The Arootsakoostik Festival and Northern Maine

So, I had all these witty things I wanted to say about our trip up North, but it's been so long and so busy that I just can't remember any of it now.:) We DID have fun, though, despite the endless rain that Maine has been seeing lately. It rained for about 3/4 of the weekend that we were up there, but, luckily, the people who set up the Arootsakoostik Festival had tarps hung from trees and the sun DID come out for Luke and Katy's performance, which let me shoot about 150 photos of them in true Daylight, which has never happened before. I loved it! Robert and I did something we don't usually do by trusting Luke and Katy to get us a free camping site next to them with the rest of the bands (Luke said, "Besides, it's COOL to camp with the bands..." HA!). I told Robert it was a completely unpredictable situation and he said that was FINE, so, when we got there, drove down a long, bumpy, deep puddled road (in the VW) to a big field with a small area that had been bush-hogged out of a large field for our camping use and he said, "This isn't a camping area"...well, I didn't hit him over the head like I wanted to.:) We made the best of it, put our tent up in the dark (THAT was fun), realized we need to return our tent because we are OLD and don't want to crawl into a tent anymore, tried to sleep on the tiny air matress, and woke up to find out that my pee spot was about 5 feet from an actual pond/bog in the woods, and left the camp site at about 6am.:)

We DID find a great place for breakfast in Caribou (the ONLY place according to the gas station attendant) and we made the quick treck up to Fort Fairfield (FORT to the locals) to cross over to Canada with Luke and Katy. We had grand plans for buying beer and walking around, but, apparently, Canada does not have anything open before noon on Sundays, and, due to our early wakeup it was only 9am...and it was raining. So, we've been to Canada-where the highways and roads are totally weird and the signs are funny. I guess New Brunswick isn't the most exciting part of Canada to visit anyway.:)
Thoughts on Northern Maine:
I had NO idea there were THAT many potato fields in Maine!
I also had no idea tha there were so many wind turbines either...people have them in their backyards! That is so cool!
I love old houses and there are plenty of them up there...too bad there's NOTHING else to do up there.:)
Luke and Katy did a great job...too bad their sound guy sucked.
Funny story: Arootsakoostik is a new festival and, when we drove up, they informed us that they were 25 people over what they had last year...and there were probably about 60 people there total. HA!

Robert didn't have as much fun as I did, but I don't think he realized that Northern Maine means camping or hiking=excitement.:) And the rain didn't help much either (thank God for our new Bogg Boots from Reny's). Still, it was new for both of us and life experiences are all about the new:)

Northern Maine and the Arootsakoostik Festival

Don't have time to write just now, but here's a slideshow of our trip up North...more thoughts to come.:0

TRIVIA!

So, when we moved here Robert was driving me crazy because he didn't have a job and didn't know anyone. Becca, one of my best friends, recognized a friend in need and offered to invite Robert to join her trivia team that meets every Monday night. THANK GOD! Robert loved Trivia Night at King Eiders and made new friends immediately. I went once, but it was the last real trivia night because summer is starting and the crowds will come in and not understand Trivia night like the locals do (plus, obviously, it was a way for Eiders to make extra money during the winter season).:) Anyway, I was invited to come back for the LAST Trivia Night, which was held at 1812 Farm (also owned by King Eiders folk) in Bristol (which is beautiful, BTW). Questions ranged from Audio to History to Food to Booze...and, anyway, we had a good time and we answered 50 questions, about 20 of them confidently, I would say... and, 2 hours later, we TIED for first place at 36 out of 50 questions correct! We are the "Away Team", so we were totally psyched because I believe they have only won ONE other night in the whole winter.:) We went into Overtime with 5 questions against the team we tied..and BOTH teams got ALL FIVE questions right! So, we went into SUDDEN DEATH (exaggeration) OVERTIME-with 5 more questions...and we WON! The Away Team WON! It was awesome! We not only got our dinners (7 people) for free, but we are getting our names engraved on a HUGE glass mug (which we also got filled with beer) and we got to donate $100 of King Eiders' money to a local charity of our choice! WHAT a night! The best part isnt' the winning, though, it was feeling like we are a part of something here in Maine, Together. Our names will be on a glass mug at King Eider's Pub in Damariscotta Maine for who knows how long and it sort of marks the beginning of many great, memorable experiences we will have here in Maine. I Love it and I just feel so at home, so a PART of something, SO just HERE and Happy and I feel like Robert feels that way too.:) We couldn't stop talking about it on the way home and it was just awesome! Thanks to the Away Team Mates who let me in: Becca, Lee, Steven, Robert, Kelsey (also a 2 timer like me), and Amanda (who was absent tonight, but still gets on the mug)!

The Winning Question: What five words are most used in the English Language?
DO YOU KNOW? (we knew 4 and that's how we won)

www.kingeiderspub.com

Old Port Fest 2009

Portland has a Festival every year where all the bars are open all day and all the radio stations have stages where musicians of all sorts play. The Old Port is the downtown area in Portland with cobblestones, shops, and BARS BARS BARS, so it's a lot of fun to close it down and have all kinds of booths and stages going at once. Of course, you still can't walk in the street with a drink...but there are plenty of places to stop at on the way.
Cassie and Stacey took us down and showed us a good time: we got to really SEE the Old Port and all the potential fun we can have there. We could live here for years and not have time to visit all the awesome looking bars and restaurants down there! Anyway, it was a lot of fun...

I got a glimpse of Elliot Yamin (American Idol) and got to see an HOUR of LIVE Dar Williams...I have always wanted to see her in concert and we got right up close to the stage and listened and sang along while the clouds thickened above us...but it's didn't rain until we got back to Cassie and Stacey's apartment at the end of the day.

I also got to see Deb, whom I haven't seen for 2 years! We took the long way around to go downtown so I could walk past her old apartment and see if she still lived there...and, after ringing her doorbell, yelling up at her window, and calling her...we finally got her to come down to say hi. OH how I have missed her and I was so glad to see her again! I love being able to re-connect with people! I also ran into my old friend Chris at the Old Port Fest as well...small world, huh?
Great day, great fun...we must do this every year.:)

Mardi Gras at the Dollhouse

We had a great day for our House Warming party...the house was clean, the food was amazing (thanks Robert!), the weather was AWESOME and the guests were many. We had FRESH watermelon margaritas, red beans and rice, chicken and sausage gumbo, cajun chicken, home-made crab dip, chocolate fondu, and a home-made King Cake! It was awesome. Everybody got beads and Mardi gras cups (real ones collected from all the parades) to take home...I think we all had a really good time.

And PJ made a jar for Jennay to help try to raise some money to get her a ticket up here sometime soon. Every one was very generous and we are going to leave the jar out for more donations as time goes by.:)
Enjoy the fun photos because we were thinking of all the Southern folk we are missing while we celebrated a Northern Mardi Gras!

GUEST OF ATTENDEES:

Lindsay Poland
Emily Kutch
Nick Kutch
Heather Knowles
Jason Knowles

Maggie Lane Knowles (Child #1)
Scott McCardle
Caleb McCardle (Child #2)
Chris Bailey
Becca Morin
Lee Emmons
Steven McDermott
Aaron Child
Cassie Moore
& Stacey
Rhea Schneider
& Heather
Matt Berry
Luke Kalloch
Katy Pearson
Molly Perry
Richard Perry

Our House...

So, I FINALLY shot some photos of our lovely little house...a few up on here, but for the rest you must check your e-mail and look at the kodakgallery album I'm sending out. If you aren't getting my photo albums let me know and I'll put you on the list.
SO, here's The Dollhouse: TA DA!

THINGS

1) The horrible girl with the drama across the street has moved out! I drive around the corner every day and pray I don't see her car back in front of the building...and it's NOT! Yeah for a quiet neighborhood!

2) Our Housewarming party is on Saturday! I'm so excited, but nervous that only a few people will come. I'm also sad that only a few of my actual blood family have even responded to my invite.:( BUT I suppose I will be less flustered with less people.:) I will FINALLY shoot some photos of the house for everyone to see because this is probably the cleanest it will ever be. Yeah! OH, did I mention it's a Mardi Gras Themed House warming?

3) Robert loves his job and so do I! It's amazing, right?

4) The cats are shedding like crazy and driving me nuts trying to keep the house clean, but Robert finally broke down and got some flo-nase so he's doing much better. We can keep the windows open all day and night and have cool, FRESH air with a sea breeze at all times...oh I LOVE it!

5) Everyone go see STAR TREK, it's AWESOME!

6) The only down side to life is my constant fatigue...I'm having my thyroid and anemia and everything tested again after 6 years. We will see what happens and I will continue to workout 3 days a week and see if that ups my energy level.

All in all..."Life is Good"