daily mantra: love is a durable fire in the mind ever burning,; never sick, never old, never dead from itself never turning…{sir.walter.raleigh}

I will be out of the office until Thursday afternoon. I will not be reachable via email or phone. My precious Blackberry will most likely fail to transmit my desperate attempts to reach a civilized world. I am off to hang out with my girls, and the moose population of Maine.

Pictures and ramblings of random wildlife encounters when I return. The Wednesday Whistle will be posted on Thursday…so it will be the Thursday Turkey Telegram.

xoxox…{amanda}

daily mantra: “there is no remedy for love but to love more….” {henry.david.thoreau}

I was so blessed to spend part of  my birthday with one of my 2010 couples this past weekend. Jenna and Brad have such a wonderful, natural connection between them…it is easy to why their relationship works so brilliantly. The Bangor City Forest was a stunning place for their session, and the warm light was a refreshing change from the near constant rain we have had here in Maine this summer. The mosquitoes, however, were ruthless! I think we all battled them throughout the whole session…and I have several bites to prove it as I am sure they do as well.

The wedding season for 2010 is already filling up so quickly, and I am beyond excited that Jenna and Brad are part of my season next year!

dear mikki and katie…

today i am going to start out with the daily mantra, as it is the subject of my post:

“life is short and we have not much time to gladden the hearts of those who walk the way with us…so be quick to love…make haste to be kind….”

what you are immediately saying is that this was the “daily mantra” two days ago. but, it has stuck with me, and i have found it floating in and out of even the most monotonous of motherly, and businesslike tasks. it echos deeply.

and mikki, this really goes back to what you learned your first year in kindergarten with Mrs. Buckingham…(the whole ‘filling buckett’ thing). for some reason, it didn’t set in until i stepped foot into Cailtlin’s family home on saturday. time is short. how many times do you walk your daughter down the isle? how many times to you see your bride for the first time, how many times do you get to see your child take her first steps, how many time will you get the chance to make someone’s day, just by being kind…just by being yourselves? rarely. the fact is that life is so full of things that are negative…there are sad people with sad lives…without much love.

even as your mom, i fear that i have taught you in some way to hold back your inner self in fear of regection from others. and if i have ever done that…i am infinitely sorry. the worst rejection…the kind you never recover from…is the rejection you deny yourself.

so don’t hold back…love expeditiously, and be kind to whomever you encounter…only the greatest gifts will come to you if you do..

xoxoxo

all my love darlings,

mommy.

daily mantra: if its not fun, you’re not doing it right…{bob.basso}

I don’t usually post reception pictures but I was inspired to by…well…pie. That’s right…pie. See example below:

Right…you have all seen pie before. When I met Caitlin and Matt back in the late Fall of 2008 they told me of their pie idea, and how Matt’s mother was going to graciously bake enough for every single guest. I was impressed not only with the creativity {no beautiful- but bad tasting wedding cake}, but with the sheer undertaking of such an enormous task. Matt’s mother was going to make THIRTY…30…pies for the wedding. {and its not like she is a professional baker with all of those ovens either}. First…as you can see, the pie is perfect looking. As someone who makes {and then eats} a lot of pie, it is beautiful. I saw it and immediately asked Caitlin “Did she make her own crust?” Because who would BLAME her if she didn’t. But, yes folks, she did. She made the crust for 30 pies. That is 60 pie shells…perfectly baked with no burnt edges.  I hadn’t plan on eating it but Caitlin said insisted, “No…really…you HAVE to try it.” When it comes to food, I give in 90% of the time. So…I tasted it. I picked strawberry rhubarb pie…not a kind I make personally, but still  love. From the first bite I was hooked. And perhaps you are sitting back reading this and thinking the same thing I did…pie is pie, and pie is good. But this pie is so good it lifts your feet off the ground. Actually, just writing about it makes my mouth water. When Caitlin stood before the crowd to cut the pie, and Matt said aloud that Caitlin was marrying him to get more pie from his mom…I could see it. I really could.

And honestly, I never though someone like sweet Caitlin would throw the first punch pie wise, but yea…she did. This wedding was full of great surprises….

and beautiful moments:

…and fun ones too!

…..