Via Seacoast Online, I just learned that Columbus Day is now the second busiest weekend for tourism in Maine--more than 700,00 cars used the Maine Turnpike to leaf peep.
Which brings me to my question:
How do you pronounce that word that describes what the peepers are viewing? Foliage?
Is it fO-lE-ij? Or fO-lij? Do you pronounce it with two syllables or three?
And no one is happy about it. Not the lobstermen: "There’s no way the industry can comply by October 2008," she said. "I don’t know what the [formal] response to the rule is going to be, but there definitely needs to be a response." Mike Dassatt, board member of DELA, was highly critical of the mandated change. He said its financial effect on Maine will be significant. "We’re talking about a whole state that will be impacted — tens of thousands of jobs," Dassatt said. "It’s like me telling Tiger Woods how to go golfing. Someone sitting behind a desk in Washington, D.C., should not tell me how to set lobster gear." And not the whales' protectors: "The net effect is that whales will be receiving less protection off the coast of Maine than they have before," Williamson said. Williamson said that while the environmental groups recognize the economic importance of Maine’s $300 million lobster fishing industry, they believe that Maine fishermen, who have spearheaded resource protections in the past, can adapt. One thing is for sure. You should expect your lobster to cost more in the near future.
It might be too early to really tell, but it appears that the ban on herring trawling is having a positive impact:
Fishermen say they are seeing more herring returning to the Gulf of Maine, where a ban on trawlers that drag nets through the water has been in effect through the summer."There has been lots of sea life, and it kind of amazes me," Daniel Fill, captain of a Rockland-based fishing boat, told the Portland Press Herald. "I have seen fish where I haven't seen them for years. They're in nice, big bunches for miles."
Other purse seine herring fishermen, whale-watching companies and tuna fishermen are reporting similar observations. They also say they see more sea birds, dolphins, tuna and seals, which feed on herring.
The first installment of Cathleen Schine's serial fiction The Dead and The Naked appears in today's New York Times magazine. It's setting is an artist's colony on an island off the coast of Maine.
You can read it online here, or listen to the author read the first chapter (found at the same link). If the first chapter is any indication, this is going to be a dandy.
| What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio. | |
| Philadelphia | |
| The Inland North | |
| The South | |
| The Northeast | |
| The West | |
| Boston | |
| North Central | |
| What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz | |
Two weeks ago, the "market price" for a 1.25 lb. Maine lobster at the Boca Resort and Beach Club was a whopping $140.00. I kid you not--they wanted $5.00 more for a 'bug' than they charged me for my room.
Considering that, it's completely understandable that Maine lobstermen are tying up their boats to protest and bring attention to the low prices that lobster are currently bringing. Dealers in some places are offering $3.50 a pound. The last time lobster prices dropped below $4.00 a pound was in 2003, when diesel and bait prices were considerably less.
If you've ever tried to use a cell phone in, say, York, or Denmark (ME) or Kezar Lake, you know why this is very good news:
AT&T has announced a planned investment of more than $4 million in the Maine wireless network in 2007. This will bring AT&T's three-year investment in Maine to more than $10 million. This year's planned investment includes the addition of six new cell sites and approximately 140 new radios to nearly 50 cell sites throughout the state. It also includes 15 new hardware cabinets and power amplifiers to increase capacity.Since the iPhone launch in June of this year, the signal strength on all Cingular/ATT phones seems to have dropped.The 2007 enhancements focus primarily on expanding the network's voice capacity and enhancing the EDGE (Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution) data network, which offers faster download speeds for consumers and business users. The expansion also gives the company additional bandwidth to support its growing customer base and growing voice and data usage.
More on this later. For now, suffice it to say that any trip where you can watch a momma moose and her calf graze in a bog for 45 minutes must be deemed highly successful. (as always, click to enlarge)
"Dear Mrs. Fennelly,
"I am very sorry about what happend in the candy shop today and I will never do any thing like this again for the rest of my life. I am dissapointed in my-self and my parents are also dissapointed and supprised at my actions. As my father said on the phone this is very unlike me. Also for the next few weeks I will have to give my allowance to charity and do extra chores around the house as punnishment. I will remember this for the rest of my life. As I have said before I am very very sorry and I have been taught a very valuable lesson and hope you can forgive me for all the trouble I have caused you."
This week's CFA Award goes to President George W. Bush. He will arrive in Kennebunkport today. Air Force One will land at Pease Air Force Base at 3:30 this afternoon and the President will go directly to Walker's Point. (We might go over to the spur road and see if we can catch the motorcade heading north on the turnpike--although we might also hear Marine One fly overhead.)
He doesn't win the award for the inconvenience and delays he's causing for the residents of town on a holiday weekend. Rather, he wins for sticking the town of Kennebunkport with the tab for the extra police protection.
Each time the President visits Walker's Point, it costs the village about $9,000 for the extra security (this in addition to what the Secret Service and Coast Guard provide). Previously, the town has used a $27,000 Homeland Security grant to cover the costs, but that money ran out earlier this year. Kennebunkport is asking police forces from York and Kittery to send extra officers to help out for this visit and there's hope that the other villages will cover the cost of those officers.
There is a protest planned for Sunday afternoon with an estimated 2,000 protesters clogging the village. If you'd like to protest, please park at Kennebunk High School. Shuttle buses will take you to the village green.
Update: Foster's Daily Democrat has additional information on the planned protests:
At Walker's Point, featured speakers will be heard and drums will pound. In addition, a 7-foot replica of the Statue of Liberty will be placed in a coffin to mock the loss of liberties under President Bush.
iPhones go on sale Friday night at 6 pm--which you already know unless you've been living under a rock or have just recently miraculously emerged from a coma.
Lines have started queuing at all Apple Store locations--personally, *IF I decide to buy one, I'm going on-line to buy one (if you're watching CNN this morning, they've incorrectly reported that you cannot buy an iPhone online)--and of course, there are blogs about the wait.
David Clayman is third in line in Manhattan and planning to buy two-one to give to his dad and one to auction off for charity.
Greg Packer is first in line in Manhattan. MacWorld interviewed him. Money quote?
Though he’s committed himself to spending nearly five days living on the street for the iPhone, Packer said he’s not “computer literate” and doesn’t own an iPod. “I’m not really a technology person, but I’m doing the best I can to keep up with technology,” he said.
....opens everywhere, this Friday.
It's based on Susan Minot's luminous novel by the same name and the adaptation for screen is by Michael Cunningham (The Hours). Meryl Streep, Vanessa Redgrave, Claire Danes and Toni Collette share starring roles. By all accounts, it should be a blockbuster. I'm looking forward to seeing it, but was really disappointed to learn that it was filmed in Rhode Island. A movie set partially on a Maine island is shot in RI?
No disrespect to Rhode Island, but its coast can't hold a candle to the breath-taking beauty of the Maine coast, and quite frankly, the state (and mostly the local mid-coast people) need the money generated by a huge production such as this.
The movie is co-produced by Ms. Minot, who lives on a Maine island.
Molly, a Black Lab, was thought to have drowned on Memorial Day in a boating accident that took the life of her owner, Doug Harmon, and one other man. She was last seen swimming toward shore on Chamberlain Lake on Memorial Day.
On Saturday, she showed up a a Millinocket home and was recognized as the missing Lab. She was reunited with the family (Jared, Timothy and Ashley) on Monday.
Molly covered more than 200 miles of the most rugged territory in Maine and State Conservation Commissioner Patrick McGowan said he estimated her chances of survival at about one in a million due to the terrain, the black flies (when we tell you they're bad, we're not kidding) and coyotes.
Al Cowperthwaite, Director of North Maine Woods compiled a timeline of Molly's travels, which was reprinted in the Bangor Daily News Article:June 4: Don Darkis, a North Maine Woods employee working at Caucomgomoc Dam, tries to entice Molly into his truck. June 6: Molly is spotted at Wadleigh Pond, which is only about 20 miles from the Quebec border. In an effort to notify all visitors to be on the lookout for Molly, posters are placed at North Maine Woods checkpoints, offering a $200 reward for the return of Molly, "a black Lab with a distinguishing red collar and one torn ear." June 10: Camper reports seeing Molly at Cliff Lake, located east of Churchill Dam and the Allagash River. June 12: Fishermen report seeing Molly near Scraggly Lake, about 30 miles northwest of Patten. June 15: Molly arrives at the home of Alain and Bernadette Sirois on Iron Bridge Road in Millinocket. The Siroises have two male dogs, and Molly comes into the yard, then into the house, where she gobbles down everything the family puts down in front of her. Believing that Molly belongs to a local family, the Siroises post "found dog" signs around Millinocket. June 18: Telos receptionist Anita Moscone visits Millinocket florist shop, sees flier about the found dog and puts two and two together. Moscone calls the number on the poster and tells the Sirois family Molly’s story. She then contacts North Maine Woods, which in turn calls Tourtelotte, a black Lab owner herself, who has been working diligently to find Molly to return to the three children waiting in Scarborough.
This isn't news to anyone in Maine (or even folks who read this blog semi-regularly), but the Boston Globe is reporting on our shrinking working waterfront.
In addition to reporting that the waterfront is smaller than anyone believed:
Two years ago, in response to growing concerns on the coast, state officials and researchers set out to map the waterfront access of Maine's working fishermen. What they found was more alarming than anyone expected: Along Maine's 5,300-mile coast, only 20 miles of shoreline remain open to commercial fishermen, according to the study the Island Institute released last month. (emphasis mine)
More than half of all town property is now owned by part-time residents, and the arrival of outsiders has put other pressures on fishermen, the harbormaster said. One group of newcomers started an unsuccessful petition that sought to turn down the volume on an offshore fog horn. ("I said, what would you prefer, the fog horn or an oil tanker on the rocks in front of your house?" said Schmanska.) Other arrivals proposed a noise ordinance to hush the work of fishermen at dawn.
"You have an influx of people with no connection to the working waterfront, who come because they like to see the boats," said Schmanska. "Then when they hear that engine cranking up at 5 a.m., it's a nuisance."
Residents of Arrowsic (a small Maine town--if you couldn't guess that based upon the number of votes cast) voted 71-17 Wednesday in favor of a resolution asking President Bush and Congress to immediately stop all war funding, to end American occupation in Iraq and to bring the troops home.
I just think it's cool that a tiny town cares enough and has enough faith in our democracy to express their views on a national issue with a vote.
W. will be in residence in early July. Maybe the town clerk should drive over to Walker's Point and drop the resolution off at the Secret Service hut.
Maine became the first state to pass a resolution to "protect full, fair and non-discriminatory access to the internet."
LD1675 will help ensure that:
".... that Internet providers should not be allowed to discriminate by speeding up or slowing down Web content based on its source, ownership or destination,” said Tony Vigue of the Community Television Association of Maine.
“With a free and open internet young people are able to start businesses that compete in the global marketplace from their homes in Maine,” said Brian Hiatt, Maine Director of Communications and Online Organizing for The League of Young Voters. “Net Neutrality levels the playing field for Mainers.”
LLBean is already one of our favorite destinations (in person and for internet shopping--they're great about returns and their customer service (at least from our personal experience) is always top notch) and it's going to get even better:
FREEPORT, Maine --Mail-order retailer L.L. Bean is looking to develop a theme park-style adventure center, a move that would build on the company's outdoors heritage, drive sales and cement Freeport's place as a top tourist destination.
The project featuring lodging and dining facilities is centered on a 700-acre parcel owned by the outdoors outfitter about a mile from Bean's flagship store. Visitors to the site, and another Bean-owned property along Casco Bay, could try their hand at a range of activities, from biking and archery to kayaking and snowshoeing.
I've been missing Maine during my travels this spring, but the God (I don't think there's more than one) of publishing has looked down upon me favorably and arranged to publish a number of books about Maine:
Shoutin' Into the Fog by Thomas Hanna. I just finished this book (published by Islandport Press). Initially, the conversational writing style took a bit of getting used to, but after a chapter, I was captivated by the hardships and joys of life in the midcoast of Maine in the depression.
Evening by Susan Minot. Captivating and beautiful. I read this in 1998 while living in a captivating but not lovely New York City. It's time to revisit a wonderful book.
Summer People by Brian Groh. The author grew up in Ohio and moved to Maine. I need know nothing more about the book to be convinced to buy it, but the reviews are good, just in case you need a bit more to go on.
Body Surfing by Anita Shreve. Set on the New Hampshire coast, in a location that Shreve has used previously (Fortunes' Rocks and Sea Glass), it's close enough to Maine and it's an Anita Shreve book, so it makes the list.
Slipknot by Linda Greelaw. Publishes on June 19th, just in time to pack it in the beach bag. This is Greenlaw's first attempt at fiction, but she integrates much of what she knows (Maine and the sea) into the book.
