Just pics

First Boat at Floating Dock - May 2017

Floating Dock Filling Up

North End Boatyard Dry Dock - June 2017

Claws' Lobster Ride - ready for tourists June 2017

Canada Geese Heading Home June 2017

Morning June 2017

Muscle shells in floating dock - dropped by gulls - June 2017

Not sure it warrants a post... but...

I guess I lived my whole life without ever making a claim under a product warranty - until a month or so ago.  And since then, I've made 2 warranty claims!  Here's how it started:

As I described in an earlier post here, back in May I traveled from Maine to Atlanta for my younger grandson's 6th birthday.  I flew on Delta and did not plan to check my bag (for which there's a $25 fee).   In fact, some 18 months before I purchased this bag on amazon.com specifically because it fits under an airplane seat and holds an unbelievable amount given its size.

I put the bag up on the belt to go through TSA's x-ray machine along with my backpack, shoes, etc., and went through myself.  At the other side, everything came out of the x-ray except this bag.  I waited.  I saw them take the bag off the conveyor and put it aside.  I waited.  Eventually the bag was handed to a TSA agent who had just finished hand-searching through someone else's bag.  I figured it was just a random thing.

I came over and said it was my bag.  The agent said he had to go through it, it appeared there was something "metallic" in it.  The bag has metal bars running through the back that lift out for a handle and I figured it was that.  Anyway, I was fine with him hand-searching it.  He began going through it. He had to take everything out, and still found nothing.  I pointed out that the nylon liner has a zipper he could unzip to get to the actual case.  He did that.  He still found nothing inside the bag.  Then he explained that there appeared to be something wedged in the actual outside "skin" of the bag.  He showed me a slight lump that you could feel with your hand.  It was definitely there.  Then he showed me the actual x-ray.  On the x-ray it clearly appeared that there was some sort of knife - possibly like a box-cutter or exacto knife actually wedged between the 2-layers of the bag's "skin."  But unless you cut through the "skin," you couldn't actually get to the "knife."

He called over a supervisor.  They went through the whole thing again.  The supervisor said he had seen this type of thing once before, with an LL Bean bag - apparently a worker had dropped some sort of tool into the half-made bag during production and the tool had been sealed inside the bag.  I offered to let them cut it out but they didn't want to harm the bag.  In the end, the supervisor let me travel with the bag.  He said since he couldn't get to the "knife," he didn't think anyone else could either during the flight.

Once in Atlanta I considered cutting the bag "skin" to get to the "knife" but decided I wanted to be able to return it for a replacement under a warranty claim.  However, I had to fly back from Atlanta to Maine and I had no confidence that TSA in a crowded busy airport like Atlanta would take the time to see what was what and let me take the bag on the plane.  So I paid $25 to check it.

When I got back to Maine I contacted amazon.com who referred me to the manufacturer, Travelon.  I called them and explained the situation.  A knife inside of a bag specifically advertised for its ability to be carried onto airplanes!  The company rep sent me an email detailing the information they needed to process the warranty claim.  I also offered to send back the defective bag, and they sent me a label to do that.  Lo and behold - a week or so later, I received a new bag.  As far as I can tell, it doesn't include a spare "knife."

A couple of weeks later, my beloved Stanley travel mug (which I use every single day to carry coffee on my morning walks with Ella) let me down - the flip top that closes the screw-on lid broke off - and embolden by my first successful warranty claim, I contacted Stanley, sent them the information they needed, and lo and behold - a new screw on top for my mug appeared in the mail.

Who knew that there still exist companies that stand by their products?  How much longer will this be true?

Peace.

Alewives ... the photos

Do you know about Alewives?   See below from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of Maine:

I am posting this because of some beautiful photographs posted on Facebook by a neighbor and former Rockland City Councilman and Mayor, Larry Pritchett.  To me these are some of the most beautiful photographs I've ever seen.  Nature as art.  And with due credit to Larry, I share two of Larry's photos with friends here:

Peace. 

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.