I drove home under some ominous skies the other afternoon.
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And woke up to our first dusting of snow.
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It was gone by mid day just in time for our contractor to drop by between jobs and seal up the new windows with some not so attractive foam.
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He’s finishing off a barn next door that’s taking longer than planned but as soon as he’s done he’ll be back over here to finish our nightmare project.
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As usual, Lord Dudley Mountcatten couldn’t care less.
I was.. and can now scratch it off the things I never thought I’d do bucket list.
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The lemon in question belongs to this little lemon tree owned and lovingly pampered by my neighbor who went out of town for a week. Though indoors, it’s a thirsty devil and requires a full pitcher of water every two days.
Living in the often frozen north, you don’t see many tropical fruit trees thriving in my state, even if they live inside… but this beauty is doing wonderfully well.
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If you look closely, you’ll see there are actually two lemons. And while I’m not sure what her plans are for these two precious pieces of citrus she’s been obsessing over for the nearly six years it’s taken for them to arrive…. but I hope it’s something special.
Never having grown a lemon tree, I was floored by the power of their blossom’s scent. It was positively divine.
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Ooh la la! I wish I could have bottled it and brought it home… but I dared not. With my luck plucking a flower would have disturbed some delicate balance and I’d be blamed for ruining the harvest.
I know it’s a little soon after my last series of fair posts, but we hadn’t been to the biggest and best fair in Maine in six years and last week the husband said let’s go.
So we headed west to Fryeburg.
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This was a weird year weather wise, with way too much rain late in the summer so I despaired of finding vibrant fall color.
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Leaves were turning but in muted hues.
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Of course it didn’t help the day we picked to go was gloomy, damp and overcast.
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Still pretty, but not jaw dropping for autumn in Maine.
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Pulling in to the fair grounds parking lot you pass rows and rows ( and rows and rows and rows) of travel trailers occupying every spare inch of ground.
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It’s a virtual RV city and my idea of hell on earth, but to each their own.
Maine doesn’t have an official state fair but Fryeburg is the last of the season, as well as the biggest and the best. Paying our $15 per admission price, we entered the gate by the horses and just missed some live music.
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The band wasn’t there, but the draft horses were and that’s even better.
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Some of these fellas are unbelievably large. I tried taking a selfie behind this guy but he started to back up as I was focusing so I backed up as well. And quite quickly.
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Magic Mike was beautiful…
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As was this dappled grey I would have to name Snowflake.
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For the most part they’re gentle giants but a weeks worth of people gawking and petting would make me want to kick something too.
We had a really warm week in Maine with temps hitting the lower 80’s. Not my idea of fall, but lots of people were thrilled summer is still hanging on.
With cool nights and warm days comes fog.
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So much fog the deer who usually only show up at dusk are here at dawn.
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This next picture is of a poor starling who smashed into our living room picture window.
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He was okay and eventually flew away after recovering from the shock. But he sure drove our cat crazy.
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Yes, people here still believe caterpillars can predict the weather.
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Looks like a mild winter to me.
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Where there's only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous.