Not my idea of a good time.

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I love a good festival.

In Maine we have the Lobster festival, the Clam Festival, and the Oyster festival. We have a Blueberry Festival, a Whoopie Pie festival and a Chowder festival. Folk, Reggae and Blues Festivals? Yup. We’ve got those too. Hell… we even have the White Nose Pete Fly Fishing Festival.

For my fishing obsessed readers, the legend of White Nose Pete –

https://midcurrent.com/stories-essays/the-legend-of-white-nose-pete/

Yes, festivals are grand.

Except this one… which makes me glad I don’t live in Dorchester County Maryland.

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Weird, not to mention disturbing.

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I can honestly say I’ve never seen anyone so excited about skinning a muskrat.

And to be honest, I hope I never do.

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Damn.

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Sorry, but that is not my idea of festive.

Oily goat with fish sauce?

Nope. Not for me.

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Good grief.

Whatever happened to baton twirling?

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$2,000+ later….

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The day arrived.

Preparations were made.

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And a fond farewell was bid to our loyal 13 year old washer and dryer.

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Our laundry room is small (it used to be a spare half bath) so I was a little worried the delivery men would have a hard time maneuvering the heavy appliances in and out. Lord knows my husband and I did.

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But before I could even blink they had the old ones unhooked and out the door. Granted they didn’t have far to go, but the way they did it with these amazing moving straps that wrap around their backs, over their shoulders and under the machines?

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Fabulous!

And now I totally want a pair.

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Viola!

While the drums are slightly larger than our old set, the machines themselves are actually a bit smaller so …. weee! I have a few extra inches of floor space to play with.

I was a little hesitant to go with the charcoal grey as we’ve always had white, but it looks more like black which blends nicely with our stove and fridge.

Before…

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After.

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These things were literally twice the price of our old ones so my fingers are crossed they have a long sudsy life.

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Success!

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With many thanks to shinegrace214 who tracked down Lord Dudley Mountcatten’s elusive scratching post… I ordered it and now have one very happy cat.

I swear he knew what it was the minute I brought it in the house because he was positively pawing at the box in anticipation.

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After following these highly technical instructions…

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I brought it in the living room as replacement for the much loved predecessor.

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The second I put it on the floor? His Highness pounced.

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He scratched, he rubbed, he drooled with delight.

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I topped the post with his little blue whale for added entertainment and sheer bliss followed.

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The internet can be a wonderful thing.

Thanks again shinegrace214! You made this little guy’s day.

Week.

Month… etc.

❤️

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Let’s play.

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You’re here.

What else are you gonna do?

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I entered my teenage years in the 1970’s and believe me, there were plenty of inexplicable things.

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Did we buy rocks we could just as easily have picked up in the backyard? Sure. But they came with fake hay and a nifty cardboard box. Who didn’t want that?

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Dr. Scholls. They were clunky, heavy, unattractive and you couldn’t wait to buy the next new color when it was released. You wore them, admit it.

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If you were a young girl in the ‘70’s? Your mother dressed you like this. I believe it is the reason many of us drink.

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This.

I wish I had a video of myself endlessly bopping around our backyard on what was then my favorite toy. This thing rocked! As well as bounced the living crap out of your internal organs. We had a slight hill on your property and let me tell you… 7 year old River airborne down a hill on a Hoppity Hop was a thing of beauty.

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Yes, also inexplicable was the 1970 desire to cover bathrooms in horrendous waves of thick, preferably shag, brightly hued carpeting. Mustard, olive green and turquoise were da bomb.

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While my parent’s home was filled with antiques and the occasional hint of Danish modern in the 70’s… aka the era of questionable taste…thankfully it didn’t include this particular “western” couch… but I can guarantee you knew someone who owned one and loved it. I knew many someones and sadly the couches were still in their homes in the 80’s.

Finally, no visit to the ‘70’s would be complete without this.

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Being chosen to run the overhead projector during class? That was the epitome of cool.

Your turn!

Please add to the list….

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A chicken visit.

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Something popped up in my Facebook memories today that made me smile.. so I have to share.

11 years ago? A chicken came to visit.

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This particular fowl was accompanied by our farming neighbor and his young son because he knows I love them and used to “chicken sit” his flock when they were away.

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As you can see the bird made itself right at home.

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Of course it found the dry cat food on the floor so I moved the bowl to the counter… which didn’t make a bit of difference. (Ugh. That old countertop. Glad that’s history)

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Alternate snacks were offered and accepted.

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Needless to say our 3 cats were locked in the bedroom for the duration of the chicken visit.

😉

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The Sicilian Table… part two.

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If you read part one, you’ll know I was thoroughly enjoying this thoughtfully designed new restaurant.

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The fact that it was happy hour and if you sat at the bar their speciality cocktails were half price may have had something to do with that.

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Good thing it was a beautiful slab of granite.. because my bar bills are legendary.

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These were my three choices for the afternoon starting with the Winter Lux.

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A lovely combination of tart and sweet with a seriously booze soaked cherry at the finish.

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Next up was the Sicilian Sour which I expected to be smooth and spicy but was really just a serious bolt of brightly colored bourbon. Not complaining mind you, just surprised.

Since appetizers were half price as well, I had some delightful arincini with herbed mustard sauce and pecorino crema.

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Husband went with the mussels which were served with grilled lemon, heirloom tomatoes, shallots and fennel with a garlic white wine Pernod butter sauce.

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And chickpea fritters to mop up the sauce.

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My final drinkie poo was the Cold Night Collins, a delightfully cool and crisp citrus concoction with an herbal undertone.

And because we were actually there to try the food, I chose the bucatini carbonara.

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Which unfortunately was sub par. While the pasta was homemade, the dish was dry, uninteresting and lacking in flavor. And sadly, the husband didn’t fare any better.

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Half full from all the mussels, he went light with a salad and Sicilian pizza combo. Which had to be sent back because it was stone cold and hard as a rock. And while we assumed they would make him a new one, it seems they just threw it back in the oven to reheat because on return he flipped it over to find it was black as charcoal. Our server immediately took it off the bill and offered a substitute but by that time the husband decided to skip the entree and go straight to dessert.

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Which I have to say more than made up for the lousy pizza. Tiramisu cheesecake with Kahlua. Fabulous!

And because it would be rude to let him eat sweets alone…

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Key lime crème brûlée for moi. Ooh la la! This made up for my mediocre pasta as well.

I talked to a friend the other day whose granddaughter works there and she told me they’re still experiencing the growing pains most new restaurants suffer. Help is hard to find these days and good kitchen staff can be even harder. But we enjoyed it and there was enough on the plus side for us to return.

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If nothing else, I’ll just sit at the bar and stare at the giant fish.

👍

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Miscellaneous nonsense.

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Because my husband always says I’m full of it.

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I’ve never worn an apron in my life so I’m well on my way.

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Lord Dudley Mountcatten has lived with us for 2 years but never slept on the spare bed… until now. Having made friends with the stuffed platypus it is currently his favorite spot for naps.

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Holy crap on a cracker! This makes me very glad I don’t live in Brazil.

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I love quick and easy crock pot recipes… and while this sounded like the perfect winter comfort food, I have been unable to find the frozen noodles it requires. Does such a thing even exist? Have you ever seen them…

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The Sicilian Table… part one.

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A sister restaurant of our go to favorite place opened recently in Falmouth and I’ve been dying to check it out.

So on a sunny late afternoon last week, we did just that.

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Welcome to the Sicilian Table.

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Like our favorite restaurant, no expense was spared when it came to interior design.

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It was bright and cheerful with lots of wood, stone, rattan and soothing neutral colors.

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It was a good sized two floor space, but offered many intimate seating choices.

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Did I mention there were giant artsy fartsy fish flying overhead?

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These bold beauties were hung here and there and were dramatic to say the least.

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I’m guessing this lighting is meant to pay homage to Maine’s coastal lifestyle by imitating jellyfish…

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This oddly placed ceramic tile wonder … yes, if you zoom in you can see they’re all individual pieces… led to the rest rooms.

And while it was a lovely restaurant inside, the location they chose struck me as odd. While it’s sister sits on the water, this place is the bottom two floors of a law office building smack on Route 1… the busiest coastal route in the state. Falmouth is a wealthy town with multi million dollar estates on the shore. This pricey restaurant will do well, but it would have been nice to have a better view from its windows than the parking of the strip mall it sits in front of.

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To be continued…

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Someone thought this was a good idea.

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You can…

But the question is do you want to?

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In Belgium, they think it’s a great idea.

ORIGINALLY A CHEEKY, IF TITANIC, piece of art, the
one-room Hotel Casanus is a giant intestinal
model that allows guests to spend a cozy night
inside a massive colon.
Resting in the Verbeke Foundation Art Park near
Antwerp, Belgium, the cozy anatomical model
was the work of Dutch designer Joep van
Lieshout. The slim, curved interior of the
furnished anus features a double bed, windows,
heating, and of course, working plumbing. The
exterior of the room is sculpted with bulging
veins and a giant puckered sphincter (non-
functional) on one end, and painted the visceral
red of exposed organs. The colossal muscle tube
almost seems out of place in the idyllic art park,
near a placid pond, yet it is composed of soft,
natural angles, no matter how gross.
Despite the stomach-churning imagery, visitors
still flock to the site to spend the night in the big
colon which is also surrounded by such
wondrous sites as black swans and an
unobstructed view of the night sky. Hotel
Casanus is somewhere between theme bed and breakfast and gross-out stunt tourism, but
whatever the draw, guests can’t help butt visit.

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Not exactly what one would call luxury accommodations, but then again Le Negresco doesn’t have this….

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