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A May Morning in Maine

May Morning in Maine

I made a few long recordings of my backyard in Maine in the weeks before I moved. These were mostly spring recordings and contain all the things that went on near the house including the rooster who lived next door and my activities. I’m including it here for a special friend, Walter, who I’ve never met, but who is going through struggles right now and who can’t get outside much. Perhaps this springtime sound of renewal will open up the world for you a bit.

Mostly pictures

I can now verify that this area does have autumn, or what isthat stuff all over my front lawn?

This is my garden with it’s overhanging wisteria and the back yard gravel path.

The same general direction a few hours later.

I spent a wonderful time with the Portland crew for Shabbat. I met interesting people doing interesting things.

And a lovely couple who briefly engaged with me and then returned to their mutual perusal.

They reminded me of a recent visit to Colton where I had interrupted Rosco in flagrante with Lily, Katie and Penni.

Returning to my place, I have a picture from the rim of my piece of canyon that shows the small pond at the bottom,

And a picture from near the bottom looking up at the dead Douglas fir next to my garden.

And just another pic before I go, I feel I can fit in here:

A picture from VooDoo Donuts, quite an institution but they have nothing on Frosty’s in Brunswick Maine. Another institution here, the sign in the background that is the “unofficial city motto.”
😉

I hope things are well with you.

Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang

The sharp shinned hawk family prevails. They roar through here regularly. They always seem to come up out of the canyon and perhaps they hunt all along it. I watched two apparently both chasing the same thing, or just playing. They both suddenly dived into the bushes at the side of the house and after about 20 seconds one, then the other took off westward into the neighbor’s yard, unfortunately out of my sight. I’ve taken down even the empty bird feeders, er, bait stations, because small birds still land on them just to check.

The middle third of my property, the downhill part, going south. Across the pond, er, creek, is the uphill part. And it’s steeper than it looks. I have to take a picture of someone down there to really show what it’s like.

Finally, August 23 and no hawks for a few days. I think it’s time to try putting up the bait stations er . . . bird feeder and cross fingers.

I’ve found a wonderful nearby food stand with lots of lucious veggies and fruits. Absolutely delicious small cantaloupe I cut up and froze along with the peaches already there. I was going to dry the peaches but they were so juicy and sweet, I decided to freeze them instead. I haven’t made a peach pie in a long time, but last time I did, it was memorable.
Today I finished a melange of veggies, onion, pepper, mushrooms, patty pan squash in Rogan Josh from a jar with yogurt and pieces of chicken.
I’m also roasting eggplant on the grill and it makes a wonderful base for veggies. M’Weec cleaned the bowl and enjoyed every morsel.

Why do they always want to be *in that room*, and in that particular location?

A near neighbor sitting about 3′ in the air at the top of the bush catching rays next to the house. I’m told she’s a red racer but I haven’t found a picture of a red racer, or any snake in Oregon, with a red stripe. There are rattlesnakes here *and they are the only dangerous snake in Oregon, I read*, but few live near me, . They do have a (rubber) boa here though.

A few thoughts and a few more views.

I’m grateful for getting most of the garden cleared of the real invasive stuff, blackberries and quaking aspen sprouts. The blackberries are highly invasive, thorny and delicious. The have these long canes that snake through everything else. That plus a vibrant and overgrown wisteria, makes my garden look a bit like a jungle. They hang over the fence from both neighbors so I harvest all I want and prune them back as much as I like. Blackberries in yogurt for lunch, delish, although I spotted my white tee shirt with several vivid purple spots when I mashed them before adding the (fake) sugar and yogurt. And such a lovely color yogurt! I love that I can just walk up to the fence and pluck juicy berries for my lunch.

I’m grateful for finding a wan but living rhubarb plant and two way wan asparagus plants. They will finally be able to get some sun and may grow. I want to transplant the rhubarb, the deer don’t like it and it will get much more sun outside the garden because it’s tucked up against a bush on the other side of the fence that’s shading it half the day.

I’m grateful for a serendipitous collection of ingredients for supper, an ear of corn, ¾ of an orange sweet pepper, a handful of cherry tomatoes, some cut up rotisserie chicken, a couple glugs of salsa (my favorite low cal tomato product) heated and served with plain yogurt. The cat loves the salsa/yogurt sauce as much as I do. I think I could eat this for supper daily for a month.

They were haying as I drove north up the Willamette Valley, a week ago on a big scale