Next weekend over the holiday Chris, China and I are going camping. We had hoped to go more than once this year, but it’s been a pretty rough summer and we’ve only planned the one trip.

We set up the tent tonight to let it air out and to clean out the dirt that wasn’t shaken out last year. If you wonder why we didn’t do that last year, well, there were a few reasons why:

1: The new Harry Potter book was sitting on my kitchen island and that meant that no one was going to get me to do anything but sit on the couch and read all day

2: Our septic tank decided to go on the fritz and we had to deal with that. (However, it only took me away from my book for two hours tops - there’s not much to be done but call the guys to fix it).

Thinking back, that’s when the ‘bad year’ started. I mean, we haven’t had a smooth time of it since we moved to Maine but this past year has been pretty disheartning at times. Money, health, etc.

Things are looking up and that’s good and I’m hoping that this camping trip will serve as a symbolic end to the ‘bad year’ that we’ve had. I’m at a new position at my job that I like better than my last position; Chris is getting more work and we were able to get him a new (refurbished) machine really cheap that will lead to even more work that he can do.

So, if anyone’s reading out there send some ‘good year +’ vibes out to us as we get set to go on our end of summer camping trip (although we’re already having Fall temperatures - yippee!)

And now for your viewing pleasure, Sunrise on Sebec Lake, which is where we’ll be camping next weekend.

This past Saturday we took a day trip up to Greenville, a popular spot for vacationers and tourists. It’s easy to see why.

These two pictures are of the mountains surrounding Greenville. I didn’t get a picture of the lake (which is huge and is the first thing you see right in front of you when you come into Greenville) but I hope to next time we visit.

Down the road from the in-law’s camp is a small dam that makes a very picturesque waterfall. So, I took a picture.

And, I finally saw my first moose. On our way back home, just outside of Greenville, a female moose was trying to eat some dinner. I’m afraid we annoyed her when we stopped to take pictures. Sorry Ms. Moose!

A couple of weekends ago we went down to Reid State Park. We’ve been to this park before, on our honeymoon, and not much has changed. It’s still very pretty, despite the fact that we got there at low tide.

The beach looks nice, but I’m sure that if it had been a sunny day instead of chilly and gray, it would have been teeming with peoples.

Some Sea Roses (which smell wonderful) were growing between some rocks on the cliff overlooking the ocean.

On the way there and back, we passed this interesting rock painted like a turtle. I don’t think this is the ‘turtle of enormous girth’ but he’ll do for a scenic attratction.

In gardening news, the gladiolus that I planted in memory of my grandmother are growing quite well. They’re those green shoots between the hosta and salvia.

In the back yard, the field is full of white daisies, yellow dandelions and orange dandelions, which I had never seen before. There’s also plenty of purple clover blossoms and, oh yes, lots of mosquitos. Fortunately, there are still many dragonflies around and they’re doing a pretty good job keeping those numbers down during the day. At night however…I think they need to add a graveyard shift to their schedule.

It’s been a while since I posted…again. It seems that nothing is really happening, but I’m always so very busy.

The above picture is one I took two weekends ago when we took our second day trip down to Popham Beach. It was taken from the back of the Popham fort. The picture below is from the same viewpoint, but about thirty minutes later when the rain started tapering off. We’ve been having a lot of rain the past few weekends, but we haven’t let it stop us from enjoying the scenery.

Some of the scenery is just a short walk away. This next picture is of the ’stream’ that connects to the Belgrade lakes. This stream is right behind my sister-in-law’s house, which is only about a10 minute walk away from our house. No, I don’t know why this isn’t considered a river, but hey, they call it a ’stream’ up here.

For an update on my tree picture project, here’s this week’s picture. Amazing what a difference a week can make, huh? It’s about time, really. I’ve been very anxious to see the leaves come in. The bush next to the tree is growing too, but even slower than the trees.

Four years ago, when Chris and I came to Maine for our honeymoon, I picked up a few postcards to send home to relatives and friends.

Well…they never quite made it. In fact, I found three of the following postcards in my glove compartment about a year ago. I tacked them on my bulletin board to remind me of our eventual goal. Now, I can share them with you to give more examples of why we wanted to live here.

Aerial view of Augusta, the state capital.

An aerial view of Belgrade Lakes. We live a few miles to the ‘right’ of this picture.

Another view of Belgrade Lakes.

A view of China Lake, which is close by.

A couple of months ago I remember complaining on this blog about a blizzard that passed us by and how ticked off I was about that. Well, I think the snow gods heard me.

The past two Tuesdays, we have been hit with snowfalls of 10 inches each. And the forecast for the the weekend? More snow, and it looks like a lot of it.

I’m not really complaining, because I still love the snow, but now that I have a job it can be a little bit of a nuisance - especially when the snow is over a foot deep and the driveway is impassible.

We’re fortunate that we have relatives that will plow our driveway, but they normally can’t get over to our house until after work. Last Tuesday, I got stuck twice in our driveway. This week, we woke up to find half the driveway plowed, so someone was up early. Thanks Dave!

Here are a few pictures of the scenery around the house right now.

There are the trees in our back yard, covered with snow.

A nice picture of the field behind our house and the woods beyond.

Chris’ car. Good thing it’s not due back at the leasing office until April or May.

The snowplow took out the mailbox, so this is where it spent its Wednesday.

My attempt at an artistic picture. I thought it turned out kind of nice.

This is my favorite picture I took. I was trying to do another one of those ‘artistic’ pictures and didn’t even notice China running in the background. This was one of those happy accidents. Doesn’t she look like she’s having a blast?

The last time a ‘blizzard’ was supposed to dump a foot of snow on us, it pretty much passed us by, which pretty much ticked me off.

This time, it’s here and looks like it’s here to stay for a day or so. Yesterday, almost all the snow was gone, but today, the world is white once again.

China, not enjoying the muddy, slushy back yard

China in her ‘new’ back yard, the way she prefers it.

The house, from the back yard

The woods are all white when you look into them now.

A view of the edge of the woods.

I thought I’d post a few pictures of what it’s like to live in Maine. For those of you who haven’t read the whole blog, you might want to note that we moved here two months ago from hot, humid Florida, so Maine has been quite an adjustment. For me, it’s been a very welcome adjustment.

It’d be perfect if I could find a freakin’ job.

If the following isn’t enough for you, check out my dog’s blog over at http://chinacabinet.blogspot.com

The cat really doesn’t like the dog much, but when it comes to the heat vent, she’ll get really close. As you can see here, she’d probably prefer to sleep inside the heat vent box.

This is one of Audrey’s favorite spots. Right now, it’s only sunny for about an hour or two, but I’m sure that once summer gets here, we’ll find her here a lot more.

Just for Mom - here’s what a Maine gravel pit looks like. You know, those pits that Stephen King is always writing about.

Here’s China trudging through some of the snow in the back yard. It’s still pretty deep closer to the woods.

I’ve mentioned quite a few things that I looked forward to when we decided to move to Maine and most of those have come to fruition.

Some of those perks come in small packages and one of those perks up here in Maine is Moxie®.

Most people know Moxie as something someone has; ‘That girl sure has moxie!’ But it started out as one of the first popular soft drinks in the USA. At one time, it outsold Coca-Cola and Pepsi combined! Moxie was even sold as an ice cream flavor.

Moxie isn’t known far and wide as it once was, but it’s still available in many stores up here in Maine, including the two corner markets just down the street on either side of our new abode.

If you’ve never had Moxie I’ll just say that you either love it or you hate it. I love it. My husband hates it.

What does it taste like? It tastes like a mild root beer with a kick of ginger. Another description would be Dr. Pepper mixed with Root Beer.

If you ever get up to Maine, be sure to pick up a bottle of Moxie and try it. You might like it, and you can always tell people that you’ve tasted the first popular soft drink in America.

For more great info about Moxie, including historical information and it’s fan base today, visit this site: Maine Farmhouse Journal: Entry Dated July 6 - 10, 2000

The Original Moxie Man

Today’s Moxie Man

Last blog entry for a while…

We’re in the process of packing up the last boxes and hopefully getting a few hours sleep before the movers get here to pack up the truck.

Wish us all luck! The next time I post, it’ll be from the chilly north.