Tag Archives: nature

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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Miscellaneous missives.

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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.

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💕

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And now I totally want an opossum.

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Though we have the occasional opossum in our backyard nibbling at fallen bird seed, I’ve never given them much consideration as a pet….

Until now.

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Damn you Facebook for having an opossum lovers page and making me want to adopt one.

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Now I want to give an opossum a bath…

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And dress him for the holidays.

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I even want to put one in a box.

And give him a manicure.

❤️

A lemon grows in Maine.

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Have you ever been asked to babysit a lemon?

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.

😉

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Fryeburg Fair fall leaves finale… finally.

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Ox.

These big guys can be prickly,

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Like this one who head butted my husband right after I snapped a picture.

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When they’ve had enough, they let you know it in no uncertain terms.

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And standing behind them?

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Not always a good idea. Let’s just say this one had to do his business and leave it at that.

By 5:00pm, we’d been walking around the fair for 7 hours, it was raining and we decided to call it quits.

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Leaving the gate, we took a right instead of a left and opted for the long way home.

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Maine, by way of New Hampshire….

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Up and over Evan’s Notch.

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A pass cut through the White Mountains.

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Again, there was mostly muted foliage …

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And not the vivid bright colors we usually enjoy.

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But even muted, it’s lovely.

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News you can’t use.

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Someday… someone will be able to use it and I’ll have to stop posting these.

But it won’t be today.

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I don’t pay extra for Apple news so I couldn’t read this article. Which is a shame because it sounds like a grand idea.

Not.

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I do love a bargain.

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$100 to $10 million? That was a good investment…

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I didn’t know this existed, but I also didn’t explore the topic further.

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I haven’t been to a Jack in the Box since I was a child, but I don’t remember their fries being that good.

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My question to this type of thing is always.. why?

Just because they can isn’t a good enough reason .

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The biggest and the best.

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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.

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The definition of chill?

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Mr. Chunk.

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Of fog and wooly bears.

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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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