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Since our weather has been crazy beautiful?
Road trip!
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York Beach, a popular tourist destination during the summer but wonderfully deserted this time of year.
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It’s a typical seaside community that we avoid like the plague during peak season.
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But on a bright November afternoon?
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These folks had the right idea.
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Across from the ocean?
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Some seriously large pumpkins.
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It’s a lovely area.
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Off season.
😉
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Doing dishes the other morning I noticed movement on the farm across the street.
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A young buck had been startled and was running across the field in front of the not yet finished greenhouses.
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They sure do blend in this time of year.
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In other news I saw an advertisement for a product I certainly could have used back in the day.
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Not dying anymore is all you can ask for in a hangover cure…
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Our weather has been all over the place lately. 70 degrees during the day, 27 at night. It’s temperature whiplash but it makes for some interesting foggy mornings.
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Happily it disguises the new greenhouse construction across the street.
Yay fog.
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There’s something eerily peaceful about waking up to fog.
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It lets me ease into the day slowly.
In other news… my husband went searching for something without asking me the other day and tore everything apart in the process. He laid waste to our utility closet and was halfway though the kitchen junk drawer when I walked in.
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Ironically he organized said drawer in the process and now I can’t find anything.
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🤣
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Lord Dudley Mountcatten caught a mouse yesterday.
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Pulled it out from under the day lily undergrowth just as proud as could be.
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Not that he knew what to do with it.
We have a lot of mice here in the country, and yes… they’re sweet, but they also try to find a way in our nice warm house in the winter and that I can do without.
His Lordship’s mother would prefer he catch and quickly dispatch the rodents to Mickey Mouse heaven but Lord Dudley is a pacifist and prefers to make friends instead.
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He and his new buddy hung out like this for a while … and then went their separate ways.
Sigh.
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Another beautiful fall day, another scenic drive in the never ending search for good beer.
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North to Bangor.
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To the Bangor Beer Company.
Hidden behind the mall, in the back of a Chinese restaurant… it was an odd little place.
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With a line of old pinball machines and some quirky art.
The beer? Maybe we’re too picky… we try a lot of craft breweries and may set our standards too high… but we found this selection dishwater flat and not at all interesting.
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Elderflower grapefruit martini for me.
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We expected the sesame chicken appetizer to be better seeing that it came from the large Asian restaurant in front, but it was so tough and stringy we didn’t bother ordering a full meal.
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The men’s room floor made my husband smile and snap a picture, but that’s not reason enough to ever visit this brewery again.
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Passing through downtown Bangor…
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We grabbed a quick sandwich and took the back roads home.
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😊
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Leaving Sugarloaf without having secured a late lunch, we changed direction and headed for Rangeley.
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The town is named after the lake, one of Maine’s largest, and I felt sure we could find a decent restaurant there.
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Blog title aside, we parked next to some very green grass and entered a likely looking spot.
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With a welcoming front porch and some stellar trees..
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It was a bit brisk to sit outside so we ventured in.
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There were tables with nice views…
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So my husband headed straight for the bar.
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Where the view wasn’t as nice but the autumn sangria made up for it.
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The staff wore these shirts…
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But I didn’t, so we moved on to tater kegs with chipotle aioli.
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These were great but my husband wasn’t pleased with the pub food only menu, he wanted more of a meal.
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Next stop.
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The cranberry mule was lovely.
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And though I passed on the banana bread old fashioned? I thought of you Mark.
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Sadly, even though the loon/bear totem pole was interesting … the food was not.
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My fish sandwich was so thin it was flipping itself off.
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And not finding much more in the way of full meals here than he did at the first place, my husband’s chicken tenders were flat, over breaded and clearly frozen. He sent them back and we moved on.
Giving up on a good meal, we headed for home.
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Where it started to rain and pretty much put an end to our leaf peeping.
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🥴
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Continuing north through the Carrabassett Valley on our leaf peeping day trip we passed Sugarloaf,
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A popular ski resort I’ve often heard of but never visited.
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First impression?
It’s huge.
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Long winding valley roads filled with spectacular autumn color.
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It took us a while to find the main lodge..
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And though we were hoping to stop in for lunch and a toddy their annoying restaurant was only serving breakfast and dinner.
Boo to that.
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So we explored instead.
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Past golf courses and condos and glorious trees.
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I love this time of year!
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😊
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🍁🍁🍁
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As I said before, the fall color in my area has been less than spectacular this season. Not wanting to miss the full glory of a Maine autumn, we headed north for some serious leaf peeping.
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Ah, that’s better.
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The Carrabassett Valley rarely disappoints.
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I have a friend who hates the fall and sees the changing of the leaves as a sign of death. She says it’s depressing because it means winter is right around the corner.
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Winter is coming, ‘tis true, but the last gasp of nature’s beauty before the temperatures plummet is a show I never want to miss.
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And no, that’s not dirt on my lens, they’re falling leaves.
❤️
To be continued…
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My husband needed something in the little storage room at the back of our garage the other day.
We rarely use it, but the woodchucks certainly do.
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It was all he could do to open the door…
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And even that required a shovel.
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From one little access point, they sure did make a mess.
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Once things were removed we found this:
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Tiny shredded strips of a tarp that used to be whole.
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An entire morning was spent putting things right.
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And not without my husband spouting a few choice words for our furry little digging friends.
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🥴
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Let’s start with some roadside autumn color.
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Is it any wonder this is my favorite time of year?
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Nice try.
My booty does not have a phone.
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I post this for a reason.
Not being a religious person, I take the separation of church and state seriously. In the United States we have the freedom to worship as we choose and I fully support that. If you want to promote bring your Bible to school day at your private Christian academy… fine, please do so. But this announcement was released at a public, tax payer funded school and yes, I have a problem with that.
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That’s pretty much where I am.
I don’t need a supreme being to shame/suggest/command me to do the right thing and help others.
I just do.
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There.
That’s it for my controversial topics. Religion and politics. Checked them both.
😊
Now, a little of our backyard autumn color.
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And since my husband finished two walls and the roof on the shed extension? Since his new toy is covered and protected from the elements?
He thinks he’s done and hung an old cavas tarp instead of building a door.
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Boy, have I got news for him.
🤨
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Greenhouse support hoops are starting to appear across the road.
Our lovely view’s days are numbered.
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But voila!
My husband attached the new light fixture on the front porch properly… and though I was beginning to think it would never happen?
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We are officially calling the remodel complete.
When I have time, I’ll dig out some before and after pics for comparison.
😉
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River's world..... 