Tag Archives: history

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A Boothbay kind of morning…

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The day dawned cool, but clear and sunny so we decided to head for the coast.

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One of our favorite spots is a quaint old fishing village turned tourist mecca.

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Boothbay Harbor is filled with nice shops and galleries and restaurants….

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And off season is the perfect time to stroll across the historic footbridge that connects opposite sides of the harbor.

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The bridge house has long been a tourist favorite.

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And this year there are placards explaining history and points of interest scattered about the town.

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Ol’ Bill sounds like my kind of guy.

👍

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Another new addition to the bridge are a collection of love locks. Boothbay Harbor isn’t Paris, France…but apparently they’re trying.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the vintage hardware store up the road is responsible for this and has laid in a giant selection of locks in anticipation of the trend.

Mainers are nothing if not practical.

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A missed opportunity.

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We recently discovered a branch of my husband’s family owned a farm in a nearby town back in the day. A long lost relative even showed us a picture.

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Interested in the history, I did some research to try to find its exact location.

Due to my superior sleuthing, I found it.

Problem is, I was 70 odd years too late.

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In the town’s historical society, I found this picture of it burning to the ground in 1951.

Shame, that. It looked like a lovely place.

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The Cog

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The final stop on our leaf peeping day trip tour was the Cog Railway on Mount Washington.

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This is one of those “must do” tourist things that we’ve never managed to do and since we were in the area, we thought… why not?

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The answer to that question was hundreds of other tourists who thought the same thing. The place was packed and there was no space available on the trains for the next 3 days without reservations.

The Cog is a strange beast.

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And like no other train ride you’re ever apt to take.

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So even though we couldn’t find a seat, we stayed to watch.

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With a slowly dying beautiful remnant of summer.

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That’s the husband taking a closer look at the bridge.

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And this is the Cog.

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Beginning it’s climb up the mountain at a breath taking 2.7 mph.

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Here’s a shot of the unique rail line.

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I won’t bore those who don’t care about trains or history, but if you’re interested you can check this out:

https://www.sentinelsource.com/life_and_style/books/cog-railway-has-a-rich-interesting-and-sometimes-tragic-history/article_35ad4a9a-3e52-5bff-a50e-cfca3c804cd6.html

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In this part of the world, it’s pretty famous.

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A little of this and a whole lotta nothing.

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The husband and I reluctantly stopped at a tourist-centric restaurant last week which is something we try hard to avoid. Why do we dislike the tourist places? The seafood is usually sub par, ( it was ) the decor is usually tacky ( plastic lobsters, fake fishing nets) and the menu usually contains pictures they think tourists want to see.

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This is the world’s largest lobster roll, it sells for $100 and if you finish the whole thing by yourself? You’re made a member of the clean plate club. But that picture? Just… no.

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Required photo of Lord Dudley Mountcatten watching a flock of starlings.

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Finally…. An advent calendar I can get behind. Or under as the case may be.

👍

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It poured the other night and as you can see…. the husband’s latest roof repair did not hold up. And if that wasn’t bad enough, my latest patch job turned out to be perfect for funneling water down the wall and creating liquid filled bubbles. This has been going on so long I’m tempted to just wrap the house in plastic and call it good.

🥴

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I’ve been known to have an epiphany or two while drinking, but wine that tastes God? That’s a whole other ball of wax.

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Color me surprised. I had absolutely no idea.

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Little known facts about booze.

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Did you know…

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I don’t drink Campari, and now I’m twice as glad I never did.

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Vodka cures frizzy hair? It truly is the nectar of the Gods.

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So Walgreens was built on whiskey’s back? Take 2 shots and call me in the morning.

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Good ole George. 11,000 gallons a year probably made wearing those wooden teeth a little more bearable.

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Well done ladies.

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In the continuing series Why does River keep posting this nonsense? I bring you the final squares of the centennial quilt.

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No it hasn’t taken 100 years to complete, it’s just the time span being celebrated by our little town.

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Does your town have yurts?

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Mine does.

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Hats off to creative women.

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And their needles.

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And now, what you’ve all been waiting for… ( or waiting to be over. Either way, you win) .. the completed quilt!

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And may I just say, bravo.

This will hang proudly in our town hall so all can enjoy the fabric wrought history.

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I love my town.

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In the continuing series Small Town Life Be Different…. here are the latest missives from mine.

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This was so sweet. Our local UPS man… who distributes doggie treats on his route… is in the hospital with pneumonia, so all his four legged customers posted pictures.

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Because traffic alerts in the country are less about speeding and more about manure.

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Every year the women of the Historical Society sew a quilt with local scenes to be auctioned off.

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The Town Office bought the first one where it still hangs proudly.

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Yes, I showed this to the husband. And no, he hasn’t removed his absolutely no chickens ban.

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Yikes. Critters that crawl under your house and die are the worst. But I can’t say I’ve ever known one to stink of garlic. And speaking of stinking…

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Word to the wise… if you think it’s your year? It most definitely is. 🤢

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As he predicted, this man’s post got a whole lotta hate. He’s new to the area… and I’m guessing he isn’t going to be very popular. Buying a house in a rural part of Maine means generations of the previous owners might still be inhabiting your back 40. A man up the road from us has a cemetery from the late 1700’s on his land. He doesn’t know the family or their descendants, but lovingly cares for the plot all the same. It’s called respect.

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Flotsam and jetsam.

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A little bit of this and that for your reading pleasure.

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I really don’t want crabs, but human sized rubber claws are mighty tempting.

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I have to admit I had no idea what the term whisker biscuit meant.

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Well, okay then….

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Underboob funk?

Please, if you can spread this ridiculous product all over your body? How about spreading those ‘ly’ adverbs through your ad copy as well.

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That’s pretty much my take on it. And while I still love Seuss and the crazy creatures of my childhood, if you do your research and check out some of his racist drawings? You wouldn’t want children exposed to them either. It’s not erasing history, it’s learning not to repeat it.

And if that’s too serious a note to end on, here’s one more chuckle.

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Ponder that image for the rest of the day.

🤣

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Eleanor

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I’m knee deep in an extremely detailed and comprehensive biography of a fascinating First Lady.

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How detailed and comprehensive you ask?

698 pages worth. It weighs a ton!

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While I don’t usually read biographies, this tome has enough action, scandal, politics, intrigue, and history to satisfy fans of any genre.

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I thought I knew a lot about Nell.

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I was wrong.

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