the view from here

Candid Maine Coon Cats

2012-02-08T15:33:00.000-05:00

I’m deep into the bookkeeping part of the year, when I get everything together for the taxes, and when my creative side is put on hold, acting like a restless child waiting its turn.


The Boy "Buzzer"

It’s also cold. Winter in Maine, even this year with very little snow and some mild days, is drab, gray, and seemingly endless. And with the cold, drab, grayness (especially the cold) my outdoor exposure is made up of a house to car to office to car to house routine. No lingering near the lilies in the driveway. No taking the long way. This is the worst time of year for me. January. February. At least March has some promise – the first day of spring, moving the clocks ahead.

Because so many of my best photographs have been the result of having my camera with me and being at the right place at one of those times and taking a few shots usually outdoors, I haven’t photographed much lately.

What have I photographed?

Kittens.

Maine Coon kittens.

We got kittens. Two. A male and a female. The male’s name is Buzzer and the female’s name is Bella. This is what has been in my viewfinder for the past month or so.

My daughter and the kittens.

One of these days I’m going to set up a set with some props and get them to act cute for the camera so I can take some shots to sell to the greeting card people. For now, this is it.

Keeping me company while I work.

A little background on the Maine Coon: there is only speculation about the Maine Coon’s origins. Some say that somewhere back a couple of hundred years ago a cat mated with a raccoon (highly unlikely if you ask me) and on down the generations and here we are.


Hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.

Another story says that Marie Antoinette was preparing to flee France and had her prized possessions loaded onto a ship, including 6 of her Persian cats. The ship set sail without Marie (you might know what held her up) and landed in Wiscasset Maine. Cats bound out of their confines and into the arms of the local feline population and here we are. I like that story best.

We really don't need to buy cat toys. Boxes work just fine.

Whatever the true history of the Maine Coon cat, it seems that several personality traits are constant. One is their gregarious nature. They want to be with their people, hanging out on the couch, near my desk, on our bed. They’re like dogs in cat’s bodies. They’re not the kind of cats that scurry away in fear when people come around. No, they want to “help”.


Searched all over before finding them here on New Year's Eve.

They’re also very vocal, “chirpy” even, and communicate with each other and with us pretty darn well. Maine Coons are the biggest breed of cats, with the record for the longest cat held by “Stewie” a Maine Coon measuring out at 48.5 inches from tip of the nose to end of tail back in August of 2010.

Just so sweet.

We got them from Coldstream Cattery in Enfield, Maine. Marie, the breeder, had two litters available at that time. My daughter and I went to see them, not sure if we were going to get one, but knew if we did it was going to be a surprise for my husband and it had to be a male. We were set on a brown tabby male and there were quiet a few to choose from, but so hard to do when they're so young. Something we didn't expect was to fall for one of the two silver females. Both were so alert and absolutely beautiful. One our second visit, we decided on one of the brown males, mostly because he just kept coming back around us and didn't seem afraid. The fact that he was completely adorable made it even easier. When we met Marie to pick up the kittens just after Christmas, they had already been vet checked and had their first shots. Our vet recently confirmed their health and complimented on their appearance.

Blanketed in kittens.

Bella is a silver tabby and Buzzer is a brown tabby. Our kittens are true to their breed, in temperament and personality. Bella doesn't like to be picked up but does like to ride around on your shoulders. She's the more vocal of the two; very chirpy and meows very loudly whenever I get near their food bowl, clearly asking for more (though there's usually plenty of food.) She favors my husband, having found the perfect spot on his lap from her first days here. Her preferred place on our bed is right up near his head on the pillows. Bella purrs easily, instapurr we call it.


Bella, the gray tabby Maine Coon kitten, snoozing on the couch.

Buzzer was nameless for some time while we debated and tested names. With my daughter just having finished the Twilight series, she named Bella. I did not allow the male to be Edward or Jacob. Not happening. I gave the naming rights to the boy to my husband. The cat we lost (and still miss) was named Ocho. We tried out a lot of different names that were similar to that but in the end, he went with Buzzer, trying to find something that went with Bella (a bell and a buzzer . . . yeah, I'm not that good with it either). My daughter and I liked "Taco" like Taco & Bella.

Buzz in the best spot in the house; back of the couch in front of the fire. Smart cat.

So, Buzz is sweet. He comes trotting out when I get home, tail up, purring and happy to see me. He virtually jumps us and is in our faces rubbing his face against us and then just flops with an audible thud. He's very lovey. We like that in a cat.


Sleeping near the window in my office.

Together they've brought new life to the house. It was way too quiet without a cat around. With all of these cute kitty photo opps, I say it's no wonder I haven't looked beyond. Well, okay, that's a lame excuse for not photographing more in the winter. Or writing more blog posts . . .


Buzz, in my "in" box.

New Year New Ideas New Life

2012-01-07T14:25:00.003-05:00

A friend of mine gave me this sign as a gift and I just love it. I’ve always been a fan of New Year, almost more than of Christmas. While I realize that I’m writing this seven days into this new year, it’s not for lack of the new ideas and other new things I’ve experienced and begun to execute in the past seven days.

Our Christmas this was year one of new technology (a Kindle Fire for me and an iPad 2 for my daughter – hooray!). Of course that brings with it a learning curve, and since I love learning new things, it was a great opportunity to dive right in. I downloaded my first two book that very night.

Our Christmas vacation, the first of its kind for us, was lazy-lounging-foody-restful and actually made me anxious to go back to work in a way. Other than entertaining my sister and her boyfriend on New Year’s Eve and staying up past midnight (I think this was a first for my asleep-on-the-couch-by-8:30 husband) and one big event I’ll get to in a minute, it was a Christmas vacation of gluttony and sloth. I loved it.

In a recent post I mentioned that our cat, Ocho, who was 4 ½ years old, was hit by a car and died. It happened just before Thanksgiving. We all cried about this. He was a huge member of the family and we missed him like crazy. After some time had passed, I began to think about a new cat. We missed having that life in the house, someone to greet you when you got home, someone to race up the stairs after coming in from the rain and jump on you in bed – with a mouse in his mouth. Now that’s love.

So the big event I mentioned before is that after I had mourned the death of our beloved Ocho, and as part of the healing process, I believe, I began to research Maine Coon Cat breeders in the state. Although Ocho was a stray, we fiercely believe that he was part Maine coon. His personality, that more of a dog in a cat’s body, his desire to “help” with everything we did, his “hanging out” with us around the house, was not typical cat, but it was typical Maine Coon behavior. They’re even known to retain their “clowny” kitten playfulness throughout their lives.

So to honor the first, we got two. A male and a female. The male was what we sought out and the female was just too pretty to not take her. Her name is Belle and his name has yet to be decided. I gave my daughter the naming rights on the girl and she’s been studying French and was looking for something that meant “pretty” so “Belle. The naming rights for the boy go to my husband, for whom this was a surprise. He hasn’t made the call yet. Now we have these two little beings in our lives. Fuzzy, rambunctious, purring little beings.

On to the new ideas section of this post; these are some of the goals I wish to accomplish this year:

Develop a new website for my photography work – one that targets a more commercial, more fine art market to sell my work on a larger scale.
Learn how to create mixed media art using my photography, collage material, paint, whatever is on hand and works, and bring my artistic development up a notch.
Create a cohesive, intentional marketing effort to get my work out there.
Get back in shape and feel better about myself – yeah, I know, everyone does this at this time of year – but I mean it . . .
Make this a year of art shows and person to person sales.
Put more effort into my Etsy and Ebay outlets to sell my work.
Go to 7 places I’ve never been; 3 outside of the state of Maine.
Publish an article – in print – and get paid for it.
Create an email marketing plan and write regular newsletters.
Invest in new equipment, mainly upgrade my computer, but also consider getting a new lens and perhaps an iPad for presentational purposes.

To this goal, I like to create some incentives, something I can go back to to be inspired to move on, to refresh my brain. I like doing collages. I clip inspirational sayings, words, photos from all kinds of sources and create a spread that highlights the direction I want to move. Earlier this year I did one with words that flowed from the present space I was in into the end result I was hoping for. Recently, with the new year, I did one with the words and images of the goals I have for the year. The above photo and below are some of the parts.

Check back here often; I will continue to post examples of this and the other work I’m doing as well as updates on how these kittens are faring in our home. By the looks of them in this photo, they’re doing pretty well so far.

If you want to be happy, be.

2011-12-21T13:08:00.000-05:00

This quote was in a newsletter I got yesterday. It was attributed to Leo Tolstoy. A short little sentence it is, but oh the power it assumes. As I read it and thought about it, I could almost feel the happiness roll over me.

If you want to be happy, you can be happy. Why is it that we tend to give away to others the power of our own happiness? By that I mean the self defeating statements that I know I’m guilty of enunciating like “I’ll be happy when . . . we can buy a bigger house . . . this winter is over . . . fill in the blank.” It could be anything on which you hinge happiness.

So, stop waiting ...
Until your car or home is paid off.
Until you get a new car or home.
Until your kids leave the house.
Until you go back to school.
Until you finish school.
Until you lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until you get married.
Until you get a divorce.
Until you have kids.
Until you retire.
Until summer..
Until spring.
Until winter.
Until fall.
Until you die. There is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt,
and, dance like no one's watching.

If not now, when? Your life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway. Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with ... and remember that time waits for no one.

I recall a story that was emailed to me a few years back. A man’s wife had just died and he was preparing the outfit in which she would be buried. In her closet he comes across several brand new outfits, lovely ones, still with tags on them. She had been saving them for something, some special time, not thinking that the day may never come. Feel good and be happy now. Why had she not enjoyed the new clothes and the way they felt against her skin or the way the color set off her eyes? Why wait?

Okay so as we roll into another year, I’m going to post this little quote on the top of my day planner. I will write it in random places in my calendar to remind me that I don’t need a reason or have to wait to be happy. My life is good today.

Merry Christmas all!

The gift of giving . . . gives back

2011-12-09T16:24:00.000-05:00

boat in scarborough maine

As a photographer and the “creative” one in my family, I often find myself charged with creating the “unique” and personal gifts that we like to give. Okay, really, I take on these projects myself, never usually assigned by anyone, just me and my desire to give gifts at Christmas that are not store bought, not discount, not last minute attempts. I want to use my talents to give something to someone that 1. They can actually use. 2. They think is cool. 3. They won’t get from anyone else.

I find that the process of sorting through photos, for me, is a gift itself. Doing something like this gives back as you get to relive some of the memories associated with the images. No matter what the subject or theme, whether it’s a year in review book or a calendar of wedding photos, you are the one making the decisions about which images to include and what kind of story you will tell.

We recently lost our cat and miss him terribly. I decided to make my daughter and husband each a book of photos of him (and ended up making a calendar, too). I sorted through 4 ½ years of photographs, looking for shots of him or with him in them. I was happy to find that all those photos I took of him just trotting across the lawn, or holding a mouse in his mouth, or lounging (and this cat could lounge!) found a purpose in these creations. It was a wonderful experience for me to be able to relive our time with him and our lives that went on around and including him. When my husband gave us Jimmy Buffett tickets for Valentine’s day, our cat was right in the middle of the fake rose petals and pink wrapping paper. At our first Christmas in our new house, I photographed him crouched under the tree, illuminated by the lights. He was a part of our lives, the small events I photographed, the times we remember.

Photographs, in many cases, are all you have to recall special times and people. Long after the wedding – the dress doesn’t fit, and the cake top is gone – you have your photos. You can go back to the places you’ve visited when you look at the vacation photos. You can share these experiences with others on facebook or twitter. The pictures of the way we spend our lives have meaning to you as a photographer, as the one who stood in the sand to shoot the palm tree and the snorkel gear, or the one who looked up from bird watching to catch the cat using your garden as his litterbox. For this reason, the giving of memories is a gift to both the people behind the camera and the recipient of the thoughtfully crafted gift.

So with this in mind, I tend to turn to photographic items such as calendars, photo books, coffee mugs and the like. To create this stuff, I have found that there are a million websites you can go to where you can upload your photos and use them to make items. At this time of year many of them offer pricing specials which generally do save you some money.

While being a professional does allow me some access to sources out there who cater to photographers, I usually go back to Shutterfly http://www.shutterfly.com/ for holiday gifts. I’ve also used MPIX http://www.mpix.com/, and Vistaprint http://www.vistaprint.com/. These online vendors cater to everyone. Their pricing is competitive in the retail market, which doesn’t make them a viable option to use when I’m selling the work, since I need wholesale pricing in order to be able to realize a profit. But for gifts, it’s reasonable. Most importantly, I find that the quality is good, depending on the item.

Shutterfly does a great job on calendars and photo books. The calendar templates are easy to use and you can upload as many photos as you want. They have a wide variety of designs to start with and you can select the number of images you want to use on each page. Another feature I like of theirs is that not only can you assign special dates within the year (Joe’s birthday, our anniversary, etc.) you can now add a photo to the date. It’s really nice for the visual queue for a date you want to remember. The paper stock they use for calendars is a nice durable cardstock which comes packaged in individual plastic zip bags. I’ve also done several photo books on Shutterfly and they’re crisp and bright and well bound.

MPIX has undergone changes in the past year as they transition from a “photographer’s” lab to a broader base. That’s just my analysis and I could be wrong about their strategy. Their partner lab, Miller’s is the site used by photographers who want to create albums of wedding photos for clients and other client centered products. MPIX is good for prints and framed or mounted artwork. If you want your photo of the waterfront where you spent your honeymoon printed on metallic paper and mounted to a foamcore board, MPIX can do that and get it to you in 2 days. I use them for my gallery prints. Their quality is fabulous. What I don’t like is that after a certain period of time, your photos will be deleted from your albums. I guess this is an effort to save space, but I like to be able to go on and order the print I need and not have to keep uploading images repeatedly.

Vistaprint seems to be everywhere these days. They advertise on eBay and once you’re on their mailing list, you’ll get emails about every sale and promotional item they’ve got, and they’ve got a lot. The things that I’ve had a lot of success with and found the pricing and quality to be good enough for me to resell are the postcards and notecards. I’ve designed and purchased many different layouts. They’re also good with business cards (cheap!) and rubber stamps and stickers, all of which I use as part of my branding for my business, to create a cohesive, intentional marketing effort. For holiday and other gifts, they do offer Christmas cards and postcards, which I would imagine would be of the same quality. Last year I ordered a few calendars just to see what they’re like, as I had received an email stating they were FREE (got to pay shipping) and found myself engaged in the design only to find that Vistaprint charges $4.99 per image to upload your photos. They must have been running some kind of special (they always seem to be doing that) or I would not have paid upwards of $60 to upload a dozen photos. And I was disappointed by the quality – thin flimsy paper with cheapy feeling plastic ring bind, like this was a school project and not a professionally designed calendar – not good enough for me to sell and the prices to buy make them unrealistic to do so. My advice with Vistaprint: stick with the things they do well – business cards, postcards, notecards, stamps. Something I truly dislike with this site is that when clicking through a promotional email and logging into your account, the pricing often changes. Something advertised as free somehow ends up as $7.99 once it gets to your cart. By that time you’re so invested in the item that you get it anyway. They offer a ton of other “services” and products and it can be hard to just get to the end because you’re bombarded with marketing. But if you get through it all, some items are worth it.

The other day I received the calendars I made for my family and friends. Rather than giving them photos that are best sellers for me, I used only images from the past year. It gave me an opportunity to pour through and relive our year and be able to highlight some images that I have yet to post for sale or otherwise show the world. I took the time to make the edits necessary to use the image in the calendar and take them to the next step. The best part is that I was reminded that we had a pretty good year, a year of a lot of changes, loss and love, fun and family. While I was showing the calendar to my husband and daughter, I told them about how the rocky coastline photo in July is from when we went camping this summer on Hermit Island and that the blue shuttered house on that same page was from when my daughter and I took a day trip to Bar Harbor. August 2012 is full of our August 2011 adventures and includes the Victoria platters at Longwood Gardens and the adobe window and cacti from our stop at San Juan Capistrano in California. I’m anxious to share these memories with my family and friends and show them around my year.

This is the gift I get by sharing.

Five small years

2011-11-16T17:47:00.001-05:00

Indulge me if you will.

Humor me while I pat myself on the back.

Today is a day of celebration.

It’s a day that for a long time I couldn’t even imagine. Couldn’t fathom.

Today marks five – count em’ – five years of sobriety for me.

Yayyy me!

So today, I’m going to put my camera down, wander away from editing, and stop for a moment and thank people and think about the past five years.

I first have to thank my husband. He wasn’t my husband when we started this journey, so many many years ago as friends. We had partied together, with our respective former spouses, and always maintained a connection through the years and through divorces. When I called him, what was it, seven years ago, and told him that I was now single, I had been drinking that night. It was a classic drunk dial. But I did remember him telling me that he had quit drinking and had celebrated two years sober just a few months before that. I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to know why. But not why, like what happened to bring you to this decision, it was more like why the hell would you want to do that?

Fast forward. This man put up with a lot of the usual alcoholic behavior from me. Lying, manipulation, deceit, heartache. But he was there that day that I woke up and said that enough was enough. And he cheered me on at every turn. And though it’s been a long time since the thought of a drink had me firmly in its clutched fist, we still talk about it. We even joke about it. Despite his argument to the contrary, I don’t think I’d be sober without him. He’ll probably never read this blog. He doesn’t care much for sentimentality. He just knows. He gets it. He gets me.

My parents have been cheerleaders, too. When they let me move back in with them so that I could start down the path to recovery, I doubt they knew what they were in for. I detoxed and put together a few days, then a few weeks of sobriety, making an effort to go to AA meetings, and appear sincere, and then I’d relapse. Some trigger or another had me off to the store. It was a horrible, desperate time for me and for them. How to win the battle? I know they were relieved when in a final frightening weekend, my now husband asked me to move in with him.

It was supposed to be for ninety days, or for whatever it took for me to get sober. I had to commit to rehabilitation, which I did. Finally it felt like I was doing this for me and not to please others. I couldn’t keep living the life I had been. Those ninety days were hard days. I went to meetings daily, to intensive outpatient treatment and tried to help others, giving rides and making phone calls. My husband says that he know when I moved in that he was going to marry me. He was right.

So, because I got sober so many things have happened that I must be grateful for.

Set aside the love story, which intertwines throughout. I was able to repair the damaged relationship with my parents. I worked on the financial disaster I was in and took responsibility for myself. I learned to stop blaming others for my actions. I have this absolutely wonderful daughter who is growing into a very cool teen. I love that she is here with me in this house we bought and that we have a home and a life together.

I renewed my passion for photography and picked up my camera instead of a drink. In the past five years, I’ve grown this little business and have learned so much more about my craft and about the business of photography.

I’ve traveled to places I would have never dreamed. Of course you think of places like Orlando when you’re a kid, but I didn’t have a clue about Mexico. I’ve snorkeled in the Caribbean and rode the tallest and fastest roller coaster on the continent.

I make a mean guacamole and ran a 10 k. I saw the Lion King on Broadway and Blue Man Group at the Charles Theatre in Boston. Cozumel. Phillipsburg. Hollywood. Virginia Beach. Tampa Bay. Bar Harbor. My own backyard. Planted gardens and flowers.

All in the last five years.

I sit on the couch at night and watch TV with my family and it’s all perfectly normal.

This morning I took photos of frosted leaves and snow in my driveway before going to work. Simple little things like that are things I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to experience had I continued drinking. Hell, I don’t even know whether I’d be alive. I’m certain that my daughter would not be living with me and my husband wouldn’t be my husband. That much I know. Where I would be no one knows. It’s surprising and wonderful the paths we take and where they lead us.

So today, today is yet another day that I won’t drink, and I will love and be loved, trust and be trusted, give and be given to. Today is another reason to celebrate.

Christmas Stalking

2011-11-08T18:06:00.000-05:00

The little trick or treaters had barely been nestled into their beds when I heard it.

The first jingle of the holiday sales season.

Marketers so focused on one of the three big kid holidays of the year quickly shifted gears and ads went from orange and black to green and red. Pumpkins into snowmen. Autumn leaves into snow flakes. Red ribbons on boxes and that silvery sparkle everywhere.

The seasonal queues not so subtly slide into place.

This brings me to the topic of Christmas stalking. Really, Christmas stock, as in stock photography. I just like to create that visual of the holiday lurking and haunting us as it does. Part of the ability of the advertising world to be able to send us those little hints of the impending demands of this time of year comes from their access to seasonal stock photography. By that I mean the photographs that are used just about everywhere you look, if you know that you’re looking at them.

It’s the sparkly Christmas tree branches, the smiling kids with snowballs in their hands, the happy family in new pajamas sitting by the fire, the pretty boxes stacked up in an unnerving tower being carried by a smartly dressed woman who appears to have it all under control.

Seasonal. Holiday. Christmas. Those are the keywords that click.

So I have to admit that it was months ago when I started thinking about holiday stock. I bought a few props at the dollar store and created scenarios to photograph for stock. This image is pretty simple: a cup, some fake holly berries, and the idea that it would imply a relaxing tea in a busy time.

Last year as I began to put away the ornaments, I found the contrast of the freshly fallen snow and the brightly colored Christmas balls impossible to resist. I tossed them out to see where they’d land. With a tangle of red raffia, they disbursed into these images.

The decorative pine cone on the snow. (I shot this sometime in March.)

The carefully and colorfully wrapped presents. (I wrapped these in September.)

The smiling little girl hugging her presents. (ok, this was shot in December, a few weeks before Christmas, and the presents are fake and she's a good actress.)

The point is that the images you’re seeing everywhere are often shot by people like me. And people like me think about stock photos all year round. I’ve become accustomed to the potential for any combination of items to, at certain times of the year, evoke certain emotional responses.

In order for the advertising folks to be able to access the images they need for any particular holiday or time of year, the stock photographer has to be thinking ahead.

At the end of the school year, take a few photos of the busses and kids with book packs so the shots are up on stock sites by the time back-to-school advertising begins, say somewhere around the middle of July. A big fan of the summer months, it really bugs me that the flip flops and swimsuits leave the store racks so soon. But that’s when the power of economic psychology begins its work on the mass market.

We seem doomed to mental battle with the forces of the media’s marketing monster. I’m just as vulnerable. And I know better. Sort of. I know that the jingle I heard on Halloween night was heard by zillions of people who didn’t think “oh god, they are starting with the bells already?”. They thought “hmm, maybe my dad would like that scarf.”

Despite my feelings about winter and the rushing of the season, I benefit from it. People who create these ads, somewhere in their air conditioned offices back in August was developing a Christmas ad campaign to sell whatever it is and started looking for “holiday ornaments” or “twinkling lights” or even “relaxing cup of tea with holly berries” and click, selected my image from the stock photography website, and click, I benefited from the holiday rush and the commercialism of Christmas.

In turn, like a circle of life thing, I took the pennies I made on the sale of that photo and added it to the pennies I made on the sale of “holiday ornaments in the snow” and “pinecone” and went shopping.

Maybe my dad would like that scarf . . .

Happy Halloween: Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia

2011-10-30T21:11:00.000-04:00

Being the day before Halloween, it’s perfectly acceptable to be thinking about the creepiest experiences you’ve ever had. One of the most recent of mine was on a recent trip to Philadelphia. First trolley stop on my list: the Eastern State Penitentiary.

It’s located right near the Museum of Art – home of the “Rocky” statue. Pretty darn near downtown.

The first thing I noticed was that it’s in a neighborhood. A neighborhood where people live and drive and walk their dogs. This evil history, just set amongst the townhouses.

We walked in from the street into the gift shop and paid for our admission. There’s an audio tour you can get so that you can listen to different parts of the story where ever you are in the complex. Many parts of it are narrated by Steve Buscemi. We got our headsets on and started off.

It was really hot that day and stepping into the first spoke of the wagon wheel shaped set of buildings was at first refreshing. Then your eyes become accustomed to the dimness and focus on the corridor for what it is: cell after cell, door after door, a place in history where the worst offenders where kept.

We learned that in its earlier years, it was a model for prisons around the world. It was the Pennsylvania System and was based on the true concept of “penitence”. Inmates were kept completely solitary, not seeing another human being for months or years at a time. Even while being led into their cells, their heads were covered. It was “confinement in solitude with labor” and worked extremely well for years.

I found the extensive corridors mesmerizing.

I had seen one of the ghost shows do a visit of this place, declaring it haunted. This place, on a catwalk across the second level, was the area of the most paranormal activity. I found that out after we went, but recall feeling, as I stood on the catwalk, that I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. I took a few photos and hurried back down.

There are artist installations throughout. One is in homage to the many cats who moved in after the prison was closed in the early 70’s and the man who continued to feed them. There are plaster cats in various poses throughout.

Another artist’s installation had these small models of cell and prison life. I found this one extremely unsettling.

Women were incarcerated in separate wings.

Al Capone spent some time in here. His cell was outfitted in the finest of the time.

Mostly, what struck me, as a photographer, was the age and decay, the texture and ruin, the glimpses of lives lived in this place. Men, women, sleeping, eating, living here in these small rooms, doing penance for their crimes.

The aging provides some beautiful terrible texture to these walls. So pronounced in some places that the layers of paint curled inches away from the surface.

One of my favorite musicians, Sting, used this dimension as a backdrop for an album cover shoot.

Another creepy place in the prison was the hospital, although we could not enter the actual rooms, the implication of disease and death hung heavily in that part of the prison.

This is a scary and fascinating place.

With some unusual and unexpected beauty.

When you are here in Philadelphia, come and check this place out. It’s really worth a few hours of your time to understand the evolution of the prison system in this country and the power of this place.

You can read all about the history and check out the plans for this year’s Halloween.

http://www.easternstate.org/

Travel Photography - Favorites from California

2011-10-12T20:56:00.000-04:00

Water Lilies at San Juan Capistrano

In August, we traveled. Vacation to California early in the month, then a business trip to Philadelphia later on. Hysterical. Delicious. Saturated. Gluttonous. Exhilarating. I could go on, but thankfully you might say, won't. For now, I will share some of my photography from the road.

One of my favorite stops - kind of a surprise - was at the Mission at San Juan Capistrano. Yeah, I had heard all about the swallows and certainly enjoyed the story - But the gardens, and the buildings, and I just fell in love with the feeling of the whole place.


Loved the cacti and the adobe. They compliment each other.


The flowers, the palm trees, oh my!


The blooms and the arches. So pretty.

Our stop at San Juan Capistrano was on the way between Los Angeles and San Diego. In San Diego, we planned a trip to the world famous San Diego Zoo. Here are two of my favorites from that day?


I know you're not supposed to cut off the heads of zoo animals but I just loved the shot of the little guy. The giraffes are my second favorite animals of the day.

This one - the flamingo - is my favorite. Just look at how delicate the feathers are. How soft a place to rest one's head. Too bad you have to stand on one leg to do it.

Quote For The Day

2011-07-14T08:24:00.000-04:00

"Don't be afraid to follow your bliss and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be."

~Joseph Campbell~

Introducing a new product: Glass cutting boards - Functional art for your kitchen

2011-07-11T16:42:00.001-04:00

I’m very excited about this new product. I have been looking, and will continue to do so, for ways to use my photography in ways other than prints for your walls, photo greeting cards, and to jazz up my blog here. I’ve found a source – www.artibly.com that allows me, or anyone, to create unique glass cutting boards using photographic art. Here are a few that I’ve currently got for sale on my Etsy and Ebay sites.

Spice up your kitchen with a custom-imprinted rectangular cutting board! Custom cutting boards are perfect for home chefs and restaurant owners alike. This functional, sanitary, and heat-resistant glass cutting surface is ideal for slicing, dicing, and mincing in the kitchen. This beautiful tempered glass cutting board has a grain texture on the surface. Includes self-adhesive rubber feet.

Any image in this store can be used to create your unique cutting board. I can even include lettering or custom copy. Would make a great housewarming, wedding, or hostess gift. You could invite guests to “Meg’s Kitchen” or inform visitors that they could be the next to be “Chopped”. Just indicate, in the notes, which image and sentiment you’d like. I will confirm and send a proof of the design before creating.

THE DETAILS:

Close up of cutting board top shows grain texture surface.

Image is printed on the bottom of the cutting board. Opaque printing surface allows image to show brightly through glass.

Use as a cutting surface. Tempered glass resists stains, odors and bacteria. Board makes a unique serving platter for hors d’ oeuvres. Artistic additions to any kitchen or wet bar area.

Cutting board is safe in most dishwashers, but we suggest board be washed by hand.

Keep out of direct sunlight. Board left in direct sunlight may fade gradually over time.

Board is about 7.9" high and 11.8" wide.

Radius corners are approximately 1.2 inches.

Board is approximately .16 inches thick.

Self-adhesive rubber feet are provided to prevent slipping on countertop.

Sidewalk Arts in the Rain

2011-06-30T21:34:00.002-04:00

Fortune's Rocks Beach Biddeford, Maine - the day after

I’m new to the arts and crafts show circuit. That doesn’t mean I’m new to art or craft for that matter, just to the concept of setting up a temporary shop for a day, weekend, or even just a few hours to sell your work. In the past year, I’ve been assigned a space between a gourmet fudge maker and a Christmas wreath crafter, a handcrafted unique bird house designer and a whoopee pie baker, and a marshmallow gun carver and my friend Judy, who makes jewelry, and who is “not in this for the money. It’s just fun . . ” but outsold me by 300%.

I have learned a thing or two from these people, though, and from these events. By making mistakes and finding myself wishing I had brought X, I thought I was totally prepared for the show I did this past weekend in Southern Maine.

My table display

The one thing I needed the most and forgot to pack: my thick skin.

The one thing I wasn’t prepared for: disappointment.

The one thing I hoped wouldn’t happen and did: rain.

The one thing I had, but didn’t get much use out of: inventory.

No, I’m not especially spleeny (a good Maine word for frail, sensitive or easily hurt). And no, I’m not generally a person who looks at life with a glass-half-empty attitude.

But it rained. It poured. The brave ones came out to the show anyway and expected to see some serious art. My first sale of the day was my largest: $100 for one of my bigger, display pieces. The rest of my sales were smaller, but were certainly sales nonetheless. It’s just that there were so few of them. I guess I’m lamenting the fact that there were points in the day that I thought I’d cry from the frustration. Rain poured down the gully on the edge of the sidewalk. It dripped in from the metal poles supporting my just-bought-for-this-occasion beige canopy (without the side walls, because I couldn’t find matching ones, which turned out to be a valuable asset to those around me to keep their work dry when the rain came in sideways). Cars drove by and splashed the back of my table, the tablecloth, the gear I had stowed beneath the skirt.

And not that I can blame them, hardly anyone came. And of those who did, many said “ah, the Saco Sidewalk Art Festival . . it always rains . . “ and they’d shake their heads and give me a small grin, like I should have known or like I did know yet chose to come anyway.

my canopy covered show space

Reality is that you sign up for these events long before the extended forecast comes out. You pay the entry fee. You try to consider everything, every what if, or if not. You – or maybe it’s just me – research display ideas and find something that’ll work for your art. You think about how to pack the car for easy unloading and set up. You consider the phrasing of your signs. You dream about making a bunch of money and being able to call your husband and tell him how great it was and that you’re taking your parents out for dinner on your big earnings and how everyone ranted and raved about your work and you have orders for more work that’ll keep you busy until Christmas and you convince yourself this will be worth having given up your day job.

And then it rains.

And only the brave few come to the show.

And thankfully you make enough to just cover the entry fee and your gas.

And . . . you learn.

And you meet a few people and chat with them and bathe in the compliments.

You listen to their stories of this place or that one and how they shot this amazing sunset and oh here it is in my digital camera do you want to see it?

And your face hurts from smiling because despite all of that, you do like doing this.

And you’re happy about giving up your day job and spending the last four nights gluing mattes together and making signs.

And there’s a certain satisfaction when you back up and take a look at all you’ve created and think about the trail of an image to this point. How it goes from something you see through the viewfinder to your computer to the printer to the table with the glue and mat board to a finished product with your name on it that goes up on someone’s wall that they see every day and it makes them smile.

Ocean Park Beach Path Saco Maine

It takes a lot to put your work out there. Not only do you have to have confidence and pride in what you do or create, you have to have a marketing concept of some sort. You have to know no only what you sell, but how you sell. What kind of image do you intend to project? What psychological nerve do you want to touch in the people who walk by your booth? How are you going to get noticed, in a sea of white canopies and colorful signs? I don’t know the statistics on the amount of money spent by the typical consumer visiting an art or craft show. I understand that for someone to earmark some of their time and energy to going to one of these shows, they have to have an interest of some sort. Sometimes they drive long distances. Sometimes there’s an admission fee. Sometimes it takes the coordination of several friends or family members who enjoy this sort of event to decide to go together and make a day of it. I get it. These people have an investment into this before they even get to the gate. This earns them the right to some sort of expectation. Arts and craft show attendees want to see and buy things that are on a different level from the things on the shelf at Walmart. They want to meet the artists and talk to them about their art. They want a story to tell when someone asks them about the photograph of the sunflower they’ve hung in their living room.

My Dad asked me the next morning if I would do it again. I was sore from moving everything and standing on my wet feet all day. I was struggling to repack the car with items I didn’t sell. My patience was thinning. I had a long drive ahead of me and unpacking at the other end.

I said yes.

Tangled lobster buoy ropes on the beach

Quote for the day:

2011-06-14T08:17:00.001-04:00

"Always keep in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other."

~Abraham Lincoln~

Spend the day: Six Flags New England

2011-06-10T09:04:00.001-04:00

I suppose you could call me a theme park snob. I guess I am approaching that level in my quest for higher drops, more inversions, the smoothest, tallest, fastest . . roller coasters. It started a few years ago, in the first few years of my relationship with my now husband. My previous roller coaster experience was tame, and the only loop I think I had done was a dozen years behind me. Not that it frightened me, in fact I recall enjoying it very much, just that my life at that time did not include targeted trips to theme parks. Not really. Fast forward and I fell in love with the feeling of the launch on the Incredible Hulk coaster at Universal Studios in Orlando. Rode it over and over that first day.

Since then it’s been a fascination and a focus of our travels. We went to both Busch Gardens in one year, riding Sheikra in Tampa and then the Griffin in Williamsburg. Cedar Point’s Top Thrill Dragster was a top thrill and there I found my favorite coaster to date, Millennium Force.

So I was kind of skeptical about going to Six Flags New England Six Flags New England. in Springfield, Massachusetts over Memorial Day weekend. The ulterior motive was to buy season passes that would save us money when we go to California later this summer and spend a few days at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, home to some record breaking, incredibly innovative coasters. We knew that Six Flags New England (SFNE) had a few coasters, and we had heard they were okay, enough to satisfy a winter’s worth of thrill craving, but my skepticism went deeper. I remember when this park was not a Six Flags, but a run down little local New England amusement park called Riverside. When I lived in Connecticut, we had gone a few times, a Friday night here and there, rode the Cyclone, ate cotton candy, and played carnival games on the midway, that kind of stuff. My memories include heaping trash cans and having to park way down the street on someone’s lawn, kind of like when you go to the fair, long and dusty and hot and sticky.

I’m pleased to say that on this trip, I was quite surprised and we had a great time. The “we” in this case is my husband and 11 year old daughter.

Boy has the place grown up and cleaned up and prettied up. Entering the parking area – a large PAVED – well organized setting (although the $15.00 parking fee is a bit much for this part of the country) – we joined other early visitors on the tram to the entrance. The tram dropped us off at a footbridge over the road – wide and nice, with lots of available trash cans for your refuse, none of which we bulging over with trash – and brought us to the ticketing area. We found our way through the turnstiles and into the season ticket buyers office, got our photos taken, were given a coupon book to use throughout the season – some we can use in California – and once the park was officially opened, with the cutting of the opening ribbon for the day, we were off to the biggest roller coaster in the park, Bizarro. The roller coaster that was once named Superman, and had won consecutive best steel coaster awards, had been renamed a few years before and given a new persona with a soundtrack . We didn’t care who the hero or villain was, we just wanted a great drop (221 feet) and a little air and a lot of exhilaration. It did the trick. And the wait wasn’t too long – about 20 minutes the first time, longer on consecutive rides as the parked got busier during the day.

We rode Bizaro three times that day and twice the next. We also enjoyed Batman another steel coaster with a semi – floorless coaster with some great corkscrew turns. We rode that one a couple of times as the lines were pretty long. We tried Minderaser but all three of us came out feeling like we’d been beat up, and I was really looking forward to it, as I like the seating style, suspended from above with feet dangling. It was just too rough. I don’t like wooden roller coasters for the same reason, too brutal, headache inducing not worth the no thrill, so we didn’t go on either wooden coaster in the park. And for smaller metal coasters with a fun twist, both the Flashback and Pandemonium proved to be really fun. The only ride that gave me pause was not even a roller coaster. It was the twenty story drop tower, aptly named Scream, which wasn’t as bad as I expected. And up that high over the Connecticut River, I swear I could see Hartford, the city where I worked for ten years and where my daughter was born.

I’ve been proven wrong. The park was clean, even the bathrooms, which had attendants and touchless everything – soap dispensers, water, air dryer. The food was typical park fare – burgers, fries, pizza, etc. All overpriced and under portioned, but that’s the theme park way, except for Busch Gardens parks – awesome food – another review . .

Overall, visiting Six Flags New England was a great experience. We had fun. It was well managed and well organized. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop in and give it a try. Before you go, you might want to revisit my THEME PARK TIPS.

Also worth a look is the Roller Coaster Database, where you can find info about the record holders, what’s new, and some park history. http://www.rcdb.com/

I’d love to hear from anyone about their memories at Riverside in Agawam, MA or your experiences at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Talking about Etsy.

2011-04-12T16:19:00.001-04:00

You know how it can happen. For years friends tell you about someone and how you should meet them and you kind of blow it off like, yeah yeah I’ll do that sometime . . . tomorrow . . next week. When by chance you finally do meet that someone and you wonder how you ever lived without them.

I’m not talking about a person here. I’m talking about Etsy.

For those of you unfamiliar with Etsy, it’s www.etsy.com, and it’s a creative marketplace for artists and crafters to sell their work and share ideas. It’s a community of people online who work with their hands, their heads, and their hearts. Okay, that’s a little corny, but these people really seem to care about each other, their crafts and the potential of the enterprise.

Being a creative kind of person myself, once I was on the Etsy site, I just got sucked in. There are painters and knitters, quilters and metal smiths, jewelry designers and soap makers. And there are photographers like me. I looked around at the stores that others had set up and decided to give it a shot. I uploaded some of my images, wrote up descriptions, researched pricing and listing strategy, and hung up a shingle. I’ve already had my first sale and was thrilled. To see my store, click here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ccotaphotocraft. Bookmark it so you can come back and check it out as I add more work.

Just in the few weeks that I’ve been operating this store, I have browsed and adored some of the items available. I’ve put quite a few of the stores and work into my “favorites”.

And I bought stuff.

I really couldn’t help myself. You would do the same thing in my shoes. I know it.

In the spirit of giving back for everything I’ve learned in the short time I’ve been a part of the Etsy neighborhood, I thought I’d showcase some of these items here.

My first purchase was this bright and cheery shoulder bag from Heart2Handbags. I just love it and can’t wait to start using it. I really liked Amy’s little personal note inside. Nice touch Amy. Such a wonderful change from the mass produced bags I had been looking at. So fresh and lovely, I just had to go back to her site and buy a small cosmetics bag to go inside of it. Check out Amy’s shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Heart2Handbags

Next I found myself searching for a cool scrabble tile necklace. I wanted something to inspire me to create every day and I found it at PrettyWhimsical, http://www.etsy.com/shop/prettywhimsical. It came in such a nice little bag it was like getting a gift from a friend.

My daughter’s name begins with the letter “N”. For reason, she has a difficult time finding N stuff and when you’re a tween, that initial is important. So I went on an Etsy search for an N scrabble tile necklace and found this fun and sassy letter N for her. I found it at Mytwinscoops, and here’s the link to her store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/mytwinscoops. Bet you’ll find more fun and sassy stuff.

And the last of my first shopping adventures on Etsy was at the site of XOHandworks. I loved the blue of these earrings and have a sweater that needed pairing. Here’s the link to the shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/XOHandworks. She does some wonderful pendants with sections of map inside that I loved, and along with my earrings, I got an added bonus gift of this button with the section of map where I live. How cool is that?

I’ve done more shopping since then and will show off my purchases in a future post.

I’m having fun learning from these artists, and understanding how it works. I’ve joined some teams and have been participating in forums. I’ve linked it to my Facebook page and actually, just yesterday, started a Twiter account. I am learning about marketing and promotion and how treating others well really does have an effect on your daily life. I’ve always believed in karma but the community on Etsy is giving and encouraging and I hope that I can contribute even a bit to the general good.

Maple Syrup Sunday in Maine

2011-03-29T13:40:00.000-04:00

If you read my last post, you know that I’ve been exploring my Franco American heritage. In my contacts with the Franco American Center on the campus of the University of Maine in Orono, I was lucky enough to meet Lisa Michaud. Lisa extended an invitation to visit Dragonfly Farm & Winery in Stetson with her group. On Sunday, March 20th, a small group of us were welcomed warmly by the Nadeau family and given a tour and tastings of the operation.

Bangor is a relatively large city in this part of the state. My home is just over the bridge, in Brewer, and maintains the feeling of a populous area. As we drove out of Bangor, into Kenduskeag, then Corinth, and finally into Stetson, the land and homes transformed into fields and farms. The day felt like spring, with blue sky and sunshine. It was nice to be getting out of town.

I’m not sure what I expected when I thought of a “farm”. I didn’t really expect livestock or rows of corn, but I was surprised to see two beautiful modern homes flanking the curved driveway. A small sign by the road told us we were in the right place. Between the homes and the road, blue tubing stretched from tree to tree, intertwining, meeting, and all the while, collecting sap from the maples. Co-owner Todd Nadeau, offered tastings of the sap out of one of the buckets hanging on the tree. It was only slightly sweet, unexpectedly refreshing.

Next Todd showed us the vineyard. It was obvious that this is a passionate endeavor. He and his wife Treena started this vineyard seven years ago with 275 vines. It has now grown to 600 vines, many different varieties and a distinctive fruit wine selection.

For us, though, that day was about all things maple. Todd led us down to the edge of the woods, to the “cabane a sucre” or sugar shack, the home of the maple syrup production on the farm. Todd’s parents, Rita and John Nadeau, are from Jackman, Maine. As Rita explained, many of her friends and family made maple syrup when she was growing up. As retirement neared, the Nadeau’s decided to make the move. They built the “cabane” with wood from the land, and recently purchased a large evaporator to increase production of maple products.

Pails hung from most of the trees, already tapped and running. John Nadeau let the kids in the group install a tap and hang the bucket with the cover on the tree. It didn’t take long for the clear liquid to start dripping from the tap.

Steam billowed out of the cupola vents on the roof of the Cabane. Inside, the evaporator was bubbling and frothing, filling the room with warmth. Rocking chairs and a woodstove gave the space such a homey feeling that it was difficult not to sit and relax. Rita was taking out the plates and napkins and serving up a slice of Maple Sugar Pie to each of us. It was delicious, sweet and creamy. I remembered my grandmother making sugar pie when I was young. Rita said it was a traditional recipe. On the stove nearby, she had pots bubbling the evaporated sap, boiling it down to syrup. Periodically she would pour some into a container where she would compare the color to a set of samples. She explained that syrup is lighter in color early in the season, and deepens as the weather warms.

After the pie, we went back out with John to collect sap from the buckets that hung on trees around the cabin. He used a tractor with an industrial sized plastic barrel strapped to the front. The kids took the buckets off the trees and poured the liquid into the barrel. John let the little ones ride with him from tree to tree.

When we made our way back to the cabin, Rita instructed us to fill a child’s sled with snow. With our hands, we packed in the crystallized snow and brought the sled back. After some stirring and testing, it was finally ready. After handing everyone some popsicle sticks, they poured some hot thick syrup onto the pressed snow. We swirled the warm gooey maple onto the sticks and enjoyed the maple taffy.

My daughter and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves visiting the Dragonfly Farm and wish to extend our thanks to the Nadeau family and the Franco American Center for giving us an experience that we had never had. Many of my ancestors had their “cabane a sucre” and supplemented their farming in the off season with maple syrup production. It was a nice reminder of simpler times.

This past weekend was Maple Sunday here in Maine. That’s when many maple farms open their doors and allow the public in to see how maple syrup is made. Dragonfly Farm and Winery is a participating farm. For more information, visit their website. Here is a link to Dragonfly Farm and Winery in Stetson, Maine. http://www.mainewinegrower.com/

Here is the link to the Franco American Center in Orono. Great resource for history and support. http://www.francoamericanarchives.org/

History, Ancestry & eBay

2011-03-18T12:40:00.000-04:00

My grandmother, Blanche Lajuenesse, back row, far right.

I realize that we are just hours away from a long awaited return to spring, so discussing my winter interests seems like a step back. Perhaps it’s my attempt to justify my lack of blog posts, to indicate that my time has been spent elsewhere, somehow easing my guilt. Reality is that you probably don’t care that I haven’t posted since we were 52 days away from spring. If you do, please let me know and I’ll be absolutely sure to post more often.

My grandfather, Willie Roy, with my mother,
Rejeanne, and my aunt Madeline.

With that said, I’ve been on a quest to uncover my ancestry. “Who do you think you are?” is partly to blame. It’s that TV show on CBS where each week, a celebrity delves into his or her own family history. This season we’ve seen Rosie McDonald go from Montreal to Ireland to find out what brought her grandfather’s family to this side of the Atlantic. Tim McGraw found a route that connected his family to early Virginia settlers that housed and encouraged George Washington. Lionel Richie found out that his great grandfather, who had abandoned his grandmother as a child, had actually set off to establish a support system that led to the civil rights.

I started an account on http://www.ancestry.com/. I started looking. I found some very interesting stuff. Prompted not only by the television show, but also by questions from my daughter asking about where we can from, I kept digging, or clicking, and looking.

The population of Maine is becoming more diverse, although at last report, we are still the whitest state in the nation. White faces, however, do come in many varieties and mine happens to be one of the estimated 25% of the natives born with Franco American roots. I’ve learned that in the mid 1800’s as agriculture declined in Quebec, the industrial revolution was ramping up here in New England. Shoe factories, tanneries, paper mills, cotton mills and all manner of large scale production was developing. The combination of poor farming, large French Catholic families, and the lure of steady income and a better life drew hundreds of thousands of people to Maine, including, in 1896 my paternal grandmother’s family. I found out that my maternal grandmother, one of eighteen children, came to Maine with her family when she was sixteen years old. On Ancestry.com, I saw my great grandmother’s birth record. I found that my grandmother was the first in her family to read and write.

My maternal grandparent's wedding, 1930

My maternal grandparent's wedding anniversary

Growing up in Biddeford, Maine, the French language was heard everywhere. My parents tell me that I didn’t speak English until I started to play outside with other kids. The large brick mills hummed with activity, and although on the decline in my youth, and shut down now, they employed much of the population, including many members of my extended family. Aunts, uncles, and grandparents lived their lives in and around the mills in Biddeford and Saco. My point is that I took for granted that my history was all around me. For the most part I ignored the obvious; that manufacturing was moving south, that the mills were being converted to apartments and office space, and that a way of life was dying. To me, it was progress and frankly, I couldn’t wait to get out of there.

My parents when they were dating. Aren't they so cute?

My parent's wedding

So fast forward some twenty five years and I’m faced with a little girl who wants to know about her heritage, who has an unexplainable draw to France and the French language, and is looking for answers. I’m sharing with her the things I find and trying to sketch out a path that stretches back to France via Canada. What we find together, no one knows, but we’re looking.

My mom is the little one in the middle with the barette.

My thanks on this to the Franco American Center on the campus of the University of Maine in Orono. I’ve got a book to pick up this afternoon on the Roy family, my family on my mother’s side. If Franco American history interests you at all, here’s their website: Francoamericanarchives.org

My grandfather

A quick note about the eBay mention in my title: My interest in selling my work and the neat items I find, and the things I dig out of our basement to ready for a yard sale has prompted me to open an eBay store to sell this stuff.

I will be writing more about this soon, and am working on a website to accompany it: http://www.fullcircleonlinestore.com/. It’s not up and running yet, as I’m still in the early stages of design. I chose the name based on the idea that the things I sell on the site and on eBay have been used, and can be used again, given a new life, come full circle from new to in use to unused to use and life again. We are fortunate to be able to have decent clothing and I want to pass on the things we outgrow. I’ve come across two antique photographs that have been in my basement for a few years after I claimed them from a pile of stuff found in my sister’s old house. Turns out Wallace Nutting and David Davidson have a following and I’m hoping to sell those prints online. An old jug that has been sitting on my parent’s hearth for years, dusted weekly by my mother, is an antique kerosene bottle. I’m selling my wedding dress, some jewelry, and some artwork and am hoping that with some sales, I can continue to explore history and craft a future with a connection to the past.

Here’s the link to my store on eBay: at http://stores.ebay.com/fullcircleonlinestore.

Wallace Nutting

52 days until spring . . . ideas to get you through winter

2011-01-27T12:40:00.000-05:00

It’s snowing sideways again. I’m sure that you’ve all had it up to here with snow stories, folks being holed up in airports on their way to other places, and how it costs million dollars an inch to keep New York streets clear. Here in Maine, we’re supposed to be used to it, we all snowmobile to work and have parkas of every color, right? Absolutely, unequivocally wrong.

I hate winter. And I’m a born and raised Mainer. Perhaps in another life, I froze to death or I’m just not meant to live in this kind of cold. Whatever the reason, when it gets to this time of year, January and February, my normally upbeat, optimistic demeanor goes south, and not in the good warm way. I get mean and grumpy, impatient and irritable, selfish and sad. I feel constrained by the layers – long johns, two pairs of socks, turtleneck, sweater, coat, scarf, hat, and mittens. The car doors freeze shut. The walkway to the back door slicks over. The roads and driveway narrows. You can’t see past the snow banks to pull out into traffic. My neck and head constantly ache with the tension from wrapping my arms around myself in an attempt to stay warm. It takes forever to leave the house. This time of year you can’t just run out for something, donning flip flops to go over to the neighbor’s. It’s not advised to try to travel anywhere without having let the car run for ten minutes. The cold and snow just make things so much more complicated.

Okay, so what do non skiing, forget about ice fishing, winter hating Mainers do? Those with jobs and kids and other things like budgetary constraints who can’t flee the state for warmer climes have to come up with things to entertain and sustain our collective sanities. Here are a few ideas:

Cook winter food– stews, soups, slow cooked meat like roasts and ribs. Search for recipes that keep the oven running a few hours and heat up the kitchen. You’ll find that having something steaming on the stove that you have to stir and taste every half hour does something good to you.

Cook summer food – you could go the opposite route – dig out the grill and take your chances tending to a good steak. Buy some of those expensive hothouse tomatoes, some overpriced fresh basil and some gourmet fresh mozzarella and make a salad that at first bite, tastes like summer. Salsa. Guacamole. Anything that brings summer to mind for you.

Sauna, steam, hot tub – my gym has all of these, but I don’t take the time to use them during much of the year. Now we make an afternoon of it, taking the kids to the pool, lounge around in our bathing suits and sweat while people cross country ski past the windows.

Work out – while you’re at the gym, run or lift or bike or something. Not only can you help ease the effects of the aforementioned cooking, but you’ll work up a sweat and get the blood going to keep you warm on your way to the car.

Read – I read year round, always have a book going. In the winter, though, I tend to migrate towards two types of reading. The first is some kind of self help, mind opening, philosophical something. This is usually triggered by the New Year and hopes of bettering myself and reaching some kind of goal. Last year it was about nutritional healing, in hopes of curing my chronic headaches. The year before, as I was about to move into a new house, Feng Shui. This year it’s about past life regression and then to counteract that, living in the present. The other kind of book I save for winter reading is the sell-everything-and-move-to the-islands kind of book. Caribbean travelogues, RV around the country for a year, move the family to Mexico kind of books – always warm weather destinations that will take me away for just a little while.

Get crafty – the winter is when I crochet blankets. It’s too hot in the summer to think about sitting there with a pile of yarn on my lap, much less actually use what I’ve made. I’d like to learn how to quilt, too.

Craft with the kids – given that you’re not off to the beach or the lake or working in the garden, do something creative with the kids. Last weekend my daughter and I made window cling decorations out of fabric paint. We’ve melted crayons on hot rocks and made paperweights. We’ve tie dyed t shirts. Go over to your local crafts place and see what you find.

Plan the garden – I know I’m not alone on this one. the reason all of the seed companies send out their catalogs early in the new year is for people like me who will pour through them, making lists, designing the garden for this year. I’ll order seeds. I’ll start the seeds inside. I'll water and tend to the seedlings. Seeing the growth, smelling the soil, watching for sunlight . . . all reminders that spring will come.

It’s highly possible that just writing this has been good for me and has given me enough to go on to make it through February. I, too, need to be reminded that just because I can’t – or won’t – go outside in the winter doesn’t mean I have to resign myself to movies and tv (although not such a bad idea at times). So, count the days til spring, or summer for that matter (145), but try to enjoy today – even if you can’t see past the snow banks.

TAKING STOCK

2010-10-21T13:24:00.000-04:00

It really doesn’t seem like it’s been over a month since I posted anything on this blog. Well, in some ways it feels like forever. My mindset has been elsewhere lately. I’ve been taking stock.

That term can mean that I’ve been spending time reviewing my life, a personal inventory of sorts, if you will. But that’s not the case here.

I’ve been taking stock . . . . photography.

I have been trying to get into stock and magazine photography for years now. Though I do enjoy photographing people’s portraits, it’s not my true photographic love. I like the shots that tell a story about a place. I get into the details of the inside of a flower. I like the things that make the view want to be or do or taste or smell.

So what I did was try again. Getting photos accepted at stock photography agencies can be a frustrating experience. You decide which images. You edit them. You upload. You title, describe, and keyword. And you submit.

Then you wait. Wait to see if the agency accepts it, and you.

For the past few years, as I’ve researched advertising and magazine photography, I’ve found that very few publishers will assign you the work. Everyone uses stock. And there are plenty of agencies out there to choose from. The concept is that instead of getting $100 for a photo that’s used once, you get $1.00 and hope to sell it a hundred times. It’s sold royalty free. They don’t have to give you any credit or even acknowledge that they’re using someone’s work.

People do make money doing this. That’s what I’ve read anyway. What I’m finding is that it takes a lot of work to get images out there. Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly not opposed to hard work. It is time consuming work though, even when uploading existing files. Shooting stock, too, takes a different mindset and vision. Each agency seems to have its own style and criteria. Shots that are accepted at some sites are rejected at others.

So after a few weeks of doing this, I’ve got a few dozen shots out there that have been accepted and actually sold some. That was kind of exciting until you realize that your cut is 36 cents or so. But the idea is volume. So we’ll see.

Consider this my excuse and apology for not posting in so long. In the coming weeks I will be writing about some new travel experiences I’ve had in the past few months. I’ve got some stories to tell.

Here’s a link to my Stock Photography Page: Celeste Cota Stock Photography
I’d love to get some feedback from you!

PHOTOGRAPHY: In the garden . . .

2010-09-14T12:30:00.000-04:00

Fresh picked yellow pear tomatoes in the bath

I can hardly tear myself away. My camera sits on the counter by the door when I’m home. I watch for the right light, for the sun to hit those leaves just perfectly, bringing out the texture and fragrance, and I go out and shoot.

I need the thyme

This garden season is winding down and I’ve been photographing the progress and bounty since the seeds hit the dirt. From the first emergence from the soil to the time they came to the kitchen, my camera has been as much a part of my gardening tools as watering can.

fell in love with the peppers early on

I thought I’d share the results of my hard work. Hope you enjoy each little detail as much as I do.

Lots of bee activity on the sunflowers

Tomatoes early in the summer

Soon, tiny green tomatoes

Then a nice little group

Then into the harvest basket

ready to eat . . . yum!

portugal hot peppers

love the little guy

after a while, they got all twisty

then they got picked

nice harvest

late summer

containers bursting with peppers, tomatoes, herbs, and flowers

pots of peppers

beautiful basil

rosemary

sage with water droplets

all comes together for some awesome salsa

pretty and fragrant lilies

row of morning glories against that blue sky

and then the sunflowers bloomed

love the bright yellow against that blue sky

love how they twist and intwined

feels like you could just slide right in

just look at them so hard at work

the tomatoes and green beans ready to eat

something very satifying about eating what you grow yourself

That's the end of my self indulgent food porn for today. I would love to hear from anyone who enjoys photographing their garden's success and harvest. Is there anyone so obsessed?

On to the newest thing . . . the hummingbirds. Beware.

Vacation Justification

2010-08-31T15:59:00.000-04:00

Snorkeling in Mexico

We will soon need a new roof. The stairs that lead up from the driveway tilt at an angle that’s disconcerting and frankly, dangerous when even slightly slick. Converting to natural gas would probably save us a lot of money long term. Perhaps overly sensitive to the cold, last winter I swore we would get a pellet stove insert for the inefficient fireplace in our living room.

I’ve got an 11 year old with teenage tastes. She’s got an iPhone. She wants a laptop. She’s got a fashion sense of her own now and I can’t get away with less expensive clothing anymore. Voice lessons. Gymnastics. A whole new school year ahead of us with higher after school care costs and hot lunch has gone up as well.

Build confidence. Try new things. It's good for you.

My point is that we have better things we should be doing with our money than thinking about vacation.

Suze Orman would scold us. Her show has a segment called “Can I afford it?” We watched it a while back as she denied a caller who made much more than we do and had quite a sum in savings. The man and his wife wanted to spend $2500 to take their two little kids to Disney World. The woman denied Disney! She said take them when they’re teenagers, a decade into the future, because they’ll remember it more. What about the creation of memories NOW? What about the value of the experience? How does that translate into an asset?

Well, that’s a good question. In search of justification – and NO I will not be calling into Suze’s show – I thought I’d do a little research into the benefits of vacation, a break from the stress and strains of daily life.

Okay. To the proof:

Don't we look healthy? Two years ago in Mexico.

HEALTH BENEFITS

Plodding along at the office might get you brownie points with the boss, but can be detrimental to your overall health and wellbeing. Being stressed for long periods of time without a break has been shown to lead to higher blood pressure and an increase in coronary heart disease. If you are a female, taking a vacation can cut this risk by half, according to a study conducted at the State University of New York. Stress can impair hippocampus function, too, making it more difficult to acquire new information, like people’s names, meeting times and dates, and things like logins and PINs. A study quoted in Forbes.com showed that women who took vacations more frequently were less likely to become tense or depressed, and also reported being more satisfied in their marriages. Remember that your physical and mental health have a direct link to your social and psychological outlook on life. bottom line on this one is that the more you vacation, the more likely you are to be healthy and enjoy life.

From a financial perspective, being sick is expensive! Staying healthy can save you money on doctor and medical bills. Taking a vacation can reduce the stress triggered health ailments that wear you down and less money will be spent dealing with the negative consequences of poor health.

Me & my daughter at Virginia Beach.

STREGNTHEN BONDS IN YOUR RELATIONSHIPS

Vacationing together can strengthen family and marriage bonds. Traveling together is at time harrowing, and making it to your destination can bring a sense of camaraderie and accomplishment. Sharing new experiences and creating memories that can last a lifetime. Partners often reveal new sides of themselves to each other that wouldn’t have been prompted in their home environments.

A quiet moment at the beach.

GET A CREATIVE BOOST

In our day to day lives, we often find ourselves mired in patterns of behavior that don’t leave much room for inspiration. The same morning routine, the same meals, the same TV shows and the same, well, everything might be comfortable but it doesn’t provide the opportunity to explore new ways of thinking. Taking a vacation and travelling out of your regular environment can open your eyes and your mind and bring about self discovery. Being in a foreign setting, we put ourselves in an uncomfortable situation, and this allows our brains to think differently. A good vacation can help us reconnect with ourselves. It satisfies our own human curiosity about other places. It is your moment to explore the world. When was the last time you could PLAY? I mean really play, without phone calls or interruptions. Vacations let you recapture that childlike freedom.

If taking a vacation will bring us closer together, give us better physical and mental health, and promote overall well being then what’s the argument. It would seem that the benefits far outweigh the costs. I’m not suggesting that we deplete our savings to do this. If we didn’t both have steady jobs and a retirement savings going on, I might leave this on the shelf as a dream. But the justification is right there in black and white.

New experiences.

It won’t be long before my eleventeen year old really won’t want to be taking vacations with us, or if she does, no doubt that a friend will be coming along. I feel that I need to seize the opportunity to create these memories with her now, not wait for a later date. I was reminded just last night about how fast the time goes by with children.

I know from experience that when my husband or I is stressed, we tend to have less patience with each other and laugh less frequently. We find ourselves just existing together, not really enjoying each other. That’s not why I got married.

Carpe diem I say. Seize the day. Request the time off. Make the reservation. Pack it up and get away for a bit. It will do you good on so many levels.

PHOTOGRAPHY – High School Senior Photos: Meet Robyn

2010-08-25T16:31:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of meeting Robyn. She is about to voyage into her senior year in high school. What an amazing year she has ahead of her. She has so many choices to make and options available to her at this point. College. Work. Friends. Huge things that will impact her for a long time.

I am confident she can handle it all with grace.

When I shot her senior photos this past weekend, I was excited by the possibilities that shooting at the barn held. My mind was going to the red painted classic New England barn, and the visual impact of the lines of the fencing. I wasn’t prepared for the love.

My sister had a horse when we were growing up. She boarded him at a stable in the “country” part of town and to me it was this big mystery creature, somewhere out “there” that she was devoted to. I didn’t quite get it. I did gymnastics and wrote little stories that I never showed anyone. She rode horses. I did come to understand that their individual personalities and temperaments were a large part of the attraction. I just wasn’t a horse person.

Robyn is. Since she was six years old she’s been on top of a horse. The girl looks so comfortable and in control of this huge creature. She clearly has a connection.

As we walked around the field, then around the barn, the pasture and into the woods, Robyn had Shady perfectly behaved. I want to thank her for being so comfortable with him. It made me much more at ease shooting around him. I must admit I was intimidated. Between her confidence with him and mine behind the camera, the photographs turned out great.

Have a look at the whole gallery here.

If you’re a senior in the greater Bangor Maine area and are looking for someone to photograph you for your senior yearbook photos, please give me a call or email me. I can offer some great rates and some shooting options that will make this a fun experience for you. If you want to bring a friend, cool. We can photograph both of you in the same session; individual portraits and then some together for the fun of it. We can shoot at your favorite place, like the barn, or a park, or find some gritty downtown alley or beautiful garden. Whatever it is that suites YOUR personality is where we need to go.

You can reach me via email at celeste@celestecota.com or by phone at 207.991.9788 or search for me on Facebook. Let’s connect and see how great you can be. Let’s show the world who YOU are.

MAINE TRAVEL: SPEND THE DAY – You can BELIEVE IN FAIRIES

2010-08-18T11:22:00.000-04:00

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of sorts. It seems like I’m trying to cram in all the summer fun that I can before school starts, work gets more demanding, and the winter looms. Writing about the neat places we’ve been has two benefits; one is that by passing on information about these places, a reader or two might be inclined to check them out – kind of my pay it forward idea; the other benefit is that I get to relive the day, thereby extending the good feelings.

Here is a little info about one of our recent day trips:

COASTAL MAINE BOTANICAL GARDENS, Boothbay Maine - www.mainegardens.org/

I’ve been wanting the check this place out for some time now. It’s relatively new, and continues to grow. The Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens opened in June of 2007, after 16 years of planting and building.

The Visitor Center houses a gift shop, café, and event space for weddings and birthday parties. It’s a beautiful building and fits perfectly into the Maine Coast feeling of the location. Just outside the Visitor Center is the Great Lawn & Ledge Garden.

Although we hadn’t planned it, we were thrilled to find that the day we visited was part of the Maine Fairy House Festival Weekend. The Great Lawn was skirted with craft vendors offering all manner of fairy attire: wings, wands, fairy house crafts and books. Someone had ingeniously set up a step ladder rigged with a power source that propelled a wheel of bubble wands and kept a continuous flow of bubbles floating throughout the lawn area. Families picnicked and enjoyed the space. A local ice cream vendor was set up with a line of customers that didn’t dwindle the whole time we were there. I had the blueberry ice cream, in case you’re wondering. Children and adults alike frolicked. Bubbles flitted and popped.

The Burpee Kitchen Garden was not only visually stunning in its design but a sensual summer feast of scents that lingered on hands rubbed on the warm leaves of lemon basil, thyme, sage, lavender and marjoram. From there we couldn’t help but be pulled into the brand new Harold and Bibby Alfond Children’s Garden. What a fabulous place! Twisty walkways, a misting rock garden with swings, a pond with lily pads and pitcher plants, a treehouse, a Wabanaki hut, bear cave, huge vegetable garden with playful identifying signs, a weather station, and it went on and on. My daughter’s favorite part, and the place we spent the most time, was at the fairy house area.

A small wooded section had been designated for fairy house building. Since this was the third day of the Maine Fairy House Festival, there were quite a few houses already built, and we had to search a bit for some prime fairy house real estate. There were piles of house building supplies – pine cones, tree bark, twigs, moss, any manner of natural object found in the forests, which, in Coastal Maine, includes shells, dried seaweed, and smooth beach rocks.

Children had built fairy houses of all sorts and had included walkways, hammocks, tables and chairs, bridges and fences. What amazes me about these fairy villages is the imagination of children as they design and dream of the fairies that will visit.

After spending quite a while building her fairy house, my daughter sat back, pleased with her creation. I watched kids of all ages, from toddlers to tweens hard at work and deeply entrenched in their projects. One little boy squatted near us, very interesting in the building process, and even more so in the bright green caterpillar that had dropped out of the tree overhead onto the soft moss that had become the playground.

We worked our way through the Children’s Garden and toward the trails that zig zagged their way down to the waterfront. We checked out the Haney Hillside Garden and followed the Shoreland Trail along the water. We worked our way up to Birch Allee then caught a ride on one of the Garden’s shuttles, which run around the property and deliver guests to various locations on the grounds.

We truly could have spent quite a bit more time there, having lunch and enjoying all of the 250 acres that are available to explore.

Of note here: my husband is not a gardener, nor is he a photographer and I had thought that he would be bored and anxious to leave. That was not the case at all. The Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens was exciting and vibrant, and managed to hold the interest of even the biggest of kids.

My advice: take all the kids, it’s worth the admission. Spend the day.

The Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens are open year from, every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you’re a member, it’s free to enter the gardens. Non members are $10 for adults and $5 for children 3 -1 7. Under age 3 is free. Note that a family of 2adults and 2 kids under 18 can get in for $25. Groups of 10 or more are $7 per person.

Check out the calendar of events for all of the goings on at the gardens.

FAMILY TRAVEL: THE UNEXPECTED PIT STOP IN NYC

2010-08-17T14:58:00.000-04:00

My husband is one of those people who hate surprises. Rather, he hates to be surprised but he loves surprising others. On our recent road trip to Virginia, my daughter and I found ourselves the recipients of a well planned, and well executed surprise.

It had been discussed that we would stay overnight at my parent’s house in southern Maine prior to leaving for Virginia. We had to deliver our cat to be cared for in our absence, and pick up a few things for the trip, plus it gave us a head start of a couple of hours and broke up the trip nicely. We had planned to leave at about 4:00 am, scooping my daughter up in her pj’s and setting her up so that she could sleep until Massachusetts or beyond. It was decided that we would try to minimize our stops by packing plenty of drinks, snacks, and sandwiches for the road. My husband and I talked about all of this.

That morning comes, the food and kid go into the car and off we go on our much anticipated vacation.

We drive easily through Massachusetts and Connecticut, familiar territory for me, having lived near Hartford for a dozen years. We pass through New York City, wrangling the earphones from my daughter and forcing her to pay attention to the sites, the buildings and things she doesn’t normally see in her daily life in Maine. Clear sailing over the George Washington Bridge and into New Jersey. Soon, though, my husband is looking anxious and fumbling for his notes. We get off at an exit near the Meadowlands. I ask why and he says he’s looking for a Park & Ride to switch drivers. I think to myself that we could simply pull over to switch drivers but I can tell he’s clearly up to something at this point. I think back over the prior couple of months and things start coming together. We just had our 1st anniversary and my daughter’s birthday was coming up and he had told us that he had a surprise for us that would occur between the two events. He had been especially interested in what I planned for each of us to wear on this day “to travel”. This is a man who rarely notices that I am wearing shoes, much less what they are. He had asked me recently what I would take if I was to be walking around a big city for the day. I knew something was up.

The Park & Ride is found and we park. He’s got a pack of index cards in his shirt pocket and hands one to Nola. It reads:

THIS IS NOT A TIME TO FUSS

JUST JUMP ONTO THE BUS

THERE’S A SIDE TRIP AHEAD OF US

AND THIS IS YOUR NOTICE

He makes sure we have comfortable shoes, a jacket, and my camera. We walk over to the tiny bus station, purchase tickets, and get on the bus marked “Lincoln Tunnel”.

Just before we arrive at Port Authority, a second card appears from the pocket:

NOW – GET OFF THE BUS

START THE WALK AHEAD OF US

PAY ATTENTION AND FOCUS

AND STEP OVER THE HOMELESS

We get off the bus. He directs us out onto the street. We’re mystified. My daughter has only seen New York in movies and for me it’s been about twenty years since my last trip. At the sight of the yellow cabs, the buildings, the noise and the people she exclaims “This is not like Maine.” And she’s grinning and amazed. The next card reads:

FEEL FREE TO GUESS AND DISCUSS

WHERE THIS TREK WILL TAKE US

A CIRCUS? A PALACE? MAYBE TEXAS?

JUST WALK - IT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS

So we walk. We pass street vendors and souvenier salesmen. We skirt around Times Square. We cross over 42nd and Broadway and take some photos. We detour through Bryant Park. My husband is steering us down 5th Avenue as he hands us the next clue:

NEARBY IS SOMEPLACE REAL FAMOUS

OUR LUNCH THERE WILL BE SCRUMPTIOUS; NOT TASTELESS

“PARTY OF FOUR” TELL THE WAITRESS

When I see that we’re stopping at the American Girl Store and going inside, I’m about to cry. This man has done this for my daughter. This man who is uncomfortable not knowing what happens next and hates crowds and dislikes spending money has made reservations for us to have lunch at the American Girl Café.

SINCE THERE’S NO ONE AS PRECIOUS

I WANT TODAY TO BE PRICELESS

AND FOR YOU TO FEEL LIKE A PRINCESS

OTHER GIRLS WOULD BE SO JEALOUS

The store is amazing, filled with dolls and clothes and accessories. And very PINK. There’s a hair salon and a hospital. Girls are clutching their dolls and packages. We check in at the concierge (yes, a concierge!) and make our way up to the Café on the 3rd floor. The line for the 11:00 seating is already getting long and we join in. Prior to seating, the host asks if my daughter would like to select a doll to dine with us, as there is place at the table for guest’s American Girl dolls. We hadn’t brought my daughter’s doll with us, given that we didn’t know we were coming here, I hadn’t thought to pack it and since my husband didn’t want to give away the surprise, he hadn’t taken it either. So she selected a doll to be our “fourth” in the party.

Lunch is a fixed price, except for special drinks. My daughter orders a strawberry smoothie.

The waiter is jovial and brings us a plate of cinnamon rolls, then a platter of veggies, dips, fruits, rolls, and cheese. The choice of entrees ranges from TIC TAC TOE pizza to chicken tenders to salads to a burger.

the cinnamon rolls

the coconut chicken salad

the chicken tenders and mac & cheese

the caprese chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries

The setting is white linen tablecloths, bright pink flowers and black accents everywhere. The whole place is so well done in the theme. The lampshades are whimsical with their flower designs. The walls are black and white striped.

Hot pink reigns throughout. All around us are little girls and their dolls, some families celebrating birthdays, some mother daughter pairs. Most are dressed up in some way.

The presentation for dessert is fabulous. A plate with a small heart shaped frosted cake, a butterfly cookie, and a small flower pot full of chocolate mousse. All of it was delicious and exciting to be part of.

We finish our meal, return the doll, and head back out to the street. The next card reads:

NOW I’LL MAKE YOU A PROMISE

THIS TRIP HAS AN ADDED BONUS

AGAIN – SOMEPLACE FAMOUS

CAN YOU GUESS THE NEXT ADDRESS WITH SUCCESS? NEED A COMPASS?

We start walking. My husband tells us that we have a bit of time to kill, but that we do have to be somewhere.

We walk to Rockerfeller Center and peek into the windows at the Today Show.

We go to Time Square and check out the Lego store and the Toys R Us with the giant ferris wheel inside.

We watch the mimes and I look for the Naked Cowboy. Soon we’re walking again and are surrounded by Broadway theaters. My daughter points out the sign for the Lion King and gushes about how she’s always wanted to see it. Somewhere along the way, another card:

CUTENESS + GOODNESS + SWEETNESS

YOU AS MY STEPDAUGHTER – I’M GRACIOUS

IT ALL MAKES ME EXTREMELY JOYOUS

MY LOVE FOR YOU & MOM IS MONSTROUS

Soon we’re at that theater that is home to the Lion King. Then the final cards, one for each of us, with tickets to the show that will begin shortly. The cards read:

For my daughter:

100 DAYS AGO I PROMISED YOU A SURPRISE EARLY BIRTHDAY GIFT YOU WOULD SHARE WITH YOUR MOM. I WOULD HAVE BEEN “LION” IF I WASN’T TELLING THE TRUTH. ENJOY YOUR GIFT!

For me:

100 DAYS AGO I PROMISED YOU A SURPRISE ANNIVERSARY GIFT YOU WOULD SHARE WITH NOLA. I WOULD HAVE BEEN “LION” IF I WASN’T TELLING THE TRUTH. ENJOY YOUR GIFT!

He ushers us to the entrance and helps with our bags. He’s off to see the King Tut exhibit (for $100 less, he points out) and we go in and find our great seats in the first row of the mezzanine.

The show is amazing. The actors, the props, the staging and movement. The music and scenery. For our first Broadway shows, this is a great choice, I think.

We meet up after the show and tell him all about it. We retrace our steps and get back on the bus, headed for New Jersey, where my husband has booked a hotel for us. We’re all pretty tired after the long and exciting day and enjoy a picnic of sandwiches on the bed in our room. In the morning we’re off to Virginia, to the next part of the road trip, to Williamsburg and all that holds.

Yes, this is a long post. Maybe I’m making up for the fact that I’ve been slacking with them lately. Really though, chronicling our adventures that day and the surprise of it all might just trigger the thought in you to do something for someone that takes them by surprise. Maybe you’ll just think about taking your daughter to lunch at the American Girl Café or to see a show on Broadway when you never have before, or even if you have done so many many times.

Do the unexpected. Surprise someone you love.

Summer in Vacationland; Part 2: summer lists

2010-08-05T15:23:00.000-04:00

Rarely do I heed my own advice. I put great effort into the research of fun things to do in the state of Maine. Three months ago, I wrote a blog post about some of the great ideas I had for things that I wanted to do here in Maine this summer. Technically, we’re just about halfway between the first day of summer and the first day of autumn, but in the minds of most of us, summer runs between Memorial Day and Labor Day, or if you’re on kid time, as I am, the last day of school through to the first. This is when it really FEELS like summer. The stores stock summer stuff like barbeque tools, beach chairs, flip flops and bug spray. There’s that antsy sense that something is going to happen. We open the windows. We seed the garden. It’s a beautiful thing. Part of what I like to do is to make a list of all the things I want to do in the summer, given that it’s my favorite time of year. Here is a streamlined version of the list I made on May 5th and the status of each item.

1. Bike the carriage trails at Acadia National Park. – didn’t do this yet, but it’s still on the radar. I’m quickly running out of weekends.

2. Go to Sandy Stream Pond in Baxter State Park. – this is still on the agenda, too, perhaps for the early fall?

3. Spend a day (and night) at Old Orchard Beach. – spent an evening, but not the day at the beach, yet. This weekend might be the opportunity to do that.

4. Fairs and Festivals a plenty. – Bangor Fair is going on right now, and I haven’t been so far this week. Haven’t been to a single other fair this summer. This is really bumming me out since I really do enjoy them so much.

5. Maine has some beautiful lakes and ponds. – okay, here’s some success – spent the 4th of July at Swan Lake, just picnicked at China Lake, and am planning a family gathering at Long Pond next weekend.

6. Organized fun – theme park style: Funtown in Saco with its sister water park, Splashtown. – well, we did a BIG theme park, Busch Gardens, but that doesn’t qualify as a Maine thing to do. We did spend a day at the Funtown/Splashtown parks which was a lot of fun.

7. The beaches of York and Wells – went to Wells on a few occasions, went through both Wells and York on the way to Virginia. Haven’t made it to the beaches of either so far. (like how optimistic that sounds? So far . . )

8. Nature walks and hikes – okay, did the Rachel Carson nature walk and hiked at Camden Hills state park.

9. Shopping: well, I didn’t really do much for shopping. Went to the Grasshopper Shop a few times, but no other funky shops or boutiques. My bank account has been stretched too thin to spend unnecessarily.

10. Art galleries: not a one. This is really sad. I love to visit them, but hey, this one can be done in the winter, right?

So, okay. I haven’t done everything on my list, but I did hit a few, and though I am running out of weekend, the next few are busy ones, and there’s still a chance that I can do some of the other things I set out to do.

What have I done? Let’s see here. A quick little cruise through my photo archives tells me a few things:

1. Spent time in the garden, not only starting my veggies and flowers and nurturing them to the thriving greenery they are now, but also visited other gardens, like the Ornamental Garden at the University of Maine.

2. Planned and executed a great 11th birthday party for my daughter with a camping theme, fun games, good food, and fun had by all. Definitely one she and her friends will remember.

3. Spent a day with our good friends, Dean & Karen at Swan Lake. Picnicked, sunbathed, gave my daughter’s surf board a test run, and laughed our butts off.

4. Had quite a few campfires in the fire pit we got, some with friends around, some just the three of us. Lots of s’mores.

5. Ate quite a bit of seafood, from the fried variety to the steamed and dipped in butter, we enjoyed the area’s bounty. I’m expecting more will be consumed in the coming weeks.

6. Did a road trip to Machias, through the blueberry barons, to the UMaine campus there where my husband spent formative years, and to Fort O’Brien for a picnic. I’ve been wanting to go out there for years.

7. Sold old car, bought new car.

8. Had a great vacation – yes, outside of vacationland – but a wonderful time nonetheless. A day in New York City, Broadway, The Lion King, The American Girl Store. Virginia Beach. Roller Coasters, water parks . . .I could go on, and will, in upcoming posts.

9. Ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream. Jimmie’s in Brewer, Dairy Queen, Garsides in Saco (best ginger ice cream I know)

10. Created some good memories with my kid, whether it was the two of us singing out loud in the car to the Zac Brown Band’s “Toes” or seeing her face after she rode Apollo’s Chariot for the first time or laughing hysterically in the theatre during intermission.

Summer might be coming to the end as far as the hot weather, no homework, free and easy part of it may be concerned, but what we’ve done so far is enough to carry me on through for some time. I vow to try my hardest to live in the moment and enjoy the good things about summer in Maine, or about summer in general. I will appreciate these little things:

1. summer dresses and the ease of summer dressing

2. the smell of basil, rosemary, and tomatoes on my hands after stroking them in the garden.

3. sitting at a picnic table with my favorite people on earth eating an egg salad salad sandwich, a bag of salt & vinegar chips, and a whoopee pie for dessert.

4. ice cream dripping over the cone on a steamy night

5. those snappy red hot dogs

6. flip flops, open windows, the smell of sunscreen, the sound of crickets

7. running in my neighborhood in the morning before work

8. staying outside late, the smell of barbeque, the lack of seriousness

9. the quiet of the University campus during summer break, no traffic, plenty of parking

10. no shivering, no shoveling, no scraping, no scarves, mittens, or long johns, no early sunsets, no portable heaters, no slipping or sliding just to get into the house, and no frozen anything except freeze pops and ice cream.

This morning I actually heard some one say “hey, four more months and we’ll be snowmobiling!”

Enjoy your summer!!!

Williamsburg Wow; Part 1

2010-07-26T14:36:00.002-04:00

With this vacation behind me, I'm realizing that I didn't take nearly enough photos. I was in vacation mode, not I'm-going-to-write-about-this-stuff mode. Today I'm writing about our accomodations and really only have photos of the pool, so my details will have to suffice. Use your imagination. Enjoy the pool shots!

THE STAY:

The Wyndham Kingsgate
619 Georgetown Crescent, Williamsburg VA

Reviews about this complex have been mixed. It ranked #11 on TripAdvisor out of 96 hotels listed in Williamsburg on the site. Most of the negative comments related to the pressure sales for timeshare upgrades. We’re not owners in this timeshare property and had secured our stay through Wyndham’s rental arm Endless Vacations. But having read the warnings, we planned to approach the facility management with caution, prepared for some delay due to sales pitches and wriggling out of the clutches of staff intent on taking what they claimed would be an hour of our precious vacation time. We also prepared ourselves for a less than perfect experience within the unit. We got a good deal, we figured, and it couldn’t be horrible. We weren’t expecting perfection, just a decent, clean, relatively comfortable place to stay during our vacation in Williamsburg.

We found it.

Our stay at the Wyndham Kingsgate was great! The unit was a small one bedroom, a size that was perfect for my husband, my daughter, and me for the week. The living area had a sofa and chair, coffee table, entertainment unit with large flat screen TV, 5 disk cd player, and DVD player. The small kitchenette was nice. There was a dining table that would seat 4 if needed. The counter had a 2 burner stove, a microwave convection oven above it, small bar sized sink, dishwasher and small – but not a mini - refrigerator. All were compact, but for us this was fine. It was not my intention to go on vacation and prepare a multi course meal. We just wanted to be able to have breakfast, make sandwiches for picnics, and a snack or two when we got back from our day. The kitchen was equipped with a coffee machine, toaster, and blender. In the cupboards and drawers was complete service for four – plates, bowls, coffee cups, glasses, and utensils. There was also cookware – saucepan, frying pan, pyrex bakeware and bowls, a serving platter and bowl and plenty of cooking utensils – knives, large spoons, whisk, can opener, ice cream scoop, everything you need to get by on vacation. The only complaint I would have about the kitchen is that with the appliances, there left very little counter space to put the food you buy. We used the top of the refrigerator and some space on the table when needed. Under the sink, there was dishwashing detergent, both for the dishwasher and for hand washing, which we did most of the time, given that we only dirtied a few items at a time. There were dish towels and paper towels. If I could bring myself to live so efficiently at home, I would. Nice countertops, good solid furniture in decent condition, and clean.

The bedroom had a queen sized bed with comfy cotton sheets and duvet. There’s a huge closet and extra bedding for the pull out sofa, which we used for my daughter to sleep on. There’s a TV and roomy drawers. The bathroom was a decent size, with full shower, and a stacking washer dryer that we used every day. The unit was stocked with a couple of packets of washing detergent. We brought some of our own, too. They do not refresh the towels or sheets during your stay, as it is expected that you will wash whatever is necessary. We did wash towels along with our clothes and beach stuff. A nice benefit to the washer and dryer was that we came back with very little dirty clothes and were able to pack much lighter knowing that we would be able to wash our clothes at least once during our stay.

The grounds were nicely landscaped and it was quiet. We spent considerable time at the pools as part of a group. The first few days, the outdoor pool was a bit cloudy, but otherwise clean and nice. There are many chaise lounge chairs set up around the pool and a few tables with umbrellas. There is a bar right there and a small hut to get towels. A separate, gated area is for the hot tub, which was quite hot and felt great. There is easy access to the indoor pool and from there, you can go into the recreation center to use the bathrooms, arcades, fitness center and rent movies and games. Unfortunately we didn’t stay long enough, or have enough time to really enjoy the offerings of the rec center. There are tennis courts and a miniature golf course that are part of the grounds. A separate gated pool is segregated for adults only. As I mentioned, we were part of a group, and that group contained kids, so we didn’t spend any time at that pool, but I do understand the need for it. The main pool was insanely busy at times.

We found that the location was convenient for us, given that our intention was to get to Busch Gardens and Water Cuntry, to Jamestown, and to Virginia Beach. The location was easy access to Bypass and Richmond Roads, home to many a pancake house and buffet. There was a Kmart very close by, and a Bloom supermarket just down the road. We were able to stock up on our first day. I’ll review our dining experiences on another post.

Overall, our experience was a good one. The unit was nice and fit our needs. The grounds were well maintained and felt safe and friendly. And after all of the posted comments about the time share sales hassles, not one person even asked us to attend a meeting or “stop by” or anytime. This is most likely because we are not timeshare owners and had nothing to upgrade to. A man I spoke to at the pool said he attended a session and received free passes to Busch Gardens for a day.

I mentioned that we were part of a group and other members of our party, namely my sister in law and her husband and grandchildren were not as fortunate as we were with regards to our unit. They were right above us in our building; a request made prior to our arrival, and had problems with things throughout the week. They had one more kid than we did with them, which made it a bit tighter than they were comfortable with. Their shower squealed like a tea kettle when running, forcing my sister in law to take a bath one morning so as not to wake the kids. Their air conditioning wasn’t working for three of the seven days they were there. With no screens on the windows, and mid ninety degree weather throughout the week, it was hot for them. Add to this that two years prior, they stayed at a sister resort just down the street, in a similar, but larger unit, and had a great stay, so had high expectations for this one. I could understand how their experience could result in a very negative review. They contacted the staff and repairs were underway, but not resolved very quickly. It was frustrating for them, understandably so. We almost felt guilty for our good fortune.

I think that we would certainly consider staying at the Wydham Kingsgate on our next stay, although we did wonder to each other how we could be sure that we’d have just as good an experience as we did, and not run into the troubles my sister in law did. In this case, it seems that your experience might truly depend on which unit you are assigned, and how things are running at the time of your stay. So, my suggestion would be to give it a try, you could get lucky.

A quiet moment at the pool.