Sugar Hill

Our anniversary came at the time of a family wedding this year, so we took ourselves on a late trip to the White Mountains. Sugar Hill to be exact. Sugar Hill is the center of maple sugaring country in New Hampshire. Every time I have been there, I've found it enchanting. I'll tell you that part of the charm is Polly's Pancake Parlor. There's no place like it and I didn't even take a photo! We indulged in breakfast AND lunch on Saturday, and did NOT skip the local bacon. Polly's pancakes are the best in the land, reputedly, and no one who reviews for Yelp questions this. They're whole grain with OF COURSE real maple syrup. Worth a trip JUST FOR POLLYS in my opinion. Check out their website and you may be planning a trip to NH soon!

Of course there are the mountains which are awesome and make for great hikes. Hikers are very friendly people; we felt like kindred spirits with everyone along the paths. Our ONLY hikes this year, we definitely felt out of shape. We did 10 miles in TWO days and should have been able to do that much in one day. As an excuse, I'll say that half of those miles were straight up, but let's face it: the other half were straight down.

We hiked the Kinsman Ridge Trail and Mt. Pemigewasset, both highly recommended by these oldsters.
Staying at the Sugar Hill Inn was a great treat too. Furnished simply with antiques and quilts, it is not fancy (our room, at least, which admittedly was the least expensive), it was very much to our liking. KATY, the resident Bassett Hound-Australian Shepherd was quite the character. The chef has won awards, but we didn't have dinner there. One of the snacks put out in the afternoon, however, was miso seared marlin and was that a treat! Imagine that as a snack. And I was expecting cookies!
On the Gale River we spied the tallest, largest Great Blue Heron we'd ever seen. She flew away before I could get a close-up.
Wildlife? I'm always hoping to see a bear, but I don't think I'd like it if I did. I imagined what we would do in the event of a sighting; stand tall together, wave our hands over our heads and make lots of loud noises. Instead I saw this log that reminded me of a crocodile!
We also saw a great movie, The Double Hour, at the Bethlehem Colonial Theatre, where they serve brewers yeast with popcorn, just like our theatre here in Waterville, ME, AND provide blankets to keep you warm as I assume there is no heat. The Double Hour was a romance, film noir AND thriller, that kept us on the edge of our seats from start to finish. in Italian with subtitles. I say Don't Miss It.

That Provincetown Light

Jil, Sophie and I make good playmates. We absorbed the light of the day on the beach in Truro and then fell into the sunset in Provincetown Harbor. There is nowhere else with light like there is at the tippy end of Cape Cod, where it p0urs in from all directions. No wonder Mary Oliver makes her home here.

Thanks to Home Depot's palette of paint chips and Framer's Workshop's constant supply of mat board middles, we had free materials. We all worked on getting the light onto our boards and were happily engrossed for several hours.


Jil magnificently captured her view of the water that magical evening we all were together. How she kept those colors in her mind, I don't know, but.... WOW!

A Few Days in the City

A short trip to Boston brought me much joy. Just opened was a Dale Chihuly installation at the MFA.

These are actually glass baskets, inspired by Western Native American ones. They are exquisite and wowed me with their tribute to the human imagination, most notably Chihuly's.
Called Ikebana Boat, this structure is filled with glass flowers and reckons back to the artist's youth spent in his mother's garden.
Amazing fiery plants appear to be growing in the grass in the courtyard, with statuary overseeing it all. Please, can they stay, after the exhibition has moved on??
In the new cafe is a spiky cactus-like plant that reaches toward the ceiling and radiates brilliant light.
The most meditative of Chihuly's work concludes the exhibit. These cool, light shafts emanate out of birch logs.
In Dylan's Mexican bag, featured here, I snuck in a ball cap. Thank goodness, as it turned out to be his favorite part. He wore it everywhere during the time I was at his house.
and Yes, he liked the toy too, so primitive and folk-arty, so non-tehcno, but he liked pushing the button and seeing the tiger and trainer go at it. They DO look a bit fierce.
Sophia incorporated Soledad's doll into her fantasy play right away. This whimsical little chica now plays with fairies and Barbies.
The loteria game was a success with both kids, separately. And being so young, it is no problem learning the Mexican names for the objects, including Muerte with his scythe.
Through it all, my diligent d-i-l plumbed and plumbed some more, as well as cooked dinners and made the yummiest cookies on the planet, for which I am ever grateful.

First Post!

This blog is the same as the former www.mifflettes.com. That blog too was called GRAMILY but now the url address is merely what you see: http://gramily.blogspot.com. I hope this isn't too confusing for any readers. As it is, I test readers' patience by not posting for months at a time. Here we go.

T and I had separate Latin American vacations this winter. While on his, T collected all the little gems that are displayed here on a Japanese enamelware tray. There are some real gems. The bouquet was exquisitely preserved and pressed, flat and tied with lovely orange ribbon. I barely managed to get it from Houston to Boston without destroying it, while he carried it around for a month.

He reported being in sand dollar heaven and brought back far more sand dollars than you see here. These are the survivors.

Heart rocks, heart shells, heart fragments all added up to a great cache. One is suitable for making into a necklace. It even has a tiny hole at just the right place and is PINK!
The snow isn't quite all gone, but my first robin made an appearance today. That is always a regional joy, a once a year event that makes my heart beat faster for a couple of seconds. Welcome, Robin Redbreast, to Maine!

Sentimental Journey

Crispin Weinberg, JERRY KAPLAN, moi
with Sophia Willie
with Jack Delong
with Betsy Lake (and we both grew up in Needham!)

Sorry for all the photos of Yours Truly, but these are my dear colleagues and friends whom I haven't seen in years. Sunday night we celebrated Jerry's 80th birthday en masse, over one hundred of us. Jerry is beloved by us all, a true mensch, and there were many tears shed. The years that we all were together in Coolidge Corner, teaching at the Edward Devotion School were the glory years. Amen.

City Weekend

I like this male model dismembered best of all.

Mackie has been lying around enduring the heat.

CSR found these yoga chimes (?) in the park. We haven't figured out their use yet. I suggested I bring them home to T for consultation but she wasn't buying it.

Marston House

Marston House is my favorite shop in Maine. I've been going there for years and am always excited to see what Sharon has brought back from her winter in France. Her inventory makes me sigh with sensual delight. All of our porch tables and chairs come from late nineteenth century Paris, via husband Paul and her. This year, I found some intriguing farm fabrics for buddha dolls.

She has an impeccable eye for whimsical primitives, textiles, cermaics, tools, just the creme de la creme of antiques. Her dyed linens are saturated with the colors of Southern France and would transform any table on which they were placed. My friend, CSR might well covet these marigold monogrammed napkins.

Sharon and Paul are warm, gracious and friendly. They also run a bed and breakfast which I've always secretly wanted to patronize. I highly recommend a visit in Wiscasset if you have the chance.

Coolidge Corner Visit

Visiting Coolidge Corner is always nostalgic for me, having taught there for most of my school teaching career. I always feel at home in Brookline. Two of my favorite haunts are the local bookstore and bakery.

Brookline Booksmith features books that cater to avid readers of all sorts. T went with me this time and commented that though the Thriller/Action section is not that large, every single title is a book that he would like to read and can't find at other bookstores. I find it hard to get past the front of the store because the top choices of employees, the top choices of patrons, the top selling books in Brookline are all found there. Let me tell you, the top choices here do not reflect the country at large. There may be some overlap, but you're not going to find the same titles at chain bookstores. This time I did make it on back to the children's section. Two absorbed readers were in the same positions the entire time I was in the store which was over an hour. Did they know I took their photo? NO. They were in other worlds, a world known to all devoted readers.


At Clearflour Bakery, there was a line on Sunday morning trailing along the sidewalk beside the entrance. People standing and waiting were joking about the average time in line. T said it wasn't worth it. I said Yes, it was, and took my place while he waited in the car, reading his latest BB purchase. When it was almost my turn, the customer in front of me bought every single soft German pretzel available to take to the German Consulate who adores them. Darn! Maybe next time I'll snag one. I settled for two pecan morning buns and two sesame seed ficelle with garlic butter. No disappointments there, and T benefited from my patience.

One MIghty Cute Masseuse

When she flexes her muscles, her lovely heart beats. What a show!

Hope, Maine

Mexican Independence Day

Since using Facebook in the last few months, I've neglected this blog site. I'm also not feeling that public. But now in Mexico for Mexican Independence Day, and subsequent days/weeks, I thought I'd post a few photos along the way.

Weekend-end

Was it just me, or was the sky unbelievably beautiful Sunday afternoon in Maine?
I finished the Noro Little Girl Capelet and I like it. I hope someone else will too.
The current entrance to MFA is on the Fenway side.

On Dog Bites and CVS Minute Clinic

On Wednesday I got a dog bite. Thursday morning T suggested I get a tetanus shot. I agreed but promptly got involved in other activities. Friday night I was in Boston and retelling the dog bite story to a friend who said I should DEFINITELY get a tetanus shot. Sure enough, we researched it and recommendations were to have one within three days if a person, such as me, couldn't remember when the last tetanus shot was administered.

It wasn't too convenient to get one that night. I was in town to attend a 60th birthday party. The same friend suggested the Minute Clinic at CVS for the following day. I chose one in Plymouth MA as it was enroute to the Cape where I was headed on Saturday.

What a boon! Simple matters are taken care of by nurse practioners at certain CVS stores. I signed in, waited a short amount of time and got my shot for $62. Blue Cross of MA will cover some treatments, unfortunately not this one. Still, it was fast, easy and I felt much better being safer than sorrier. I made the three day limit within ONE HOUR of the dog bite!

The Road Back

Dexie loved playing on the edge of St. Moritz pond. He chortled with glee, grabbing and shaking brachen and moss covered twigs. Thanks to Aunt Cindy and cousin Dylan for loaning him boots to fill with pond water!

On our way back to Maine, we counted EIGHT red-tailed hawks along the highway. That was a record for us and we wonder if the foggy spring day was the reason for so much lurking about.

Mexicana

Eggs here are sold in plastic bags! They're under a dollar, about 75 cents for a dozen.

I love all the cacti. This one lives on our street.

We went to a neighborhood art open house today. I'm sorry to say there are no photos of the art, but these two little ones captured my photographic spirit. They were playing with the flowers in a beautiful display. No one cared that they were having a good time and ruining the display. I LOVE their style (hair, clothes etc.) therefore you're going to get four photos of them.






Neighborhood girls who were a bit bashful that I wanted their photo. They were flirting with more smiles for T.

My knife-edged wrap is DONE! Finally! After about 65- 70 hours of work! This is the view with the knife edge at the top.

This is the view with the knife edge at the bottom. WHICH do you prefer?
We've been spending more time at the Jardin at night. Last night there were operatic performances that were splendid. No one cared that kids were playing, screaming, people were laughing, wandering and the performance continued. Bravo!