Apple Picking

Sunday Lauren and I went apple picking at Lyon Orchards on Grover Hill Road in Bethel which is only 3 ½ miles from our house.  It was an overcast and cool day which was perfect for apple picking.  The Lyon Orchard is a picturesque place with rows of apple trees the follow the gentle slopes of the hillside.  They have five varieties of apples; Cortland, Red Free, Macoun, Red Delicious, and Macintosh. What I noticed most was how healthy all of the apples looked and how so many were growing on each tree so close together.  They were absolutely vibrant and we ended up picking 16 pounds of them for the two of us.  When we returned home Lauren made what I believe was the most delicious apple pie I ever tasted.  The crust didn’t come out picture perfect but I did not care because flavor trumps look any time.  I came across this article written by Donald Bennett on the history of Lyon Orchards and Herbie Lyon; http://www.thebetheljournals.info/Names/Herb_Lyon.htm

This apple picking adventure reminded me of a time when I was nine or ten years old and my brother Erik who was six or seven were trying to pick some apples off of one of those old abandoned trees out in the field behind our house in Easton, Mass.   The tree was big and overgrown while the apples were high and out of reach.  My genius idea was to grab the steel rake, throw it up in the tree where the rake would get stuck on some branches and then with the long handle hanging down, grab hold of it and shake the living daylights out of the tree branch until the apples fell to the ground. 

I remember telling my brother to stay the heck out of the way while I threw the rake up in the tree branch. The rake went up, hung on the branch for a brief second and then fell down; right on Erik’s head with at least one tine that poked into his head and another that poked right through his lip.  I imagine that didn’t feel too good and he started to cry and bleed at the same time.  I did what came natural to me at that age… I yelled at him.  I yelled something like “You jerk…I told you to stay out of the way” and I’m sure that made him feel better.  Yes, he needed some stitches which by this time were something my Mom was familiar with.

I feel bad about yelling at my brother that day, so Erik I’d liked to say I’m sorry for yelling at you then.  I should have waited until after you had your stitches. J   Hey I know why don’t you come up and visit soon and we can go apple-picking?  Don’t worry, we don’t need a rake.

Doors

Recently we’ve been scraping and painting doors in our house. I actually love some of the doors in this house because they appear to have been so well built. The rails have tenons that fit perfectly into the chiseled mortises at the stiles of the door which are then pegged with wooden pins. They are solid and even though they show the wear and tear of everyday living over the many years they exude a sense of pride. I can imagine that patient carpenter or cabinetmaker working with a clear sense of purpose while building these doors, build it well, build it to last.

After scraping and sanding as much of the old paint off as I could they were ready to paint. One of the areas where “light has dawned on Marblehead” is that there really is a difference in paints. You would think I would have known this by now but I thought if you were paying $35.00 a gallon for Benjamin Moore “Premium” paint you were buying the good stuff. Wrong. Benjamin Moore has this paint for $50.00 a gallon which is the good stuff called “Aura” and despite the cost it is worth the extra $15.00 per gallon. We found that in the guest bedroom on the doors and trim it took one primer coat plus three “Premium” coats to fully cover the wood whereas I could get away with one primer coat and one “Aura” coat to fully cover this door. I guess the secret is better pigmentation and a higher percentage of solids in the paint which is the “stuff” that actually sticks to the surface. It sure does go on nice and spreads like butter. By the way, if you’re planning on painting in an area of higher humidity and wetness like a bathroom or laundry room Benjamin Moore has a special “Aura” Bath & Spa paint which provides a mildew resistant coating.

So in researching information on doors I came across the following factoid: The oldest door in England can be found in Westminster Abbey and dates from 1050. This got me to thinking; my doors are old but where is the oldest door in America? I couldn’t seem to find a straight answer to this question so believing the oldest door may be located on the oldest house I Googled “Where is the oldest house in America?” And the answer was: The Fairbanks House in Dedham, MA is thought to be the oldest standing timber frame building in North America. Built circa 1637-1641. http://www.fairbankshouse.org/index.html

A Fine Door

I would have guessed something nearer the coast like Plymouth, Salem or Ipswich but Dedham it is. Now that I heard about The Fairbanks House I’d really like to check it out. They have some really interesting photos on their website. If you have any experiences and opinions on good or bad paint please leave a comment. Thanks for stopping by.

Now for the Trim

Ruth is #1

We had our first visitor to Bethel from San Diego (not counting our daughter) last week and it was Ruth who worked with Lauren at the Braille Institute. Ruth has some long time friends she came to visit who live on Clemons Pond in Hiram, Maine which is a little more than an hour’s drive from here. So on her second day in Maine Ruth and her friend Dolly came up for a visit. First there was lunch at the house and then Lauren took them to see the town. Unfortunately it was a short visit because Ruth had a busy agenda planned where she was going to a concert that night at Stone Mountain Arts Center in Brownfield, Maine http://www.stonemountainartscenter.com/ArtsCenter/ We also had a lot to talk about with her friend Dolly because her daughter now lives in Gloucester, Mass and married a fisherman.

I trust you enjoyed your vacation in Maine Ruth. You picked a great week for the weather. Thanks for being our first San Diego visitor. Now who’s going to be the next visitor from Braille? Joy, Debbie, Jay, Vint, Rick, Louise, Julie…..? Come visit us under The Dome. :)

Kayaking, Swimming, and Lobster

Amber, Tommie and Maya came up to visit us this past weekend and Kayaking, Swimming, and Lobster pretty much sums up what we did. First we had a campfire Friday night and cooked up some chicken and eggplant on the grill. Then Saturday we went to the Farmer’s Market in Bethel and picked up eight live lobsters from Tucker C. Jordan who’s a Lobsterman from Cape Elizabeth, Maine. www.mainelobsterboys.com
Next we trucked over to Virginia Lake and spent a wonderful afternoon swimming and kayaking. We had the whole peaceful beach and lake all to ourselves for most of the day. It’s hard to believe it was a Saturday in August. It was overcast but still warm and wonderful. Later that evening, back at our house, we lit the campfire again, put on our pot of water over it and then cooked those lobsters to perfection. The day was a 9.5 with the ½ point taken off for being overcast. We were going to try to see a movie on Saturday night but ran out of time.
On Sunday we HAD to go to dump to do some shopping as well as take over our trash. I scored a wire basket from a locker room which I can use to collect my golf balls in. Amber scored a Bundt pan. I can’t remember what Lauren picked up. It’s a little gem over there at the dump aka the “Transfer Station” and as someone told me they have an excellent return policy :)
On the way back from the dump we stopped at “Gourmet in a Pinch” to pick up a breakfast sandwich, muffin and coffee where they do a wonderful job with the food and the service is friendly.
After Amber and Tommie left to head back to Mass Lauren and I decided to see a matinee movie after all. It was my first time seeing a flick at the Casablanca Cinemas, it’s very cute and of course the service here is friendly too. They had four choices and we felt like comedy so we picked “The Other Guys”. That was a mistake because it just wasn’t funny. So if you’re considering seeing it, I’d say make another choice.
Thanks for the visit Amber, Tommie and Maya. There are only so many summer weekends you get in your life and we are glad you spent this one with us.

FREE

During the past few weeks we have gone swimming in two glorious lakes. The first picture is of Roxbury Pond in Andover which I had mentioned in an earlier post and it is a nice shallow yet good size lake with warmish water. It’s warmer than the ocean and most of the rivers anyway. The second picture is of Virginia Lake in Stoneham and this happens to be part of the White Mountain National Forest. This lake is a little more difficult to get too but equally warm and beautiful. The next pictures are of the blackberries we picked and the tasty blackberry pie that Lauren baked…mmmmYum! All of these things are free and fun. Sure, if you want to get technical we spent a little gas money to get to these places and the pie crust cost something but it’s close enough, so I’m calling it free. Did I ever tell you I Love Summer?

A Late Afternoon in Andover, Maine

Wednesday I knocked off from working just after 5:00 pm and Lauren and I drove up to go swimming at the covered bridge in Andover, Maine. I guess technically, looking at the map it’s considered South Andover. It’s about 18 miles from our house and a beautiful ride though that valley that probably has a name but where the Ellis River serpentines its way south toward the Androscoggin River which it joins at Rumford Point. The Andover Covered Bridge which is also known as the Lovejoy Bridge was built in 1867. There is a plenty of perfect white “beach” sand on the east side of the river bank where you can plunk down your towel before you jump in for a swim. The water was cool and refreshing. The scene was… well…did you ever see an ugly wooden covered bridge? It was beautiful. We stayed for about an hour and then decided to drive over to a nearby lake which we heard was another good swimming spot. The lake apparently has three different names, Ellis Pond, Silver Lake, or Roxbury Pond, so take your pick. It was a beautiful lake with the sun getting ready to set beyond the tree covered hills on the west side, a couple of kayakers, a water skier, a few kids happily swimming from the dock of their family cabin, and multiple other conversations carrying over the still water of a peaceful summer late afternoon. Lauren did a solo swim at this lake which was quite a bit warmer than the Andover Bridge swimming hole.
We then continued to drive to the east side of the lake to check out the summer camps and cabins which eventually turned into a dirt road. Now I love dirt roads even though you shake, it’s loud and you stir up dust as you drive along. You really know you’re in the country when you are driving along a dirt road. Just before we crossed Garland Brook I spotted two Moose off in clearing maybe 100 yards away. We just stopped the car and watched them. They watched us… and after about 8 minutes of that they decided we were boring and headed into the woods. Naturally we forgot our camera which we seem to do a lot on occasions like this. The pictures above are from other times when we actually remembered our camera.
My plan was to take a road I saw on the map on the north side of the lake that heads back east toward Andover. It was 7:30 pm now beginning to get dark and I think Lauren was beginning to get nervous, out in the middle of nowhere… on a dirt road….with me. She took out The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer to check out my plan. Then she got technical on me and pointed out that the dirt road we’ve been shaking are brains around on for the last 15 minutes was considered a “Other Passable Road” according to the map legend and that the next road I was planning to take was called a “Unimproved Road”, and that the next thing below that would be called a “Trail”. So in a sign that I must be maturing in life I turned around and headed back in the direction we came.
We made it back to the center of Andover just before 8:00 pm and were hungry. Luckily we made it in time to eat at the General Store and Diner before they closed. What is the best way to end a day in Maine? How about a Lobster Roll on a toasted bun, with French fries and homemade Cole slaw for $7.99? Yes, we took two. Mmmm…Per-fect-O! So far this is the best tasting and best lobster roll deal I’ve come across. But we are not done as we seek to find more swimming holes and eat yet more lobster rolls. Thanks for stopping by. - Pete

Beer

Beer

When I drink beer

I drink IPA

When I drink beer

IPA lot