64 years young

TONIGHT

Tonight at Corduroy come celebrate the life of Jordan Kelly, and help raise funds for the Stoked Mentoring Program, by purchasing raffle tickets for an amazing 5′4 hollow-wooden fish built at Grain by the amazing craftsman Jeff Martin.

Clyde(escope)

We have been waiting 4 years and 7 months to adopt a dog...and this weekend we did it! This is Clyde. He is a 3 month old blue heeler mixed with something else ~ we think maybe a Catahoula Leopard Dog.

We drove all the way down to NJ to pick him up. When we got to the adoption event he was the only dog sitting quietly wagging his tail. We knew right away he was a perfect match. He's a stone cold chiller. We are so excited to show the world to our little man.

The Farm

A couple of weekends ago Peter's sister, Abbi, and her boyfriend, Ryan, got engaged! After hearing stories of summers spent at the family farm in Jaffery, New Hampshire Ryan thought it would be the perfect place to pop the question. He invited us and Pete's parents for a surprise celebration after she said YES.

Besides the obvious excitement about the wedding, we were also excited to take a look around the farm house, as it has been several years since the whole family has visited last. The house was built in 1796 and for the most part hasn't changed much since then, besides some modernization. It is truly a step into history and a illuminating experience for me as a new member of the family.

The farm and it's many treasures had only been described to me in stories, and over the years it's mysticism grew. Being there and walking through the house was in a way familiar, but at the same time breathtaking and almost like a picture book, with history being told through objects.

One of the most repeated tales of the family is when Peter and Abbi as children found a secret passage behind the fireplace. The passage way lead to a very small room where they found a pair of children's shoes. It is quite possible that this hidden room was used to safely protect slaves during the underground railroad.

One of the most magical of the many rooms was one that contained a good portion of the original tools and artifacts used on the farm. Besides the normal wear and tear on some of the objects, they remained so intact and were arranged in a museum like categorized way.

As part of a family whose history is very rarely discussed and in which I know very little about, it was really nice to learn about the history of my new family, and has inspired me to explore, uncover and reveal my own roots of my own family.

Nova Scotia

The long awaited mini-mooning notes for leisurely loving.

Three months ago we got hitched and took a mini-moon to Nova Scotia. The thought of some uncrowded log riding was certainly appealing to us, as was the slot-machinin-flat-brimmed-hat wearing elders on the ferry that cruised the mighty waters from Maine to Nova Scotia.

The night we arrived we made our way from the harbor to Lunenberg. We were quite delighted with the little town and the knot pub, where we grubbed down some fried fish goodness.

Biked down to the harbor there and snapped some shots of rusty ships, hot pink spray paint, wood skiff boats, luscious ropes and turquoise water hoses. Jenny McGee, you paying attention?

Followed by this amazing truck.

And a visit to the local boat builders. These guys have it dialed, it was so fun to watch as they bent the wood into the structure. Only wish we could have sailed away...

and some more turquoise and gorgeous greens.

Next day we got the scoop on a place to catch some peelers. All fogged in we weren't exactly sure until we were out in the thick of it what to expect. After a couple of rides we discovered someone just off to the right of us in the fog hootin' and haulerin' for each of our rides. One of nicest people we've ever meet out in the water. Never caught his name, but he told us sometimes the whales will come right into this little cove to say hello and put us back into our places. Wild.

After catching some mellow swell in the south, we made our way northward up to Cape Breton.

accordant landscape of the north country.

At times throughout our drive we rubbed our eyes and without clicking our heels, felt as if transported back to the golden land of the Californias. Cape Breton is completely gorgeous and totally isolated.

Blueberry infused coastal cliffs drop down into Atlantic waters.

Right after I took this picture Peter beckoned for me to get into the car. The eyes of some woodsy creature were staring at us...

Coyote/wolf/dog. I'm convinced he just wanted to greet us to his beach, but perhaps he had alternative motives.

Following the visit from the fury four legged friend came the rest of his entourage...seriously. Right around the bend a bald eagle flew over head followed by a black bear and two cubs crossing the road. It was as if the Nova Scotian wildlife team released the gates to the creatures all at the same time.

Following the backwoods adventure we headed south to Lawrencetown where we had our palms read only to find out that swell was not part of our future. bummed, but not entirely due to some local deep friend haddock tips, we headed to our lake front camp site for some suds and sleep.

What's a honeymoon without a little...

To sum it up: we had an amazing time. It wouldn't be a road trip without a tiny hitch though...

About nearly 2000 miles later after hugging the entire coastline and checking out nearly every potential point for swell...

Just 50 miles to the port, with an hour left until the ferry took to sea, our tire blew. Pressed for time we got to work putting on the doughnut. The max speed limit on these things is 50... one former mass driver + stressful time crunch = drive-through, double lane crossing, cruising through the quiet streets of Yarmouth. Made it to the ferry without a second to spare last car on and ropes were tossed off and we set off for sea. Our apologies for giving Maine drivers a bad name, we swear we did well for our states reputation in every other way.

Hope you enjoyed your trip through Nova Scotia with us. We are now back finished moving and back in the swing of things. Check back for more posts coming up soon.

Tonight

We are hosting a drawing rally at Space tonight feauturing 20 Portland artists, in addition the PHC will have an installation in the gallery check it out.

Grain + Andrew Kidman + Corduroy = Epic

See you there...