Which sounds better: Apple Picking or Picking Apples...?? or Apple Pickin' or Pickin' Apples..?? Or how about some alliteration...Absolutely Awesome Apples...?? I think I like 'apples' at the end...regardless of what you do with the 'picking' part. Just call it nit-pickin' extraneous worthless details that don't really matter!

Alright already...I love the sign above...APPLES. There.

First, we must find a perfectly picturesque orchard in a beautiful setting perhaps overlooking a tranquil lake with boughs of the juiciest, tastiest apples around...

And the cutest, quaintest little orchard shop scented with the smell of fresh sweet apples to browse in while the friendliest, most knowledgeable of proprietors weighs our bushels of apples....

And...OK, I know this is a stretch...but how 'bout this shop also just happens to attach to a wonderful Victorian farmhouse with a wrap-around porch...sporting some happily painted red wicker chairs....well, hey, what can I say? So much the better!

And guess what! I happen to know of an orchard that fits this description to a tee! We just happen to have this very orchard only two miles down the road from us! But I'd travel much farther to get to it if I had to, for sure! It's just too perfect to miss out on!

Yes! It's Avalon Acres Orchard and Farm. Mark and Wendy Sheriff purchased this orchard 3 years ago and have just done amazing things with it in this short time. Mark, in past years, was immersed in rose gardening...and has now switched over to the rose's distant cousins...the apple trees. Did you know that roses are related to apple trees..??? I didn't know that either! See what I mean about knowledgeable proprietors?

Wendy is out and about doing the promotional end, attending numerous farmers markets and fairs. They have even been written up recently in the Bangor Daily News. So we consider Avalon Acres a little jewel sitting in our own backyard!

Here I am the Romantic Mom and my poor children have only these plastic bags that the orchard was so nice to provide for us to put our apples in! Scandalous -  I know!

Second, we must make and carry along this darlin' apple picking tote I discovered on Purl Bee this week. Yep, it's sewing project #43,357....but, I have to say, it ranks right up there in the top 10 for me! Sewing class here I come!

What do you think, Wendy? Wouldn't these go great in your little shop? (Now stop fretting, folks, we all know that Mark doesn't manage the Apple Picking Tote Bag Dept.) Personally, I know it would be a sensational hit...but we'll discuss this later.

Oh! And wouldn't those Apple Tote Bags just look too perfect in this blue wagon...???!! I'm seein' prodigious photo-ops aplenty here!

And those unbelievably cute Apple Tote bags certainly wouldn't be allowing all this spilling and tumbling to the ground action to be goin' on. No siree!

Uh Hum! I must say it now, Fall's not over yet...and this won't be the last apple picking session either! But it just might be the last without adorable-beyond-words Apple Picking Tote Bags!

Third, you simply must come out to St. Albans (off Dexter Rd.) and visit this lovely, lovely Avalon Acres Orchard and Farm...that offers much, much more than just apples, too. There are many other locally grown and homespun products to choose from....and a beautiful Autumn countryside to imbibe while you're there!

Click on my Apple Picking Slideshow to get the full effect...I even captured the apple trees this year at Avalon in Spring's fluffy pink bloom...oh! and their perky red tulips next to the porch! And thank you, Mark and Wendy, for making your orchard such a delight to visit!

This week Teresa and I got motivated by all this great sunshine we're having and ventured out to the woods twice this week. The second trip, we joined up with some moms from her church homeschool group to explore Newburgh Falls.

They had all been before, but this was my family's first excursion. I'm absolutely thrilled to have discovered this place...and you'll soon see why! The nice thing for us, too, is that it's so close to our land! Come along with us, you're gonna love this explore...

Nothin' like 4 moms, a picnic lunch, and 20 kiddos of various ages out for a hike...especially on an exceptionally gorgeous Autumn day!

I didn't get many shots on the way in because I was lugging too much stuff, but just wait...on the way back we captured some beautiful photos!

Now up the falls to the BIG boulders! Notice how the water coming over the falls has a lavender tint to it? It really did, too! I'm so glad my camera was able to catch that!!

Careful stream crossing...funny how they all do it the same way!

Traversing the falls requires balance, determination, wet cuffs,....and very cold feet!

And the view down the stream...

When you look down we see lots of cushy, spongey moss...

And when we look up...well, it's beyond my descriptions...

Lots of hungry tummies!

We passed this small bridge on the way in...and decided to explore it further on our way back...

Catching falling leaves in mid-air descent! Oh to be 4 again!!

These paths are wide enough for some great horseback riding, too! The other two moms grew up near here...riding horses along these trails, spending summers splashing and swimming in the falls...and just storing up some cherished childhood memories! Can you imagine having this as your own backyard...???

The small bridge closer up...

And just look at this carpet of fallen leaves!

Look down here under this bridge...I also adore stacked rock under bridges...

And let's just look up again...don't ever forget to look up!

If you're thoroughly entranced and refuse to stop all this nature bliss, then please see my full slideshow of this incredibly idyllic place.

These Newburgh Falls, although rather remote, are accessible to the public...thank goodness Teresa, and the other moms knew how to find them! Now's the time to visit, too, for I hear the bugs are ferocious in the summer! Please contact me if you'd like more specific directions on how to get here. It's soooo worth the trip!

Bye! Hope you enjoyed exploring the great Maine outdoors with us today!

I've become addicted to my lens...for various reasons...the most important being that my lens enables me...almost with a will of its own...to just stop everything and zoom on in to the wonderfully important stuff going on....all the while ignoring the utter chaos that surrounds it!

For example, my lens forces me to focus on my son doing this incredible job of painting his wooden airplane. I absolutely adore his color choices...and the details he chooses to incorporate...and the things he doesn't think are so important...that the girls do...like the fact that the propeller does not match the rest of the plane! His sisters thought this minor detail was outright calamity, but he had his very pertinent and well conceived opinion for why he chose to do it this way.

And then later, the girls became engrossed in their own painting endeavors....with just as much artistic opinionatedness (word?) as their brother possesses! Like, for instance, this particular farmhouse has stained glass windows just like a church does. She was repeatedly told by her siblings that farmhouses didn't have windows like churches...but the stained glass windows of this particular farmhouse prevailed!

And this is why I'm so lovin' the lens! I'm able to focus in on all this exquisite domesticity going on....

As opposed to this horror of disastrous domesticity behind the scene.
You see, if I were to back up and let the lens fall on what surrounds the creative diligence of my children, you would see something like this....

and this...

...which has the distinct tendency to morph any heroic intentions I might harbor for all of two seconds into something more like crawling under my bankie, sucking my thumb in a fetal position, and making small whimpering noises! So if you've had any distorted or misguided assumptions that The Romantic Mom possesses nothing but utter orderliness and perfectionist tendencies, these photos can forever put those fallacies to death!

I suppose I've succumbed more or less to a type of bohemian romantic with children...and have simply put my zealously ardent 'Martha Stewart' obsessions to sometime in my extremely far-off and distant future life. Just don't anybody tattle on me, please, I beg you! And for all you bohemian romantics with kids - go get a lens!

It was fabulous Fall weather, foliage, and farm fun all bundled into a comfy cozy afternoon basking before the bonfire and scarfing down all the scrumptious homemade victuals! Mary Jane couldn't have done it up any better, I'm tellin' ya here and now!

We heard a "beeeeh, beeeeh" coming from up the road. Iris, the young goat, decided to follow Harlow and the horses up so she could come to the party, too! Way more action down here than in that pen at home!

And way more attention than a little goat could hope for!

Then for the real, super-thrill of the afternoon...that not even Iris was gonna miss...

the exciting, lovin'-every-minute-of-it, never-long-enough, so-sad-when-it's-over hay ride!

Hi Post cows! You sure make good milk!!

And then we're back for some bubble blowin'!

And bubble chasing! And this is why we love the Post Farm Picnic!!

How young is too young to start stitchin'...?? Perhaps when they can control the urge to stick everything in the mouth, is a good barometer as to when to start! My little ones started out with the thick plastic needles and some burlap with yarn for the thread. You can also use those flat plastic mats with the little squares that come in various shapes and forms.  I also found some little sewing kits with the pre-punched holes in felt for making butterflies, purses, pillows, etc. that include all the beads and baubles to go along. Did we actually ever finish any one of those projects? Um, no. But they did get much practice making huge tangled weird messes with a needle and yarn...and believe me, that was just as satisfying!

However, by the time children reach age 5 or 6, they seem to become much more interested in the 'real deal'... forget the chunky, dull plastic thing...give me a real needle that's really sharp and shiny and some real thread, please Mommy. And also give me something that's really 'work' to do, too. My children are just not as convinced that the contrived, brightly colored crafty things aimed at kids are all they're cracked up to be...or as incredibly cute as their mother thinks they are. In their sheer desperation and determination to get to use a real needle and thread in the first place, they may sort of go along with the cutesy-crafty thing, but most of it, I have to admit, is either too silly or too complicated and just is not 'real work' like grown-ups do. At least that's the expounding sentiment I've gotten in my household!

So let's just give 'em some real mending to do! Somewhere around late 4, 5 or 6, they can begin to handle this kind of thing (age 4 you might want to transition with the metal yarn needles that are larger and not so sharp). Just make sure that you keep an eye on where they put their needles down...absent-mindedness is still an issue here...which I suppose never really changes with time, I'm afraid. Mending certainly falls into the 'real work' category and, once they get the hang of it, this saves mom eons of time in doing all the mending and button sewing that remains a constant in any household with ready-made clothing these days.

We have plenty of leggings, socks, tights, undies, and missing buttons to keep any industrious child with a desperate urge to use a needle and thread in worthwhile bliss for hours! Small mending projects are great for many reasons: 1.) most are short and simple for lagging attention spans, 2.) it's pretty difficult to mess anything up too much, 3.) it's useful 'work' that grown-ups even have to do 4.) there's a fulfilling sense of accomplishment in a job well-done...without a huge amount of time and effort, and 5.) this is a biggie, they actually get to wear things they haven't worn in months because mommy never gets around to mending it!

So all in all, I say mending and button sewing is a win-win situation all the way around! And for some more creative ideas for kiddos with needle and thread check out this and this, this and this,...oh and this. I see your contented smiles already!

How's that for an exciting title...??? Doesn't that just suck you in and get you all giddy with expectation?? Well, I must say, after reading Jen's blog on her flight of fancy, I felt like our usual trip to Portland, Friday, looked rather bleak in comparison...no remote new places with whimsical names like Goose Rocks Beach or Biddeford Pool...or obscure quaint shops like Lavender Creek or culinary delights of orange cranberry scones and chocolate marzipan. We didn't even venture to anything as exciting as Maine Cottage or L.L. Bean.

Nope, I'm afraid the height of our on-road adventure took us to the plebian malls of the totally nondescript, gaudily familiar chain-store nightmare of Dollar Tree, Office Depot, and McDonalds...dessert being a tootsie pop and a few gummy bears from Dollar Tree (a rarity for our kiddos!). We did manage to slip in a brickoven pizza from Whole Foods and, of course, my ever-present savior of the road-trip, Starbucks venti misto with 4 raw sugars. Even the library was rather unwelcoming with all of its no-end-in-sight renovation going on and the entire children's section moved to some distant public school somewhere down the road with a new confusing maze of hours and restrictions. I mentioned to the lovely librarian ladies at the circulation desk that we REALLY missed the children's section and they both lamented immediately in unison, "So do we!!!" And I think it's hard on me...it has to be excruciating for them!

It was rainy and the park was too wet to play at and it's now getting dark by 6:30. So what can I say to liven up the usual usual...?? Well, despite the fact that my favorite shops in Old Port were already closed, the window shopping is still lovely and fun. I do manage to find inspiration in displays and window boxes. Plus, the drive down was absolutely spectacular with amazing trees in firey foliage and a rural, passive quietness that emanates from this region as it settles and stills itself for winter and slowly kisses the bustling, vibrant summer good-bye. And, last but certainly not least, is that I'll take the Portland skyline at night, the changes of tide in the harbors, the random sailboats, bridges, rivers, and by-ways of Maine as my usual usual any day!

Actually I'm not talking about the recent bailout, believe it or not. I suppose tragedy is in some respects all relative, so I'll simply say that, in my little world, this news really strikes a blow!

We stopped in at the 'Shed Sale' the other day to look at an old wood burning stove they had for sale. I didn't know at the time that this couple was one of the few that still had a booth over at our favorite antiques place in Corinna. Imagine my shock and horror when they told us that our most favored shop was closing up for good...and that their last day is December 31!!!

I'm talkin' this is the place I've found my favorite picnic hamper, wonderful linens and napkins, farm chairs and furniture, vintage mugs and dishes and baskets aplenty, lamps and curtains, old scythes and reel mowers...the list goes on and on...sniff, sniff, snuffle...and all for the best prices you can imagine! SOB!

They have sold their building and are closing up for good...not just for the winter like they did last year. I don't know what the future plans are for the new owners...or if by some hope upon hope they might continue in the tradition of Traditions Antiques and Collectibles....but as it stands right now our time is counting down, my dear local friends and lovers of Traditions. Here's a kleenex, I know it's a terrible shock!

Yesterday we went over to the Post farm for a birthday party picnic that I can't wait to fill you in on...with lots of great photos...that I don't have loaded yet because we've been 'Fall Cleaning' today.

So let me share these bunny photos taken by my 9 yo daughter...whom has become quite the little photographer...as well as quite the little 'bunny dresser!' Don't ask me how they come up with these ideas...but it's better than video games any day!

Perhaps I have Beatrix Potter to thank for the fixation my children have with their creative past time of dressing the animals. None are immune...including the horse!

Yes, Truffles and Freckles, here, are sporting puffy pants...somewhat difficult to get on...but quite comfortable, I hear, once they are.

First Truffles in her stylish puffy pants and in the brand new litter box (yes, our bunnies will use the litter box if it's there - lovely!)...

Then Freckles assumes the pose! Gracie, our son's bunny, is thankfully relieved from most of these goings-ons.

Our bun-buns are also enjoying their spacious new cage. Jump over to Green Pioneer for our new cage design as well as some of our friend's Cagey Ideas!

We also have a new update on the log home. And more on that soon! I also have some great sites and books to share on Bringing in the Bounty, if you haven't caught those yet!

The Fall day was glorious so Jennifer and I decided to glory in it by taking the children to a nearby park over in Pittsfield that wends next to the river (yes, there are rivers everywhere up here...and I can never remember their names...much less how to spell them!) and over an old suspended bridge that is an adventure in itself! Come along with us...you're gonna LOVE this walk!

Yeah, the bridge is a little shifty...and a little long...which translates into a little spooky for wee ones! But he braved it just fine!

I took like 10 of these shots of the children...of course who can decide which one's the best...??? Not me!

The late summer, early fall wildflowers are still full of bloom...


And then we came out at the train track. Yippee!

As we meandered back through the woods, I spotted this moss covered log. Aren't the greens simply surreal? How do you capture that kind of color?

After we crossed back over the bridge, we found this fuzzy, very white caterpillar crossing our path. The fuzzy ones are usually moth caterpillars. As you can see, we need to bone up on our nature study because I cannot tell you what type of moth it becomes. But we will find out! Isn't he exotic..??

In this little puddle-pond was a cute medium-sized frog. We thought that she would scare the thing by poking it with the grass stalk. Boy were we wrong! That little frog attacked and bit at that grass with a vengeance! It was NOT gonna give up its perch...no way!

Hard to see, but that's its big mouth chompin' down on that grass! Feisty frog!

Now they're off...to the playground!

Recently, I discovered Countryside Rambles by W.S. Furneaux. We're going to focus on the Fall Rambles...wonderful stuff!

I simply adore Victoria magazine...the earlier version that went out of print...and of which I now have stacks upon stacks of the old issues that I still relish on a regular basis. That magazine alone has created a soft spot in my heart for old Victorian repasts...of course the most famous being 'tea time'...something I seldom if ever actually do...but always wonder why I don't or won't! Well, here's some fabulous...even homeschool...inspiration that you must, must, must take the time to read! I started the excerpt here to hook you in so that you positivley can't resist reading the rest of The Virtues of Tea

by Lynn Bruce



A pot of tea can change your children's lives. It did mine one day!

On that fall Friday afternoon, with lessons finished and the children happily creating a parallel universe of some sort in the backyard, I brewed myself a little pot of Earl Grey and settled into an oomphy chair to revel in a moment of satisfaction over what I appraised as a well-rounded week of lessons -- the rarest of rarities! But then, through the steam rising from my cup, my eyes happened upon a stack of oh-so-thoughtfully chosen poetry and art books gathering dust in a corner. Ohhh, I thought, then there's THAT . . .

Feeling less smug, I rued the many weeks that slip past with no time to squeeze in these disciplines of beauty. Days are consumed with managing the flow of routines and getting necessary facts into little heads like stuffing kindling into a firebox. But what use is dry kindling without lighting and stoking a fire? I sighed over unexplored poems, art, symphonies, Psalms, even family folklore -- those inspirations that spark the kindling in our heads and draw fire and light into the furnace of the heart.

I knew the dust would just gather deeper unless I found the missing habit, the pleasant ritual, that would weave the loose ends of these "disciplines of beauty" into the fabric of our days. I gazed into my cup of tea, growing cooler by the minute.

Suddenly resolved to minimize my margin for motherly regrets, I dusted off a poetry book, fetched more teacups and called in the children. And though I did not realize it 'til many pots of tea later, in that one resolute motion, the countenance of our afternoons was forever lightened. By some felicity of momentary grace, I just stumbled upon that pleasant ritual to steadily stoke those fires . . . daily teatime!

Now you must go read the rest of it! But you may finish this blog first...then go read the rest of it!

While we're on the topic of Victorian pleasures from the past, I've been looking for magazine subscriptions for our kiddos as Christmas presents this year (I've had enough of the avalanche of toys I'm still contending with) so imagine my delight when I happened upon this treasure of a publication, The Girlhood Home Companion by Jill Novak as described below:


     The Girlhood Home Companion is a beautiful 4-color companion guide, magazine, and study in character all rolled into one publication. The Girlhood Home Companion encourages young ladies (ages 10-18) how to enjoy their precious girlhood years while walking closely with the Lord and developing a deeper relationship with Him. Filled with the wisdom of writers from the past and present, each edition of The Girlhood Home Companion features encouraging articles and stories that center on one character quality per issue. Each theme is explored in-depth through editorials, articles, and stories that will minister to the heart of your daughter, while teaching her the practical skills of homemaking, cooking, crafts, sewing and other girlhood pastimes.

Now if I could only find some equivalent of this type of magazine for young boys...or somehow persuade Mrs. Jill Novak to create one for boys, too! Has anyone seen anything like this for boys...or even for children in general...??? Please let me know if you've come across any type of publication like this. The best I've found so far for boys is The Boys Bugle (which is really geared toward older ones and rather sparse in the photo dept. but it is free to download) and either Boy Scout or Christian parenting type magazines that aren't quite what we're after here.

Perhaps even a Backwoods Home magazine tailored to boys would be nice. In the meantime, it looks like Model Railroader or Discovery Magazine for Kids (Creation Science) is about the extent of my 'for boys' choices at present. Please, please with sugar from a china server and silver spoon let me know if you happen onto anything that would be wonderful for boys! Or someone out there with a house full of boys with tons of non-stop action and ideas, please start one. Otherwise, I might just be threatened to start one myself - as if I already don't have enough undone, unfinished, unrealized pots on the fire!

(Illustrations from God's Wisdom for Little Boys by Elizabeth George)