Catching up

Hi all,

As you can see my posts are becoming less frequent and staying there. It seems sometimes I'm more prolific than others, but I'll continue to post whenever I feel that little voice within me stirring to be heard -- however often that happens.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm getting a bit tired of blogging, and other times I think if I don't have pictures to go with my words it wouldn't be very interesting to read so I don't post at all. I wonder why that is? And then other times it just seems I don't have anything to say (imagine that!?). :>)

It appears spring has finally arrived in Maine to stay, and it's actually been warm enough to wear shorts and flops a few days here and there. Although I drove to one of our state parks the other day to visit a different beach, and I got cold wearing long pants and a jacket, so it changes frequently. But then Maine is known for that.

The other day I took the dogs to some of their favorite nearby trails for some hiking and wading. The trailhead is located in a pretty busy section of Portland near the FedEx shipping facility, but it quickly winds through the forest and across a power right-of-way, and then back into the forest again to follow a stream or river (what's the difference any way?). The trail stays mostly dry if it hasn't rained in a while, but the off-trail area near the stream where the dogs tend to find all the neat smells becomes a bit boggy this time of year.

I did not know that Huskies liked water, but Samantha certainly seems to. She doesn't actually swim that much (although it seems she can), but she does a lot of wading up to her neck at that stage where it's hard to tell if she's wading or swimming. She often goes into the water at the beach, and along this trail the other day she seemed to enjoy slipping into the cool water, making a big semicircle arc before heading back to shore, and then pacing out to give a big shake before leading with her nose on to the next part of the trail. It's fun to watch.

Kennedy does not seem to be a water dog at all but rather prefers to keep his body on terra firma. His approach is to follow her down to the water's edge, step his feet in just enough that he can drink the water (this was a fresh water stream), look around a bit as if he's considering going in deeper, and then apparently change his mind and turn around to climb back onto the shore. He goes in just far enough to get nice and muddy without reaching the deeper water to wash it off before he comes out, so he often looks like this cream colored dog with black boots.

The sunny days we've had the last few weeks are giving way to rainy and cooler weather that will apparently be with us for a while. As I write this it's raining now and has been since sometime last night. I enjoy hearing it rain, especially at night. There's something soothing about the soft patter of the raindrops on the deck below our bedroom window. When it rains I often hear the foghorn from Portland Head Light from the rooms in our house that are closest to the water (our home sits a couple of streets from the Portland coast).

And sometimes when the water in the channel is stirred up enough, we can even hear the bell clanging on the channel marker just off the cliffs from our neighborhood. That's a really cool sound, although perhaps not a welcome one for mariners since it means the water is rough. But to me both the foghorn and buoy bell are welcoming, safe and peaceful sounds when heard from a cozy and warm living room. Nice.

Until next time, whenever that is.....cheers!
Carla