Kismet's Life in Maine

My heart is there always..

From a book my daughter wrote to me"it is sheer pleasure to see your smile as we cross into Maine"
Soon I will smell the air and feel the mist at Pemaquid...nothing compares to its serenity and strength.

Wow Kismet the new home is breathtaking!!! I am very very happy for you and you must be just over the moon. Its amazing how life changes with the location. I do miss my kids and my friends but after being in my new place for almost three weeks I don't think I could ever go back.
Sounds like you found your piece of heaven too. It is really uplifting to hear that. You go girl!!!!

You go and enjoy every second of this new life and keep the photos coming. I am far far away from any coast so they are truly wonderful to see!!

Nothing, absolutley nothing compares...I am living a dream.
Crossing the bridge with the Maine state line midway was always a thrill for me as a kid

Truly folks, those of you that know and love this area, please get in touch...our door is open

OK folks, learn about the herring...the fish mills - this is where our new home is (if all goes well).
Look at all the water surrounding the ladders...woohoo, that's what where we're going to be-
http://damariscottamills.org/

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Yes, crossing the bridge from New Hampshire to Maine.......remember it well. At the mid point of the bridge over the river is the official sign telling you that you were in Maine. All your cares and burdens drop a way at that moment. We always loved Mid Coast but the Southern areas are fun also. Can't think of the name of the large beach area but it was popular with friends. However they never went much further North so I always felt they were cheating themselves.

The Tom's of Maine Outlet in Kennebunkport is worth a stop and of course the outlets at about the 2nd exit after you cross into Maine.
I thought that LLBean's was always done well and the staff is so friendly it is scary. The Desert of Maine, if it is still there is fascinating and I am just warming up so I should stop now. The courage of the 20th Maine who made their stand at Little Round Top during the battle of Gettysburg is considered a turning point of the Civil War. There was a store in Freeport that sold 20th Maine material........books etc. but they are on line now. This is like eating salted peanuts........once you start you can't stop.

There is a lovely book- Twelve Miles From the Rest of the World, A Portrait of the Damariscotta River (Barnaby Porter, Al Trescot) that mentions my family summer property - magical.

oysters, stuffed clams and shrimp tonight

geez I hope you are not allergic to shell fish! ;-)

Big flock of turkeys in the yards chasing the crows around - funny

Interesting. I understand crows are very, very intelligent and turkeys are very, very stupid.

Going to a craft fair today and then to Pemaquid Lighthouse to see Santa arrive by helicopter!
I agree lisat - I think the crows were more like "oh here come the riffraff, let's get out of here"

I don't know much about crows..........but Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be named the national bird because of what he considered their high intellectual level, among birds.

Kismet.......while you are at the lighthouse, if you have not already try "The Captains Omelet" served at the Sea Gull Cafe.

I will be chomping on White Castle Hamburgers thinking about it.

Oh, would love to try but Sea Gull is closed up tight for the season...maybe come Spring if someone buys it and keeps it going.

That answers my question as to how long it stays open in the fall/winter. In terms of customers in the Spring/Summer and early Fall the place is a gold mine. I can get White Castle Hamburgers all year round but some how it is not the same thing.

It was really cold and snowy but a large crowd was on hand to see Santa arrive (I felt like a little kid) .
"It is a tradition that started in 1929. It began as a way to provide holiday cheer for lighthouse keepers and their families, many of whom lived on remote islands off the coast of New England. In the early days, Santa would fly low over lighthouses and toss gifts to the waiting families below. Today, Santa travels by helicopter, visiting lighthouses and Coast Guard Stations from Maine to New York. Santa's annual visit is made possible by the Friends of Flying Santa in Stoneham , Mass. The local visit is sponsored by the Bristol Parks Commission and Bristol Fir and Rescue.

The lighthouse decked out for the holidays

The helicopter coming in - it came in a big arc so all the children got a good look (and got noisy)

he's here!

Santa!!!
He gave out candy canes and posed for pictures

Kismet,

Back in 1979 when I lived in Bradford, Vermont on the Connecticut River, (the year the Bedell Bridge was whipped into the river by a tornado, of all things) that winter, as in many previous winters, Christmas was celebrated in a special way. In the small, antique town of Piermont, New Hampshire, just across the Connecticut from Bradford, Santa Claus came into the children's room of the tiny library. To the delight of the children gathered there, he scattered candy all over the floor! They rushed, giggling merrily, to pick up as much as they could. I think they do this in the Netherlands or something. I just remember how absolutely Norman Rockwell it seemed to me, coming up from Jersey, to watch all this take place!!

Joshua Chamberlain was in charge of the 20th. Chamberlain was my second choice for dog's name. In stead I went with Glover B. Maine, as in Glover Belgrade ( Lakes) Maine. Glover is my mother in law's maternal family name. He "procured" the boats for Washington to cross the Delaware. Next summer Glover will return to Great Pond where I will scatter his ashes.

Joshua Chamberlain was so respected by General Grant that he was chosen by Grant to be present at Lee's surrender at Apamatox.
Chamberlain went on to be President of Bowdoin College and Governor of Maine.

My son is at Bowdoin

It is the left hand turn on coastal 1 in Brunswick that assures me I really am in Maine and will be for a few wonderful weeks.

A new tradition..we are going to cut our Christmas tree from our own property..love the idea. It will be a big one too - the ceilings in this house are 12 feet. The (hopefully) new house has 8 foot I think so we'll go for the giant tree this year for fun.

^^ that's great !!

Love the pictures of Santa kismet

So, you know how in NJ you have to have a tree come down on your wires before PSEG will do any tree work? Well, for the past two days there has been an Asplundh truck down here on our little peninsula doing preemptive trimming of branches. My dad spoke to them - they have a yearly contract to do maintenance work on all the lines up and down mid-coast to try to lesson power outages with winter storms...good planning right?

But think of the nights you will miss sitting in the dark and giving your LL Bean cold weather gear a real test as you watch the inside temperature plummet. We have an Atlantic City philosophy here in Jersey. I sometimes think people actually take bets about how many trees down in takes to plunge the entire town in darkness.

Actually, PSE&G's tree truck butchered the all the trees behind our houses on our block a couple of years ago in their maintenance mode. We had to sign a waiver or something when they were going to be on our property, I remember. During Sandy, we were one of the only streets parallel to SO Ave to not lose power...hmmm, I wonder.

PS - I have convinced Mr Z that it's high time we went back to Maine (summer of 2000 was our best vacay ever!). Will be visiting my "niece" in Cape Elizabeth for sure and will probably do Kennebunkport and Bar Harbor again.