Our First Week as a New Home Owner

Yay!!! It was finally time to close on the house! We flew to Maine, going into Portland. A four hour drive from the house. Probably won't do that trip again. (This is going to be another photo heavy post. Just warning you.)

The day was beautiful and we were in Portland before noon. It was nice to see the leaves were still changing. I've never lived where the leaves change colors. This is the road heading out of the airport. So what does one do in Portland, Maine?

You go to Cabela's, of course. Actually I got a great winter coat there. Thermal, insulated but light-weight. Good in temps up to -120°. (Heavens! Does it get that cold anywhere???) And it folds down into a space about the size  of a lunchbox.

We also found this little guy at Cabela's. Hahaha! Isn't he cute? He's an ottoman. We did not take him with us.

This was our scenery - all the way to Houlton. Beautiful! We went straight to the house, but it was dark by the time we got there. So no pictures. We did have Amazon mail waiting for us on the porch :).  Delivered by UPS.

The next morning was closing. We were early getting there so we stopped off at Timmy's for some breakfast!

 After closing, we did a little furniture shopping,

then headed to the house.

The golden rods that were blooming around the house

last time we were there were all dead.

The colorful leaves on the trees made up for it.

 These are backyard shots.

Taken from the second level deck.

This shot is actually from the third level bedroom balcony.

From there, we headed to Bangor. Hobby Lobby. Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I had been counting down the days. And, yes, this is what the traffic in Maine normally looks like. 

 One more night in a hotel because we had no furniture in the house yet. 

Delivery was set up for that morning.

We stayed in Smyrna at a nice little hotel,

and ate breakfast at their restaurant. 

We paid for our hotel room when we paid for our food.

And the food was fantastic! That bread? That is homemade oatmeal raisin bread and it was delicious! (All three of the restaurants in driving distance serve homemade bread.) The restaurants there seem to give you a load of food. All I asked for was toast and eggs.

 Furniture arrived shortly after we got home.

We now have a house big enough for a sectional.

Yay!!! It isn't the red one that I wanted,

but I think this one is even nicer.
It's a seafoam green kind of color.

You will notice the rug I picked out has little bits of red in it.

The next time you see photos for this room,

those windows should be sporting some awesome red drapes from 
Bed, Bath, and Beyond!

And I love the headboard/frame/footboard set! The two little tables on either side match the steampunk tables I have in the living room in Florida. Somehow I will tie these all together with my awesome steampunk lamps I already have!

 I love this house!

Sure, there are things that need to be fixed,

and we kept finding little things to add to the list.

 Like this little flower garden.

My plant-growing skills are laughable.

I don't have the vaguest idea what to do with this.

It is seriously overgrown.

The only thing I recognized was a lily.

Oh well, after winter I will look at it again.

 The wind was blowing steadily,

and there were leaves falling all around me.

Guess we are going to need to get a rake.
(And a snow plow. 
I told Mark I want a pink snow-mobile of my very own.)

And these icky looking mushrooms were everywhere in the back yard. They reminded me of jelly fish.

Mark took off walking in the woods behind the house. Remember, we have 17 acres. He found two apple trees growing in the woods and brought these home. Yummy.

 Zentangle friends,

you are going to be seeing this rail again

very soon. In a new tangle pattern!

Dinner time took us to Grammy's Diner where the portions are out of control. We each got a grilled cheese sandwich and we shared an order of fries. This was my half.  Unbelievable. I sent my son Jason this photo, he texted back asking if the sandwich was the side item. Hahaha!

 Sunset the first day in our new home.

 The next day we got up bright and early 

to get to work.

 The first order of business was getting

the address marked so the postman

could find us.
Apparently the UPS man is smarter.

 That house across the street - is the one house anywhere near us.

We had some issues with the washer/dryer
units, so we needed to drive to Presque Isle,
which is north.
Along the way we saw these lines of wind turbines,
they are used to generate power.
Supposedly in the middle of winter when the trees are bare,
we will be able to see them from the back balconies of the house. 

 We worked hard all day long.

Hanging drapes, hanging towel bars,

shopping for nails and screws and a new front door.

(Didn't get the door, but we now know where to get one.)

Then we had another beautiful sunset.

Maine is going to be awesome for photography.

 We hung our first piece of 'art.'

No, I didn't paint this.

Got it on Zulily!

Yes, this sectional with the built in chaise is going
to be wonderful at the end of a long day of work.

Random shots.

Potatoes are everywhere.

Mark estimated there are 3-400 acres of potatoes being farmed near us.

Bags and bags of various kinds of potatoes

can be found at the grocery store.

Mashed, cubed, sliced, grated.

White potatoes, red potatoes, sweet potatoes.

Mud Pond. This is the closest fishing place for Mark. Not on our property, but very close.

 And then the snow started.

Little flakes, followed by big flakes.

 It was pretty awesome to be in Maine

for the first snowfall of the year!

 Before it was over with we got about two inches total.

 I really like these windows!

We have two of them.

(And they are the perfect frame for a photo!)

I enjoyed being outside, walking around in the snow.

This is the hat Kali crocheted for me last year.

I could use a couple more.

Hint. Hint.

I believe this is a birch leaf.

We have a lot of birch trees.

 One thing we had not done, because it wasn't supposed to snow -

was to get food in the house.

So. Out we had to go for dinner.

This is the car door. I thought the snow would fall off when I 

slammed the door, but it didn't.

 I don't remember when I took this picture.

This little Freewill Baptist church is down the road from the house.

(This is I-95.) And then, before we knew it, it was time to fly back to Florida. Neither of us wanted to. Plans are to be back up in Maine really soon. At least for a few days. We are starting to move things out of the current house, getting ready to make the move. And if you hung in there this long in this post, thanks for reading.

Back Home From Newfoundland

I am back home from our ten day trip to  Newfoundland, Canada! It was a wonderful trip, we saw pretty much all of the Avalon Peninsula as we searched for  icebergs, moose, caribou, beautiful fishing harbours and boats.  It was just a beautiful time - and now I have close to 3,000 photos to look through before I start posting. I grew up on the naval base at Argentia, Newfoundland. The base has since closed down and very little of what I remember is still physically there. The memories never die, though.
This sunset photo was taken on our second day. It was shot over the single remaining runway on the base. What you see in the background is Red Island. Looking forward to showing you more soon.