New arrival!

The new granddaughter made her debut this morning at 8:57 AM.

7 lbs, 9 ozs of little baby girl. She screamed her greetings into the phone. Everyone is doing well!

A tulip grows in the mulch pile

Sometimes, you just get to 'cleaning up' a little too much and you find that you've tossed good bulbs into the mulch pile along with the leaves and weeds...

What innkeepers do when there are no guests.

I was thinking you might be interested to know what we do when you're not here. (Then again, maybe you think we're akin to teachers-who thinks teachers exist outside the classroom!) So, I went through some of the photos I've taken this year to show what we've done. Here, then, is a little photo album of what the innkeepers did since January...
One thing was to have the upstairs, and the stairs themselves carpeted. We did not, however do this work ourselves. If we did do such a big project ourselves, those of you who have been here this spring would have been handed some carpet tacks and a hammer and been asked to pitch in...we are sloooooooow when it comes to big stuff!


Some smaller projects that we can do ourselves and still get them done before summer are things like retiling a bathroom floor.

Before the new tile goes in, though, the old tile has to come out. Advice to beginners that they don't show you on any of those bathroom redo shows on TV- wear a full face shield when chipping up old tile.

Rock had a group of innkeepers here for a meeting thinking he needed medical attention due to all the little cuts and scrapes he had from flying tile.



Then there are the even smaller indoor projects like updating old cushions on chairs and making table runners and tablecloths for the dining room.

I'm particularly happy with this project (the floral is the new cushion) because I actually finished it.

These chairs are in the living room at the games table.



Pretty soon, it warms up and we head outside to clean up after the winter.

We've added this new sign to make it easier to find the stairs. With all of the evergreens along the stairs (even though we took out 2 of them last year) it's still tricky figuring out where to go when you first arrive.

We did this with a stencil we ordered online. Only took 10 coats of paint and 2 tries to get this one right. (Yes, I know the lattice still needs to be painted. It's on the list!)



And because we're tired of all the gloom and doom everywhere, we've decided to 'get happy' here with some of the outdoor color schemes.To that end, we bought the red and yellow Adirondack chairs and then decided to paint the old 'motel' chairs and table in what are fondly known around here as 'orange tractor' and 'school bus' colors.

There is no way to sit in these chairs and be glum!



There are also a couple of serious projects we've done this week. One of those was the repair of the sidewalk outside the front door. We had some pretty heavy rains this past year which have progressively been washing out the sand underneath the sidewalk. That has lead to water pooling in places it ought not. This project should help (as it's raining today, we'll see how it works out).

Had to take this shot a couple of time as the glare off the top of Rock's head was blinding me. (Don't tell him I said that!)



The last big project we're going to get to this year is painting the front porch. So far, this is all I've gotten done. Can't paint in the rain and scraping paint in the rain is messy. I'll be back to this tomorrow or Thursday.

Hope you enjoyed this little tour through our project list! Also hope you enjoy the results when you get here.

It's really greening up out there, so make plans to come and visit.





You didn't think I was going to tell you EVERYTHING we do when you're not here, did you?

Wink.

Maine Tourmaline

Maine tourmaline, the state gem, is in the news in Down East magazine. As many of you know, you can 'mine' for tourmaline at several locations. To experience mining for yourself, check out Western Maine Mineral Adventures.

If you have no desire to get dirty but still want a true Maine tourmaline gem to take home, including the knockout 'watermelon' tourmaline, be sure to stop by RD Allen Jewelers on Middle Street in Freeport where they have a fantastic collection of tourmaline in all colors.

Congratulations to Jacqueline's Tea Room!

Jacqueline's Tea Room is on the Yankee Magazine 'Best of New England' list in the May/June, 2009 issue! 'Best Proper English Tea' is the heading- page 151. The Tea Room is just up the street from us. Full tea is served Tuesday-Friday and every other weekend. 207-865-2123 for reservations (required).

The Desert of Maine is another Freeport location on the list. (Best Place to Park Your Camel)

A 'Best Bargain' is the LL Bean Walk-On Adventure. At $15, you cannot go wrong!

What's new in Freeport

A quick rundown of what's new in town, boy do things change quickly!

• Arlberg Sports has moved out of town. That space will be taken over by the Beadin' Path, which moves out of its location, right next door.
• Harry and David is closing.
• Mexicali Blues is expanding and should have the new space open today (May 1).
• Summer Shades is moving in where Sunglass Hut is now. (Sunglass Hut is moving to the new Village Station.)
• Maine Embroidery is moving to the old Wilbur's Chocolates building. (Wilbur's moved last year to its new location a few feet south on Rt 1.)
• Wilbur's is doing tours of the factory on May 1, 9, 23 & 30 from 11 AM - 2 PM ($3, includes samples).
• Morrisons Chowder House is now Freeport Chowder House, same location on Mechanic Street, different owners, different recipe.
• Cumberland Farmers Market in Freeport opens on May 22 (will go until early Oct, every Friday). 2-6 PM. See our blog post about one day at the market last year. At the Town Hall on Main Street. (Town Hall driveway and parking lot will be used, please park on West St.)
  
• A new art gallery is opening on Main Street. As yet unnamed and no opening date. They'll be in the former Sadie Greens building up by us. (Sadie Green moved last year, right next door to Wicked Whoopies.)
• The 1912 Cafe opened in LL Bean. It is run by the good folks from Buck's Naked BBQ.
• Coach is moving to the new Village Station.
• Cole Haan is renovating their store and will reopen in May with a second entrance right onto the Village Station.
• All this talk about the Village Station reminds me that an actual train station is slated to be built for the arrival next year of the DownEaster, which will continue up from Portland, through Freeport and on to Brunswick.
• A new sidewalk is going in alongside LL Bean on Justin's Way. Very nice for heading to the back parking lots and Discovery Park.
• Bre's 11th birthday is coming up on Mothers Day. Some of you may know that she gets a Ben & Jerry's ice cream on her big day.
• Speaking of birthdays, we're waiting for the arrival of the new granddaughter, she's expected around Mothers Day, but she'll get here when she wants to!
• You can now follow us on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook.

Whew! More on Freeport as we get information.