Tag Archives: photos

I love my state.

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It’s a sad irony that the following post was scheduled for today. A mere 41 hours after a gunman murdered 18 of my fellow Mainers.

Our beloved state is still reeling from the shock and my area is still sheltering in place. Crazy times.

My neighbor posted this on FB today.

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Another child has lost another parent. It’s heartbreaking… and no state, no city, no town can ever be immune.

We thought we were.

We were wrong.

And now… my post.

Even with all the bad luck we’ve been having trying to renovate our house, there’s no place I’d rather make my home than Maine. It’s laid back, scenically beautiful, has abundant seafood and the most craft breweries per capita in the nation.

Here are a few other reasons I love it.

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That’s my kind of library.

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🤣

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Thanks mom.

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Someday I’m going to have to drive by this woman’s house and take a peek at her gardens. Judging from the amount of flowers she gives away, it must be amazing.

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Halloween is right around the corner and these are some pretty impressive arachnids.

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Yes sir.

That’s a spider.

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Dinner in Bath.

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When we were finished finding a suitable microwave oven replacement, we strolled down the street.

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Downtown Bath is a quaint waterfront area filled with quirky shops and restaurants and we were hungry.

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J R Maxwells us a family run place that’s been a mainstay for 44 years. We’ve had many meals there… some were perfect, others less so.

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Starting with their signature Cosmo…

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I opted for a less than satisfying cup of clam chowder. Thankfully the homemade bread made up for the soupy disappointment.

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Bath is a shipbuilding town with a rich maritime history and the restaurant’s decor reflects that.

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But while the husband’s prime rib looked wonderful it turned out to be chewy and flavorless. Talk about disappointing.

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Thankfully I ordered crab cake stuffed jumbo shrimp and they were heavenly. Rich and buttery, filled with tender crab. A definite win.

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Photo of the second largest employer in the state, Bath Iron Works. A defense contractor that builds the Navy’s battleships.

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They’re so innocent. Until they’re not…

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Lord Dudley Mountcatten likes to nap in the sun.

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He’ll happily follow the beams of light around the house and looks oh so cute doing it.

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As I was reading in the living room the other day, he snoozed in front of the television cabinet.

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So quiet. So innocent.

Until I heard a scraping sound…

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Cats.

They’re always up to something.

😉

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I really wanted it to be true…

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Of all the awful real life pickle abominations my algorithms make me view, I finally found one worth my time.

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The Pickle Sisters!

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This was just silly enough to be true…they didn’t call them the roaring twenties without reason…. but sadly it wasn’t. Further research showed it to be a complete fallacy.

Very disappointing, that.

I mean, look how beautiful they are in technicolor.

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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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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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The Fryeburg Fair, part eight…. baaa-d weather et al.

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As I mentioned earlier… the day we chose to go to the fair was overcast and gloomy, though you wouldn’t know it by the crowds.

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But as the day progressed it got darker and we were dodging raindrops by running in and out of livestock buildings.

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During a particular steady shower?

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Sheep.

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Some dressed in coats.

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The variety of wool was impressive and it was nice to find someone with curlier hair than mine for a change.

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But my favorites?

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The Jacobs with their ridiculously weird horns.

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They love a good scratch…

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But don’t tug on the headgear or you’ll get bitten.

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The little guys are so sweet.

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And while it may have been awful outside the building …

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It was dry and comfy under the big roof.

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The pumpkin regatta.

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A few days ago I posted a couple of pictures of the annual Damariscotta Pumpkin Festival. This coastal Maine town takes its giant gourds seriously with a weeks worth of celebrations that ends with the most popular event…

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The Pumpkin Regatta. We didn’t go, but it’s so delightfully quirky I have to share some of the photos I saw on the news.

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Definition of a pumpkin regatta – oddly dressed people cut big holes in oddly decorated hollowed out pumpkins and take to the water.

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Sometimes the spectators are oddly dressed as well.

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The Regatta is well attended and covered by the local media.

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A Viking Longboat?

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It’s not long, but why not?

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There was even a gnome.

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I always wonder how this tradition got started.

Who looked at a big pumpkin and thought, put an outboard on that and you’ve really got something.

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Of course some entries do it the old fashioned hand powered way. And from the look of this picture, paddling slowly is not the way to go.

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Mainers.

Ya gotta love ‘em.

🤣

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Fryeburg Fair, part four… disappointing dough and a show.

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I’m pleased to report the giant lemon lemonade stand was operational at the Fryeburg Fair …

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And though it cost a ridiculous $8 per ice laden glass, I purchased one…

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To accompany the husband’s three $10 chicken fingers and $5 bottle of water. $23 for what amounted to a nibble. Welcome to the price gouging, we know you have no alternative, fair food concession stands.

Trying to make up for it, I made a beeline for my favorite fair treat…

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Which sadly was an undercooked, under spiced disappointing piece of fried dough. Boo to that.

I ate said disappointing dough in the grandstand of the pulling ring where the husband likes to watch the draft horses. I don’t enjoy this spectacle as I always feel sorry for the animals. The teams of three are expected to pull double their weight which can end up being 10,000 lbs, and while I know they’re bred and trained for this exact purpose… it still makes me cringe on their behalf.

I did however smile at this happy fellow who started the show in true Fenway Park 7th inning stretch fashion.

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If you’re not a Red Sox fan?

Never mind.

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This team was amazing. Perfectly matched and working completely in unison.

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I may not like it…

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But it’s hard not to be impressed with the strength of these magnificent creatures.

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