Think Pink!

It has been a quiet week here at the House on the Cove. It has also been lovely - in the mid-70's and often foggy (which means no sun until the fog lifts, which this week has been around noon.)

Monday we watched the Tour de France and read.

Tuesday we watched the Tour de France and rode our bicycles. We decided to forego the strawberry shortcake. We have been eating much wonderful food and, believe it or not, decided that skipping this event was a good move.

Wednesday was a busy day - we watched the Tour de France and we had to take Papa Bear's car to the dealer in Ellsworth for a recall (vehicle is fine, nothing wrong) and so we combined that activity with our tea kettle quest. I had put our former empty tea kettle on what I thought was a cool burner on the electric stove. Alas! The burner was actually a hot burner. It took me a while to notice it. Hence, the need for a new tea kettle. I thought it would be nice to have a lovely yellow tea kettle until I saw their prices, at which point we decided to come home. We did stop in Southwest and make a donation and receive a flamingo from the Harbor House. We invited our flamingo to walk in some bushes in front of the House on the Cove. Flamingos seem to be popping up all over the place here (these are a part of the Flamingo Festival.) Our post office has one strutting amongst its flowers! Papa Bear has indicated to me that he would make another donation to the Harbor House if they will take the flamingo back after the Festival!On Saturday we could, should we choose, have our flamingo signed by the woman who created pink flamingos. We will not have her sign ours. I did some investigation of tea kettles after returning home and have now a better idea of what I want and how much I want to pay.

Thursday was more Tour de France and a trip to Bar Harbor to replenish the cupboard. We also received the new detectors and now will be notified if we have smoke, large particles, or carbon monoxide. We used the broiler last evening and it was great that NONE of the detectors went off (they are less sensitive). We both know where the "You are being too sensitive" switch is located (in the same place as the "Test me" switch) and so understand how to disable a false alarm (which was not possible with the former detectors, which made cooking a highly auditory experience at times.) Technical difficulties prevented Mama Bear from connecting via Skype with her House on the Creek book club. (Sadness!)

Today we watched the Tour de France and then went to Bangor to pre-order (there are many things I could say about the term "pre-order" but I will refrain for now ...) Droid-X telephones from Best Buy. Our Blackberries are almost three years old and work well, but are not nearly as functional since neither of us have/need BES Exchange linkages now. Did we consider iPhones? Yes, but "Open Source/Linux" Papa Bear really likes the Droid's ... We did some other shopping but found little, grabbed a bite to eat in the "big city" and realized while there that there are no chain fast food establishments on the Island, which we have decided we like.

The walk/run experience thus far this week has surprised me. On some days, I dreaded it until I started, and then found myself enjoying it. I am now out long enough to scale the small hill at the far end of the road, and am not minding it (though usually I dread hills - even the small ones.) Thursday I really did not want to go and felt during the first walk/run that my not wanting to go was the correct assessment, but after that first segment, it all felt good and I was glad I had persevered.

We continue sharing the cooking and other chores. We are looking forward to the Flamingo Parade tomorrow (need to arise early for this parade; we will watch the Tour de France on a replay), and perhaps the steel drum band on Monday evening. The fog did not seem to leave Duck Cove today, though other parts of the Island (Bar Harbor, for example) were fog-free (and warmer). The Cat continues to love the house. I have hidden her cat nip for a few days as she was getting really jumpy: the least noise/unexpected move and she was obviously startled. She has now relaxed a bit. Maybe catnip in small quantities will be okay. She has never reacted to catnip before, other than to eat it as an appetizer. This particular kind must be quite potent!!