Tag Archives: nature

Nice surprises.

.

Over Christmas, our neighbors took a cruise on that gigantic new floating city, Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas. It’s the largest cruise ship in the world and sounds like my idea of Hell, but to each their own.

While they were away? I had cat duty.

.

.

And drove down their long driveway every day to their house in the woods.

.

.

Sometimes with company, which is always a nice surprise.

The nicer surprise?

The thank you gift she brought home for me a week later.

.

.

Oh my lord!

Have you ever tried these?

.

.

The banana was to die for. Rich, moist and perfectly rummy. I had one slice, and then shamefully devoured half the cake with a glass of cold milk.

Dinner? Who needs it.

The cake was so amazing I had to research where I could purchase another. I hoped it wouldn’t involve taking a cruise… but honestly, I’d be tempted.

From the website:

….main claim to fame is its rum cakes, which are baked in Jamaica, Barbados and the Bahamas and employs machinery that ensures long shelf lives without using refrigeration or preservatives. “We still make the cake the same way it was made years ago,” says Hamaty-Simmonds, “which includes generous portions of Tortuga Rum from the Caribbean. You have to taste it!”

Upon further sleuthing, thank you Jeff Bezos…

I shall be ordering one from Amazon today.

My third nice surprise? A green plant I’ve had in our living room for over 5 years just decided to bloom.

.

.

With weird and wonderfully quirky little orange flowers.

.

.

How bizarre is that!

😊

.

Good morning!

.

I love a lot of things about living where we do, but the geographic placement of our house has to be at the top of the list. In the evening we have lovely sunsets out our front door, and in the morning?

.

.

Well…

.

.

The sunrises over the back deck aren’t too shabby either .

.

.

😊

.

Note- photos were taken the beginning of last week, after our largest snow dump of the season. 4 inches, big whoop.

We’re back to green grass now, which is crazy wrong for winter in Maine.

.

Nubble, not nibble.

.

Leaving York Beach the other day, we headed north along the coastal route.

.

.

Past the park…

.

.

And down to Cape Neddick….

.

.

Home to the (famous in these parts) Nubble Light.

.

.

Built in 1878 at the cost of $15,000, Nubble is still in use today and contains its original Fresnel lens.

Fun fact?

Nubble Light is a famous American icon and a classic example of a lighthouse. An image of the lighthouse is included on the Voyager Golden Record carried by the Voyager spacecraft as one of Earth’s most prominent man-made structures or natural features, alongside features such as the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal, to be viewed should it fall into the hands of intelligent extraterrestrials.

And though my picture looks like you could just walk right up and explore, the lighthouse actually sits on an island and is inaccessible to the public.

.

.

No matter, the scenery is pretty sweet from this side as well.

.

.

😊

.

Lunching in York….

.

A blueberry mule by the ocean is a beautiful thing.

.

.

Even if the restaurant’s decor leaves a bit to be desired.

.

.

Lobster Cove got good reviews for its seafood so we gave it a whirl.

.

.

View from upstairs?

Not too shabby.

.

.

My clam chowder was excellent and aside from the weird onion ring topping on my husband’s beloved French onion soup, his was tasty as well.

.

.

Fried sea scallops for me, a decadent seafood casserole in lobster bisque for my spouse and we were happy campers.

.

.

Almost as happy as these seagulls…

.

.

Who were fed by this kind stranger.

.

.

No… don’t leave!

😉

.

York Beach.

.

Since our weather has been crazy beautiful?

Road trip!

.

.

York Beach, a popular tourist destination during the summer but wonderfully deserted this time of year.

.

.

It’s a typical seaside community that we avoid like the plague during peak season.

.

.

But on a bright November afternoon?

.

.

These folks had the right idea.

.

.

Across from the ocean?

.

.

Some seriously large pumpkins.

.

.

It’s a lovely area.

.

.

Off season.

😉

.

Deer and hangovers.

.

Doing dishes the other morning I noticed movement on the farm across the street.

.

.

A young buck had been startled and was running across the field in front of the not yet finished greenhouses.

.

.

They sure do blend in this time of year.

.

.

In other news I saw an advertisement for a product I certainly could have used back in the day.

.

.

Not dying anymore is all you can ask for in a hangover cure…

.

Morning fog and an organized drawer.

.

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.

.

.

.

There’s something eerily peaceful about waking up to fog.

.

.

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.

.

.

Ironically he organized said drawer in the process and now I can’t find anything.

.

.

🤣

.