Gone Country - This Ain't Nothin'

Every year when ever we went to Maine (it was 29 years this summer) we came away with what we now call a "Maine Song"; you know that song that you hear playing on the radio all the time, when you're in the car, pool and even in the store.

It started kind of innocently - we'd reminisce about something we did or where we were when we heard that song, and soon it became "A Maine Song". Sometimes we'd wait to see what song was played the most that trip, while other times it just happened - every time we got in the car - it was playing, or the time we went to camp, it was playing or if we were just hanging around the house, the radio would play it a dozen times.

Now even my son is into the game, he waits to see what song it's going to be. This summer, I really got into Country music a lot. The radio in the garage was tuned to a country station and rather than change it, I left it on for background noise. But as I was washing & hanging clothes or doing some other mundane chore, I actually listed to the words of many of the songs, and realized that that stuff was GOOD!

So this summer, by a unanimous vote, the following song is this years Maine Song ( I love it & love the video even more! - who'd thunk!!!!)

Geocaching - a new hobby?

A few years ago I purchased a cheap GPS with the intentions of Geocaching, it never got off the ground.
Last week I got the bug again and joined Geocaching.com (hmmm...can't put a link in) I then took it a step further and visted L.L. Bean and purchased a Delorme PN-40, a bit pricy, but a device which would make the whole process a bit easier. (I hoped!)
Today I tried it out and found my first cache at a stop sign I have passed dozens of times, less than 1/4 mile from the house. Found four more after that - this could be addicting!

"Be like the flower, turn your face to the sun."~Gibran

What a better way to start your day than with a field of bright, golden sunflowers!

There is a farm on Sweetser Rd. that has a huge field of these beauties! Someday I will have such a field!

Adopt a grave

I tended my in-laws grave in Walnut Hill Cemetary and while there I snapped pictures of random, interesting headstones.









(What can I tell you, I'm weird that way). Anyway, as a lark I Googled a name - Larrabee Harris from one of the headstones & got a hit - I decided, on the same lark, to continue the tracing and found this:

Birth: Sep. 1, 1781, Yarmouth, Cumberland County, Maine, USA
Death: unknown

Larrabee was the son of Stephen Larrabee and Lydia (Tuttle) Harris.

On Oct. 27, 1808 in Gray, Cumberland County, Maine he was United In Marriage to Judith Delano.

He was the father of ten children, Lydia 1809, Amaziah 1810, Stephen 1812, Almira 1814, Asenath 1816, Jane 1818, Ezekiel 1820, Joseph Russell 1822, Olive 1825 and Eliza 1827.

He was the brother of Hannah 1776, Rachel 1778 and Stephen 1780.

The Harris family were English and the first members of this family arrived in the United States of America on the May Flower.

Family links:
Parents:
Stephen Larrabee Harris
Lydia Tuttle Harris

Children:
Amiaziah Delano Harris (1810 - 1889)*
Stephen Larrabee Harris (1812 - 1888)*
Joseph Russell Harris (1822 - 1902)*

Spouse:
Judith Delano Harris (1792 - 1834)

Burial:
Unknown

A family memeber by the name of Linda, posted this information on the website "Find a Grave" - she posted a request to share information about this family - I sent her an e-mail, along with a copy of the pics I took, giving her the date of her ancestor's death. Who knows if she'll answer - hope she will.

I find this stuff so fascinating.

Watching Hummingbirds from the porch

For years, when I was visiting Maine, my mother-in-law Marie & I, would while away the afternoon sitting on the porch swing, sharing a cup of tea, quietly talking and watching the Hummingbirds.

Each Mother's Day, we would give her a plant for her garden. Every year it would be something different - Lilacs, Azaleas or Bleeding Hearts; whatever it was, she was always thrilled and she planted each one in a special spot.

One year I picked out a pink Phlox, which she planted directly in front of the porch. Perhaps it was beacause the ground was rich, or because it got the hot afternnon sun, it grew and grew. It grew so tall, that we were able to see it from the swing.

One visit, we were surprised by a visit from a tiny Hummingbird. We sat fasinated by it, and it returned everyday for days and kept us entertained for hours. Every visit thereafter, we sat and rocked and waited for the Hummingbird, and it never disappointed us.

This trip, while not able to sit on the swing, I still kept an eye out for a visitor and today was the day! Yup - a sweet little Hummingbird showed up to take a nectar break! I'm sure Marie is smiling from above!

We spied an Osprey newst today

They usually perch atop of platforms or other flat, high surfaces. Very cool.

At least we are protected from aliens!

Since we don't have cable in Maine (i.e. we don't subscribe to cable)and with the switch to digital signal, we had to be very creative to get any kind of stations while here.

We have the "converter" box - which is like tits on a bullfrog (sorry - but true)it does nothing really. So we purchased an antenna from Wal-Mart and still no reception. This is when I tell Guy to get me the aluminum foil - the look on his face made me realize that he truly had no idea what I was going to do.

This soon to be 15 year old, who never had anything but cable TV, with a choice of 300+ channels, never had to make an antenna from tin foil or a wire coat hanger. How many times did I hook up my old 16" black and white TV I had in my room to long speaker wires wrapped in foil? Or to bend a metal coat hanger and attach it to my portable radio to get better reception? Too many to count!

Anyway, I went to work and began to build a Rube Goldberg television antenna, while Guy looked on in hesitation, thinking his mother really flipped her lid. This is what we wound up with




We started with one channel & now have eight - woo hoo!!!!