Floral Creations

On my recent birthday, I discovered one of the perks of being the daughter of a floral designer: birthday flower arrangements made by my own mother. 


My mom recently went back to work; she took a job as a floral designer. I think she likes it for the most part; she always made her own wreaths and arrangements whenever possible. For my birthday, my first as the child of a working mother, she put together this "pupcake" and added extra daises. Because, in addition to being the friendliest flower, they are also my favourite. 

Though I should also note that my sister picked out this particular arrangement. :-)

Cletus

My sister requested a blog post dedicated to one of her favourite ducks: Cletus. So here it is:


My sister has loved her pet ducks for her entire life. One of my favourite photos of her as a baby shows her wearing a bathing suit and sneakers, squatted down next to a duck. She has her arms folded like wings, and she and the duck are staring intently at each other. Each one trying to figure out the other.


But having ducks is not always easy. I mean, they are low-maintenance when it comes to feeding and clean-up, but they are not good when it comes to self-defense. Hence the phrase "like sitting ducks." Over the years we have lost many to predators such as dogs, raccoons (NO, they are not cute!), opossum, and weird fungal infections. One time my sister came outside to find just a duck foot. No blood or feathers. Just a lone foot. After checking the rest of the ducks, she realized that one of them was perfectly fine yet missing a foot. The foot had simply fallen off. He lived many years more, but always had trouble swimming in a straight line....


Cletus is depicted below. This duck has the wildest hairstyle; like a giant cotton ball has been glued to its head. It is the best animal hair besides Hank's.

(Sister & Cletus)

(In action) 

(In hiding)

Second-Annual Maine-Cation

Last month, my sister, parents, and I went on the second-annual Maine-Cation. Well, it's the second annual trip for me, anyway. My parents and younger sister have been there five times now, and they still constantly talk about moving there when my dad retires. 

Besides being absolutely beautiful, the thing about Maine is that we always find something new to do. This year, we did the usual kayaking and cycling down to the general store. But this time, we rented the pontoon boat and took it out to Mt. Kineo.

Once we got there, we just parked it and swam in the water or laid in the sun.

(myself)

Some people went cliff-diving. I was not one of them, but I enjoyed watching.

(Once this girl resurfaced, she yelled, "I have a wedgie!!!")

Sister drove the boat too.

And then she tubed behind it. She likened the moving rush of water beneath the tube to an enema. 

All-in-all, I would call it a successful and extremely relaxing vacation. I really don't blame my parents for wanting to move here.

Protection from Television

My brother Jake always practices safe television watching.

Though the helmet is so big you can't see the tv if you're standing behind him.

Ravenwood Addendum

I completely forgot to show you what I bought at the Ravenwood Shoppe! (Thanks to Argylesockgirl for reminding me.) It's weird because I took photos to post, wrote the post five minutes after that, and then forgot to show you my new wee fellow:

(Keith)

My sister and I ran through so many names on the drive from New Hampshire to Maine, and we finally decided on Keith. I think it fits him.

He is really meant to be in a garden, but I don't have a garden.... So for now, his post is at my bedroom door.

Ravenwood

On my recent trip up to Maine with the family, we stopped at what has to be the most creative shop I have ever seen. The shop wasn't in Maine; instead it was in Jackson, New Hampshire. Called Ravenwood Curio Shoppe, it looked like a house straight out of a fairy tale.

At first glance, it seems like one of those artistic shops that sells things you may love but could never afford. But as we started poking around, I noticed that a lot of the pieces were actually affordable. And there was so much to choose from; I would dare anyone to go and say that they couldn't find something that they liked.

(sister monkey and metal monkey)

Around both sides of the house was a wee garden of sculptures and random things to buy. And fountains! SO MANY fountains (one of my absolute favourite things) It began with this:

(Spark Plug Dragonfly)

(sister)

(Madre and Sister)

And it keeps going further and further back into the woods.

(parents)

Here are some of the fountains. Around the Mermaid Fountain, they had arranged some of these crabs which were made out of old pipe wrenches and spray painted bright red.

(I couldn't get enough of this one)

(Mermaid Fountain)

My mom pointed out this little sculpture and said it looks just like my brother Buddy when he was little.

Sunny Side Up

Due to the extreme heat, my sister decided to see if she could fry an egg outside. She lives in the middle of nowhere, so instead of a sidewalk, she chose to fry her egg on a random slab of metal lying in the driveway.

For her assistant, she chose the lovely Emily, of the Portsmouth Bassons (Portsmouth as in England).

An egg was chosen. The proposed cooking area was sprayed with Pam. The egg was cracked and exposed to the heat (about 112 degrees).  

As you will see from the photos at the end. The egg didn't cook very well. It kind of got hard and crusty. Eventually it had to be hosed off the metal slab/pan.

What went wrong, you may ask? Perhaps it was the slab/pan being exposed to the heat for too many days in a row; or maybe a random piece of metal doesn't make the best frying pan (take note: outdoor survival people). Or perhaps scrambled eggs would work better? Either way, here's hoping that it's never  so hot that we feel the need to try this again.

(Emily mans the spatula)

(ew)

Cheerio, Harry. It's Been Swell.

Saturday brought us the last Harry Potter. I know technically it was released on Friday, but I didn't attempt to see it until Saturday. There are two reasons for this: 1.) I wanted to avoid herds of children and 2.) Saturday is the day that my brother's girlfriend Morgan invited me. I went with the two of them and my sister. 


Because it was the last Harry Potter film, something bigger and different must be done. After all, when the last book was released, I didn't feel like we could celebrate that as a group. Reading it was a solitary experience for me, and I wanted it that way. But the film! THAT we could have fun with. 


We four went to the Imax theatre at the Franklin Institute, which, to say the least, scared the crap out of me.  I didn't know that the seats were going to be positioned so steeply...I think my sister said that we were actually sitting at a height equivalent to a four story building.


Have I mentioned my fear of heights? Is it evident in this photo?

Besides he height and the 3-D magic, I sort of felt like I was sitting in an egg. The theatre was domed, and everything had this greenish tint to it. You could tell the screen itself was white, but everything else was completely thrown off by the lack of bright lighting. It was super different from the regular theatre. 

(Even the Budd is weirded out)

I'm glad we did it that way, though. It made me feel like I was in a "Cinema of the Future!" You know, like some scientist's projection of how people of the future will watch films....


Cheerio, Harry!

(sisters)

The Birthdays Continue

It just wouldn't be summer without the annual trip to see the Grandparents Porter--and all the aunts, uncles, and cousins that pop over to the house on Brigantine Lane. Most  summers we don't need an excuse to visit, but in 2011, we drove many hours on the New Jersey Turnpike to celebrate Grandpop Porter's 85th Birthday.


Yes, 85th. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find a "Happy 85th Birthday" card? Surprisingly harder than it is to find a "Happy 90th Birthday" card.

(Morgan wins the Get to Know You Bingo)

(Practicing not falling in the lagoon)

Not only was there plenty of cake...

...but Aunt Nan and Kelly and created t-shirts with the birthday boy's face for everyone to wear:

(Sister and myself)

As the sun began to set on a full day of partying, a few of the cousins took a walk to the beach (we were really just trying to walk off dinner so we could go back and eat and drink some more. The sea air is perfect for stimulating our appetites).

(Brick Beach)

(Just because the sun is setting doesn't mean the party's over)

(The Party's Here)

And because no party is a proper party without some kind of sparklers, my dad was forward thinking enough to bring some along. 

(Emily and Myself)

(Ceremonial Lighting of the Sparklers)

Here's to 85 more birthdays at the Porters! If anyone can live 170 years, we want it to be Grandpop (and Granny) Porter!! :-)