and watched the waves of the Atlantic ocean crashing on to the shore in front of my window. I sipped coffee, both hot and cold watching those same waves and marveled at how the beach in front of me disappeared as the tide rolled in. I started reading a new book, which I could only describe as a "beach read" which was perfect because hey I'm at the beach. I belong by the water, there is not one other place that I feel so relaxed and refreshed at the same time and this is only day one of my vacation.

The one where I check the locks

I think about Lot's wife often. I'm talking about Lot from the bible, Lot's story is told in Genesis. I don't think about Lot very often, just his unnamed wife. I'm sure she had a name, and I'm sure it was quite lovely however the bible never tells us what is was. The reason I think of her often is because as she and Lot and their family were fleeing Sodom she did what the Lord told them not to do, she looked back on the city they were told to leave and because of this she became a pillar of salt.

I am not a biblical scholar, nor do I pretend to be one, but I'm pretty sure the lesson from Lot's wife is that we need to obey God's commands, however I wonder if Mrs. Lot was not a little like me and dealing with OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I dislike this about myself and I'm really trying to work on it. I wouldn't describe myself as over the top when it comes to OCD, I'm certainly not like the character Monk played byTony Shalhou and I'm not even in the same ball park as Howie Mandel however daily as I drive away from my house I look over my shoulder multiple times to make sure the garage door did actually close. I've watched it close, told myself it was closed and then I find myself circling the neighborhood to make sure that yes it is in fact closed. I do this with locks on my doors, windows, the oven and stove.

The blinds in my bedroom have to be a certain way, and I cannot stand seeing the warning label at the bottom of the blinds reminding me of the strangling hazard that blinds can be to small children, it's hard for me to relax in bed seeing the bright yellow warning label. I've often driven back to my office hours after I've left to make sure that I did in fact turn off my space heater, of course I could contact campus security and have them check for me but that would mean 1. admitting I have a contraband heater in my office and 2. admitting that I can't remember if I turned it off or not. Thankfully, it turns out I have always turned it off and the building where I work has never been in danger of burning down, at least not at my hands.

Over the years, my chronic checking has been getting worse however I am reminding myself regularly out loud that almost 100% of the time the iron is off, and so is the stove, the doors are locked and the garage is closed. I think it's working but I may go check just one more time. Kidding.

Farmers, Flowers and Strawberries

I really love the local farmers market. I don't ge there as often as I would like but today it was the first thing on my agenda to do. It's true that in my neck of the woods I can get pretty fresh produce anytime I want at my local Wegmans, but shopping at the local farmers market provides me with an opportunity to chat with the growers as well as run into friends and neighbors. This is also the best time of the year for strawberries, my most favorite fruit.







I had one other stop on my agenda today and that was a visit to a city park I had heard about but had never visited before. Maplewood Park in the city is apparently famous for it's rose garden and now I know why. I would guess there must have been over 2,000 rose bushes in so many varieties I quickly lost track. It really was a beautiful spot in the city and while today may have been my first visit it certainly will not be my last.

10 Things I Like

My friends and I were joking the other day about what sort of people we are. While life is not always easy I do tend to be a glass half full sort of gal and I think part of the reason for that is I tend to find joy in the small things. Such as:

The way my cats curl up in their cat beds. Molly, especially likes her bed and I just love how sweet she looks as her head rests on the edge. I especially like on mornings when I wake up and find them sharing one of the beds and they have to figure out how to untwist themselves from each other.

Hockey - I really like hockey and while most people fuss about how long the season is, I'm currently going through withdraw, the season ended one week ago tonight and I already miss it.

Coffee - Hot, cold, it doesn't matter. I also like the fact that the baristas at my favorite cafes know me and my drink of choice. Perhaps this is a problem. It also helps if I have some nice dark chocolate to go with my coffee.

My camera - I've been taking pictures for years, but last year I received my first digital DSL and while I still do not understand many of it's functions, I'm having a blast trying to figure it all out.

Toe nail polish - Yes,I realize this may sound silly, but I love toe nail polish, especially in the spring and summer. If I'm going to bare my feet for everyone to see, I'm certainly going to decorate my toe nails in a pretty color. Currently I am wearing a funky shade of purple called Grape Going.

My deck - I consider my deck the bonus room of my house. The weather here prevents me from using my bonus room as much as I would like, but once the weather does cooperate this is the spot I choose to spend the majority of my time. It really is nothing special, but it is my special little haven.

My niece - Okay I don't just like my niece I love her, and I love the way the back of her neck smells and how her hair curls when its wet, how she squints when she smiles big. I love how she will thank you for hours for something little you have done for her. "Thank you for the dental floss, aunt Mary" she said over and over when she came to visit a few weeks ago and told me she had a piece of apple skin stuck between her teeth.

Reading - I wish I could figure out a way to get paid to read. I would never retire. I currently have 5 books sitting on my nightstand and I've realized recently that I need to develop better reading habits, instead of trying to read 5 books simultaneously I need to focus on one at a time.

Scrabble - I'm addicted to scrabble on Facebook and I know I am not alone in this addiction. I'm actually wondering how many employee hours are lost because of Scrabble, I'm also wondering if anyone plays Solitaire anymore.

Lavender - I'm a very amateur gardener and I have a lot of "favorite" flowers, hydrangeas, roses, delphiniums, daisies, pansies. But when it comes to scents lavender is by far my favorite. I can walk by the lavender in my garden, and suddenly the scent of it stops me in my tracks and immediately I feel more relaxed and at ease.

Adventures in the kitchen part 2 and 3

I'm very happy to report that the strawberry rhubarb pie that I planned to make this week turned out to be better than I expected. In fact I made two strawberry rhubarb pies this week. As I mentioned in my previous blog several of my girl friends were coming over on Wed. night for pizza and cards and I promised them dessert. So Monday evening after chatting with my mom I got down to pie making. Things went relatively smoothly, much better than my first pie baking experience and I was pleased with the outcome. Assignment done, or so I thought. On Tuesday I tried a slice and deemed it acceptable for guests and breathed a sigh of relief. However on Wednesday when one of my friends got wind of the fact that I made the pie on Monday, she deemed this "unacceptable" and claimed after two days the crust would be all soggy. I took another look at the pie and turns out she was right (insert heavy sigh here).

Now I must tell you that I do not like to let people down but at this point I was ready to make my old favorite standby dessert; dark chocolate brownies. But friend number 2 said she was soooo looking forward to strawberry rhubarb pie. So I obliged and made my second pie of the week. It turned out great, maybe even better than pie number 1. I'm also happy to report that today, two days after I made the pie, the crust is still holding up and is not soggy. I just had a piece for dinner.

Adventues in the kitchen.

I believe in my very first blog I indicated that this would NOT be a food blog. And now after only 1o entries I am writing about my adventures in the kitchen. It may sound crazy but this morning I woke up and the first thing that I thought was wouldn't it be fun to make a rhubarb pie this weekend? "WHAT?" I said this out loud because 1) it was such a random thought 2) I really have no place in the kitchen and 3)the last time I tried to make a pie it turned out very bad, very, very bad. So bad in fact that my friend L. who I consider to be one of the kindest, sweetest people I know looked at the pie, laughed and said "no wonder no man has ever married you, don't you know the way to a man's heart is through his stomach?" Okay, so she really didn't say that, but she did laugh A LOT at my baking abilities and we started again from scratch.

These are the pies from my first pie baking experience. My friend C. said it reminded her of the old just say no to drug campaigns with the fried egg, this is your brain, this is your brain on drugs.

So on to the pie adventure number 2. I've left a voice mail for my mom, on those rare occasions when I decide to cook or bake something my mom serves as my phone a friend. Oddly enough as I'm waiting for her to return my call, my next door neighbor knocks on the door (my next door neighbor is a trained chef). He'd done his own baking today and hands be a slice of angel food cake with fresh berries, a slice of mixed berry pie and a slice of blueberry pie. I'm pretty sure I will not be making a rhubarb pie this weekend, but a few of my friends are planning to show up here Wednesday night for a euchre game perhaps I will make them a rhubarb pie. To be continued.