So far I have had two weekends off and as I write this I am
working towards weekend number three. It has been a slow start to enjoying my
weekends, since the tourist season is not in full swing yet. A lot of places
and attractions are not yet open for the year. Soon, I hope to have some more
adventurous excursions, but for now I’ve just been exploring local towns and
looking for amenities. My usual off day routine has been to spend one day
exploring a new town (I look at a map and pick one and research it) and one day
hanging around my house and my town, cleaning, cooking, etc.
Weekend No.1 - Damariscotta & Hallowell
The first weekend I explored the town of Damariscotta. In my
previous excursions through the town I had noticed what looked like a farmers’
cooperative market, so I really needed to check that out, especially since I
was in the need of some groceries. The store is called Rising Tide Community
Market and it is a local farmers’ cooperative with a good selection of national
brand organics, just like you’d find a MOMs, Whole Foods, etc. It was a great
shopping experience. I got milk from a Maine dairy farm, bread from a local
bakery, honey from a local beekeeper and maple syrup from a local producer. I
bought tropical flavored syrup by mistake and it turned out to be an awesome
mistake. The syrup reminds me of the kind of sauce you’d put on mango chicken.
I can’t stop eating it on things. It’s got this nice citrus and maple flavor
combination. I have actually been to this store twice and the second time I
decided to pay my $10 and become a member, since I know I will be shopping here
more often. I like knowing where my food comes from and that it’s as natural as
possible. I like that some of my food doesn’t have to travel as far or use up
as much fossil fuels to get to my plate.
After going to the grocery store I decided to stop at the
Maine Coast Bookstore downtown, where they also have a little coffee shop and café.
It was very nice, although I didn’t stay long as I decided to head home for a
later lunch.
On the way back home, I stopped at the local Laundromat and
did my laundry. I only washed it. I would take it home to dry on the clothes
line. There’s just something special about drying clothes on a clothes line. It
reminds me of the time I lived in Missouri and I used to help my mom with
hanging clothes out. Thinking of my mom brings back wonderful memories we have
shared together over the years. It also reminds me of an old time pastime my
grandmothers would have done and I feel at peace doing something so primitive.
It’s another piece in my homesteading, survivalism, environmental movement. It’s
nice to carry on old fashioned traditions sometimes. Unfortunately, I do not
have my own laundry facilities, but oh well. It does seem kind of expensive to
go to the Laundromat, but you are paying for all the extra services built in,
like the free wi-fi, which is nice, because that is not something I have
constantly either. And that’s actually nice, because I don’t spend nearly as
many mindless hours on Facebook anymore, lol.
Sewing for a Cause (Reusable Lunch Bags)
In the late afternoon I got out the sewing machine and
whipped out a reusable sandwich bag, made from ripstop nylon and a cute fabric
called “peanut butter and jelly-fish” that I bought on Spoonflower.
For dinner I made my own spaghetti sauce from scratch using
a fresh tomato and some canned diced tomatoes. I can’t wait until the tomatoes
ripen in the summer, my sauce will be even better when all of my tomatoes are
fresh and not canned. The sauce turned out amazing. I added a little bit of
ground beef and topped my spaghetti with feta and Italian cheeses. It’s not
that hard to make spaghetti sauce from scratch and it tastes great and making
it yourself is very rewarding. I like knowing what goes into my food, so when I
bake things myself I have control over the amount or non-amount of
preservatives that go into my food. It’s so much tastier and fresher. A lot of
people say they don’t have time to cook from scratch, but if I take the time to
do it on my days off then I don’t have to do it the rest of the week when I am
coming home from work and want a quick meal. You just have to prioritize it and
make time for it. Trust me I think it’s worth it.
Pictures of Sewing
Hallowell
Tuesday, I went to Hallowell Maine. A town that time had
seemed to have forgotten. It had a lot of old fashioned stores that seemed as
if they had been there forever. There was an old-fashioned candy store, butcher
shop, fish market and what interested me most a nice little fabric store where
I bought some Common Loon fabric (definitely says Maine). I didn’t actually
stay long as I didn’t find much else that interested me, but maybe that’s
because like most town’s around here it’s more lively during the tourist
season.
Container Garden
I also finished construction of my container garden. The day
before I had also stopped at the local HSUS community thrift store and looked
at some baskets and thought to myself, there has to be a way that I can use
them for container gardening, but I wasn’t sure, so I didn’t buy them. Well as
it turned out after some internet research and trusty eHow.com, I found out how
to use wicker baskets for container gardening, so on day two I went back to
that same thrift store and bought 4 baskets. I also have to say, that the HSUS
is a great cause, so it was good to support them (they help animals like
Callie, Louie and Tabby). I read the step by step instructions on eHow (link) and made my wicker baskets into
planters for my herbs and spices. I have sage, thyme, oregano, basil, marjoram,
spearmint, peppermint, lemon balm and lavender. I also have garlic and
breadseed poppy. Later on I will hopefully have a tomato plant in a bucket as
well. We will see if it grows, if not I might be able to get some fresh ones
from work as well and without all the work having to be done by myself, which
is really not that bad either.
Southport Beach
I also made time to relax on the beach and not how one would
imagine relaxing on the beach, but just wonderful nonetheless. I climbed up
onto a rocky outcrop and found a nice place to lounge and look out over the
ocean and watch wildlife pass by. There is also something really calming and
mesmerizing about watching the waves ebb and flow. I am a person who does not
deal with stress and anxiety real well, so I definitely think spending time in
nature helps tremendously. And going to the Southport Beach was wonderful. I
must have spent a half hour there, but it felt like an eternity. Time seems
infinite when you have no real care in the world, nowhere to rush off too. I
think we all need those kind of moments, every once in a while, if not at least
once a week. After some time of just watching the ocean, I decided to walk
around and look for life in the tide pools and waves. I actually found
something I had never seen in real life before, but as soon as I saw it, I knew
exactly what it was. My zoology nerdiness told me it was a polycheate worm, a
cousin to the earth worm. I was so excited to see this that I did jump up and
down a little bit I must admit.
Weekend No. 2 - Damariscotta & Wiscasset
Reny's in Damariscotta
The first day of this weekend I decided to go back to
Damariscotta and to Rising Tide. I also decided to check out Reny’s department
store. Now if you’ve ever lived in Maine or spent a great deal of time in Maine
you’d have to know what a Reny’s is and have been to one. You aren’t really a
Mainer until you do. I didn’t go into the underground section where the deeply
discounted merchandise was, because I got caught up in buying expensive and
nice wool hiking socks. I love them, they are so durable, comfy and cute. I
will definitely have to go back and see more of that store and see what deals
they do have.
I also ventured into downtown Boothbay Harbor to check out
Red Cup which is one of the local coffee houses. It was a cute place with all
the usual coffee house flavor and the coffee was really good. Best of all they
had free wi-fi. I think I will be going there quite often on my days off, since
they are only open during the day.
On Board Fabrics in Edgecomb
This past weekend I also decided to venture to the nearby
town of Wiscasset. I had seen their downtown area while driving through several
times and I had told myself that one day I was going to stop there.
Before reaching Wiscasset I passed On Board Fabrics in
Edgecomb. I stopped there to see what they had and instantly felt like a kid in
a candy store. There was a section of
fabrics that were scraps from the owner’s projects and you could buy the scraps
by the pound. I started picking out all kinds of small colorful pieces of
fabric. I do lots of small projects like snack bags, purses, etc. that I am
always looking for scraps. I hate having to buy big pieces or pay a lot for
remnants. Here I found the best way to buy small pieces and what’s even better
is that I can pick through the bin and look for those diamond in the rough
pieces. I am definitely going to go back and buy more soon, even though I haven’t
used the first pieces I’ve bought yet, lol. However, I have started a new
project that I am going to need lots of scraps for. I found a pattern for cloth
bunnies at a local thrift store (along with another great pair of khaki pants
for work!) and I fell in love. I used to collect cloth bunnies when I was a
small child, so I was excited about the possibility of being able to make them
myself. I can buy scraps of fabrics to make each piece so that some of the
bunnies can be a unique patchwork, like the first bunny I made. The first one
was made from some scraps of plain white fabric that I bought, along with some
white fabric that I had that had black floral line drawings sparsely on it, so
in general most of the bunny is going to be white. I am so excited about the
idea of making these bunnies for friends’ babies/toddlers. I know they will be
such sentimental gifts.
Wiscasset
Then in downtown Wiscasset I checked out a few shops and had
lunch at Treats a cute little gourmet foods restaurant. I had soup, coffee and
a chocolate ginger scone. The food in all was amazingly good. In the shop there
were locally produced syrups, jellies, coffees, wines and other sundries.
While at the café I was reading the local recreation guide
and that’s where I found out about the possibility of going to church on
Sundays at 6:30 pm at the American Legion Hall in Boothbay. God is absolutely
amazing the way he makes things work. He wants me to advance my career, but at
the same time he gives me an opportunity to still go to church even though I
work on Sundays and it’s not even a Catholic church service (which was really
the only choice I thought I’d have for evening services). I am going to go for
the first time this weekend, so we will see how it goes. I hope I like it,
because it does work with my schedule.
Weekend No. 3 - Coming Up
This weekend, off to Bath to explore this somewhat larger
town, an Iron Industry supported town, with a huge maritime seaport history,
where I hope to find more organic food stores, restaurants, coffee houses and
antique and art shops. I will tell you all about Bath next week, except to say
that I am saving the maritime history for the Bath Maritime Museum trip someday
soon with my dad.
