Pretty things in Maine

There are lots of pretty things to see on the coast...

 These spring flowers made me smile... I went back to get another picture of them and they were gone...  I guess someone picked them for their center piece for their dinner table?!  Maybe the local deer ate them?  

 Seashells everywhere!  Except for on the beach - we only found 1 full sand dollar...

Kids wanted to give their friends a seashell, so we bought some... (don't tell them!!)

 

 We were really lucky this year - we found a flock of pink flamingos in the fields.   

I think they are rare in these parts of the country :)

The beaches were wonderful!   The water was freezing for us, but the kids didn't seem to mind....

 We got to the beach, they thought the water was too cold...  

 

That seemed to last about 2.3 nanoseconds...   They started jumping the waves.   For folks like us, waves are big entertainment...   

They really did try to keep dry....  I think we learn this every time we go to water... kids are drawn to it, then can't help it.   

Must remember bathing suits for beach walks regardless of the temperatures....

What I didn't take a picture of is the boy and the girl who after they got out of the water proceeded to make a sand castle.   What happens to sand on wet clothes?   A giant mess...  They looked like sand monsters!   Won't mention what the car looked like.

 Yes... Bathing suits!  

Congdon's Doughnuts - Wells, Maine

Should you have the opportunity to go to Maine -- make your way to Wells.   Then find Congdon's Doughnuts... you won't be disappointed!   This seems to be one of the stops we always make (sometimes even twice) it is a real treat.   Doughnuts that taste the way they are supposed to taste - not some fast food type.

I guess at this point I should tell you that yes, it is a restaurant and yes they do bake other things other than doughnuts...   We have only ever had the doughnuts.    I think I am stuck on the doughnut...  

The box...  
Well, I guess I have to tell you that we bought more than one each.   I mean, if this is a TREAT and we only get to have it once a year... then why not have more than one?  And yes, not even a crumb went to waste.

The boy picked a blueberry jelly filled powdery type - you know, the one that is not allowed to be eaten in cars. (If you have seen kids eat, you will know why)

 The girl picked a traditional chocolate dipped - can't go wrong with that.  I picked a blueberry fritter - have you ever had one of those?   I would have taken a picture of it, but I ate it...   Ooops

Complete with tulips in the parking lot!   Again, spring is a beautiful time to visit Maine!

Maine in the spring...

We were lucky enough to have the opportunity to go to Kennebunkport, Maine.   I think the end of May is the time to go!   The flowering trees were in full bloom!    This is a small sample of the tress we saw -- this doesn't even take into consideration the flowers, the gardens...   

This flowering bush was right in front of the condo we stayed at.

This tree too.   Don't know what it is, but they are all over the place!

OK - this one is a flower - buttercups.   This was on they way to the pool.

This was a beautiful tree on someone's yard...  Yes, we stopped... It was hard not to.

This one was at the gas station...

This is a lilac!  The only tree I seem to know.  This was at the gas station too.

This one was all over too -- We stopped somewhere on the way to Biddeford to get this one.

Even though I said the end of May is my favourite time to go.. it's not... We have been there in spring, summer and fall...  Each season is amazing in its own way...  Maybe I'm in love with Maine?  Is that possible?   

1st Maple Syrup Season -- Success!

As you may have read this was our very first year tapping the trees in our yard.  

 There was a lot of sap collecting...   We collected for 4 weeks.

 There was a lot of checking the buckets for sap.  Only one day we forgot to empty and they over flowed.

 There was a lot of this... Boiling down -- Every weekend for the last 4 weekends we did this.

 This was batch #1...  Our very first - which turned out to be a complete disaster.   We boiled it too long, using a thermometer which didn't work very well.  This one actually ended up in the garbage.

 Mmmmm, batch#2

We sure didn't want the 2nd batch to end up like the first - this one we didn't boil down enough.  But we made 6 cups of beautiful sweet light syrup.

Batch #3 

We got it!   Thick, sweet syrup.   This time 8 cups.   After the huge success of this, we boiled batch #2 down and got it perfect too.

Batch #4

Again, beautiful....   We learned the later in the season, the darker the colour.   The colour is amazing and it is sweet, just as sweet as batch #3.   This time we harvested 10 cups.

What an amazing experience.   If you have maple trees in your yard, then you have to try this!   We now have over 20 cups of maple syrup!   

I know I have said this in the past, but this summer we promise to mark all the maple trees on our property.  As a wise man once said, if some is good, more is better!

Maple Syrup Season

This year we decided to tap the Maple trees on our yard, we have lots, we think...  The reason why I say we think is because we tend to go through a cycle - every spring we think about tapping the trees, but we can never remember which trees are Maples.  Then we think in the summer we should mark them.   All of a sudden it is spring again and we realize that yet again, we forgot to mark the trees.  

This year we remembered that these three trees were Maples.  And yes, this summer we will mark the rest, I promise.

Since this is the first time tapping, we were not entirely what to do, how to do it...  We went to our local hardware store to buy the equipment - I love it, they were recycled buckets.

As soon as the tap went in the tree the sap started dipping out...  Taste testing is happening here.

Tap number 2.

Recycled bucket number 1

Flowing sap - drip drip drip.

Taste testing in bucket #4

The season has only just begun.   Please stay tuned for more stories on our maple syrup.  If you have any suggestions, please send them over!   We have no idea what we are doing.... With any luck we will have pancakes with homemade syrup.