I've shared this in other formats with various people, but its time that my blog world know that I resigned from my position at University of Maine at Machias effective this coming Friday, October 30th. This was an incredibly difficult decision to make.
Living out here in the midddle of nowhere coastal Maine has been a real adventure. A true adventure. Stores close for the season, the weather is brutal, and I'm hours away from formerly essential stores and necessities. I've learned a lot from my time out here....from how tides work, what attracts seals and whales to coastal rivers, to how to make a wreath from balsam tips, to how run a sound and light board in an auditorium, to how to mange a $60K budget, to how to implement a H1N1 emergency plan. But, I have also learned a lot of personal lessons....most of which were unexepcted and sometimes...unwelcomed.
I've learned that at 28 years old I've pushed so hard and so fast on my education and career that I've not really paused to think about the WHY of what I am doing....but have just focused on doing...and doing to a perfectionist degree. I've lived and breathed for pushing my career as hard as I could and have found myself dreading the work that I do, the phone ringing, and have found that my skills diminish because of that pushing.
I've learned that I have emotionally moved away from my parents and family physically and emotionally and its only been in the last year and a half that I have felt an underlying calling to get back to them and get back further into their lives. I've learned that my parents are always my parents, and they will always love me. And to quote both of them...they could "never be disappointed in me"...thank god for that, because I've been fearful of disappointing them for months. And I have a sister and brother in law that will always listen and help...and always have an open bed for me at their place.
I've learned that its ok to listen to Christmas music in October if it puts a smile on your face and in your heart. Despite what others might say!
I've learned that having a kidney disease isn't a death sentence, but rather a calling to not only monitor my health, but push my health to be better. I've gotten sick in bad ways, and I am tired of being a victim to my illnesses. I've learned that, in the most basic of ways, if I chose to ignore my emotions and intuitions that I will get sick...and that sickness will debilitate me in a way that cripples the rest of my life. And from that, I know I need to take charge of my physical and emotional health...and that starts now. For real.
I've learned what it means to have an incredible best friend and a completely loving girlfriend. This is the first time in my life where those individuals are two separate people, and I am learning how healthy and fulfilling that is. Stephanie has been my rock and in my corner always as a loving, caring, and incredibly honest mirror of a best friend. I know she will always be in my corner and supportive of me...in all of my valleys and hills. From Marissa....I've learned that I am not broken to all relationships because of my past. I know what my values are, I know how to share them, and I know what honesty and communication really mean in a relationship. She challenges me, laughs with me, cries with me, shares books with me, and sees life in a similar way to me. The health and vitality of my relationship with her is a daily breath of fresh air that I am so grateful for. I hope we can take our relationship to a new level soon.
I've learned that the love that I have for animals is incredible and deep. With the deterioration and loss of my lovely Betty in September, I've learned the pain of having to let go when you are not quite ready, but the peace of knowing that you've helped care, love, and provide for an animal that loved you everyday of their life. Betty was with me everyday of the last six years...and I'd like to think its not just me that is thankful for those six years. With our family just losing Sherbie yesterday, I've experienced another loss of a feline friend. There's not really words to go with the loss of our pet loved ones.
With these lessons and more, I've learned that I made a decision in my life that I thought was the right one...and its turned out not necessarily to be right for me anymore. As I got on the plane back from my trip to Wisconsin and Iowa back in mid-September, I had a nasty feeling in my gut. I felt like I was doing the wrong thing....I was going somewhere I shouldn't be, and doing something I shouldn't be. A month later, in shambles and completely sick, with the help of my family, girlfriend, and friends I came to the conclusion that I need to listen to that ever-growing intuition. Professionally....I've learned a lot, and even in three short months on the job I've learned lessons and skills that I couldn't have learned had I stayed in Iowa. Personally, I've learned its time that I stop, breath, get back to my family, girlfriend, and friends....and its time to take stock and figure out what my priorities in life really should be.
This will be my last post on this blog. Next week I'll take the blog down. And maybe what I do is start a new blog for a new chapter in my life. Who knows.
I'm 28 years old, unemployed as of a week from now, and have relatively no idea of what I want to do with my life. But, as everyone keeps telling me....it will all turn out ok and it WILL be ok. So, now it's time to help folks open some windows and let some fresh air into my life...
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Bad blogger, bad!
So, I return to my blog after a month hiatus. I feel really bad that I haven't written....I have heard from many of you about your desire to get me to write more because you feel like you don't know what is going on with me. Well, now I will update you on life!
1) WORK. Work has been dominating my life, mind, body, and spirit in HUGE ways in the last two months since I've started, especially in the last month. From national entertainers and several-thousand $$ performers, learning a sound board and light board, to planning for H1N1 on campus, to helping 30+ student orgs get their feet on the ground for the school year, and oh yeah supervising a residence life operation and many staff.....whew, I have had work up to my ears and beyond! We've had Spirit Week and Homecoming happen here, Greek rushing and pledging, and in the meantime I am still trying to learn which end is up.
Needless to say, I haven't had a whole heck of a lot of time to focus on anything but work since its been so busy. With this comes SO much learning, and SO many challenges, frustrations, joys, concerns, and more learning....it is really hard to know where I fit in with stuff. I would be lying if I said things are going great....I am struggling a lot and wondering if UMM is the place for me, and if I really like doing what I am doing as much as I thought I did....but I am just trying to take it one breath and one day at a time....anything more than that is too damn much.
2) BETTY THE CAT. This has been another huge piece of my last month. Unfortunately, the feline love of my life passed away on Monday, September 14th. I had to have Betty put to rest then because of a badly declining health and she lost control of her systems. It was a really hard decision for me to make that took me a few weeks to sort through. I appreciate all the phone calls, emails and support from Marissa, Stephanie, my sister Sara and husband Brian, my parents, my grandmama, and my friends out there for the help in coming to this decision. Betty really was a life companion to me for the last 7 years and really was a right arm to me in all of the adventures I've had. Fortunately for her she had 20+ years of an awesome life, and I hope she thinks back on the last years with me and has all of the positive feelings I do. I have had a really hard time being without Betty the last few weeks, and am hoping it will start to get easier sometime soon. My apartment still smells like her, even though I've put her things away to save. I know it is weird to some people, but I am having Betty cremated. I just want to do the best by Betty as I can because she meant (and means) so much to me. A lot of people don't really know how to react to me around the issue of Betty dying because she was so important to me....and because I am still pretty upset about it. I just try to take it one day at a time. So, I thought I would share some pictures of Betty from her last couple months with me.
Pre-Betty & I moving to Maine:
It's important to have your cat's approval in your choice of girlfriend!
Betty & I in Maine:
I miss my Betty.
3) DAD CAME TO MAINE!!! My dad just came to Maine this last weekend since he was on a business trip to DC during the week. YAHOO! It was really awesome to visit with him since I hadn't seen him since....Christmas?!? It was a huge exciting thing to have him "swing" up here (two flights to get here just from DC) and stay for the weekend. He got here around 1am Friday night/Sat AM (it takes about two hours to drive from the airport to where I live)....and we played tourist all weekend. He got to see Fort O'Brien, UMM campus, Machias River, bald eagles, Eastport, a minke whale, many seals, East Quoddy Head Lighthouse (from a schooner), herring nets, salmon pens, West Quoddy Head lighthouse (and foghorn!!) and tons of other neat nature things around here! We even went over to Canada to Campobello Island to see the FDR family cottage for an hour! NEAT! (which means I got to use my official Passport Card for the first time!!). Here's some pics from that (dad took 350 pics, so I can't share all of them here!).
ABOVE: Machiasport, ME harbor.
ABOVE: What we think is a bear print at Fort O'Brien State Park driveway. The best (worst) part: it is right next door to a middle school. That's dad's shoe next to it.
I just think this is a neat photo....the focus and non focus on the flowers. Papa's new camera is great!
Dad doing the Fitch Family pose at Bad Little Falls Park in Machias.
ABOVE: This is my church, Centre Street Congregational UCC. Just a couple blocks from my place.
ABOVE: The view outside the Machias Motor Inn as the tide is low.
BELOW: East Quoddy Head Light on Campobello Island, New Brunswick, CAN. A herring net setup as well. You can see how strong the currents and whirlpools are here (this is near Old Sow, the largest whirpool in the western hemisphere)
BELOW: Big outgoing tide current. You would think we were in a river....nope, that is in the middle of a HUGE bay.
BELOW: The minke whale we saw! One of many pictures!!
An up close shot of one of the smaller whirlpools next to our schooner.
BELOW: Papa helped to raise the sails!
ABOVE: Dad's new dream boat, complete with seating for old men.
BELOW: Me getting ready to go on the boat...that's right, I have my winter coat, hat and gloves with me (and needed them!)!
Seals!!!!
I have many more pictures to share from my weekend with my dad, but I think that is all for now.
I will try to be better about updating the blog....I think for a long time I didn't want to update because I was so upset about Betty being gone and things not going nearly as positively here as I thought they would....but now, I think....this is part of life and its my job to make sense of it and figure out what I can and cannot handle....
Til next time...
1) WORK. Work has been dominating my life, mind, body, and spirit in HUGE ways in the last two months since I've started, especially in the last month. From national entertainers and several-thousand $$ performers, learning a sound board and light board, to planning for H1N1 on campus, to helping 30+ student orgs get their feet on the ground for the school year, and oh yeah supervising a residence life operation and many staff.....whew, I have had work up to my ears and beyond! We've had Spirit Week and Homecoming happen here, Greek rushing and pledging, and in the meantime I am still trying to learn which end is up.
Needless to say, I haven't had a whole heck of a lot of time to focus on anything but work since its been so busy. With this comes SO much learning, and SO many challenges, frustrations, joys, concerns, and more learning....it is really hard to know where I fit in with stuff. I would be lying if I said things are going great....I am struggling a lot and wondering if UMM is the place for me, and if I really like doing what I am doing as much as I thought I did....but I am just trying to take it one breath and one day at a time....anything more than that is too damn much.
2) BETTY THE CAT. This has been another huge piece of my last month. Unfortunately, the feline love of my life passed away on Monday, September 14th. I had to have Betty put to rest then because of a badly declining health and she lost control of her systems. It was a really hard decision for me to make that took me a few weeks to sort through. I appreciate all the phone calls, emails and support from Marissa, Stephanie, my sister Sara and husband Brian, my parents, my grandmama, and my friends out there for the help in coming to this decision. Betty really was a life companion to me for the last 7 years and really was a right arm to me in all of the adventures I've had. Fortunately for her she had 20+ years of an awesome life, and I hope she thinks back on the last years with me and has all of the positive feelings I do. I have had a really hard time being without Betty the last few weeks, and am hoping it will start to get easier sometime soon. My apartment still smells like her, even though I've put her things away to save. I know it is weird to some people, but I am having Betty cremated. I just want to do the best by Betty as I can because she meant (and means) so much to me. A lot of people don't really know how to react to me around the issue of Betty dying because she was so important to me....and because I am still pretty upset about it. I just try to take it one day at a time. So, I thought I would share some pictures of Betty from her last couple months with me.
Pre-Betty & I moving to Maine:
It's important to have your cat's approval in your choice of girlfriend!
Betty & I in Maine:
I miss my Betty.
3) DAD CAME TO MAINE!!! My dad just came to Maine this last weekend since he was on a business trip to DC during the week. YAHOO! It was really awesome to visit with him since I hadn't seen him since....Christmas?!? It was a huge exciting thing to have him "swing" up here (two flights to get here just from DC) and stay for the weekend. He got here around 1am Friday night/Sat AM (it takes about two hours to drive from the airport to where I live)....and we played tourist all weekend. He got to see Fort O'Brien, UMM campus, Machias River, bald eagles, Eastport, a minke whale, many seals, East Quoddy Head Lighthouse (from a schooner), herring nets, salmon pens, West Quoddy Head lighthouse (and foghorn!!) and tons of other neat nature things around here! We even went over to Canada to Campobello Island to see the FDR family cottage for an hour! NEAT! (which means I got to use my official Passport Card for the first time!!). Here's some pics from that (dad took 350 pics, so I can't share all of them here!).
ABOVE: Machiasport, ME harbor.
ABOVE: What we think is a bear print at Fort O'Brien State Park driveway. The best (worst) part: it is right next door to a middle school. That's dad's shoe next to it.
I just think this is a neat photo....the focus and non focus on the flowers. Papa's new camera is great!
Dad doing the Fitch Family pose at Bad Little Falls Park in Machias.
ABOVE: This is my church, Centre Street Congregational UCC. Just a couple blocks from my place.
ABOVE: The view outside the Machias Motor Inn as the tide is low.BELOW: East Quoddy Head Light on Campobello Island, New Brunswick, CAN. A herring net setup as well. You can see how strong the currents and whirlpools are here (this is near Old Sow, the largest whirpool in the western hemisphere)
BELOW: Big outgoing tide current. You would think we were in a river....nope, that is in the middle of a HUGE bay.
BELOW: The minke whale we saw! One of many pictures!!
An up close shot of one of the smaller whirlpools next to our schooner.
BELOW: Papa helped to raise the sails!
ABOVE: Dad's new dream boat, complete with seating for old men.BELOW: Me getting ready to go on the boat...that's right, I have my winter coat, hat and gloves with me (and needed them!)!
Seals!!!!
I have many more pictures to share from my weekend with my dad, but I think that is all for now.
I will try to be better about updating the blog....I think for a long time I didn't want to update because I was so upset about Betty being gone and things not going nearly as positively here as I thought they would....but now, I think....this is part of life and its my job to make sense of it and figure out what I can and cannot handle....
Til next time...
Monday, September 7, 2009
on this labor day, i reflect on my labor
On this labor day, I chose to reflect on my labor. I've labored a lot over the last couple of weeks....to be honest if I look at my calendar this is the first 24 hour period of a day that I have had off/away from work since August 9th. Yep, that's right. It's September 7th. Whew. It's a wonder I don't have more noticeable grey hairs already (although to be honest I don't spend a lot of time looking in the mirror everday)...
I apologize, first and foremost, to my great followers of nine official blogger follower people, and the various other folks that roam in and out of this blog. I have left you un-entertained, and I am sure you've been biting your nails nervously to find out what happenings are occurring in the great state of my life in Maine. To this, I say sorry. To the rest of you who just haven't noticed that I haven't blogged lately, well....you are boring too.
Anyway, my last post talked about hurricanes and such. That's been interesting. Two weekends ago we had hurricane remnants come through town and blow things around. Down in Bar Harbor, a girl was killed because she got too close to the surf and was pulled out to sea. One week later, the remnants of tropical depression Danny came swooping into town, and was actually more damaging and powerful than the hurricane. Strange. In this area, we got close to 4" of rain in 24hrs, and the roads and waterways were flooded. I came home to water dripping from my ceiling and down my chimney after a 15 hour day at work. Yippee to living off campus. This day of tropical depression also happened to be day two of freshmen orientation, which included the first-ever community service day. Nothing says "welcome to campus!!" better than "hey, go out in the 50 degree weather while it is raining and pickup trash next to the bay and paint the high school". Regardless, it was a great success and no one has dropped out yet!
Speaking of work...I've been doing a lot of that lately. As mentioned before, this is my first true day off, which I don't really even know what to do with myself. I've had events pretty much every or every other day for the last week and a half, so I've had a lot of "baptism by fire" opportunities in my world of labor lately. It's been really good though....I've learned how to setup a medium sized sound system and run a sound board (still learning), have educated myself on the finer points of 100 watt radio and FCC regulations, have been privy to H1N1 vaccine processes, helped a fledgling frisbee club get started, and oh yeah....some challenging supervision issues on the professional and student front. Needless to say, for the small physical head that I have, I sure am piling on a ton of hats on it!!
Other good news is that my foot that I had previously hurt walking/running is now healed nicely (thank you Stephanie for suggestions on how to remedy that, and also the internet for many stretches that I do regularly now). So, hopefully this week I am back to walking to work and getting out in the morning sunshine. I've mentioned The Hill to some of you, so I wanted to post a few picks so you see what my walk to/from campus looks like.
Things are good in the lobster world (although I need to buy a big pot sometime soon so I can make a lobster at home):
Yesterday, we took a group of students down to Bar Harbor for some shopping, which was fun for them. Not as much fun for me. See, Bar Harbor is pretty much crazy with tourists all the time...and this weekend was no exception. The one big difference about this visit to Bar Harbor = two cruise ships docked in the harbor...so you know, a few thousand more people in town. Ugh. But hey, I had never seen cruise ships in town, so that was cool. And don't forget The Rena, which is a 140 foot yacht that was in town from Florida...
So, anyway, on this Labor Day....I'm thrilled to have a day off to just chill. Betty the Cat is really not doing well these days, so I am trying to spend as much time as I can with her as I think I have some difficult decisions to make in the new few weeks.
I hope you enjoy the pictures, and....I will try to be better about posting in the future.
I apologize, first and foremost, to my great followers of nine official blogger follower people, and the various other folks that roam in and out of this blog. I have left you un-entertained, and I am sure you've been biting your nails nervously to find out what happenings are occurring in the great state of my life in Maine. To this, I say sorry. To the rest of you who just haven't noticed that I haven't blogged lately, well....you are boring too.
Anyway, my last post talked about hurricanes and such. That's been interesting. Two weekends ago we had hurricane remnants come through town and blow things around. Down in Bar Harbor, a girl was killed because she got too close to the surf and was pulled out to sea. One week later, the remnants of tropical depression Danny came swooping into town, and was actually more damaging and powerful than the hurricane. Strange. In this area, we got close to 4" of rain in 24hrs, and the roads and waterways were flooded. I came home to water dripping from my ceiling and down my chimney after a 15 hour day at work. Yippee to living off campus. This day of tropical depression also happened to be day two of freshmen orientation, which included the first-ever community service day. Nothing says "welcome to campus!!" better than "hey, go out in the 50 degree weather while it is raining and pickup trash next to the bay and paint the high school". Regardless, it was a great success and no one has dropped out yet!
Speaking of work...I've been doing a lot of that lately. As mentioned before, this is my first true day off, which I don't really even know what to do with myself. I've had events pretty much every or every other day for the last week and a half, so I've had a lot of "baptism by fire" opportunities in my world of labor lately. It's been really good though....I've learned how to setup a medium sized sound system and run a sound board (still learning), have educated myself on the finer points of 100 watt radio and FCC regulations, have been privy to H1N1 vaccine processes, helped a fledgling frisbee club get started, and oh yeah....some challenging supervision issues on the professional and student front. Needless to say, for the small physical head that I have, I sure am piling on a ton of hats on it!!
Other good news is that my foot that I had previously hurt walking/running is now healed nicely (thank you Stephanie for suggestions on how to remedy that, and also the internet for many stretches that I do regularly now). So, hopefully this week I am back to walking to work and getting out in the morning sunshine. I've mentioned The Hill to some of you, so I wanted to post a few picks so you see what my walk to/from campus looks like.
Things are good in the lobster world (although I need to buy a big pot sometime soon so I can make a lobster at home):
Yesterday, we took a group of students down to Bar Harbor for some shopping, which was fun for them. Not as much fun for me. See, Bar Harbor is pretty much crazy with tourists all the time...and this weekend was no exception. The one big difference about this visit to Bar Harbor = two cruise ships docked in the harbor...so you know, a few thousand more people in town. Ugh. But hey, I had never seen cruise ships in town, so that was cool. And don't forget The Rena, which is a 140 foot yacht that was in town from Florida...
So, anyway, on this Labor Day....I'm thrilled to have a day off to just chill. Betty the Cat is really not doing well these days, so I am trying to spend as much time as I can with her as I think I have some difficult decisions to make in the new few weeks.
I hope you enjoy the pictures, and....I will try to be better about posting in the future.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
work, hurricanes, minute reflections, and more work
I need to apologize in advance....as work is really starting to get heated up and so my posting is going to go down a bit in the next few weeks. I hope to continue to be able to post at least once a week, but for right now things are pretty crazy.
Although I've been in my job for three weeks now, the student staff are just showing up and the triple layer of worker training has begun, not to mention the prep for the new students (and returners) within one week. Egad! So, needless to say, my precious few moments I have to myself I am taking to spend: 1) with my not-doing-so-hot elderly cat Betty, 2) sleeping, 3) reading books on job transition and new leadership, and 4) spending time outside. Before I know it, it's going to be winter.
Speaking of weather, there was a hurricane here. In case you hadn't heard. Word is that its headed past Nova Scotia and is now headed to Newfoundland. Luckily here in coastal Maine we just saw a bit of rain and winds and that was all. But, still, it was crazy to think I had just moved NORTH and was experiencing hurricane "remnants" in my "the ocean is 55 degrees" new homeland. Best wishes and safety to my Newfie friends!
I'm keeping a little log of things that "when I have time" I will post more on here, but here's a bit of what I've been up to in the last week. This is Roque Bluffs State Park. I just found out that there is a beach near here (about 7.5 miles from my current home), and it actually is a partially sand beach too!
Here is a video (sorry for the wind noise....it happens):
Although I've been in my job for three weeks now, the student staff are just showing up and the triple layer of worker training has begun, not to mention the prep for the new students (and returners) within one week. Egad! So, needless to say, my precious few moments I have to myself I am taking to spend: 1) with my not-doing-so-hot elderly cat Betty, 2) sleeping, 3) reading books on job transition and new leadership, and 4) spending time outside. Before I know it, it's going to be winter.
Speaking of weather, there was a hurricane here. In case you hadn't heard. Word is that its headed past Nova Scotia and is now headed to Newfoundland. Luckily here in coastal Maine we just saw a bit of rain and winds and that was all. But, still, it was crazy to think I had just moved NORTH and was experiencing hurricane "remnants" in my "the ocean is 55 degrees" new homeland. Best wishes and safety to my Newfie friends!
I'm keeping a little log of things that "when I have time" I will post more on here, but here's a bit of what I've been up to in the last week. This is Roque Bluffs State Park. I just found out that there is a beach near here (about 7.5 miles from my current home), and it actually is a partially sand beach too!
Here is a video (sorry for the wind noise....it happens):
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Randy of Blueberry, the musical
So Wild Blueberry Festival is upon us, and the whole entire town of Machias seems to have transformed into a whole different place! It is awesome. There are welcomed practical differences....like the makeup of the town looks and speaks differently, but there is also an air of celebration, positivity, and excitement in the air! Yesterday driving around after work and running to things helped me realize...there truly are going to be 15,000 people extra in this town this weekend (to give you perspective, this town only has about 3,000 to begin with....)
Anyway, without further ado, I'd like to offer some snippets from the musical last night "Randy of Blueberry". The musicals historical are always written by a local person and are based off of other musicals or common music that people understand, and tell a story of life in Machias or Washington County, or Downeast in general. With things being so rough to begin with historically economically in Washington County, the last year has been particularly hard here...and it shows at every turn. This is a poor town, and a poor county. The musical this year was based around a large blueberry processing factory (owned by descendants of Jeremiah O'Brien himself) owing back taxes to the town. Think Andy Griffith....this was the basis of the musical. However, that is not where it ends! It was really well crafted, because there were tons of current events in it, including Sarah Palin "becoming available" to be the new mayor of Blueberry! HA!
Enjoy the clips!
This is the infamous Gene Nichols, who I finally got to meet the other day (subsequently, I have already been invited to ukelele club so I can learn how to play!!!)
It is helpful to turn up the sound as much as you can, as this one has great Sarah Palin dialogue:
YMCA!
The general theme of living in Downeast Maine:
Getting serious, Rent style:
The BEST part of the musical!
Dad, this one is for you!!!
All the church sings along (we got programs with the words and it was in this weeks paper so people could learn the words):
More Blueberry fun to come!!!
Anyway, without further ado, I'd like to offer some snippets from the musical last night "Randy of Blueberry". The musicals historical are always written by a local person and are based off of other musicals or common music that people understand, and tell a story of life in Machias or Washington County, or Downeast in general. With things being so rough to begin with historically economically in Washington County, the last year has been particularly hard here...and it shows at every turn. This is a poor town, and a poor county. The musical this year was based around a large blueberry processing factory (owned by descendants of Jeremiah O'Brien himself) owing back taxes to the town. Think Andy Griffith....this was the basis of the musical. However, that is not where it ends! It was really well crafted, because there were tons of current events in it, including Sarah Palin "becoming available" to be the new mayor of Blueberry! HA!
Enjoy the clips!
This is the infamous Gene Nichols, who I finally got to meet the other day (subsequently, I have already been invited to ukelele club so I can learn how to play!!!)
It is helpful to turn up the sound as much as you can, as this one has great Sarah Palin dialogue:
YMCA!
The general theme of living in Downeast Maine:
Getting serious, Rent style:
The BEST part of the musical!
Dad, this one is for you!!!
All the church sings along (we got programs with the words and it was in this weeks paper so people could learn the words):
More Blueberry fun to come!!!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
On getting known and getting involved...
Well, its been almost a week since my last post. Ya know, I read somewhere that you should post good material every 4-6 days to keep your readers interested and keep them focused (and passing your blog link on to others). So, I hope you're interested.
Who knows....I had a dream the other night that I wrote a book about my first year living in Maine and it was pretty popular :-)
So, big news first. I made it on the UMM webpage today...which is both really neat and really humbling at the same time. I've never been the subject of a true "press release" although back in my fishing career days, I spent a good deal of time being in the local papers and such. This goes on the website, it goes in both of the local newspapers, and might even get picked up by the Bangor Daily News (because there is a new admission director starting as well!). WOW. Anonymity in Machias is gone! But, its really different now....now that I am in the paper because of a career I've established for myself, and a community I've joined.
Speaking of the community I joined, I've also started attending the Center (Centre) Street Congregational Church here in town, which is the local United Church of Christ, which I was kinda sorted raised in. It is a really nice church, and has a FANTASTIC history. Like the kind of history that....drum roll please.....has one of the last surviving bells that Paul Revere made. Pretty fantastic if you ask me. It is 39" across in diameter, and I would imagine gives a good ring. This coming weekend is Blueberry Festival, and the Sunday service (which is said to be the largest church service in Machias all year for any church...larger than the holidays) begins with ringing of the bell. I can't wait. As bad as this sounds (I might already be going to hell, so...) I might try to record it on my phone so you all can hear how awesome I am sure it is going to sound.
Anyway, so I've gotten involved in the church. I am not doing it as a "I found God and he's in Machias, Maine" (although there is a funny story about hell I will tell in a minute*...) thing, but rather as a way to meet some people outside of work and get a community established for myself so I can get involved in the town activities. The nice thing is that there are already a bunch of people that go to this church that I know...including my supervisor! Who's husband is on the board! There's also a number of folks from my CSA (community supported agriculture) group that go there, as well as a good amount of university folk. There isn't a Unitarian Universalist in town (nearest one is in Eastport, which is about 45min away), so I think thus church really serves itself as the "university type liberal church"...which is great by me. Generally speaking, the UCC tends to be right below the UU folks in terms of "wild, leftist liberal propaganda" which is right up my philosophical agenda alley, so sign me up! Seriously, though, it is a nice time. Right away both weeks folks come up to introduce themselves to me, I've spent time in the coffee fellowship afterwards (they serve shade-grown, fair-trade coffee which is really great that they are environmentally conscientious), and its been noted by several folks that they are really open to LGBT community members being involved.
Now involvement means a lot of things to a lot of different people, but I figured this coming weekend is Blueberry Fest so I ought to take that opportunity to get involved and meet some folks. So what better to do that volunteer to drive one of the shuttle vans around town bringing folks to and from the parking sight (the grocery store, on one end of town) to the downtown where all the action is! Right now my plans are to attend the BBQ, I have my ticket for the musical, I am going to see some folk art that someone from the church wants me to check out...and of course there is the pie eating contest, the bake off, and the parade!!! And last but certainly not least...the Blackfly Ball! There is also the town precense of the Beehive Collective. These folks have gotten a variety of explanations to me by a variety of different folks around town....ranging from hundreds of hippie people descended on Machias and partying and protesting all over town all weekend to a group of mosaic art activists. So, we shall see!
Now, I don't want you all to get too excited about B fest....I will post more this weekend after I recover from my blueberry overdose (is there such a thing? NEVER!).
In other news, I have a few words and phrases to update you about from the downeast coast of Maine:
1) "Jesum": My friends over at Urban Dictionary tell me that this is a New England nice way of saying "Jesus!". Which is followed or interchanged with...
2) 'Jesum Crow": You guessed it....Jesus Christ. The funny thing is that in old German, Jesus is Jesum....
3) Downcoast. This is a word that is used by folks around here to basically mean going anywhere south or west of here. Because Machias/Downeast Maine is SO far out east from the rest of the state (and nation, to be honest) there isn't anything really as "north" and "south" as the rest of us know...it is more east and west...but it is confusing because you are going up and down. So, the downeasters say "downcoast". Which basically means going to civilization.
4) This is a classic phrase I heard the other day at work. Perhaps not a downeaster phrase, but fantastic nonetheless. "Talk a cat off of a fish truck." Yeah, that's right.
In other news, I have also gotten involved in a few longer term groups that I am really excited about: 1) An NFL pool at the university for faculty and staff! There's even a trophy that goes with it. So, I will need to get reading up on my teams and get playing. Stephanie, perhaps this is finally the time that I enter that fantasy football competition. 2) A team that is getting put together to ride the MS 150 next July/August....so in less than one year I will finally be doing what I should've done three years ago....doing 150 miles on my bike in three days. This fits in really well with my Couch to 5K program that I am doing....which means next summer whilst I am traveling around on my two months off of work....I will also be traveling with my running shoes and maybe even my bike! And hopefully that traveling finds me a few pounds lighter, leaner, and meaner than now!
*You thought I forgot about the hell story, huh? Not so! As I was getting a tour of one of the res halls from one of the RD's today, she showed me the area of her hall that is known as hell because it is a really weird multi-case stairway that leads to nowhere but the underside of the building...and a forest. So, I jokingly come back upstairs and told my supervisor "I found HELL, and it's in Machias, Maine!"
Whew, so it's been a busy couple of days, eh?
Who knows....I had a dream the other night that I wrote a book about my first year living in Maine and it was pretty popular :-)
So, big news first. I made it on the UMM webpage today...which is both really neat and really humbling at the same time. I've never been the subject of a true "press release" although back in my fishing career days, I spent a good deal of time being in the local papers and such. This goes on the website, it goes in both of the local newspapers, and might even get picked up by the Bangor Daily News (because there is a new admission director starting as well!). WOW. Anonymity in Machias is gone! But, its really different now....now that I am in the paper because of a career I've established for myself, and a community I've joined.
Speaking of the community I joined, I've also started attending the Center (Centre) Street Congregational Church here in town, which is the local United Church of Christ, which I was kinda sorted raised in. It is a really nice church, and has a FANTASTIC history. Like the kind of history that....drum roll please.....has one of the last surviving bells that Paul Revere made. Pretty fantastic if you ask me. It is 39" across in diameter, and I would imagine gives a good ring. This coming weekend is Blueberry Festival, and the Sunday service (which is said to be the largest church service in Machias all year for any church...larger than the holidays) begins with ringing of the bell. I can't wait. As bad as this sounds (I might already be going to hell, so...) I might try to record it on my phone so you all can hear how awesome I am sure it is going to sound.
Anyway, so I've gotten involved in the church. I am not doing it as a "I found God and he's in Machias, Maine" (although there is a funny story about hell I will tell in a minute*...) thing, but rather as a way to meet some people outside of work and get a community established for myself so I can get involved in the town activities. The nice thing is that there are already a bunch of people that go to this church that I know...including my supervisor! Who's husband is on the board! There's also a number of folks from my CSA (community supported agriculture) group that go there, as well as a good amount of university folk. There isn't a Unitarian Universalist in town (nearest one is in Eastport, which is about 45min away), so I think thus church really serves itself as the "university type liberal church"...which is great by me. Generally speaking, the UCC tends to be right below the UU folks in terms of "wild, leftist liberal propaganda" which is right up my philosophical agenda alley, so sign me up! Seriously, though, it is a nice time. Right away both weeks folks come up to introduce themselves to me, I've spent time in the coffee fellowship afterwards (they serve shade-grown, fair-trade coffee which is really great that they are environmentally conscientious), and its been noted by several folks that they are really open to LGBT community members being involved.
Now involvement means a lot of things to a lot of different people, but I figured this coming weekend is Blueberry Fest so I ought to take that opportunity to get involved and meet some folks. So what better to do that volunteer to drive one of the shuttle vans around town bringing folks to and from the parking sight (the grocery store, on one end of town) to the downtown where all the action is! Right now my plans are to attend the BBQ, I have my ticket for the musical, I am going to see some folk art that someone from the church wants me to check out...and of course there is the pie eating contest, the bake off, and the parade!!! And last but certainly not least...the Blackfly Ball! There is also the town precense of the Beehive Collective. These folks have gotten a variety of explanations to me by a variety of different folks around town....ranging from hundreds of hippie people descended on Machias and partying and protesting all over town all weekend to a group of mosaic art activists. So, we shall see!
Now, I don't want you all to get too excited about B fest....I will post more this weekend after I recover from my blueberry overdose (is there such a thing? NEVER!).
In other news, I have a few words and phrases to update you about from the downeast coast of Maine:
1) "Jesum": My friends over at Urban Dictionary tell me that this is a New England nice way of saying "Jesus!". Which is followed or interchanged with...
2) 'Jesum Crow": You guessed it....Jesus Christ. The funny thing is that in old German, Jesus is Jesum....
3) Downcoast. This is a word that is used by folks around here to basically mean going anywhere south or west of here. Because Machias/Downeast Maine is SO far out east from the rest of the state (and nation, to be honest) there isn't anything really as "north" and "south" as the rest of us know...it is more east and west...but it is confusing because you are going up and down. So, the downeasters say "downcoast". Which basically means going to civilization.
4) This is a classic phrase I heard the other day at work. Perhaps not a downeaster phrase, but fantastic nonetheless. "Talk a cat off of a fish truck." Yeah, that's right.
In other news, I have also gotten involved in a few longer term groups that I am really excited about: 1) An NFL pool at the university for faculty and staff! There's even a trophy that goes with it. So, I will need to get reading up on my teams and get playing. Stephanie, perhaps this is finally the time that I enter that fantasy football competition. 2) A team that is getting put together to ride the MS 150 next July/August....so in less than one year I will finally be doing what I should've done three years ago....doing 150 miles on my bike in three days. This fits in really well with my Couch to 5K program that I am doing....which means next summer whilst I am traveling around on my two months off of work....I will also be traveling with my running shoes and maybe even my bike! And hopefully that traveling finds me a few pounds lighter, leaner, and meaner than now!
*You thought I forgot about the hell story, huh? Not so! As I was getting a tour of one of the res halls from one of the RD's today, she showed me the area of her hall that is known as hell because it is a really weird multi-case stairway that leads to nowhere but the underside of the building...and a forest. So, I jokingly come back upstairs and told my supervisor "I found HELL, and it's in Machias, Maine!"
Whew, so it's been a busy couple of days, eh?
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
On the brink of true exhaustion
Well, the job has begun, and I feel like I could sleep pretty much all hours that I am not at work. Whew! There are a lot of responsibility areas that will fall under my new role (which is new...the previous person did student activities/clubs and I will be doing that plus res life, judicial affairs, greek life, orientation, etc) which is really exciting because I truly get to become a jack-of-all-trades. I've always had pretty specialized positions at larger institutions, so having the chance to be at a small (yet still public) institution allows me to throw on lots of hats and learn a lot of new skills.
That's the scary part. Although I have a lot of generalist experience a lot of the areas, I am not an "expert" in any of them...ok maybe I am pretty good with residence life. But, I think the thing about it that I do recognize is that I am a good generalist, and I do enjoy learning, and I am someone who can easily weave together various strings of ideas into making a fabric that works for a direction the university wants to head in (thinks of previous job and how I always ended up being the "theme" person). I am SUPER excited about the vision, direction, leadership part....I am a little wary about my complete lack of knowledge about all things audio/visual for things like bands and such. Hmm. Learning curve is looking about as steep as the hill I have to climb every morning walking to work...
Anyway, things have been going really well so far. I'm doing a lot of cleaning, clearing, organizing in my office...which is great because I get my hands on everything in the office, get to read it all, and so I am organizing at the same time learning. And I LOVE to learn new things. The only issue is that I am learning SO MUCH that I am so totally exhausted....physically and mentally. I just have crashed both days after work so far this week, and tonight appears to be another one. Perhaps one week (and weekend) in I will have a better idea of how I can breathe through all of this.
One of the great things that happened this week was that I got a basket of local food items baked at Parlin's bakery here in town. A loaf of fresh bred, locally made mustard and jams, cookies, etc. And one lovely Maine item, the class whoopie pie. I had never heard of such a thing, but got one in my package, so I partook and had some. Its basically like cake...in the form of a cookie. Legend/history has it that the Penn. Amish used to make them and place them in their husbands lunch pails, and when the men would open them they would be so excited that they would shout "whoopee!". I personally like Sue's idea: You eat one before or after you make whoopee. HA.
In other news, my friend Sue came up to Machias for a meeting for her work on Monday, so we were able to pick up my weekly vegetable share from my CSA (which she had been to visit earlier in the day) as well as go out to dinner at Helen's Restaurant in town. I convinced Sue to have her first true boiled Lobster dinner ($13 I might add).
This is possibly one of the funniest pictures I have ever taken.
Of course, it wouldn't be a dinner with Mickey and sea creatures unless I played with the food.
Also in my life this week was my attending a canning workshop put on by the University of Maine Extension in a town next door to Machias, which is Whitneyville. It was right after work last night, in one of the annex buildings to a beautiful old church. It was such a great night! It was me and about a dozen other people (one guy)...and I was by far the youngest. But, my banker from in town was there too so that was cool. But it was fun to be around a bunch of older ladies who talked about canning in the old days, and how they need to learn how to can again with the newer, safer methods. So, we all sat around and learned a bunch about hot water bath canning and pressure canning. And we made dilly beans. I had never heard of dilly beans before (again, something very popular in New Enngland and not the midwest) but we got to all work on the cutting and prepping together, and we each got a jar to take home with us that should be ready in 2-3 weeks. Very cool! I was also able to pick up Ball jar company's book (the newest version) for $8! So, I am going to read and try to learn a lot...and hopefully this hugely delayed growing season here in Maine will produce sometime soon and I can can somethings for the wintertime (and freeze things!). It was a good time, and one of the women who was running it is married to one of the faculty members I met yesterday and worked with today, and she invited me to stop over to their house, which is on my running route! Neat!
So, it's been a full week so far and its on Wednesday. Whew.
That's the scary part. Although I have a lot of generalist experience a lot of the areas, I am not an "expert" in any of them...ok maybe I am pretty good with residence life. But, I think the thing about it that I do recognize is that I am a good generalist, and I do enjoy learning, and I am someone who can easily weave together various strings of ideas into making a fabric that works for a direction the university wants to head in (thinks of previous job and how I always ended up being the "theme" person). I am SUPER excited about the vision, direction, leadership part....I am a little wary about my complete lack of knowledge about all things audio/visual for things like bands and such. Hmm. Learning curve is looking about as steep as the hill I have to climb every morning walking to work...
Anyway, things have been going really well so far. I'm doing a lot of cleaning, clearing, organizing in my office...which is great because I get my hands on everything in the office, get to read it all, and so I am organizing at the same time learning. And I LOVE to learn new things. The only issue is that I am learning SO MUCH that I am so totally exhausted....physically and mentally. I just have crashed both days after work so far this week, and tonight appears to be another one. Perhaps one week (and weekend) in I will have a better idea of how I can breathe through all of this.
One of the great things that happened this week was that I got a basket of local food items baked at Parlin's bakery here in town. A loaf of fresh bred, locally made mustard and jams, cookies, etc. And one lovely Maine item, the class whoopie pie. I had never heard of such a thing, but got one in my package, so I partook and had some. Its basically like cake...in the form of a cookie. Legend/history has it that the Penn. Amish used to make them and place them in their husbands lunch pails, and when the men would open them they would be so excited that they would shout "whoopee!". I personally like Sue's idea: You eat one before or after you make whoopee. HA.
In other news, my friend Sue came up to Machias for a meeting for her work on Monday, so we were able to pick up my weekly vegetable share from my CSA (which she had been to visit earlier in the day) as well as go out to dinner at Helen's Restaurant in town. I convinced Sue to have her first true boiled Lobster dinner ($13 I might add).
This is possibly one of the funniest pictures I have ever taken.
Of course, it wouldn't be a dinner with Mickey and sea creatures unless I played with the food.
Also in my life this week was my attending a canning workshop put on by the University of Maine Extension in a town next door to Machias, which is Whitneyville. It was right after work last night, in one of the annex buildings to a beautiful old church. It was such a great night! It was me and about a dozen other people (one guy)...and I was by far the youngest. But, my banker from in town was there too so that was cool. But it was fun to be around a bunch of older ladies who talked about canning in the old days, and how they need to learn how to can again with the newer, safer methods. So, we all sat around and learned a bunch about hot water bath canning and pressure canning. And we made dilly beans. I had never heard of dilly beans before (again, something very popular in New Enngland and not the midwest) but we got to all work on the cutting and prepping together, and we each got a jar to take home with us that should be ready in 2-3 weeks. Very cool! I was also able to pick up Ball jar company's book (the newest version) for $8! So, I am going to read and try to learn a lot...and hopefully this hugely delayed growing season here in Maine will produce sometime soon and I can can somethings for the wintertime (and freeze things!). It was a good time, and one of the women who was running it is married to one of the faculty members I met yesterday and worked with today, and she invited me to stop over to their house, which is on my running route! Neat!
So, it's been a full week so far and its on Wednesday. Whew.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
The countdown begins!
So, just a short post tonight...
Tomorrow is the BIG DAY! In eleven hours I get to start my new job, which officially starts my new foray into life in Maine! I am super excited to be starting my job, which is a blend of several student affairs areas: student activities, residence life, judicial affairs, campus radio, greek afairs, student senate, etc. Yep, that's all going to be part of my job! Plus, this is my first time I get to supervise full-time professionals and student staff, so this is very exciting!
With the excitement, comes the nerves and worries, of course. But, I've spent the day preparing as much as I can with the information my supervisor provided me to prep me, and tomorrow morning at 8am I am out of the gate running!
(Speaking of running, I've taken that up too....doing the Cool Running & Robert Ullerey Couch to 5K program....and I almost have been able to complete the first week series of intervals without completely dying, which is a HUGE success for fatass who only ever runs when getting chased! YAY for changing my physical habits and making a new me out of this body!)
Anyway, tonight is a lot like that night before your first day of school as a kid. My closed are ironed and laid out (hahaha, I finally have a job that I have to look nice....so folks that know my style and sizes, please feel free contribute towards changing my wardrobe and keeping me cool looking and send care packages), my lunch is packed (shoot, I need one of those insulated lunch bag things), I have an "office only" nalgene water bottle and coffee mug all set, my work bag is packed with my necessary items, my iPhone and earbuds are charged and ready to go (even with a morning motivational podcast that takes 12 minutes...which should be just about how long it takes me to walk to work!). I even got a new thing of deoderant so I don't stink (just for you, dad). My leather portolio pad has a fresh pad of paper and pens, and a picture of my girlfriend and I so that I can keep my spirits high in my nervousness.
Even Betty the Cat seems to sense something odd is up tonight...she keeps pacing around when I am moving around the apartment getting ready. I hope she doesn't get lonely tomorrow when I am gone all day....
Wish me luck! Let's hope my klutzy self doesn't trip walking to work or do/say something stupid. :-)
Tomorrow is the BIG DAY! In eleven hours I get to start my new job, which officially starts my new foray into life in Maine! I am super excited to be starting my job, which is a blend of several student affairs areas: student activities, residence life, judicial affairs, campus radio, greek afairs, student senate, etc. Yep, that's all going to be part of my job! Plus, this is my first time I get to supervise full-time professionals and student staff, so this is very exciting!
With the excitement, comes the nerves and worries, of course. But, I've spent the day preparing as much as I can with the information my supervisor provided me to prep me, and tomorrow morning at 8am I am out of the gate running!
(Speaking of running, I've taken that up too....doing the Cool Running & Robert Ullerey Couch to 5K program....and I almost have been able to complete the first week series of intervals without completely dying, which is a HUGE success for fatass who only ever runs when getting chased! YAY for changing my physical habits and making a new me out of this body!)
Anyway, tonight is a lot like that night before your first day of school as a kid. My closed are ironed and laid out (hahaha, I finally have a job that I have to look nice....so folks that know my style and sizes, please feel free contribute towards changing my wardrobe and keeping me cool looking and send care packages), my lunch is packed (shoot, I need one of those insulated lunch bag things), I have an "office only" nalgene water bottle and coffee mug all set, my work bag is packed with my necessary items, my iPhone and earbuds are charged and ready to go (even with a morning motivational podcast that takes 12 minutes...which should be just about how long it takes me to walk to work!). I even got a new thing of deoderant so I don't stink (just for you, dad). My leather portolio pad has a fresh pad of paper and pens, and a picture of my girlfriend and I so that I can keep my spirits high in my nervousness.
Even Betty the Cat seems to sense something odd is up tonight...she keeps pacing around when I am moving around the apartment getting ready. I hope she doesn't get lonely tomorrow when I am gone all day....
Wish me luck! Let's hope my klutzy self doesn't trip walking to work or do/say something stupid. :-)
Friday, July 31, 2009
last week of freedom?!?
It's been a few days, so I thought I'd give you all an update on the fun exciting things going on. Well, today was my last official work day of not working....I START MY NEW JOB ON MONDAY!!! I am so stoked to be working finally, although I have a lot of anxiety about how its going to go. But, I am super excited too!!
Here's a rundown of things I've been up to in my "last week of freedom":
1) Yogurt making! Attempt number two yielded great results.
Things I learned from this...my previous attempt to make yogurt in my crockpot is bunk. I was following this recipe but this time I got myself an inexpensive kitchen thermometer from the hardware store. What I found was that my crockpot was getting the milk barely over 120 degrees, and it needs to be heated to 185. So, I scratched that plan and threw it on the stove. And WOW how cool. When you heat milk, it pretty much just looks like milk the whole time...until it gets to 185....it starts frothing and all sorts of cool things. This is when you kill the heat, let the milk cool down to 110 and then add your starter (I used this sweet yogurt starter for this batch) and then put it in thermos or anything that is insulated overnight on your countertop. And voila! I had yogurt in the morning. I poured it all into separate ball jars (sterilized of course) and a few hours later in the fridge I had tasty yogurt. Homemade yogurt comes out a tad "runnier" than store bought....this is because homemade still has the whey in it (that is good for you....hence things like whey proteins and such) and commercial yogurts add all sorts of weird and awful things (like high fructose corn syrup and strange fruit) in it. You just mix it up and you're good to go. Plus, you can add whatever fresh fruit, extract (vanilla!), or granola you want. OR, it goes really well with your [Me] & Goji custom granola your bestie bought for you! It is SO good...but I realized I have insufficient containers for this process, so I need to get a larger thermos type contraption or just get a Yougurtherm.
2) Freezer Jam making! Friend Sue and I didn't do any canning last week as we said we were going to, but we did pick up some fresh strawberries. So, in lieu of getting all crazy with canning, I talked to my mom and got some advice from her, and went the route of making strawberry freezer jam. Mom: great suggestion, it is delicious! (by the way, I did end up using Splenda and it tastes great and firmed up well). Here is the progress pics of that adventure!
(you'll notice this last picture has the jam posing by the other most important items in my kitchen...the french press for 2-cup coffee making and my teapot which gets use multiple times a day....thanks mom!!)
So, everyone should make freezer jam! You can get these awesome little Ball plastic freezer jars in your grocery or online as can you get the freezer jam pectin.
The end product: I spent $6 of the jars/pectin and $5.50 (each, I bought one) a quart of strawberries and got 40 ounces of homemade jam. They can spend up to a year in the freezer and several weeks in your fridge. Lots of jam, locally grown, and now I am supplied until next year!
3) Identity found!!! My previous post that included pictures of mushrooms and other wild things got identified! The mushrooms were in fact chanterelles (agreed upon my three live source and one online friend, as well as guides online) and the other plant was Indian Pipe/Ghost Plant. One of my new faculty buddies here ID'ed both of them for me, and might go chanterelle picking with me soon. Yeah, that's right...I found a mushroom that goes for $22/pound in my grocery store!!! (dude, I need a dehydrator...)
4) Project completed! Though I was roughly eight months behind schedule, I finally finished my dad's Christmas 2008 present. A golf club sock, in Chicago Bears colors. I plan on someday making him a full set of these, since you can build in the stripes for the number of the club you are using! Moral of this story...get the next one on the needles to get it done for Christmas 2009!
I am now onto working on/finishing/working on more mom's delayed Christmas present, which is a much larger undertaking. I am hopeful that I can get it done for Christmas '09. The best part about these two projects, as well as the hats I made for my sister and brother in law is that they have elements and styles to them that require me to learn new stitches and ways of knitting....so its never a dull moment with my knitting (not that knitting is ever dull, though, its so much fun!!!). I really like that I am able to learn a lot about a craft that I've been watching my mom do all of my life. I can only hope I get to be as awesome of a knitter as her someday. In the meantime, I did manage to squeak out a coffee cup cozy for Marissa to keep her tea warm in the mornings and stop burning her hands. I think she likes it. She's already hinted at wanting something else with the yarn I made it in!
5) I think I had previously told you all that I have taken up the Couch to 5K podcast series and am learning how to run these days. Here are my sweet shoes I got based on Stephanie's diehard running advice:
Anyway, this program is pretty cool because it has you work slowly (over nine weeks) to doing a 5K (3 miles). The coolest part is the podcast that this guy made....he was turning 40 and decided he wanted to do a 5K, so he took his DJ skills and made a great podcast from it. I run on Mondays-Wednesdays-Saturdays. Pretty cool, eh? Well, I feel like I am going to die, and I can't finish the tiny intervals he has setup so far, but at least I am off my butt and exercising right? The best part about all of this? I fell down the stairs the other day! I was stupid and kept my shoes on when I walked into my apartment, and then went to go drop something off my my door and my wet running shoes completely gave out and I tumbled butt first down 5 stairs. Needless to say, I have a beautiful array of pinks, purples, yellows, and blues on my kidneys, buttcheeks, and a great lump on my head too. I hope there is more positive running karma in my future!
Today I finally got a DeLorme Maine atlas book, which will keep me all mapped out with the nationwide atlas Marissa got me as a "congrats!" gift a while back. I have been asking people where to go bass fishing around here, and were to find freshwater vs. saltwater, and everyone kept telling me to get the state atlas and go from there. So, I found one at the local True Value hardware store, went online and got my fishing license, scoped out some spots on the map, picked up a couple rods and some tackle from the storage unit and out I went! I found one good spot on a lake, threw my lure a couple of times, and caught a VERY small pickerel. He got off the hook before I could land him, which is just fine with me cuz I don't really like toothy fish. But, hey, the cool thing was that I found a TON of wild raspberry bushes right in this area, and its right by a public boat launch.
Then of course my fun was cut short by...you guessed it....rain!
OOh, I also got my birth certificate and my passport photo back in the mail today, so hopefully that means my passport card is soon to arrive too. In the meantime, check out this super cute passport photo of mine!
That smile says "bring on New Brunswick" all over it!
Oh, and just in case you missed Betty the Cat, here's she is reading the paper:
I think this is where she wishes she was a Hemingway cat and had thumbs to turn the pages.
Well more updates to come in a couple of days....probably after my first day of work on Monday!!!! Any words of encouragement and excitement welcome!
Here's a rundown of things I've been up to in my "last week of freedom":
1) Yogurt making! Attempt number two yielded great results.
Things I learned from this...my previous attempt to make yogurt in my crockpot is bunk. I was following this recipe but this time I got myself an inexpensive kitchen thermometer from the hardware store. What I found was that my crockpot was getting the milk barely over 120 degrees, and it needs to be heated to 185. So, I scratched that plan and threw it on the stove. And WOW how cool. When you heat milk, it pretty much just looks like milk the whole time...until it gets to 185....it starts frothing and all sorts of cool things. This is when you kill the heat, let the milk cool down to 110 and then add your starter (I used this sweet yogurt starter for this batch) and then put it in thermos or anything that is insulated overnight on your countertop. And voila! I had yogurt in the morning. I poured it all into separate ball jars (sterilized of course) and a few hours later in the fridge I had tasty yogurt. Homemade yogurt comes out a tad "runnier" than store bought....this is because homemade still has the whey in it (that is good for you....hence things like whey proteins and such) and commercial yogurts add all sorts of weird and awful things (like high fructose corn syrup and strange fruit) in it. You just mix it up and you're good to go. Plus, you can add whatever fresh fruit, extract (vanilla!), or granola you want. OR, it goes really well with your [Me] & Goji custom granola your bestie bought for you! It is SO good...but I realized I have insufficient containers for this process, so I need to get a larger thermos type contraption or just get a Yougurtherm.
2) Freezer Jam making! Friend Sue and I didn't do any canning last week as we said we were going to, but we did pick up some fresh strawberries. So, in lieu of getting all crazy with canning, I talked to my mom and got some advice from her, and went the route of making strawberry freezer jam. Mom: great suggestion, it is delicious! (by the way, I did end up using Splenda and it tastes great and firmed up well). Here is the progress pics of that adventure!
(you'll notice this last picture has the jam posing by the other most important items in my kitchen...the french press for 2-cup coffee making and my teapot which gets use multiple times a day....thanks mom!!)
So, everyone should make freezer jam! You can get these awesome little Ball plastic freezer jars in your grocery or online as can you get the freezer jam pectin.
The end product: I spent $6 of the jars/pectin and $5.50 (each, I bought one) a quart of strawberries and got 40 ounces of homemade jam. They can spend up to a year in the freezer and several weeks in your fridge. Lots of jam, locally grown, and now I am supplied until next year!
3) Identity found!!! My previous post that included pictures of mushrooms and other wild things got identified! The mushrooms were in fact chanterelles (agreed upon my three live source and one online friend, as well as guides online) and the other plant was Indian Pipe/Ghost Plant. One of my new faculty buddies here ID'ed both of them for me, and might go chanterelle picking with me soon. Yeah, that's right...I found a mushroom that goes for $22/pound in my grocery store!!! (dude, I need a dehydrator...)
4) Project completed! Though I was roughly eight months behind schedule, I finally finished my dad's Christmas 2008 present. A golf club sock, in Chicago Bears colors. I plan on someday making him a full set of these, since you can build in the stripes for the number of the club you are using! Moral of this story...get the next one on the needles to get it done for Christmas 2009!
I am now onto working on/finishing/working on more mom's delayed Christmas present, which is a much larger undertaking. I am hopeful that I can get it done for Christmas '09. The best part about these two projects, as well as the hats I made for my sister and brother in law is that they have elements and styles to them that require me to learn new stitches and ways of knitting....so its never a dull moment with my knitting (not that knitting is ever dull, though, its so much fun!!!). I really like that I am able to learn a lot about a craft that I've been watching my mom do all of my life. I can only hope I get to be as awesome of a knitter as her someday. In the meantime, I did manage to squeak out a coffee cup cozy for Marissa to keep her tea warm in the mornings and stop burning her hands. I think she likes it. She's already hinted at wanting something else with the yarn I made it in!
5) I think I had previously told you all that I have taken up the Couch to 5K podcast series and am learning how to run these days. Here are my sweet shoes I got based on Stephanie's diehard running advice:
Anyway, this program is pretty cool because it has you work slowly (over nine weeks) to doing a 5K (3 miles). The coolest part is the podcast that this guy made....he was turning 40 and decided he wanted to do a 5K, so he took his DJ skills and made a great podcast from it. I run on Mondays-Wednesdays-Saturdays. Pretty cool, eh? Well, I feel like I am going to die, and I can't finish the tiny intervals he has setup so far, but at least I am off my butt and exercising right? The best part about all of this? I fell down the stairs the other day! I was stupid and kept my shoes on when I walked into my apartment, and then went to go drop something off my my door and my wet running shoes completely gave out and I tumbled butt first down 5 stairs. Needless to say, I have a beautiful array of pinks, purples, yellows, and blues on my kidneys, buttcheeks, and a great lump on my head too. I hope there is more positive running karma in my future!
Today I finally got a DeLorme Maine atlas book, which will keep me all mapped out with the nationwide atlas Marissa got me as a "congrats!" gift a while back. I have been asking people where to go bass fishing around here, and were to find freshwater vs. saltwater, and everyone kept telling me to get the state atlas and go from there. So, I found one at the local True Value hardware store, went online and got my fishing license, scoped out some spots on the map, picked up a couple rods and some tackle from the storage unit and out I went! I found one good spot on a lake, threw my lure a couple of times, and caught a VERY small pickerel. He got off the hook before I could land him, which is just fine with me cuz I don't really like toothy fish. But, hey, the cool thing was that I found a TON of wild raspberry bushes right in this area, and its right by a public boat launch.
Then of course my fun was cut short by...you guessed it....rain!OOh, I also got my birth certificate and my passport photo back in the mail today, so hopefully that means my passport card is soon to arrive too. In the meantime, check out this super cute passport photo of mine!
That smile says "bring on New Brunswick" all over it!Oh, and just in case you missed Betty the Cat, here's she is reading the paper:
I think this is where she wishes she was a Hemingway cat and had thumbs to turn the pages.
Well more updates to come in a couple of days....probably after my first day of work on Monday!!!! Any words of encouragement and excitement welcome!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
A wonderful surprise in Lubec
I was up in Lubec tonight for Wags-n-Wool knitting night (they like to call it wool-n-w(h)ine )...and something miraculous happened! Well, something besides making awesome progress on my current knitting project.
I got out of my car, which was parked at the base (end?) of the Canadian/American dock (I love it....American flag on one side, Canandian flag on the other...we DO get along) and I looked out onto the water and saw this! (sorry, there is no zoom on my phone...)
In other news, I learned tonight that Wags-n-Wool will actually be closing for the winter in late November. Turns out they original plans to install a heating system in the store got set back so they won't have heat...AKA won't have an open store. So, somewhere late October to somewhere late April I will be without a Local Yarn Shop. Sad news :-( Good news is that Dee and Karen (the owners) promise to keep in touch and will sell from their homes. This is the second conversation in a couple days that I have heard from people starting to make preparations and plans for closing down for the winter in a couple months. Makes me really wonder what life will be like business-wise in the wintertime.
I also stopped and had dinner (I only eat dinner out once a week now, and breakfast once a week! The rest of the time I am cooking for myself!!) at Uncle Kippy's again...and actually was told I looked lonely at dinner tonight, which was funny because I was making a few lists in my little notebook. It is important to note, though, that this came from the late teenage/early 20-something hostess who is "forced to live in Trescott (next to Lubec) with my mom and her partner". The even funnier part was that she asked where my friend was (referring to Stephanie) and how my new job at UMM was going. SO, we just got to talking, and then she decided to bring her dinner over (the restaurant closed) over and eat with me.
Ah, small towns! I love it! Did I mention I love seals, too? They are SO HUGE!!! And evidently just before I got out there, there was a WHALE out there!!!!
I got out of my car, which was parked at the base (end?) of the Canadian/American dock (I love it....American flag on one side, Canandian flag on the other...we DO get along) and I looked out onto the water and saw this! (sorry, there is no zoom on my phone...)
In other news, I learned tonight that Wags-n-Wool will actually be closing for the winter in late November. Turns out they original plans to install a heating system in the store got set back so they won't have heat...AKA won't have an open store. So, somewhere late October to somewhere late April I will be without a Local Yarn Shop. Sad news :-( Good news is that Dee and Karen (the owners) promise to keep in touch and will sell from their homes. This is the second conversation in a couple days that I have heard from people starting to make preparations and plans for closing down for the winter in a couple months. Makes me really wonder what life will be like business-wise in the wintertime.
I also stopped and had dinner (I only eat dinner out once a week now, and breakfast once a week! The rest of the time I am cooking for myself!!) at Uncle Kippy's again...and actually was told I looked lonely at dinner tonight, which was funny because I was making a few lists in my little notebook. It is important to note, though, that this came from the late teenage/early 20-something hostess who is "forced to live in Trescott (next to Lubec) with my mom and her partner". The even funnier part was that she asked where my friend was (referring to Stephanie) and how my new job at UMM was going. SO, we just got to talking, and then she decided to bring her dinner over (the restaurant closed) over and eat with me.
Ah, small towns! I love it! Did I mention I love seals, too? They are SO HUGE!!! And evidently just before I got out there, there was a WHALE out there!!!!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
READ ALL ABOUT IT!!! Midwestern transplant has many expeditions in a weekend!
So, it's been several days since I last wrote, and I have TONS of pictures for you all.
SO, I will *try* to keep the chatter to a minimum.
First of all, my baking experiments are going at a lovely pace. On Friday, I make two more of the fridge boules. One for me, and one for my friend Sue I was visiting on Saturday! Incidentally, I also busted out a couple of loaves of the Fitch Family Banana Bread to serve as a "I've housewarmed my own place, but you didn't" gift to my neighbors. A college student (assuming, she wasn't home) lives in the studio downstairs, and the guitar professor guy and his partner/wife/girlfriend are moving out next week. Bummer.
Next was Saturday, where I went down to visit with my friend Sue. Sue and I taught together at ISU last fall. In a wild coincidence, Sue also moved to Maine at the same time as I. She lives down in Bar Harbor, and works for Healthy Acadia as their farm to school coordinator. Very cool! Our original intention was for Sue to teach me a thing or two about canning, but we got siderailed by 1) there not really being much going on in the berry arena for less than $6/quart and 2) we got excited about cooking seafood at home! Needless to say, one of the roadside stands we stopped at had this collection. It smelled like rotting death. Despite Sue's suggestion that I should buy a rack to decorate my cabinesque apartment, I decided to save my cash for another day.
We then went into Bar Harbor (BH) and found a lovely roadside house selling mussels and crabs. Mussels are what we really wanted since last time I came down we went to a local restaurant and had the most tasty (and simple) steamed mussels in beer and garlic. Yum. So, we bought two pounds of fresh, live mussels ($3 a pound...) and then we saw a sign for stone crabs for $2 each. So, we decided to buy a stone crab too (well, Sue bought all of this!) On top of that she had some beets/beet greens that she had picked up that morning from Mandala Farm....so we got it all a-steamin' and a-boilin'...
Of course, before we did that we had to 1) giggle a lot 2) gloat about our $8 seafood dinner for two and 3) take pictures with the crab.
So, in between Sue telling the crab she was sorry a few times, and us constantly checking the cookbooks (yes, multiple) to make sure we were cooking it right, we had a good chuckle about how hilarious we must seem to an outsider if we were being watched right now. I mean, two Midwestern kids transplanted to one of the arguably richest sea beds in the country...and we were so concerned about not cooking things right (which you should be!). It was just hilarious. I know my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much!
But, presto chango, about 12 minutes later this is what we had:
And, for any of you parents out there that preach about how you shouldn't play with your food, this is for you:
Needless to say, there are no "in progress" pictures because...well, this dinner was a finger food dinner....and the iPhone deserves better than to have grubby seafood fingers all over it.
This was the remnants of our carnage. The stack of mussels there...Sue was going to pan fry them a little further at another time because we thought they weren't quite done enough for us. The best part is that Sue is going to use the shells from the mussels and crab in her compost, to eventually become fertilizer. This is very common here in New England, and is sometimes more effective than regular fertilizers...and certainly more sustainable!
We then decided to go walk off our feast some, and ended up at the bar in Bar Harbor. The cool thing was that we got there just when the tide was starting to go out. And over the....45 minutes we were there, it went just about all the way out. So, what did Sue and I decide to do? Well, roll up out pants, get our sandals went, and wade out into the receding tide of course! We decided to make this funny little video to help show you a few things about the Bar. First...it really does go from the main island to a mini island...it is absolutely AWESOME to watch the tide go out as fast as it does. Literally, you just walk out, meander around, check out the shells and such, and then you can move forward another 10 feet. But, beware, it is COLD cold water (we guessed it to be somewhere between 50-55 degrees. Makes your ankles kinda numb when you first walk out in it.
But, here's some of the cool things we observed out there:
1) We dug up some mussels, just like the ones we had just eaten...so now Sue knows were she can go get them on her own!
2) There are lots of beautiful little snails everywhere
3) The barnacles breathing as the tide goes out is such an awesome (wicked?) sound...its like thousands of little bubbles talking. Or Rice Krispies. Kinda sounds like Rice Krispies and how happy they get when you put milk in them.
4) The seagulls are enormous, and awesome hunters of little crabs. And not afraid to dive bomb to get one close to you.
5) Some people...are idiots. And can't just walk out on the bar. They prefer to stay in their cars, with their windows rolled up, and drive out on it just to say they did. Seriously people, you can only really understand and GET this place if you are walking it.
6) Salt water really really dries your hands out. And I ran my hands through my hair a few times...and was all snagglepuss hair later that night. However, it is very cleansing and awareness-orienting to any wounds you might have!!
7) Despite your urges (and boy did we have them, the water is SO clear) to just jump into the water....its adviseable not to unless you have a towel and dry clothes nearby. Next time! Polar dip!
8) The smell is amazing. I wish I could capture that and put that on the blog.
Anyway, so then Sue and I walked through town and went to her favorite ice cream place, Mount Desert Island Ice Cream. Seriously. Wow. Homemade, small batch ice cream. I had a two scoop cone of blackstrap banana (bananas soaked in blackstrap molasses) and indian pudding (again, molasses and graham crackers or something....desparately needs a new name...Sue and I though India(n)...no, they meant Native American...). Sue had a two scoop cone of Salt Caramal and Carmelized Red Pear. Ok, so maybe it is high brow ice cream (um, hello, we ARE in Bar Harbor here...) but it was AWESOME.
And then I got back on the road for the 70 mile trip to Machias. Good news, though, is that Sue is coming to Machias next Monday (my first day of work!!) for a meeting, so I am going to show her around town and such! YAY! We did decide next time we would can some jams.
Today was an adventure, too! It was Open Farm Day in the state of Maine...where 100 participating farms across the state have open houses. So, I went up to Tide Mill Organic Farm (where my CSA comes from) for their open house. It was actually kind of disappointing, but I am glad I got to see the actual fields and such. I got to pet a baby cow (don't worry Stephanie, it is a milking cow)
When I was there, I got to meet some hot chicks too.
(haha, tricked you).
I also got to see how they pasture their chickens. This is a much more elaborate operation than I ever want to have (I want to have layers and maybe a few meat birds, which require less pasture space), but this was a neat pen on wheels so that they can move each group along each day and they peck/weed/eat grubs. In each one of these pens is about 80 chickens.
Then we got to eat some. With BBQ sauce (even better).
I left the farm then, and headed up to Eastport, Maine. This is where my nephrologist will be (well, either there or Bangor, I haven't decided yet)...which is about 50 miles north of Machias (stay healthy!). I was hungry (that little chicken wing didn't really TIDE me over) so I stopped at the Eastport Chowder House. I had a yummy BLT and a cup of clam chowder. Incidentally, it is important to note that almost 100% of the clam chowders I have had in Maine have the WHOLE clam in there, and are very authentic and tasty. I am not sure I can ever return to cubed clam chunk chowder. The other fun thing about this was that it was warm out, so I sat outside...and I was right next to the ferry landing for the Eastport to Moose Island, NB ferry. I have never seen or heard of a ferry that actually BEACHES itself, so I had to get video of it. What you hear is me talking to an older gentleman there who was equally enamored. I am TOTALLY going on this ferry as soon as I get my passport card in the mail. The other cool thing about the Eastport Chowder House was that there was an older gentleman singing and playing music through my lunch. I am DEFINITELY going back there if they continue to have old man cassette tape karaoke. That is my fave!
After lunch, I walked around Eastport a bit, where I found this interesting group. There seems to be a HUGE veteran population in Eastport, which is real cool. But if you look closely, you will find one being in there that probably is not a veteran. That's right, that lady has a pink cockatoo on her shoulder. Weird.
I never felt alone in Eastport.
I had the Black Sheep and the Border Patrol to keep me company.
After Eastport, I decided to head back towards Machias. I stopped off at Cobscook Bay State Park (which in Native language means boiling waters!). Gorgeous park, and tons of awesome secluded waterfront campsites. I am definitely going to go camping there sometime soon!! I also found a couple of really neat mushrooms that I haven't been able to identify yet (I need a mushrooms, plants, and edible wild foods of Maine field guide to keep in my backpack!)
The park was very beautiful, and I will definitely come back and visit. It's $3 for a day pass, or $30 for a person pass for a year. We'll see. The sights couldn't have been better, but the fog was starting to roll in.
And of course, one last hightlight from the park. To be honest, I was roaming around the park not only to take in the sites and maybe find a place to camp sometime soon, but I was also looking to see if I could find some blueberries. No blueberries, but I did find this!
MOOSE POOP! Don't worry, dad, I didn't step in it. Cool though!!!!
SO, I will *try* to keep the chatter to a minimum.
First of all, my baking experiments are going at a lovely pace. On Friday, I make two more of the fridge boules. One for me, and one for my friend Sue I was visiting on Saturday! Incidentally, I also busted out a couple of loaves of the Fitch Family Banana Bread to serve as a "I've housewarmed my own place, but you didn't" gift to my neighbors. A college student (assuming, she wasn't home) lives in the studio downstairs, and the guitar professor guy and his partner/wife/girlfriend are moving out next week. Bummer.
Next was Saturday, where I went down to visit with my friend Sue. Sue and I taught together at ISU last fall. In a wild coincidence, Sue also moved to Maine at the same time as I. She lives down in Bar Harbor, and works for Healthy Acadia as their farm to school coordinator. Very cool! Our original intention was for Sue to teach me a thing or two about canning, but we got siderailed by 1) there not really being much going on in the berry arena for less than $6/quart and 2) we got excited about cooking seafood at home! Needless to say, one of the roadside stands we stopped at had this collection. It smelled like rotting death. Despite Sue's suggestion that I should buy a rack to decorate my cabinesque apartment, I decided to save my cash for another day.
We then went into Bar Harbor (BH) and found a lovely roadside house selling mussels and crabs. Mussels are what we really wanted since last time I came down we went to a local restaurant and had the most tasty (and simple) steamed mussels in beer and garlic. Yum. So, we bought two pounds of fresh, live mussels ($3 a pound...) and then we saw a sign for stone crabs for $2 each. So, we decided to buy a stone crab too (well, Sue bought all of this!) On top of that she had some beets/beet greens that she had picked up that morning from Mandala Farm....so we got it all a-steamin' and a-boilin'...
Of course, before we did that we had to 1) giggle a lot 2) gloat about our $8 seafood dinner for two and 3) take pictures with the crab.
So, in between Sue telling the crab she was sorry a few times, and us constantly checking the cookbooks (yes, multiple) to make sure we were cooking it right, we had a good chuckle about how hilarious we must seem to an outsider if we were being watched right now. I mean, two Midwestern kids transplanted to one of the arguably richest sea beds in the country...and we were so concerned about not cooking things right (which you should be!). It was just hilarious. I know my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much!
But, presto chango, about 12 minutes later this is what we had:
And, for any of you parents out there that preach about how you shouldn't play with your food, this is for you:
Needless to say, there are no "in progress" pictures because...well, this dinner was a finger food dinner....and the iPhone deserves better than to have grubby seafood fingers all over it.
This was the remnants of our carnage. The stack of mussels there...Sue was going to pan fry them a little further at another time because we thought they weren't quite done enough for us. The best part is that Sue is going to use the shells from the mussels and crab in her compost, to eventually become fertilizer. This is very common here in New England, and is sometimes more effective than regular fertilizers...and certainly more sustainable!
We then decided to go walk off our feast some, and ended up at the bar in Bar Harbor. The cool thing was that we got there just when the tide was starting to go out. And over the....45 minutes we were there, it went just about all the way out. So, what did Sue and I decide to do? Well, roll up out pants, get our sandals went, and wade out into the receding tide of course! We decided to make this funny little video to help show you a few things about the Bar. First...it really does go from the main island to a mini island...it is absolutely AWESOME to watch the tide go out as fast as it does. Literally, you just walk out, meander around, check out the shells and such, and then you can move forward another 10 feet. But, beware, it is COLD cold water (we guessed it to be somewhere between 50-55 degrees. Makes your ankles kinda numb when you first walk out in it.
But, here's some of the cool things we observed out there:
1) We dug up some mussels, just like the ones we had just eaten...so now Sue knows were she can go get them on her own!
2) There are lots of beautiful little snails everywhere
3) The barnacles breathing as the tide goes out is such an awesome (wicked?) sound...its like thousands of little bubbles talking. Or Rice Krispies. Kinda sounds like Rice Krispies and how happy they get when you put milk in them.
4) The seagulls are enormous, and awesome hunters of little crabs. And not afraid to dive bomb to get one close to you.
5) Some people...are idiots. And can't just walk out on the bar. They prefer to stay in their cars, with their windows rolled up, and drive out on it just to say they did. Seriously people, you can only really understand and GET this place if you are walking it.
6) Salt water really really dries your hands out. And I ran my hands through my hair a few times...and was all snagglepuss hair later that night. However, it is very cleansing and awareness-orienting to any wounds you might have!!
7) Despite your urges (and boy did we have them, the water is SO clear) to just jump into the water....its adviseable not to unless you have a towel and dry clothes nearby. Next time! Polar dip!
8) The smell is amazing. I wish I could capture that and put that on the blog.
Anyway, so then Sue and I walked through town and went to her favorite ice cream place, Mount Desert Island Ice Cream. Seriously. Wow. Homemade, small batch ice cream. I had a two scoop cone of blackstrap banana (bananas soaked in blackstrap molasses) and indian pudding (again, molasses and graham crackers or something....desparately needs a new name...Sue and I though India(n)...no, they meant Native American...). Sue had a two scoop cone of Salt Caramal and Carmelized Red Pear. Ok, so maybe it is high brow ice cream (um, hello, we ARE in Bar Harbor here...) but it was AWESOME.
And then I got back on the road for the 70 mile trip to Machias. Good news, though, is that Sue is coming to Machias next Monday (my first day of work!!) for a meeting, so I am going to show her around town and such! YAY! We did decide next time we would can some jams.
Today was an adventure, too! It was Open Farm Day in the state of Maine...where 100 participating farms across the state have open houses. So, I went up to Tide Mill Organic Farm (where my CSA comes from) for their open house. It was actually kind of disappointing, but I am glad I got to see the actual fields and such. I got to pet a baby cow (don't worry Stephanie, it is a milking cow)
When I was there, I got to meet some hot chicks too.
(haha, tricked you).
I also got to see how they pasture their chickens. This is a much more elaborate operation than I ever want to have (I want to have layers and maybe a few meat birds, which require less pasture space), but this was a neat pen on wheels so that they can move each group along each day and they peck/weed/eat grubs. In each one of these pens is about 80 chickens.
Then we got to eat some. With BBQ sauce (even better).
I left the farm then, and headed up to Eastport, Maine. This is where my nephrologist will be (well, either there or Bangor, I haven't decided yet)...which is about 50 miles north of Machias (stay healthy!). I was hungry (that little chicken wing didn't really TIDE me over) so I stopped at the Eastport Chowder House. I had a yummy BLT and a cup of clam chowder. Incidentally, it is important to note that almost 100% of the clam chowders I have had in Maine have the WHOLE clam in there, and are very authentic and tasty. I am not sure I can ever return to cubed clam chunk chowder. The other fun thing about this was that it was warm out, so I sat outside...and I was right next to the ferry landing for the Eastport to Moose Island, NB ferry. I have never seen or heard of a ferry that actually BEACHES itself, so I had to get video of it. What you hear is me talking to an older gentleman there who was equally enamored. I am TOTALLY going on this ferry as soon as I get my passport card in the mail. The other cool thing about the Eastport Chowder House was that there was an older gentleman singing and playing music through my lunch. I am DEFINITELY going back there if they continue to have old man cassette tape karaoke. That is my fave!
After lunch, I walked around Eastport a bit, where I found this interesting group. There seems to be a HUGE veteran population in Eastport, which is real cool. But if you look closely, you will find one being in there that probably is not a veteran. That's right, that lady has a pink cockatoo on her shoulder. Weird.
I never felt alone in Eastport.
I had the Black Sheep and the Border Patrol to keep me company.
After Eastport, I decided to head back towards Machias. I stopped off at Cobscook Bay State Park (which in Native language means boiling waters!). Gorgeous park, and tons of awesome secluded waterfront campsites. I am definitely going to go camping there sometime soon!! I also found a couple of really neat mushrooms that I haven't been able to identify yet (I need a mushrooms, plants, and edible wild foods of Maine field guide to keep in my backpack!)
The park was very beautiful, and I will definitely come back and visit. It's $3 for a day pass, or $30 for a person pass for a year. We'll see. The sights couldn't have been better, but the fog was starting to roll in.
And of course, one last hightlight from the park. To be honest, I was roaming around the park not only to take in the sites and maybe find a place to camp sometime soon, but I was also looking to see if I could find some blueberries. No blueberries, but I did find this!
MOOSE POOP! Don't worry, dad, I didn't step in it. Cool though!!!!
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