The Way Life Should Be

I don't know if I've still got that vacation vibe, or if it's because I just got a monster of a work project all signed, sealed, and delivered, or if it's because our garden is in full swing and I can just walk out there and decide what to cook for dinner, but I am totally crushing on my state of residence at the moment. There's something about living in Vacationland that brings just a little bit of vacation into everyday life. Of course, we're in the golden season - those oh so short two (maybe three) months, that tiny gem of a gift that Mother Nature serves up to us Mainers (can I call myself one of those yet?) as a prize for having lived through the interminable winter and muddy sort-of-spring. And lest Mother Nature think we forsake her gifts, we get out there and enjoy every moment of these longs days and warm nights. We're already starting to see the shift - the earlier darkness, the hint of chill in the air when we wake up and when we go to sleep. But it's still August, after all, so we'll make more hay while the sun shines and live it up while it lasts.

So why is living in Maine so great, you ask? Well we can drive just ten minutes down the road to have a picnic dinner on the beach....

Or twenty minutes in the other direction to play in Sebago Lake with friends (friends with lake benefits are very good friends indeed)....

But mostly, we just love being home, enjoying summer in our own backyard.

And hunting tomato hornworms.

The Cemetery

I keep encouraging Ben to start his own gardening blog so he can regale stories of his triumphs and challenges, but alas, he has been too busy hunting tomato hornworms. We first spotted these monsters on Sunday, and have been pulling them off our plants ever since.

For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of seeing a tomato hornworm in person, these are quite disgusting creatures. Some are literally the size of my middle finger and they hold on for dear life with their sharp little teeth. They eat and poop and eat and poop and did quite a number on our tomatoes. The good news is that in addition to tomato hornworms, we've also been infested with braconid wasp parasitoids, which lay eggs inside the hornworms and essentially explode them from the inside.

For more information on the great tomato hornworm hunt of 2011 and the rate of pupation of our braconid wasps, please see Ben's soon to be developed and world renowned gardening blog.

Tomorrow I head out to explore a yet undiscovered (by me) part of this ol' state of mine, as I join my brother on his AT trek for a few days. I am going to (attempt to) hike from Grafton Notch to Oquossoc, Maine with someone who has been on the trail for almost three months and just trained his way across the White Mountains. Should be interesting! Stories and pictures when/if I return...