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??