Molly Bee's Attic

Time spent in "The County"... Is the calls of sweet little chickadees in the cranberry bush... The antics of woodpeckers working on the suet... The appearance of 'invisible deer' in the side yard... And in the dooryard... Fiddleheads on the dinner table ... A feast of epic proportions... And time spent with loved ones.... Hope your holidays were as happy as mine!

I can't believe how fast the time is going! We're almost at the end of our stay and it seems like we only just got here. We went Christmas shopping an hour up-country in Presque Isle on Saturday. Got to meet my Mum's school chum, Lovely G., her husband, Handsome D. and Delightful Daughter, M. They have built a fantastic home on the side of a hill that overlooks the fields, farms and forests for miles and miles and miles. It's an absolutely magnificent view. I think Lovely G. and I are twins separated at birth when it comes to crafting, although she outclasses me by miles. She has a beautiful quilt room and several of her pieces were available for me to drool over as well as the most gorgeous stained glass cabinet doors and window hangings I have ever seen. I think we could have chatted for two days straight without taking a breath! We went to Marden's in Presque Isle among other places. If you don't live here and don't know about Marden's , you...

We made it to Northern Maine with surprisingly few glitches given the state of the airlines these days. The biggest problem that we had on the whole trip was the fact that we couldn't tilt the driver's seat back on the rental car, thus forcing the 6'6" Mr. Bee to sit upright, cramming his head into the ceiling of the car, giving him a wicked case of static cling head. He also couldn't lean back far enough to see the entire speedometer. He only knew how fast he was going if his speed was between zero and 30, or 80-100 mph. The rest of the dial was obscured by the dash overhang. So I co-piloted from the passenger seat. It snowed the first two days we were here. Not a lot. I guess they got more down in 'tropical Maine' (south of Bangor), but up here it was two full days of snow-globe snow that dithered about in the air before settling into a 2-3 inch powdery layer. Today is brilliantly sunny and the snow on the ground and trees is sparkling like diamonds. ...

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas before Mr Bee and I jet off to Maine tomorrow. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to blog while I'm there. There's lots of other stuff to do. Last week we had a decorating competition with some of the of the other departments at our company. The judging was this morning. The kids put off making any kind of a move until noontime on Friday, thus lulling the competition into a false sense of security. Then they made their admin (moi) scramble at the last minute gather all of the supplies they'd need for their masterpiece: Wrapping paper, ribbons and bows to wrap the entire department, walls and all: $153.47 15 Ph.D's x 4 hours each: $ A decabazzillion dollars Seeing their faces when they opened their first prize package which contained two bottles of cheap wine and a 6 pack of snowman peeps (the ultimate wine glass garnish): Priceless. We had a holiday lunch today in another building on campus. All 15 of them put thei...

Antarctica!!! Snow Snow Snow! We got another boatload of the stuff yesterday and we're running out of places to put it. We got stuck in the dooryard coming home yesterday because out whole neighborhood was unplowed and 7 inches of snow had fallen. What made it worse is that a wee bit of sleet fell first so there was nothing to get traction on under all that snow. But we persevered and managed to get it all cleaned up in record time and tucked into a huge crock-pot full of roast beast, potatoes, carrots, and pearl onions for our trouble. Man I love my crock-pot. There's nothing like coming in from the cold and finding dinner all done for you! Mr. Bee limits his portions because next-day-roast-beast- hash is his favoritest ! After supper we wrapped all of the presents. Some have to be sent off by UPS, some have to be hand-delivered and some will sit until after the first of the year when we go North for Christmas II in Marshfield . Mr. Bee and I cranked up the Barenaked Ladie...

Have you had the dream? You know, the one where you somehow forgot to dress and show up at your high school one morning clad only in your flannel grannie nightie and piggie slippers? Then you spend the rest of the night trying to act like that was what you intended to wear; that you were making a fashion statement rather than exhibiting the early stages of Alzheimer’s. Now I know that the young whipper-snappers coming up today think nothing of sporting their jammies to school or the mall or whatever. I’ve seen ‘em around. But in my day, if you showed up anywhere sportin’ your Underoos, well then Lucy, you had some ‘splaining to do! So after spending the day ill, I rallied, showered and changed my actual sleep gear (ratty old t-shirt) for a stylin’ pair of red,flannel jammie pants, elegantly covered in cavorting penguins and my pink, plush, piggie slippers, Hank and Lefty and headed for the Sow’s Ear for late night knit night. It was to be a sleepover, but after the day I’d put in, I ...

I guess it was inevitable. I really thought we had the situation under control at first. After the initial attack the first day I brought them home, we had a fairly lengthy 'Come-to-Jesus' talk that included phrases like 'NOOOO!', 'Bad Dog!' and 'Thou Shalt Not Eat Piggy Slippers, Ben'! But the lure of all that pink, porcine, plushness was just too great. While the world was still, snow falling gently, and Mr. Bee and I tucked snuggly in our bunk, Mr. Bentley tippy-toed into the closet and snagged Lefty. I like to imagine it started as an innocent snuggle and kiss. Then one thing led to another and before he knew it, he was in way over his head; chomping, chewing and tearing the stuffing out Lefty's snout with reckless abandon. Lefty bore it stoically. He surrendered his innards with nary a word to alert the sleeping world of the horrendous mauling that was taking place. He's one tough piggy slipper that Lefty. I awoke the next morning, cracked...