Eliot, although he seems to commonly refer to his home as either "Harborside" or "Blue Hill", does live in Brooksville. (I suspect he's being cagey to preserve what privacy he may have left.) That said, he lives out on Cape Rosier, on the far end of town from me, where I rarely have business going. Our paths cross once or twice a year. I have much more contact with those who have less public lives to hide from. At the farmer's Solstice party, there were representatives from Wind & Sun (that's me), Stoneset, King Hill, Horsepower, and of course Old Ackley Farm, as they hosted the event. Others I might commonly see are those of Carding Brook Farm and Five Star Nursery. Denizens of Four Season Farm are rarely seen. Rock weed is the common name for a species of seaweed. Most of what I collect is rock weed. Every now and then I'll get a little kelp or some other specie. Doesn't MDI have any beaches where you can drive right up to it? It was more work in the rain yesterday because the sand wasn't frozen. When I was there last week it was great. I brought the garden cart and could get it from anywhere I wanted, and it's more or less a level path to the truck. Last week I chose to take it from a spot where the waves had heaped it up some, but also washed all the sand down so I got more green matter for my effort. When it's frozen, seaweed isn't so slimy either. Also, when I get the load home I jack the trailer tongue off the truck (2wd Tacoma), pick it up with the small tractor, and haul it off to the garden where I spread by hand. Then I bring the trailer back, fork the load from the truck into the trailer, and go spread that. So it's easier to get around in the garden when the ground is frozen too. I'd like to get more crab shell too, but I've mostly cleaned out my source, at least so there isn't enough to make a truck and trailer load in one shot possible. I started looking for more sources. At the first place I stopped, the guy looked at me and said, "Do you know a guy named Colman? He stops and picks up all our shells every day." Dan

Wow!! Thanks for the those great photos, but lycheeluva Can you post some pics of some Lychees, I don't think you took enough pics of them...LOL!! Thanks for the updates, keep the pics coming and have a very safe trip! What do you guys think of the humidity??? Gotta love it...

Great report and pics Mike! There sure were a lot of herpers there that weekend. Seems like the migration was more spread out this year. We were still very pleased to find what we did. That area is so unique with the bluffs and swamps and of course the road itself. We also came across those giant puffballs!

Kelly, I have been having so much fun with all the charms that I haven't figured out what to do with them yet! Right now they look great on my charm necklace! As far as strategy tips: 1. Take a notebook and write a little bit about each shop - they start to blur after a while. Some will specialize in one fabric over another, have nice staff, smell nice (yes, there was one that smelled so wonderful and I remember it from before that I made sure my friend and I went there yesterday!) Ask questions: "What do you specialize in"? Get a class schedule - they may have a weekend class worth driving out for. 2. Take a list of what you need for upcoming projects, swaps etc. Cross it off as you buy stuff. 3. Also, if you see something at a shop that you haven't seen before (and you want) BUY IT!! It may not ever be at any other store again (or at that store when you go back). This is true for the 1st shop on your "hop." I bought less in the beginning and the first store I went to had a lot of great stuff that I probably would spend more time and buy more -- and it's the one that's 2+ hours away from me in the desert. 4. Bring healthy snacks, carrot sticks, apple slices (you can buy the pre-cut packaged ones). Most shops on the run had CANDY or popcorn or other tasty but unhealthy treats. Most also have bottled water, but bring a beverage in the car. 5. Along this line of thinking, if you are trying to go to all the shops in a day, bring along a sandwich or bagged lunch. Restaurants can take too long and you're going to want to spend your time in a shop not waiting for service. 6. Don't drive and eat - you do have enough time to take 5-10 minutes to eat in the car, on a bench outside a quilt shop, etc. I had a few stupid moments (trying to eat jello in the car with a fork!) that could have been avoided. 7. Use the bathroom at the quilt shop. Or if you're between quilt shops, McDonalds is always a clean bathrrom option. One of my friends Mapquests McDonalds along her route in case she needs to go to the bathroom. 8. Figure out your map ahead of time and which stores are closest together. Our Quilt Run has a good map with directions but I also did Yahoo maps. Sometimes one was better than the other. 9. Have fun! I went alone in the beginning and that was fun, and I went with a friend one day and that was fun too. --Amy