8-13-06 (Sunday): Well, it's been quite a while since I updated my blog. I haven't lost interest, I've just been busy! I won't go into a lot of detail, but here's a quick update of what we've been up to. Then I'll try to get back to posting at least twice a week.

Last Tuesday after work, we went into Camden for a walk. Camden is a neat little town about two miles north of the campground. It has two historic districts dating from the mid-1800's. I took some pictures of some of the interesting looking houses.
















This is Camden's old school. It's now a Montessori school, but I suspect it was originally the only school in Camden, covering grade school through high school.

One of these days we're going to do the historic district walking tour!








We worked again on Wednesday, and then decided (spur of the moment) that we'd leave for Bangor instead of waiting until Thursday morning. I couldn't wait to see my newest sweetie pie (here she is)! My flight to Michigan was so early that we'd have had to get up at 4 AM and then rush to get to the airport. This wound up being a great decision. We had a leisurely drive on back roads, checked into a really nice hotel and had a pleasant dinner out. I finally got to take a bath in a great tub (my bathtub is one of the few things I've been missing from our house)! We had breakfast on the way to the airport and made it with time to spare. Wiley got to fish in some new places on the way back home, and I had a relaxed flight.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with Tom and his great family. Anna has grown up so much! She's a great help with her new little sister, Claire. Margo has always loved baby dolls, and has now become quite the little conversationalist. She is fascinated by Claire. She's also learned that she doesn't always have to follow Anna's lead! We had a relaxing day at home the day I arrived. We spent some time on the deck and enjoyed the weather, worked on some art projects, read books and generally relaxed and got reacquainted.



Thursday worked out really well. Margo wakes up earlier than Anna, so I got to spend some time with her before Anna and the baby came downstairs. This is the first time I've visited that she seemed to remember me and didn't have any shy time. We had a blast playing with her dolls and tinkertoys. Margo still takes an afternoon nap, so I had some private time with her during which we mostly did art projects. She seems (to Granny!) to be quite advanced artistically. I brought home some of her drawings with me. In between times, I got to hold Claire (a lot)! She's such a sweet little armful, and loves to be held! After Daddy came home, we went to Chuck E. Cheese--what an adventure for Granny (I'd never been before)! I think we did just about every electronic game in the place!

On Friday, Kristin baked some fantastic cookies which we later took to a block party. I spent a lot of time just holding Claire at the party so that Mommy and Daddy could enjoy a visit with their neighbors and supervise the kids during all the activities. The weather was great, and I really enjoyed myself.









I helped the girls decorate their bikes for the parade (and also their helmets). Don't they look adorable?! We had a great final day together. (Jim and Agnes--the matching dresses you sent the girls were adorable!)











The trip home today started rather inauspiciously--I was a little nervous about the newest terrorist threat anyhow, so when the flight was delayed for almost 2 hours because (according to the pilot) they had to "redistribute the baggage in the cargo compartment," I definitely felt uneasy. But the flight was uneventful and I even got Wiley back to work on time. Now I'm vegging out. It's back to work tomorrow. I hope everyone has a great week--I'll try to have an adventure or two to report soon.

8-4-06 (Friday): Today was our last day off for the week. We decided to take a little outing toward the mountains in the west.

Our first stop was in Augusta (the capitol of Maine) at the oldest standing wooden fort in the U.S., Fort Western. It was built in 1754 on the site of an Abenaki Indian town called Kushnoc. Kushnoc was an important trading post for the Pilgrims. This site is now in the center of downtown Augusta. It wasn't open yet, so we didn't get to go inside.


Since the fort wasn't open, we started walking on a rail trail that started at the fort and ran along the Kennebec River (that's the city of Augusta on the other side of the river). There were almost no explanatory signs, so we weren't sure where we were going, but it wound up being a very interesting hike.









We came across the Kennebec Arsenel. It was quite an imposing building, made all of granite. There were some other buildings nearby that looked like an old house and maybe some offices. The arsenal was built in 1828 during a time when our relationship with Canada was rather tenuous.









We left Augusta and headed for the Pisgah Trail in the foothills of the Allegheny mountains. There's a fire tower at the end of the trail.












I was surprised at how close the frog in this puddle on the trail let me get to take his (her?) picture. I was even more surprised when I got home and realized I had gotten a picture of two frogs!









This vine looked like a wedding ring around this tree!


















Climbing the tower was actually more of a challenge than the trail!

















The view from the top was spectacular. We could see a couple of lakes and 4 ranges of mountains in the distance. Again, we'd have loved a sign or explanatory brochure, but there was none.









We stopped in Wayne, Maine (!) and had a late lunch / early dinner in the deli in the store. It's amazing to me that these tiny general stores are thriving all over this area. It's kind of a shame that Walmart and McDonalds have pretty much wiped out these little businesses in the rest of the country. We are enjoying seeking them out and giving them our business.






Back to work tomorrow. It will be really busy because of Lobster Fest. Our campground is completely booked for the next week or so.

8-2-06 (Wednesday): Another day off, another adventure! Today we stayed close to home for a couple of reasons. First, it was really hot (at least by Maine standards). Second, Rockland is celebrating its 59th annual lobster fest, and the crowds are incredible. Our campground is completely booked--not even a tent site left. And last but not least, we'd been wanting to check out the Conway Homestead and Merryspring Park, which are only about a mile from here.

Our first stop was the Conway Homestead. It's a farm house (Cape Cod) that was built by Robert Thorndike, the first white settler in the area, around 1770 and restored in 1962. It was one of the earliest houses in the region. The Thorndikes lived in the house until 1825, when it was sold to Frederick Conway, whose family lived in the house until 1916. We had a tour by a very knowledgeable woman named Brenda.

The interior roof timbers are fastened with treenails (trunnels) and many cellar beams still have their bark covering. The laths in the walls and ceiling are made of hand-split hemlock. You can still see the marks of the broadaxe and adze with which the beams were hewn. The floors were very wide boards that were orange colored. They're called pumpkin pine, and the coloration is natural. There were furnishings of the period in the house (which also had an addition built in the early 19th century and furnished appropriately). I was surprised at how comfortable and attractive it was, especially considering its age. I could live in a house like that!

On the grounds of the house are a barn, a blacksmith shop (wherein dwelt a curious chipmunk--can you spot him?!), a victorian privy and a maple sugar house. Many tools and other interesting artifacts were stored / displayed in the outbuildings. Altogether a very interesting morning!

The curious item over Wiley's head is called a "Swing Dingle" and it was used for carrying buckets of water. I noted that the opening for the neck is quite small, so I suspect this was a job for a young child. I find the name quite amusing!















We had lunch at a Chinese buffet and then headed for Merryspring Nature Center, which has a botanic garden, trails through a meadow and a small arboretum. It was very hot, so we didn't spend as much time there as I would have liked. Even so, we saw many beautiful wildflowers. (If any of you can identify some of them, I'd love to know what they are. I think the pink one is some sort of sweet pea, and the odd white fellow is what we called indian pipe when I was a kid. The lavender bell-shaped flowers are everywhere right now.)

We want to go back on a cooler day and walk more of the trails, especially in the arboretum. Apparently they maintain a group of American chestnut trees, which don't reach full maturity due to a blight, but which they want to maintain so that if they ever cure the blight they'll have a source for genetically pure seeds.




After dinner there was a rain shower, and we decided to take a walk in it to cool us down. We chatted along the way with some of the other campers who had the same idea. I think Wiley and Monkey found a great way to end the day! I call this shot "Do Not Disturb"!

7/29/06 (Saturday): Just a quick post today. I have to go to work at 3 PM. Wiley is off picking blueberries. I just finished some housework, including defrosting the freezer. Ugh--I'd forgotten what a yucky task that is. Most RV freezers are not self defrosting, though, so I guess I'll have to get used to it. I guess I'm going to have to make a blueberry pie or something when Wiley gets back. There are so many wild blueberries in this part of Maine that some of the wildlife preserves open up for blueberry picking, and that's where he is today.

I've been doing a little research about the lobstering industry. My interest was piqued by our recent visit to Shaw's Wharf, where we watched the lobster boats come in. It's definitely the major industry around here, and there's an aura of secrecy about it that intrigues me. Here's an interesting site that covers some of the basics: http://www.gma.org/lobsters/allaboutlobsters/lobsterhistory.html

We went last night to a special fund raising auction at the local Goodwill store. They had a tent we coveted which was being sold in a silent auction. We didn't get it, but we did find an LL Bean carryon bag for $7.99. It's a really nice one, with wheels, handles and even backpack straps. Lots of compartments, too, and in really clean and good shape. I'll get to try it out in a couple of weeks when I go to visit my new granddaughter.

We picked up some peaches at the local market that look misshapen and ugly, but taste absolutely delicious. I don't know if they're local or not. The flavor is like a combination of peach and pear.









Finally, I can't resist posting this photo. Isn't it a shame that Wiley is finding it so hard to adapt to this lifestyle?!

7/26/06 (Wed.): We had a great day off. We packed a lunch and headed out early (about 8 AM) for our 5 PM Puffin cruise. That’s right—we left in the morning for a cruise that didn’t start until 5 in the afternoon (and it was only about an hour away). The reason for that is that we’ve discovered we thoroughly enjoy getting there as much as the destination.

We went to Damariscotta first. It’s a nice sized little town with a pretty downtown area that we’d visited once before in the pouring rain. We did a little shopping in Reny’s (pronounced “Rennies”), which is a chain of very small department stores. For those of you old enough to remember dime stores, Reny’s is like a dime store merged with a Walmart, but small like a dime store. It’s a great place to buy household goods, linens, clothing (they carry brand names) and hardware. The town is on the Damariscotta River. The name is a Native American word meaning “plenty of alewives” (a kind of fish). We wandered around the town and the riverbank for a while.

Then we headed toward Fort William Henry and Colonial Pemaquid State Historic Site in Bristol. This area was settled by Europeans in the 17^th and 18^th centuries and inhabited by Native Americans long before that. The fort has been partially reconstructed.

The Fort House was built in the last part of the 18^th century. It didn’t really have anything to do with the fort except that it was built near it. The ruins of 14 stone cellar holes can also be seen with a sign explaining what archaeologists believe each building was used for.

There’s also a cemetery with gravestones dating back to the early 1700’s. There was an art class visiting the site and we enjoyed loo

king over their shoulders at their work. We had lunch at a picnic table overlooking Pemaquid Harbor and Wiley fished for a while. I took a little snooze.

Our next stop was a spot we’ve been to before—Ocean Pond. We wanted to try to catch it at low tide so we could explore the tide pools, but once again it was high tide. The beach is a field of large, round boulders that makes it very difficult to walk. At least it wasn’t foggy this time!

Finally, we headed (the long way around) for New Harbor and Shaw’s Wharf where the Puffin Cruise docks. We took a gorgeous ride through the area around Round Pond.

There was an old stone school and numerous small farms that looked like they’d been there for centuries.

This old barn's foundation was made of ancient rocks. There were sheep grazing in the pasture below the barn, and a couple of them had on what looked like canvas coats! I have no idea what to make of that!

This tiny patriotic shed sat beside the road with no other buildings in sight.

We got to Shaw’s Wharf quite early and enjoyed watching the lobster boats come in. This is the first time we’ve ever watched the entire process.

The boats come in one-by-one, as though on a schedule (and maybe they were). The lobstermen wore orange rubber overalls and knee-high boots.

The dock master met each boat and gave them a stack of crates. The crew, usually 2 or 3 people) counted about 40 lobsters into each crate and hefted the crate onto the dock.

The dock master (quite an elderly gent, dressed in dress trousers and a golf shirt) weighed each crate and then ran a line through the handles and floated the crate beside the dock.

Eventually there was quite a long line of crates.

After all the boats had come in (about 7-8 boats), the dock master went to the other end of the dock and used a big winch to lift the crates up to a waiting refrigerated truck.. We watched 30-35 crates loaded into the truck. Some of the crates also went directly into the nearby restaurant’s cold storage room.

We were the first to board the Hardy II. It took about an hour to cross Muscongus Bay, which was studded with 72 islands. The captain kept saying how nice and calm it was, but the boat was rolling and heaving pretty impressively in my opinion. I didn’t get seasick, but I certainly wasn’t tempted to partake of any of the food they were serving on the lower level! One of the island we passed had a lighthouse (Franklin light) on it, and we could see why a lighthouse was important—the waves were crashing mightily on the rocks of the island.

We saw a couple of harbor seals and many seagulls and cormorants on the way to Egg Rock where the puffins are nesting. There was an Audubon naturalist on board who explained how Audubon Society and Nature Conservancy acted together to restore the puffin to this area. Puffins had been hunted nearly to extinction in the early 1800’s in this area. Scientists took chicks from Nova Scotia and raised them on the island so that they were imprinted on it and would return to nest. They also had to rid the island of seagulls, which feed on puffin eggs and chicks, and they put up decoy puffins to lure returning birds. It took 4 years before they finally found a nesting pair on the island. We saw several puffins floating in the water quite close to the boat. My pictures didn’t come out well, but the collage is from Audubon's website. Visit the website -- there's a live camshot of Egg Island so you can see exactly what we saw. http://www.audubon.org/bird/puffin. Check it out! Puffins are not as big as I thought—I’d always pictured them as being like small penguins, but they’re actually about the size of a small seagull.

It was almost 8 PM by the time we headed home, and most of the restaurants in Damariscotta were closing up. We had planned to have a seafood dinner, but we were so hungry by the time we finally found a pizza place in Waldoboro that we devoured our pasta and garlic bread with gusto.

Altogether, today was another memory maker in our continuing great adventure

7-25-06 (Tuesday): We just got off work and now have 3 full days off to enjoy. The weather is beautiful this week--high in the mid-70's, low in the mid-60's, with a great breeze.

Yesterday afternoon we went into downtown Rockland to mail a package. Then we strolled around the historic downtown shopping area. We stopped and had a Coke at a table outside and I got to looking at the architectural detail in the old buildings. Most of them have gift shops in the lower part now and the upper floors have apartments or offices. The details are quite interesting. To me, the faces on this building look like Shakespeare.











We also enjoyed the window decorations in some of the shops. I thought Mag and Cathy would like to see these old wooden buoys. If I ever see any for sale, I'll pick them up for you.










Wiley caught more fish yesterday morning (Spanish Mackeral). Too bad that he's going to have to feast alone--don't you wish you were here?!

That's all for now, folks. Stay tuned. We're hoping to go on a Puffin cruise tomorrow!

7/21/06 (Friday): We took our tent and went camping on the Schoodic Peninsula for our days off this week. We had a great time—very peaceful. Our campsite was right on the water, so Wiley was able to get in a lot of fishing.









We enjoyed the sunset from our screen room and then had a nice campfire before bed.

We took a drive out on the peninsula. It was very foggy. We could hear a couple of lobster boats working very close to shore, but could not see them. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. My camera battery ran low, so I
bought a disposable camera.

I was quite surprised to find this lily growing out of a crack in the rocks quite close to the salt water!

Here I am hiking on a lovely trail in the Petit Manon National Wildlife Refuge.

One of the trails at Petit Manon National Wildlife Refuge was full of low bush blueberry bushes. We picked about a pint and made blueberry pancakes with them when we got back. Delish!

Most of the houses in the area were very simple, boxy, utilitarian abodes. I thought this one was cute--a small house, but look at all the gables and the ultra fancy trim!

Not much else going on. We’re still looking forward to visits from our friends. Lucie is coming in mid-August and Julie and John will come in early September. We’ve had some rainy days the last couple of days, but it’s clearing up now.

7-22-06 (Saturday): I have to charge up my camera and get some pictures developed before I can post about our trip to the Schoodic Peninsula. But I wanted to post pictures of my new granddaughter, Claire. Isn't she gorgeous?! She's ready to leave the hospital in this shot.










This is a great family shot. Left to right, that's Tom, Anna, Margo, Kristin and Claire in front.











Here's Claire just hours after her birth. (Poor babies--they have to have those drops in their eyes) I can't wait to hold her in my arms.

7-20-06 (Tuesday): I have a new granddaughter! Claire Isabel was born on 7-18 at 7:22 AM. She weighed 6 lbs. 10 oz and was 20-1/2" long. Mom and Claire are doing fine. They're coming home from the hospital today. I'll go up for a visit on 8/9.

Wiley and I are tent camping until Friday, and the internet connection here in Down East, Maine is not very good. I'll do a posing all about it on Saturday or Sunday.