Meet Ellen.
Momma or Nana. Primarily focused on family, food, music and community.
As the first daughter and the seventh of ten children, I’m comfortable in the chaos of daily living. Raised in a boisterous, uninhibited and loving Irish Catholic family in Portland, Maine. They taught me through hardship balanced by indulgence to love music, cook food and share with you have with others. Equal parts of deep laughter and real tragedy, I learned to pay attention to what’s important, develop meaningful values and strive to live closely to them regardless of what other people think. This life is all an experiment, one day at a time.
Blog
A love letter to the Portland Public School Board and Superintendent
Our Children and Our School There is no way to *know* Peaks Island School the place affectionally referred to as “Brick School” like knowing it through the experience of living here year-round and raising children who attend our tiny school- where island children have been well educated since 1869. I dare say an experience similar…
Spring is on the Horizon
This year in particular I feel the cumulative dawning of spring. Slowly rising, I’m feeling a bit like a Maine black bear awakening out of a long winter’s slumber…
Celtic Connections
A day of fierce winds and lashing rain. A day for exploring what lies inside rather than what the city provides outside. Oh Scotland- now this is the weather I expected. Lashing winds and rain providing physical encouragement to stay close to the kettle and consider the gift of being…
Beaver Moon on a Warm Evening
The moon in all its fullness is a constant friend. Ever reminding me of the passage of time within a cycle that seems on the surface, at least intellectually, comprehendible complete with a built-in visual companion guide. By the time the Cold Moon arrives on Christmas Day, the girls will all be home and we’ll…
The Reluctant Farmer
Once in college someone remarked “I can equally see you as the CEO of a corporation or an organic farmer.” I liked that assessment of me. I had often fantasied about the possibility of both. Never mind the simple truth that until that time I had focused my efforts on becoming what other people thought…
Peaks Island: A Place of Wonder
I’ve fallen into an aggregate of Mermaids over the past year. These women are artists, entrepreneurs, activist and outdoorswomen and… without getting too familiar, all post-menopausal women unapologetically being just who they are. Falling into this aggregate has become a an enormous gift and lovely example of how things in…
What’s the Deal with the Hootenanny?
It’s my 59th birthday on June 28th. What 59 means to me…. My brother Michael died five weeks before his 59th birthday. I am living the life he did not have the chance to live. Michael called me from a hospital bed mid-summer 2015. Not to tell me he was sick- but to let me know…
What I’ve Learned With DOG as my Co-Pilot
Almost one year ago Cosmo was diagnosed with cancer. A diagnosis that was not immediately terminal, but likely metastatic and over time would consume him. The treatment offered at the time was amputation. Cosmo had just turned thirteen. On that cold pandemic heightened day, my hope was that Cosmo would live until the girls got…
Falling into Autumn
Today is my brother Mark’s 65th birthday. It seems quite impossible that he died almost 35 years ago. For many years identifying with the pain of my past propelled me forward. A reckoning with tendencies toward pathological optimism bordering on delusion, and the reality of a painful and often traumatic childhood. I am not alone in…
America the Beautiful
I am not one to watch television or consume much digital media. As reported by my Iphone, Last week’s total screen time was 2 hours and 14 minutes. I spent the day yesterday glued to live coverage of the inauguration of the 46th President and Vice President of the United States the honorable Joe Biden…