Summer Groove

It's mid July and we're settling into that summer groove. The kind of groove that makes me want to wear a swimsuit under my clothes all day and listen to nothing but oldies. Hot, humid days require that we pull out the kiddie pool or sprinkler in the afternoons, and if we have more time, a trip to the splash pad or beach may be required. 

It seems like there are five choices of what to do every weekend. This week we chose the free "Discover Ballet" class at Portland Ballet. Mr. Cleaver and I both got in on the action, and it was loads of fun, though I think Little Miss Cleaver is still a bit away from actually taking classes on her own.

The garden is hitting it's groove too. We've been harvesting a handful of sugar snap peas every few days, the tomatoes are getting bigger, the lettuce is growing, the bush beans are flowering, and our first blueberries have started to turn blue. We had fresh pesto for our pasta. last night.  It's a good time to be outside. 

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Memorial Day Parade

A Trip to the Midcoast (Day 3)

I think we saved the best for last. On our way back out of the Midcoast, we made two lovely stops on a beautifully sunny day.

First up was the Beech Hill Preserve in Rockland, which doubles as a working organic wild blueberry farm. This spot was recommended by a coworker of mine, and has some stunning views. It's also far less trafficked than Mount Battie, thanks to the fact that you have to do a (rather gentle, if you're not carrying a toddler on your hip) hike up to the top.

Finally we stopped at the Olson House in Cushing. Here I'm glad that Mr. Cleaver had me do some reading up on the Olson's and Andrew Wyeth's relationship with them. Without context, the Olson House is nice, if a bit dull, as it's basically an old empty farmhouse. With context, the place has a lot of resonance.

I mostly read the 1982 book by Betsy Wyeth, Christina's World, and the first chapter of Richard Meryman's 2013 Andrew Wyeth: A Spoken Self-Portrait, both of which I found helpful. We also picked up Andrew Wyeth, Christina's World and The Olson House at the Farnsworth gift shop. I haven't read it yet, but according to Mr. Cleaver, it tells more about the history of the house, in particular what happened after siblings Alvaro and Christina died.

After wandering the house and grounds, including a visit to the A. Wyeth and Olson graves, we drove back to Thomaston for a nice lunch at a local cafe, then it was back on the road and back home.

Beech Hill Preserve, Rockland Olson House, Cushing Thomaston Cafe, Thomaston

A Trip to the Midcoast (Day 2)

Day two of our trip took us to see two different kinds of beautiful sights, 1) the stunning views of Camden from the peak of Mount Battie (fortunately very accessible by car) in Camden Hills State Park where we got LMC the first stamp in her Maine State Parks Passport, and 2) the American art at the Farnsworth Art Museum.

The Farnsworth is known for its collection of paintings from all three generations of the Wyeths, N.C., Andrew and Jamie. Mr. Cleaver is a huge Andrew Wyeth fan (I'm most partial to the more fantastical to N.C. myself, but enjoy them all), which was a big part of our decision to visit the area, and the Farnsworth collection, particularly of Andrew Wyeth studies and paintings did not disappoint. I was particularly struck by the 1982 work Adrift.

The day as a whole, made me itchy to do some painting again, which I haven't touched in far too long. (So many art forms, so little time).

Camden Hills State  Park/Mt. Battie, Camden Laite Memorial Beach Park, Camden Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland

A Trip to the Midcoast (Day 1)

This past week, the Cleaver's packed up and headed off the Midcoast for our first vacation since LMC's arrival in our lives. We set our sights on the Rockland/Camden area, about 2 hours north of Portland, and with reservations for a cottage and the loosest of to-see lists, we set off on our grand adventure.

The trip provided us with some stunning views, some additions to the fabric stash, good food (THAT PIE!!), and some much-needed down time

Moody's Diner, Waldboro Rockland Public Landing Clementine, Rockland Whale's Tooth Pub, Lincolnville Lincolnville Beach Pine Grove Cottages, Lincolnville

Friday, Saturday, Sunday

LMC is not a child lacking for new experiences, because it is so much fun seeing your child experience something for the first time. It's so easy to forget how amazing things are and how much we, as grownups, take for granted. I took LMC for a walk around the block today sans stroller and she literally stopped to smell every flower, and collect every loose stick, rock, and acorn. When do we lose that and how can we get some of it back?

By the end of the day, Mr. Cleaver and I are exhausted, LMC definitely wears us out (in a good way). But I think it was less than 5 minutes out of the Wildlife Park parking lot that she crashed in the car seat, so it's safe to say that we wear her out too. We've spent a lot of time cramming activity into the short time period that is summer weekends in Maine, and we've made a valiant effort, but I have to remind myself that it's okay if we won't get to everything on the list and that a walk around the block has as much to show us as a walk around an wild animal park, if you take the time to look.

I've been seeing a bit of theme in the blogosphere, that we've all gotten so busy. Guilty as charged. I, for one, don't handle down-time all that well, it's a skill that I sorely need to develop. But it may just be that I've got the best instructor right in front of me, because who knows how to live more in the moment than a toddler?

Portland Splash Pad LL Bean KidsFEST Maine Wildlife Park

Raspberry Picking and Pie

What can I say? I love pick your own (PYO) farm adventures!

Last week at the farmer's market we discovered that Snell Family Farm did PYO raspberries (they do apples too). So on a sunny Saturday morning Mr. Cleaver, LMC and I loaded up the wagon (no pets allowed, unfortunately) and took the short drive out to Buxton/Bar Mills.

We had a fabulous picking experience. The raspberry fields are orderly and the picking rows are wide, so you don't have to worry about backing into thorns/stepping on fruit. There were plenty of ripe berries on the bushes, mostly down low, which meant that LMC could pick berries on her own (though she doesn't quite get the concept of ripe/not ripe yet).

I highly recommend bringing a picking assistant- twice the picking, half the fruit! I'm pretty sure LMC ate at least 1/2 pint of raspberries while we were picking, but as the kind cashier said, "I didn't weight her when she came in, I'm not weighing her on the way out." (We gave them some extra cash anyhow).  We were also able to pick up some carrots and green beans from the farm stand and they have huge greenhouses full of flowers. So if you're in the mood for picking fruit, I'd highly recommend our Snell experience.

Also, can I say that Mr. Cleaver did an awesome job as field-trip photographer? With the exception of the pie close-ups, he took all of these. And he says he doesn't know how to use my camera- ha!

We ended up with two full quarts of berries, half of which we're in the process of eating fresh and the other half made their way into a raspberry pie. While LMC has assisted in the baking portion before, this was her first slice of pie, of which she left no crumb uneaten, so I think I'm safe to say she liked it.

LMC-Approved Raspberry Pie

Preheat oven to 375 °F

Crust

• 2 cups flour, plus more for rolling surface/rolling pin
• 1 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup shortening
• 1/4 cup very cold water
• Small amount of milk
• Small amount of sugar

Mix together flour and salt then “cut in” shortening with a pastry cutter or knives.

Add up to 1/4 cup of very cold water a few Tablespoons at a time, until dough holds together.  Form into two equal-sized balls of dough and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator (at least while you make the filling, preferably at least an hour). Flour working surface and roll out crusts, using half the dough for each. Makes one top and one bottom crust for a 9″ pie tin.

Filling

• 4 cups fresh (or thawed frozen) raspberries
• 3 Tbl cornstarch
• 2/3 - 3/4 cup of sugar (to taste, based on the sweetness of your fruit)

Mix filling ingredients together, trying not to smush the berries too much.

Place lower crust into a 9-inch pie pan and pour in filling. Use a small amount of milk or water around the edge of the lower crust to help seal.  Cut vents in top crust and place over filling, cut off overhanging crust (save them for cinnaminninies!) and crimp the edges to the lower crust to seal.  Brush top crust with milk and sprinkle with a light dusting of cane sugar.

Place in center of oven and bake for approximately 55 minutes, or until filling bubbles and crust is golden brown. If needed, cover the edges of the crust with tinfoil during the final stages of baking to prevent scorching.

Cool on the windowsill of your choice (nothing burns like hot fruit!) and enjoy with ice cream.

Fields of Dreams

In my book, a girl's first baseball game is a big deal. Going to a SeaDogs games was another of those moments I dreamed about sharing with LMC as soon as I knew she was coming. Even so, it caught me a bit by surprise that I got a little teary-eyed when we walked out of the concourse into the sun-lit fields of Hadlock Stadium.

Any attempts to actually watch the game are mostly moot at this point, and if you asked LMC what her favorite part of the experience was, and she could speak in sentences, I'm pretty sure she'd say the french fries. But it's harder to find something more summery and American and wonderful than a minor league ballpark on a July day, particularly when your team is up by four runs.

The only thing that could perhaps be more perfectly summery is a field of sun-ripe strawberries. I've already noted LMC's love of berries here before, but it's something else to be in a whole field of them. We made it to the last picking day of the summer at Jordan's Farm in Cape Elizabeth, and while the berries on the ground were no longer numerous, they were still delicious, and fortunately the farm stand was still well stocked, since the berries we picked seemed to mysteriously disappear...

Opa! The Greek Food Festival

One of the tastiest days on the Cleaver family calendar is the day we visit the Greek Food Festival. Hosted annually by the Holy Trinity Church in Portland on the last full week of June, we start anticipating our visit as soon as the weather gets warm.

It's not that you can't get good Greek food in the area other times of the year, it's  just that there's something about the food that you get at the Festival that makes it extra delicious. We eat light in the morning so we have plenty of room to stuff ourselves with dolmades (lamb and rice-stuffed grape leaves), spanakopita, gyros, and loukoumades. And oh the loukoumades - the Greek equivalent of a light crispy doughnut hole, made fresh and served in a honey-nut syrup.

Despite being rather full, I gave Mr. Cleaver some serious stink-eye when he suggested only getting one serving of loukoumades this year.  It only comes once a year! Even LMC, who for the most part was too busy taking it all in to pay much attention to the food, loved the loukoumades. She ate her little snack and danced her little toddler dance to the Greek music playing on the loudspeakers. Happily swaying back and forth with the taste of honey on her lips. We usually go in the mid-afternoon on a weekday to avoid the crowds and lines, but it would be fun to go see the live music and dancing one of these years.

We did however take the opportunity to get a  private tour of the church from Father Sarantides himself. If you ever get a chance to see the inside, I'd highly recommend it. Holy Trinity features a number of stunning small and large scale icons throughout the sanctuary.  All we had to do was ask one of the volunteers and they set it up. They're truly beautiful.

Weekending

With the arrival of good weather and the Annual Old Port Festival in Portland, it's really starting to feel like summer here. And with summer comes copious amounts of sunscreen, bug-spray and activity for the Cleaver clan.

LMC got to take in her first parade, which featured beautiful large-scale puppets from Shoestring Theatre and sampled a bit of fair food. We also visited her first farmer's market and picked out plants to go into the new raised beds, which despite her efforts to pluck them back out have been firmly planted into their new homes.

The boxes are approximately 4 ft x 8 ft x 6 inches. We got a yard and half of loam delivered from O'Donals in Gorham, which we combined with some of our Garbage to Garden compost from last year.  We probably could have gotten away with a yard of dirt, but the leftovers will go into additional boxes we hope to have in place for planting next year.  Because, obviously two boxes aren't gonna cut it. :)

As for this year's plantings, I kept the plant list fairly similar to my first garden attempt, with the addition of lettuce:

• Plum tomatoes for salsa and sauce (3)
• Sweet bell peppers (2)
• Broccoli (6)
• Lettuce (6)
• Basil (4)
• Thyme (1)
• Rosemary(1)

I think I'll probably pick up a few more herbs (I'm thinking cilantro and maybe parsley and mint) and I also planted 4 strawberry plants around the deck in addition to our existing blueberry bush.

Growing up I lived in a house on a corner lot with a huge backyard that my parents filled with all sorts of edible plants. We had cherries, granny smith apples, boysenberries, strawberries and cherry tomatoes most of time. As a kid, my friends and I would spend our summer afternoons out there, reenacting dance routines from Newsies over the sprinkler and eating our fill of the backyard bounty. It was bliss.

Now as a grownup, I live in a house on a corner lot with a huge backyard, that I'm slowly filling with edibles, so my daughter too can eat sun-warmed fruits and veggies to her heart's content.