Estate Sale, Seals, and Shaggy Manes

Boy, we've hit the jackpot with fabulous weekends around here lately!

Picking away at the chores in a leisurely fashion, along with plenty of relaxation and fun, make for the best weekends in my opinion.

Most of our chores this weekend consisted of the outside variety. Yes, I do believe we'll be preparing for winter until the snow flies, if not after! But we're getting there. I've made a pretty sizable dent in the wood pile, and Heron and Kieran have completed the trim on the mudroom. It shouldn't take them long to shingle it.

My neighbor surprised me with a bag of yarn she'd picked up at an estate sale. Isn't that sweet? Lucky for us that's just the kind of neighbor Mary Ann is.

This got me pretty excited. A house full of goodies, all of it for sale, sounds pretty magical to a thrifter like myself! Kieran and I dropped our work gloves and headed on down to check it out.

Turns out, the woman who lived there had been a crafter, knitter, and avid sewer. There were beautiful knitting needles, fabric, ribbon, thread, yarn, and lots of other crafting gear. Kieran patiently and carefully looked around with me, and at times commented, "This woman had a lot of stuff!"

 
I learned from her son that the woman had been ill for a long time. A shut in who did a lot of shopping online. I think she may have been a bit of a hoarder. She had moved away from Eastport a couple of years before and had died in another state. Minnessota, maybe? I can't remember now. Her name was Morgan. I don't believe I ever laid eyes on her even though she lived in town for twelve years.

It was strange roaming through her house looking at all of her things. Among the crafting supplies and knick knacks (and lots and lots of other stuff) were handwritten notes and tubes of lipbalm. I couldn't help but wonder what her life had been like. 

I left with a couple of things, including some fabric and vintage ribbon. Kieran found a pack of 64 Crayola crayons. I wished her son well. Although he seemed to be in good spirits, it must have been bittersweet for him to see people picking over all that remained of his mother's life.

I knit this safety orange neckband for Patrick.

Saturday night saw us at a bonfire, beer and brats party with a great group of friends. It was such fun to catch up with folks I hadn't seen in awhile, and I laughed till my belly hurt. Mostly at myself, but still, a laugh is a laugh, right?!

Kieran enjoyed spending Sunday with his grandparents in Trescott. Heron and I worked outside, with me taking lots of knitting and coffee breaks. Later in the afternoon Patrick and I headed out for an adventure (which is where all the photos in this post were taken). We started at Reggie's Beach. The tide was very low so we were able to walk along the shore to Dog Island and ended up all the way at Treasure Beach, at the end of Clark Street.

We took our sweet time, and spied shags, gulls, an eagle, and seals. I tried talking to the seals, inviting them to come closer to shore so we could make friends. But they seemed to be happy right where they were, about 75 yards or so off shore.

As we made our way back up Clark Street we discovered a pretty good-sized patch of shaggy manes (funny looking little white-capped mushrooms). I've heard they're good eating. But since I don't like eating mushrooms, I prefer to imagine that this patch of 'shrooms is home to tiny gnomes and wee faeries.

Patrick did a little exploring all his own, apparently. When we got home I noticed that he was sporting a most powerful dead fish odor. After plopping him in the sink and sudsing him up twice, he still smells pretty gnarly. Ah, well. It was worth it.

He stinks, but I love him!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend.