Ram, Bam, Thank you Ma'am

Irene was a breeze along the southern Maine coast; not so in many other areas and so again finding many reasons to be thankful. We lost power for about 24 hours and some trees and limbs definitely fell around town (two on a friend's house, sadly) but no reports of injuries or major damage in our area. The sheep were in for most of the day, but when there were peeks of blue sky in the mid-afternoon, they were let out and happily grazed until it got dark.

Without power there was little to do but read and take walks; found myself laughing out loud as I read Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving. After taking several tries at the book, I'm finally into it and remembering why I like Irving's writing so much. His storytelling is rich and full of quirky details, and the characters always feel like people I have either met or would like to meet. The macabre sense of humor and flow of his words have always attracted me to him as a writer, and when I was a young student of twenty and actually met him after a small reading (from Cider House Rules, which he was still writing), it was something else that attracted me to him. He has always been a favorite, and Last Night in Twisted River was a perfect book to read on a rainy, windy day in Maine.

Beetle Battle

There will be no visual for this morning's chore - removing a gazillion japanese beetles from the rosa rugosa in front of the house; they appeared seemingly overnight and have done a decent amount of damage. Who knows? Maybe they were all out celebrating Japan's win in the World Cup and decided to land in my yard to party and liked it so much they stuck around. I also managed to catch a number of destructive beetles mating down on the squash and zucchini plants and they all met their end this morning as well. Oh well. Since I refuse to use the pesticides, it's hand killing only here at the Salty Ewe. I'm planning to try some neem oil and garlic sprays on some of the vegetable plants that have been attracting beetles which will hopefully help, too.

The Queen Anne's lace is in full bloom along Obed Lane, and so later on I will wander along the lane and pick as much as I can for a dye bath. A lot of clover out now, too, and so I'll probably pick a bunch of that as well. I gathered a huge bunch of some roadside weed whose name escapes me, but I remember using it at the Shearebrooke workshops and it created a nice color. Now that the Salty Ewe has a real studio space in which to play with wool, it's more fun than work getting a dye pot together. I've set up two hot plates near an open window - one a double burner - and the collection of small pots, strainers, screens, spoons and small stash of plants to experiment with make it feel like a real fiber studio. Looking out onto the field and seeing everyone grazing is just about the icing on the proverbial cake.

New view from back deck. Loving it.

The view from the house and back deck has changed incredibly since Steve Bryant took down some huge tree limbs for me. Several needed to come down - widowmakers - but a few others I asked to be trimmed so that the view, the air and the light would improve; all three have happened. The birds still have their trees - just a little higher limbs on which to perch and nest now. I bet they may even have an ocean view from the tippy top of that old oak tree.