Gardening, Good Friends, Dogs, and Zentangle

I am winding down from a wonderful weekend. I feel great.

I had a three day weekend since last weekend was a one day weekend and I decided to take full advantage of the great weather and head up to Maine to see my friends, Joyce, and her husband, Roland. I left after a bike ride on Friday and was in Lovell, ME by three-thirty and was very warmly greeted by Longfellow and Maisie, Joyce and Roland’s dogs.

Friday evening was spent relaxing and eating a wonderful dinner of grilled veggies and tuna steak with papaya. Joyce had bought a huge papaya and it ended up being a part of every meal for the next day. It was like a Thanksgiving turkey that just goes on and on and shows up in every recipe. The best part is that it was so good. Joyce outlined her plans for the next day and I was tickled that she had gardening for me to do.

On Saturday morning, we had a nice relaxing breakfast (with papaya) and then headed out to the garden. Joyce and Roland have been married for forty-two years and gardening seriously for the past seven. Roland is able to stay one step of Joyce all the way and seems to even know what she needs before she thinks of it. He knew exactly what she needed for which beds before she could put seeds or plants in them. After he put down “the recipe” and laid out the soaker hoses, my job was to put in the kale and pok choi plants. I wish I had taken a picture of them after I put them in but we moved so fast to get the cover on them that I didn’t even think of it. The cover is to keep the ground hogs and chipmunks from nibbling them down to nothing. Joyce has been carrying on a war with the chipmunks and even has a large garden owl to scare them away. I hope it works because that garden is beautiful.

After lunch (yes, there was more papaya), Joyce and I took a walk down to the lake that is near their property. It was a perfect day. Winter was slow to leave, but black fly season in New England has already begun. Fortunately, there was a good breeze that helped keep them away for the most part. It felt good to stretch out my legs after all the bending that comes with gardening.

Joyce told me to spend the afternoon relaxing and I took full advantage of it. They have a deck with an Andirondack chair that looks out over the White Mountains. Mount Washington still has snow on it and can be seen peeking up between two other mountains. I spent enough time reading in the sun to get a nice burn on my arms and a good tan on my face. After a while I went in the house and stretched out on a big chair and ottoman and took a little nap before dinner.

Maisie loves to clean feet. She came up to the living room and nudged my feet. I still had my shoes on so she went over to Joyce first and gave her a good wash. Then she came back to the ottoman and nudged me again. I took off my shoes and socks and she jumped up and held my feet down with her paws and went at it. It was almost as good as a foot reflexology session. When she was done she stretched out with me for a while and rested.

Dinner was grilled shrimp (basted in a marinade made with the papaya), grilled asparagus, and brown rice with a salad made with the first lettuce out of the garden. It was all so good!

After all that fresh air, gardening, sunshine, and walking we were all ready for bed early. I slept better than I have in months.

I headed back home this morning so that I could get a few things done around the house and then attend a Zentangle workshop in Gilmanton. The coalition I work for had a conference last weekend and Zentangle was one of the workshop offerings during the time period we had designated for “self care” activities. I hadn’t been able to attend because I was teaching knitting and doing another workshop, so I went this weekend. I really love it. It is called yoga for the brain. Some people may look at it and think it is “doodling” but it is actually mindful drawing of patterns. Check it out at http://www.zentangle.com/index.php or at the instructor’s website at http://betteabdu.com/

It was a pleasure to drive this weekend. A week ago it was snowing but today everything is green and all the trees are blooming. New England is breathtaking in the spring and I am so glad to be here.