sea glass

We are finding some excellent pieces for our collection.

We have been to this little beach, "sea glass beach" as we call it, so many times. We have jars of smooth glass we have collected here.

This time, there are so many pieces of glass that aren't quite ready yet, with sharp edges still. We throw them back into the mix so that they can be churned for another year or two.

  

We'll come back to collect them next time. 

away

Yesterday, we packed up the car and we drove away.
10 minutes into our trip, we stopped in our neighboring town of Stockbridge to gas up the car and get some money from the ATM. Joey and the girls waited for me as I walked the block from the car to the bank, and as I made my way through all the tourists who had come to see Norman Rockwell's very own Main Street, the whole town looked different to me. Because with the slam of the trunk that contained our bathing suits and books to read for the week, I became one who is on vacation. And even being in Stockbridge, the town that I drive through most days to pick up the girls from school, I felt different, like I could wander down the 2 or 3 alleys that the town has to offer, like I could discover something and then have an ice cream cone. Vacation, it seems, is all about a certain way of thinking about it all.

And today we are in Maine, on our favorite island of Peaks, just 20 minutes off my favorite city of Portland.  The girls have planned out their ice cream flavors, and they have brought special sea glass collecting bags. Happy Monday, friends. I hope there is some part of your day today that feels at least a bit like a vacation.

Fish Chowder

I'm still thinking about Maine. I've been shuffling the girls around since I got back, working and trying to do the laundry late at night. I'm a bit fixated on one reason I would really like to live by the ocean one day.

Oh wait- there are a couple more.

I am only three hours from the ocean, and somehow the fish here is all expensive, bad, or both. But in Maine, we had a poor man's feast- fish chowder.


Lucky for us, we were not the only visitors at Sarah and Jefferson's last weekend. Sarah's friend Christine was there, along with her three fantastic children. That last night, we all had our fish chowder, and then we took in a play, "The Runaway Princess".




Who do you think got to be the princess?



Sarah's Fish Chowder

1 large onion, chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
6 red potatoes, skins on, cut into chunks
2 pounds cheap white fish (such as cod)
3 T butter
approx. 2 cups milk, or more as needed
1 cup water
1/2 cup chopped parsley
salt and pepper

In a medium sized heavy bottomed pot, melt the butter. Add the onion, then celery, then potatoes. Saute until the potatoes start to soften, about 10-15 minutes. Add water, cover and continue to cook at a low heat for another 15 minutes.
Put 2 large scoops of cooked potatoes into the blender. Cover with milk. Blend. Set aside.
Put the piece of fish into the soup and cook until it is cooked through and flakes apart. Add the milk mixture and salt and pepper to taste. Add more milk if you prefer a thinner soup. Add parsley. Serve with oyster crackers if you are lucky enough to have them handy.

adventure

With Joey away this week, I decided to take the girls up to Sarah and Jefferson's in Maine for a few days.

I find that as I get older, I get more comfortable with my fears, and this worries me a bit.

Although I used to fearlessly journey wherever and whenever I had the urge, it seems that more is at stake now, and to pack the girls up in the car and drive far away just seems so hard, at least in my mind.

Home is just easier, but this time I couldn't help myself. I wanted to go for an adventure.

And it was so nice to have a few days away from all the work and responsibility that houses us. Sometimes I have a hard time just slowing down at all so that I can look my kids in they eye and really be with them. Sometimes I need to go away so that I can have the opportunity.

Good thing I have such friends to help me out too. Amazing how many people the girls consider to be in their family.

And it's helpful for me to remember that although I share the work with Joey and I like it that way, I can still do those things that I've stopped doing in these years, like driving in the rain on an unfamiliar highway, or packing and unpacking a car stuffed with sleeping bags and rain boots and bananas all by myself.
What a good weekend. I have lots more to share, and some really good food to tell you about, but I just wanted to check in while I can still hear the sound of the pebbles talking as the waves go out.