Maine

[MustardTiger]

Ash; very very true. I love making things. I make a lot of salt dough ornaments for xmas; wreaths, santas, angels etc. They take forever to make and paint but people love them. I only give them to people who are close to me since it is such a lot of work but I feel that those who get them, really appreciate something hand made. It costs nothing to make them but they are worth a lot. I also make my xmas cards every year - I do a lino cut and print multiples. It is a beast! I am almost done this years. Thank god. It really hurts my hands to carve the lino sometimes.

I also paint portraits but....that is really special cause I don't have a lot of time for that these days. This is one I painted from a photo I took in the Philippines.

Anyhow, I am elbow deep in pumpkin pie from scratch. Husband is making the rest of the meal. He is the cook of the house But I am the baker. It is just the two of us this year since. We moved to Maine a few years ago from Canada and the midwest on a whim and have no family here. But we are happy to have a quiet little thanksgiving.

Hope everyone has a lovely day and delicious meal!

(lots of purses spilling over today )

 

[buckabucka]

Love the portrait, MustardTiger!

Things are simple here. We're cooking a big meal for DH's 92 year old father and bringing it over. Most years, we also go visit with friends, but they are in Boston, one of them is mid-way through a harrowing round of chemo. We'll go hang out with them in the hospital on Saturday.

Christmas is the same; a good meal with DH's father and with friends. I make a couple of homemade gifts for sisters on the west coast, and people at school, but that's it. I'd probably feel like I needed to do the whole shopping/tree/decorate thing if I had kids, but it's just us and the chickens. I do make a lot of Christmas cookies, though.

 

[Widget]

Things are very simple here. I haven't celebrated Thanksgiving or Christmas for four years. The one sister who used to invite me for the holidays passed away four years ago. My other two sisters who both live about 20 miles away I haven't seen in over a year. I do see what they are up to based on Facebook postings though. My brother in TN sends a mass email once or twice a year. I did hear from my brother in FL today so at least I know what is going on with him.

I would cook for myself but it seem a bit of an overkill to cook a full Thanksgiving meal for one. So I tend to eat what is one hand. Last year it was tortilla chips with salsa. I didn't have the energy or desire to do much else. This year it will be tacos since I had stuff left over from last night.

On a positive note my skinny horse has gained at least 50 lbs. since I changed his feeding regimen. e And I spent two hours today putting new radio in my truck. Estimated time was one hour but things never go as planned. But now I can again use my iPod while on the road.

 

[gracejr]

Spending the day home alone here. Nasty sinus thing *plus* a stomach thing going on. Just glad it's me and not one of the kids!! And thankful for my mama who took both the boys with her to the big family celebration. Nate is at work, so I'm here working and listening to Christmas music while waiting for the kiddos to get back. Had a big fancy dinner of ritz crackers. LOL First year I've ever missed the big get together, but I really didn't want to chance getting anyone else sick.

Kaiden (the 6yo) has his first riding lesson on Sunday! Finally! We wound up going to Hearts and Horses instead of the Icelandics stable. It's a bit more money, but I think it is a better fit for him. He is shy with new people, but the second we got there for the tour, he was chatting away. Supposed to do a little Thanksgiving thing with MIL Sunday as well.

Debating getting a tree this weekend as well, anyone have suggestions on tree farms in southern ME for cut your own? It's not too early to get a tree is it?

 

[gracejr]

Widget - HOORAY for skinny horse!! Glad to hear he's improving! And yay for a better radio! Sounds like a good day overall.

Mustard - that painting is amazing! Great work!

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Debating getting a tree this weekend as well, anyone have suggestions on tree farms in southern ME for cut your own? It's not too early to get a tree is it?

As a not native-Mainer also I thought BF was insane to want to get a tree the weekend after Thanksgiving our first year. I made him wait until the second week in December. It was so cold, and so snowy I had to go back to the truck while he cut the tree down (and got covered in snow). Now we cut our own usually the weekend after Thanksgiving, but this year it'll have to wait until next weekend cause I'm working this one.

Sounds like lots of lonely Thanksgivings. Maybe next year we should have a BYC Maine Thanksgiving!

I love the portrait!

 

[Widget]

Spending the day home alone here. Nasty sinus thing *plus* a stomach thing going on. Just glad it's me and not one of the kids!! And thankful for my mama who took both the boys with her to the big family celebration. Nate is at work, so I'm here working and listening to Christmas music while waiting for the kiddos to get back. Had a big fancy dinner of ritz crackers. LOL First year I've ever missed the big get together, but I really didn't want to chance getting anyone else sick.
Kaiden (the 6yo) has his first riding lesson on Sunday! Finally! We wound up going to Hearts and Horses instead of the Icelandics stable. It's a bit more money, but I think it is a better fit for him. He is shy with new people, but the second we got there for the tour, he was chatting away. Supposed to do a little Thanksgiving thing with MIL Sunday as well.
Debating getting a tree this weekend as well, anyone have suggestions on tree farms in southern ME for cut your own? It's not too early to get a tree is it?

I heard great things about Hears and Horses. I bet he will love it.

As for cut your own trees I will say try Beech Ridge Farm in Scarborough. They have a web page so check them out. The farm is owned by my cousin and her family.

 

[Mainechick168]

awesome painting mustardtiger! And all the pennies spilling over are appreciated.

We had a simple thanksgiving this year- with just my mom and her husband, and my uncle and his partner who just moved back to Maine...usually it's the whole extended family, which is also fine, but it was nice for it to be a little more mellow this time around.

I am also going with the making gifts thing this year- I usually do a bunch of baking, and make something like a homemade sugar scrub to supplement gifts, but this year I'm trying to make it all- jewelry, tote bags, pickles....people do appreciate the time spent making something just for them, and I enjoy the making.

As far as Christmas trees go, I am not sure of cut your own farms in southern Maine, but many of the people who sell them already cut get them from tree farms in Maine or Canada- so you are still supporting local business ( most of the time) when you do it this way.



ALso, one more thing....since we are on a bit of a food topic- has anyone else here heard of the Weston A Price foundation and their recommended diet? It makes a ton of sense to me and I try to adhere to the principles as much as I can and I wouldn't be surprised if it did you a bunch of you chicken and livestock raising people

 

[gracejr]

I've heard that name thrown around here and there, a quick google says yes it makes sense to me. Though I'm a bit more along the lines of a paleo/primal principal in thinking (which I will admit I'm not actually doing right now).

 

[Mainechick168]

http://www.westonaprice.org/basics/dietary-guidelines


I like the last 3- I think a lot of people forgot that these things are important for our overall well being.

I also think that one of the reasons why I particularly like this is that it is similar to how my grandfather and his family would have eating growing up- they had a small dairy farm and raised most of what they ate and supplemented this with meat from hunting and fishing- and were "too poor" to by the premade foods of the time. He is 85 and still going strong, one of 10, only one of his siblings has passed, his oldest brother who also drank a lot...his oldest sister is almost 90 and still mows her own lawn...whatever they all did has worked!

ALso, another plug, a farm I visited this summer and sometimes get food from through the coop practices this way of life, and I really respect them- Tide Mill organic farm in Edmunds twp ( waay down east!) they are part of the Moomilk coop too...!