Stuff about me
My name is Keith Michaud and this is “Letters From Away,” a blog written by a Mainer living outside the comfortable and sane confines of New England. The blog is intended for Mainers, whether they live in the Pine Tree State or beyond, and for anyone who has loved ’em, been baffled by ’em or both. Ayuh, I am “from away.” Worse still, I live on the Left Coast – in California. Enjoy! Or not. Your choice.
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Monthly Archives: August 2010
Despite big donations, folk festival still $226,000 short of goal | Bangor Daily News
BANGOR, Maine — The American Folk Festival committee is $50,000 closer to — but still almost $226,000 short of — its 2010 fundraising goal of $960,000 three days before it starts.
“We’ve received a number of donations at various monetary levels, but we received one $40,000 contribution and another $10,000 gift within the last week from two donors who wish to remain anonymous,” said Heather McCarthy, the American Folk Festival’s executive director. “To date, the festival has raised $734,291.”
Still, McCarthy and other festival officials are aggressively seeking to close the funding gap as quickly as possible for the three-day extravaganza, which begins Friday centered on the Bangor Waterfront.
“We’re a little more comfortable with the money we’ve raised, but it doesn’t change the tone of our message to festival-goers because we still feel the sustainability of the event, long-term, depends on educating them on what they’re getting for little to relatively no cost.
“We have to educate people [about] the value the festival provides not just for attendees, but also the surrounding community.”
Click for the rest of the story by Andrew Neff in the Bangor Daily News.
Donations to the Folk Festival can be made by calling Mary Brann at (207) 974-3217 or by mailing them to American Folk Festival, 40 Harlow St., Bangor ME 04401.
Annual Maine law enforcement summer pot harvesting under way | Lewiston Sun Journal
MEXICO, Maine — Law enforcement officials in Western Maine say there could be a bumper crop of marijuana this year, based on outside growing conditions and the number of plants seized so far.
Police are finding that plants cultivated outdoors are doing much better than in the past two years put together, Oxford County Marijuana Eradication Coordinator Chancey Libby said.
“Two years ago, we were finding pathetic-looking plants that were over-watered and drowned by all the rain,” Cpl. Libby said.
The lack of rain this summer, however, means people who cultivate marijuana outdoors have to work that much harder to grow it, which increases the risk of getting caught, Libby said.
“We’ve had such a nice, dry summer that these people will have to tote more water in,” he said.
The county’s biggest haul so far came on Aug. 3 when 298 plants were seized in Andover.
Click for the rest of this story by Terry Karkos in the Lewiston Sun Journal.
Greats Falls Balloon Festival marks successful second day | Lewiston Sun Journal
LEWISTON, Maine — Thousands of people crowded into Simard-Payne Memorial Park on Saturday for the second day of the Great Falls Balloon Festival.
For some, the festival was a way to make money for charity. For others, it was a way to have fun with family.
For 7-year-old Adriana Ellis of Farmingdale, it was all about the balloons.
“Mama, look at that one!” she squealed, jumping up and down as a rainbow-colored balloon slowly rose above the crowd Saturday evening. “I want a ride!”
Festival-goers and balloonists enjoyed some of the best weather the festival has seen in years. With little wind and clear skies, all 28 balloons took to the air Saturday morning, rising in waves until the sky was filled with color.
“It’s probably as beautiful of a launch as we’ve had,” balloon meister John Reeder said.
Click for the rest of the story by Lindsay Tice in the Lewiston Sun Journal
Posted in Entertainment, Maine, Outdoors, Photos
Tagged balloon, balloonists, Great Falls Balloon Festival, Lewiston, Simard-Payne Memorial Park
‘Perfect’ Machias Wild Blueberry Festival draws thousands | Bangor Daily News
MACHIAS, Maine — The sky, the pies, the berries and the banners all shared the same hue. Even some of the faces were looking blue, but only on those who wanted to smear them with a sticky goo as they competed to be the first ones through.
The pie-eating contest, the music and food put thousands of people in a good mood on Saturday as they celebrated a small edible berry at the annual Machias Wild Blueberry Festival.
And the combination of sunny weather and pleasant temperatures helped draw people in, according to Ellen Farnsworth, co-chairwoman of the annual event. She said last year’s festival was hot and that in 2008 it was rainy. On Saturday, there were almost no clouds in the sky and outdoor thermometers read approximately 70 degrees.
“This is perfect,” Farnsworth said of the weather.
As usual, the Centre Street Congregational Church was the center of action Saturday, as it is for the festival every year. The church sponsors and organizes the festival, which has been held every August since 1975. The church is where the festival play is staged, where the blueberry pie-eating contest is held and where many of the musical acts perform.
Click for the rest of the story by Bill Trotter in the Bangor Daily News.
More information is available at www.machiasblueberry.com.
Coffeehouse observation No. 185
I just spotted two middle-aged white guys fist bump on the patio of the coffeehouse and thought it, um, odd. Is there an age limit on fist bumping? One Facebook friend says that it’s all a matter of “coolness quotient” and she says I am cool enough to pull it off, even if I am 48. Another Facebook friend says 17 is the limit and another says I should find another place to hang out. But too many pretty college girls come in and it would cut into things I can post here. Oh, the sacrifices I make.
Go to Coffeehouse Observer for more coffeehouse observations.
Posted in Coffeehouse Observer
Tagged barista, brew, caffeinated, caffeine, coffee, coffeehouse, coffeehouse observation, Coffeehouse Observer, cup o’ joe, espresso, Facebook, fist bump, fist bumping, java, joe, pastries, tea
Potato Feast Days attracts crowds in Houlton | Bangor Daily News
HOULTON, Maine — Although the potato fields aren’t as plentiful as they were 50 years ago, Houlton’s annual Potato Feast Days celebration is still a crowd pleaser for young and old.
Evidence of its popularity was on display Saturday, as hundreds of people flocked to downtown Market Square and to Community Park for the 51st annual celebration to laud the area’s most famous cash crop.
“We’ve had a wonderful day,” Lori Weston, the executive director of the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce, said Saturday afternoon. “There are a lot of people in town.”
When the festival was first launched in 1959, farmers and potato fields abounded, and the fete was the last big celebration in the area before growers started harvesting. Although the celebration has changed over the years, many of the original activities are still in place.
Click for the rest of the story by Jen Lynds in the Bangor Daily News.
Posted in Entertainment, Food and Drink, Maine, Outdoors
Tagged Aroostook County, farmers, growers, Houlton, Potato Feast Days, Potato Feast Road Rally, potato fields
Sssssensational! No poisonous snakes in Maine – mostly | DownEast.com
I was a wildland firefighter for three summers while attending college and we were always told to watch out for rattlesnakes.
And paying for green fees in California, Nevada and other western states might come with a warning to avoid certain areas on the golf course infested with snakes. (“Sooo, is that a 7-iron, then?” – a reply to a warning about snakes at a golf course in Carson City, Nevada.)
The answer to the DownEast.com trivia question should calm any concerns for parents in Maine about letting their children play in the outdoors.
Is it true that Maine has no venomous snakes?
Answer:
Yes. Though a small number of timber rattlesnakes, considered transient, have been spotted in southernmost Maine, the state is considered the only one of the Lower 48 to have no native venomous snakes.
OK, here’s a family-lore story. The story goes that my father, sister and very probably my mother and I were outside. My father and mother very likely were doing yard work; my sister and I were too young.
At one point my sister wandered to the edge of the property and brought back with her a run-of-the-mill garter snake and tried to show it to my father. Apparently, my father was particularly frightened of snakes – and the little garter snake was no exception. He apparently backed away from my sister, yelling at her to drop the snake.
No one was harmed, not even the snake.
There may be a problem with the trivia question answer, however, and it might require a mild clarification. I just noticed in a Wikipedia entry on garter snakes that
“Garters were long thought to be nonvenomous, but recent discoveries have revealed that they do in fact produce a mild neurotoxic venom. Garter snakes are nevertheless harmless to humans due to the very low amounts of venom they produce, which is comparatively mild, and the fact that they lack an effective means of delivering it.”
So there you have the skinny of snakes.
Posted in Maine trivia, Outdoors
Tagged Carson City, DownEast.com, garter snakes, Maine, rattlesnakes, snakes, timber rattlesnakes, trivia
Maine tourism gets its glow back: Sun-filled summer has businesses thriving again after a dreary 2009
PORTLAND — Maine’s tourism industry is rebounding from last year’s miserable summer, and the state’s restaurants, campgrounds and hotels are getting a much-needed boost in income.
Although many consumers remain cautious about spending because of the sluggish economy, this summer’s sunny weather has been a huge improvement over last summer’s rainy and cool weather, said Steve DiMillo of DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant in Portland.
He said his restaurant has been serving 1,000 meals a day – a 10 percent increase over last year. “Great weather trumps everything,” he said. “The sunshine is obviously our friend.”
Sales at restaurants in Maine are up 2 percent to 4 percent this summer over last summer, according to industry estimates.
Click for the rest of this story by Tom Bell in the Portland Press Herald.
Posted in Economy, Environment, Food and Drink, Maine, Outdoors
Tagged attractions, Bayley's Camping Resort in Old Orchard Beach, DiMillo's Floating Restaurant, hotels, Maine's Office of Tourism, motels, National Weather Service, occupancy rate, Portland, Portland Harbor Hotel, restaurants, tourism, tourits, visitors
Maine stuff in my California apartment No. 10 – hearing ‘Acadia’
Scan of a CD by Jim Chappell inspired by Maine's Acadia National Park.
Today’s photos – scans really – are of a CD cover and a couple of pages from the accompanying booklet. It is an instrumental CD by Jim Chappell that came out in 1996, I believe, and was inspired by Acadia National Park.
The CD, of course, is called “Acadia.”
My mother gave me the CD as a gift many years ago. I don’t recall if it was a birthday gift or a Christmas gift or just a gift from out the blue. Moms do that from time to time, give gifts for no reason at all.
The music is very soothing, relaxing and comfortable to listen to – piano, violins, cello, French horn, flute, that sort of thing. It’s not Radiohead or The White Stripes, but not everything has to be.
The CD had been lost among other CDs on a bookshelf that I recently went through. I’m listening to the CD at the very moment that I am writing this entry and I’ll very probably hit replay once it plays through.
Part of the booklet reads:
“The quiet solitude of the deep woods … the rumbling roar of surf crashing on the rocky coast of Maine … the silent sweep of a falcon high above a shimmering lake and the whelping sound of seals on tiny inlets. This is Acadia National Park. It is a meeting of mountain and valley, forest and meadow, ocean and land in a symphonic splash of salt, spray and foam. It is sunrise from the glacier-flattened top of Cadillac Mountain, bathing the sea and nearby cliffs with a caress of soft pink and gold as lighthouses flash like fireflies from the surrounding headlands.”
Scan of one of the pages from a booklet that came with the CD by Jim Chappell.
It’s been a very long time since I’ve been to Acadia National Park, but that passage hits it pretty well on the head. I don’t recall the part of “lighthouses flash like fireflies,” but it was a pretty long time ago. It is Maine, after all, with lighthouses on nearly every other coastal bluff.
The CD carries song titles that will be familiar to those who have visited Acadia National Park: “Cadillac Mountain,” “The Carriage Road,” “Southwest Harbor,” “Long Pond Canoe,” “The Loop Road,” and “Jordan Pond,” among others.
Scan of another page from a booklet that came with the CD "Acadia" by Jim Chappell. The CD was inspired by Acadia National Park.
For total disclosure, I am again stretching the whole Maine-stuff-in-my-California-apartment thing with this entry. The album was inspired by Acadia National Park as Chappell spent a week hiking around Acadia and humming into a cassette recorder – remember, this was in 1996 and it was a little early for digital recorders – the melodies that became “Acadia.” But the booklet indicates the music was recorded in California – Sebastopol and San Anselmo. Let’s just agree that it is Maine-inspired stuff in my California apartment.
I tracked down what seems to be Jim Chappell’s official website, where you can find more information about the guy and order his music. Apparently, he’s still at it and his latest CD is being released later this month.
The booklet also mentions Friends of Acadia, a nonprofit organization working to preserve Acadia National Park. According to the booklet, 15 percent of the profits from the sale of the CD go to the group. Donations to Friends of Acadia can be made by mailing them to the group at 43 Cottage Street, P.O. Box 45, Bar Harbor, Maine 04609. There’s also information about the park, how to join Friends of Acadia, and more on its website.
This is an occasional multipart series of photos of things related to Maine that can be found in Keith Michaud’s California apartment. All photos in this series are shot by and are the property of Keith Michaud.
Posted in Entertainment, Environment, Maine stuff, Outdoors, Photos
Tagged Acadia National Park, apartment, “Acadia”, belongings, California, Friends of Acadia, Jim Chappell, Maine, Mainer, multipart series, photos
SunChips’ green packaging comes under fire for creating a racket | Business | GreenBiz.com
[I bought these chips the other day simply because of the ecofriendly packaging. Yes, it was a little loud, but not really a problem. Although, I would back the warning issued regarding selling the chips with that particular packaging at movie theaters. — KM]
SunChips’ Green Packaging Comes Under Fire for Creating a Racket | Business | GreenBiz.com.
Letters From Away 