More Fog in the Inner Harbor

The inner harbor is where the commercial activity turns into homes and private boat landings.  The scenery is a little more varied.

In Maine?

Never knew that Flamingoes summer in Maine!

Goose Rocks Beach

Usually, this blog is full of post and pictures of mountains and rivers. Well, given that this year is a bit different, I can now offer a series of photos of the beach, in this case Goose Rocks beach. It is pretty certain that you will not catch me on the beach looking to sit there and get baked, my lily-white Irish skin will not react kindly. In fact, I will look like one of those Maine lobstahs!


TEBA at Goose Rocks beach

TEBA and Stella

A bit hard to get photo of a raft of new born eiders ( I think) 

Sandpiper?

Big Blue Lawn Ornament

Here is another old truck, actually a 1939 Dodge.  100% full restored the thing is worth maybe absolute tops $35K.  It would cost you about $45K to restore it, unless you were a pretty damn good mechanic and had sheet metal and painting skills, then it would only take about 2-3 years.

Therefore it cost more to restore it that you can sell it for.

Thus, it remains a "Big Blue Lawn Ornament"

Again offered here in a colorized and "Hard Filter" effect.

What is it?

Taken at the pier in Cape Porpoise Harbor

Start your guessing ...

Head of a Star Wars robot?

Answer below

Need more?                                  Old pier pulley in the fog, part of an old block and tackle system

Buoys not boys

Yup, you see a LOT of lobstah buoys in and around a lobstah town. They are everywhere, not just in the water.

For you non-Mainers, a lobstah buoy is attached by rope to the lobstah pot and marks the location of the pot for a lobstah-man. Lots and lots of buoys are lost due to bad weather, age or just forgotten. They end up as decorations hanging on many walls throughout out New England.

Each buoy is different. They are painted and marked in a way so as to uniquely identify the owner. Up hee-ah, never screw with some else's colors

Buoys make for very colorful photos.

A buoy pile ...

Are these Italian buoys??

All sorts of shape and colors ...

Even More Boats

I'm enjoying taking pictures of boats. I've been over to Cape Porpoise pier now 3-4 times in different lighting situations: Fog, cloudy, brilliant sun, etc...  Fog is the best, but I need to wait for a time to go at sunset.

A lot of lobstah boats have female names with many having two:  like Ashley Lauren or Anne Marie. Dinghies don't have names, but some have numbers. The lobstah boats are always on the same mooring and don't move, but the dinghies just get left anywhere. So, while you will always get the same line up of lobstah boats, the arrangement of dinghies is constantly changing -- thus giving new photo-ops all the time.

Anyway, here are a few more.

Cape Porpoise Post Office

As in many small towns, the post office at Cape Porpoise is, to say the least, "interesting". Like many it is in the general store - Bradbury Brothers Market. http://www.bradburybros.com/index.html

I like the idea of going to the post office, getting catalogs, bills, a bottle of wine and some V-8.

Mail, wine and V-8 all in one convenient spot! 

The Ramp

The Ramp is a funky restaurant in Cape Porpoise ... walking distance from where we are housesitting ...  famous for their fried onion strings (yes! they are really good!). It is a small cramped place with lots of sports memorabilia, but the most sought after thing at the Ramp is an outdoor place to sit with a beverage.

You prefer to get there when it is like this.

Even nice in the fog

Now -- time to enjoy the deck at the Ramp

Rosa Rugosa

No, that is not the name of a woman living in Cape Porpoise, but it is the very common sight,  better known as a Beach Rose.  Actually it is a common sight in many global sea side towns.

Here is a unusual look at the plant and flower.

More Common looks at the Beach Rose -- On Goose Rocks beach

Lobstah Boats in the Fog

Some of the most interesting scenes arise during bad weather, so when it is raining or storming, I like to go out and capture the surroundings.

In Cape Porpoise, that means fog, a pretty normal event in the coast of Maine. In fact, the harbor could be in fog even when the village, not too far off, is in the sun. So this morning, it was soupy fog, so I took the cameras and headed out.

One old truck

This truck sits at a house just off the main square (triangle) in Cape Porpoise.  I think it is very well known because I have seen it in paintings. It's a 1946 Chevy

So I took my photo and worked on the image to make it "more interesting".  With digital images there is quite a lot that one can do to change and alter the original.

Cape Porpoise Harbor

The Cape Porpoise Harbor is a long-standing lobstering port. (Lobstah is the correct pronunciation). The harbor is very well protected and serves a small fleet of lobstah boats.  The  harbor alone will yield many photos for this blog.

The pier (Pee-ah for real Mainers) is the center of the working area of the harbor. Boats come in to and go out of the pier, loading and unloading, and transferring fish and lobstah to the local co-op. Due to this, the pier smells real fishy!

Bait buckets and lobstah pots...

Lobstah post ready to be dropped in the ocean ...

A section of the pee-ah ...

Cape Porpoise ME

We have moved from Camp Liberty to our first house sit for the summer. A place in Cape Porpoise Maine, which is actually only about 30 minutes south of our winter rental in Saco. We are here for six weeks while the homeowners go off on a road trip west to see the continental US and a bunch of National Parks -- a bit of symmetry there! We've actually helped them by suggesting places to go and things to do.

So, we are sitting for a menagerie: Stella, a 3-year-old Bernese Mountain Dog, a cat named "Chairman Meow",  Merlin the cockatiel, Percy the turtle,  Berner the gecko, six no-name chickens and a starfish.

Cape Porpoise is right up the street from Kennebunkport, a summer tourist town, with lots of people and tons of shopping and restaurants -- boy I love shopping!

It will be interesting to view this part of New England from our "tourist" perspective.

Evolution

This is of the bird type.

Our bird families at Camp Liberty have totally different gestation times. The robins "opened up" only a few days after the first image, while the wrens (or sparrows?) didn't open up until the day before we left, about a 10-11 day difference.

Brand new robins

Wanting to be fed!

Nap time

Growing up fast

Getting crowded

Meanwhile ... still waiting for the wrens !

Still waiting!!

Wonder when the robins will fledge?
Looks a little cramped in there

 Can I start using the garden tools yet?

Finally - little fluff balls of wrens!

Annual Trip to Acadia

We have been going to Acadia National Park on Memorial Day weekend for the last 30-35 years. The weekend originated with a bunch of young stud rock climbers, but over time, it has evolved to the "geezer brigade" as noted by one attending old guy. Indeed, his daughter was there and was on a death march hike. Later she noted that she thinks she saw one of the brigade --- "Dad, I think I saw one of your friends, -- he was old and had grey hair"

Alicia and me on top of Dorr Mountain ...

Over looking Bar Harbor ...

Crazy crowd on Mt Cadillac ...

Trailside Eastern Wildflowers --  Lady Slippers ...

A white one!

On the South Ridge Trail -- best in the Park ...

On a steep slabby trail on the way out ...

Alicia next to a "bates" cairn ...

An unexpected gorge -- something new after 30+ years of visiting here ...

 Swim anyone?