Tag Archives: maine

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The long awaited visit. Day 1…

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A little history is required to fully enjoy my next series of posts.

When we lived in NC we had a neighbor. She was a single mother with two children and her daughter D. stole our hearts from day one. She was a happy little munchkin we enjoyed spending time with but when D’s baby brother stopped breathing at the babysitter’s and suffered irreparable brain damage, her life changed forever. We stepped in and helped wherever we could, taking her under wing and making sure she still enjoyed the part of her childhood untouched by tragedy. She became the child we never had… the daughter of our hearts, and we love her still.

Fast forward to present day… that young girl is 39 and married with a child of her own. We brought D to Maine with us a few times when she was young and the week after Labor Day 2024 life came full circle when she brought her family to visit the legendary land of lobster.

Meet G.

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And the lobster I gave her at the airport upon arrival, Larry.

G. is a little peanut and the granddaughter of our hearts.

The family stayed at what looked to be a cute little AirBnB on a lake.

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The view was lovely.

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But the house itself was weirdly laid out.

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No living room, a weird staircase and camp like accommodations downstairs.

Though it did come preloaded with a can of beans.

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Welcome to Maine!

Feel free to toot..

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As they’d be spending most of their time with us it wasn’t a big deal, but a tad disappointing all the same.

The first afternoon was spent settling them in, stocking the weird house with groceries and then back to our place for a home cooked lasagna dinner and happy hour in the man cave/Barn Mahal which they all fell in love with.

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Me?

I was so happy to have them here I reveled in the moment and only took one picture.

😊

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Destructive, but oh… so cool!

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I have a pretty pink hanging geranium on our back deck.

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I love it, but apparently I’m not the only one.

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Something has been eating the leaves and I finally found the culprit.

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He’s tiny, but is really doing a number to my plant.

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Bizarre, yet beautiful.

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I’m fascinated by these freaky things.

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After a little research… I discovered he’s much prettier in caterpillar form.

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🥴

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You have to love a festival devoted to cheese…

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On a beautiful afternoon in Maine there’s nothing I’d rather do than be surrounded by cheese.

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So we headed north to Pittsfield to attend the annual cheese festival.

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Upon entry… and paying the ridiculous fee of $27 per person…we each received a map and a bag.

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The bag was a clever idea. It was insulated and contained a freezer pack, a cold bottle of water and free cheese.

Let the shopping begin!

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And the tasting.

It’s all about the tasting…

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I’m not sure we sampled $54 worth, the pieces were small…. but there were some fantastic varieties.

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Cow!

Or rather, calf.

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This stall was by far the most popular. Every time we walked by the line was insane.

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My husband is not a fan of standing in line.

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After making our way through the cheese, I spotted a beer garden. Upon entry we were carded, given wrist bands to prove we were over 21 and I paid the ridiculous price of $14 for a few tickets.

I say ridiculous because the sample pour cups were like shot glasses.

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That’s $3.50 worth of blueberry ale right there.

😡

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The cups were so small you can hardly see my husbands.

Boo to that.

And btw? The beer garden contained one brewer who had two beers. The rest was hard cider and wine. Talk about false advertising.

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The setting was pretty, right alongside a river.

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And since we had tried everything else, we decided to brave the line for the Fuzzy Udder before we left.

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15 minutes and we’d moved less than an inch.

Needless to say we gave up and called it a day.

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The cheesy goodness that came home with us.

😊

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Random rambling.

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Lord Dudley Mountcatten, caught mid -stalk.

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It’s been an unusually wet summer and while this time of year usually finds our lawn dry and crunchy, the grass is verdant green.

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Which shows off the rainbows to perfection.

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I don’t care if it tastes good, the can alone would make me try it.

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Work has resumed on the view busting greenhouses across the street.

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Can’t say I’m in a hurry for that to be erected.

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I could never make decent shadow figures when I was young, but I found this recently and wanted to share. The spider looks like a scorpion and the puppy resembles a hippo but they’re still better than I ever managed.

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Mr. Hawk is back and has discovered a power line perch.

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Whether that’s a very brave or very stupid dove has yet to be determined.

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Another rainbow.

😊

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Half price nursery sales are the best.

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Installing hanging plant brackets on the new porch posts only meant one thing…

I had to shop for hanging plants.

Which isn’t easy this time of year as decorations turn toward fall. I searched high and low and only found one nursery that had anything pretty left.

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But these half price dragon wing begonias fit the bill nicely.

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Now it’s looking like a porch I can be proud of.

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Even if it’s not quite finished…

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I thought the purpose of purchase was display.

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As previously reported, we now own a vintage buckboard/carriage/old thing.

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It’s prominently placed on the lawn in front of the barn for optimum viewing, because… that was the whole point of buying it.

Right?

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Well, not quite.

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Because every evening about 7:00, my husband pushes it in the shed.

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Every evening, and every time rain is forecast… or the ground is wet, or the wind is blowing or the frog in the field across the street is croaking too loudly.

You get the idea.

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Putting it in the shed is not an easy chore. It’s a really tight fit…

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And something tells me the damn thing is going to spend more time inside than out.

🥴

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Out with the old…

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Our new den furniture has been slated for delivery so it was time to move the old stuff out.

This a weird room in our home as it’s longer than it is wide. It houses our treadmill and a leftover sleeper sofa and recliner from when we were first married… 40 years ago!

It’s old, cat scratched and needed to go.

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Which was easier said than done.

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Ever try to move one of those ancient sleeper sofas?

If not, I don’t recommend it.

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A friend came to help my husband and as soon as they started, it got stuck.

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Heavy? Yes.

Awkward? You betcha!

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Making it down the hall, they tried to pivot into the living room but the sofa said… not so fast boys.

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Up and over was the only way.

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What a nightmare.

(Towel was there so they didn’t scratch the new flooring)

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We were all glad to see this beast make it out the front door….

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And onto my husband’s truck.

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The recliner was easy in comparison.

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Bye bye old…

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😉

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