This Moment

This Moment - A Friday ritual inspired by Soule Mama. 

A simple and special moment that I want to hold onto and cherish.

If you feel inspired to do the same, please 

leave a link to your moment in the comments.

For the Love of Lobster Mac and Cheese

One Friday night recently my neighbor popped in after supper.  Miss B was already in her nightgown.  Five minutes later and I would have been too... anyhoo this lovely neighbor wanted to know if we enjoyed eating lobster.  Why yes, we do!  Apparently her daughter, who is a recent graduate and now a marine biologist has been doing some fishing/lobstering work on the side for extra money.  She invited Miss B and I over to pick out a couple lobsters to take home and cook. We threw on boots and sweaters and were there in a flash.  We are no strangers to live lobsters, my dad being a recreational lobsterman and all, so Miss B was not at all squeamish about picking out our haul.

These were quite honestly the biggest lobsters I'd ever seen.  I ended up steaming them for 15 minutes (a far cry longer than I generally would), and we picked them and had lobster rolls the following day.  But we still had a ton of meat - ah such a problem, I know ; )  I love sweet fresh lobster straight up.  Steamed and maybe dipped in a bit of melted butter, but that's it.  However my taste buds being a bit wonky these days I decided instead on a lobster mac and cheese.  Normally I find dishes like this absolute sacrilege, I mean why mess with perfection, but like I said, these are strange times.

I ended up using this recipe from the Barefoot Contessa.  Miraculously I had all the ingredients on hand, or worthy substitutions (I used Comte instead of Gruyere).  It was insanely good!  My plan was  to serve it one or two meals and freeze the rest in smaller portions for the darker days of winter, but it was so crazy good the hubs and I ate it for both lunch and dinner until it was gone.  I cannot recommend this recipe enough.  If you've ever been tempted by lobster mac and cheese I implore you to use this recipe.  Yumm, yumm, yummy!

Thanks neighbor!  Now plotting her tasty thank you.  Maybe a jar of the rose petal syrup we made this spring?

Where I've Been

The lovely Salmon Falls River sporting in fall costume.

Why hello there!  You may have wondered what black hole I have fallen into...well it is a black hole of happiness so to speak.

While I have not been blogging I've been...

Celebrating a second heartbeat!!

Spending a lot of time in the bathroom.

Spending a lot of time on the couch.

Spending a lot of time on our other couch.

Calling my hubby and asking him to bring sandwiches home for supper.

Celebrating a second heartbeat!!

Getting really good at saying no thank you to opportunities to do more.

Getting really good at just being, but getting at least a short walk in every day.

Telling Miss B she is going to be a big sister.

Watching her process this, and do a happy dance because she is so excited.

The next day answering her questions about whether or not you can marry your brother ; )

Still celebrating that second heartbeat and now feeling flutters of movement!!!

It is now a rare day when I actually vomit - yay!  And though I can still over do it, I feel my energy is on the upswing.

Dressing up as a super hero, maybe super mom, for Halloween, cause you know, I am ; )

Anyway, I hope to reconnect with this space, with the caveat there may be a few more things baby running through my noggin.  Just saying.

Fairy House Festival

This fairy house was made from a gourd and I adore the little ladder.

 We attended the 8th Annual Fairy House Festival in Portsmouth, NH this year and it was enchanting!

This bridge is amazing!

Miss B dressed as a baby fairy (hence the lack of fairy wings) complete with blue hair : )

Gardens in full bloom with fairy houses nestled among the flowers.  Spotted among the fairy dwellings were miniature swings, twig ladders leading to fairy sized lofts, teeny beds with feather blankets, seashell lined walkways and acorn cap bowls filled with itty bitty fairy food.  The attention to detail that went into these pint sized creations was awe inspiring.  

What a darling seashell swing!

Lot's of bark and lichen in play here.

And the tiny table and chairs - oh my word!

This one has cattails and feathers.

Birch bark, rosehips, and smooth beach stones - lovely.

Most of the young attendees came dressed as fairies, 

adding to the magic of the event.  

A bubble tower blew out a constant and generous stream of bubbles for the little ones to chase and pop, in between face painting and constructing new fairy houses in an enchanted forest fairy village set up on Pierce Island.

The bubble tower made from a very nicely adorned stepladder.  Brilliant.

Getting lots of new ideas.

It was enough to tucker out my own little fairy.  

A fairy version of peter peter pumpkin eater.

This yarn shop complete with loom and spinning wheel was one of my favorites.

Just look at the milkweed pod baskets filled with naturally dyed yarns!

This fairy observatory was awesome!

Complete with teeny, tiny scrolls presumably of the stars. So sweet.

We are already looking forward to attending the festival next year, and I am certain we will be making a lot of fairy houses in the meantime.    

Taking it easy

Miss B had developed a cold...  Then her breathing seemed faster than usual so I thought I'd just take her into the our local walk-in clinic for a quick lung listen by a professional.  Fully expecting to be told it was fine, just a cold.  Not the case at all.  We ended up in the ER with Bronchiolitis.  Breathing stuff is scary!!  So thankful for such wonderful medical staff!  And the next day at the follow-up a double ear infection!

So last week we were laying low.  Miss B missing her friends and dance class too : (  We were itching to get outside, so we decided a short fall stroll through lovely Vaughan woods was in order.  Sunlight and fresh air are healing no?  Well, actually this did not work out well at all, Miss B got quite winded quite fast, and the woods were full of babies and their people!  We spent our time trying to slowly stroll back to the car, while taking the trails less traveled and going off trail to avoid the little ones and sharing our sickness.  Crazy!  We felt like spies sort of.  Miss B was very good about it all.

I remember as a child my own mother took me to the beach one time after a doctor appointment, for the sea air to work it's magic.  This seemed a lot like playing hooky to me and it was thrilling.

Miss B just loves fall - its powers of transformation.  Each day feels like a holiday...maybe the trees will look different.  The discovery of one beautiful leaf after another.

We're back to our regular things this week, but I/we still feel worn out.  But I have missed this space and will work on getting back in here.  I do appreciate your patience.

Wishing you a restful day.

This Moment - A Friday ritual inspired by Soule Mama. 

A simple and special moment that I want to hold onto and cherish.

If you feel inspired to do the same, please 

leave a link to your moment in the comments.

Things we are loving

One of our favorite librarians, Miss Kathleen, recently introduced us to Mo Willems and his pigeon books.  Pure genius!  I think it's really hard to be so flipping funny in so few words.  Just amazing.  One of the books we borrowed from our library had a disc with Mo reading Don't Let The Pigeon Stay Up Late and it was out of this world.

Miss B is enjoying the games and printables on the pigeon's website.

The perfume I am wearing now...tee-hee...it's called tomato plant.  Only available for a limited time...and in your nearest garden.

Completing outside projects before winter.  I finally bit the bullet and resurfaced our paved driveway myself.  It actually came out remarkably well.  I like to think all my years of squeegying the floor of the creamery translated into my awesomeness with the driveway squeegee.  It also helped that all the neighborhood walkers cheered me on.  I felt like a superstar.  Love our neighborhood.

Dream catchers - we're on a kick of sorts...and they do seem to be helping Miss B sleep better.  Next up we want to make a giant one out of a broken hula hoop.  How fun would that be?  Also, it would make it so she doesn't have to spend so much effort positioning herself directly beneath the small one we made initially.  Here's a great tutorial from NativeTech and another from That Artist Woman.

The September light.  It is so golden and with the crisp air you just know it is important to enjoy it now while we have it.  Much like many things in this world/life.