Silver Lake Hospitality

As you can see we are happily nestled in on Silver Lake in New Hampshire. Our new friends Mark and Bonnie invited us to stay for the week and we are in love with this spot already! Billy backed the trailer down the long driveway and we have a nice view of the lake right out the bedroom window. Last night we listened to the loons calling out on the lake. It was pretty great.

Upon arrival yesterday Mark took us for a boat ride around the lake. The scenery is amazing. The lake is backed by the White Mountains and in particular Mt. Chocorua which is the more pointy, craggy peak you see in the photo. This is our view from the cottage...



Rudy enjoyed his ride in the boat... although we had to keep a close eye on him as he kept trying to leap out on the back end where it was quite possible he would have slipped off the back and into the drink... or worse yet into the motor.



We had a nice dinner out on the deck with Mark and Bonnie complete with homemade blueberry pie made from fresh handpicked local blueberries.




Billy is setting up to paint right now... he wants to get some work out of the way today so we can go exploring, hiking or canoing tomorrow. I am perfectly content to hang out with a book on the deck and dear Rudy is like a drunken frat boy on vacation... he is (for the first time) roaming free in the woods eating pine cones, growling ferociously at chipmunks and chasing bees.

Thanks to Mark and Bonnie for inviting us out! It looks like it will be a great week!

Rainy Day Friends

If ever a rat is on your back...hold your head HIGH! Who cares! Exude a very aristocRATic attitude and all will be well. Unlike having a monkey on your back.... a rat is just plain no big deal. Ignore him and he will stop harassing you and perhaps even become a friend to hang out with on a dreary, wet day.



This life lesson is generously brought to you today by Master Rudy the Rat Whisperer.

Climb Every Mountain....

Yesterday being the last day of decent weather predicted for this week (Maine is a rainy, wet place this Summer for us... ) we headed to Camden Hills State Park to hike the Megunticook Trail. It's only a three mile hike but there is about a 1,400 foot gain in elevation in the first 1.5 mile section so it is a pretty steady climb to the payoff point. We took Rudy and looked at it as an opportunity to work on his leash training and to tire his little ass out for the rest of the day. He did really well both with the actual climb and with his training too. We had concerns over finding the right small dog who would be capable of going on long and somewhat strenuous hikes with us. I think we have found the right little doggie dude for the job.



People we passed on the trail acted as though we were really "doing something" to him by MAKING him hike the trail with us. They were all "Oooooooohhhhhh... Look at the puuuppppy! Poor little fella! Do you think he will be able to make it???" Of course during these opportunistic scenarios Rudy would flop down to the ground on his side and play like he was nearly dead with misery and fatigue. The minute the concerned hikers departed he would begin to enthusiastically charge up the trail eating sticks and devouring any bugs that dared to cross his path along the way. Go figure. I have to wonder if he noticed the view from the top? Do dogs *see* stuff like that? He did go and peer over the edge more than a few times and let the wind raise his little ear flaps up... but more likely than not he was just looking down and out thinking that the trees below looked like so many chew toys.

Today we are trapped indoors enduring yet another rainy day. It's supposed to rain for the rest of the week here. Bleh. Maybe we will try to teach Rudy to play Scrabble.

The Days and Nights of Hedgie

Well. I will be the first to admit that I have sucked lately when it comes to posting. I realize this at random moments and honestly feel sort of helpless to do anything about it. Why? It's the Hedgie Effect...


Yes. Meet Hedgie. He has become an IMPORTANT player in our every day lives. And I feel he is very representational of the overall theme of daily life. He is tired. He is begging for mercy. His nose has been chewed into a bizarre spaghetti like sculpture reaching high to the heavens for salvation. Yet somehow...he endures. Who is the cause of this stress? Who could be so unkind?


Please note the evil intent in the eye. Please note...Hedgie is not the only one at the receiving end of that dirty business. We have entered a phase of rebellion in our small household. Rudolph McLane is testing his boundaries. There was "The Watermelon Incident." The "Why Pee Outside When you can Pee INSIDE Dilemma." There is the development of "This Whole Bed Belongs to ME now." And finally the "I think I will eat this WHOLE STICK OF BUTTER while your not looking!" disaster. Of course we still have to get up and go "Out" at 5:20 in the A.M. to pee and get multiple mosquito bites. Don't get me wrong though.... it's not all fire and brimstone and tears of blood. We do have the occasional respite from the battle.


I should also mention that Rudy has a girlfriend. She lives next door (she is also an Airstreamer...and is very exotic in that she is from Alaska) and her name is Katie. She is a lovely 2 year old Basset Hound. There's is a relationship which must survive on short, tangled romps while on the leash and desperate stares out the window at one an other's comings and goings throughout the day. When they do get to meet up out in the yard Rudy acts as though Katie's face were a saddle custom made for his body and he was meant to ride her like a mechanical bull. The weird thing is she seems to like it. I will have to make an attempt to capture this on the camera before the week is out.

We Love Maine

Hi all! Things are rolling along just fine for us here in Southern Maine. While our actual campsite is tighter than a tin of sardines the surrounding area is absolutely gorgeous. We are right along side the Scarborough Marsh and a good long section of the Eastern Greenbelt biking/hiking trail. We take Rudy for a walk there pretty much every day. It's a great place to walk him because he meets a lot of other people and dogs AND we take a ton of photos while out on the trail. We witnessed an awe inspiring sunset tonight while out walking. Hopefully these pictures will offer a taste of what we saw...





We spent the 4th up in the little town of Freeport which is well known because it is home base for LL Bean. Their "mothership" store is there... open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It's a super cool place to visit and shop your ass off. This year is LL Bean's 95th year in Freeport so they put on a big shindig for the 4th. The Robert Cray Band played a free concert and the fireworks were pretty darned snazzy. We brought Rudy and he survived being the cutest puppy in town and was groped and oogled by no less than 42,891 people over the course of the night. I overheard one woman exclaim "OH! Look at the little MAN DOG!" He really does look like a grumpy old man trapped in a floppy puppy body. It's pretty silly looking.


Tomorrow we are taking him to a dog park in Portland. It will be his first off leash experience. Hopefully there are a few dogs there with social skills sharp enough to cut through his tough guy image and teach him to simmer down a bit. After that we are going to hang out in Portland for the day. I dig Portland... it has all the requisite stuff...indie book stores, lots of coffee houses, an great Indian restaurant, a cool waterfront and an amazing market where you can buy fancy cheeses, breads, Asian groceries, wine, goodies, etc., etc. I'll try to remember to take lots of pics to share this weekend.

Remember me?

OK.... so it has been weeks since my last post and I apologise for that! I have a long list of excuses including the 4 month old puppy and the fact that my laptop never got repaired. It's still on the blink. I'll leave it at that and spare you the rest of my B.S.




We wrapped up our stay in Massachusetts yesterday and we are now in Maine just South of Portland where we will be for 11 days. We had a great time in MA where we visited with family and spent a week out on the Vineyard (never made it out to Nantucket...ran out of time.) Thanks to a new friend and client of Billy's we enjoyed a cottage out on West Chop on the Vineyard and had a really fabulous week there. It was a perfect spot to hang out with Rudy and just relax. Rudy loves the beach. Not for the reasons that you and I probably love the beach.... but for reasons all his own. He for instance...loves to eat sand, seaweed and drink salt water. These things had not occurred to me as genuine options while at the beach but after seeing what a good time he was having scooping up big wet mouths full of sand... man, I was actually tempted for an eighth of a second to join him. Yah. He also enjoys digging at the beach. Full body, from the depths of his soul... digging. He throws his whole person into it which is only appropriate really. Probably the biggest day on the island for Rudy though was his play date with Frankie the black lab. They played until Rudy was asleep on his feet. It was big fun. Frankie was a perfect match for Rudy because she is a lot bigger than he and able to pin him down and give him a good butt kickin if he got too carried away with thinking he is some kind of bad ass. Which he did. She was very polite about it and kept him in line in a very gentle way. Thanks Frankie! I wish she could come over for about two hours every day to play!





We are off for the day to explore Cape Elizabeth and try to find the lighthouse featured in a Hopper painting. The weather has mellowed out (not 95 degrees anymore) so it should be a good day.

Introducing RUDY!

Hi all... I thought I had better check in so people would not think we have fallen off the face of the planet. My laptop is still busted... we have to take it in to Boston for repair. I have 3.4 minutes to get this post up before this thing shuts down from overheating. So I will be brief. The biggest news I have is this... We have a new member in our family! Billy and I are the proud new parents of Rudy!



He is 4 months old and as you can see he is extremely uncomfortable with me. We sprung him from the Fall River pound. He's doing great with training so far and is a true snuggle bug. He's half Jack Russell and we *think* Beagle, but no way to be sure on that.

We are heading out to Martha's Vineyard for the week and hopefully I will be back online by next weekend with a mended laptop.

Busted

Just a quick note to let y'all know... the lack of posting is due to a sizzled laptop. I am taking this heap into the "Geek Squad" tomorrow to see if they can fix it up. The fan is fried so the computer heats up and shuts itself down faster than you can say "That's Hot." That said I hope Paris is faring well this evening in confinement. Lean into the pain Paris... it's the only way to hang tough.

So wish me luck and I will report back as soon as the Geek Doctor fixes me up.

Providence

Billy and I drove in to Providence today to visit the Rhode Island School of Design's Art Museum. We always go into Providence a few times while here and we always do the exact same things every time we go. These things include eating really great falafel wraps on Thayer St, getting a tea at Tealuxe and checking out the books at the Brown University bookstore. I also usually buy socks. There is a sock store which I love. They have a spectacular array of dazzling socks. Today however...I left the city without a new pair of socks. It's OK. I have time to go back before leaving the state of Massachusetts and get some.





The museum was great and a much needed breath of inspiration. Somehow in the photo above I look like someone wrenched me out of a hay ride in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. I am mystified to suddenly be looking on a neoclassical French family portrait instead of the back of a horses ass as it pulls the hay cart along an old dirt road. It's a great example of "what not to wear" unless you ARE indeed going on a hay ride.

Pink Lady Slipper Orchid

Billy and I went for a walk today here in the woods in Swansea. I spotted this lone bizarre plant along the trailside. After searching the web I finally figured out it is actually a pretty rare flower called a Pink Lady Slipper Orchid. Here's a side view...



Pretty wild eh? I have never seen anything quite like it. I guess it is the State flower in New Hampshire but there are barely any of them left to be found. I seem to have a knack for spotting this stuff because I also found this groovy little guy when we were hiking in Virginia...




It's a pitcher plant. Billy is gently lifting it's "lid" up with a twig for the picture to show off the stripes. I just love stuff like this... OK. Hope you all enjoyed this botanical moment. I sure did.