Living here

Mostly we feel like we haven't even had a chance to start living here yet--it took awhile for our stuff to arrive and for us to unpack, and then Rob was on the road for so long, and then his dad died, and now he'll be gone again, and we had that rough snap of subzero temperatures, and switched Willa's school schedule a week after it started, and on and on. We really just want to settle into a routine, to settle in.

But occasionally I have glimpses of small town Maine life here that are so sweet, and I did want to share a bit of that.

For one thing, seemingly no one locks their doors, car or home or otherwise, which I can't get used to (though I will say that not locking one's car door does save precious seconds when running errands in the freezing cold!).

Everyone you pass smiles or nods or waves or otherwise acknowledges one another, whether walking or driving. I can't get used to that either.

The lady at the dry cleaner (the only one in town) and the guy at the cafe that makes amazing wraps and everyone else basically knows everyone who comes into their shop by first name.

It is unbelievably quiet almost all of the time, and the stars and moon are incredibly bright and clear.

Today I met a woman, a yoga teacher/doula mom from Massachusetts, and she's going to teach me how to knit. Because, as she said, I'm the first person she's met in Belfast who does NOT know how to knit. She makes amazing wool pants for her 18 month old. I'm going to try a scarf. I'm very excited.

Our good friend Nicolle, who lives next door with her son Leo and is a homebirth activist and filmmaker, comes over every few days with baked goods: maple scones, a vegan pie. We watched the inauguration together and she brought really good kale.

Something about Belfast makes a person want to make things with their hands, makes a person want to knit and bake and grow food. Once we finally get settled in, I am really looking forward to some cross stitch by the woodstove.

There's also a cheesemaking workshop offered in a nearby town, where in two days I could be making my own chevre and feta from scratch, and a rug hooking workshop I'm also really hoping to take.

Oh, and the cohousing group in town has bought their land and is moving forward, and has plans to try to build a pathway from the land (150+ acres), which is 3 miles out of town, into the downtown, so that, as the organizer said, "the kids could ride ponies into town." Because she and her family just bought two Shetland ponies, which they'd share.

Can you imagine Willa riding a Shetland pony into town?!