Spring in the far Downeast

We have backed up a few months in terms of the seasonal bloom.  Our visit to Cincinatti started off being summery with dark green foliage, bugs, humidity and very hot and ended up the week cool and wet and it has been that way ever since!

Here in downeast Maine and the Canadian Maritimes by the Bay of Fundy the daffodils are out and the tulips are beginning to bloom.  Most of the leaves are beginning to come out.  Lilacs are several weeks from blooming at our house.

Even the horse chesnut candles have a ways to go.  The catkins were on the alders at the Eagle Hill bog today and the tamarack was just beginning to show some green.

Come for a plein air painting class with Michael Chesley Johnson and Paint Lubec, Maine and Campobello Island, NB or do an unstructured painting, music, or writing retreat at Artists Retreat Studios & Gallery in the summer of 2014.   My favorite quote for those of us who don't often indulge in what we actually want to do is "If not now when"?  Indeed...

And a special prayer for my friends who have been evacuated from scenic Oak Creek Canyon because of the Slide Fire.

On the Road Again!

We had a few days before we left our beloved island, to do some exploring.  Saba got a chance to do a last swim in the Bay of Fundy.  This year we do not plan to visit California as we have the past two winters, so this is our last view of the broad ocean for a while.  The weather cooperated and we harvested veggies from the garden and got both our Campobello Island and Lubec, Maine homes winterized.

Superdog Saba

Super Dog Swimmer...that water is cold in the Bay of Fundy!  She is amazing for a dog well over 14 years old as she can walk miles, swim, still loves to hunt, and is an amazingly happy girl!!  I hope she lives to 20...

View from the edge of the Bay of Fundy

Yellow Lichen on Rocks

We are now off to southern locations for Michael's teaching, then we make the long push west in 3 and 1/2 days from St. Augustine, FL.  If you want to follow along see Michael's schedule and you will see that he has very few days off right now!  Workshops on the road are all full which we are grateful for.

http://www.michaelchesleyjohnson.com/html/workshops.htm  We do have time to visit Michael's parents in GA next week which is nice since they are 84 and 87 and still going strong, but at that age you don't take nearly perfect physical health for granted.  We are lucky since very few couples in their mid-50's have both sets of parent's living beyond the normal life span and in perfect health at the moment, still gardening, taking care of their homes, and driving(except for my dad), and doing deep thinking....