Blog catch up day - AGAIN!

As the seasons turn through the year and come around once more - on May 25 it is fully and finally Spring in mid coast Maine - it is once again Blog Catch Up Day here.  Let's start with proof that Spring IS here:

False cherry tree in my backyard yesterday!

We finally got our garden planted this week, later than usual because we had 10+ days of rain.  I missed some of those days on a trip to Atlanta for my grandson's 6th birthday.  (In 1996 I was living in Atlanta and moved to Connecticut on Memorial Day.  On 20 of the 25 days before that Memorial Day it was 95 degrees in Atlanta!  But on my trip this year, it was 70-72 degrees with a lovely breeze every day.  Beautiful.)  Meanwhile here in the mid coast, rain rain rain rain rain ...

My trip to Atlanta was dominated by Pokeman.  Both of my grandsons are way into Pokeman, which made purchasing Cello's birthday presents a breeze - all Pokeman.  Here are the boys in their new Pokeman t-shirts...

And from our walk in Mason Mill Park (which their mother had to bribe them into taking - of course, once they got outside, they enjoyed themselves, but they 'thought' they wanted to stay inside and watch videos or play Pokeman)...















Back home, we have finally begun to see signs of spring, and possibly even summer.  The tourist trap lobster restaurant on Route 1 - Claws - has been expanding their seating and enlarging their kitsch.  They now have 2 mannequins garbed like fisherman, including this guy:

I didn't photograph it, but they also have a 6-foot long lobster wearing a blue leather saddle, I guess for the "kids" to ride?

The amazing thing is that when you drive by this place - which opened yesterday - most of the cars in the parking lot have Maine license plates!


* * * * *


Meanwhile at home, my right hip continues to be a pain-in-the-close-to-the-ass, so to speak.  I'm dealing with it by taking Tylenol only since the heavy duty NSAID the doctor prescribed - which helped with the pain quite a bit - also gave me scary stomach pain.  I am getting by, but I do find that the pain in the hip affects me almost unconsciously in that I find myself modifying my behavior, not doing certain things I would otherwise do - if they involve walking.  The next option says the doctor is a cortisone shot in the hip, which is apparently tricky to get right so it has to be done with some sort of imaging assistance so they know they get it in the right spot.  Doesn't sound particularly inviting.  But I'm thinking of doing it in June or July, hoping it might give me relief to enjoy more activity - kayaking, sailing, hiking - over the summer.

Still, Ella and I continue to rise early and take our morning walks - cut down to about 2 miles from 3 or 3-1/2, but still just about the best part of my day.  We generally make it to the Apprenticeshop's pier and sit for bit, noting whose visiting.  There's a local Common Loon who is usually present, visited by another Common Loon for a day or so, but now back to one lonely loon.  This past week we had a non-breeding female Long Tailed Duck visiting.  There's a pair of Common Eider ducks that seems to be sticking around.

And the Apprenticeshop installed their floating dock - a sure sign that Summer will come, eventually - and one morning this past week, we found that the first sail boat and arrived:

In other news, my peripatetic daughter is just back from 2 weeks in Egypt!  She was there as a volunteer to teach composting essentials to small farmers, even appearing on Egyptian TV.  Here's a link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_rjQYMUGis


I'm very proud of her - and also, to be honest, glad she's back closer to family.

David and I have signed up to attend "Fiddle Camp" at the end of June - David, to join those playing banjo and me, to join those playing ukulele.  Just a weekend, but sounds like fun - dozens and dozens of people, families, kids, old folks like us, who like music, getting together to learn, to play, to sing and to dance (not so sure how much of the last 2 I'll be doing, but still will be fun!)

Both David and I continue to volunteer with the Restorative Justice Project, I'm winding up my term as treasurer of the local synagogue, both of us continue to develop our friendship with the Congolese refugee families in our area and provide a little assistance - mostly transportation as the young man gets ready to take his road test and get his driver's license, I am working with Waste Watchers, a local volunteer group addressing solid waste disposal issues in our city - next on our agenda, considering drafting and proposing a ban on 1-use plastic shopping bags.   David finished making a beautiful gourd banjo and is working on making me a cigar box ukulele bass (electric no less!).  Second week of June we have a local election, filling a vacancy on our city council (see what a local campaign sign looks like - this one on our front lawn!) and I am volunteering to "count" votes at the end of election day.

So we stay busy!  (Are there really retired people who are bored?!?)

Well, this was a long catch up post.  I'm tired.  I think I'll take a nap.  What do you say, Ella?

Peace.

A few of the reasons I love living in Maine...

This post triggered by the following "Calendar" entry in our local paper, The Free Press:

Talk by Poet and Deer Hunter Paul McFarland & Music by Windfern Duo, 7 p.m. in Lincolnville Community Library’s Winter Presentation for 2017. Windfern consists of Maho Hisakawa on flute and Nathan Hillman on violin. $10 advance tix: 975-5432. 

Do you think there is another state where an event would be publicized as a talk by a "Poet" AND a "Deer Hunter"?  We do seem to have an over-abundance of both poets AND deer hunters up here in Vacationland, aka the Pine Tree State.

A couple of Maine-ly photos from Ella's and my morning walks recently:

Wooden boat, bow, at Apprenticeshop

Wooden fishing boat, dry dock, North End Shipyard

Morning

A few more The Free Press calendar entries - annotated:

Free Talk on Growing Asparagus in Maine, Tuesday, March 21, at 2 p.m. in Belfast Free Library. Free, public talk by organic farmer Lee Graham, hosted by the Belfast Garden Club.  [I gotta try to make this one - I love asparagus!]

“Hypnobirthing” Class in Rockport, 6-8:30 p.m. Thursdays, March 9-April 6, in Pen Bay Physicians Building. $125 for mom and partner. Registration: 921-8345 or journeytohealth.coursestorm.com. [I know I'm way past needing this, but maybe applicable to hypnoarthritis?]

Maine Grass Farmers Network Annual Grazing Conference, Saturday, March 18, 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., Kennebec Valley Community College in Hinckley. FMI: extension.umaine.edu. [What I like about this one is how it makes me envision a "conference" comprised of farmers all out grazing in Maine grass!]

And finally, get those applications turned in - deadline fast approaches:

Call for Contestants in Maine Sea Goddess Pageant, at Rockland’s Maine Lobster Festival this August. Apply before March 31: mainelobsterfestival.com. I

In case you need something to inspire you while you fill out your app, a recent Sea Goddess:

Bringing us back to earth - and sea - after hanging out with a goddess in the heavenly heights of the Maine Lobster Festival, here's a pic from a morning walk with Ella in which the colors of the sun on the water in the photo only give a hint of how beautiful the reality was:

Peace. Peace.  If not now, when?  

It's Blog Catch Up Day (at least in mid coast Maine)

Once again, more than 2 months have passed since my last post.  I am not sure why it has been harder lately to keep up here, but I might guess it has something to do with ... pain.

After the last post - which I see was on December 18 - David and I volunteered with many others at the Community Christmas Dinner.  It was good, a bit chaotic.  I think we fed 130-40 people.  But the result for me personally was severe hip pain from standing too long.  I should have known better.  I DID know better; standing in one place has always been the hardest thing for me, hard on my back, hard on my arthritic hips.  In fact on Christmas day I did spend some time sitting in the kitchen on a stool that one of the other volunteers had brought.  But not enough I guess.  At any rate, I ended up in severe pain, tried to handle it with Advil and ended up at the doctor's and then the orthopedist's in early February.  Now I'm on heavy duty NSAID prescription drugs, my only choice apparently other than going to the hospital radiology department for cortisone injections.

It's interesting what chronic pain does to you.  Before I began the prescription NSAID, the pain ranged from fair discomfort most of the time to severe (tears in your eyes) pain on occasion.  It was hard to see how I could keep going like that.  The orthopedist took x-rays, which showed no cartilage left in my right hip - which is the one that hurts.  Anyway, I'm on the NSAID for now, hoping to wean myself off it at some point fairly soon and get by without drugs.  I'd like to postpone the cortisone injections as long as possible, since those are the last option before hip replacement, and I do not see myself doing that right now.

I'd like to say ... enough about aches and pains, but one more thing to report - good, this time:  David has successfully had cataract surgery on both eyes and never were the words of Amazing Grace more true:  "Was blind! Now I see!"  He says he is seeing everything - distance, close up, colors, everything - in a way he hasn't for years, maybe decades!  I'm glad for him.  Now between us we have two good eyes and that means he can drive at night, now.  (He says he probably shouldn't have been driving at all, at any time of day, for some time!  Scary thought - wonder how many other old folks are out there driving when they shouldn't?  Wait, don't look at me!)  My cataract surgery was postponed - our surgeon had to have surgery, not on his eyes, but on his shoulder - and is now scheduled for early April.

David and I went to Augusta to the Women's March on Maine on the day following the inauguration of the 45th president.  (I brought a chair, and was able to sit during much of the rally, which was - to the credit of the organizers - short and to the point.)  It was good to be there, good to take a stand among do many others.  The crowd in Augusta was estimated at 5,000-10,000 - I'd say 6,000. Similar size or larger rally in Portland, ME and so very many other places, including huge crowds in Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C.!  (Unfortunately none of the photos I took show the size of the crowd!)

Meanwhile, we seem to have turned the corner from winter toward spring, even though it was 29F this morning.  It is now 39F and beautifully sunny.  We had had 5 or 6 snow storms in a 2 week period, and the snow really piled up:

Back porch during next-to-last storm

After storm on my afternoon walk with Ella

Jordan, the young Congolese man whose family David and I have gotten to know, asked me if there would be more snow like that this year.  I told him not likely.  I asked if he liked the snow - not so much, was his answer.  However, several of his young siblings and his children had the opportunity to try skiing and even snowboarding, so their answers might be different:

Now most of it has melted away.  Our compost bin and Adirondack chairs are again visible.  I don't have to to walk the through knee high snow to fill the bird feeders.   But we are on our way to Maine's mud season.  If you're not familiar with that, it's truly something to behold.  But I may be jumping the gun ... we could still have more snow, and night time temps are supposed to be in the 20's.  Still, it FEELS like spring is around the corner.  The raised bed has poked out of the melting snow, causing visions of tomatoes and collard greens to dance in my head.

I'm going to end with two self-portraits.  First, one drawn by my grandson, Cello:

Finally, a "selfie" I took this morning on my walk with Ella.  I'm posting it so I can get used to seeing my wrinkles, which are so obvious in this photo.  David tells me that after my cataract surgery, I'll see myself in a whole new light.  I need to be prepared:

Peace.

It's been two months, she says..

It's been fully two months since I last posted, I have been reminded by my official prodder, Susan.  Often on my morning walks with Ella I think of something I want to post here, and then I get home and get busy, starting of course with feeding Ella her breakfast!

Let's start with weather - it has been an unseasonably warm fall, which just recently turned to extreme cold when Canada's Polar Vortex decided she would like to come south for the winter.   Here was the weather two days ago as I took Ella out (note not only the temperature, but the wind and -29 wind chill!):

The next day, Saturday, it reached 32 and we had snow - about 3 inches - followed by rain into today.  Today it reached 58 degrees.  58 degrees!  (Hey, Polar Vortex, where'd you go?)  Tonight it is supposed to go down to 8 degrees and tomorrow it is to reach 12 degrees.  All the snow that melted today and is sitting around as standing water will become a sheet of ice.

All this with the weather has been particularly significant to me because of my involvement with the Congolese refugee family that came to our area back in August.  I keep telling the family member that winter is coming and they need to be ready.  The local church and our synagogue finally were able to buy winter boots for everyone, and I believe everyone has a coat.  Yet on the day mentioned above, Jordan showed up in a heavy sweatshirt!  When we have snow one day and 58 degrees the next, it is hard to make "winter" believable!

We had the whole family but one (who had to work) to our house for Thanksgiving, along with our neighbors, Melissa and her son Tobias, and six others of their family and friends.  I think our total count was 22, but not positive.  The Congolese family, at our request, made their traditional ugali dish (boiled semolina, kind of like a cross between grits and bread) and fried fish, which we all got to try.  Our roasted turkey and David's butternut squash were big hits with the family.  It has been a real privilege getting to know them all.  I have tremendous admiration for the entire family.  It is hard to even conceive of the challenges they are tackling daily in leaving a refugee camp in Tanzania where 200,000 people are living (120,000 from Burundi and 80,000 from the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to come to Maine to a town of 2,500 souls, all of them Caucasian.   (Jordan told me today that tomorrow is an important day in his country, the DRC.  The current president's second term ends and he had negotiated tomorrow as the day he would leave office.  But he doesn't want to step down.  Jordan does not think he will.  Then people will protest, demonstrate.  And the army will attack.  And, Jordan tells me, "people will die.")

With this on our minds, we head into the holiday season.  Ulner's boatyard has hoisted the Christmas trees to the top of their shrink-wrapped schooner's masts but no Magen David for Chanukah (yet) this year.  Here is one of the trees:

We are gearing up for our community Christmas dinner, sponsored by the synagogue and friends.  We expect to serve between 120 and 140 people.  I've lost count of the number of turkeys.  It is a good way to spend the day.  (And for many, several days before hand, cooking dishes, picking up food donated by local restaurants, setting up tables, and so on.)

The last time I wrote here, the U.S.'s own presidential election had not yet happened.  It is still hard to believe it did happen.  Yesterday and today, apparently taking a break from adding another billionaire to his cabinet, P-E Trump (it is difficult for me to write out "president" and "elect" in same sentence with that name) has been "tweeting" warmongering messages with the Chinese.  "Give us back our drone you stole."  "Oh, you say you'll give it back - then just keep the damn thing." Today I learned that his nominee for Secretary of State is the CEO of an oil company owned jointly with the Russians and headquartered in the Bahamas, but I'm sure that will not prevent him from dealing with Russia putting the interests of the U.S. first, right?   I find I can't go on too long about this subject - whether writing about it, reading about it or even thinking about it - that way leads into a long dark tunnel leading toward what appears to be a bleak future.

And then, lest we should forget, there is:

Aleppo.  Aleppo.  Aleppo.

I heard today that Assad's army bombed buses that were carrying refugees out of Aleppo.

It is hard to think about 2017 may bring to the world.  I think about the Congolese family newly living here - what must they think of this country in which they have come to start new lives?  At least they had the chance to do that, although they had to wait 20 years in a refugee camp.

Aleppo.

Aleppo.

Aleppo.

Wait for it, wait for it...

Okay, thank you for waiting for it.  I apologize for the length of the wait.  Can't promise the wait will prove to be worth it, but for what it is worth, here it is - a (lengthy) update.

It's been SO LONG since I posted, I'm not sure how to even start.  Since the last post, autumn - both calendar and meteorological - has arrived.  The trees are mid-change and beautiful.  The weather is also changeable.  We are still reaching 70 degrees on some mid-days, and as low as 39 in the middle of some nights.  David and I were have taken Ella for many hikes off of Birch Point beach over the past weeks, through the woods and ending up on some rocks where we usually sit in the sun for a bit, and I sometimes take a photo, like this:

We also took a lovely hike out the Rockland Breakwater  on a beautiful windy day in September:

A few weeks ago David completed the cedar strip kayak he began last winter.

He had interrupted building it to complete the skin-on-frame kayak he made for me, a picture of which I think I already posted here.  I don't have one of the new kayak in the water, but here's a couple taken in our yard.  It is beautiful and David says he really like the way it handles in the water:















Of course, my morning walks with Ella continue.  These have become the one reliable action I take every single day for myself - and Ella - to have time to myself, to move my body, to relax, to empty my thoughts, to see the world in a new way, even though we usually take nearly the same route.  We have been going further, up to 3 miles.  Good for Ella, good for me.  We usually still go down to the waterfront and throw the ball on the grounds of boat yard and bait company.

We almost always make it to the Apprenticeshop's dock.  There have been many foggy mornings in September-October, including these:



















Apart from Ella and my morning walks, I've been busy, too busy, "volunteering."  After living up to my commitment to myself not to overdo the volunteering for the first year of my retirement, I guess I overdid it.  In addition to volunteering with the Restorative Justice Project (RJP) - for which I agreed in late August to serve as another mentor, but this time for an adult and involving a year-long (at least) commitment - I have become involved with a group called Renew Rockland which is working on 3 projects for our city:  1. renewable energy, specifically solar; 2. sponsoring a "food sovereignty" ordinance at city council; and 3. Rockland's solid waste, recycling and composting through a "waste watchers" volunteer group.  I also became involved in our synagogue's High Holiday committee which took a lot of time.  And I volunteered with FairVoteMaine which is advocating for passing the Ranked Choice Voting referendum that will be on the ballot in Maine in November.  I've done a lot of data entry for them, and we held an educational event at the synagogue in September, which went well.

Finally in September I also became involved with providing assistance to a family of new immigrants to our midcoast area.  Originally from the Democratic (sic) Republic of the Congo, they spent almost 20 years in a refugee camp in Tanzania.  They recently came to Maine under sponsorship of Catholic Charities' refugee organization.  They are an extended family of 15 - really 2 families, a mother and her 8 children, one of whom is himself married and has 6 children.  Mostly I have been providing transportation to the family, to take family members to doctors' appointments - I learned about the family from a neighbor who is the Maine Public Health Nurse assigned to the family, each of whom has to visit a doctor at the beginning of their residence here in Maine - shopping, and so on.  None of the family drives and they live several miles from Walmart, which is the closest place to buy groceries.  My synagogue is also getting involved, one one of the Men's Club members donating a used laptop and helping set it up, and the entire congregation being asked to help donate items the family needs, including winter clothes.  Little by little.  It is instructive to be involved from the very beginning of a large new immigrant family's introduction to life in the U.S.  Five adults are working ]in a group home.  (There is a shortage of workers for group homes, homes for the elderly, etc. here in Maine and that is one reason Maine is accepting refugee families here.  That is why this family was found housing in our area, because of the job availability.)  Only one of the 5 adults speaks English fairly fluently; several others, not at all,  The kids are all in school, where they are getting English lessons. There is so much to learn about what it means to live here.  I have incredible admiration for the courage of the entire family.

Less than a month until the election - at this point, I feel like most people probably feel - let's get it over with!   Watching Republicans first rush to disavow Trump's bragging about sexual assault and then back off the disavowal engenders cynicism. Worse are those who say that "as the father of a 15 year old daughter..." - so what.  Daughter or no daughter, sexual assault is wrong against anyone is wrong, bragging about sexual assault is wrong.  I cling to the frail hope we have learned something from it, but I tend to be fairly cynical.   Yesterday was the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur - on which the fate of the Jewish people, along with all other people and the entire world is set to have been "sealed" for the year to come.

May it be for us all and for the entire planet on which we ride through space a year of life, of health, of prosperity.  May we at least take steps toward ending poverty, racism and all injustice.   May every person who has had to leave his or her homeland find a place to settle in peace, taking steps toward making a new home.

May there be peace, peace, near and far, for every single human being and every living thing.

Turning the corner

I think we here in mid coast Maine may have turned the corner toward fall.  Oh, it's still warm, even hot, and humid (today is cooler - mid 70s - but rainy), but I see brown edges on the Horse Chestnut's leaves.  The Horse Chestnut is the first, or among the first, trees here to sprout leaves in the spring and among the first to lose them in the fall.  The gardens that Ella and I pass on our morning walks are beginning to look ... disheveled.  Labor Day lurks around the corner and the days are distinctly shorter as twilight comes earlier and earlier.  The Big Three tourist events in Rockland - the Blues Festival, the Lobster Festival and the Boat, Home and Harbor Show - are finished.  We did not attend any of them this year, although we did put our chairs out on Main Street early to get seats to watch the Lobster Festival Parade again.  Nothing new or outstanding; in fact, this year there were no Clydesdales - which was a highlight of last year's parade.

David and I have been kayaking quite a bit.  I'm really enjoying my new kayak.  Here are a few photos from several different days' paddles:

Marsh tucked in a corner of Megunticook Lake

David entering the marsh

Cliffs on the edge of Megunticook Lake

Another day -

Paddling away from Birch Point beach

And most recently -

Pretty sailboat being readied to sail near Friendship

Loon off of Friendship

So my new ukulele arrived.  It is beautiful.  I have to admit that I think I secretly  believed that when I held it, I would suddenly (and magically) play better than I do.  Not true.  But the instrument is wonderful.  It is a sweet sound, a true sound.  This is a photo David took moments after I opened the box and then the hard case and held the ukulele for the first time (please don't look at my bed head):

I think I mentioned that my son, Sam, took his family on a cross-country road trip - from Atlanta to California and back.  It seems they had a wonderful adventure, camping in national parks, visiting the Grand Canyon and Yosemite, the Pacific coast.  A lot of driving, but the kids are used to that.  I'm closing with 2 photos from that trip that Sam shared with me - both were taken IN the car, not at some of the scenic places they visited - but I think they capture the spirit of the trip.

That's all, folks - except:  Peace.

This and that

Two items of personal news:  First, I just passed my 1 year anniversary of retiring.  Although I was aware it was approaching, the actual date would have passed unnoticed but for a call from a former colleague, checking to see how I am doing.  That was nice. (I am doing fine!  Have learned some interesting things about myself, but more on that another time/post.)  Second, I just made a "flying" (actually, driving - 6 hours each way) trip back to Connecticut for a joint birthday celebration with my friends Helen and Susan F. (as all 3 of us have birthdays in July), and we were joined for dinner by Karen and Jerry.  It was a lovely evening, and reminded me how much I miss these good friends.  

On to local happenings...   Fair Days have started.  No, I don't mean weather-wise; I mean ... fairs ... like agriculture--cows, goats, sheep, chickens, pies, oxen and tractor pulls, etc.  The first two I'm aware of (which we won't make):

Northern Maine Fair, July 29-Aug. 6, Presque Isle. FMI: NorthernMaineFairgrounds.com.

Bangor State Fair, July 29-Aug. 7, Bass Park/Cross Insurance Center. FMI: BangorStateFair.com.

But we will be looking to attend a couple in August and September, maybe Topsam and certainly Common Ground Fair.

In a small sample of other local "events": 

• “Drone Aircraft,” 7 p.m., Boothbay Railway Village, Route 27. Illustrated talk by retired industrial engineer Larry Stevenson. $5 suggested donation. 
• Annual Port Clyde Fisherman Doll Fair, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Port Clyde Baptist Church. Traditional fishermen, mermaids, King Neptunes and other dolls. Craft table, flea market, baked goods including blueberry pies. 
• Maritime-Themed Spelling Bee, Union Hall, Searsport, 6-8 p.m. Carver Memorial Library hosts the lead-up to Heritage Weekend. Teams of 3-5 can register ($25) at 548-2303. Benefits library. 
• Author of “Lessons in Censorship” to Speak at Left Bank Books, Belfast, Fri., Aug. 5, 7 p.m. Free, public talk by Catherine Ross on her new book that defines speech rights in public schools. Save your seat: 338-9009. 
• August 6 Deadline to Apply for 2016 Maine Wild Blueberry Queen Contest, set for Fri., Aug. 26, at Union Fair. FMI: UnionFair.org. 
• Aquatic Bug Wade in Camden, 11 a.m.-noon. Biologist Paul Leeper points out whirligig beetles and voracious dragonflies at Bog Bridge boat ramp. Details: megunticook.org. 
• Hope Haitian Choir to Perform, 6:30 p.m., Celebration Life Family Church, 3 Cross St., Rockport. Choir of 15 kids and 5 accompanying adults from Haiti perform original songs and other pieces. Free-will donations taken. FMI: HopeHaitian.com. 

Mid coast Maine really does have something for everyone!

On the personal front - we have been kayaking several times, most recently off Pemaquid Point.  David is back to building his strip-plank kayak - it's going to be beautiful. Photos to follow at some point.  Also, we finished updating the guest room.  Here are "before," "during" and "after" photos:

Room as it looked during showing before we purchased house.

During wallpaper stripping & before carpet removal.

After

After

Now some wonderful personal news - my new custom-built Mya-Moe ukulele is finished and on its way to me via UPS, due to arrive on Friday.  I am very (!) excited, and determined to live up to such a beautiful instrument and to deserve it every day:

Finally, our changeable weather has brought us periodic thunderstorms much to Ella's consternation.  She often seeks comfort and safety in what I call "the slot" - a 12 x 30 inch space between the radiator and David's tool box (used as an end table).  Here she is (she's so skinny, you don't really get a sense from this photo of how narrow the "slot" is):

As Bugs Bunny would say, that's all folks.

Peace.