House project #1!

The week it was a holiday - July 4th, so I took the 4th and 5th off to get started on a first house project - building a kennel in the basement! Brandon came over and helped me out. We managed to get Phase 1 finished (inside area) and eventually we'll put up and outside area and connect the two with a doggy door. Barkley is still apt to head for glass windows when distressed, so this safe area for her is going to be a plus if I need to go shopping for an hour or two this summer when it's too hot to leave her in the car. It's quiet, dark and cool down there, and i'll get her a nice comfy bed and toys for it, so i'm hoping  she'll come to like her little area. It also doubles as a spot for Brandon to leave his two dogs when he visits, as they usually sleep in a small kennel in his garage, so a home away from home for them. 

The bonus too is that we decided to just frame out a room the traditional way and line it with chicken wire instead of drywall - so if I ever want to change it, I can drywall it and it'll be an awesome pantry (in fact, I think I want another room walled off to be a pantry!). 

Brandon putting up the first wall! 

Barkley checking out her new area and giving it the paw of approval! That's the crate she was shipped over from Hawaii in. We moved that, it won't be in there to remind her of that, it was just a handy table for the day! 

The finished Phase 1! You can just about see the chicken wire. Now just to decorate! 

I own a home!

I own a home. Once more for effect. I own a home. Not only do I own a home, but I own one in (in my opinion) one of the most beautiful spots on the planet. The closing went smoothly, because it was hot outside my agent asked me to bring Barkley in rather than leave her in the car (again, I love maine!). Barkley spent almost the entire closing with her head firmly planted in the closing managers lap getting cuddles (and the lady was thrilled to have her there). So I think maybe I should change my statement - Barkley and I now own a home!

A huge sigh of relief and feeling like life is both moving forward and has finally settled.

Update!

Life has been hectic, and great, all at the same time. So many exciting things coming up. Here's the breakdown -

- Last friday we went out to Monhegan and did the first major dives of the technical course. It went great, hard, but great. I definitely learnt a lot, and gained quite a few more bruises from all the extra equipment you have to wear.

- Miss Barkley has had her summer "do"! Such a cutie pie. They did leave a pom pom on the tail again though. Folks are trying to convince me to keep it. I think it may go away this weekend.

- Friday, at 5.30pm I head to Halowell to sign my life away for the next 30 years and FINALLY buy the house! I'm excited, and relieved, i'm just ready to stop the flow of paperwork! And it means the neon pink bathroom can go bye bye!

- I'm gearing up for several trips - in 1.5 weeks i head to the Arctic with Phoebe, to check out the Churchill Northern Studies Center in preparation for bringing students up there next year. We're only there for 5 days, and it'll be busy, but....we're going to see Belugas! Maybe even Baby Belugas. In the Deep Blue Sea....:0)

- Then it's off to Chile in mid August. That trip will be hectic but fun too. And what's really cool is i've been asked to guest blog on the National Geographic News website, so our expedition will appear there. It'll just be a couple of posts over the whole 2 weeks we're away, but still, pretty cool!

And that's about the scoop for now. I'm excited to get friday out of the way, and sleep for the first time in my own home. Feeling like i'm moving forward. Now just to get a job past the end of next year....:)

Barkley Bear

Barkley Bare!

The guardian.

There's only one dog I would trust in guarding the ice-cream maker, and that is Miss Barkley. There is no way anyone will get into the ice-cream without her being right there. I know my ice-cream is safe in her hands.....

Weekend.

Another weekend, and another good one. Kicked off on Friday was some good friends coming over for a BBQ to celebrate one year of Barkley being a Maine dog! She's such a huge part of my life now, that it's hard to remember it was just one year ago that I drove to Boston to pick her up from the airport, after a long journey from Hawaii. So we declared friday Barkley Day! 

Saturday saw putting up a washing line (yeah! I don't have a drier, so it's excited to get clothes outside to dry rather than squeezed on a rack inside), building veggie boxes and enjoying the sunshine by having lunch and dinner on my deck. Today it's been filling the veggie boxes with soil and planting (tomatoes, cucumbers, beets, peas, basil, two types of lettuce, chard and kale), a nice 2 mile hike to coveside with Barkley, washing washing and more washing (i'm just about caught up....just) and general house stuff. Even managed to fit a short nap in there too....:0)

What a great weekend - the weather has even been glorious (70F days, 50F nights), and the forecast is definitely "summer" for the rest of the week. Hope you all had a great weekend too! 

Barkley on the Coveside trail. 

My new veggie boxes and washing line in the background. 

Most of my garden only gets sunlight for a few hours a day (there's so many tall tall trees). So ever the scientist I remembered I had some underwater light meters in my office, and decided to put them in the boxes and around the graden to see when, and how much, light each location gets. Really I should have done this before I put the boxes down, but oh well! I planted mostly shade veggies anyway, but I do have a row of tomatoes and cucumbers that I would so love to grow! 

A weekend in the woods!

A birthday weekend in the woods of Baxter State Park. Quiet, calm, friends, food, outdoors. Couldn't have imagined a better birthday! 

Kathy cooking up some breakfast bacon on the deck of our cabin at Kidney Pond. 

Our deck, looking out to the other cabins. 

Rod preps the kayaks for a day of kayaking on saturday! 

Kayaks away - with the camping cabins in the background! 

Mt Katahdin in the distance - the end of the Appalacian Trail! 

Rod and Kathy show how it's done - with Barren Mountain in the background! 

A loon on her nest. So many loon calls - so beautiful and serene!  

A drive by Slide Falls - the benchmark. Love finding these in the woods! 

Slide Falls. 

The view over Kidney Pond at sunset. Now add in loon calls and you'll get the full picture! 

Add caption

Back from DC and have dived right back into work......literally. It's Open Water scuba week and i've been helping Chris with the undergraduates in my new found position of Dive Master. It's been 11pm + nights and 6am mornings, and looks to be the same all week......until friday....which brings a cabin in the woods of Baxter State Park for the weekend.......where no phone, no email, no nothing but moose will find me....I hope. That's if we make it through the week. The weather has been wet, really wet. Which translates into 3ft visibility below the water. Which translates into loosing all 6 of your students within seconds of descending........

DC

Fun few days hanging out in DC with the DDdd's! 

Dahlia, Diane and Davin take a pit stop at the zoo yesterday. 

We tried for a group shot.....but Davin was not having any of that....

Dahlia and I are such angels.....

Today I had an afternoon to myself around DC. First stop the National Geographic Society!

So very cool. I had a hard time getting the Nat Geo theme song out of my head all day though.....

Since i'm now a legal alien, I decided to pop by the White House to say thank you to Obama. 

.....and then the rains came down, which made for a perfect excuse to hang out at Smithsonian museums at the mall. I made it through the Natural History Museum, the Air and Space Museum and then took a quick look around the castle before heading back to NIH to meet Diane and pick up the kids. 

Weekend

View over Damariscotta Lake today on the way home. 

Holiday weekend here, Memorial Day. Unfortunately it's been a weekend in the office, but the nice thing is it's been at a slower pace. I have a proposal due Wednesday that i'm trying to finish up, but admit i'm having trouble knuckling down and getting it done. Overload I think. Good news this week though - I have a house closing date - 22nd June! That however might change, as I am out on the boat to Monhegan diving on the 22nd.....story of my life, always out on a boat...:0) So it might be earlier that week, or it might be the week after, but either way, all things are looking good for me to actually buy this house! My renter moves in tomorrow too - so begins sharing a house again, we'll see how that goes, it's only until August. And it's only for a few days to start - as on Weds i'm off to DC to visit the DDdd's for a whirlwind 5 day visit - so excited to see you guys, it feels like forever!

Hoping all had as sunny a weekend as we had. Today, aside from work, I swung by the garden center and picked up flowers for my flower boxes. All I need now is a lawnmower to get rid of my fields of dandelions and it might actually look like the house isn't derelict here soon....:0) I did originally think i'd wait until closing to get a lawnmower, but the state of the garden is starting to drive me nuts, so I guess when I get back i'll bite the bullet. The good news is that I have enough power outlets to get an electric one, which is exciting (ecologically, girlpower and wallet wise!). Given my inability to start the gas power washer i've borrowed, I am excited at the thought of plug and play......:0)

Intro to Tek, decompression procedures and advanced nitrox...

Yesterday saw the first pool day of the tek diving courses i'm taking this summer. I'm super excited, in a few weeks we'll be diving to over 150ft in the Gulf of Maine, with the end goal of searching for corals, probably into next year. There is a ton of equipment you have to carry on these dives, so the training is somewhat extensive, primarily just to figure out where to put stuff and to develop the muscle memory for where it is when you're happy with it. It was good to get into the pool with all the gear and try it all out before we hit the open water in a few weeks (with all the hoods and gloves that go with open water here in Maine!). 

One thing I definitely need practice with is floating life bags - you wouldn't know it, but it's quite a skill! Chris shows his lift bag levitating skills. 

One ton of gear - double steel tanks on the back (linked together) and one stage bottle under the arm for the decompression stops. They'll have different nitrox mixes in them to allow us to better off-gas nitrogen at different depths so it's safer. 

Finding my zen while weighed down by gear and discovering a leak in my drysuit......taking that to get fixed asap! 

Sunshiney Weekend!

What a superb weekend. Beautiful sunny weather, warm, really wiped out the cobwebs. On Saturday Barkley and I joined a friend Brandon at his "camp" (Mainer for cabin on a lake/river) for some swimming and kayaking, followed by a drive around the Belgrade Lakes area (aka just beautiful) and some ice-cream. Today saw house projects - collecting plants from Maggie's house (from a bed she's disbanding), planting them in my (overgrown) garden, collecting a pressure washer (but not having the energy to do the deed....that'll wait till the week) and washing the swamp water off Barkley. A well needed relaxing break. Can't believe it's monday already, the weekend went way too fast. It certainly looks like we're in summer now - warm weather and sunshine on the docket all week. 

Barkley - actually swimming! Only because we were out on the kayaks though, no-one was left on shore and Brandon's two dogs were busy playing in the water. It was great to see her there though, she had a blast, and the puppy Barkley came out, which is just so darn cute.  

Three swimming pups! 

Barkley eventually looked a little tired, so I made Brandon swing by and pick her up on the kayak...:0) She loves being paddled around, the perfect paddling pup. Just about time for me to get my canoe out of the basement I think. 

Some good things.

Reed State Park

Some good things -

- My green card arrived! Finally, in an unmarked envelope. I'm a legal alien!

- I've started the mortgage paperwork - man there's a lot of it, but it's good to be moving forward.

- Should the mortgage be approved, i've taken on a renter for the summer. I'm not so keen to share the house (it's been 10+ years since I last shared a house), but it'll be a huge financial help to get over this start of year hump. And she's a nice grad student at the center who is only looking for some summer accommodation, so I think it'll work out.

- Looks like i'll be headed to DC to see my pals the DDdd's soon for a short whirlwind visit - woo hoo!

Life is short.

Naming my blog, almost 4 years ago (as I made the move to Hawaii), I was struck by this major life change, and yet how small it seemed in the grand scheme of things. The road we travel, and can travel, is so seemingly vast, so seemingly long, and has so many twists and turns to it. It feels like we need many life times to travel the road we would like to travel. There are so many things yet to do, no matter where we sit in life today.

I was reminded this past few weeks about how short life is. A colleague/friend from Hawaii died two weeks ago, a very short time after I had heard he was sick. One of the first things people seem to say when someone "our age" dies, is that life is short and that they were taken too soon. It gets me to wonder if he considered his life to be short before he died. It makes me wonder if I would consider my life to have been short if I died tomorrow.

The answer for me, is that I don't think I could consider my life to have been short. Yes, there is a long road still to travel, but if I look back at my past and see the things I have seen, done, experienced - I can't honestly say I haven't lived a full and eventful life. It hasn't all been ups, there have been many so very low lows; but that's all part of it. You can't go down a hill without climbing to great heights. I have loved, I have lost; I have been, I have come back. I have seen things less than a dozen people on the planet have ever seen or will ever see. I have been to places no one has ever been to before, to the bottom of the ocean and back. I have seen cultures alien to many, I have followed great leaders and I have led amazing students. It's been awe inspiring and amazing, and sure, it's been hard and emotionally crushing; but these are all things that have made the me I am today. And I am immensely happy with where, and who, I am today.

There is a long way to go, and i'm looking forward to seeing and experiencing it; but if I was to die tomorrow, it can't be said my life was short, it was full and eventful and beautiful. As for Kevin, we will never know what he considered. The same with my sister Sophie, and the (too many) friends I have lost in this journey. We will never know what they thought, just that we wish we could have known them for a little longer.

Events like this also make me step back and appreciate all I have. You could spend a lifetime chasing after those things you don't have, but the key, I think, is to realise all you need to be happy is right in front of you. If you appreciate everyday, you can indeed choose happiness.

So a poem to remind me of those who I cannot see anymore, but who i'd like to hope considered they too led a full life. This poem sits in the very first pages of my Ph.D. thesis, as I was dealing with the sudden loss of my sister.

Maggie and Millie and Molly and May

Went down to the beach to play one day

And Maggie discovered a shell that sang

So sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles

Millie befriended a stranded star

Whose rays five languid fingers were

And Mollie was chased by a horrible thing

Which raced sideways while blowing bubbles

May came home with a smooth round stone

As small as a world, and as large as alone

For whatever we lose, like you or me

It's always ourselves we find by the sea.

E.E. Cummings. 

Barkley's home!

Barkley's back home - all went well at the vets! Just the two top canines removed, which is great (was beginning to worry about her lack of teeth at this point!), and the lump on her leg (which went deeper than expected, but all came out and she has 5 stitches). I was up in Orono yesterday and had planned to pick her up on my way home around 6 or 7pm. But I got a phone call saying she was getting "anxious" in the crate and could someone pick her up early. Super Amy to the rescue went and got her, she was apparently sacked out behind the counter at the vets - all was well once they took her out of the crate.

Still a little groggy, and her leg is obviously hurting her, but she's up to her usual tricks and has already growled at the custodian and got treats from the grad students, so all will be well.....:0)

And....to top it off.....as I went through the bag of drugs the vet sent back, there, in a baggie, are her two extracted canines. Slighly gross. Okay, a lot gross. Now what do I do with them?

I need to start running again. Maybe writing that here rather than just talking to myself might make me actually do it. I need exercise. I need stress relief. I need a goal. Tonight might be the time to look up races, maybe a 1/2 marathon should be on the cards this year. I need to start running again....

Weekend!

Well, i've been back just over a week and I think i've finally settled back in (e.g. unpacked) and am getting closer to kicking this cold (though I really wish it would go away faster). Yesterday I woke up and actually felt like I could go outside and rake leaves - it made me realise just how crummy i've been feeling this last few weeks. It's been a slow week, but amazingly i've managed to achieve a lot - taxes, car inspection, filled the oil tank. Next week is going to be a busy one too - Orono twice, diving twice, should start a big proposal, student meetings.

Miss Barkley has to go to the vet this Thursday too. She has to have three teeth removed - broken down to the root....:( - and have a lump on her leg removed. Feeling a little sad about it, was pretty sad when I took her to the vet for surgery last year after she arrived, she just looks so forlorn when I take her in. I know she'll be fine, but still, no fun.

So here's to a new week!

You Tube of Conference!

I actually didn't recognize myself on this video until the image came up. Guess I can't complain too loudly anymore when folks say i'm gone american.....

Duck and roll.....

Enjoy the sunshine....

Lay back in the grass......

Give the back a good scratch........

Look up to see who saw me do it........

Carry on as if nothing happened, with only the mass of leaves stuck in the fur as evidence......

UK Trip

Just got into Maine and wanted to post photos i've been meaning to do over the last week. A whirlwind visit, but great to see family. Have a raging head and chest cold that i'm hoping leaves pretty soon, didn't make travel the funest today. 

Not so little Lucy, now 3 years old (last time I saw her she was 3 months!). Cute as can be, and catching a ride at a morning visit to Birdworld. 

My new niece Emily - 8 months. Sweet girl who loves cuddles and attention, and giving the best smiles. 

My gorgeous nieces! 

And Emily can crawl already! In fact, while I was there, she started pulling herself up and trying to walk. It won't be long, i'm betting by her 10th month, she'll be dashing after her sister. 

Smily girl! 

A trip to the park with Lucy-loo! She's at that stage where she won't smile for the camera, so it's great to catch her here on the swing! 

Cutie pie Lucy - loves to play, give hugs and kisses and show off all her dinosaurs! 

Grant and I took the girls to the aquarium while Claire caught up with things at home one morning. Here's Grant and Emily watching the otters feeding! 

Tried to get a good one of the three of us - but between distractions and Lucy doing fish faces, it was surprisingly hard! 

On my last afternoon in Portsmouth, right before dinner, little Emily fell fast asleep next to me on the sofa. I promise I didn't feed her the beer.....! 

After Portsmouth was London - it was great to see Dad for two evenings, and to hang out with my cousin Nicola one afternoon for a whirlwind walking tour of London! 

The London Aquarium is fantastic - highly recommend it! 

Trafalgar Square - last time i was here it was covered in pigeons! 

An hour around the National Gallery, catching up with my Picasson, Gaugin and Monet. 

There are four plinths in Trafalgar Square (other than the large central Lord Nelson's column) - one holds a statue of King George on a horse, one  of General Napier and one of Major-General Havelok. The last was an empty plinth that is used to show rotating art pieces. This months was the above. I have to say, given the history of Trafalgar, I can't wait to see this particular one rotate off......

A quick trip to Buckingham Palace to see the queen.

But not to stroke the horses! 

The palace! 

The guards! 

And of course, what walking tour wouldn't do Westminster Cathedral - home to many a royal wedding, including some recent ones. 

And topped off with a Discovery Ale with cousin Nicola. A fun day was had!