This was one of our first days here, we went for a drive around the island. It's weird to think back to (or just look at, in this case) how tired and dazed we were. Now -- already -- we feel so at home, and so on top of things. We three went and ate dinner in the restaurant tonight; today was our day off, and the restaurant is usually closed on sundays, so this was a nice treat. The food was amazing, the place was full and well- candlelit, and the guests engage us all the time, what with our having the cutest and most personable baby in the world. We feel like king & queen (& prince) of a castle where everyone's invited to come be royalty with us. We, the INNKEEPERS, are famous or something. Last night I waited tables, and when people would ask my name or say something about my having a 'new face'... or 'what brought [me] here?', i tell them i'm the new innkeeper and they say "oh! you're the one with that beautiful baby! i have seen him and your husband outside, they are so wonderful together." or "oh my goodness its nice to finally meet you! i've heard so much about you and your family -- and i saw your baby at the post office with [so-and-so]..." its fun.

oh, those last pictures are the beginning of some experimenting i'm currently loving. dusk... and a flash... and some unique vegetation.... i love the resulting compositions of elements. the bugs -- attracted in throngs by the flash -- make such great, unpredictable things happen! little dots and bursts of bright surprise. anyway, more to come at some point. oh, and: if you're using a laptop, tilt the screen toward you a bit. particularly with the bottom one (with all the ferny-bushes).. you can see the beautiful cloudy night sky... when i have photoshop again i'm going to underexpose these just a bit so you can see what i saw.

i love and miss you all.

changing the sheets...

gideon is 8 months old today. i can't believe that he has been out almost as long as he was in.

granny harper gave us the book "love you forever" recently... it was a favorite of mine when i was little.

i couldn't read the first page without crying, i'm such a sorry sap. joe said 'i'll read it,' but i was determined, so i just read it and cried (and laughed at myself; and laughed at joe laughing (and ultimately crying) with me) the whole way through.

bike ride

my first in about 20 months. i finally went down "middle road" today. its hard to imagine, on an island with 3 roads, that it took me a month before i actually touched them all. i rode for about an hour and passed maybe 5 cars. ah, yes. my kind of place, this is. here are some views.. including a glimpse of my dream house.







this is a tiny, two-room house with windows on all sides and a little glass door on front and side. it sits atop a meadowy hill that overlooks a wide, calm inlet... i couldn't see any other houses in any direction from where i stood, despite being only a stone's throw from the road. it has a quiet yard (screaming for gardens and wildflowers), and i just wanted to walk in and call it home. (sigh...) i'll set my sights on it...

elephants

he smiles the most wonderful smile at this mobile. all you need to do is touch it a bit & he is just as happy as could be. what treasures, the elephants, the boy.

my dad is one of very few people who can just sit, do nothing, and calm gideon. its lovely, and it reminds me of the affect my grampy had on me. i always thought he was the warmest, safest, strongest thing in the world. blessed be the grampies.

me folks and cousin isabella (baby-charmer extraordinaire) came to visit this weekend. they were an incredible help and such a pleasure to have. isabella and i climbed to the top of ames knob and listened to the sparse, calming (nothing-but-avian) sounds that fully envelop it. you don't hear anything mechanical, or industrial.. only birds, wind. other than that walk, however, i have been without a break for what feels like a very long time!

some members of the big group got here last night. mom stayed up (and so did the wee boy who refused to fall asleep without me) and helped with the clean up after their particularly late and lengthy dinner. bless her heart. they said they'd like to have dinner every night at SEVEN PM. Dinner, that is, that i have to plate & clean up after.. in order for things to be clean and ready for the 6:30 am breakfast i then have to prepare..

the youngest of them did ask what they could do to make this all easier on me. he is very sweet. we decided they could each bring their dishes into the kitchen when they finish. its amazing what a difference that makes.

sun son

at long last: a warm, sunny day. it must have been 75. the cool and the gray really wear on a mood when they don't let up. and they barely have in the three weeks since we've been here. my morning routine today transitioned rather smoothly into stripping the boy bare for some fresh air naked time. and oh did he love it.

things have quieted down since the renovations were finished. i spent a few undistracted hours just sitting in the sun with gideon, giving him some much deserved (and long overdue) undivided attention. i did answer the phone a few times, but otherwise kept my mind and my eyes completely on him. i feel so bad lately, all the time i spend sort of half engaging him... i am always busy with one thing or another, leaving him to play beside me with his toys or hold on to one of my fingers while i distractedly do something else. and a lot of the time he is whining. this is a very delicate balance i'm trying to work here, and so far i've handled it like a bull in a... anyway... we'll figure it out. i'd quit the job long before i'd quit the kid.

we have only a few guests this weekend, but need to prepare for the end of next week when the inn will be completely full for the first time this season. i am hoping gideon will be in lighter spirits than he has been, because he's going to have to spend a few hours each morning attached to one or the other of us while we prepare and serve breakfast to 22 people. he usually does enjoy being worn, so long as we tell him all about what we're doing. "and these are the eggs... and this is thyme... can you smell it? ooo... and this is cheese, we love cheese... and this is the bread, it goes here in the toaster so it will get nice and hot..."

i hope they don't need their breakfast too early.

up to no good & well aware of it.. already.

dandy lion

his father's eyes...

daddy took this. pretty much my favorite picture yet with this new setup.

more testing, testing...

the widest angle of my new lens... i think it's interesting to compare with the pictures below.

ferry landing beach

this is a very tiny beach about 2 minutes from our house. it was a cold, sort of dreary gray afternoon, but we seriously needed a respite from the craziness. i find it extremely difficult to stop working while i'm on the grounds of the lodge (and our house is on the grounds of the lodge), so i ought to make an afternoon walk sort of mandatory...



teething has made gideon a very serious little person, at times. i love this picture, though. he just has so much to say about everything we do. 'ma, why are we outside right now?'

faceface

breathing (and eating) room

the major renovations finally done, we unearthed the dining room from beneath a mountain of sawdust and got set up for service friday night. this is how it looks with no table cloths or settings... i think its a lovely room, quiet or teeming.

slideshow

just a few that i've been meaning to share...

our backyard

we walked over to "ames knob" this evening before dinner. it's about a mile from our house to the top of this modest peak... with its not-so-modest vista.

helena

hella, the daughter of our fellow lodge-livers, our friends amanda and josh. she's a year older than gideon & weighs a few pounds less, the little bird. the two are painfully adorable together...

testing, testing...

this is the first picture with my new lens! its been three years since i got my camera and i have wanted this lens since day one. i would love to say i got it because i "can finally afford it"... its more like i could wait no longer now that 'affording it' is within reach... a hem. so let's see: while joe pretties the outside of our new home, and starts addressing maintenance issues, i have been thoroughly learning -- indeed, taking over -- the administrative ropes: picking up and dusting off all the pieces that make this inn run, streamlining processes that for too long have been far more complicated than they need to be...

this lens is wild. it'll take me a bit to get used to the wide end.

first supper

this was our first full day here on the island. funny how we're here for the purpose of establishing and sustaining an image of class and charm at the inn 100 ft away... one would think we'd come simply to get some first hand experience in the art of living 'white trash.'

a new

many thanks to ethan and vivian, again, for their generosity. this van is awesome. we love that we could fit almost everything we care to keep into this vehicle and head from old home to new. here it is just after the unpacking began. yup, that's our palace in the background. after three days of packing and moving, loading and unloading, we're happy to be where we're going.

goodbye house

our last morning in gideon's first home.