Beautiful Weather

This past week was a gorgeous one here in Maine. Ron had off the whole week (he has tons more vacation time than I do) but I was able to take Friday off for a long weekend. On Friday we spent most of the day working on the small "pond" in the backyard. The pond is a simple round tub of black plastic. Though it's not much to look at on it's own, it was already in place in the ground and we thought we'd see what we could do with it. That basically meant landscaping around it. Though it is not done yet, here is a look at what we have been able to do so far.

This is pretty much the blank slate we started with. However you can see the first part of the rock garden to come behind the pond.


This is a closeup of the first piece that we constructed for the rock garden. It has a mini rhododendron in the middle with some moss fitted into the cracks as well as some 'hens and chicks.'


This shows the same corner, but expanded to include some more plants including a curly-needled mugo pine to the left along with some more moss. There is still some more work to be done, like adding some flowering and/or trailing ground cover. But we'll have to wait until we're sure we're out of frost danger to do that which may be a few weeks yet.


On Saturday, with the sun and blue skies above, we hopped in the convertible and headed a short distance to the nature trails at Bradley Pond. This was the first that either of us had been on these trails even though they are just a few miles from home. It's a nice walk, some of it in the woods, some along hay fields and some along the shores of Bradley Pond itself. Here's a pic I took of Ron resting along the way.


Since it was such an exceptionally nice day and we wanted to get outside a bit more, we headed down to Popham Beach. Well, not to the beach itself, but right 'next door' to Fort Baldwin. The fort, to quote the Wikipedia, is "a coastal defense land battery near the mouth of the Kennebec River" which "was constructed between 1905 and 1912." It was the first time I had been there and it was very cool to see.

Here is the sign that welcomes you to the fort itself. No horses allowed!


Battery Cogan is the first building that you come to after climbing up hill. The room/tower at the top of the structure allowed soldiers to overlook and keep watch on the water below.

Here I am taking a rest. Though the sky was a beautiful blue, the weather was still a little cool, hence the sweater.


Battery Hardman is the third of the buildings that comprise the fort. You can see the chimneys that rise out of the top of the grassed-over roof. Most of the rooms in the fort had a nice brick fireplace.

The tall and imposing looking building below is the Fire Control Tower. While this is usually open to the public, we were there a few weeks before the official open of the site, so we didn't get to climb to the top.


However the picture below was taken from ground level, at the edge of the hill, looking down on the mouth of the Kennebec River and Popham itself.

LISTENING TO: Belly - "Star"

My friend Barb and I played this one to death when it first came out. It compiled most of the three EPs that Tanya Donelly released as Belly after her exit from Throwing Muses. They were all a great indication/teaser for the direction she was taking for the ultimate release of "Star." Despite the consistently high quality of the songwriting and overall catchiness, most people only remember the especially radio-friendly "Feed The Tree."