Our neighbor called at 7:30 last night and screamed at us to “Go outside right now!”. From the tone of her voice I figured we were being invaded by herds of rabid moose… but when I stepped off the front porch steps ?
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Wow.
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I’m 60 years old and have never seen the Northern Lights in person..
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And there they were, right over our house.
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Again, wow.
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My photos don’t do them justice..
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But the husband and I stood out on the lawn like total weirdos snapping pictures for half an hour.
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It was a truly magical experience.
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I’m not sure I completely understand what causes the phenomenon …
He’s a large (expensive!) metal sculpture of an osprey on a nest that my late mother bought us over 10 years ago with the understanding he would be mounted on the Barn Mahal when construction was complete.
Sadly, my mother passed away before that happened and Otis has languished on the top floor waiting for deployment ever since.
Unfortunately the nest on which he was sat was unable to be affixed to the barn roof as is … so we had to hire a welder to design a mount which we just now did.
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Said mount, nest and bird needed to go here.
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And that wasn’t an easy task.
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But on a recent overcast day a friend was called and the job started.
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With little to no enthusiasm I may add.
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Finding the right spot to bolt the mount proved tricky and I was sent upstairs to make sure the holes were in the right place.
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Upstairs…
Otherwise known as my spouse’s airplane hangar of crap.
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If there’s empty space, you know my guy is going to fill it. I rarely get up here since the overhead door is heavy and beyond my meager arm strength.
But every time I do make the climb….
I find new (old) things.
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Did we need 4 wooden sleighs?
We did not, but apparently we own them all the same.
No real reason for the next one, it just made me laugh.
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Fall in Maine means apples and pumpkins and above all… turning leaves.
This is our backyard, complete with deer.
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I suffered a major loss recently when I discovered my absolutely favorite cocktail bar had gone belly up. The Blind Pig… with their amazing 10 page menu of creative alcoholic delights… has morphed into an Italian restaurant. Same owners, yes.
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The decor is similar…
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But the cocktail list pales in comparison.
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The food was good…
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The atmosphere pleasant…
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But even the funky silver fish wine decanter can’t make up the loss of my beloved artisan cocktails.
😫
Speaking of food, I’m including this crab cake recipe so I don’t lose it.
Please excuse the quality of these photographs. I was shooting through windows at night and some have annoying reflections…. but four skunks and two raccoons are too good not to share.
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We have nightly visitors like this all the time but every time I try to sneak outside for pictures they run off.
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They don’t mind me flipping on the deck lights…
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But as soon as they hear me, they’re gone.
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You’d be surprised how fast a skunk can run.
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Yes.
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I love our backyard…
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Where there's only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.