ChatRabbit

Well, as I alluded to in my last “post”…I spent a good part of last week in coastal Maine, the part they call MidCoast. We had a nice rental cottage in New Harbor, very close to Pemaquid Point. Here’s the view from Colonial Pemaquid’s fort:

Apparently, this area had been colonized in the early 1600s (displacing the native American tribes, naturally). I had no idea. I bet Maine kids know this, but down in RI all you hear about is Plimoth Plantations! Seriously, follow that link, it’s way interesting.
Since the place has been clocked down a hundred times and rebuilt, it’s amazing that the original cemetery is still there:

Across the street from our cottage each morning was a home made donut stand. Sweeeet.

Behind the donut stand were 3 horses and a donkey. Donkeys make weird noises, especially at 5 am.
Not a cute “hee-haw”, no. More like a nails-on-a-chalkboard squeal.
What an ass! He was cute, though.

We were very lucky with the weather. Very, considering everyone up there told us the summer had been a bit of a washout (not unlike RI, too). Here’s Boothbay Harbor:

Boothbay has a great Botanical Garden- we had fun checking out all the nooks and crannies:

That last one shows an area designated for making “fairy houses”, which we did.

I absolutely LOVE this art in an ice cream shop in Boothbay:

Somehow, I NEVER thought of how a littleneck would eat ice cream…now I know!

The Pemaquid lighthouse and point are gorgeous:

This is the lighthouse that appears on the back of the Maine quarter- and I can see why. It’s pretty much a quintessential storybook lighthouse! The rocky zones all around it are excellent to poke around on…you find fun stuff like this:

I made a new friend in Pemaquid!

We had lobsters one night, right off the pier. This came with mixed emotions, because we here at Maison Dubois happen to love lobsters (the living kind). The kids want to keep one as a pet. And yet…MY GOD they’re good eatin’!

After staying out in these parts, we meandered home slowly along the coast, checking out lots of lovely coves and more lighthouses:

We went to the York Zoo, and were happy to see so many animals that our local zoo doesn’t have!
Capybaras! And a capybaby! I was a Bill Peet fanatic as a kid, so getting to see capybaras is a treat.

OK, goats aren’t very exotic, but anytime you get to hand feed piles of baby goats, that’s a good day!

How cute are prairie dogs? They’re even cuter when drinking out of a bowl!

This is the most amazing bird ever to me:

It’s got tiger stripes! Spots! Every color! Just crazy, man. I love it.
What is it? Um, it’s a..a…Lady something-or-other. I’ll find out.

They also had a butterfly garden going:

And what’s a vacation without tchotchkes?
I wouldn’t know, I’ve never taken one!
Here are my my classy souvenirs:

A lobster tile, a handcarved owl on driftwood, and the cutest cat mini-vase/toothpick holder.

And a few tackier items:

Another balsam pillow, this one with the Pemaquid lighthouse on it. (You know I love me some balsam!). A few patches to sew onto my patch bench. And a lobster cookie cutter.
Oh, yeah! Guess what everyone’s getting at this year’s cookie exchange!

We were lucky to stop by Newburyport, Mass. on the way home. The Child At Heart Gallery is closing it’s brick-and-mortar shop there, and we were able to get some awesome art at a discount- these pieces are by Chris Demarest and David McPhail. Whee!

Now it’s all about back to work and back to school. Booo!

That’s right, Maine!
And I didn’t JUST buy tacky souvenirs while there, either.
OK, maybe a few.
I will post some nice pictures later today after I get a few loads of laundry done and start going thru all the e-mail. Later!

I thought I would show you some of my recent antique/flea market finds!
Here’s a nifty owl that simply screams “70’s”:

Anything that screams 70’s makes me happy, what can I say?

Hankies are also happy things, so long as your not blowing your nose into them.
Here’s one for my bunny collection:

And oh, look…it’s LARD!

You don’t see honkin’ big packs of lard anymore.
Gee, I can’t imagine why.
Nowadays, they just insert the lard directly into your processed foods…no fuss, no muss!
I like stuff like this package from the past not only for it’s absurdity, but the graphics.
I will put it into my Dubois 5+10 area (a shelf of similar things).

How cute are these little guys!

Yeah, I know it’s not anywhere near Christmas, but I picked these up for my mom.
Are you reading this blog, Mom? DON’T LOOK!

Here’s something for the fall:

This will be the ideal thing to wear to the annual Apple Fest, oh yeah!

And last but not least (and not even last)…

FABRIC!

Sweet piles of vintage scraps destashed by a hoarder…let me hoard thee now!
That’s all for now…
I think I’ll be taking a blog break while summer is still here.
Plenty of time for this in the fall (not really, but you know what I mean!)

My Wishosaurus product is featured in the September issue of Family Fun magazine.

I happened to be reading the magazine (a fave of mine), and whoa! There it was!

Thanks, Family Fun. You’ve got awesome taste!

Huzzah! Some of my little birdhouse ornaments are on Etsy’s homepage today…thanks to CuriosityKilled’s fab treasury-making prowess! Thanks to CK, and everyone who’s followed the link!

Here’s what the birdhouses look like up close:

Here’s our remaining old girl cat, Georgia, on my desk. Obviously, she is not hanging out with the balsam pillows. Instead, she is 100% asleep and precariously dangling her neck over the side of my desk. Ironically, she is right near a Mary Blair book I was looking thru that happens to have an orange cat just like her in it. After I took this picture, I gingerly put her head back on the desk. It scared the bejeezus out of her.

Silly old cat!

Do you know what I mean?
These little balsam-filled pillows that you get in souvenir shops throughout New England.
The smell reminds me of childhood, as do the seemingly unchanged graphics and notable heft of the balsam needles.
Happy, happy summers!
These 4 particular pillows are sitting on a box I made for my cat Georgia. It’s sort of her “couch”. It was my attempt offering her a better place to sleep than my scanner or my keyboard.
I am happy to report that it works about one third of the time.
The other two thirds of the time she spends on my scanner or my keyboard.
Personally, I’d rather nap with the balsam pillows!

Here’s a peachy feature illustrated by me in this month’s issue of Highlights High Five magazine:

I have a new Fall 2008 product out via the FRED company (where I have been on staff for lo these almost-17 years).
I do think it came out nicely if I do say so myself (and I do)!
It’s a little double-walled glass creamer called Calf and Half:

This little product has been receiving a lot of blog love. Here are some of the blogs I have found it on:

NotCot

DustBowl

WooHome

GizmoBlog

Liqurious

TrendsNow

Thanks for the luv!
If anyone sees this item out in the world, do give a holler!

I have an bit of an obsession with 5 & 10-cent stores. As a kid there were still the last vestiges of them around for me to pick thru.I clearly remember the Ben Franklin that my aunt worked at, and the Woolworth’s in Garden City and Providence (both complete with lunch counters). Too bad they’re all gone!
Or ARE they?
No, there are a few left.
One of my favorites is in North Conway, New Hampshire.

It’s just a cute little hometown version that still has an authentic candy counter:

That’s pure joy, right there.You can get yourself a little basket and fill it with various candies, then they put them into the traditional little paper bags.
So-weet! They also have all kinds of things that I haven’t seen in years- Dennison seals, those little gummed stars, dollhouse furniture, etc. And, it being New Hampshire, they have all those wonderfully tacky cedar chests and balsam pillows and the like. I really wonder where they get some of this stuff. The staff assured me that the makers still make the stuff. I guess there’s just not much call for it anymore. Thanks, WalMart!

With this image in my mind, I made a new Scrap Shack that’s based on the N. Conway 5 & 10. I love the exterior color!

In my version, there’s a bear entering the shop, and the store seems to be filled with toys.
My kind of place! I made a few of them- one for me, one for my mom, and a couple for you at the Etsy shop!

NOW, here’s one place I NEED to go:

The National Christmas Center in Pennsylvania!

Amongst the many Christmas exhibits, they have recreated a vintage Woolworth’s at Christmastime.
If you follow that link, they have a “virtual” tour of it.
Have mercy!! I am so there!
Has anyone been to this?? Do tell!