My Maine Digs

So I’ve been in Maine now for several weeks. I’ve learned what I absolutely love, and what I could absolutely do without.

I love the weather… when it is sunny. When it’s foggy it feels like it is sucking the life out of you (at least that’s what it seems like to me). Luckily, the weather the past week plus has been gorgeous – in the 70s with beautiful clear skies. I think the weather (plus the lack of so many pollutants) has been the best detox for my skin – my skin has never felt or looked better (okay, so maybe when I was 15 with less wrinkles and pores – but in the most recent future it’s been the best in Maine).

We are in blueberry land in Maine. What I didn’t know is that also means there are a ton of other berries and wildflowers that grow rampant. Where we live there are wildflowers everywhere, as well as wild raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and cranberries – there’s probably more, but Mindy will have to fill me in. The trees are also so beautiful. I love the white paper birches and the firs. I love the green, lushness of it all – right up my alley.

 

I love the water. We live on the bay, which is tidal, and I love to watch the comings and goings of the tide. The beach I love to frequent regularly is only a few minutes away, and I can’t get enough of it! There are also so many rivers and lakes that wind through this land, because the ocean is sooooooo cold up here we like go to the lake to swim.

My new love retail love is Marden’s. It’s a retail chain in Maine that takes closeouts from other stores (like Target). Andrew and I have found some mean deals here, including Isaac Mizrahi dresses for $5 and several construction products Andrew needed for his job and a fraction of the cost (I couldn’t tell you what exactly it was, or how good of a deal it was because it is way over the mental block I have with construction products). The best part of Marden’s (according to me) is the fabric. I’m definitely going to stock up before I come home. If you’re into fabric, you can appreciate that at Marden’s I can get Anna Griffin and more importantly Michael Miller fabrics for under $3.50 a yard. While I was there the other day, I asked how far south they go. The clerk replies, “Oh we’re everywhere, let me get you a map of our locations”. When she comes back she presents me with a map of Maine (hilarious!).

The church up here is phenomenal. We go to a teeny tiny branch of about 25 members, generally all over the age of 60. Madeleine is the primary/nursery (unless they have visitors) and there is one sweet lady who will take her so I can attend my classes. They are so happy to have us here and are so welcoming to us every Sunday – probably because I am one of two people who can somewhat play the piano they’ve suffered through me playing and they’re just happy to have that! They’re already telling us how much they will miss us when we finish our project up here. I really love it. Because it is so small, everyone builds each other up and they have such a strong bond. You can really feel the spirit with these wonderful, humble, Mainers. There’s a lobster fisherman in our branch and he’s promised to take us out in his boat, regardless we can buy lobster from him anytime for $2.59/lb!!! I can’t wait to try my sea legs out.

In general, the people up here are so nice and hospitable. We went to watch some local fireworks and I learned I didn’t have enough cash on me to buy the popcorn and the lady running the stand just told me to go ahead and choose something – amazing!

Things I am learning to live with:

Solar power. Yep, maybe if it was done differently in the house that we live in, but there is just not enough for all of the energy we create and it’s really been an eye-opener for me to pay attention to only doing laundry when either there’s a good solar charge, or if it’s sunny. If it’s overcast, you have to run the generator (there is no general electricity brought from the road), which I’m told the generator costs a pretty penny to run. So far I’ve only experienced solar living in the summer while it’s generally sunnier, I hear the winter is a peach!

Lack of close retail therapy. Our closest Wal Mart is almost an hour away. I’ve finally stepped foot in a Family Dollar, it’s only 15 minutes away, and you know what? It’s not too bad! It is strange for me not to have everything I could possibly want to buy in a 30 minute circumference. I’ve learned that internet shopping is a must.

TV. We have TVs and DVDs, but no service to watch local programming. I wouldn’t say by any means I’m a TV junkie, but I do like to watch some good shows while I’m folding a load of laundry, and I can’t even remember what it’s like to have a local news – they don’t here. In fact the newspaper is not a daily newspaper, there’s just not that much going on.

Being away from family and friends. This is really hard for me. I really miss being close to all the people I love. It doesn’t help that the cell service up here is not very widespread. Thankfully it works okay in the house, but I have had more dropped calls than I would care to mention as I’ve driven around town.

BUGS! I never thought I would be exposed to so many bugs! The mosquitoes are twice of the size I’m used to seeing, and I’ve thankfully missed black fly season. Currently, every time you go outside you must spray, or suffer the consequences.