My Oyster

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble...

Being in Maine means you can walk out your front door and run with turkeys.  Real, live, wild ones.

The pic above was just steps from the front door of my parents' house.  The "group" of turkeys came for a visit twice today. 

It was nearly "too much nature" for me.  I acutally let out a little scream when the dog started chasing them just moments later.  They are big and I am really only used to seeing them on the Thanksgiving dinner table.

BTW, a group of turkeys is called:

    A. Siege of Turkeys
    B. Rafter of Turkeys
    C. Kettle of Turkeys

The Wild Turkey is North America's largest upland game bird.  Wild turkeys have been reintroduced in Maine and now number in the thousands after being extirpated from Maine in the late 1800's.

Extirpated means a species that has been eliminated from a particular area, but still exists somewhere else. 

It's Rafter.

Reduce Stress and Fight Tooth Decay...

All with a Maine Apple (Pie)!

OK.  So the Maine Apple Growers Association claim about stress and tooth decay may not extend all the way to apple pie - but I guess its true about apples in their more natural state.  More on pie - with video below.

Maine is the largest apple producing state in New England and it is peak apple picking time now.  Apparently, this year's harvest is huge.  Twice as big as last year's.

And how much apple is that, you ask?

Well, apples grown in Maine brought in $9.2 million in agricultural revenue in 2006.  With 3,400 acres of apple trees state-wide, Maine orchards yielded a crop of 619,000 bushels in 2006 - but that was actually the worst harvest in recent memory.  However, this year looks to be the best in the last 5.  Phew.

In case you do not know, a bushel weighs 40 pounds.  In case you do not know, a pound weighs .45 kilograms.

Despite all this booming blooming, apples are not even a growth industry in Maine.  Over the last 30 years, the number of people making their primary income from apples has fallen from about 30 to as few as four.  Yikes.

I think I may be the only one reading this who cares about Maine apple statistics.  But I do.

All this trivia because today Ma and I made an apple pie.  It turned out tasty.  Here is the video...

What is the connection here?

The French Connection - French Onion Soup, originally uploaded by c r i s.

 

Yesterday I went to the Shaws Supermarket on Western Avenue to get some ingredients to make a beef stew.  Had it for dinner tonight.  Pretty good.

At Shaw's I found everything I needed but bay leaves. 

I don't understand what they do or why they are needed.  I mean, you just end up throwing out the leaf at the end anyway.  But I needed one.  Not a jar.  Just one.

I couldn't find them.  So I grabbed a cute young store employee for some help.  He was adorable, but not very helpful.  He was a good companion as we chatted and roamed the store looking for bay leaves.  However, he did not really know where they were hiding either.  We eventually had someone else help us.

Fast forward.  Today, before eating the beef stew for dinner, I went to the local Circuit City to get a digital audio recorder.  I knew the one I wanted.  I just needed to find it in the big box store. 

Naturally, I couldn't find the recorders.  So, as is my nature, I grabbed a cute young store employee for some help. He was adorable, but not very helpful. He was a good companion as we chatted and roamed the store looking for digital audio recorders. However, he did not really know where they were hiding either. We eventually had someone else help us.

Now for the twist.

The cute, young, friendly, but not very helpful Circuit City store employee was the exact same cute, young, friendly, but not very helpful Shaw's grocery store employee.

Augusta REALLY IS a small world.  I think we are officially dating now.

   

I Got My New Passport - But I Miss My Old One...

It had become like a good friend (despite the pic).  Traveling with me all over the world for the past 10 years.

In the Fall of 1997, I rushed out to get a new passport for a trip to London with Daryl.  I had not been outside the country since I was living in Austria 11 years before - and supposedly studying at the University of Salzburg.  I still love traveling with Daryl.

I liked thumbing through the pages of this old passport while waiting in lines at the airport.  Remembering all the amazing trips I have been lucky to make was always a good distraction.

There is something about the feel and sound of thumbing through a passport.  The paper is different.  The way all the stamps crowd themselves onto the limited space of the pages.  The overlapping colors and odd shapes.   The exact dates - letting me pinpoint my precise location on a particular day over the past 10 years.

There are lots of firsts for me in this passport.  First trip with a man I love.  First trip (of many) with my mother.  First trips with my father and sister.  First trip to Poland - my homeland.  First trip to Ireland - also my homeland.  First trip to Asia - North (China & Japan) and South (India).  First trip to meet a total stranger in a foreign country.  Mistake.  But glad I did it.  First international business trip.  I think there must be even more firsts hidden in those pages.

So now I have 20 blank pages in a new passport.  I expect I will be filling those pages with some firsts as well over the next decade.

Rediscovering Augusta's Backroads...

In a small town and rural area like Augusta, you need a car to get around.  Things - school, friends, work, stores - are spread out with not much in between.  There is no public transportation.  I got my license as soon as I turned 15.

Growing up in Augusta, I found the roads to be mind-numbingly boring.  They seemed to me to go on forever with barely an occasional house or building to break up the monotonous miles of trees.  It was even worse at night.  Just darkness.  Thats how it seemed.

But now, those roads seem different to me.  At least from the seat of a road bike rather than a pickup truck.  And at least at sunrise rather than at night.

This morning I went for an amazing 25 mile ride before getting down to work.  The back-roads around Augusta are PERFECT for cycling.  Hilly.  Curvy.  Beautiful scenery - barns, trees, lakes, fields.  Hardly any cars. 

Cyclists all over the world pay big money to go on riding trips on these kinds of country roads.  I have it here in my hometown and right at the end of my driveway.

Here are some more pics.

And here is a pic of the sunset and moonrise over the rapidly changing leaves across the street...

Why Pottery?

That is the question Richard Robertson's Japanese pottery teacher asked him. 

Richard is the artist that made the water fountain I bought today at the Common Ground Country Fair.  See my previous post immediately below.

I have been looking for a fountain for my "zen room" at home.  Of course, getting one by a Maine artist would be very special - so I thought the fair would be a good place to look.

I liked Richard's work and he seemed very cool. 

Then tonight I stumbled on this video of him on Youtube.  Gotta love the Internet. 

The video made me like the piece I got even more.  The piece I got is similar to the two fountains you see at the beginning of the video.

Celebrating Rural Living...

That's me eating lunch today at the Common Ground Country Fair. 

This fair is pretty unique and has become a big (50,000 visitors) and special event every fall here in Maine.  Its kinda retro and kinda progressive all at the same time.

It's retro because it really does celebrate rural living in Maine and is close to the original purpose of country agricultural fairs.  It's progressive because it's all organic and all local Maine goods and very yuppie.  or yippie. 

Here are some more pics.

Border Collies herding sheep

Some fiber artisans

The drive into the fairgrounds

Rediscovering Augusta Maine...

I grew up mostly in Augusta and I left it as soon as I could.  1983.  When I graduated from high school.  "Just get me outta there", was my attitude at the time.

I have been spending more time back in Augusta of late.  I am seeing it with older eyes.  More wordly eyes.  More experienced eyes.  I am rediscovering Augusta and I actually like a lot of what i am seeing.

So I think while I am here, I will do some posts to capture what it means to me to be Rediscovering Augusta.

Now for starters, some facts about Augusta...

• Augusta is the capital of the State of Maine.
• It is the easternmost capital in the United States.  See map below.
• According to the city's website, Augusta is a "world-class capital city".  I am not sure I would go quite that far.  London, yes.  Paris, yes.  Washington, probably yes as well.  But Augusta?  Not yet.
• Augusta has 19,000 residents.  I rounded up.  That means the entire city could attend a Washington Wizards basketball game at the Verizon Center in DC.  With some room for more than a few friends from the burbs...Chelsea, Hallowell, etc.
• 95% of Augusta's residents are white.  They would stand out attending a basketball game in downtown DC.
• There are 4607 families in Augusta.  I think I must know a good chunk of those.  Their median income is $42,230.  For the US it is $50,046.
• The city was established in 1754, but there were English settlers and explorers here as early 1604.  That's pretty old by North American standards.

Those are just some facts about Augusta.  A bit dry, though kind of interesting.  In the coming days, I will post some more personal rediscoveries.

Not Blogging Much These Days...

Portland, ME - a City Bloc, originally uploaded by Big Thunder Mountain.

I am up In Maine, where I love to be – spending time with my mother and family, which I love to do.

We are all together and facing some challenges with my mother’s health. My amazing family has been with her here at the Maine Medical Center in Portland since Friday, when she had a surgical biopsy. My brother and sister have been blogging a bit about the specifics to keep loved ones up to date, here and here.

I have been spending nights with Ma here at the hospital. My regular readers and those who know me know that she is my most frequent and my most favorite travel companion. We travel well together.

Its kinda odd, but our nights together here in the hospital have struck me as not unlike our nights in hotels around the world; London, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Krakow, Amsterdam, and more. When we are traveling the days are crazy hectic but the nights are calm and warm. As they are here.

Usually, we are side by side in a smallish room, eating room service and flipping around TV channels well into the evening. There is not much discussion really, but occasionally, I turn to her and ask – “are you ok?” and she turns back and says “yes” or sometimes “stop asking me that”.  It’s a familiar pattern and a comfortable feeling and I am happy I can be here now.

But we are all looking forward to taking her home.  

Hi - Low - Jack...

I have always maintained that New England is a truly unique region within these United States.  It means something to be from New England.  There is a culture and history and continuity specific to this region unlike most of the rest of the country - which has been genericized down to the lowest common denominator.

One of the things that makes Maine and New England different than the rest of country is bowling.  We do candlepin bowling up in this corner of the country (and in much of Maritime Canada too).

Candlepin has smaller balls (with no holes) and skinnier pins.  The scoring is different.  Usually lower.  The shoes seem to be equally ugly as 10 pin.  With candlepin bowling you leave fallen pins on the lane and use them tactically to knock down other pins.

Candlepin bowling originated in Worcester, Massachusetts in the 1880s.  Its popularity has waxed and waned throughout the years.  After WW2, big pin (10 pin) bowling became predominant in the US - except here in New England and with older bowlers and women (smaller balls) and with my father and brother.

Tonight I made my way over to the local candlepin bowling center to see the new league play kick off.  My father and brother are on a team together this year.  Pics below...

Tut either doing the hokie pokie or coaching Mike before the game.

Mike bowling his first string.

Mike getting pumped up before he tosses the tiny ball down the lane.

Tut giving Mike a little pep talk between matches.

Tut shows his form during warm-ups.

Like father...like son.

Oh, by the way, the subject line above is part of the candlepin jargon and refers to the 1-, 7-, and 10-pins, which are on the three corners of the triangle. Trying to knock down all three in one shot (with no wood) is sometimes a contest as part of a televised candlepin bowling program.  1-7-10 is also the name of our local bowling center.