We were in Maine again this weekend. There was a lot of fog going up on Friday evening. We stayed on route 302 through Windham rather than taking the longer but faster but less traveled route through Gray, which had seemed very slow in the fog two weeks ago. The Windham route was still slow in the fog, but more familiar so even with the fog it was better than the other way.
The sky was beautifully clear when we got to Casco. I got out the H.A. Rey star book and went outside to look for a little while. One thing I liked when we first saw the property was that there was a lot of open sky. There was a good view of stars from Sirius on the one side to Cassiopia on the other (if you don’t mind my mixing a star with a constellation).
Our first trip Saturday was to Bridgton to get information on the Mushers Bowl winter carnival that’s going to happen next weekend. Arlene wanted to look in antique stores, but they all seemed to be closed. Reny’s department store was open, though, with things marked down and an additional 20% off lots of items. She got a flannel shirt; I got a pair of corduroy pants, originally L.L. Bean’s, for about $5 after all the markdowns, a corduroy shirt, and a lightweight sports shirt. We crossed the street for a local paper and headed back to the house.
The weather was nice (though still disturbingly warm!) most of Saturday. We set out to walk clockwise around the property, cutting a trail along the northeast boundary as we went. The snow was melting. Our socks and pants cuffs got cold and wet before we got to the end of that side of the property. We did find the stake at that corner of the lot, the first time we’ve found it, though. From that point it wasn’t long before we found the trail we had cut around the other three sides of the property, and we got back in less time (though more than three times the distance) than the first side had taken us.
I made a batch of bread, sort of 50% whole wheat bread with half a cup of honey and three quarters of a cup of Wholefoods cranberry trail mix. I had made some white bread with the trail mix thrown in several weeks ago. After this batch, I’ve decided it’s definitely my favorite bread add-in. Between the nuts, cranberries, and other ingredients, it adds lots of texture and flavor.
Saturday evening we went to Windham to check out the new Lowe’s store for a washer and dryer. We didn’t get the appliances, but we got lots of information about what’s available, delivery, etc. We did come back with a snow shovel, a shop vac, three cellular window shades (did you think phones?), and small items. I was excited to find that they carry hardwood in lots of thicknesses down to 1/4 inch — perfect for sides of small drawers, if I ever want to make small drawers.
We started the fourth jigsaw puzzle of the set of four lighthouses. It’s still sitting there, unfinished.
I put the vise on my workbench, and pine boards over the front and back 2 x 6s to bring the height up above the vise jaws. So that’s all done!
Today we installed a new toilet seat (another Lowe’s purchase), put up the window shades, and hung four pieces of art.
We stopped at a Japanese restaurant, Sakura, in Portsmouth NH on the way back. It was the middle of the superbowl. The restaurant emptied out while we were there. Walking back to the car, we said, “Here in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the normally bustling streets are deserted.”
Much of the way home from Portsmouth we were able to hear the Maine Public Broadcasting Network airing the Classically Black program about composer Florence Beatrice Price, whom I’m sorry to say I had never heard of before. We like to keep MPBN on as long as we can, just to stay in Maine longer, anyway. We lose the station just as I-95 merges onto route 128.