Help Save the Pride's Corner Drive-In!

August 30, 2013 Ms Cleaver

I don't often shill for things here, or in my life ever, but long-time readers of this blog know that I am a HUGE fan of the Pride's Corner Drive In in Westbrook, ME.

My whole life I had always wanted to go to a drive-in movie and imagine my luck when I moved back to Maine and found one 10-minutes down the road!

Unfortunately after this summer, there's a good chance a lot of this country's drive-in movie theaters will go dark. Film distributors are largely shying away from 35mm film, which means that most Drive-Ins will need to convert to digital projection to be able to show new films. The cost to convert (about $75,000-$80,000) is a huge hurdle for these small businesses.

We've already taken Little Miss Cleaver twice this summer, and I'd love to be able to take her when she can remember the experience!

So my request here is two-fold:

1. If you live in the area - go patronize the drive-in!! This weekend they're showing a double-feature (it's always a double feature!) of Monsters University and Despicable Me 2. $15 per Car. Gates Open At 7pm. Show Starts At Dusk. (For more info, visit the Pride's Corner Facebook Page)

2. Honda (yes, the car company) is sponsoring a "Save the Drive-In" contest, where the top 5 vote getters will receive a free digital projector. You can vote for Pride's Corner here: http://projectdrivein.com/#vote_68 or by texting Vote68 to 444999. You can vote once each way per day from now until Sept 9th.

That's all - this is just a place I love and would hate to see go away!

-Leah

Miss Cleaver's First Beach Day

August 26, 2013 Ms Cleaver

This Friday I took the day off of work and we took little Miss Cleaver out for her first beach day. We went to my favorite beach, Ocean Park, where I first dipped my toes into the Atlantic nearly 8 years ago to the day. Miss Cleaver found the toe-dipping experience a bit chilly for her tastes.

Being a trio of pale-skinned red-heads we didn't spend too much time on the beach itself, but all in all it was a perfect day with shaded strolls, ice cream with sprinkles (for me), shuffle-board nap time (for her) and a good time had by all. Just in time too, as my little 5-month-has nearly outgrown that bonnet already!

An Afternoon on Peaks

July 24, 2012 Ms Cleaver

After nearly five combined years of living in Maine, I finally took my first trip out to Peaks Island with Mr. Cleaver on Saturday. It was a beautiful day for a ferry ride. Bright and sunny, with just enough breeze to stay comfortable.

We slathered on sunscreen and walked the 4-mile loop around the island. While I think I'll opt for the bike rental on the next go around - it was a beautiful walk past charming homes, a bit of wildlife, and endless ocean vistas.

After completing the circuit, we sat in the shade of a pier and made sandcastles while we waited for the next ferry, before returning to Portland for a lovely meal at the Olive Cafe.

A wonderful afternoon. I'm definitely planning a return trip.

Catching the Last Bits of Summer

September 19, 2011 Ms Cleaver

While Labor Day is the unofficial end of Summer here in the States, the official end of the season doesn't get here for a few more days, which means Mr. Cleaver and I time to sneak in one more excursion under the wire.

We'd wanted to return to the Coastal Maine Botantical Gardens ever since our last visit there, particularly since we were there about a week before the new children's garden opened.

It was worth the return visit. The children's garden was designed based on classic children's books: mostly Maine-based ones like Blueberries for Sal

Miss Rumphis (one of my personal favorites)

and

Burt Dow, Deep Water Man

And a few non-Maine tales were represented as well.

The garden was very interactive with mazes, treehouses, and a playhouse/garden, and interact we did.

We also visited some of the other gardens, and took note of a few plants we'd like for our own garden next year.

Long Weekend

May 31, 2011 Ms Cleaver

Thanks to taking a few much-needed days off from work and a national holiday, I just wrapped up a 5-day weekend, which was absolutely lovely.

It didn't hurt that after weeks of rain, we finally had a string of sunny and warm days.

Somethings I did

Slept in everyday
Drove to MA/NH border and bought a great new dining room table and chairs that surprisingly fit in the back of my Matrix.
Ate almost every meal outside
Spent hours knitting in the backyard
Finished sewing a dress
Went to an indoor picnic (on the one cold day of my weekend)
Put the new grill to use
Tried to ID our backyard birds
Went to the local Memorial Day parade.
Went to the drive-in restaurant

All in all, I feel totally refreshed - exactly what you want from a long weekend.

Roadtrip: Lake Mooselookmeguntic

August 26, 2010 Ms Cleaver

Mr. Cleaver and I got back Tuesday afternoon from a few much-needed days in the woods at Stephen Phillip Memorial Preserve campground in Oquossoc, Maine. Though it was grey when we arrived, we lucked out on the weather and had a fantastic time hiking, canoeing, and sitting around the fire.

If you're ever in the Oquossoc/Rangeley area, I'd highly recommend the camp, as well as a stop at the road-side vista point Height of Land, and the breakfast burrito at the BMC Diner in Rangeley.

It's wonderful what some time lakeside does for the soul, isn't it? I've included some of my favorite photos below, but if you'd like to see some more, the full set is available on Flickr.

Roadtrip: Crescent Beach

August 1, 2010 Ms Cleaver

Yesterday Mr. Cleaver & I fufilled my yearning for homefries at the Miss Portland Diner, spent the afternoon at Crescent Beach State Park, and went to a friends for a barbecue for dinner (where the barbecue caught on fire, so we ended up broiling some steaks inside instead). All in all a perfect summer day.

Roadtrip: The Cleavers Go Camping

July 20, 2010 Ms Cleaver

Camping is in my blood. My brother and dad both reached the rank Eagle Scout and as a kid we when car camping all the time in all the state and national parks up and down California. I've always lover camping, but since I started college I've been camping a total of once. So this summer the mister and I decided that we would go camping for our big vacation.

Problem being that aside from the sleeping bag my mother mailed me, we had zero camping equipment. So in the past few months Mr .Cleaver and I have stockpiling camping equipment thanks to a number of gift cards we had received for LL Bean.

While we've made a reservation for a site for a number of days in August, we wanted to take our new gear for a test run first. So this weekend we took a one-night jaunt to the campground at Bradbury Mountain State Park. I brought along the camera to document our test run:

(Didn't think I'd skip my Tour de Fleece responsibilities did you?)

I won't say the box was completely full when we started on the fire, but it was pretty close - but in my defense the wood was kinda damp

I earned this s'more!

Sweet dreams - and then we realized that sleeping pads would be a good idea :)

Birthdays (of the Spousal and National Persuasion)

July 5, 2010 Ms Cleaver

What a wonderfully busy weekend! Between Mr. Cleaver and the country - we spent our whole weekend in celebration. Not that I'm complaining :)

After a leisurely morning on the 3rd, involving the farmer's market and the bakery and a new fishing pole for Mr. Cleaver, we lazed away the afternoon ( I finished my dress) and headed out to eat around 4. We grabbed a meal and some bird watching at The Good Table (our favorite) and then drove down Highway 77 to Prout's Neck for a trek around the Cliff Walk.

The cliff walk is one of those hidden gems that I'm sure everyone knows about, but I didn't until about two weeks ago and Mr. Cleaver didn't know about it until I took him there this weekend, so maybe it is secret. In any case, to take the cliff walk find the house above, right next to the Black Point Inn, and find the small stone path that cuts across the grass. This will take you out to the Cliff Walk.

The Cliff Walk is stunning. There are rocky crags, pink sand beaches, and a beach entirely of smooth round rocks that rattle when the waves recede.

The walk takes between 45 minutes to an hour. Afterward we stopped at the Black Point Inn for cocktails. The bar was busy so they sent us down to the Adirondack chairs on the front lawn (too bad, right? :) ), where we sat and sipped and watched the sun set.

Mr. Cleaver declared the birthday a success. On the way back to town we stopped by the side of the road to snap a few more shots of the sunset.

For the Fourth, I spent the morning baking a belated birthday cake for the Mister, which we had delayed because we knew it would take a while to make this much cake! Though it did mean I had our tiny oven running for a few hours on the hottest day of year thus far!

After all the baking I finally got to put on my new dress!

[Dress: Vogue 8184; Modifications: made band from contrasting color, skipped boning, added in-seam pockets, added horsehair band to hem]

All snazzed up, we headed our to my Mother-In-Law's for a cookout with the family. Mr. Cleaver's older brother offered some hints and tackle for the new pole.

Once we were stuffed to the gills, Mr. Cleaver and I joined half of Portland for the Portland Symphony Orchestra pops concert/fireworks show. The addition of PSO to the festivities was a great touch!

I hope every one else had an enjoyable weekend too!

Roadtrip: Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

June 28, 2010 Ms Cleaver

On Saturday, Mr. Cleaver and I made the drive up to Boothay to visit the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. This was our second visit to the gardens, the first being in the dead of Winter back in 2009. THe cold tuend us out of the garden that February, but we vowed to return when the place was in bloom and it was well worth the return trip:

The blueberries were close to ripe and since you were encouraged to pick the ripes ones - we managed to fine one or two