Blessing of the Pets

Every year our traveling minister does a blessing of the pets for the animals of Monhegan. I never took Maya in the three years I had her and then she died and broke my heart. I figure I should play it safe with Millie and get her blessed!

The church was set up very sweetly... with little animals figurines on all of the pews.

And animal themed hymns.

Mille and I sat up front. She seemed pretty comfortable.

Auntie Baba came with us. She is always good morale support. She would always bring Maya's predecessor, Mandy to the blessing of the pets. I think we missed Mandy and Maya a lot on this particular day.

But we were happy to have Millie with us.

Hanging out under the pew.

Getting some love from a friend in the back pew.

Ut oh. Classic church service yawn.

There were candles we could light in honor of pets that are no longer with us. Of course, we lit one for Mandy and Maya.

Time for the blessing.

As soon as she was blessed she jumped on the pew and struck the "Mandy Hitchcock" pose.

Then she was VERY attentive for the rest of the service.

I am pretty sure Millie enjoyed the whole blessing process.

Getting blessed sure does take a lot out of a pup.

Cozy Night In...

This weekend I got to have a little walk down memory lane when my old Monhegan house mate came out for a visit. It is so weird to think that it was four years ago that she and I lived together right when I was starting out on Monhegan. She saw me through some pretty funny times and I think vice versa. I cannot imagine living with anyone else through my first year on Monhegan... I think she came home to me on many occasions crying ... sometimes even on the floor of the pantry because I just didn't think I could "hack it out here." Oh how far we both have come... now she is a big grown up working at a fabulous job inshore and I no longer need to "eat my feelings," well... at least I don't cry as much :)

It was just like old times... wine, fluffy dog, and SITC!

And of course the good old coal stove.

Trap Day

Field Trip to Matinicus

I was away last week for two nights. We took a field trip to Matinicus Island for Inter-Island Event. This is probably my most favorite field trip we take every year because it is always in the Fall when we have beautiful weather and we get to see all the island school students and their teachers. We also get a chance to explore another island which is always a blast. The boys and I had gone to Matinicus last spring and LOVED it so I was eager to get back.

We had a wonderful time on Matinicus. I feel so blessed to take field trips where I get to sleep in my tent and fall asleep to kids giggling and buoy bells in the distance. We made some great memories with all the other island schools and just felt so grateful to be apart of such an amazing group.

Without a doubt the BEST part of ALL the field trips our school takes is reliving the entire trip over again with D & Q on the way back to our island. It is like we have a HUGE debrief of the entire trip. We go over every moment, talk about all our new friends, how much students have changed and grown, how much we love all the teachers, and just how much fun we had.

We had a gorgeous day to come back from our trip and we sat at the back of the Elizabeth Anne and just chatted the whole way about how much fun we had.

Have I mentioned how completely and utterly grateful I am to have these boys as my students. I couldn't ask for better. I meant it.

As we got closer to Monhegan Q said, "You know what I love about this boat ride? It is sunny and the seas are exciting and we are just having an AWESOME time!" I couldn't have agreed more.

Manana is a good sign.

Home sweet home.