Hello and greetings from Maine once again! It is a cool 70 degrees this evening as I type away at my laptop, by which some miracle is picking up a wireless connection from my bedroom. Imagine that…I didn’t have to try to sneak to the library during working hours (the only time it’s open…er…when I am working of course) to try to return emails from ‘real life’ and keep abreast with new opportunities and such niceties as writing this chronicle. So, I digress…I am feeling blessed to have this slice of opportunity to share! We are a week and a half out from July 4th when I suppose this place really gets rocking. The summer folk swoop in from their ‘winter lives’ in places like Florida, Texas, the Carolinas and so on (plenty of Pennsylvanians and New England folk too of course), and fill the streets with cars and people and fill the shops that have been quiet and quite stark if open at all for the past 8 or so months. I believe I am going to go through more produce than I can comprehend right now. I am going to try my darnedest to get all of my greens (of course the mesclun…people get PISSED when there is no mesclun i.e. Martha Stewart who I hear has a place nearby) locally so that will take some sort of new procuring skills that I am developing.

I had to skip town from my new summer home to complete my certification in health counseling last week and have been back in town for 3 days now. Adjusting to these different lives I am leading is interesting. I find myself in my head a lot trying to identify with something in the ever-changing myriad of surrounding that has been my life for the past 8 years. I do this only to find that it is unfruitful to try to ‘identify’ and that I need to drop the ego thing and just BE…that will likely be my biggest challenge this summer. I attended a guided group meditation tonight after work so I believe i am on the right path. The right opportunities for me to keep learning about myself seem to pop up at exactly the right moment. Next week I will visit one of the bigger organic co-ops here that is run by the College of the Atlantic. Their stuff (right now ie ‘in season’: arugula, mesclun, garlic scapes, scallions, white turnips, chard, kale ect.) is delish and for a great price. We are also getting these amazing local strawberries from Machias, ME from an adorable old man (I can only call him old because he told me he is old!) named Fulton who I think is just amazing.

For now folks…keep it natural, keep it lovely, keep it real!
-Julie