First Trip Since Covid
Tuesday we drove to Maine. We’ve done this trip every year since 1984. We did or tried to do some shopping in Kittery and then in Freeport. Many stores are empty. Those that are still in operation have vastly lowered inventories and are short staffed. For instance, the Kittery Trading Post where I always buy 2 pairs of the slippers I like at a good price, only had one pair in my size and no choice of color. They said they were hoping to get more in by Christmas…. Jockeys in Kittery and then in Freeport had NO boxer shorts. However, Lindt candies were fully stocked. And so was the cosmetics store where there as a huge sale.
We usually go on Wednesday and come back Thursday, but because of Kol Nidre starting @ sundown on Wednesday, we went Tuesday and were careful to get back well before sunset on Wednesday in order to observe Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The Harraseeket Inn was as clean and comfortable as always and we had our usual room with a jacuzzi. We had supper there at the Broad Arrow Tavern and the food was great. Breakfast was a bit less than usual, but okay. We tried to get local apples with little success this time., a disappointment.
Everything was quite lush but Jean Noon at the Noon Family Farm told us they had had as bad a drought in the summer as us but then, like much of Massachusetts, they had suddenly switched to a rainy pattern and it rained just about every day. She had not been able to bring her hay in. We got the naturally raised lamb from her. She had prepared her lamb for selling as prepared food at the Common Grounds Fair, 400 pounds worth. That’s when she makes a lot of her nut. But two weeks before, they suddenly cancelled and there she is with 400 pounds of lamb prepared for them. As if farming now isn’t hard enough.
The cats were hysterically glad to see us return, although they showed it in different ways. Mingus was the least upset as he is the oldest and has lived through the years I traveled two or three times every month. Schwartzie was sulky and didn’t let us pet him for a few hours. Willow hit my suitcase when I was unpacking and then when I got into bed, hit me once, then climbed on me and purred like a jet engine. During the night she woke me three times to make sure I was really there.
The hard rains lately washed out most of the seeds and seedlings I had planted before the trip, so I’ll have to see how many seeds I have left to plant today or more likely tomorrow. Woody is shopping this morning since Friday I had a doctor’s appointment in Harwich that morning, and he had two things in the afternoon, an electrician coming to see about installing better lighting on our drive and turnaround and steps up to the house and then WOMR with John.
I’ve completed my revisions of my novel THE HOUSE AT HOPE’S END. Now I’m back to writing poetry and trying to figure out which independent press[es] to submit it to. I’ve aged out of New York with my fiction.
The rabbits have decided they like Oriental eggplants. The tomatoes are all done and pulled. Peppers are still coming, as are beans. And for the first time in at least four years, we getting more than a couple of pumpkins and a decent harvest of winter squash.