My hardest challage

There is no way to explain to anyone what I actually did today, but I will try.

First I must say it was a wonderful experience and if I have to spend the next few days in bed it was worth it.

Beth signed me up to take a wildflower walk on Mount Washington, the higher than a mile mountain in New Hampshire.
She and Molly picked me up at 7:15 this morning. I had been to the chiropracter four days this week for a back problem from working too hard in the yard and was prescribed muscle relaxants yesterday by my doctor. The injury affected my left leg.

Putting all that aside, I wanted to go very much.

When we got to the site, I realized that that the first .03 miles of the trip was straight down a boulder field. I looked at this path from hell and thought, I'm here, I have to do this!!

With two hiking poles and much help and encouragement from Beth, I made it to the Wildflower trail not too far behind the rest of the group. However, the trail was also traversing rocks.

The alpine flowers at this elevation were very small but also very colorful and covered most of the rocky terrain. Our guide pointed out white daipensia, pink alpine azelea, Alpine bluetts, colorful pink Lapland rosebay and many other plants growing over moss covered rocks and what ground there was.

It was a beautiful sunny day with a few clouds and the patches of snow kept our temperture great for hiking.

After lunch in a large boulder field, I decided that going back while I could still walk was a good option. Molly agreed, so the three of us struck out.

The left leg was almost impossible to lift as I climbed back up the boulder field from hell, but if the little engine that could could make it, I could and did!!!

Yard activities

A lot has happened on Postlude Farms over the last week. As I mentioned, the garden club came for a visit and the garden was planted. Christopher is getting a taste of work in Maine as he plants out the tomatoes and pepper, but I think he likes it. The day after we planted the garden it rained, which was good, but it was so cold I actually had the heat on in the house. So much for seeds sitting in the nice warm earth!

Apparently Labrador Pond is a popular spot for turtles laying their eggs as we saw one on Sunday and two at the same spot on Monday. I hope to catch them when they hatch, but that is not likely to happen. I'll keep the camera close just in case.

The pond is also home to a pair of geese who hatch their young every year. I caught these moms and babies just at sunset. If you enlarge the photo, I think you can make them out.

The garden club members were enchanted with the water feature. The most interesting feature is the old pump at the top of the rippling stream. The pump was actually used before the old farmhouse burned, but the shallow well was long dry before we moved here. We removed the pump and Tom saved it for future use somewhere. The new water pond was exactly the right place. It was originally painted blue, but blue just didn't fit the color scheme somehow and I talked Tom into painting it the nice brick red.

Anyway, the water ripples down over rocks that we took out of our mine and you can see tourmaline chips and other crystals in the rocks. The water just enhances the effect.

I bought some Louisiana water hycinths to help keep the water clear. The bog pond has native water iris and the cat tail we moved last year with great effort on my helpers part, actually has signs of putting up a new shoot.

Our great nephew is visiting from Texas and other than all the wonderful things we see in Maine, he has seen a few different things.

My night blooming cactus opened one night for him. This wasn't too different as he said he mom had one in Texas.

Sunday on the way to church Uncle Tom noticed a turtle laying her eggs on the side of the road at Labrador Pond. That photo made the Sun Journal this morning under the title, "Sign of Spring".

Planting a garden was new to Christopher and yesterday he planted tomato and pepper plants.

Helping his Uncle Tom put together an old pump for the water garden was a new experience for him, but he slept while the garden club toured the gardens.

The really unique experience was hearing his Uncle Tom preach in church on Sunday as our pastor is on vacation and Tom usually fills in for him. Christopher lived through the experience. Then we ate at the Cross Stone where the owner had just finished a marvelous fireplace with stones from all around the world. This area is known for tourmaline and many other minerals. He had a sample of most all of them. There were hundreds of stones and we each put our estimate of how many stones were actually in the massive structure. The owner happened to come in and gave us an education of all the stones and where they came from. Chris was enthrawled. I think he likes Maine.

Last night we

Spring on the Coast

Having company from out of town always stirs our tourist instinct so we took the ocassion last week to visit Pemiquid Lighthouse and the Coastal Botanical Gardens in Boothbay Harbor with our friends from Massachusetts.
The day was perfect with a clear blue sky and a brisk wind. I had wanted for years to picnic overlooking the ocean and listening to the waves crash onto the rocky coastline. This was the day.

The breeze made it chilly enough to choose a picnic table in partial sun and we found just the one overlooking the water. It was perfect.

It was so perfect in fact that we had to tear ourselves away to get to the gardens before the tram stopped running. The tram is actually an extended golf cart, but with miles of trails, anything helps. I was determined to get Tom to the rhoderdendrum garden as he had missed seeing this before because he couldn't walk. We were there in time and rode to the site. Tom elected to ride back however while Dean, Eunice and I toured the ladyslippers along the ocean walk. They were in bloom everywhere and made quite a show.

We got back just after Tom arrived by tram and we then toured the tulip gardens. They were in full bloom as you will note in the picture. This garden is a must to see on your next trip to visit in Maine.

While the outside is showing beautiful signs of spring, my indoor plants are doing great as well. I have several orchids in bloom, many of which have been in bloom for months. I reach the point where I actually have to place them under the faucet to wash off the dust because they bloom so long. It is the Phalaenopsis that bloom forever, but I have another small cattaleya in the kitchen window that just keeps blooming.

Monday night was the monthly Maine Orchid Society meeting in Gorham. I go with a friend since it is about an hour and a half away and we share rides. I only belong to this one flower group and that's enough. Monday was seedling night and we always get free seedlings to plant. I ended up with seven new plants which are small and if my luck holds, I will be able to kill them in a short time.

It's amazing how many people belong to this group. Most of them are all serious orchid growers but there are a few novice collectors as myself. There are over 100 people in the southern Maine club. The 'real' growers have no trouble rattling off the names of all the beautiful orchids that are brought in by members for the show table. I am awed by some of the flowers. Monday night a man brought in a plant that was about two feet high and had 25 Lady Slipper type blooms hanging all over it.

If you want to get started yourself, buy a Phalaenopsis. It will live and bloom for at least 6 months and you will be envied by your friends by having such a beautiful plant.

Spring has Sprung

Yes, the world is beautiful here in Maine this sunny May day. It is amazing to me that one day the ground is covered with snow and a few days later, the grass is a foot high in the flower beds. Almost overnight the world changes and it is impossible to keep up with what is popping out of the ground in unwanted places.

The yard is full of tulips, daffadils, violets, spirea and azeleas. The azeleas are only a hint of what my homeplace in Mississippi once had. They were as large as a house and smelled so wonderful. I guess mind would grow as large as a house if I didn't keep pruning them. Beth's bees have a lot to buzz, but so far have stayed out of my sunroom.

Tom is working on his pond and hopes to put in an electric line this week to power the pump and fountains. Hopefully I will be able to post this with a photo.

Memories of chicken exercises

I've been trying to loose a little weight, so I volunteered to care for my neighbors chickens while they were in Florida. That wasn't the only reason for taking care of them as this neighbor feeds Misty and takes care of all my many flowers when we go away.

Now, I had all my instructions for feeding, watering and gathering the eggs. The first day my friends were gone a strong wind blew so hard the gate blew open and all the chickens got out. With a lot of running around and shooing, I managed to get them all back in the pen, miracle of miracles.

That night the winds were even worse and though I had put a rock in front of the wooden gate, it blew open. When I looked out the window at 6 p.m. I saw their next door neighbor, who has horses over trying to get the chickens in. I quickly pulled on my clothes and went running out to help. After much running and chasing, she had to go to work, so I left the door to the coop open and hoped they would go inside. They didn't. Later I went over and with just a little bit more of shooing and running, I managed to get them all inside.

That was day two a.m.

Day two p.m was okay until Tom went to empty the water dishes out the coop door. There was a major rush out the door. Oh No, here we go again!! I ran, he ran and we finally got them all in.

On day three I looked out the kitchen window and saw that one had escaped during the night. I went over to feed them and then couldn't find the one that was out. It seems to be the same old bird that manages to get out every day. The foxes didn't get her that night.

Day four, which is today I spied another one out in the morning but couldn't get her in. Over the day she enticed another one out. Tom was away again at a seminar so I waited until he came home to help me herd those two in. We actually got them in. I can't wait to see what the morrow will bring!

That's all until now, except, I have lost 4 pounds in the last three days chasing those chickens.