Yarn bombing zine

I got so excited after making one zine that I made another right on its heels!

I have thought about a good format to get the word out about yarn bombing, especially since social media is becoming more difficult to stomach these days. A local bookstore has a zine shelf, and I do have a fan at the local library, so I thought I could make copies and really pass these out (and send to family and friends - so let me know if you want one)!

Cover

1st spread

2nd spread

3rd spread

I used clippings from the latest issue of Fiber Art Now magazine, which I love, and I also realized that if you print photos at CVS / Walgreens with wallet size (four on a 4x6 photo), it's the perfect size for a zine! (At least the portrait orientation ones are.)

In the process of making these, I remembered that I used to do little newsletters for my friends in 8th grade, so I was kind of a zinester without realizing it. I hope I kept those; I think I know where they would be if I did. Anyway, it's fun to pick it up again.

* * *

Recently I've been cleaning up a bit in my files, photos, and on this blog, deleting old stuff to make room on Google because my free storage is at 79% capacity (!). In going through old entries of this blog, I saw a lot: my mom's many comments of encouragement; celebrations of things that feel like yesterday; a drop-off in posts when it felt like life got too hard to be able to really write about anymore.

I'm not going to pick it up like I used to, but I'd like to be able to post little things like this, and more often, but without pressuring myself to post monthly like I used to do. If you're reading, feel free to leave a comment, as you have no idea what these little encouragements do for creators and those who put themselves out there in any way.

My first zine!

A zine is a small, handmade publication about a topic, often esoteric, for which the author has a passion. I have kind of been toying with the idea of making a zine for a while, and I found a kit in a local shop, Hinge Collaborative, which I took as a sign.

The kit and book had instructions for how to fold and cut paper to make a simple zine format and included some templates. I decided to make my first one about my career: planned giving.

Cover

1st spread

2nd spread

3rd spread

Back cover - my signature cow

This is a basic intro, and further issues will address specific gift types and examples from my career. I'm hoping to get this snowballing into a zine-making workshop with my colleagues to tell stories about our various corners of the office.

End-of-year resolution assessment

The year is over and it's time to see how I did!

Resolutions:

Meditate daily

Did fairly well on this throughout the year, not necessarily in a regular sit practice but in trying to be mindful in quiet moments. I signed up for a meditation challenge in January on the Insight Timer app, and the hubs also wants to do more meditation, so hopefully we can be each other's accountability buddies on this. 

The book I read this year on focusing reminded me how important that meditation is as a "defragging" exercise for our brains.

Improve my bread making

I baked quite a bit of bread in August and December, not as much in-between. I made chocolate babka in the first half of the year, so I made cinnamon babka in the latter half. I tried a new recipe for squash sticky buns, which were really quite too squashy. I made two boiled baked goods - bagels and soft pretzels - each could have used a bit more time in the oven, as they were sort of wet or something after coming out. Gotta have faith that it will not burn. So, anyway I learned something.

Speaking of learning things, I also tried to make sourdough bread, which did not pan out - likely it was too cold in my house and the yeast died. I will try again in May when it's warmer in the house.

Eat more plant-based food

Great success - I have been enjoying cooking healthy vegan meals at home, as well as leaning into plant-based eating when going to restaurants. I will continue to go this route.

Learn about foraging

Mostly I focused on this in the first part of the year so that I'd be able to forage during summer. I could eat more dandelion next year; we didn't go on many hikes where we identified items to forage. I should probably find a class with a nature preserve or something if I want to get deeper into this, especially re: wild mushrooms.

Stay under 160 lb.

Struggled with this through the year, then successfully got under this weight in December and hopefully will maintain through the holidays. 

Work on a fitness routine

Took regular spin classes at Colby - free for me as a staff member - and started rowing. It's tough during the holidays because the gym is closed until the students come back in January, but we've been traveling, too, so we've been able to use the gym at the hotels. A goal I'm anticipating for 2024 is to get some movement every day - stretching, cardio, lifting.

Write down more quotes

This has been sporadic throughout the year - I've really enjoyed doing it and looking back at ones I've written, but I need to keep doing this. The key seems to be having the notebook on hand rather than trying to remember it for later.

Bring tupperware for leftovers when we eat out

Mostly a success - even when we forget, Dave is willing to go back to the car to grab it. I thought people would make fun of us, but restaurant staff seem appreciative and sometimes impressed.

Don't buy superwash yarn

I slipped a few times in the latter half of the year, but I want to focus on this, as well as buying more yarns from the "fibershed" of wherever I'm buying it - i.e., yarns produced, dyed, spun, etc. within 150 miles. This is probably easiest at fiber fests.

Travel for work more

Success, especially in July, October, and November, when I traveled for conferences and fit in donor visits.

Bring Chicago to Maine

I keep listening to WXRT, but one way to bring Chicago food to Maine would be to rent a cookbook or try to make some of my favorites, such as Mexican food (if you want good Mexican food in Maine, you pretty much have to make it yourself). We also started "The Bear," which was intense but good.

Relax better

Overall a success - I've had stressful times this year and lost some sleep, but overall I tried to leave it at work. Working out is helpful, I could take more days off (including vacations) and try to not do much on those days.

Goals:

Finish up the Down East pizza list

Completed in June!

Go camping

Completed in May!

Visit Wisconsin

Had a successful visit to the mother ship in November, just before Thanksgiving, and got to visit our favorite places (although New Glarus Brewing was temporarily closed) and one of my favorite law school friends.

Visiting downtown New Glarus

Do a 5k run

Completed in May!

Propagate Stan

Completed in March, so now I have Stan Jr. I was going to give him away, but I haven't had the heart. Both are doing well, but Stan Sr. needs continuing maintenance.

Make certain recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Completed in September! This was really fun, and I have a few recipe goals for next year, as usual.

Make acorn flour

Completed this in November, with acorns collected in October and November. I tried the cold leaching method to reduce bitterness / tannins but maintain the starches. I have used it in a few recipes, just easing it in just in case it's still quite bitter. I will probably keep using the good acorns for things.

Can / preserve this summer

Also completed in September, although I could certainly make more next year. This year all I really did was make tomato sauce, but that was a lot, as our garden plot probably produced a bushel and a half of tomatoes over the course of a few months.

Infuse olive oil

Completed in January, but I used up all my lemon-garlic, all of the chile oil, and almost all of the chile crisp I made, so I need to do this again. The lemon garlic was fantastic and I'd hit that again.

Knit the Fanastil Lang Jakke

Sadly I did not finish this - I was working on a lot of other stuff, and I did get through three balls of the gray yarn for the body, but I think I found it both stressful (because of the threat of steeking for the first time) and boring (because the first half is just knitting rounds and rounds of gray. I hope to finish this next year.

Do 6 yarn bombs in Maine

Completed in August! This was super fun, and apparently our town in Maine just did a call for public art, so I'm going to try to do some in downtown Waterville in addition to campus and other places.

Students on Colby's campus even took a picture of my yarn bomb for an art project! The project was a conversation in photos; Student A would take a photo, then Student B would reply with a photo. Pretty cool.

Student photo of my yarn bomb

Cooking resolutions complete!

I had several cooking-related resolutions this year, including to preserve / can again this year, as I didn't do it at all last year, and to make a list of recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child (volume 1).

On the first, I pickled day lilies in July when they were budding - they were tasty! Dave even liked them, and he is very dubious about foraged foods generally.

We also planted tomato plants for making sauce, including San Marzanos and Romas (and others for eating off the vine). 

Stored the tomatoes in the oven to ripen away from fruit flies

They started bearing fruit in August, so I picked them, boiled to remove skins, ran through a food mill, and kept adding it to a large pot of sauce in the fridge (and boiling every few days to reduce and sanitize). I finally canned the sauce when the tomatoes were (mostly) done in September.

The list of Julia Child recipes I wanted to make included the following, and when I made them:

• Aïgo Bouïdo (January)
• Poached eggs (February)
• Oeufs à la Bourguignonne (August)
• Shirred eggs aux fines herbes (March)
• Oeufs en cocotte aux fines herbes (March)
• Quiche au Camembert (July)
• Fish filets poached in wine (September)
• Cassoulet (January)
• Creamed Brussels sprouts (January)
• Baked cucumbers (August)
• Chocolate mousse (September)
• Chocolate soufflé (February)
• Peach tart (August)
• Crêpes Suzette (February)
• Gâteau a l'orange with chocolate frosting (February)
• Queen of Sheba cake (January)

The baked cucumbers were especially a surprise - I remember reading about this recipe from Julie & Julia and being curious. I worried they'd be mush, but they were zippy and tasty! The quiche au Camembert was a favorite, as the chocolate mousse always is (I've made it before). I was proud of myself for learning to poach eggs.

Sorry for no photos - I ate it all too fast!!

Half-year goal progress

Time to report on my resolution / goals for 2023!

1. Meditate daily

I did a daily challenge on the Insight Timer app in January and February, but I fell off in March and beyond.

2. Improve my bread making

I made maple milk bread and pizza in January, then focaccia in March, and roti in April. Each one was made to accompany another specific recipe I was making!

In May, I made Jordan Pond popovers again, realizing that undercooking is the key to tasty popovers. In June, I made chocolate babka and butternut squash bread, giving some away and making people very happy.

3. Eat more plant-based food

Thinking about this made me realized how far I had slipped back into less vegan (or even vegetarian) eating, so I focused on trying to have more meals that were mostly or all plant-based. I successfully did this in the spring, eating mostly vegan beginning in April and May. I bought a new Indian vegan cookbook and have been working through The Complete Plant-Based Cookbook by ATK.

4. Learn about foraging

In the winter, I rented and bought a few books on foraging, particularly in New England, and thought about what I'd like to try to find (and where I might find it). I also continue to follow Black Forager on Instagram, where I learned you can make day lily pickles. I also ate some dandelion greens, adding them to a kale dish, as well as broadleaf plantain. I also tried making a wild tea for the first time, using white clover flowers for a hot tea.

5. Stay under 160 lb.

Struggled to reach 160 lb. in the early part of the year, but got back on Noom in April and made good progress. It helps that Dave also regressed a bit, weight-wise, so he was all in on taking it easy. Surprisingly, cutting out alcohol most days seemed to be helpful, even though I drink very little in the first place.

6. Develop a fitness routine

Lifted weights in the early part of the year but fell off, but I did start training more in March when the 5K program began. Nicer weather also helped us be willing to take more walks. I did not continue running much past the 5K, but we did a bunch of hikes in May.

7. Write down funny quotes

Started a notebook in January and wrote down some quotes in January and February, but then didn't write any for a while. In June I had a couple and I'm getting back into the habit.

8. Bring Tupperware when eating out

Did not use a single take-out container this year for leftovers when eating out - successfully left the containers in the car and used them in both February and March.

9. Don't buy superwash yarn

Success - bought raw yarn in January and February from local sources in Maine, as well as a ton at the New Hampshire Sheep & Wool Fest in May.

Shetland wool I bought at the New Hampshire Sheep & Wool Fest

I did buy a bit of superwash yarn (forgetfully) in May, but for the most part, I stuck to my goal here.

10. Travel for work more

Went on a Boston trip in January and went on local visits in February and March, as well as a nice trip to Vermont in May and a trip with another coworker to Chicago for visits and a conference. I hit my visit goal and could tell the quality of visits were better in person versus Zoom.

11. Bring Chicago to Maine

Listened to XRT daily, which I was really glad I did because I heard about Lin Brehmer's death right away. We also bought a subscription to ESPN in February to watch the Blackhawks, but we didn't watch more than one game. I did get back to Chicago in March, April, and May for different things and will be coming back in style to present at a conference in November!

12. Relax better

I have done this better this year, in part because I know I need to for my mental health, but also because I've read about how rest helps your brain.

13. Finish up last year's pizza list (5 remaining)

We ate at Intervale in February, which was one I was really excited about - broccoli and cheese. It's a cute little general store and I recommend checking it out for pizza and other snacks.

In May, we found out that two of the remaining shops - DiOddo's (Fort Kent) and Hearth & Harbor (Mt. Desert island) closed. Yikes!! 

In June, we ate at the last ones, including Nora Belle's in Bridgton and Tinder Hearth in Brooksville. The latter was one of my top faves of the whole exercise! I wrote to Down East to let them know that we ate our way through their list (as best we could).

Last pizza of our journey, with the magazine that started it all

14. Go camping

In February, we scheduled a fun camping venture over the week of July 4, and then in the spring, we scheduled an even earlier camping overnight in Acadia for Memorial Day. Success! 

Sunset on the Schoodic Peninsula

We popped the tent with no problem and even went for hikes before and after. We weren't allowed to have a fire in our hike-in camping site on the Schoodic peninsula, though, so that's something to consider for next time, as we do enjoy cooking (at least making s'mores).

15. Visit Wisconsin

Haven't done this yet, but I will try to do it the next time we're back in Illinois for a length of time. 

16. Do a 5k run

Scheduled this in January and began training in March, and successfully completed the Salty's 5K in York, Maine! We ran to the Nubble Lighthouse and back. Lots of little hills, but very fun. (No photos because my phone got run over that day...long story.)

17. Propagate Stan, my pothos houseplant

This became a priority for Stan's health, as he is over 20 years old at this point and started having some yellowing leaves, partially because of how big he was getting. You can see how big at left, with very spindly stems, some of them 15+ years old or more.

Made cuttings throughout the winter as leaves fell off, but then gave him a huge "haircut" in March. We barely had enough glasses in the house to put them all in - I clearly had more than I thought!

Stan cuttings in my kitchen

18. Make recipes I've listed out from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking"

In January, I made a creamed Brussels sprouts dish, cassoulet, and aïgo bouido, a Provençal garlic soup. In February, I made a lot - an orange cake with chocolate frosting, a chocolate soufflé, my first poached eggs (!), and crêpes suzette. 

In March, I made shirred eggs, basically baked eggs. I did another baked egg dish, oeufs cocotte, in June, although I might have overdone it. We enjoyed them with some vegan breakfast sausage.

19. Make acorn flour

Obviously there were no acorns available, so I found a good recipe and am holding it until late summer or early fall when acorns are available. I did eat an acorn earlier this year, blanching it and chopping it up!

20. Can and preserve this summer

I meant to make marmalade over the winter but did not. I made a list of things I want to make this summer, and things are starting to come into season!

21. Infuse olive oil (lemon, garlic, etc.)

Made lemon / garlic infused olive oil in January, which was very tasty indeed. I made chile oil next, which was delightful and I'm still using it. Not sure what is next - maybe rosemary oil?

22. Make Lang Jakke

Bought the yarn but as of April, need to get the appropriate needles and cast this project on. A major thing holding me back is terror of steeking.

23. Do 6 yarn bombs in Maine

I spent January cutting up plastic bags (especially newspaper sleeves) and crocheting them into a sleeve, which I installed on Colby's campus in February. I spent March making a blue one, which I installed in early May when it was finally nice out.

I made a pride bike rack sleeve in May, installed just in time for June...

Yarn is a single skein of Red Heart - super fun!

Then I made a series of sleeves for campus, installed on International Yarn Bombing Day!

The inspiration card is from my Color Cube

So, that's four yarn bombs, two more to go to reach my goal!

Starting my year with fiber

I got a great start to the new year in terms of creativity, fiber, relaxation, and new friends. 

Last year we visited Nezinscot Farm after seeing it in Down East magazine - they make their own cheese, meat, and yarn, including angora and wool. Dave noticed a sign for a new year's weaving retreat in January, so I noted it and signed up for two days of classes.

Because I had my own rigid heddle loom, they let me come in on Saturday for that and then do a basket class on Sunday. I was hoping to learn at least one new thing, and I learned several!

Patterned weaving

The above is a plain weave, believe it or not, but you alternate colors so that there are two strands of each. I used their yarn - a beautiful cream undyed yarn and also a gray that was overdyed with turquoise and brown.

One of my new year's resolutions is not to buy anymore superwash yarn, instead opting for beautiful natural fibers. This was as natural as you can get, you could really feel the lanolin while you worked with it. 

I was super happy with the result, as well as the little basket I made on Sunday and got to take home. The basket came together in about four hours and is called an Appalachian melon basket due to its size and shape. You cross two hoops, make a god's eye to hold the dowels in place, then weave the basket bottom.

I learned a lot about basket making and weaving on the retreat; there are baskets for everything. Garlic, herbs, firewood, eggs... I guess if you are on a farm and need a basket for something, and you are making the basket yourself, why not make it in the exact perfect shape?

The funniest part of the class is that two of the other attendees, who stayed the night (I went home each day) were from Chicago! We had a lot of fun talking about home.

Another quick fiber project I worked on this month was to make a puffin for a coworker. The backstory is that she asked in a meeting whether people eat puffins, which caused a bit of an uproar because not only are they beloved and cute, they are also endangered. 

So, of course I had to find a cute puffin pattern and make it for her. A lot of the patterns on Ravelry are sorta cartoony, but I found a cute one that was fairly realistic while being simple. He ended up a bit bigger than I expected, but I really like how he turned out. I put a "don't eat me" sign on him and I'll be giving it to her this week. (Would have done this morning, but everyone is working from home today due to the weather.)

Resolutions for 2023

It's the close of 2022, I've assessed my achievement of 2022 resolutions, and it's time to look toward 2023!

Resolutions...

1. Meditate daily

2. Improve my bread making

3. Eat more plant-based food

4. Learn about foraging

5. Stay under 160 lb.

6. Develop a fitness routine

7. Write down funny quotes

8. Bring Tupperware when eating out

9. Don't buy superwash yarn

10. Travel for work more

11. Bring Chicago to Maine

12. Relax better

Goals...

13. Finish up last year's pizza list (5 remaining)

14. Go camping

15. Visit Wisconsin

16. Do a 5k run

17. Propagate Stan, my pothos houseplant

18. Make recipes I've listed out from "Mastering the Art of French Cooking"

19. Make acorn flour

20. Can and preserve this summer

21. Infuse olive oil (lemon, garlic, etc.)

22. Make Lang Jakke

23. Do 6 yarn bombs in Maine

Resolution recap 2022

How did I do on my resolutions and goals for 2022?

1. Study Russian language, culture, and history

This was for a planned trip to Russia that was delayed from 2020 to 2021 to 2022...and then the war happened. I was doing well with it until then, studying Russian on Duolingo and reading short stories from Russian authors. I nixed this one when the trip was cancelled / delayed indefinitely.

2. Stay connected to friends and family

Moving to Maine, it was important to stay connected to friends and family near and far. I did a lot of social media posts at the beginning and a few emails with photos and stories. Overall I did well with this, but I have goals to make 1:1 contact with a list of close family and friends next year - a call, a letter, something besides social media or a text.

3. Discover businesses in Maine and support them

Overall did great with this one, especially at the beginning when there was so much to discover. We still want to find more black-owned businesses in Maine (it's tough) and try to support local small businesses versus big chains (except LL Bean, of course).

Dave has been hitting the Maine beer trail app, and I'm along for the ride, so those have all been wonderful discoveries and small businesses, too.

4. Consistent meditation

Not so consistent with this; I'm finishing out the year with a new year's retreat and will start 2023 by re-reading Joseph Goldstein's month of mindfulness book as I've done the last two years. I'm carrying this over as a goal for next year.

5. Build arm & leg strength

Did OK with this in the first part of the year when we were going to a gym more often, but after we moved and Dave couldn't use the college gym yet, we fell off. Added this as a goal for next year, too.

6. Spend more time outdoors

Did great with this one - Maine offers tons of hikes, boat rides, walks, and other ways to stay outside. In the first part of the year we did a lot of hikes, especially to one cemetery we liked in Gardiner, Maine. In the latter part of the year, we did a lot of yardwork, which I enjoy.

Hiking in the Belgrade Lakes with our buddy, Mike

7. Notice cravings

This was about watching my cravings for snacks, desserts, and stopping eating when I am full. I am up and down with this one. In fact, in the times of the year where I did eat too much and needed to cut back, I did feel the difference right away and put a halt to the gain, helping me hold to around 160 lb., my best in years.

8. Get better about fixing things around the house (and car) myself

With our move, I think we did this a great deal, trying to do as much ourselves as we could, including sealing our driveway cracks, installing raised garden beds, painting, putting up artwork, tightening hinges, and more. I guess home ownership will do that to you (when it's a single family home rather than a condo).

9. Record my dreams more frequently in a dream diary

I did this in the first half of the year, but less in the second. I find them interesting and could probably discover things about my subconscious if I did this more, but often I don't remember them because I do usually sleep pretty well, and also sometimes there just isn't enough to analyze.

10. Work through my Ravelry queue and yarn stash

I definitely did this, although I did acquire more yarn stash from the beautiful Maine yarn stores and fiber festivals. I need to yarn bomb more next year to really have fun in Maine and feel like a local.

Some Jagger Spun purchased at the Maine Fiber Frolic

11. Go camping

Total fail - try again next year. I have tasked Dave with organizing this.

12. Join Daughters of the American Revolution

Managed this one almost immediately, in January. I renewed in the fall and intend to add more patriots over time. I will also share what I learn with my family. Genealogy is a good winter project for me.

13. Earn beach badge on Untappd

Earned in May, although we had a few beaches earlier in the year. I believe our last beer for this badge was earned on a beach on Mt. Desert Island as we visited Acadia in May.

14. Earn ski area badge on Untappd

Total fail!

15. Attend a northeast fiber festival

Win, twice over - I attended both the New Hampshire fiber festival in May and the Maine Fiber Frolic in June. Both were amazing and boasted many live sheep and alpacas, natural fibers, and local makers.

16. Attend a northeast beer festival

Also a win, three times over. First was the Beers without Beards festival in Portland in February or so, then Bangor beer festival in April, then Skowhegan beer fest in September. We met some friends at one of them that we've seen a few times - they are our only new Maine friends that didn't come from my office! So, definitely a resounding success here.

17. Lose weight to 160 lb. 

I got on Noom last year and was able to achieve 160 lb. - something that had eluded me for several years - in February. I went a few pounds under that but regained to 160 in late spring and hovered there for pretty much the rest of the year. This is a success after my previous struggles for sure, but I'm going to start calorie tracking again to try to get further under 160 again.

18. Knit 6 pairs of socks

Success! I made myself 5 and made Dave 1.

19. Buy a bass flute

Fail, although I did find a flute purveyor and fixer in Maine. He repadded my C flute last month and also recommended some ways to get involved in the flute / wind community in Maine. Playing out again will be on my goals for 2023, and I haven't given up on trying to find a bass flute.

20. Complete CFP continuing education requirements

Success - I was well on my way to achieving the 30 required hours when the ACGA conference in April blew me past my minimum needed. Hooray.

21. Visit ten lighthouses

Success, in fact we probably visited a few more. We found a "best of" lighthouse list and ticked them off as the year went on, with the last being the West Quoddy Head Light in the far east. Our favorites were...

Nubble Lighthouse near York / Cape Neddick (March)

Portland Head Light (first visited in April, this is June)

West Quoddy Head Light (September)

22. Weekend trips to Rhode Island and New Hampshire

Success, and we loved them both! We went around New Hampshire in March on a beer tasting trip, then visited Rhode Island in May. The people were friendly and love their state in each case. I especially loved Providence, Rhode Island and could definitely live there someday.

On to 2023!

Fall in New England

Fall in Maine is indeed as beautiful as they say - especially when you're watching turkeys run around in your front yard.

Gobble, gobble

We also visited Rangeley and the lake region, visiting a brewery, a pizzeria from my list, and going on some hikes.

Rangeley Lake

My coworkers had talked up this region, so I was worried it wouldn't live up to the expectations, but it was really beautiful. We stayed at a loon-themed hotel, as you do.

I also made a beautiful hexagon baby blanket for the custodian in my building, who's having his first child. I loved these Sesame Street colors, and no two are alike!

Hexagon baby blanket

 

We are going to miss Halloween in our neighborhood because we'll be in Rhode Island for a brew fest and for work, but my colleague says that he logged over 500 trick or treaters last year, so I know how much I need to buy for 2023. It's nice because I have not lived in a home where there are trick or treaters since I was 12.

Onward to finish out fall!

Progress and peg boards!

We're making progress on making our new place our own, most notably with some plants and a peg board!

It's been a while since I had a garden, so one of the things I was most excited about for our Maine home is gardening. We found a cool local gardening center with lots of native plants (and those that do well in zones 4-5, where we are now), and also some wild houseplants I've been wanting for a while.

First up were some air plants for our dining room table - they just hang out with no soil and can be used in decoration in a variety of ways. You have to soak them in water about once a week, which works with my orchid watering schedule.

Air plants, purchased from Longfellow's Greenhouse

I also knew I wanted some herbs, so I got cilantro, white onions, and sage. They are hanging out on our back porch, which we've now also painted since this photo was taken!

Potted herb garden

We also got some big planters for the front stoop and bought some creeping thyme, two soft little silvery leafy guys, and a celosia, which I've wanted since I was a kid. We had extra and planted them in the front garden, but the ones in the planters are doing much better.

We also had to have the screen door replaced, as the previous owners had busted it but not replaced it, and some other little tweaks to cabinets to get them moving better. 

The big project that I was really excited about was adding a peg board to my kitchen. Not only have I wanted one since we moved out of our first condo, but our previous owners left a wall cabinet that was totally not our style, and a peg board would be a great way to cover the damage that we knew would happen when we removed the cabinet from the wall.

Sure enough, the stupid cabinet was not only screwed into the studs, but was glued to the drywall. We could actually hear the drywall tearing as we removed it, which was truly horrifying. As you can see from the photo at right, some big chunks were taken out.

The next step was to get the 1x2 boards that would serve as the rails to hold the peg board onto the wall. Dave went to the hardware store to get the rails and peg board, and have both cut to a good length (Home Depot sells peg boards in 2x4 or 4x8 foot sizes, and we had a 4x8 board cut to 4x5, leaving a 4x3 square peg board to use somewhere else in the house.

We felt like real adults installing the rails with the power tools Dad gave us! 

We had the 1x2 boards cut a bit shorter than the 5-foot width of the peg board so that they wouldn't show as much, and then screwed them into the studs at several places. A lot of videos show that you only need two rails, but I wanted three to make sure that this was properly held up and that it wouldn't bow or sag in the middle. This took some measuring and leveling for sure.

Then you use some shorter screws to secure the peg board at intervals to the rails.

Already I felt that Dad would have been proud at this point, but when we got the peg board on there and everything was level, I really felt fancy.

Finished peg board! And it's level!

Home Depot and other stores sell packs of peg board hooks, which come in a variety of depths and shapes for your different tools. We bought a variety pack that included some things that were clearly more geared toward garage tools than kitchen gadgets, but we were able to use all the hooks and identify which ones we need to go back and buy to really fill it out. As with my first peg board, you can get brackets for shelves, which are the empty ones toward the top of this picture:

My gorgeous new peg board!

We have loved Maine and like our new home, but things didn't really start to feel like home until we have been adding personal touches like this. The peg board really brought it home and made it feel like my dad helped us move in. More than that, it was a reminder that even though he is gone, the skills and knowledge he imparted to me have stuck with me, even if I didn't feel like I could do it on my own back then. 

Mainely moving

Portland Head Light

June was a busy month - my college (like many nationwide) hosted multiple reunions, and we prepped to buy a home in Maine and move at the end of the month. But the outdoors has been really beautiful, so we've still gotten out to have fun.

Different types of "cone" at a local ice cream shop

In moving, I brought all my house plants to work so that they wouldn't be hurt. So they hung out in my office for about a week, including some new ones from a local greenhouse that had a nice selection of indoor plants I'd never seen.

Orchids, cacti, and others

One of the first things we did outdoors after the move was put out my dad's scorpion - not sure if this is where he'll stay, because I am still nervous about someone stealing him, but I think he's been happy to be outside again.

Dad's welded scorpion

We moved to Winslow, across the river from Colby. This will result in a much shorter commute, and it's a mile walk to the restaurants and shops in downtown Waterville via the Two Cent Bridge, so named because the local mill workers had to pay two cents to use it for their commute.

It was annoying to have to move twice in a year, but the new space is much larger for storage of some of our things. We left no storage in Chicago, bringing everything with us for as long as we're in Maine.

I don't mind unpacking and setting stuff up, although moving all the glass was terrifying. Nothing was broken in the first 1,000 miles of our journey, so I didn't want to break anything in the last 30 miles. Luckily everything arrived OK.

My wine, water, and champagne goblets!

More photos in July as more projects come to fruition, including my plans for painting, gardening, and a kitchen peg board to mimic the one my dad made for me at our first condo.

New England in bloom

The tough winter times have given way to warmer temperatures, gorgeous blooming trees and bushes, and some truly stunning hikes in our local travels.

I visited Boston in early May, which was dripping with beautiful flowering trees:

Pink trees in Boston

Dave joined me on that trip and we visited some breweries, including Tree House, which is as good as they say. There are little hikes around the brewery grounds, too, which we were sure to enjoy.

Tree House Brewing trails

Campus is also blooming at Colby, just in time for commencement for the Class of 2022.

Lovely trees on the green

We got out to Acadia National Park last weekend for some truly breathtaking coastal views. 

Ocean Hike, Acadia

We were very happy to have gone on the coastal hike earlier in the day despite the threat of rain, as the afternoon fog made the Jordan Pond hike very soupy indeed!

Jordan Pond hike

We did get down by the Jordan Stream hike, which was one of our favorites of the trip. It was green, mossy, and lush - and we were the only people on the whole trail.

We visited Allen Island this week (for work) and will be visiting Monhegan Island this weekend (for fun), so we've had some nice island times lately, just ahead of the tourists. We're planning on more inland trips during summer, as well as a trip back to Chicago and maybe to Montreal, if we can get the energy together to pull it off.