Kayaking Down the Penobscot

The recipe for  a great kayaking day is,, blue skies, great weather, calm water, and lots of close friends to have a fun with.

We started our adventure loading up our favorite kayak and all our safety gear. Drove to a local spot where the water is low enough to embark without having someone take a flip before the trip begins.Which on most occasions happens. There is a special way of getting in and out of the kayak, before you learn your own technique usually you spend a few times in the drink. Been there myself many times.Not a place I like to be at the start of a trip.
We had a plan .. go from Chester all the way to the boat landing in South Lincoln. About a 15 miles paddle, of course to our advantage the current  flowed down stream and not up.If you  get tired of paddling ,  it was easy just to drift for a while. Just have to stay away from the small whirlpools as you would end up going sideways and going to fast.
One thing about living in Maine is the beauty of the outdoors , and this trip does not disappoint you. The water is crystal clear and banks are full of wildlife. As we started out a eagle joined in on our journey. He is well known in this area of the river and must enjoy the company of the kayakers. He would fly ahead as if was mapping a route for us to make sure we didn't miss any of his good fishing spots. Then he would land in a tree and wait for us,

As we paddled our way down the river we enjoyed the company of  being together for this special memory.We would paddle side by side and share stories , or just float and be awed by the beauty of nature.Every once in awhile we would pull onto a bank to walk around and see things you can only see from land. There was a big bees nest part way up a tree, which any true Maniac knows means we are in for another long winter with lots of snow. So the nice warm day really had more meaning to it.

The day was warming up so we decided to pull over and maybe cool our feet off by wadding around in a low spot that was sandy, the water was crisp but felt wonderful , plus the stretching of our legs and back was worth the stop. On the bank was some beautiful wild flowers the were just posing to have their picture taken. Not sure what kind they were but we respected them enough not to pick and change the landscape.Any true out doorsman  knows you leave mother nature alone..We knew it was going to be along paddle so we got back in our kayaks and continue on.
On this part of the river back in the 1800's it was used to drive logs to the mills to make lumber . So we saw alot of old driftwood that has been there for decades.There were huge piles of rocks in the middle , so that the logs wouldn't jam up these piles would make them fork off in two directions.
As we approached the bridge that runs to the interstate we could hear and see the big trucks up over head, people were honking their horns and waving to us, wondering who are the lucky ones to be doing the river run today.

 At this point were about 3 hrs into our trip. Had eaten  most of our goodies and even stopped for a potty break. Sorry , no pics of that, I tried but everyone was in agreement I would be thrown in the water to be left behind!!I didn't didn't want to swim the last few miles.

Just as we went under the bridge we met up with another kayaker , that come up from the boat landing that was our destination. She  turned around and joined our small party as she could see were having such a good time.
Around the next bend there was a  shitpoke fishing along the shoreline..he must of seen 1000's of kayakers by now as he just watched us and continued on feeding.

The eagle had left us back at the bridge but not before sending down a message for us to have a safe trip, a feather was floating in the water and I was lucky enough to be the one to retrieve it and as he flew off  above him the clouds formed a feather , not sure what that message was but it was amazing to see.

The last leg of the trip was coming near , we slowly drifted into the boat landing and could sense the sadness of the day coming to an end. We climbed out of our kayaks , talked about the great time we had and that we will do it again soon.

Christmas Eve 2011

Tonite is Christmas eve.. Dec 24th , 2011.
What a sad way to celebrate Christmas Eve.. Playing on Facebook games. The reality of it is, everyone is on Facebook. What a sorry bunch we are? Looking to see ,Who , said Merry Christmas or just maybe invited us to play some word game! I am right there looking for my turn to play!!
When outside the temperature is 3 above zero!! Perfect conditions for Santa and his reindeer to skim across the Maine sky...and alot of little kids are waiting for him to slip into their house and deposit the wonderful things they have seen on TV these year, that they so desperately want! But not knowing.. there is no money for these things!

All I want for Christmas is ..no child to go hungry..too much food in this country wasted..
No one to go without medical needs..sometimes it matters ..for life or death
No one to be homeless, we all deserve a place to call home.
All animals be treated with respect..after all they are our number one main source of food , go back to number 1!!

Letting Go

How do you learn to let go of someone who has been part of your whole life?
When my mom died 8 years ago,I thought it would be the hardest thing I ever had to go through. But having my sister pass away this year at the age of 63, has really blown me away.
Even though she is or now I can say was 7 years older then me..Someday I will be older then her..That's just not right..How can I be older then my older sister?

We grew up in different generations.. she got to do everything first
She wore a flip hairdoo.. I wore a Beatledoo...
she wore a poodle skirt ..I wore a mini skirt..
she wore 2 piece bathing suit...I wore a bikini
but it doesn't matter what we wore.. we always wore our family pride..

Old Shack

Take a peek inside this old shack.. what do you see? Old boards and windows , faded paint and a table laid down with broken legs.
Through my teary eyes I see my childhood. I see my grampa , sitting at that table waiting for the next train to come through and he has to put the gate down..I see him peeking out the side window with his pipe in his mouth waving me to me as I run down the tracks to visit or bring his lunch to him.
He usually had a few magazines to read or the radio on. But his was always as happy to see me as I was to see him..sometimes I beat him in a game of checkers,but it was more about spending time together..this Old Shack is more then broken boards and missing paint..

Afriend called yesterday and said"Let's go get the last of the fiddleheads "me being a person that wouldn't pass up on these goodies! Well we left home at 11am, but we were hungry not far from the driveway,so had to stop and get sandwiches to eat on our way..After about 20 minutes of traveling and 15 minutes of searching we found them.. Carrying our buckets and bags..it was a fiddlehead dream..the back bending pain of picking is well worth the reward..actually we ended up with enough to bring home and spin through the "Special" cleaner..which only a few fiddlehead pickers own!!! Even had enough to send to some of our friends and family, who we know love having "MAINE" goodies!! Still had enough left to eat our fill,share with our neighbors.I miss having the old folks in my neighborhood.When we moved here 20 years ago, we were the younger generation.I used to take all our neighbors fiddleheads and smelts . Some where along the line we took their place...

Road Trip

We got us this morning and did a road trip. Drove about 70 miles north of where we live to a town called Houlton, Maine.Right on the Candian border.. Why ? Well half way up there we asked ourselves the same thing..WHY?But, when your on a mission ,Why? doesn't even matter anymore .. It's WHEN? will we get there!! Took only about an hour and a half of driving.. The first 25 miles there was civilization.. then another 40 miles of absolutly nothing!!Oh ,there was plenty of trees and I think we might of passed two cars along the way.Waved to them, just because I felt we had a kinship to them, being all alone on that backroad.
Our mission was to get new flooring for our house , which we finally did manage to do, at the Mardens Store. Who held it for us ,until we got there. Not that there was a mad rush for it, but we didn't want to take a long ride for nothing.
So,being in a new place, why not look around the town and check out all the good places to shop. And to me the good places are the Thriftshops and Bargain stores. We found a second hand book store.I am all for enterprise in this country, but give me a break. This place wanted $19.00 for the 4 books I picked up. 3 hardcover and 1 soft cover. I knew they were used because they had the old owners names in them and were a little ratty tatty on the edges . Not that I wouldn't pay a decent price for books, but come on!! I told the owner I can go to yardsales and buy them for a buck or less. His response was, he has to heat the building and wouldn't be able to if he sells them to cheap!! For crying out loud,, there was 300,000 books in the place. Sell them cheaper and you and go south for the winter ! As it was I left the books beside him,thinking..at these prices you might as well burn them and heat your building next winter...HA! I guess I showed him!!

Who tried them first

I am so wondering who was the first person that looked at some of the things growing wild and thought "Wow" I bet those things would be good to eat!
I'm refering to alot of spring time bounty in Maine.
Who was brave enough to actually cut a dandilion green out of the yard and cook it up.Not to say, I don't enjoy a few feeds of these delicious greens myself, with lots of butter and vinager. Man, do they have a bite or what? The bitterness is what makes them so good! But before summer is over we will be swearing at these plants for taking over our yards with yellow flowers!And causing lots of grief with alergies.
Next comes the fiddlehead. One of the best parts of spring. We all wait in anticpation for the first one to pop up , then look out!! The riverbanks are full of two legged scavangers with plastic shopping bags , trying to get a fresh feed for supper!! My grandpa had an old saying " if you listen, you can here them growing behind you as you pick"Now I know what he meant, they grow almost as fast as you can get pick em'. Everyone has a private spot , and only share it when they have more then they need for themselves.These locations get passed on from generation to generation.
Just before the fiddleheads arrive we have what is known as smelting season. As soon as the ice starts to melt everyone heads to the mouth of the rivers and dips smelts. Usually this takes place after dark, with carloads of people ready to get their limit. Of course over the years this changes, was a time it was a gallon a person. Now you get a 2 quart limit, or 200 smelts ..whichever comes first. I'll stick to the 2 quarts . I'm thinking who in their right mind would stand there and actually count out 200 three inch fish??