– The iris are blooming, and the lupine too. When we first visited Maine almost six years ago, it was in early June, and the lupine were blooming everywhere. Where I grew up in Pennsylvania, it’s tiger lilies that border the roads and streams. Somehow the rich purple lupine seemed like a much more romantic wildflower than tiger lilies, but I kind of miss the flashes of orange now.

– Black flies. How did I not know about the black flies before we moved here? They’re positively dreadful. Unless there’s a stiff and constant breeze, we have not been able to go outside. My girls have nickel-sized welts along their hairlines and behind their ears from the bites. After just a few minutes in the yard, I’m wiping away blood and hustling them inside. I attempted a homemade bug spray, and while the flies don’t seem to care for it, it doesn’t stop them from swarming you, and any unprotected inch of skin gets bitten anyway. I think we will have to wait them out, indoors. (Spray: 1/4C each water and witch hazel; 20 drops each tea tree and citronella; 10 drops rosemary; a couple drops eucalyptus to temper the citronella)

– We celebrated a first birthday yesterday. Baby Bean is walking everywhere, and devoured her very first cupcake. I copped out and used a boxed mix, but whipped up some homemade buttercream icing. Swee was mistress of the sprinkles. It was a lovely day, with that perfect stiff breeze to banish the black flies. We walked over to the lake and went wading. Beansie floated around and splashed. She went to bed tired and happy, and J and I were able to sit outside for a drink.

Tomorrow: water testing report!