A Doe and Two Fawns

You startled me this morning.
Or was it I startled you?
A mutuality then. Certainly though,
It was you who left the lasting impression--
Like a trio of ghosts:
Witnessed with the eye,
But soundless, still, and
Staring.

Leaving me to wonder,
Did I really see you?

Week One

Today marks one week since we moved into the rental. Mike had his first week of work and the kids and I are--I think--finally in some sort of a schedule. So, an update, I feel, is due.

The Finn-man doing his neck exercises. The kid's getting strong. He is rolling onto his side from his back. And even scooching around a bit on his belly!

Mum came down with us and helped us get settled as much as she could. She wanted a sweet picture with Madie the day she left, but Madie kept acting out. I have three pictures, and this is the best one. (One of them Mum isn't smiling, another Madie's picking her nose, and the third she's got her eyes closed.) 

The landlord has had roofers working to prep for winter and they were here every day until today. Hallelujah! 

We went out the other day to explore our back yard. The yard itself isn't huge because of the woods, but it looks like we have a decent amount of land about us in the back. Madie loves running around back there acting out scenes from her favorite movies, Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella. 

Shot 1: Nice faces but a little dark.

So we'll turn around and face the sun.

Shot 2: Nice light, but weird faces. Oh well.

Today we passed some time while Finnegan was napping by making paper planes and coloring them. Then we flew them around for like 45 minutes before Madie's quiet time. She loved it! (Pardon all the odd shots--it's hard to handle the camera one-handed because of it's bulk.)

It's been a good first week, minus the utter lack of sleep I've had.

Off the Plane and Out of Suitcases

 We flew into Maine in the middle of an arctic cold front, from Arizona mind you! Madie wanted to go outside with me in her flip flops, dress, and cape. I'm sorry Madie, but you aren't in California anymore. She made me carry her everywhere for the first few days. It was a rough acclimation for Madie.

We went to an apple orchard and picked up some cider, and a bag of apples. Mal and Marilou later turned the apples into a tasty honey apple pie.

He is a happy man.

Madie refusing to walk haha.

And Finn loved playing with Grammy Haskins.

We got settled into our house in the woods on Saturday.

This is in front of our house.

The foliage is so colorful!

Looking down our street.

Lucky Us!

It's official folks--we get to move to one of the most beautiful places on earth. 

Where we can get our thrill fix.

And our fog fix.

And our fall fix.

And our winter fix.

And our boats and sea-food fixes.

Not to mention all the Dyers (or Dyuhs) Mike has been dying to meet.

For what it's worth, I have really enjoyed living in the Bay Area. It's beautiful, even if summer in the east bay lacks weather. And the people here have been so friendly. California is not at all what I thought it would be--namely, tons of snobby rich people with kids who did nothing but surf and flunk classes. BUT, I would be outright lying if I didn't say I am thrilled to be leaving apartment life behind us, hopefully for good! Things I won't miss:

Smokers

Pot smell

Chihuahuas

Stinky Pakistani food

Trash in the playground

Older kids at the playground leaving their trash

Things I will miss:

Sweet old women I hardly know dropping off their stinky Pakistani food

Walking to church

Blackberry picking 10 minutes from home

Yosemite

Karin and Oliver, Jessica and Ryan, Aurora and Josep, Talia and Casey--all such awesome neighbors

The Paradises, the Cheneys, the Atheys--all our other great friends who have made us feel so welcome

Sitting in the car with Jennifer Daily after RS presidency meetings being sarcastic and cracking ourselves up

Dinners with Allison and Gabe--two words: food heaven

Things I might miss:

Drunken women shouting outside their apartments in the middle of the night and getting pushy with the cop who comes to tell her to settle down.

Over-weight men in Speedos throwing their curtains wide open when I am in the living room facing their windows.

Old women from the assisted living down the street tossing bread crumbs everywhere--seriously, everywhere--even though it's plain to see no animal has touched them since the day before.

In the words of Mr. Bennet: 

"For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?"

Pictures:

I love this woman's blog.

And Acadia Magic is beautiful!

Homesick Ramblings

I have seen a number of Facebook posts the past three weeks or so that say things like this,

"Heading to the island. Anyone need a ride?" or
"Boston to MDI: 5 hours. But I'm finally home!" or
"Back home for the summer. Who wants to get together?"

This has left me in the most melancholy mood. I miss home so much, and the thing is I don't really ever get to go back. I'm not talking about the whole a-place-doesn't-stay-the-same-ergo-you-can-never-go-"home" thing. I'm talking about never being able to physically get to where I grew up.

Of course, it doesn't really help that I have two places I consider "home"--aside from my home with Mike of course. But really, although I do miss my family and some people on Saipan, I don't think of it as home. Not to mention there have been so many changes to the house and many of my friends don't live there anymore, so it's really only my family and few others who make Saipan "home" for me.

But that's all beside the point. The point is, I miss Maine. Mike was saying to me last Sunday, "What do you mean, we never get to go to Maine? We went twice last year!" And it's great to get to visit Dover. I love seeing my family, but what I really mean is I never get to go home to MDI. That's where I want to be. And these statuses of old friends last seen long ago are making me very homesick.

This photographer/realtor is great. Check her out!

Ringing in the New Year and final days in Maine

I (Mike) wasn't technically supposed to be in Maine for the New Year. I had to be back to work by the following Monday and wanted a few days for buffer in-case something were to happen to my flight and I was postponed. Everything was looking good for my flight which left early on New Years Eve, 6:00 am to be exact. It was going to leave Bangor and arrive in LaGuardia by 7:30 or so. I was going to remain in NYC until 5:00 pm, fly to Atlanta, then get my connecting flight and arrive to San Francisco by 12:15 am (15 minutes into the New Year). I'll be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to it. Who wants to spend New Years on an airplane? Let alone, who wants to spend nine hours in LaGuardia which, according to past experience, is rampant with disease (pigeons and rats all over!). So I checked into my flight online on December 31st, and was good to go. I showed up to the airport at 5:00 am to get onto the plane and head out. I get through security, and onto the plane when I notice that someone is sitting in my seat. I asked the guy to confirm it was his correct seat, which he did. We discussed with the attendants about the situation, and they ended up yanking me off the plane. In talking with the Delta travel agent who was re-booking me for another flight, my online check-in didn't register with their system, and they evidently gave my seat away. So they buttered me up! They booked me for the next day (which meant I got to spend New Years with family!), they put me in first class for the longest leg of the flight (never been in first class before, now I don't know that I could do coach again), didn't have a 9-hour layover in LaGuardia (I didn't contract bird flu), $400 voucher for a future flight (free trip!), breakfast and lunch voucher (immediate comfort food. The one clementine I had wasn't really cutting it), and a voucher for a taxi ride back to Dover-Foxcroft. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty good about the situation.

Madie found a friend in Levi's dog Elvis. It was fun to see them follow each other around.

Levi commented "They are probably at the same intelligence level at this point".

Elvis did topple Madie over a couple times, but I think that Madie got the best of him with her slapping hands.

This was my first New Years with the Conner family, but from what I understand some sort of firework is always involved. Sparklers were the appetizer.

I think I had as much fun taking pictures as the kids whirling around the sparklers.

This one is of Ezra. I told him to let it rip and move it around for the picture, and he did just that!

After the sparklers were finished, we moved onto the main event...

$300 worth of fireworks ignited within a matter of 20 minutes.

While anticipating the New Year, some played cards.

Some watched a movie.

Happy 2011!

Shopping in Bangor. Ezra and Kait.

Jake's face pretty much says it all.

Great face.

Casey and MariLou enjoying the festivities.

Milk, sock-monkey, and Grammy.

Christmas Celebrations

Ah, the traditional Christmas Eve candel-light dinner which consisted of corn chowder (for those who can't handle shell fish), and oyster stew. We were amazingly able to fit everyone (20 people) in about a 20 sq foot kitchen, it was quite the feat.

Oh look! They have a Tupperware cabinet too!

Madie was a lot more interested in the ornaments than the presents under the tree. Probably because we bought some bell ornaments for her to play with on our tree.

The pavlova looked as good as it tasted. Another Conner tradition.

Madie was enamored with this petit rocking chair.

Another battery operated toy!

And some arm wrestling.