The Way Life Should Be (Bangor, Calais: house, school, camp)

[MaineMathTCHER]

Hi guys-
Many of the posts I have been reading here lately have been a bit....off color at times. I thought we could do an old time thread about the good things about this great state that we noticed today. With the end of summer coming fast and my next school year around the corner I am enjoying every second I can. So, my question to you is
"what made this summer remarkable?" (in a clean family friendly way please).

To me it was the mist. I have never had so many misty mornings where the smell of the ocean was so thick. I loved everyone of them! How about you?

[Nor'Eastah]

We have gotten frequent afternoon thunderstorms down here this summer, many of them quite violent, with power outages. I understand that many parts of Maine were similarly affected. As my work is outdoors, we had some interruptions, as you might imagine.

However, once the rain and thunder stopped, I would notice how nice and cool it was...how the air was easier to breathe...and how nice the evening would be. Good sleeping weather! I really do have a problem with the heat and humidity (Northern European descent) - and this was a welcome relief!

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Fog so thick I couldn't see the end of the dock at 5 AM when I'm usually up. By 7 AM the fog is gone and our weather in Eastern Maine has been great for the most part. Wifey retired June 30 and it won't really hit until school starts and she is not there. When you have a place on a lake in Maine you get a lot of visitors. We have had people at camp nearly every weekend and we enjoyed everybody. All this and they are finally fixing our road. My T-shirt says "Life is good."

Time to get the last of the wood under cover. The maples are starting to turn color. We never had any blistering hot weather except for that freak weekend in May just after the ice went off the lake. Bam! Summer.

[RHB]

My garden grew!!!
Last summer it didn't.

[Maine Writer]

My garden didn't do half as well as it should have this year. That's not all bad though. Because of the extra time I have thanks to rain (did I just say thanks to rain?) I made new friends over the summer. Some are near and dear and others are far away but close to my heart (I miss Janice being just an hour away). This place is addictive. I came in for a drink of water and had to see if anyone is around.

[corgis]

We got new windows on the lower floor of our house in Eastport last May. The joy of windows that open effortlessly and the salt air flowing through the house from front to back and side to side has been glorious to me. Most of the time we couldn't get the windows open and if we could get them open, we couldn't get them shut.

The corgis sit in a chair in front of the dining room window by the hour watching the world go by and barking at the dogs being walked past the house.

To hear the foghorn in the morning, hear the seagulls scream, feel the sea breeze on your face, my, my, my, it just can't get any better.

Next year or two, new windows in the upstairs and this old house will sing with outside noises, smells and doggies looking out several windows.

[peachie_in_maine]

I love looking up at the sky and seeing it "black with stars lighting the way.
That to me is .. Maine.. the way life should be.
But my best part of summer this year was being outside and working in the yard. It's rewarding to enhance what nature here provides.

[dmyankee]

Waking up to find a moose staring in the window this morning...and I'm downtown!

[mollysmiles]

I was talking to Maine Writer yesterday about the calls that come into the PD....

"there's a moose in the street!"

"ooook, what would you like us to do?"

"well, can you send someone over?"

"and what would you like them to do?"

"Can't they catch it???!!!"

Aaron always used to say that he could never really say the things he wanted to and keep his job! His reply would have been: "where did you *think* you were living? cause this is Maine and we have wildlife!!" Instead he would explain that the moose would wander away just fine if left alone and please, do leave it alone. If it doesn't within an hour or becomes a danger then please call back and we'll contact the moose catching people!

I remember one little girl being late for school one day because there was a moose on her street and they had to come another way. We were in Bangor Yesterday while caching with MW in Calais we had to avoid the deer...uh, droppings. You never know where critters will turn up. I agree, it makes life interesting in Maine

[corgis]

Originally Posted by peachie_in_maine

I love looking up at the sky and seeing it "black with stars lighting the way.
That to me is .. Maine.. the way life should be.
But my best part of summer this year was being outside and working in the yard. It's rewarding to enhance what nature here provides.

Mensaguy and I do that a lot on clear nights. We watch the blinking lights of airplanes and wonder where they came from and where they are going. It one of the most peaceful things to do on a starry night. Just sitting on the deck wrapped in a throw, heads turned upwards and just marvel at the light show shown above. We don't get that back in WV, way too much smog and too many city lights.