Long-distance relationships are both wonderful and crummy. On the crummy end, I find it difficult to keep even the smallest details straight given the amount emails or attempts to schedule phone calls and coordinate dates, etc. Sometimes I feel like screaming because I can’t just have a face-to-face conversation to straighten something out quickly and efficiently. On the wonderful end (and I could go on and on about this end but for now I won’t), I relish in and very much look forward to what I experienced this past week: joining forces after weeks of being apart for a long time.
So I guess at this point I should say: I am in a long distance relationship … with Lena Corwin. No, it’s not a love-relationship but similar to a love-style long-distance relationship, I really look forward to traveling to spend time with Lena and I think she feels the same way. We get together about once every 8–10 weeks to work on our publishing collaboration (this week we launched a new book) and usually stay 3 or 4 nights at each others houses. This time it was my turn to host.
I find when Lena is here I am reminded of all of the wonderful aspects of working and living in my town in a way that is not quite the same when I have a friend visiting. Having a long-distance work partner visit I am, naturally, working all day so my routines are her routines and so forth. Lena and I seem to pair up well. We both love to get up early, go to bed early and we both love to appreciate what we eat. A so-so meal can put us both in a funk so we try our hardest to avoid anything short of amazing.
This past week some of the highlights were a crumble-top blueberry pie with buttermilk ice cream at Fore Street (seen in the top photograph) …
… raspberries from the farmers market with my favorite siggi’s yogurt …
… wild blueberry muffins/scones (Lena was very sweet for going along with it but my attempt to make this recipe up on the spot went horribly wrong, although they looked pretty and we did have two each) …
… scrambled eggs with herbs and baby kale tucked underneath …
… and of course the usual sliced vegetables served simply on their own with salt & pepper (as you can see, I fell in love with the yellow cucumber myself).
Ah, Summer … what a great time to be visiting AND working in Maine.
Lena, come back soon!