Happy Anniversary!

On our way out of the When Pigs Fly bread parking lot, Ellen said, "do you know what today is ?" I wasn't even sure of the date. So I said, "No." "Our anniversary!" Omigosh! (Blush! Blush!) that slipped up on me! 

Happy Anniversary, Ellen ! I love you and am so glad to be your husband !  Thank you for putting up with me for 13 years!

                 Lucky ducks!

Bath, ME

We left Owl's Head late this morning and now are in Bath, ME. Ellen is at the yarn shop and I am in the Cafe Creme, waiting for her. Yesterday, I visited the website "Librivox." It is a source for audio books in the public domain, read by volunteer readers. I downloaded a volume of British short stories by various authors, A. Conan Doyle, R. Kipling, J.M. Barrie, etc. On our way down we listened to A Cauldron of Oil, by Wilkie Collins. It was quite engrossing and just the right length to get us to Bath. An interesting addition to our arsenal of things to do in the car while traveling.

Yesterday evening, the four of us, Jim, Mary, Ellen and myself, went to the movie, The Rider,  which Ellen and I had already seen in Amherst, but were eager for Jim and Mary to see. I enjoyed seeing it again (especially on a big screen)  but it proved to be a bit too slow and long for Mary's taste. Jim seemed to like it. It is definitely slow and long. There are many minutes  (maybe as much as a third of the entire film!) of just looking at the face of the cowboy, Brady, who has suffered a serious head injury in a fall from a "bucking bronco," and can never ride or do rodeo again.  His face is easy to look at, but I can see it would not be everyone's cup of tea.

At Cafe Creme

The Weiwei exhibit at the Farnsworth

Today, after we had lunch with Phil and Deborah McKean, Jim and Mary, at Claws Lobster Shack in Rockport (Very good lunch - I had steamers, Ellen had a haddock sandwich and we shared sweet potato fries), Ellen and I went to the Farnsworth Museum. We had free passes because last time, we went when most exhibits were closed. Today the featured exhibit was 12 gold sculptures by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei: 12 animal heads representing the Chinese Zodiac. These are the smaller, gold-leaf-over-bronze sculptures that are touring the country. There is a larger bronze exhibit also by Weiwei which is touring in larger museums.

"Created in 2010, the zodiac heads (a Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig) are inspired by those which once comprised a water clock-fountain at the Old Summer Palace, which is a complex of palaces and gardens in Beijing that were constructed by the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty.^[1] The Old Summer Palace was eventually destroyed by French and British troops in 1860 during the Second Opium War, at which time the fountainheads were looted. They were originally made by an Italian Jesuit, Giuseppe Castiglione."

The sculptures were spectacular. We were amazed to be able to stand inches from these creations and just let their power wash over us. I inadvertently Ieft my iPhone/camera at home, but here are some images gleaned from the web:

The Ai Weiwei exhibit at the Farnsworth

Another exhibit of the same sculptures: Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon

Side view of the snake

The Dragon, the most auspicious of the twelve

These animals actually represent not the months of the year, as in the Western Zodiac, but twelve double-hours of the day. The series begins with the Rat, which represents 11p.m. to 1 a.m., and continues in the order listed above in two-hour segments. So, e.g., right now, at 5:10 p.m., I am in the Rooster. A child born at this time would presumably have traits related to the Rooster. I'm not sure how you deal with time zones in figuring that (or, even more puzzling, DST!). 

At Owl's Head, ME

We are visiting Jim and Mary. We arrived Saturday evening at suppertime. Sunday morning we went to church at the UU church. For lunch we went to the Rockland airport to the Salty Owl restaurant. The airport is a commuter airport serving Boston and the restaurant is very small but has very tasty food. Then Sunday evening Ellen and I went to visit Philip and Deborah McKean and had supper with them. Today the McKean's are coming here and we will show them Jim and Mary's house and then go out to lunch together. Then Ellen and I will go to the Farnsworth museum. We'll have supper in town and go to the movies.

                         The Rockland airport terminal

                           The Salty Owl restaurant

                   The Salty Owl

                        The view from the restaurant

          Lupines in bloom at Jim and Mary's 

Mountain laurel

The mountain laurel is in bloom. There's a little bush behind the house that I don't think has never bloomed but it's blooming this year. It must be really beautiful up on the mountain where there's a large tract of Laurel.

So long, piano

The movers were here at 7.m. sharp this morning to move the piano. I was ready for them. It took them little time to get a dolly under it and roll it out the door. The disconcerting thing was that they arrived in like a 40-foot moving van! I was pretty sure that at Green Mountain Camp they would have trouble getting up on to the hill where Hildreth Hall is located. Matt, the driver, agreed - he remembered taking a piano there once  before, years ago. I called  Billie, the director, and appraised her of the situation. The moving guys said they could take the piano, but would have to change trucks and deliver it later. I felt badly about that for the GMC folks' sake. But I called GMC later in the morning and learned that the guys had decided to go check it out, discovered the road up to Hildreth had been widened, got up it ok, and the piano was all in place! Yay!

The piano this morning at 7 a.m.

Out the door it goes!

Over the stones...

Up the ramp...

....into this HUGE van

Leaving an empty space in my study!

With the piano gone, I was able to take up the oriental carpet that has been on the floor for almost 4 decades, took it up on to the deck and gave it a thorough vacuuming. Later I will shampoo it. Then I thoroughly vacuumed the walls and floor in the study. I will miss the piano but so glad it has a new home where it will be used and appreciated.

New residents

We have a new family at Chez Crockett - at least for a while! A family of Phoebe's. Susan Gelettly first noticed them. The have built a nest between the window and the screen, made possible because the window (an awning-type, thus creating a kind of eave)  was open for days on end. Initially there were five little eggs. Now there are at least four little hatchlings. The mother is very vigilant and becomes frantic if we try to move the curtain and take a peek. I got a photo while was off getting food.

A very poor, hastily-made photo of baby Phoebes. 

Mother Phoebe in a tree near the nest