Tag Archives: photos

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The fishing life.

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Maine is a coastal state and has a rich fishing heritage. Lobsters are our mainstay but we also harvest scallops, crabs, oysters and numerous deep sea fish.

The men who work the ocean are a hardy bunch. Strong, stoic, and weatherbeaten. They also have a quirky sense of humor.

So when a local apparel outfitter started a big catch contest giveaway and asked fishermen to submit pictures, you know it was going to get interesting.

Here are a few of my favorite entries.

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This is the son of a friend…. with an extra large lobster roll.

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In case you ever wondered what scallop dragging looks like.

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And that is one monster scallop!

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I believe this is a Mahi…

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I have no idea what these are, but they’re definitely plentiful.

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This is your typical – man with fish – proud catch photo.

This, on the other hand….

Is not.

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🤣

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Are lobsters the canary of the sea?

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We’re poisoning our oceans.

With chemicals and plastics and oil spills… and though the waters off the coast of Maine are cleaner than most, I’m afraid even they’re showing signs of the pollution.

I live in Maine and have lobsterman friends. They often post pictures of the weird and wonderful blue and orange lobsters they haul up in their traps. The colors are rare but occur naturally as a mutation of genes.

But lately?

The pictures have taken a darker turn.

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Mutations are being found.

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And this doesn’t bode well for our oceans.

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This last one is not only disturbing , but downright creepy.

😰

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Hello beautiful…

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A Coopers Hawk has discovered our bird feeding station.

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And while I haven’t seen the telltale sign of feathers on the ground…

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It’s only a matter of time before some poor slow moving dove succumbs.

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Birds of prey are glorious creatures and though witnessing an innocent death is never easy, it’s most definitely part of nature’s plan.

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Not the most riveting video, but I’m sharing anyway.

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As you can see we have no snow, but the wind was blowing and the hawk was puffed up against the cold.

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This next photo?

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Mid poop.

🤣

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Hawk visitors.

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Another reason I love living in the country.

❤️

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Last Royal meal of the year.

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The end of year is drawing near and that meant one last lunch at our favorite watering hole, the Royal River Grill in Yarmouth.

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This place is one of the few that truly has it all. Great atmosphere, good food and creative cocktails.

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Their clam chowder is superb… rich, creamy and packed with clams.

My first libation was the Winter Lux.

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And since I’m an equality opportunity drinker…

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Number two was the Berry and Bright margarita.

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Sadly the husband’s go to French Onion soup was not on the menu so he opted for the garlic tomato bisque and was pleased.

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Royal River has excellent fish so I chose the pan seared pinko haddock sandwich which bursted with perfectly prepared flavor.

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Husband requested his fish and chips broiled and had eaten half of it before I could grab a photo.

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Even if you’re full to bursting? You have to order dessert here because they’re always fabulous.

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Cheesecake for hubby…

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Alcohol soaked Tiramisu for me.

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So rich I didn’t even get halfway through it, but Royal River leftovers are a beautiful thing.

❤️

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Gardens Aglow

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The Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay puts on a fantastic Christmas light show every year. We went years ago when they first started and having heard they’d grown bigger and better I decided we needed a return trip.

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Bigger and better? Yes.

More crowded? Hell yeah. Judging from the steady flow of traffic, I think the entire state’s population was there.

The tiny parking lot had multiplied into lettered tiers and the small entry building had morphed into a massive welcome center.

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It was well organized, fully staffed and with advanced ticketing required, had no lines or long waits to enter.

How much bigger was it than our previous visit?

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Enough to require a map bigger.

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In a word?

It was magical…

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I’m not going to write a lot of commentary as it pretty much speaks for itself.

Just walk along with us and enjoy…

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Did I mention there were giant wooden trolls?

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The show only runs Thursday thru Sunday nights in December and has segmented entry hours. You have to reserve your spot weeks in advance as they sell out quickly. This means the weather is a crap shoot. Since it’s been unseasonably warm we weren’t worried…. until we woke up that day to 14 degrees and 35 mph winds.

Yeah, it was frickin’ freezing and we were bundled up like Nanook of the North and walking around with cups of hot chocolate to withstand the cold.

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To be continued…

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Well that was (not) fun.

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In case you hadn’t heard, we had a bit of weather up here in Maine.

Turn up your volume for full effect because it was crazy loud in person.

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At the time of year when we should be covered in fluffy white stuff, Mother Nature and climate change decided to throw us what amounted to a mini hurricane instead.

70mph wind gusts and rain that came in sideways.

Naturally it ripped shingles off our roof which my husband had to try and cover and weigh down during the storm.

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It was a crazy day of howling winds, torrential rain and of course no electricity.

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After dark, we turned on the battery operated camp lights and had a marathon 6 hour gin rummy game.

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Lord Dudley Mountcatten supervised.

I won.

Around midnight we heard a big crash and called our neighbor to check that she was alright. A tree had fallen across her driveway and she asked if my husband could bring his chainsaw and help her move/cut it the next morning. My husband… being my husband… went down there right then, in the pitch black dark, with gale force winds practically blowing him down the hill.

The man is nuts, I swear.

On his return?

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He cut up the branch of my choke cherry tree that had fallen. Never a dull moment around here.

The next day was calm…. and people in our town still had their sense of humor.

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Thankfully the temperature was above 40 degrees since we still had no power…. and my poor guy spent 5 hours on the roof replacing shingles.

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It was a doozy of a storm and did a lot of damage across our state, mostly due to flooding.

Here are a few pictures from our area…

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Terrible timing so close to Christmas.

Though there really is no good time for storms like these.

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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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