Shed Pond, Readfield

 

The autumn colors were subdued but nevertheless beautiful on our Sunday hike to Shed Pond. 

Oven's Mouth, Boothbay, Maine, October 2020

We are blessed to live in Maine during these Covid times, where there are lots of things to do outdoors, and for free. The Oven's Mouth Preserve in Boothbay is one such thing. I wish this video could be scratch & sniff! The piney woods, the briny rivers; you can just feel the tension leaving your body at the scent. 

My favorite thing about Oven's Mouth, though, is the incredible teal color of the water of the Back & Cross rivers. 

Enjoy! 

Day of the Dad

It is said that in November the veil between the world of the living and that of the dead grows thin. In Mexico, November 2nd is the Day of the Dead, a festive celebration to pray for and remember loved ones who have died. I admire this tradition, as the taboo of death in American culture makes loss and grief more isolating.

I'm not especially religious, nor do I subscribe to any woo-woo philosophies. Despite efforts to embrace both of those idea sets at different times in my life, my thinking remains pretty firmly evidence-based. That said, no one can say for sure if there is or isn't a next life, and it can be a comfort to think there might be; that out loved ones are not lost to us forever.

My Dad passed on January 1st, 2001, a single day into the new millennium, by some accounting. If time is a dimension, like spatial dimensions, in a way he is not gone, like a person who is spatially out of sight is not gone. Anyway, sometimes I want to talk to him. I can do that anywhere, I suppose; if there is a next world it's unlikely our spirits would be tied to the resting place of our physical bones. Nevertheless, sometimes I go to the Scarborough Marsh, where we scattered his ashes, to visit. I stand on the footbridge and talk. The first few times I felt silly, but it comes more naturally to me now.
I visit a few times a year, kind of randomly; a couple years ago, I did because we were having a solar eclipse, and my dad was blessed with a great intellectual curiosity, and I deeply wished he were there to see it with me. 
It's a beautiful place, never more so than on a sunny day in late autumn, when the colors are gold an

bronze vibrating against the blue sky and water. It's accessible via the old Eastern Road, now a bike/walking trail with entry points at Black Point Road and at Pine Point Road, among several others (it's a pretty long trail, nearly 30 miles from South Portland to Kennebunk.) It's a flat, easy trail - easy to walk or jog, and you can ride a street bike on it, and it takes you through some of the most beautiful landscape in Southern Maine.
Don't let your outdoor activities end in September! Late fall landscapes have an austere beauty all their own, and cooler temps are quite conducive to delightful hikes.

Jubilee

I'm a tomato gardener.Not in a truck-garden, farmer's-market kind of way, but we plant four raised beds, and the largest - 10" x 6" - is full of tomatoes. I usually get short season varieties: Sun Golds, Oregon Springs, Consmonaut Volkovs. But I get my seeds from Fedco, and I always check the box that says if you re out of the variety I ordered, send me something else.

This year they sent me Jubilees. Wow, what a beautiful tomato! Large, smooth, yellow-orange fruit, a little seeter than a regular tomato...and still producing. It's late October, and I just plucked this beauty. My freezer is full of bruschetta, salsa, and tomato sauce by now, so all Ocotber fruit are sliced and eaten. On BLTs, in omelets, in salads, or just by themselves.

My Sun Golds are still fruiting, also. This was one fantastic year for tomatoes.

The Veil Grows Thin

Portland, Late October Moon.

Cobbosseecontee Stream, Gardiner

One of the charms of the city of Gardiner is the fast-flowing Cobboseecontee, which runs right through the center of town.

Woolie Bears Don't Lie

Woolie Bears are the Magic 8-ball of caterpillars. According to folk wisdom, one can predict the coming winter by observing the relative width of the brown band in the woolie bear's middle. When the caterpillars display wider brown bands, the coming season is predicted to be milder. Narrower brown middles conversly predict a harsh winter.

So, what does woolie have to say for himself? Is his middle wide or narrow? He (ze?) has four-ish brown body segments out of thirteen. (No, I can't see thirteen, but that's supposedly how many they have.) According to the (recreational and pretty much unscientific) research by Dr. C. H. Curran, the average is between 5.3 and 5.6 brown segments. So that can't be good.

Last year's woolie bears were pretty short-centered, also, and last year's winter? Was a bitch. In fact I've seen very few woolie bears this year, perhaps as a consequence. The same dynamic that blessed us with very few Japanese beetles to destroy our roses and raspberries has taken most of our woolie bears with the other hand.

As it happens, the caterpillars and the almanac are in agreement, as they were last year: Harsh winter. Our fuzzy little prognosticator says: Outlook not so good.

Dividing Day

My shopping list for today:

• Seep hose
• 50' extension cord
• Mulch

It's the last weekend in September - time to divide the perennials, dig up the neglected beds, and mulch for the winter.

When I started perennial gardening, tumpty-ump years ago in St. Paul Minnesota, I thought I was doing it because it was less work than planting annuals. I like stuff that stays planted! I used to stay. Right? Just plant it and then relax and watch it bloom for years to come.

ROFLMFAO, as we used to say.

In reality, perennial gardening demands composting, weeding, mulching, dividing, and moving plants that are didn't get the memo to bloom where you are planted.

Without attention, by fall, a perennial bed will look kind of like this:

Dry, crowded, weedy. This bed needs to be dug out, the keepers set aside, the weeds pulled, and the dirt mixed with compost and replaced. Either the bed will have to get larger or I will have to discard some plants, because they have all thrived so well they are crowding each other out. I just redid a smaller bed, which now looks like this:

Expanding the bed means even more work next year - and more mulch, which gets expensive. In past I have not had the heart to discard perfectly good plants, so I expand the beds, or start new ones.

Then I started reading The Right Size Flower Garden, by Maine author Kerry Ann Mendez. After some life changes left her with less time and energy to devote to her perennials, Mendez had a choice: let the garden fall into disarray, or limit the garden to the space she could take care of. The book details shrinking beds, planning garden care, and choosing plants that require little attention. I've already started, with two raised bed which were, after many years, too shady for their inhabitants. Pull 'em out, sod 'em over!

Each year, of course, the garden is all about next year's garden: when this finally blooms or that fills in.  This fall I am excited for next year, when I will (hopefully) have time to keep the remaining beds looking sharp all season.

Tide Pool and Cairn, Ogunquit, Maine

A gray November day, but not too cold; thought we'd get out before winter closes in.
This was taken on the Marginal way in Ogunquit, a lovely walk on classic stretch of Maine's rocky coast. The walk is about a mile and a quarter; you can download a .pdf map here.

If you're in Ogunquit, go see my friend Rick and Rick at On the Main! They sell pottery and other fine handmade items.

The Tail End of Foliage Season

A last bright day of Indian summer here in Central Maine. Maybe frost tonight!

Apple Picking Time!

October in Maine is apple picking season. Local fruit can be had for a pittance at stands and grocery stores, and many people go apple picking as a fun family activity. The benefits of picking your own apples are obvious: being outside, enjoying the weather while you can, getting some excercies and a break from the ordinary. The trouble is you end up with alot more apples than you likely need before they start to get soft. Frugalistas will turn that into a plus, however: though raw apples don't freeze well, and preserving is a pain in the ass, it's easy to bake sliced apples for freezing. Like so:

3 small Mac Apples
3 tbsp honey
1/4 cup brown suggar
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp butter

Slice the apples in 1" bits and place in 2-quart covered casserole. (Pyrex or commercial stoneware would work but handmade is always best. Anyway I think so, but I am biased.) Dump the honey, sugar, and spices in; cut the butter into pats and dot the top. Bake for 20 minutes at 350°. Remove, uncover, and stir contects of casserole; replace in oven and bake for 10 minutes more.

Allow to cool before spooning into freezer bags. Or enjoy right away!

A New Dome for the Statehouse!

I have been following the progress from my front yard. Look how it gleams in the October sun! The Lady of Wisdom, who stands atop the dome - you can just about make her out in this photo - has been re-gilded as well. According to the Bangor Daily News:

Once complete, the statute will be be noticeably brighter from below, and the exquisite detail on the statue will be preserved, Boulter said, although at 200 feet above the ground, it’s difficult for visitors to appreciate the artwork.
Boulter said weather and strikes from hail have damaged the copper, especially on the topmost portions that are more exposed, and holes have developed, causing leaks into the building.
The seams between the copper sheets, which were first installed when the building was expanded and renovated in 1909 and 1910, also have caused problems for the underlying steel and concrete structure of the dome.
And while other parts of the building have been renovated over the past two decades, including a full restoration of the interior of the State House and portions of the exterior from 1998 to 2001, the exterior renovation of the dome is the most visible work on the building since it was expanded more than 100 years ago.
The building was expanded in the early 1900s to replicate the U.S. Capitol, in a move that was sweeping state capitols across the country.
But Maine, unlike many other states, decided not to gild its dome with gold. Boulter said historical renderings of the building show it both with a golden dome and a brownish, copper-colored dome, but none of the earliest renderings show the greenish color of oxidized copper.
Boulter said he was unsure whether the color was ever an intended effect or just the result of time.
What is certain is that the building, once the staging starts to come down later this year, will not look the same again for at least 30 years.

Read more here.

Maine Craft Weekend!

In conjunction with American Craft Week, this coming weekend is Maine Craft Weekend! Click here for a list of events and participating studios and breweries.

So far we've had a fabulous autumn, and this weekend looks great as well. Meet the artists, have a brew, get a jump on Christmas shopping, and peep at some leaves, while you're at it.