A Bloggy Kind of Day

While this blog has been on the island, we've had a very busy week catching up with housework, preparations for school, and seeing friends who are here from out of town. On Friday the girls and I spent the afternoon with Simmy who writes Echoes of a Dream from England.


When we met last year her husband, Tom, and the boys tried to teach us how to play Settlers of Catan. We didn't really have time to get it so this year we sat on the side of a beautiful little lake and chatted, played the game, swam, and had a nice visit.

Simmy, Tom, and I had a grand time chatting about blogging, crafting, all things Waldorf, and the seasons our lives are moving into right now. Our children are growing older bringing new schooling issues and needs while we, too, are changing. It was an interesting conversation.

We've always enjoyed talking about books and....look what she brought me....er....us!!! A huge stack of yummy books from England. We have an entire winter's stack of Enid Blyton and other favorites of her family.

I love meeting other bloggers. After all the conversations and glimpses via the blog, there is such a nice connection when meeting in person. Now I wish I could just fly to....Tasmania, New Zealand, Australia, Belgium or take a little bloggy driving tour to Massachusetts, Connecticut, or Pennsylvania.

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Gifts from the Sea

This year I spent quite a bit of time with my journal and Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea reflecting on the gifts this island has given each of us. One of those gifts was the gift of letting us live on the edge of our comfort-level, which was different for each of us, and finding that we could do it. Another of those gifts was "island time." We were given the gift of slowing down and truly being able to experience each moment of our days.


Lou's favorite island excursion was the sketching trip late in the afternoon on the last day of our stay. Our excursion led us to a little bridge that runs over the salt marsh.









We sat quietly on the bridge and just sketched and wrote poetry for about an hour. We were quiet, the crickets chirped, the waves in the distance thundered, and the water slowly trickled out of the salt marsh under our little bridge. Our senses were filled by the island as it gave us our last gifts.

It was a perfect way to say goodbye.

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Island Time

We lived on island time guided by air, wind, tides, and waves. This year low tide was in the afternoon. The tide gave us a rhythm of long lazy mornings and afternoon jaunts when we could get down the cliffs to the sea. Late afternoons brought crafting with our sea treasures.


The fog guided our days as well. On the land it is a mysterious, beckoning element where the white mist creeps through the tall, dark forest. It is a more ominous blanket when in the boat. So, we watched the skies carefully and planned our boat trips accordingly. This year we had our lovely fog and treated it with the respect it deserves closing our windows to keep clothes dry and keeping our jaunts on the land rather than the sea.


We made a clock this year out of sumac branches and shadows in the hopes that the sun could guide our days, but the fog conspired against us leaving us with a sense of suspension rather than progression.

Like the fog, we sensed our days drifting by until they were suddenly gone.

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Weaving the Landscape

Crafts are always a big part of island life. I bring lots of materials and then sit back and see where things go. The last time we went out the girls made lots of sea glass jewelry which I still wear. Weaving was the passion this year.


They began by just weaving little bags. They quickly wove them, felted them, and turned them into special cases to hold the perfect stones from thunder hole.

Hels became inspired to make wall hangings out of yarn and nature. Nels helped her make the frames out of sticks and driftwood. She used yarn for the warp and then seaweed, feathers, goldenrod, shells, and trash for the weft.

Here is the start of a small one.

Mid-day over the meadow

This Morning's Beach

Moonlight over the ocean

I'm enjoying my new porch decorations!

Moonlight over the ocean is my favorite although I was proud of her for thinking about the trash and making a comment about it through art.

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A Fairy World

As you may know from the book Fairy Houses, Maine islands have fairies. "Our" island has many special secret places that you get to through dark, damp paths through the woods. We explored at least one spot every day.

Here are the girls heading into the woods which begins with a tunnel of sumac.



There is one path on the island that is pure magic. As we walked through the dark woods, the way was marked by white mussel shells with pure white stones placed inside them.

In these woods the whites glow white.


The greens are brilliant.

And everywhere you look, there are places where fairies just might really live. As we walked along this dark path marked by white pearls, Lou whispered "Mom, I think some sea fairies must have been here."


We emerged from the quiet, magical forest to the dramatic ocean side of the island at Ship's Cove, named for an old shipwreck that used to be here. The waves were pounding on the outer cliffs while rainwater trickled down the inner cliffs in gentle waterfalls.



We spent a long time at Ship's Cove listening to the roaring and the trickling, collecting sea glass, and exploring the wildness of the beach.









We then headed back through the woods along the fairy trail where even the trees are fairy-scale.

Fairy Houses is a delight to read if you haven't had the chance. I believe there is also a video. The book provides lots of ideas and inspirations for building fairy houses.

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Island Contraband

I had worked hard to keep the packing to a compact minimum--we have to lug everything down a dock, across the water, over the beach, and up a steep hill. Imagine my surprise when "Flip and Flop" made their appearance on Lou's feet!

Lou had quite a few other things tucked away in her bag. Seven stuffies (at least they were small) two extra books, a travel clock, and her meditation balls. It reminded me of this funny collection found when packing for Florida last April.


Lou's favorite part of the island may have been her bunk. She settled right in with all her island contraband and had a very snuggly time. I think there's something special about having just a few of your most favorite things with you. Really, less is more!

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Island Games

As the girls have gotten older, we've begun to play more and more games. I came up with two ways to make some games feel special to the island. The first is "Periwinkle Mancala." Filling the mancala board with periwinkle shells connects the game to the landscape around us.


The new game this year is called "Thunder Hole Dice". This game is played with three dice and about 45 smooth stones which we retrieved from "Thunder Hole", a beautiful cave-like spot on the island that is filled with smooth stones of all sizes.


"Thunder Hole Dice" can be played with any number of players, but you need around 10 - 15 playing pieces per person. The first person rolls one dice. The number on the dice is her number for the round. She then rolls all three dice. If she gets the number on one dice she yells "BOOM" and takes one stone. If she gets the number on two dice she yells "BOOM BOOM" and takes 5 stones. If she gets the number on three dice she yells "BOOM" and automatically wins. She rolls until she doesn't get her number on any of the 3 dice.


Keep going with the next person rolling one dice to get the number for their turn. The first person to get 15 stones wins. If someone gets over 15 stones he has to put them all back and start over.


Either of these games would be easy to adapt to another special place. You could use acorns, pine cones, seaglass, or anything that you find in your surroundings. You can change the names of the games to fit your special spot and change the shout-out word from "BOOM" to something else. I know that our girls will always associate these games with the island.

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A day in my life

We're home from our island. There is much to tell about, but first I thought I'd post "A day in my life" since the 14th came while we were away.

7:30 Got up and read until the girls woke. It was very foggy. Filled the water buckets from the rain barrel, made coffee.

8:30 Worked on the Starry Night puzzle and helped the girls with their weaving which has become THE CRAFT of the week.


10:00 It was high tide, a perfect time for a swim. We swam in the fog and then came up to the house to wash our hair in the rain water-- so soft.

11:30 Hels and I gathered balsam for Simmy. Hels sewed Simmy a sachet. The girls enjoyed their weaving. The fog finally burned off.

12:30 Lunchtime--wraps and carrot sticks. We don't use bread on the island, it molds too quickly.

1:00 Since the fog seemed to be holding off, we went to get lobster from Mrs. Bibber. Here are Hels and Nels in the boat.

Here we are arriving at the lobster pound. It's in a little cove about a 10 minute boat ride from the island.

Here's Mrs. Bibber. We've been buying our lobster from her for 10 years now. It's always fun to stop in.

Here's Mr. Bibber's boat. He's been lobstering for 55 years!

Here's Lou helping us cast-off after our visit to the Bibbers.

The fog continued to stay out to sea, so we hopped over to the town dock to look at this boat that Nels wants to build.

2:00 We're back to the island with LOBSTERS for dinner!

3:00 The fog came back and the tide was low--perfect timing for a trek to the ocean side of the island to explore the tide pools. Usually this tide pool is full of sea urchins and star fish cling to the rocks nearby. NOTHING this year and very warm water.

We progressed across the seaweed at the base of the cliffs to "Thunder Hole". You really have to watch the tide at thunder hole so you don't get caught. There is no way up those sheer cliffs. This spot is full of the smooth, round stones that have been swirled about by the tide.

These stones figured prominently in our week. More about that later.

5:00 Back to the deck for cocktails. Closed things up as the fog was getting more dense and things were getting wet. The girls went down to the beach to get salt water for the lobster. Played some games (more about that later).

6:30 Lobster dinner!

7:30 Lit a fire to dry out clothes (and have a marshmallow). Read A Little Princess far into the night.

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Packing for a deserted island

We leave on Saturday for Haskell Island, a 100-acre island in Maine. We've been going to Haskell Island since Hels was a baby. There are 3 other houses on the island, but usually we have the island to ourselves.

Packing for the week requires a great deal of thought. There is no drinking water or electricity. We use a small whaler to get to the island and need to plan carefully. If there is fog or a swell of more than 2' we are marooned.


I have lists going back for years. It is fun to see how the list has evolved from bringing the jumpy seat to bringing the beading kit. Don't read the list too closely--it's a little embarrassing how many ...er...health drinks we bring :)

This year's list includes an art kit with watercolor pencils, the niji waterbrush, gel pens, glue sticks, chalk pastels (the new favorite art supply), and sun print paper so we can try and make some Queen Anne's Lace cards. Of course the journals are also in the pile. For the journals I plan a poetry session where we spend the week putting words into a bowl then draw them out to combine into poems.

It has been VERY rainy and foggy this summer, so we are planning for time inside. This includes the favorite games of the summer--Skip-Bo and Scrabble. We got Scrabble at a yard sale, so we'll probably donate it to the island. Doesn't every island need a game of Scrabble?

The Perseid Meteor Showers will be peaking while we are on the island. It is the perfect spot to watch the meteors--very dark and open. As in past years we will spend several evenings lying out on the deck, wrapped in blankets, staring up at the glorious starry night. This puzzle seems like a good fit. Hels is our puzzle girl and chose this one.

Of course there are the boater safety items to pack--wet bag, chart, boat radio, GPS, compass, large first aid kit, and life vests. We need all of this--we've been lost in the fog before, even with the GPS, and had to use the compass to find our way. I REFUSE to travel in fog ever again, so am over-packing this year.

Then there are the craft supplies. Nels will never let me live down the time I packed plaster of paris (for shell sculpture) and wax (for sand candles). It weighed a ton. This year the craft agenda is just a bit lighter:

Sea glass and stone earrings and mobiles--we have lots of beads, earring supplies, and various copper and silver wire along. The girls have quite the beading supply stash and I made them combine it all into one of their kits. I have some limits :)

Of course we have to bring yarn. We plan to make a loom out of twigs and weave an island landscape, thus all the greens and blues in this stash.

I'm also hoping to press seaweed onto watercolor paper. Helen wants to try dyeing t-shirts with goldenrod, but I haven't figured that one out yet. It will be interesting to see how much we actually do. Better to be over-prepared when on a deserted island...

The stack of books is a little too embarrassing to share, but I'll share the head lamps in this pile of portable electronics. We've tried absolutely no media, but have found that we are all happier with some books on tape along for the girls, thus the walk-men. We use the yellow radios for when the girls head out on their own or when Nels is boating alone.

It looks like a lot, but it isn't. We have two plastic tubs of "stuff", cooler, groceries, 3 duffles, and a tote bag of sheets--about half as much as our friends brought last time we went :)



Today is bread and cookie baking and lasagna-making day. I like to bring some frozen foods along. We'll see you when we get back. We'll either be sunburned or soggy :)

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