Sunday, August 30, 2009

8/30/09 The Summer of 2009

Summers in Maine are what Mainiacs live for. Some say you "earn" the privilege after surviving the winter. I'm so used to traveling in the summer. I never minded being away from Dallas in June, July, and August. Next summer maybe I'll start spending more time in Maine. This summer, not so much. I spent 51 days out of the state. I traveled to 9 states (VT, KS, MD, VA, OR, WA, TX, NM, NY), British Columbia, and Washington DC. Unfortunately, I was having so much fun and accomplishing so many things I didn't find time to blog about the travels. But when I do, you'll find the stories in my travel blog, not here. I did do a teeny bit of traveling in Maine. Those travels, whenever I can find time to blog, will be described here.

My other big project this summer was to unpack the living room. In December I had the last of my stuff shipped from Dallas. It was all that sentimental stuff that you don't need but have to keep. When I thought I was only going to be in Maine for 2 more years, I put the stuff in storage in Dallas. When I found out I was going to stay for a while in Maine, I had the stuff moved here. For 7 months, I just lived with the stuff stacked in my living room. It took up over 40 square feet of my 600 square foot apartment. In July, I finally started unpacking. Then I built shelves and then filled the shelves. There's still a lot of stuff here but at least I can get to it now. AND I have 20 square feet of apartment back. :-) Phase 2 is to do the same for the dining room.

I took photos along the way. I compiled them into this 2 minute slideshow. Enjoy! My friend Michael suggested I should've had a last slide of me "
collapsed in organizational exhaustion in the comfy chair." Great idea. However, I'll have to let you picture that photo in your imagination. Meanwhile, enjoy the transformation.


Saturday, August 15, 2009

8/14/2009 How do you define hot?

I was at the mall today. In most cities, when you say "the mall" someone will ask, "Which one?" I was at The Maine Mall in Portland, which is named that because at the time it was built, it was pretty much the only one in the state. (Does that make it the main Maine mall?) So here, when you say, "the mall," everyone assumes you're talking about that one.

But I digress. So at the mall, I was in the parking lot and needed to cross the lane of traffic. The oncoming car stopped and waved me across. Maine has strong pedestrian right-of-way laws, so that wasn't unusual. I waved a thank you as I crossed and when I got to the other side, the driver rolled down her window smiling at me and then said, "Honey, you're the one having to suffer in 86 degrees, I've got my AC on. Of course, I'll let you cross."

And to think I was enjoying how cool it was on an August day in the "heat" of the afternoon with the temperature being only 86 degrees.

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On another note, it's been a long time since I posted anything here. Sorry about that. It's been a busy busy summer which means I have plenty to blog about but no time to blog. I hope to get caught up soon.

And one more note . . . Look Dad! I'm not blogging about snow!