7/7/2011 Castine Update

Check out this article in the Castine Patriot about the 4th of July. And pay particular attention to the photos and the photo credits.

Mrs. C's daughter-in-law got a phone call at 7am on the 5th of July from a local reporter who told her that the camera of the paper's photographer wasn't working right and they didn't have any photos of the parade. The photographer knew Mrs. C's d-i-l and had seen her taking photos, so she called to ask her if she had any that she could use. Mrs. C's d-i-l said Karen had a better camera and had been taking tons of photos so she should ask her. So the reporter called Mrs. C. who came and got Karen (who was just getting out of the shower), apprised her of the situation, and put her on the phone with the reporter. Karen actually had over 1,000 photos from the day but was able to pick out 30 or so to send to the reporter and the rest is history. :-)

7/5/2011 Farewell Castine

I do love a good Dutch door. And in Castine, the weather is so nice (and in this case, the view of the elm and the yard) that you can actually use your Dutch door. Of course, Mrs. C. has one.

KMO, Mrs. C. and me in Mrs. C's backyard.

Stephanie and me.

We had breakfast at Bah's Bakery. KMO and Stephanie had quiche, I got the famous crab cake (for breakfast?? why not!). It was delicious and the view of the harbor while eating was nice, too.

Because you can see a lot of people on this schooner, Mrs. C. said it must be the Bowdoin. A Facebook friend suspected it was the Bowdoin as well. I'm doing well to know it's a schooner. What nobody said was that the Bowdoin is owned by the Maine Maritime Academy in Castine. It's a teaching ship!

7/4/2011 Town Band concert program

7/4/2011 4th of July Concert, Castine, ME

Not sure what this was about. This car was parked at the Town Commons for the Town Band Concert. I'm thankful for the 4th of July, does that count?

Instrumentalists getting ready for the big concert. Look right between the T and the I in the word Castine on the big drum, now go up to the rim of the drum, . . . there's my sister!

The Tarratine Fifes and Drums made a guest performance at the concert. Oh look! There's my sister--second fife from the right.

The Dice's Head (or Dice Head or Dyce Head . . . depends what you read) Lighthouse right on the edge of town.

We had a big barbecue tonight. Mrs. C. and her son and daughter-in-law and 3 grandkids plus 4 family friends plus my sister, me, and my friend Stephanie. We ate barbecued brisket, sausage, and ribs sent from The New Braunfels Smokehouse by Mrs. C's daughter Katy who is my sister's best friend which is how we got here in the first place. Gorgeous evening. We all sat underneath Mrs. C's really big elm tree. Yes, elm tree. Castine's elms didn't get hit by the Dutch Elm Disease blight and in fact, all the trees are carefully cared for and tagged and baby elms are now being planted across the country from cuttings from Castine's elms. Anyway, it was a gorgeous tree to sit under and enjoy our wonderful meal. Then we went inside for dessert of brownies and strawberry-rhubarb pie. What a great 4th of July!!

Next on the agenda was the fireworks display at 9:15. At 9:00, two fireworks went off into the fog and just kinda, sorta set the fog aglow. Not much to look at. At 9:15, the harbor lights went out and one more firework went off and glowed. Even the bang didn't sound right in the fog. Next thing we know, they're announcing that the fireworks are postponed to Friday night. :-( A smart decision, just not the evening we were expecting. (This photo is of the Maine Maritime Academy's big ship at the harbor . . . you can kinda tell that there was a lot of fog.)

We came home to Mrs. C's house with a welcome flag. The US flag flies high and proud on a lighted pole on her rooftop, but this flag hangs proud and welcoming in the front porch.

7/4/2011 4th of July in Castine, Maine

KMO was invited to return to Castine to visit the mom of her best friend and most especially, to play flute for the Castine Town Band and fife with the Tarratine Fifes and Drums. She's been to Castine many times before but this time I got to play chauffeur and it was my first time to this historic Maine town. My good friend from UMF, Stephanie, joined us for the fun. I picked up KMO Sunday night at the airport and we spent the night at a hotel in Portland. Left by 6:45 this morning and headed to Augusta where we picked up Stephanie and then headed to Castine. We arrived at 9:45, in plenty of time to get to the Children's Costume Parade at 10:00. The parade was around the Town Commons area. No floats, no bands, no commercial or political statements, just patriotic music blaring from the 1790 Congregational Church steeple and lots of children (and a few accompanying adults) walking through town. What a glorious way to celebrate!

After the parade, there is a giant celebration on the Town Commons including free watermelon, lemonaid, hot dogs, cotton candy, and fried dough. They also had sack races, a tug of war (with a REALLY long rope and a lot of people on both sides), a pie eating contest, and free fire truck rides. How Norman Rockwell can you get?!

This is The Abbott School on the Town Commons.

After the festivities on the Town Commons, we headed down to the wharf, but there were so many kids lined up for the fire truck rides that those were still going on. We got to see one in action.

We stopped at The Breeze, a local fast food place on the wharf. I got their chocolate chip ice cream sandwich made with fresh chocolate chip cookies. It's bigger than it looks. It was as big as it was delicious.

The morning started with a lot of fog ("marine layer" as some call it), but it started to burn off around 11 and though the rest of the day had a haze (and threatened rain off and on), we could still see the beautiful Castine harbor and I managed to get a good sunburn.

On the second floor of Mrs. C's house is a staircase that goes to the ceiling. But at the top of the staircase is a big hatch and you lift that door and you are on the roof of the house with room enough for 7 deck chairs and a big table with this dramatic view.

6/28/08 The Sanford Mainers Baseball Team

After our day of touring the coast, we ended up at our destination of Sanford, ME. MRM's parents live here. They had a baked bean supper waiting for us (it is, after all, a Saturday night) and then we all headed out to the Sanford Mainers' baseball game. The Mainers are in the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL). It's like the minor leagues of the minor leagues and it was a blast--in spite of the cold. I actually got the emergency blanket out of the trunk of my car to bring to the game for Rodney 'cuz he was cold during the day, but I ended up being the one who used it at the game. Front row--mom and dad. They have season tickets. They're such loyal fans that dad actually got to throw out the first pitch last week.

Next to dad sat MRM who read a book through most of the game. (Remember, she plays Soduku when watching Red Sox games at the house.)

Next to MRM are her niece and her sister-in-law--the nice folks that included me in their Thanksgiving dinner last year.

On the second row are me (not pictured), Rodney (who takes his baseball very seriously, obviously), RBF, MRM's brother, and her sister-in-law's mom whom I met at Thanksgiving last year, so it was like old home week!

There's a better picture of MRM's brother and his mother-in-law. Behind them you can see the Mainer's mascot, Broose the Moose.

Funny photo that has nothing to do with Maine

Check out this photo that Karen (my sister) found from 1965. Are you laughing yet? The eyes, the smiles, the dresses . . . what part of this doesn't scream "cute"?!

That's me on the left. :-)

9/30/2007 Ice Cream

Mother and I went to the convenience store down the street to pick up pizza for dinner. We meandered around the store while we waited for them to fix the pizza. It was very fresh. We watched the girl roll out the dough and put on the fresh toppings. In our wanderings we saw this in the ice cream freezer. The awesome part about this is: my mom loves roadrunners! She has a collection (a very seriously large collection) of them back in New Mexico. Why would they name an ice cream "roadrunner" up here in Maine when those birds are famous for inhabiting "open, flat or rolling terrain with scattered cover of dry brush, chaparral or other desert scrub." (http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/sep/papr/road.html) and "is most common in desert areas, but it can also be found in chaparral, grasslands, open woodlands and agricultural areas." (http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/greaterroadrunner.htm)