Boys on the Couch

The color in this picture is way off, but probably that is because I took it through the glass of the doors to the living room.  In any case, it's rare that all three dogs sit together, so I wanted to capture the moment.  (Benny is on the back of the couch.

Back at It

Here is my latest painting......I tried watercolor and couldn't get it, so went back to acrylic.  This is done on wood that I first painted my signature red.  I've done this scene before in charcoal, then pastel.  I used the pastel to go by.  I'm happy with it right now, except that I see I put the intersection of Water St. in the wrong place.  I'll fix it later.

This is the first painting I've done in a little while, partly because I have been going to Machias three times a week for physical therapy.  Since it's an hour each way, it takes up a lot of time.  My shoulders are getting better, though, so it is worth it.  It seems like my life is devoted to this end, as if functioning shoulders is all that matters.  I suppose it is a prerequisite for doing the things I like to do and therefore worthy of my focus.  Nevertheless, I would have been happier if the pain had gone away by itself.  I'm not sure if I will recover completely, which apparently is the fate of human beings as they grow older.  I never thought I would get old.

The Last Bit of Business

I thought I was alarmed years ago when I first started getting advertisements and pleas to join AARP...............evidence that you are statistically old is one thing, but knowing that you are targeted in the marketing group who need to make arrangements for your funeral is a little sobering.

Day at Blueberry Point

David and Thom are dog-sitting for their friend, Audrey, who owns this piece of the coast called Blueberry Point.  I joined them there Tuesday for lunch and a visit that included a tour of the house and grounds.  It's impossible for me to imagine owning such a place, though I must say I did not feel particularly out of place.  I am used to the ocean being nearby.  I know cliffs and rocks and beaches.  I, too, live in a house from which I can see the water.  Blueberry Point, though, is all of that dressed in it's most elegant finery.  From the huge covered porch of the house, gently sloping blueberry fields roll to the top of a precipitous cliff down to the beach.   We walked with the dogs down a long wooden stairway and while they played we explored the shoreline.  Across the water we could see St. Andrews, Canada, and the Algonquin Hotel perched high on a hill.  Though this beach is only a few miles from Eastport, the rocks that make up the cliff are very different.  The rocks there are softer, worn smooth by the tides.  There are deep crevices that the water has chiseled out of the flat face of stone as it comes and goes, too deep to gauge how far they penetrate.


The house itself has the personality of a summer home used by generations.  The walls upstairs are covered with family pictures.  It's a comfortable house where it's easy to imagine children jumping on the furniture and dogs running happily in and out.  It's also a showplace, beautifully appointed without being intimidating. 


We had a wonderful lunch, relaxed with wine.  It was a beautiful day, out of the ordinary, and a treasure. 

Orchid Cactus

I've had this plant since my kids were little, almost forty years.  It used to bloom once in awhile when I first got it, but since then it has remained a foliage plant.  Then last year it bloomed.  It was beautiful, but as it turned out, only a prelude to what it is accomplishing this year.  In the foreground is the Peace Lily I got from Sherillee about thirty years ago.  It, too, blossomed for the first time last year.  This year it has two flowers.

I would like to make up some analogy to human life and growing older, but I can't think of one.

A Walk on the Beach

The boys love to wander around without their leashes so I often take them down to the beach at the bottom of the hill.  Willy is very adventuresome while Patrick hangs back a little.  He's contemplating scaling the seaweed covered rocks like Willy did.  I called to Willy to look at me before he disappeared down the other side and he ran toward me, allowing Patrick to gracefully back out.