Let’s play.

.

It won’t strain your brain, I promise.

.

.

While I’m not a huge tv watcher, I do like a variety of series HBO has developed over the years. Every once in a while I can even get my husband interested… which is what happened with Carnivale.

.

.

It was a dark and wonderfully bizarre show that immediately garnered a rabid fan base.

It’s the mid-1930s, and we’re in the middle of the Dust Bowl, a time when sandstorms and disease were running rampant across the Great Plains. After his mother’s death, teenage fugitive Ben Hawkins is picked up by a mysterious traveling carnival run by an unseen force known only as “Management.” Surrounded by magic, Ben reconnects with his long-dormant supernatural powers. Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, an evangelical preacher is plagued with apocalyptic visions. What the two of them don’t know is that they’re set to become players in the great (and heretofore hidden) battle between Darkness and Light.

We loved it and though it was immensely popular with its followers and slated for six seasons, it was cancelled after just two leaving viewers with an awful cliffhanger and no resolution. When asked, HBO said the reason was falling ratings but I read the religious right took an instant dislike to it and pushed for it’s removal. Funny when you think about all the other shows that are filled with blood, gore and rampant sex.

That’s my pick.

What show do you want to see return?

.

Autumnal blurbs from the Pine Tree State.

.

Fall is here and leaves are turning….though the temperatures have crept back up to summer numbers. 82 degrees is not the crisp cool air I love, but in honor of the season I wanted to share a few glimpses around my state. .

.

.

It’s a two hour ride to this farm that takes corn mazes seriously…

.

.

And sadly we’ve never been. Doesn’t stop me from being impressed though.

.

.

Good news … as long as the decorations don’t block the windshield and mirrors? You and your skeletons are fine.

.

.

Amen to that!

🤣

.

I know I’m going to pay for this…

.

Our farming neighbors went away for a few nights recently and asked us to watch their wonderful dog Peaches.

.

.

She’s the quintessential lovable mixed breed and we’ve loved her since she was a hurricane rescue 13 years ago.

.

.

Unfortunately, Lord Dudley Mountcatten did not share our enthusiasm for a house guest.

.

.

Peaches is extremely mellow and very used to cats. She doesn’t chase or pay the least bit of attention to them.. but His Lordship still couldn’t figure out why this creature was in his house.

.

.

Bad timing there. Lord Dudley was so close… and then someone knocked on the door.

.

.

It’s a credit to Peaches temperament that our cat would even be in the same room.

.

.

Of course the fact that she spent a good deal of her time with us sleeping might have had something to do with that.

.

.

But I still think I’m going to pay a price for disturbing His Royal Highness’s routine.

.

.

😉

.

The Old Mill Pub

.

After our visit to the fair, we tried a place I’d been hearing good things about for dinner….the Old Mill Pub in Skowhegan.

.

.

It didn’t look like much and since the inside dining room was packed, we headed outside.

.

.

Where the view from our table wasn’t half bad.

.

.

Things started well with a fabulous blueberry mule.

.

.

And an amazing French Onion soup for the husband.

.

.

This is his go to appetizer so when you’ve tried hundreds, you always appreciate when it’s done right.

.

.

Dinner for me was yummy maple bourbon glazed steak tips with garlic mashed red potatoes and sautéed broccoli (not pictured) …. and a light and lovely lemon butter haddock and mashed for the spouse.

We’re not often in this part of Maine, but I’m putting the Old Mill Pub on my list of places to revisit if we are.

.

.

Weird sign in the parking et al.

🤣

.

Let’s go the fair… a fowl finale.

.

Because it wouldn’t be a fair without some chickens.

.

.

There were quite a few prize winning divas strutting their stuff.

.

.

But this all black rooster took the prize for bizarre.

.

.

The next blue ribbon winner?

.

.

Must have won for bad hair day.

.

.

How do these Polish even see?

.

.

There were fancy pigeons, but to be honest these made me sad.

.

.

They’ve clearly been bred for over exaggerated foot feathers and the poor things could hardly walk.

.

.

But the peacocks were lovely.

.

.

And this duck who decided no one could drink because he wanted a bath was funny.

.

.

We ended with a very curious goose who followed me all around the enclosure. I believe he was for sale and wanted to come home with us… but alas, my husband refused.

.

Let’s go to the fair… cows! and horses and pigs.

.

It shouldn’t come as any surprise that my favorite parts of the fair are the animals.

Have you kissed a cow today?

.

.

I did.

.

.

Cow!

.

.

My husband grew up on a dairy farm.

.

.

He gives good cow scratches.

.

.

Moo!

.

.

While I love cows, my husband is always impressed with the draft horses.

.

.

I can’t even imagine what it must cost to feed these big boys.

.

.

That’s a whole lotta horseflesh.

.

.

And here are a few porkers.

.

.

Just because.

.

Beam/ceiling repair project… the end? I don’t think so.

.

Because if we didn’t have bad timing we wouldn’t have any at all , the last day our contractor was working on the ceiling project found us out of town… which meant we didn’t see the finished product until the next day. And while I’m pleased to have our living room back to normal without a plastic room in the middle of it…

.

.

I’m not entirely pleased with the end result.

Yes, the section of ceiling that used to look like this….

.

.

Certainly looks much better like this.

.

.

And the beam that used to look like this..

.

.

Is much smoother now.

.

.

And while it’s wonderful not to see the sag in the middle of the room and worry that the roof could fall on our heads at any moment…

.

.

There are two issues I’m not willing to accept.

While it’s true I knew the replacement popcorn wouldn’t exactly match the existing, I wasn’t expecting such a glaring line of demarcation.

.

.

It’s very noticeable in spots and that just won’t do.

.

.

The other issue is stain resolution. Years of slow roof leaks left us with random brown spots on one end and though our guy hit them with some sort of Kilz product and turned them white again…

.

.

It’s a noticeably different white and drives me crazy every time I look up.

.

.

Since our contractor is due to return in two weeks to install new windows and a door in our bedroom, a plan will be hatched to deal with the problems. He knew I wasn’t happy and because he’s probably going to be the one to lay our new flooring in the living room he suggested we wait until then and repaint the whole ceiling. That’s probably what should have been done in the first place but we both thought we could get away with not doing it. Which is what you get for thinking. Trying to save time and money with home repairs is fruitless and rarely works.

Is the beam solid and more structurally secure? Yes.

Does it look better than it did? Absolutely.

Does it still need some tweaking? I’m afraid so.

Sigh…

🥴

.

News you can’t use.

.

Or maybe you can. What do I know?

.

.

I’ve driven up there many times but never hiked it. Thanks for making me look like a slacker dog.

.

.

In a word, yes.

.

.

I have no words for that one.

.

.

I’d love to buy this for a Game of Thrones addict friend of mine. Too funny.

.

.

Nothing is ever really lost. It’s just always hiding in the last place you look. Check someone else’s bladder and get back to me.

.

Magic? Well…

.

As promised, I tried the magic batter recipe.

.

.

And because I’m a weirdo, filmed myself trying to mix it with one hand while holding my phone with the other.

.

.

Not sure I’d call it magic, but the batter was certainly… frothy.

.

.

And it was definitely the easiest thing I’ve ever made.

.

.

Pineapple angel food cake.

.

.

Not overly magical.

.

.

But tasty all the same.

Thus was sweet enough for me without frosting, but you do you.

😊

.