Mr Frog

There's this great photo of a frog posted on my bulletin board at work. If you look at the rest of the board, there are random spread sheets and print offs, server numbers and business cards, and then in the bottom right corner there's just this great photograph of a frog coming out of the water. Looking at the image, I can't help but wonder how its home came to be among a clutter of office information. the fortune cookie tag posted beneath my computer screen reading "Don't panic." I can understand. Even the sticker pinned next to my desk that read as follows...
I can get as a humorous poke at my job and its "tools." But the frog...I just can't grasp.


While pondering this bright green fellow, I find myself wondering about the woman who previously held my position. It's strange beginning a job after your predecessor has long since been gone. I'm left to learn in out-of-town offices with other people who hold the same position for different papers. and sitting at my desk, previously her desk, I'm not left with much. I know she moved away with her boyfriend, but to where? I don't know. I know she was in a bit of a rush, but I don't know why. I'm simply left with her desk and a smattering of papers, her computer files and notes, and the photo of the green frog.

Sailing the open seas

Today was another exciting day in the weekend. The three of us went down to the docks to check out the Puffin and Whale Watching boat that started its seasonal tours this weekend. Joe and I were pleasantly surprised to find out that the rumors we had heard are true: we get to go on the $50+ tour for free with a pay stub showing that we're working residents of Bar Harbor. This means we can take the three hour boat trip any time we want! We got ourselves onboard and bundled up for the windy journey. We went out to a small island that houses the second tallest lighthouse in Maine where we ran into some puffins--you can just barely make them out in one of the pictures. After the island, we headed out to open waters where we floated around a bit, looking for whales. But alas, we were not so lucky as to find any. It's still early in the season though, so the whales still haven't all migrated up here yet. Thankfully they have a policy of no whale=voucher, so Joe's mom can go on another boat the next time she comes out to visit.











It was really great to be out on the open water, albeit quite cold. It was the first time I seriously thought about the fact that I'm living in a vacation spot. The majority of the people in town are coming off of one of the cruise ships that dock in town or else coming in from a long trip form somewhere else, all to see the town and the park and the scenery that we get to enjoy everyday. Each meal we cook could cost over $20 at a restaurant and we can cook it for about $10 or less. We can go out boat tours and sunset cruises for free just for having a job in town. We've even been told that restaurants around town will give you a "local discount" just for being a local. I'm going to have to work on not taking for granted the fantastic surroundings I now inhabit.

To go off of that, we took a trip to the farmer's market on Sunday, and I was rather surprised at what we found. There wasn't much produce apart from lettuce, but when you consider the fact that it's just barely summer here, that's not surprising. There was, however, a selection of plants, including herbs--which I bought a number of and planted in some pots at home...something I've always always always wanted to do! We also found a large variety of fresh meats, fresh milk, yogurt, cheese, jams, preserves, maple syrup, and bread, as well as a variety of other goodies. I'm already excited to see what the summer brings in!

And on yet another note...I finished my work training last week and will be starting my first official day in the office tomorrow. I'm officially an ad designer! And I must admit that throughout my training, I was surprised at how comfortable I felt with everything they threw at me. U of M did me well and I'm kind of excited to get my own desk and get started. I get my own desk, and best of all, I get benefits with my job too--one of the best things to be able to earn as an artist these days!

Martha's Bulbs

This has been a busy weekend. Joe's mom came into town Friday night, and our first activity with her was to take a walk through the annual bulb tour at none other than Ms Martha Stewart's estate. I wasn't aware that the estate was hers, but half way through her winding, pine needle-padded paths, I was enlightened. The woman owns some gorgeous property and fills it with some gorgeous flowers! The tour took us somewhere around an hour, stopping frequently for pictures. We learned that each year the bulbs are re-planted. At the end of the tour day (this year it was extended to two Saturdays because of the turn out from previous years) the workers are allowed to clip what they like and then the rest are replanted in other areas of the estate to test which bulbs will come back the following year -- and the sad truth is that the majority of them don't. The property was covered with beautiful flowers that will all need to be replaced the following year. After looking at some of these pictures, I think you'll get why I'm so sad over this...





















Here's some images of Ms Stewart's "cottage." The first one is of the main house, the second the guest house, and the third a shot of her view of the water. The last image here is of a little frog she's got in one of her many ponds. It's a commonality that her and I share. I have a similar "spitting" frog in my pond back at my parents' house in Lapeer. I think this could be the foundation for a fantastic friendship :)

Yay for being a big girl!

I start my first day of training for the Bar Harbor Times tomorrow! yay for a new job!

...that is all!



ohhhh and i went clamming today with my newly acquired clamming license...haha go me!


and now...that is all!!!

Hungry Hungry Beavers

I'm not in a babbling mood today, but I wanted to give a bit of background for the pictures I'm posting. Joe and I went on one of the many carriage trails that wander through Acadia National Park. Between 1913 and 1940, John D Rockefeller Jr had over 45 miles of carriage roads constructed. The man wanted to ride his carriage around his land and decided to create a series of roads to allow for his "joy riding." Now the trails exist for bikers and hikers and wind around some pretty amazing landscapes. I came across the work of some determined beavers as well as what is called Witch Hole Pond. I haven't been able to find any actual history about this bizarre landmark, but Joe proposed that the beavers created the two level dam existing on the outskirts and managed to flood the area, creating a pond, and killing the existing trees, leaving the erie remains that we found. A pretty astonish sight...

"He's got a crab! Drop it!"

After Joe's first week of working and my own week of playing housewife and job hunter (in case you haven't heard...I GOT A JOB!), Joe and I decided to spend the weekend outside, enjoying our surroundings. We started our Saturday of adventures by taking a needed trip out to Ellsworth, the first town you come to on the main-land. I needed an oil change and we had wanted to explore the town. We found an amazing cooking store with shiny gadgets and fancy foods which we'll surely be visiting again. We also stumbled upon this...



At first we thought it was just a waterfall from a dam...but then we got a closer look...and realized that not only was it not so pretty, but it was a hydro-electric plant.



I tried to do a bit of research on the location, but the best I could find is still possibly untrue. I couldn't find anything that definitively stated that it was this particular location, but there's apparently a scandal behind it (or whichever other location). Apparently the government felt like rushing into creating the plant and accompanying dam and wound up flooding a large area of the surrounding town, washing out a few buildings and destroying wildlife. There was also another incident some years later where the water levels rose so high that a bridge was wiped out. To go along with this destruction, I read (I'm not sure if this is true or not...) that the plant actually does not produce any power at all...

After Ellsworth, we decided to stop at "the point" to see what the place looked like during low tide. To our surprise and excitement, there were muscles all over. Our previous trip produced a good amount of muscles, but this time we could be picky. We were able to leave the small guys and only take the big ones home. While wandering through the drizzling rain, I was having a phone conversation with my mom when Joe yelled out "He's got a crab! Drop it!" and went running down the shore. I looked up to see him chasing down a seagull that had found himself a feast: a crab. But the poor thing could barely carry his heavy find and Joe's cry was startling enough to get him to drop his feast and fly away. Joe then proceeded to take off his shoes and wade into the water to scoop up the left-overs. He came out smiling with an unhappy crab at his side. The poor little guy's day when from bad to worse...









We bagged up our little friend and threw him in the truck while we continued down to the other side of the shore. After our big find, we didn't think we would find anything that fun, but we were wrong. The seagulls had found yet another prize...the muscle pit-as I'm choosing to call it.





Can you believe that? Those are all muscles. They form their own floor...tons and tons of the little guys, clinging to the bigger ones and the rocks that are buried waaaaay beneath. I couldn't bring myself to walk across them...but I'll admit that I really wanted to. Walking along the beach and hearing the empty shells crack under my feet is a pretty cool feeling...but this would be like walking on layers and layers of bubble wrap: so gratifying. But that would make me an intentional killer...and with no intentions of making use of my prey, which is just plain mean.

So after our trip to the point, we headed out to the sandbar. The sandbar is what we're conjecturing to be the reason for Bar Harbor's name--I'll have to do some research on whether or not this is true. During low tide, a sand bar appears that connects Mt Dessert Island to another smaller island a short ways off the shore--during high tide. When the sandbar appears you can walk out and dig for clams on your way to the other side, or you can do as we did, and drive your car right out onto the bar. It was pretty crummy out, so we didn't stay long, but it was a definitely a cool thing to do and we'll definitely be repeating the experience on nicer days.

A Tale of Two Lobsters

Yesterday was one of the first days I felt like I was actually a citizen of Bar Harbor. I had a semi job interview/meeting with a woman who owned a local gallery, met her daughter and a local jewelry artist. Then Joe and I went out on an adventure to find some muscles to cook with the lobsters he had bought for dinner. We found ourselves a small local beach and wandered along the shoreline, collecting muscles that had washed up near the shore. It was approaching high tide, so there weren't many, but we found enough to make a meal. I tried to piece together a bit of a panorama of the scenery to share...It was so beautiful and I'm still so surprised that I actually live here.





Upon returning home, Joe and I checked out our lobsters and chose one for our meal...poor guy didn't even see it coming...





We had ourselves a fantastically fresh and seafood filled meal of steamed muscles, grilled shrimp, and boiled lobster. And I have to admit, with a little of bit of garlic butter--homemade by me I might add--it was all pretty tasty. I think I'm actually going to be able to get used to the "island cuisine". Who would have thought? Certainly not me!





After dinner, we attempted a bike ride. Well I suppose I should say that I attempted and Joe went. I have to say that I have never felt so out of shape in my life. Apparently my body is not built for bike riding. I have a lot of training to do in order to master this hilly terrain. Baby steps...

Not much else to chat about at the moment. I'm playing housewife for the day and trying to clean up the homestead. Mostly I've got boxes and boxes of art supplies that need to be unpacked and I've been putting it off for far too long. Well today is the day!