Love, Deer

Hello! Yes, you!  I do not appreciate being startled.  I was just leisurely crossing the road, and here you come barreling down the road in your growly, bug-eyed, little vroomything.  Have you ever thought that you could bump into me with that?  I didn't think so.  I had to hurry to the side of the hard-path. 

This isn't the first time you've done this.  You should know by now how much I hate when you stare at me.  So just stop it!  I hate it!  I wasn't ready to go off into the woods yet.  I wanted to browse along the edge.  But no.  You had to creep up and stare.  So now I'm down here.  And... you are still staring at me!  What is with you guys?  Go away!

Okay.  I'll go away. 

Come on, Bambi.  I almost forgot you were here with me.  Did you know you blend in very well with these saplings and the dark shadows?  They didn't see you either...well, until now. They were actually watching me, but now that you've moved, they are watching you, too.  You need to keep that tail still, and don't turn your ears so much.  Now the only thing we can do is ignore them.  Don't go getting nervous. You know how that makes your tail-white show.  Keep it tucked.

What do you say we go over here and catch a little snack of the last of the sweet greens?  Don't look at them.  They'll go away pretty soon.  They always do.

They're still there, aren't they?

You are just a bunch of staryheads!

See, there they go now!  I guess I told them.  Next time I'll let you yell at them.

Poem - Pretty Soon I'll Know

Across the road

A week ago we closed on our retirement cottage, but with the weather kind of yucky, and my husband working all week, Saturday was the first day we could go up there and really look at it now that it belonged to us.  The weather was absolutely gorgeously warmish and sunny!
We went up today to meet the contractor and figure out the renovations we want to do.  When we were done, we just sat for a bit on the front steps and listened and watched.  People we've never met before drove by and waved to us.  We returned the gesture.  Two women walked by and called out "Did you buy this place?"  The SOLD sign was still up.
We smiled and called back "Yes."
"Oh, I'm so glad!  This is such a sweet place.  You have a great view!  Oh, I'm sorry!  We've interrupted your view time!"
Nonsense, we will have more view times.  It was great to meet friendly people there: people who were glad we were in the neighborhood.
There are lobster boats in the cove. There's a wharf across the road that says it sells lobsters.  I wonder if they would sell two or three lobsters or if we'd need to get a truckload?  I guess we'll have to find out.  I could buy a truck.

I sat on my steps

Today

With the sounds

And the spray

The sun glistened

So

As I watched him

Slowly row

Out to his boat

Moored

Beneath the gulls

As they soared

The gulls called “Mine,

Mine!”

“Clean your traps, on

Bait we’ll dine.”

The throaty chug,

Chug

Of his engine

Didn’t lug

Soon I’ll know the

Sound

Of each craft when

It comes round

And then I will

Learn

Who owns the name

On each stern

These vessels of the

Sea

That bring lobster

Rolls to me.

Breakfast of Champions

Is there anything better for breakfast than oatmeal on a sunny, but cold, autumn morning?  Yes.  Oatmeal in my favorite bowl with my favorite mug filled with coffee.

  

Since I've retired, I've taken to making more foods from scratch.  This oatmeal is not your Quaker Quickies.  It is either Silver Palate, or my new favorite Bob's Red Mill Organic, Extra Thick, Whole Grain Rolled Oats.  Now that's a mouthful...literally!  Silver Palate takes 8 minutes to cook, and Bob's takes 12 whole minutes to make!  Now that's cooking!  Anything that takes longer to make than it does to eat is what I deem cooking.  If the clean up after the meal takes longer than it did to eat it, it's cooking, too.

I sprinkle cinnamon on it, then raw sugar, almond slivers or slices, then some Maine wild blueberries (fresh raspberries or strawberries will also do fine), a drizzle of real maple syrup and last a little bit of milk.  Fill the mug with coffee, and voila!  Breakfast is served.  Oh, I forgot.  Sometimes the bowls are a little cold straight from the cupboard, so I warm them first by rinsing them in nice, hot water before they get filled with oatmeal.  The oatmeal stays warmer longer that way.

There is nothing finer, and I never used to like oatmeal.  The trick is to not overcook it, and don't cook the oats in milk.  And it's very photogenic.  Even if you don't like oatmeal, it makes you wish you did.

Oh, good grief.  My cat is opening the cupboards again.  I have to see if he has an empty bowl.  He's not having my oatmeal.

A Specialist

I felt like I should write something, but I’m not sure of what, about Apple.  I worked for 2 years as a Specialist at an Apple store.  I was in the core training group before the first (and only) Apple store in Maine opened.  It opened with a bunch of enthusiastic, energetic, creative and intelligent people of all ages and all walks of life.  We went through a month long training together where we learned the Apple products and a lot about each other.  We were a close knit group by the month’s end.

I never thought I'd enjoy retail sales, but this was a different brand of sales, a different level of retail.  There was a calm, unpressured sales attitude at Apple, an expectation that you would work with a customer until they got what they needed, even if it was only their questions all answered and no sale. 

For me it involved hours after school to closing and all day Saturdays, leaving me little free time. People asked how I could do it, how I could keep up the pace of teaching and work at the store.  All I can say is that it was a different kind of work.  After teaching students all day, I could come in to the store and work with adults, and talk about technology and find solutions to people’s needs. The pace was quick, the work environment was clean and bright, the people were glad to see you.  I was re-energized just walking through the doors.

There was excitement as new products were introduced.  There were challenges to see if you could learn the new products before you got to actually sell one!  It was satisfying to be able to explain differences in models of devices and software and help determine what system was going to be the unit they needed.

Sometimes that store was so crowded you could not make it in a straight line from front to back.  You couldn’t even make out the bright turquoise, royal blue, red or orange shirts signifying that you were an Apple employee.  Teens crowded the devices on Saturdays, dancing to the music, making video clips and posting on FaceBook.  Some people, more my age, came in looking overwhelmed and skeptical at times, but left feeling a bit more in the loop after talking with someone and getting their questions answered.

I have thought about going back to work there, now that I'm retired.  But with gas prices the way they are, and the fact that I'd want to buy every new piece of technology, it would require all of my paycheck!

Would I like to sell another iPhone, iPad, iPod, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac or MacMini?  Would I like to show someone the way to do a screen capture, to record and edit movies, to use GarageBand and make a podcast?  Yes.  I love that stuff.

I also liked teaching first grade.  I liked putting some of those Apple products to use in the classroom, yes, even in first grade.  My class wrote a wonderful story as a class and illustrated it.  Then we used iPhoto and made a beautiful full color book that we were able to gift to the school's library for students to check out.  We've written music in GarageBand and used it in our video podcasts.  

I loved talking to teachers when they came in the Apple store, and I could talk to them about the neat stuff they could do. I loved using my teaching skills there to work at the Apple Camp in the summer, teaching kids how to make movies in iMovie.

I am saddened that Steve Jobs has passed away.  As I heard someone say in a post somewhere, the average IQ of the world has just dropped with his passing.  He was a smart guy.  He was innovative.  He was courageous.  He certainly made a difference in my life over the past 15 years.  My first Mac at school changed a chore into an exciting journey into technology in education that I have enjoyed immensely.

Birds Beware

I see trees and sky over there!

Yesterday a bird hit one of our front windows.  He flew off landing in a low branch as I watched.  Many times they are not so lucky.
This bird I believe hit it again later in the day and survived yet another time, flying to the porch roof for a breather this time.  I hope he's related to a cat... so he'll have seven to go.

Last fall one hit our back sliding glass door and landed on the ground below it.  (We have a new house - only 12 years old - so the deck isn't on the back yet - hey, we have plenty of time to get that deck.)  He must have seen the windows in the front and thought he could fly through back to front.  He sat there for a couple of hours just looking around.  I called Chewonki, which is a place around here that does Nature Education classes and also takes in injured wild animals, to see what I should do.  They were closing for the night, so said to just watch him, maybe put him in a box lined with towels and put a cover on it with holes.  By the time it was getting to be evening, when I looked out he had flown away.  I was relieved.  A bird in a box on my front porch for the night would mean I wasn't sleeping.  What if a fox, weasel or coyote came by?

Looks like we could fly right through there!

Some mornings our Golden Retriever, Pippi, won't step on parts of the lawn.  She'll sniff a spot and then go around or hop over it like it's tainted.  I'm sure we have plenty of wildlife that passes through at night.  If I feel guilty about a bird hitting my windows, I can't imagine the guilt if I set him safely on my porch and had him, in actuality, set up to be a boxed lunch.

The twelve large windows in the prow reflect the tall trees and sky on the birds' side.  I'm sure birds think it would be great fun to fly between the wooden posts and out again.  They just can't see the danger there.

I had never given a thought to the dangers of the windows when we built the house.  I love my view from the prow. From my side I can see the trees and sky for real.  They only reflect the inside back to me at night.

In a snowstorm it feels like I'm in a reversed snowglobe...like someone is shaking the outside and I'm inside all safe and warm watching the snow fall all around me.

I'm so sorry, birds, for my part in this.  I should have put in smaller windows. I'll remember that if I put any more windows in a house.

I wish I didn't feel so bad about fooling them.  I don't know what to do about it though.
Maybe some little danger signs posted outside in bird language...little silhouettes of a cat on a yellow diamond shaped sign?  I couldn't draw glass.  They wouldn't see it.

Up, Down vs. Down, Up

Up, down, 

Mom grips, 

Runs,

Then lets go. 

Up, down, 

Weaving wheel 

Snake prints 

In gravel and grass. 

Up, down, 

Two pedals, 

Little bike, 

On the ground. 

Up, down,

Boy’s spirit, 

Knee Scuffed. 

Up, down, 

Little bike 

Put away 

For another day. 

Up, down, 

“I will 

do that 

when 

I know

how.” 

Up, down, 

Door slams. 

Up, down, 

Mom sighs. 

There’s no 

Explaining

That you 

Need to

Do it 

To learn

How.

There’s no 

Explaining 

Down, up.

That was a hard day.  How do you convince him that he can't just not do something until he knows how to do it?  Of course, now he's grown, having learned how to ride his bike shortly after that incident, and now rides a motorcycle!