Meet Joe Happiness.

Joe Happiness is a little boy, Solon's size.  Joe has black hair and black eyes, a mom and a dad, and they all live with us.  Joe works, he takes care of fish during the day and drives a truck like Solon's dado.  Joe means happiness, Joe Happiness.

 

Joe is Solon's imaginary friend and one of my absolute favorite forms of Solon's creativity. 

 

We've started a bedtime ritual of doing Highlight puzzles before bed.  Highlights is such an amazing magazine and I have loved it for many, many years and now Solon's is enjoying it too.  But last night during our puzzle time, dado thought it would be silly to add a mustache to one of the kids in the puzzle we were working on.  Solon, however did not find this funny and it was going to make Joe "bad" (mad).  I wish I recorded this, it's something I never want to forget - here is my best at trying to remember the dialogue.

 

solon - dado!  I said no mustache!  Joe is going to be very bad at you.  They're going to cage you in a police car for making Joe bad.  And repeated this at least twice.

 

They were more ramblings from this insane child of ours, I wish I could remember every detail.  Dado and I enjoyed the laugh and we SO appreciate the weirdness and creativity that comes out of our son. 

dreaming of food. itching to make a pie.

I'm not a very good baker.  I'm not even a very good cook.  If I do cook - the husband is the chef and a very, very decent one too. he can make up recipes which boggles my mind.  last night he whipped up a pizza with pear, chèvre, leeks, potato & pancetta with garlicky olive oil.  very delicious - I'm pretty excited to munch on my slice at lunch today. 

 

so, if I do decide to cook I tend to gravitate to a more complex recipe, sunday dinner style.  spending hours in the kitchen, chopping, tossing, turning & smelling with good music in the background is my idea of cooking.  with fall approaching, you may find me back in the kitchen on sundays. 

 

thank you love for cooking for us & making yummy dishes. xo

 

if it rains saturday, I think I might make a pie.  warm pie, flaky crust and melting ice cream on top sounds fantastic. 

delicious photos via: http://www.herriottgrace.com/blog/

decent wish list.

for dado & mama

retirement.  seems like an obsolete thought in this lifetime.  but I can hope that one day my mister and I can retire and be surrounded by tons of grandchildren, a beagle (mine) and a white little dog (his).  and perhaps live in something as lovely as this. 

 

 

 the space is confined, but perfect for two people and some pups.  and if our lovely kids move to here there or anywhere inside or outside of maine, we can hope in our home on wheels and be there for breakfast.  or perhaps lunch.   

I'm grateful, but ready..

we're having a phenomenal summer.  the weekends have been busy with adult and little boy fun, ice cream, bbq's with friends & family and some very nice walks with the boys.  however.. 
I'm looking forward to waking up to the smell of crisp leaves and a cool breeze.  chunky wool sweaters with oversized buttons, socks & scarves.  apple picking, pumpkins, the leaves crackling under footsteps, stews with warm crusty bread & hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows.  fall, my favorite time of the year. 

source http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/campus-jacket

source http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/katrine-cardigan

 

eats.

at the dentist today I was reading (well looking at pictures) from the portland mag: eat.  I love-love looking at pictures of food.  crisp white plates, colorful vegetables, a small nibble with big flavor on an oversized plate.  all asian dishes make me wish I was born in thailand to eat, see and smell that food always. 

this month's issue was of course delicious restaurants in maine.  there are 3 that really stuck out to me visually as well as atmosphere and menu.  here are the 3 places that are on my to eat list.  

east ender

lobster poutine!!

 frontier

long grain

dreaming of dresses.

I never liked wearing dresses or skirts or even shorts - now I cannot get enough of them in my closet.  I search for reasons to buy a new dress, scan website after website lurking for the 'one'.  My latest excuse for a new dress - mumford and sons.  so here are my dress contestants :

 I was just getting ready to order this one above - out of stock - pff. 

best. ever.

to celebrate the wonderful dado & soon to be husband of mine for dado's day (as mentioned) I rented a cottage in the woods on the ocean in the most eastern point in maine.   I've never experienced anything like it.  it was magnificent, beautiful, warm, cozy, relaxing and it instantly felt like home. 

the drive was long, but fun.  it was warm in the car with three people, 2 dogs and a bird.  solon & ferg are typically cold while the rest of us are warm.  windows down all the way were not an option do to a little birdie in the car.  the a/c button was pushed numerous times, typically on by dado and off by mama.  we're all anxious to arrive in perry and see our secluded cottage and put our feet up.  having a child at the tender age of 3 where attention and patience don't meet, my chicken was a fantastic passenger.  he counted his fingers, recited the alphabet, read to himself & snacked - love love that little boy of mine. 

we passed interesting sites, but chose to keep them in our minds (to eager to get to PERRY), however beside the typical 'rest stop - pee stop' sessions we did stop at this wonderful little coffee cabin.  a wooden cabin with a wood fire and a gent who roasts his own coffee on the premises.  the smell was earthy and of course off yummy coffee.  the cabin had it's own critters too, a luna moth and numerous other species.  shane with his wild bird sparked a lot of interest with the other customers.  how often do you see a man drinking a coffee with a bird on his shoulder?  we had our coffee, let the pups stretch and the child too then away went. 

the destination was close and not knowing exactly the grocery store situation we stopped at the next one we saw.  so close, so close....  another 30 minutes or so and we're driving down the dirt road to a little piece of heaven.  we head to the office to check in.  I hand the man - Dick a check for another night - if I had only known how awesome it would be I would have handed my whole check book to him.  Dick was awesome, after shane and he chatted they realized they had friends in common - such a small world.  he handed me the key, jumped into his golf cart and led the way. 

oh. my. word. wow.  when we arrived I was blown away.  it was a trillion times better than the pictures.  once Dick had left, we took a tour of 'our new house'.  I was outside when I heard shane cheering from inside blown to pieces by this lovely little treasure I found.  I love making him smile - cheers to you - my favorite person - the apple of my eye - my mate - I love you to the moon.  and thank you for solon.  watching him with you makes me melt.

best.  ever. 

 we set seeka free

happy here

I am so looking forward to this weekend for these reasons :

 

1. father's day - celebrating the foxy bearded man of mine who is the best father any child could have. 

2. a cabin overlooking the bay of fundy.

3. bonfires.

4. hiking.

5. bbq.

6. 3 extra days to our weekend - a mini vacation.

 

I've had this trip planned for months now.  I have spilled the beans, shane knows all about the trip, the only surprise will be how stinking perfect this cabin is.  I'm pretty sure neither of us will want to come home.  I reserved the cabin for 2 nights and last night we decided to add another.  we need this family getaway, a change of scenery, no itinerary, no chores.  the sube will be packed friday, saturday am we'll (dado, mama, solon, both dogs & the bird) take our seats and enjoy the drive to perry, maine. 

pinterest inspiration - home

in the meantime of house limbo I'll drool over these images.

wall coloring pages

long & low windows

kiddo reading nook

love. it. all. 

branch. 

yes.