Tag: family

Plans that don’t work out

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, local fun, restaurants, tweens

We decided to head over to Shaw’s Ridge Farm Ice Cream, BBQ, and Mini-Golf a few days ago. I’d been wanting to go there for weeks and we finally had a day off together to go. I looked it up online, got directions, and saw that it opened at “11AM daily”, but somehow missed the part where it mentions that the BBQ part was only open at that time Thursday through Sunday. Of course, we were NOT going on one of those days. Since we were primarily going for the BBQ (since it is always, ultimately, all about the food) for lunch and it was 11:30AM, we did not stay.

So now, we were kind of stuck out there in beautiful downtown Sanford with a free day but without a plan or a clue about what to do next. My husband, always resourceful, is not directionally challenged (as am I) and so is unafraid to drive around unfamiliar streets until he finds something interesting, so that’s what we do.

Bowling (I always tend toward the familiar)? Nope, nixed by the fam. We wanted to try to do something outside since (for the moment) it wasn’t raining. We decide to eat lunch first. Ted’s Fried Clams in Shapleigh, coincidently another place we’ve always wanted to try, looms large.

Ted's Fried Clams

We go. The food is great. A bonus: The Rockhouse is attached; they serve, like, a million flavors of ice cream…well, make that 999,999 flavors. We wanted almond joy but they were out of (only!) that. We got coffee kahlua brownie instead, which was terrific.

Driving further, we found some walking trails along a lake and so found our outdoor activity after all.

Lessons learned:

  1. Always check hours of operation prior to going to a new place!!
  2. Know that Murphy’s Law is always lurking out there in the world of your favorite, “go-to” ice cream flavors, so have a Plan B.

Signs (from the dead relatives)

by Karen, posted in family, good grief, tweens

Ever wrestle with a decision, wondering what is the right thing to do in any situation? Sometimes when that happens to me, I’ll think, “What would my mother or father do?” or “What would Nana think about this?”.

Well, the other day I was going back on forth about something, then made my decision and spent hours second- guessing myself. After a while, I thought, “I did what my mother would have done”; what she did in fact do many times during my life. I also thought of how generous and giving my grandmother was (both of them, actually, but on this day I was thinking of my dad’s mother) to me whenever I needed it, throughout my life, when I deserved it, and (often) when I didn’t.

Then I tried to stop thinking about it. A moment later, I got an email that included a recipe for my favorite soup that my grandmother used to make for me (escarole soup with little meatballs)…Nana giving her approval?  A bit later on, I opened up the American Profile magazine that came with the Portland Press Herald that day and there (0n page 12) was an article entitled “Pride for Popeye“…here’s where I admit that my father used to call me that as a nickname when I was in kindergarten. Now I’m thinking, “Two signs! This is clearly Dad saying, ‘Good job!'”

And then, that night I dreamed about my mother. She was in my house, visiting. I kept thinking, “I didn’t know my mother was going to be home today!”…

I had to laugh to myself when I woke up. The dead relatives showed up big time to show their support for me yesterday and I’m so happy that they did.

Exercise? Ugh!

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, fitness, gardening, health, local fun

Some people love exercise; I am not one of those people. I like to eat big, however, so I have to (at least sometimes) engage in physical activity of some sort to avoid doubling in size.

I subscribe to the idea that little (read: bearable)  increments of exercise throughout the day that add up to a half an hour are as good as 30 consecutive minutes. Better, maybe. So.

Here’s what I do in increments on the days that I can’t talk myself into going to the gym (ugh!):

  1. Hula hoop. I keep one in my cubicle at work. Some days if I get in early (eg: before any potential witnesses) I go into an empty conference room (one with enough clearance!) and hoop for 10-15 minutes.

    Hooping!
  2. Yoga. There are several yoga poses that you can do at your desk, in line at the supermarket, even in the car.
  3. Gardening. Depending on the time of year, that might mean berry picking (straw, blue, black, in that order), weeding, dealing with tomato staking and harvesting, digging potatoes, watering, and so on.

    Yukon gold potatoes from our garden
  4. Walking. Go to the ocean for a walk. Also, getting out for 10 or 15 minutes to walk on a work break is usually doable. Problem: I often walk to the gelato store…nothing like a caramel turtle or a cappuccino fudge brownie gelato to lift one’s spirits… 🙂
  5. Bike ride. Not in “treks” or “marathons” of any sort; just in circles in the driveway or around the block on flat pavement.
  6. Dance! Crank up the stereo/iPod/mp3…almost painless. 🙂

A bonus is that all of the above can be done with your child present. Maybe they will even participate. You can feel good because a) you are setting a good example for him or her and b) not having a babysitter is not valid excuse to blow it off.

What do you do for exercise? Do you love it or hate it?

Fun with friends

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, baking, family, italian, local fun, restaurants, tweens

What could be better than a great day spent doing fun things with your friends?  Not much; especially if it involves good food. 

friends

 

This past weekend, my daughter and I did just that. We started off at The Good Table, a wonderful restaurant in Cape Elizabeth.  Sunday brunch is the day to go; that is the day that you can have a cinnamon bun that’s (almost as) big as your head. Even if that’s the only thing you have, you will be very happy you went. 

Of course, it’s not the only thing that we had. Among us, we ordered an Italian Villa (an egg dish, not a house), blueberry crepes…home fries, toast, eggs, bacon were all present and accounted for. We had plenty left over; too bad I forgot it in my friend’s car! (yes, she saved them for me…). 🙂 

Next, being happily filled up with an abundance of excellent food, we stopped at Two Lights. We got out, walked around, took pictures of our kids and ourselves. Then we headed over to Fort Williams Park for a drive through…we didn’t have time to get out and walk around because the girls were anxious to get to the Maine Rock Gym. If you are bringing your tween to climb, please note that if they are under 12 then they will need someone to belay for them, so be prepared. About an hour is how long we (my 11 year old and I) usually last at rock climbing. 

climbing rock wall

 

The girls had been wanting to go to Coastal Maine Popcorn in the Old Port. This is a great place to take your kids. They have up to 30 different popcorn flavors, both savory and sweet. Some recent offerings are black licorice, buffalo wing, salt and vinegar, watermelon, Maine maple. You are welcome to try any flavors before you buy them. We tried, then we bought for others. 

After that, the girls (and of course, the moms!) needed a treat for ourselves. We had an “ice cream vs gelato” debate, and in the end, ice cream won. We headed to the new location of Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream in the Old Port. If you are an adventurous ice cream eater, this is the place for you. Like Coastal Maine Popcorn, they will happily let you “try before you buy”  (lavender? avocado? jack daniels? all these ice cream flavors and many more), like all good businesses do. 

This concluded our outing. We were tired, but happy. Consider your own “Fun with Friends” day in your own or nearby town.

The Man with the Ginormous Head

by Karen, posted in family, local fun, Someone's gotta say it, tweens

I was very excited to go see my daughter in a show at the Ogunquit Playhouse. I bought a ticket for 2 of the 3 shows in advance;  I had not been planning to attend the first show on Saturday. When I saw my daughter’s face as I told her this (“You mean you’re not going??”) , I had a change of heart and bought a ticket for that one as well.

Needless to say, I did not get a front row seat for my last-minute efforts. Now, there really aren’t many bad seats at the Playhouse, so I wasn’t too worried…I got there early. I found my seat. I waited with anticipation for the show to start. All was well, until…enter, the Man with the Ginormous Head.  Oh no! How could this happen?

If you ever find yourself in this position, what would you do? Here are some coping tips from my recent experience:

  1. Reposition yourself frequently. Otherwise, you will have a very large crick in your neck after an hour of tipping your head to the left without a break.
  2. Try not to think too much about how annoying you might be to the people sitting behind you (what with the frequent repositioning and all).
  3. Resist the urge to bludgeon big fat head with the $3 bottle of water you purchased at the concession stand when you arrived.
  4. Entertain the thought of pitching “height requirement for ticket sales” idea to the Playhouse management…under my plan, people 5’2″ (example: me) and under get would get preferential (read: up close) seating.
  5. Decide to be grateful that I am seeing the show two more times, one of which will be from the front row. When all is said and done, I will miss nothing.
  6. Wonder how, when 90% of the audience is under 3 feet tall (read: children), was I so fortunate as to wind up sitting behind the Man with the Ginormous Head.
  7. Pause briefly to further wonder why 4’8″ daughter is positioned behind the 5’8″ cast member wearing the 6″ tall headpiece on the stage…(but I digress).

Above all, remain calm, I reminded myself. Panicking helps no one. Breathe. He keeps moving around; there is no safe place! Now he is gesticulating with his hands (which are also ginormous!) effectively obliterating my tiny window of visibility to the stage!

And just when I think it can’t get any worse…well, it doesn’t. It gets better. The person who was sitting next to me doesn’t return after the intermission. The person sitting in front of her was a very small child who had migrated to his mother’s lap. The view is now completely unobstructed.  Life is good; the show goes on, and…I remember the most important thing:

I am so proud of my daughter. 🙂

Sad day for tomatoes

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, education, family, gardening, raising chickens
rescued tomatoes

Well, I have some distressing news today: they have come. The dreaded tomato horned worm has invaded my tomato garden. In all of the years that I’ve been growing tomatoes, this is a (terrible) first. I guess it’s true: if you plant it, they will come. 

It’s especially depressing because (for once!) this has such a promising year for tomatoes so far! They are plentiful, robust plants this year, which almost never happens. 

So, the time has come for me to admit the truth: I am a wimpy gardener. I hate picking the pests off of the plants leaves and fruits; it makes my skin crawl. Of course, that is the first line of defense against so many pests: remove and squish them. 

But I can’t really complain. I am fortunate. I am married to man who loves me more than he hates tomato pests. He is the one who hand-picked all of those repulsive, large, green wormy caterpillary horned creatures from my tomato plants and then fed them to the chickens (circle of life, baby; circle of life). 

Why not just turn the chickens loose on the tomato beds? Because chickens love eating tomatoes as much as the tomato hornworms love eating tomatoes, so there is a basic conflict of interest there. 

If you want to see what these disgusting creatures look like, click here, then scroll down for the pictures on the left side of the text. 

Of course, there are various and sundry poisons to use for most pests, but doesn’t it give you pause when you think about eating the food that has potentially internalized the poison that you are hoping kills some living thing? 

So, what do you do? Pick, squish, then hope for the best? or do you follow that with a good dousing with the poison of your choice?

Children’s theater

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, restaurants, tweens

Consider taking a break from the movies this weekend. There are shows this summer at the Ogunquit Playhouse for kids of all ages. If you have some free time this weekend, head over to the Playhouse to see this week’s show: Jack and the Beanstalk. The show times are Saturday August 7th at 10AM and another show at 12:00 noon. On Sunday, August 8th there is one show at 10:00AM. The price is reasonable, and almost any seat will give you a good view of the stage.

You can order your tickets online at the Ogunquit Playhouse website (full disclosure: my daughter is in this play!).

Have plans already this weekend? There is one more event for children’s theater this season: My Son Pinocchio. There are 3 shows; the dates are August 28th and 29th (also a weekend).

After the theater, cruise (or crawl…it is a summer weekend in Maine, after all; traffic will most likely be heavy) on down route 1 toward Wells for lunch or a snack. There are so many great restaurants and ice cream shops that your only problem will be deciding which one to pick. 🙂

Pirates! in Kennebunk!

by Karen, posted in (it's all about the) food, family, tweens
The Pirates Musical

If you want something fun and inexpensive to do, scour your own and adjacent towns for low cost (cheap! cheap!) or free activities to do with the fam. 

Last Thursday night, my husband, daughter and I met at the Kennebunk High School to see a play. I met them after work; they went early, bought the tickets, and then drove over to McD’s for a caramel frappe (omg, so good. Haven’t yet tried one? GO. NOW. They are similar to a DD coolata, but smoother, and cheaper, read: win-win!). 

The show started at 7:30PM, which is late for my 11 year old to be out, but hey…it is summer vacation, and summer vacation is getting shorter by the minute. It ends in August, for gosh-sakes…but I digress. 

Back to the play: “The Pirate Musical!” was written and performed as a fundraiser by a then-high school senior Joey Aaskov at KHS and did so well (shows sold out, according to the Seacoast Online) when it opened last February, that an encore performance was arranged. Well, lucky for us, because it was great.  There was even a makeshift snack bar: a few women were selling large, individually wrapped, homemade chocolate chip cookies (“Mary’s Cookies”) and bottles of water. No napkins though, so make sure you bring your own. 

Also in Kennebunk on Wednesday nights are the Concerts in the Park.  The shows start at 6:30PM and run for about an hour. Next Wednesday the New Legacy Swing Band is performing. Never heard of them? So what? The concerts are free, and Duffy’s (and several other restaurants) and DQ are right across the street. You can go early and have dinner first at Duffy’s, then after go for dessert at DQ. 

The Pirates Musical plays one more show this evening, so if you are free…head on over.

Despicable Me, the movie

by Karen, posted in family, tweens

I took my daughter to see “Despicable me”  this past weekend and we both loved it. It’s no “Toy Story 3“, but definitely is worth the price of admission (so to speak). 

Promotional Poster

The main character, Gru, is played by Steve Carell, and he becomes a dad after he adopts 3 orphaned girls for bad-deed-doing purposes. He plays the role as a kind of  “anti-dad”…for example, he says out loud the things that some parents may find themselves thinking at the end of a long hard day of work and child rearing, but would never actually say to their children. 

Gru does say these thoughts he’s thinking.  Out loud. There is no censor. Pay attention to the scene when finally, after they beg him night after night, he relents and reads the girls a bedtime story; it’s hilarious. 

Be careful though; make sure you employ your own censor if you are watching the movie with your tween. You wouldn’t want to embarrass her by laughing out loud inappropriately (read: when none of the other parents are laughing) at a movie moment that particularly resonates with you, as I inadvertently did. Okay, more than once. 

It was worth it though. It’s one of those funny movies that manages to move you as well.  Definitely worth seeing at the theater (read: do not wait for dvd for this one).

It’s (probably) a girl!

by Karen, posted in family, raising chickens

Well, it’s been a little more than 3 weeks and it’s looking more and more like he is a she. Of course, all the data is not in, but very soon it will become unequivocal.

For now though, she is still a runt, much smaller then the other chickens. We attempted to take a picture of her next to a more normal sized hen, but she was running around (and at one  point actually became airborne) so much that we weren’t able to pull that off. We did manage to get one picture of her holding still, while she was held (compare to original picture).

So, the whole issue of naming is rearing its ugly head. Naming chickens carries inherent heartbreak. It seems that it’s always the chicken that you love the best that the hawk will get, or that will come down with the mysterious virus that sends them to “the corner”. When the chicken goes to “the corner”, it will usually be dead in three days.

Now is it because three days of standing in the corner will result in death? or is it that three days before the chicken knows it’s going to depart this world for the big henhouse in the sky, they seek out the comfort of  “the corner”?

It’s kind of reminiscent of the age-old “which came first…” question.

So, we are putting off naming her, but two contenders for the name of the chicken that we are trying not to name are both androgynous. Vote for the name you like the best.