Trad Mem Day

Rummaging in the suitcase for summer clothes, I came across a fleece earwarmer and sweatpants.  In less than 2 weeks we have gone from fleece-cold to bug-hot.

We straightened the dock made crooked by winter ice and wind and found the water to be comfortable to warm.  And as a reward for successful dock work, we flew to the Seaplane base just above Gulf Island Pond to get airplane fuel.

The Gulf Island dam on the Androscoggin River spills the runoff of wet April and May from the mountains to the northwest.  The airplane spills the Social Security runoff.

Mem Day

In honor of Memorial Day I am reading Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer about "the art and science of remembering everything", and a "subculture of competitive memorizers".  Reminds me of medical school.

Our neighbors had a minidisplay of fireworks, a part of which I captured by video when I finally remembered where the camera phone was.

 The Lady Slippers are sneakily blooming in a patch above the lake house.  They and a million mosquitoes.

Happy Memorial Day

Thanks for the memories.

May 29

From Creepy to Home.

Yesterday I ran on the Mountain Division Trail that leads from Sebago Lake to Portland for more than 12 miles.  After a mile or so, the path went from paved to rocky to creepy on the back side of abandoned industrial buildings with busted windows and dark shadows beneath boarded doors and loading docks.

After one block of dangerous, dangerous, dangerous reverberating in my psyche, I turned around and ran back. Dangerous in Maine?  Come on!
At home the phone/DSL man was replacing something that was wet and kept interrupting the internet at inopportune times.

His bucket truck was a handy thing, worth coveting.

When he was done, he drove off, and I walked down the stairs to an airplane waiting on a more welcoming dock.

May 28

My favorite places are those where someone has purposely cultivated beauty, but anonymously.  Like tulips on the corner, or a lilac bush along the fence row.

The shopping adventure was successful except for the red bra.  No red for this summer season to come.  But the turquoises were sparkly.

At Cabela's I stood in line with my bug dope and the man in front of me was buying a nice fish pole and carrier on sale.  Too bad my hiking buddies quit fishing.  Last year on the trail those wild trout were mighty tasty.  Less than six weeks to a train trek north of Durango, jumping off the train and hike, hike, hiking.  Sssweeet!

May 27

The adventure of the day will be driving into Portland for a WW meeting, book shopping at Borders, red bra shopping at Vicky's and bug dope shopping at Cabela's in Scarborough.  That, a good chicken salad sandwich, and a martini should get me through the day adventurously.
But wait!  I've done all these things before.  The point of adventure is the newness, the freshness, the never-done-beforeness.  Okay, I'll do the above wearing nose glasses.

No.  Being adventurous does not necessarily mean being ridiculous too.

First Do No Harm

This morning's contemplation involved focus on things one loves to hate; the rafter who hit every rock in the river by his focus on rocks instead of the water route; the man who complained about his neighbor's ever-lit porch light, then brought the neighbor a package of light bulbs when the light burned out; the pilot who considered inviting someone he didn't like to go for a plane ride; and   overriding the principal of nonharming in the face of self defense.

Mosquitoes, Black flies, Ants, Ticks

versus

Primum non nocere, Ahimsa

Melinda's Birthday

Yesterday was a miraculous day.  The sun broke through the 9-day mist and we were able to move the airplane.  I won the coin toss and waited in the airplane for Jim to call from the halfway mark of his drive home.

The camera amused me more than the book I brought.  Had trouble starting the airplane, but it was operator error, not a mechanical malfunction.

I took a picture of our lake 8 miles away from arrival.  Taking pictures while flying an airplane is like texting while driving a car.

After a safe docking during the first float flight of the year, Jim took over, taxiing near loons

and flying around in the mildly bumpy air.

Here's a picture of our lake house from the crosswind leg of the touch down.
Today is Melinda's birthday.  She gets as many new songs as her years from mostly current artists.  I can write this because she doesn't read blogs.  I especially like Cee Lo's toned down version "Forget You", Jason Mraz "I'm Yours" and Mother Mother "Love and Truth".

Miracles

 

Driving to the lake house there is a hill that, once crested, reveals an apple orchard on the left.  Just now, every tree in the orchard is in white bloom, perfumed with blossoms calling to the bees.  Often the storms accompanying the month of May blow all the apple petals to the ground like a blizzard and the impressive, but elusive moment, passes without witness.  This year our breath-holding has kept all the blossoms intact.
"There is no order of difficulty in miracles. ...Miracles occur naturally as expressions of love."

"Miracles arise from a miraculous state of mind, or a state of miracle-readiness."

I am ready, I am ready, I am ready.

May 23

Yesterday was another successful 5 K, held at the Dover High School, with an officially documented pre-race weight loss for the runner in the purple jacket.

The price of admission was a nonperishable food item for the Food Bank and it appeared amazingly successful.

Then, sticking with a recent theme, the heavenly reward of rapture followed; a savory Belgian chocolate croissant from Duston's Bakery, accompanied by candlelight and music.

Today there will be brand new music to sample from quirky and wonderful artists like Mother Mother and Jason Mraz emailed from Mr. P. (Every Day's A Holiday) S.

"Give me my rapture today"

Van's song keeps running through my head as I run another 5K today.  Yesterday's run was humid without rain.  I won the race since everyone else was walking.

Later on in the day, Jim and I aborted the mission to transfer the float plane from the Seaplane base to its home due to ominous black and gray clouds encircling the airport, thunder in the distance, recent downpours, and a blister on my toe from running.

Judgment Day

My friend David reminded me about a new Judgment Day.  I resolved to avoid all those sites that misspelled Judgment.  The satellites' signals did not reach the lake this morning due to dense fog.  Day 7 of clouds and fog, visibility 300 ft.  Maybe the day will include fire to burn off this cold and damp.  Today I am running a 5K race before the end of the world.  And then tomorrow I'll cancel the "rapture insurance" as per Philly News.

May 20

A favorite white pine, made for tree hugging,

accompanied by a salt block just thirty feet away.

And after the morning woods walk, a sneak photo attack on the neighboring house to the east, whose caretaker is readying the place for the summer season.

Coup and countrecoup.

May 19

Dreams of Postassium Permanganate and experiments as a junior high student, a continuation on the theme from yesterday of Either/Or:  Dessication vs Drowning; Flexibility vs Solidity; Lightness vs Form.  KMnO4 is a beautiful dark purple crystal in its solid form and an equally beautiful purple in a solution of water. 

As an experiment, I dissolved the crystals into a glass, put a string in the solution, and let it dry out over a period of a week.  The postassium permanganate made the deepest  plate-like crystals, shining as if a candle had been lit on the ceiling of a cave and illuminated the depths of the earth.
If I tried that in this place today, the solution would have never evaporated.  More rain today, more low ceilings, more fog, more 100% humidity. 

May 18

Sweetness versus Stress

A path that is spongy, verdant and filled with birdsong

vs

One that is uphill with tons of scree underfoot

Vanilla versus

Vanillylmandelic Acid





May 17

Harbingers

One creepy,

three sweet. 

May 16

Day before yesterday I found FOUR 4-leaf clovers!  All in the span of 5 minutes during the morning walk in the tree nursery.  Jim and I attended a housewarming party in the afternoon, so along with the brass Buddha gift Jim ordered online, the lucky couple received these clovers.

While there, a group of us walked to the top of the property to view the surrounding hills and towers.  Peter took this picture of me while I was reaching for the gun concealed in my purse.  He's sorry now.

The following words taken from The Wounded Land made for a good start of 30 days to a better vocabulary:

Chrism - oil for annointing

Lambent - skimming the surface gracefully

Telic - purposeful

Glaive - broadsword

Mephitic - noxious, bad-smelling

Preterite - expressing past action

Nacreous - lustrous, iridescent

Eldritch - eerie

Roynish Ides of May

New-to-me vocabulary pops up in a science fiction novel.  Used to describe demon spawn, as in "roynish creatures with blind obsidian eyes", roynish means mangy, scabby, troublesome.  It is a fine adjective to use for nearly every noun referring to demons. 

Without her morning coffee, she remains a seething roynish lump of malign.  Editors would insist there are too many adjectives here.  Roynish rubbish!  Editors stand back or your roynish fur will fly.

May 14

 

Views from on high;

ships heading for harbor,

a single wind generator,

a lighthouse

representing respectively water, air, and fire.  Back on earth at the writing desk I hesitate at the word "ambiance", originating from ambient, and wonder on the correct spelling.  The ambiance in the airplane produced this current state of vertigo and nystagmus.  In other words, whirling jet lag.  Well, why didn't you just say so?

Friday the Thirteenth

Weird!  I already posted this for 6:30 AM and it disappeared into Cooderland.  This and yesterday's too, along with the comments.  Maybe the parking lot at Perkins has voodoo or zoomies.

Anyway, this is a travel day after the obligatory walk-through at Cabela's (pronounced Cabeler's in the East).  With the wind advisories yesterday, it's a pleasure to fly today.  Good Luck!