A Slice o' Maine Life: Husseys, Guns, Wedding Gowns, and Cold Beer!

My parents were traveling around Windsor, Maine today and captured what has to be the very best store sign EVAR! (And it *is* serious...) What a kick!! Enjoy!!!

Scenes from Today's "Maine Maple Sunday"

"Maine Maple Sunday" happens every year about this time, when maple syrup producers all over the state open their doors to visitors so they can see (and taste!) the wonderful alchemy which turns 50 gallons of watery sap into just one gallon of gorgeously golden maple syrup!

Today, my hubby and I hit the road and went to about half a dozen sugar shacks in western Cumberland County, enjoying the heavenly, sweetly humid aroma of the saphouse and sampling goodies like homemade vanilla ice cream with fresh hot syrup, homemade doughnuts with fresh hot syrup, maple baked beans, maple snow toffee, freshly baked bread with maple butter, maple-glazed roasted nuts, and more! What a great day!!

Anyway, here are some random shots of the fun... Enjoy, and you oughta plan to join us in Maine for all the sweet maple-y goodness next year!

The Six Emotional States of Mainers

From an old Down East magazine... Thought it was so funny/true that I kept it for posterity. Enjoy!

Everybody should get as excited as this lil' one about lobsters!

(via Mental Floss)

"Divers Reach the Portland for the 1st Time"

The following news comes to us from this month's New England Historical and Genealogical Society newsletter... (BTW, note that "Divers David Faye, Bob Foster, Don Morse, Slav Mlch and Paul Blanchette spent 10 to 15 minutes each dive exploring the shipwreck but had to endure up to 4 hours of decompression in the frigid North Atlantic in exchange"!)

The wreck of the steamship Portland off the coast of Cape Ann was one of the worst shipwrecks in the history of New England. Sailing into a 'perfect storm' now known as the Portland Gale in November 1898, almost 200 people, including a senator from Maine, lost their lives returning home from a Thanksgiving holiday.

Little of the wreckage was ever recovered. Few victims ever turned up on shore. Even the exact location of the disaster remained a mystery for a century, until researchers discovered her in the summer of 2002.

The wreckage lies about 15 miles east of Cape Ann, and at 460 feet is about the limit that unprotected human divers can reach. Five Massachusetts men recently reached the Portland for the first time since she sank more than a century ago.

Even though the disaster was enough to rip the upper decks off the ship, many fragile class and porcelain items were found intact, including stacks of delicate china plates.

You can read more about the divers in the Boston Globe, and a slideshow is also available here. In addition, you can also read more about the wreck and view a computer-animated [and - I think - haunting!] video of what scientists believe happened to the ship, on the Science Channel.

The wreck site of the S.S. Portland was added to the National Register of Historic Places back in 2005.

Maine in the National Arena

"At this stage of a campaign season, Maine is rarely in the national news. But 2008 appears to be different..."

Read more here.

UPDATED: "Don't hate me just because I'm beautiful!"

Maine anchorperson Cindy Michaels from Bangor just happens to look like Sarah Palin... Hilarity ensues!

UPDATED: Signs? What are we to make of this ornate political crop circle that's appeared in an Ohio cornfield? The aliens vote red?!

Moose: It's What's For Dinner!

Of course, Alaska doesn't have the monopoly on eating moose...

A Political Punch Line Is Dinner in Alaska

(Posted using ShareThis)

Maine island loses cherished tradition: mail delivery to trash can

This story originally caught my eye in the British newspaper The Guardian's reporting of the Bangor Daily (via Topix's "offbeat news"). The news from Maine's Sutton Island which, as you can see below, is not far from Acadia National Park...

SUTTON ISLAND, Maine: The U.S. Postal Service has ended a decades-old tradition in which mail was delivered... by a private ferry service and left in a specially marked trash can on the dock for recipients to pick up. Postal Service higher-ups got wind of the practice used to serve those living in the island's 25 or so seasonal homes and decided it had to be halted for security reasons. ...

Shea Howell, who lives in Detroit, Mich., during the winter, said residents will now have to make the 2-mile ocean journey to the post office in Northeast Harbor. "That can mean a three-hour trip out of your day just to get the mail," she said.... Howell said having mail service is important, especially for older residents who stay on the island for several months at a time and rely on deliveries to pay bills, stay in touch with loved ones and even receive essential medications.

Security issues apparently don't trouble UPS or FedEx, which will continue to deposit deliveries in the trash can (from "Talk Left").

However, the islanders aren't crazy about changes. After all, just last year they hotly contested and largely maintained even their isle's ban on the use of golf carts to get around! "People like the trash can," said one. "They’ve always liked it. We’re going to explore if there’s another solution that satisfies the Postal Service." So, like most usually phlegmatic Mainers who nevertheless won't accept unwelcome changes lying down, the summertime Suttoners apparently are laboring to save their beloved mail receptacle!

(For more of what's likely to be an ongoing saga - at least until winter and the flight of the snowbirds - you can read the full story at the Bangor Daily News!)

Beautifully True Twitter of the Day!

Food Blogging Stateside: The Ethereal Jams of Maine's "Appledore Cove"

As I've mentioned before, I don't often have reason to food-blog when I'm in the States. But every now and then I discover something locally that I have to tell the world about!

This time, it's Appledore Cove... By now, many folks already know about Stonewall Kitchen, yummy jams and condiments sold from their Martha-Stewartesque company store in York, Maine. Don't get me wrong... I love their stuff, and I had never tasted jellies and jams so good before. (I'm particularly partial to the Raspberry Peach Champagne Jam myself!)

That is, until I discovered this week Appledore Cove's "Strawberry Honey Lavender Jam" made right here in N. Berwick, Maine... What a revelation! Elegant in its simplicity... You can taste each of the main ingredients, but it's the beautiful marriage of these flavors which outdoes Stonewall, in my opinion!

Yes, it's also a bit pricey... but as long as you don't indiscriminately slather it on PB & J, it's totally worth it! We had ours on toasted butter croissants this morning, and it was out of this world... So good that it need not stop at breakfast. According to Applecove, the jam is also excellent "as a topping for ice cream or as a filling between cake or pastry layers." I don't doubt it!! Trust me... try it and you'll love it!

Wickles in Maine!!

I don't get too much occasion to food-blog when I'm not in Italy, but I just can't resist broadcasting the wonderful news! Wickles, made in Alabama and called by my folks "the world's best pickles," are being sold in Hannaford's supermarkets right here in Maine, the land of the "wicked good"!!

As their website attests,

Using a secret 70-year old family recipe differentiates Wickles products from all others... Wickles (short for "Wickedly delicious pickles!") are a unique blend of dill, garlic, and sweetness with just enough spice to keep you reaching for more.

And it's true! Southern, sweet and spicy... What more could you ask for?!

2nd Annual Zombie Kickball Game!

I guess I missed the sporting event in Portland this past Memorial Day weekend: the second annual "Zombie Kickball Game"! (You gotta love the timing...)

Coverage of this year's ZKBII is here at Strange Maine.

Group photo of the "Zombie Bleachers" taken by SM's editor Michelle (no relation...)
You can see video taken of this gory group photo here!

Witness all the brain-eating, ball-kicking mayhem from last year in a rough-cut of a documentary which will be screened at the "Fear No Film" Film Festival in Salt Lake City this upcoming June!

(Not to mention the Flickr set... and this year's developing coverage in the Zombie Athletics League Flickr pool!)

Here's hoping that they'll arise again next year!!

Post Script: Wanna be warned if they do? Make "friends" with http://www.myspace.com/zombiekickball!

"You know you live in New England when..."

Along the lines of the classic "You Know You're From Maine When..." comes the equally true and even funnier meme, "You Know You're From New England When..." passed along to me by JAM. Enjoy!!

• Your local Dairy Queen is closed from September through May.
• Someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't work there.
• You've worn shorts and a parka at the same time.
• You've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number.
• When "vacation" means going anywhere south of New York City for the weekend.
• You measure distance in hours.
• You know several people who have hit a deer more than once.
• You have switched from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again.
• You can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching.
• You install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked.
• You carry jumpers in your car and your wife knows how to use them.
• You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
• The speed limit on the highway is 55 mph -- you're going 80 and everybody is passing you!
• Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
• You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.
• You find 10 degrees "a little chilly."
• You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction.
• You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from New England!