Out of the mouths of babes.

December 24, 2023 Rivergirl 7 Comments

The husband and I went to Portland the other day and as we were walking along Commercial Street in the Old Port, I suggested we go see his face.

This requires explanation, I know.

As a Christmas surprise for my favorite hero, I purchased a spot on the wall in his honor in 2009.

I chose his boot camp graduation photo… and as the years go by we always get a kick out of seeing his innocent baby face.

19 years old and sent to war.

Returning safely, but forever changed.

As we stood there looking at the wall, two young women with a large group of children stopped as well. They said hello… and started telling the children what the wall was for, whose faces were engraved and why it’s important to recognize veterans and their sacrifices.

One of the women looked over at my husband, saw his Marine Corps hat and thanked him for his service. The children all glanced over, heard my husband say thank you and tell the woman that he was actually on the wall they had come to see.

As he pointed out his picture the kind woman said, “You look exactly the same!” … which tickled us both as a sweet and ridiculous statement, but it what was one of the little girls said that made both of us choke up.

She looked at the picture on the wall, looked at my husband and said,”Mom… he’s a real live hero.”

❤️

She’s right of course.

He’s my real live hero, and always will be.

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Calendar shopping is not what it used to be.

December 23, 2023 Rivergirl 18 Comments

With the closure of so many brick and mortar stores, I admit I do a lot more Amazon shopping than I used to. And as much as I dislike the idea of lining the already full to bursting pockets of Jeff Bezos, it’s hard to argue with the ease and convenience he provides.

Will I get in the car and drive an hour to the mall, fight the last minute Christmas shopping crowds and drive an hour back through mad traffic just to purchase my yearly calendar?

I will not.

I’ll just sit on the couch, cruise Amazon, push a button and have it in my mailbox in two days.

Of course, calendar shopping isn’t what it used to be.

As proof, I offer these three selections that popped up during my search.

Uh… no thanks.

I see enough of that in person.

That’s a definite hard pass. I don’t need twelve months of rhinoceros urination.

Price drop?

I can’t imagine why those aren’t flying off the shelf.

So I ask again, who buys these things and why are they so preoccupied with poop?

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Timber!

December 23, 2023 Rivergirl 22 Comments

By the time we finished the craft show and museum at the college we were famished, not to mention thirsty, and headed for a restaurant I’d heard good things about in Bangor called Timber.

Upon entry we saw snow globe dining had made a return. This started during Covid and people liked the private option so much some places have continued the trend.

I don’t want to eat in a plastic bubble, but to each their own.

Timber was named to reflect the logging heritage of Northern Maine…

So rustic woods met casual elegance in the decor.

Being with my husband, naturally we sat at the bar.

Which is never my first choice, but it is closer to the cocktails so I don’t complain too loudly.

Round one? A blood orange cranberry margarita.

Timber’s cocktail menu is multi paged and varied and I happily sampled a few.

Round two was a Stoli blueberry fog with a fantastic elderflower foam. The only thing wrong with it was the size of the glass. Bring me a pitcher!

Yes, there was food. Perfectly prepared crab cakes with spicy corn relish for me.

French onion soup for the husband. He was a bit disappointed in this as it wasn’t the traditional preparation… but I thought it was wonderful.

Round 3 for me was a Hendricks cucumber cooler. Crisp, green and herbal. Perfect.

Loggers on the way to the rest room.

Brick oven forest mushroom pizza with arugula and fontina cheese for me. Hand tossed and so rich I barely got through half… but it was heavenly.

Butternut squash ravioli with cranberries, feta cheese, tomatoes and spinach for my other half. Thankfully he loved this.

When it came to dessert I drank mine off the special menu.

A sugar cookie martini. I don’t usually like these over sweetened concoctions but in place of pie? It works.

Husband opted for lemon meringue cheesecake and coffee.

Heck, someone had to drive…. and it certainly wasn’t going to be me.

🤣

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It’s not a-door-able.

December 22, 2023 Rivergirl 14 Comments

The long awaited and apparently hard to find doors finally arrived.

On a rainy day of course, so they were placed in the garage…

Which is already filled to capacity with the yet to be installed windows and has become increasingly hard to maneuver with my car.

Not wanting to hit anything, we moved them to the bedroom the next day because that room is torn apart already.

It’s not ideal, but I can stand it for a week until the contractor gets back to work.

And in case you’re thinking, yay… glad that went smoothly, it actually didn’t.

I unequivocally told the contractor I wanted white painted doors.

He says he unequivocally told the supplier I wanted white painted doors.

These are not white painted doors.

They’re primed with an off white, pale creamy color called ‘mill finish’ and are clearly ready for stain or paint with special trim tape in place around the glass.

The contractor doesn’t like painting doors but I don’t care, he’s going to do it because we’re already over two months behind schedule on this simple stupid project and I’m ready to move on.

😡

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Let’s play.

December 22, 2023 Rivergirl 34 Comments

Another Christmas question… because we’re almost there.

I can honestly say I don’t ever remember believing in Santa Claus.

Maybe I did as a very young child… but my earliest memories are of catching my mother wrapping presents behind closed doors and knowing the secret place she hid the gifts before hand.

Yes, we laid out cookies and milk for Santa… but they were always my father’s favorite kind so that was suspicious. What were the chances Santa preferred Walkers Scottish shortbread over Oreos or chocolate chip?

Look at my face.

I was born a skeptic.

How about you?…

When did your Santa Claus bubble burst?

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Well that was (not) fun.

December 21, 2023 Rivergirl 24 Comments

In case you hadn’t heard, we had a bit of weather up here in Maine.

Turn up your volume for full effect because it was crazy loud in person.

At the time of year when we should be covered in fluffy white stuff, Mother Nature and climate change decided to throw us what amounted to a mini hurricane instead.

70mph wind gusts and rain that came in sideways.

Naturally it ripped shingles off our roof which my husband had to try and cover and weigh down during the storm.

It was a crazy day of howling winds, torrential rain and of course no electricity.

After dark, we turned on the battery operated camp lights and had a marathon 6 hour gin rummy game.

Lord Dudley Mountcatten supervised.

I won.

Around midnight we heard a big crash and called our neighbor to check that she was alright. A tree had fallen across her driveway and she asked if my husband could bring his chainsaw and help her move/cut it the next morning. My husband… being my husband… went down there right then, in the pitch black dark, with gale force winds practically blowing him down the hill.

The man is nuts, I swear.

On his return?

He cut up the branch of my choke cherry tree that had fallen. Never a dull moment around here.

The next day was calm…. and people in our town still had their sense of humor.

Thankfully the temperature was above 40 degrees since we still had no power…. and my poor guy spent 5 hours on the roof replacing shingles.

It was a doozy of a storm and did a lot of damage across our state, mostly due to flooding.

Here are a few pictures from our area…

Terrible timing so close to Christmas.

Though there really is no good time for storms like these.

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Raise your hand if you still do this.

December 21, 2023 Rivergirl 53 Comments

Thanks to modern technology that keeps us in constant touch, I don’t write letters anymore… but I do still send cards. Not for every occasion like I used to, but definitely for birthdays, graduations, new babies, and weddings. Okay, I send sympathy, thank you and retirement congratulations as well.

Maybe I do still send them for everything.

But not the lesser holidays… no more Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day cards. Those are a thing of the past.

But I do enjoy the annual Christmas card swap. For some of our old friends it’s the only time of year we correspond and I look forward to seeing what brightly colored festive greeting they’ve chosen to celebrate the season.

Though I’ve cut back my list dramatically, dropping the dead beats who haven’t sent us one in 3 years or more, I send a lot of cards…. and it takes me a few days to write personal notes and hand address the envelopes. Don’t get me started on those impersonal photo cards and computer printed labels.

I’m old school.

Every year I buy three different types of cards. There’s a Maine themed card with a moose or lobster for my southern friends. A sweet and glittery card for friends who like those, and then a slightly funky, artistic type of card for my more creative friends.

This year, those boxes were an assortment of four designs from an artist I was unfamiliar with but will be looking for again.

I love them!