Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Maine, my heart bleeds for you

That's the title of the song I'm writing about Maine, one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It goes something like:
"Maine, Maine, my heart bleeds for you,
you are so beautiful,
Maine Maine Maine."
It's a work in progress.
Anyway, Miriam Elizabeth and I drove up to Maine this weekend to attend the Common Ground Country Fair, this cool festival in Unity, Maine. Elizabeth is from Maine so she didn't really get why Mir and I were so excited about it, but we couldn't wait. It was really cool, with all kinds of exhibits and demonstrations of organic farming techniques. There were people spinning wool, milking goats, showing chickens and gorgeous vegetables, many of which I'd never seen before. There was TONS of organic food with plenty of vegetarian options, including whole wheat fried dough, veggie pasta, lobster rolls, fried clams, french fries and lots more. I also stopped at the Midwives of Maine table and got some buttons "stop the spread of birthfright"(!) and a tote bag (of course) that says "peaceful birth peaceful earth".
Elizabeth invited us to stay in her family's camp in Poland, Maine (as in Poland Springs!), right on Thompson lake, which was still warm enough to wade into. It was so beautiful there that I said it was "making my heart bleed", a statement that I had to explain was a good thing.
Here are some pictures from the weekend:


sunset over thompson lake, jen's favorite time of day



throwing a stick into the lake for the dog to fetch


I LOVED the Maine/ New England accent and did an amazing job of butchering it all weekend. My usual level of eavesdropping was only heightened by this. Mir ordered a garden salad and was asked, "gaHden?" and she said "yes, gaRden". It was great.
Also, did you know that businesses in Maine love to play with the word "mainly" as in, "Maine-ly Lobster Soup" or Maine-ly nutritious"? Me neither.

3 comments:

mary said...

um whoa! I was at commonground too! but I went on friday. did you eat a piecone? did you see the sheep-herding demonstrations? I took a bunch of photos and I'll be putting them on the internet soon. you probably walked right past lots of my friends/family who had booths there.

I'm phil's friend mary by the way. I am from maine and I have a tattoo of the state motto. because I am hahdcore.

Stephanie said...

hi mary!
i love that: hahdcore!
the piecones made me a little uncomfortable, so i did not partake. are they good?? and what's the state motto?
i did not see the sheep -herding becase it was so insanely crowded that i couldn't elbow my way in. did you see the little girl wrangling the baby goats? i think that was my favorite part.

mary said...

the piecones are very tasty, yes, especially if you have the blueberry kind. I recommend the blueberry kind.

I didn't see a girl herding goats! but I did see an old guy driving an eight-mule hitch team.

the state motto is "dirigo." it means "I lead" or "I direct" in latin and it is our motto because we are the easternmost state in the union, leading everyone boldly into the day.

I like when worlds collide on the internet!