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July and August are hot and dry months in Maine.
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Our verdant green grass is browning in spots and I’m constantly hoping for rain.
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My flowers are thirsty and I can only imagine how much water our farming neighbor is pumping on his fields.
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With the high heat comes afternoon thunderstorms.
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But not for us.
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We sit on the porch and sadly watch them roll on by.
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Not one drop fell on our property from this boomer.
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Talk about a missed opportunity.
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When we moved to our house in 2002 most of the back yard was waist high fields. Over the years my husband… aka the Lawn Ranger… turned the fields into lawn. And in the middle of that lawn?
Nine high blueberry bushes. (So named because the famously sweet low bush Maine blueberries are literally ankle high.)
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We’ve had good years and bad as far as harvesting goes. Sometimes the birds eat them all, sometimes we have a late frost and they never grow properly.
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Pruning is important but sadly this year we lost two bushes.
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The blossoms smell divine and everywhere there’s a bloom?
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There will be a berry…
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Like this in mid to late August.
Not wanting to miss out on summer pie, the husband and I went to a large nursery and purchased two replacement bushes.
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I was a bit shocked at the sticker price of $49.99 each, but fresh blueberry lemon pound cake with lemon glaze can not be denied.
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Fingers crossed they fruit this year.
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The whole time we were exploring this area we met two other people on the trail.
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Talk about a hidden gem.
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Shame the wild raspberries weren’t quite ready.
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Now that’s my kind of conference room.
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It always surprises me how many beautiful little places there are like this along our coast. I’ve lived in Maine since I was 15 and never knew this existed.
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Another trail lead to a sweet little private beach.
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Hey, it’s Maine. If there’s 3 feet of sand? We call it a beach.
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Ending the hike, we took the final trail back to the parking lot.
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Where there was a wonderful old cemetery. I love exploring those and had just found a headstone from 1837 when I noticed the webs.
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Webs full of squirming worms that could have been the dreaded brown tail moth. No way I was rubbing up against those bad boys again.
Back in the car, there was only one thing left to do to make the day complete. A meal at our favorite Boothbay Harbor restaurant, the Boathouse Bistro.
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It’s not on the water, and the decor might leave a little to be desired but it has the best food around hands down. Spicy Cajun grilled shrimp and veggies on cheesy grits for me.
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And a perfectly cooked filet mignon with herbed truffle butter for the husband.
Life is good.
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Another beautiful summer day in Maine meant another walk along the coast.
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This time we headed to the Boothbay region to a little speck on Barters Island called Porters Preserve.
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23 acres of prime property generously donated to the land trust by the Porter family. It’s a little known, out of the way, peaceful haven of wooded trails and rocky coastline.
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The minute we hit the trail? I knew I should have doused myself in bug spray before entering. The black flies were swarming and before long I was scratching like a flea bitten dog.
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We meandered through a few wooded paths…
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And then found the shore.
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So pretty. So quiet. Give me a good book and a glass of iced tea? I’d be happy all day.
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We walked out onto a pier and a float that clearly belonged to someone …
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As it was stacked with new lobster traps.
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But there wasn’t a soul in sight…. which is just the way I like it.
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To be continued…
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As much as I hated the coastal stroll to end, we neared the end of our cliff walk loop.
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That’s Wells beach, one of the longest sandy stretches in Maine.
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I grabbed a few more photos….
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And gloried in the final few feet.
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If you’re ever up this way, please visit. It really is spectacular.
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The turn towards town.
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One more hotel and you’re there.
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Where you’ll probably have to walk another half a mile to find your car.
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🤣
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There was a little of both at Chez River recently… but not the kind you might think.
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The blowing was in the form of a new window air conditioner we bought to replace our previous old as dirt unit. $500 and a broken back later it was installed and ready for summer. Someday someone will explain to me why these things have to weigh as much as an African elephant.
While this new a/c is more powerful and quieter than the last, I admit I was not happy with the left handed cord placement. I’m an inveterate cord hider and this monster is one inch too short to plug behind the antique radio to the left and two inches too short to swing around the corner behind the arm chair on the right … so this is the horror I must live with for the next few months.
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Sigh.
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Even Lord Dudley disapproves.
As for the sucking…
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Yesterday morning heralded the arrival of the poop truck.
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And it’s extremely long, highly suspect caca hose.
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The less said about this process the better.
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It was a bright and sunny evening at Casa River and after a full day of yard work we decided to drive along the coast of Harpswell and have dinner on the water.
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The closer we got, the thicker the fog. This restaurant is crazy crowded when the summer tourists descend so we’d hoped to beat the swarm and grab an outdoor table to enjoy the view.
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But the view was pea soup fog so we hit the bar instead. A few blueberry lemonades later..
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We ate a very disappointing meal. My $30 fried scallops were tasty but not plentiful and though I ordered a baked potato I received french fries because they had run out. And if that’s not bad enough, it was served in a paper lined wire basket more reminiscent of a lobster shack than fine dining. The husband’s scallop and lobster pasta had 3 scallops and 3 minuscule pieces of lobster for $40. While we never mind paying good money for a good meal, this longtime favorite place might be in danger of being dropped from our list.
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Flowers.
That’s what you get for the outrageously high property tax bills the town of Kennebunk sends out twice a year.
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But what lovely flowers they are.
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Every free space in the village is filled with them.
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It’s impressive and quite beautiful.
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Is it any wonder President Bush’s family has their summer home in Kennebunkport?
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This first one might be a bit of an exaggeration…
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But there’s a reason I have a permanent dent in my right shoulder and tend to list a little to that side.
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Cross off the always annoyed and it’s a perfect description of me in the past year. Sigh…
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We cat people pretend our feline overlords feel deep affection for us…. but it’s just as likely they’d eat us if we dropped dead on the living room floor.
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Now that, is a dilemma.
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Grilling season and backyard barbecues are right around the corner.
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And I’m sure you’ll all want to get a pair of these.
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Subtle? Not so much.
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But you have to admit, they are eye catching.
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River's world..... 