Boats & Birds

Tidal Falls, Maine

When we first went out to Tidal Falls the water was calmly coming in. Have I mentioned how awesome the tides are Maine? The water washes in and out every twelve hours and I don’t just mean a foot or two - it goes way out, and comes way back in. I found it very interesting that the water was always moving!

We did an earthcache at this point - GCQ7YK for you geocachers out there, the cache page gives more information about the hows and whys and a link to the tidal charts.

I just find it amazing that so much life still manages with the inconsistencies in the water. This seaweed stuff (sorry have no clue what it is) just lays around on the rocks without water - I can only assume the bulbous tips help them survive while on land.

Then as the water comes in they become afloat with potential eating places for various critters.

My husband thinks he king of the hill - or rocks in this case. Silly man!

As far as we can remember, it was our first time seeing the Atlantic Ocean so we had to do a self-portrait.

The puddles left from low tide provide viewing of many small creatures.

Peace out dude!

We became shadow art momentarily.

I wanted to take a piece of driftwood home but the guys wouldn’t allow it.

When we stopped back by later in the day it was amusing to see the birds trying to stay on rocks while the tide was roughly going back out.

Just a little Urchin Macro Monday

Macro Monday is easy to play, snap a macro (or any close-up) photo, post it on your blog and come back here and sign Mr Linky. Don't forget to visit each other. :)

Birds of a feather

Check it out, I found some Common Eider. I had never seen these before!

The brown one is the female and the other one is male.

A feast?

Hope you're having a great 4th!

Rambling Chaos

In trying to share my vacation (which I love doing btw), I am falling behind on some current stuff, so please accept a hodge podge. Dennis and I went to the Dells Comedy Club and had a great time! The hypnotists were hilarious - they are the couple from the Jerry Springer show. Even though we were right up front we did not volunteer to be hypnotized, but we sure laughed our butts off! We used to go to comedy clubs from time to time, but it had been probably 7 years since we’d been!  It's a goal to go more often - everyone needs to laugh.

We bought tickets for Gallagher! We’ll be right up front and they tell us he wants people to bring their cameras! Yippee! We saw him in Joplin 7-8 years ago, but we weren’t that close. However, he signed a shirt for us and was very nice! Can’t wait for the show!  Hope I don't get watermelon in the camera.  Hmmm, how do you watermelon-proof a camera anyway?

While we were in the Dells we stopped by the outlet mall and I found a new swimsuit at Eddie Bauer. They had all the swimsuits on sale for $9.99 each - I got a tankini - black bottoms and pink top with black trim/straps. I stayed away from the Coach store this time. Lol

But I discovered the Croc store! Had no idea there was a Croc outlet store!! I’m so excited! I got the shoes above for $9.99! And Dennis got some sports themed crocs (normally $39.99) for $14.95! I will definitely be going back there!

Why did they have to discontinue my favorite smell? I still have half a bottle of perfume but the lotion is nearly gone. I will miss it! I have been using this tube stingily for, oh, 8 years. I love to mix a little with a little water and scrunch it in my hair - makes the smell stay all day. *sigh*

Over vacation I caved into the smooshing penny craze. My son kinda pushed me over the edge, he likes to turn the crank but doesn’t want the penny and I’ve always avoided them. But I thought, what the heck. So we smooshed pennies - then in Philly we bought the little book to put them in so I don’t lose them. Before we bought the book I was not sure what I’d do with them.

Lavender bath salts ~ my husband spoils me! Smells divine!  I didn't use the stuff for a week while we debated about how much to use.  The instructions never said how much to add to your bath water, but the container was huge so I figured it was enough for at least four baths.  Dennis thought I should through it all in at once.  Since we couldn't decide I just didn't use it - finally, I used half in two baths.  How much do you use?  And do you take the little netting thing off your sea sponge?  I've always taken them off but Dennis says the net stays on. . .we're going to be such confusing old folks aren't we.

Doesn’t my husband make a lovely Hannah Montana? We were caching and the wig was in the cache so it was photo time. Yeah, it was night and I did not take the big camera, photo isn't that good - but it's still funny, no?

My daughter is married to a Nick Smith - I say, “a” because I imagine there are a lot of them. Well one day I noticed my daughter had a new friend on facebook, said friend had no photo, but was named “Nick Smith” and I assumed her husband had signed up. So I friended him and after he approved me (If you’re not on facebook you may be lost at this point, but I think you’ll still see the humor), I discovered that he lived in Canada - uh, wrong Nick Smith.

I thought it odd that my daughter knew two Nick Smith’s, but oh well. About a month went by before I remembered to share the story with her. And when I did she started laughing and said she didn’t know him either! Nick told her he had signed up and when she searched she thought it was him. Once she was approved as this Nick’s friend she noticed the birthday was wrong! So, there’s a Nick Smith in Canada who may be starting to think he’s all that.

I have been trying to get more photos added to my gallery. And I’ll be adding more each week, so pop over when you have a chance. The link stays in my footer, way down there, and on my about me page.

Thanks for staying through all my rambles! Hope you’re having a great weekend!  Be safe with those fireworks!

Well, hello Cupcake!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

This week I’m more about the story than the photo. But doesn’t it look festive and patriotic?! Last 4th of July, I tucked one cupcake in the spare fridge to snap a photo of later. Then, in typical Lisa fashion, I promptly forgot about it.

The fridge didn’t get used much (we sold it in the garage sale), but each time someone got in it, the cupcake sitting on one shelf, all alone, always brought laughs. About May, it was decided that maybe we should just tuck it on the plate with this year’s cupcakes and see who grabbed it.

But I’m not totally heartless, so here, one year later I took photos of it - then threw it away. Now I can’t say how it tasted, but doesn’t it scare you that a Wal-Mart cupcake looks so good after a year?!

Mt Hope Cemetery in Bangor

I could not resist a trip to Mount Hope Cemetery while in Bangor. I have to say that I think this is the biggest cemetery I have ever been in!

Coming of age
On April, 23rd. 2009, Mount Hope Cemetery will officiall turn 175 years old, making it one of the nations oldest garden cemeteries. Established in 1834, concurrent with the incorporation that same year of Bangor, Maine, the cemetery's host city, the Mount Hope Cemetery Corporation, beginning with fify acres, owned roughly 264 acres of land by 1996.
America's second garden cemetery
Mount Hope, recognized as America's second garden cemetery, also managed the adjacent cemetery holding of the City of Bangor during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In total, Mount Hope owned or managed some 300 acres by 1995, property visited by the general public for educational and recreational purposes as well as providing crematory, mausoleum, and related cemetery services.
~taken from the Mt. Hope website

This memorial greets you as you enter.

I find the death angel kinda creepy, but in a fascinating way.

The ponds reflect the stones back, making there appear to be more graves than there are.

Full of slopes and walkways and ponds it’s more like a park than a cemetery.

Another memorial for our fallen features canons and a turret(?).

I would have loved to spend more time there but our stomachs were rumbling after our bad experience in New Hampshire so we only spent about 45 minutes.

I could not resist approaching this mausoleum/crypt. And maybe it was the time of day, or the quiet of the evening, but as I walked up closer I swore I heard sounds from within.

In fact, I quickly snapped this photo of the vines and lept (hey, you may have leaped, I lept!) away!

Still I cautiously crept onto the ‘roof’ to survey my surroundings.

Nearby, I could lie on a mound and take this shot where I think it looks like I’m arising from my grave.

I am not positive that this is the oldest portion of the cemetery but it appears that way to me. I have never seen graves mounded in this way before, and I think it lends to the creepiness factor.

While this cemetery was not the inspiration for Pet Semetary it was the location that Stephen King used to write much of the novel. And it appears in the movie - which btw King insisted be filmed in Maine. My middle son was named Gage after the boy in the movie. Nah, I'm not a fan at all. lol

Sidenote: Some you have mentioned that I seem to be sharing tons of cemeteries lately and it's true. But they are not a new found fascination, nope, not at all. I'm not sure exactly when the fascination began. I know my mom and i would do etchings when I was a girl and we would explore new ones we saw. Ad adult, it seems I might have gotten interested in them again when I was pregnant with my last child. We lived across the road from a cemetery and walked in it many times. I would look at stones for neat names for my upcoming baby. Didn't end up using any from there, but the fascination has stayed.

For my birthday in 2006, Dennis I went to as many Chicago cemeteries as we could. I had never explored them before and had a blast! There are several old posts on my old blog about previous trips, as well as the ones here. But you're seeing a lot of them all together because one of my vacation goals was to step into at least one cemetery in each state we went to. I only missed New Jersey.