Tag Archives: maine

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Raise your hand if you still do this.

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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.

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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!

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Very cool indeed Charlie.

❤️

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More Hudson Museum treasure.

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Sharing a few more interest items from our visit.

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That’s supposed to be a mask, but for the the life of me I don’t know how you’d wear it.

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The bat dance would definitely be more on point if you wore that.

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Ribbit!

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“She who catches the bird” is the best translation of midwife I’ve ever heard.

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Okay, that’s a bit much.

🤢

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Beauty is in the eye of beholder.

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As I said, for a small museum …. it was a decent collection.

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Though thinking about all these countries having their heritage looted a century ago is hard to swallow.

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This fellow was impressive.

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As well as too tall to photograph in detail in one picture.

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As usual, I liked the shoes.

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The beadwork was lovely and they look so comfortable.

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Inspiration for Madonna’s torpedo bra?

Could be…

😉

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The Hudson Museum and its treasures.

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I love a good museum, and the fact that this one was a complete surprise made it all the more special.

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The Hudson at the University of Maine, Orono is billed as a Native American/Anthropology museum and features an impressive collection from indigenous people all around the world.

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I fell in love with Kachinas when we visited Arizona in 2019.

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They’re marvelous!

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Seriously, what’s not to love?

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For a small museum, the Hudson has some wonderful pieces.

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Both ancient and modern.

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Have you ever heard of a potlatch?

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I hadn’t either, but I really liked the whale in the back.

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So many beautiful handcrafted pieces of art.

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To be continued….

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The Wabanaki winter market trip…

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I saw an advertisement for a Native American gathering and craft show last week, so we headed north to Orono.

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Passing through Bangor we saw Paul Bunyan.

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And some lovely churches.

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On the way to our University of Maine destination.

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Which, with its giant blue M, was hard to miss .

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The Collins Center for the Arts was the venue and never having attended this yearly event, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

The Wabanaki Confederacy (Waponahki) — translated as “People of the First Light” or “Dawnland” — currently comprises five principal nations: the Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, and Abenaki.

There were some fabulous crafts on sale made by various artists but instead of the arena like setting I was expecting, they were set up in a curved hallway which made navigation a problem.

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Jewelry, textiles, root clubs, beading, woodworking, and birch bark items were all on display … but honestly? It was all about the baskets.

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Fabulously intricate pieces of art which went for extremely high prices. I would have photographed more, but almost every table prohibited it.

I really wanted to come home with one, but after picking up a tiny little jewel that fit in the palm of my hand and seeing the $600 price tag… I didn’t.

I also fell in love with an amazing root club carved with a bear head that would have been perfect for the Man Cave/Barn Mahal… but again, with an almost $600 price tag, I came home without that as well.

After oohing and ahhing over the crafts, we looked up.

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And realized there was something interesting on the second floor.

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Aside from the giant bronze and copper fire.

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As we climbed past the totem pole…

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We discovered there was an entire museum upstairs.

To be continued…

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I’m so blue.

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Well, I’m not yet. But it looks like I’m going to be because every single furniture store I’ve shopped is dedicated to that color.

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I’m looking for two couches, a chair and an ottoman in this hardback, rolled arm style. The couches will be solid, the chair and pillows a coordinating pattern.

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All the floor samples are beige, which is fine… it’s not like I want neon orange. But the decided lack of color in the fabric choices is driving me batty.

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The fabrics are pretty…

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But I swear they’re all blue and grey.

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Everywhere.

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At every store.

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My kitchen and breakfast nook are blue and grey.

My den is blue and beige.

My spare bathroom is blue and grey.

Which is why my living room has always been green.

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But it looks like that’s not happening this time around.

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I’m going to be blue.

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Talk about being on point.

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Have you ever seen something that was simply too perfect?

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Okay, so it’s not a pear tree. But a partridge on your Christmas wreath is pretty damn close.

We had one of those beauties on our front lawn a few years ago.

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I had no idea what it was and had to look him up in my bird watchers bible.

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Native to the Middle East and southern Asia, the Chukar was brought as a game bird to North America, where it has thrived in some arid regions of the west. From late summer to early spring, Chukars travel in coveys, but they may be hard to see as they range through the brush of steep desert canyons. They become more conspicuous in spring, when the harsh cackling chuk chuk chukar of the territorial males echoes from the rocky cliffs.

They’re noisy little devils and if you’ve ever heard one… you’re not apt to forget it.

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I never thought I’d love it, but I do.

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In my younger days I was a sun worshiper.

A summer lover. A beach bum who loved nothing more than sultry hot days and long walks on burning white sand.

Now? I like a different kind of white.

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I want cold crisp air and a blanket of snow.

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While most people crave warmth as they age, the older I get the more I look forward to winter.

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It’s beautiful…

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And peaceful.

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I love the gentle colors …

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And the stillness of the season.

❄️

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First snow.

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Now it feels like winter!

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We had our first snow recently and it was the heavy wet variety that instantly turns your world into an ice cream wonderland.

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Yes, it’s hard to shovel… but with the smooth new driveway under me it was much less painful.

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We only got a few inches and it will probably melt before long because winters aren’t as cold as they used to be in Maine…

Look at the green grass underneath.

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But for now, I’m enjoying the storybook scenes.

❄️

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Furniture shopping chuckles.

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A few things seen and chortled over on my furniture shopping adventures.

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Graceland called… the Jungle Room wants its chair back.

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I like dogs.

But no that fabric.

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I can’t even…

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The first thing that crossed my mind with this fabric?

Rorschach tests.

I see… a bat driving a motorcycle.

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Giant horse head decorative items… when you’re going for that Godfather feel.

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Apparently canine prints are in this year.

But I’m crying foul as I didn’t see any cat fabric.

Lord Dudley Mountcatten is feeling slighted.

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Maine is an odd place.

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Here are a few tidbits worth sharing from my great…. but admittedly slightly weird, state.

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For anyone who has ever been north of Bangor, this is not a surprise.

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I’ve been north of Bangor.

It’s easy to do.

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Take a chair, give a chair?

Interesting concept.

Christmas can look a little different up here as well. Northern Maine is potato country…. and in Aroostock county?

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Potatoes take center stage.

Farther south? It’s all about the lobster and trees are made out of buoys….

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As well as traps.

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Santa?

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He arrives on a lobster boat, with an extra large lobster riding shotgun.

😊

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