So I really want some good boot socks. And since I have calves of large size, I’m only going to get them by making them myself. So here’s my attempt: Purl Soho’s Little Cable Knee Highs, in Knit Picks Stroll Tweed in the Down Heather colorway.
These are toe up, which is admittedly not my preferred sock making style, but I do want the dang things to fit, and this seems to be the best way to do that. So far, so good – I’m just about ready to turn the heel.
I have to admit, this book felt a bit weird to me. It almost seemed like one long transition piece. There was some set up to deal with the fall out from the fairy war, and those that were trapped on Earth when the gates were closed. There was some set up with the Weres and regular people starting to oppress them. And there was some set up with the vampire king that conquered Louisiana, but is still in Utah.
And that was that. There was an ending, of sorts, but there’s a whole lot that’s still hanging out there, needing to be wrapped up.
This is another park I’d visited when I was a kid because my aunt and uncle live nearby. It’s really fun to wonder around with kids. I went with my cousin and her three oldest boys (the oldest I think was seven at the time) several years ago, and watching them wander through the fort was a a ton of fun.
The other feature of this park is the observatory at the top of the Penobscot Narrows Bridge. It does cost more than the standard park entrance fee, but if it’s a nice day, it’s worth the extra price.
Finding this park turned out to be a bit of an adventure. It’s signposted from Route 1, but the signs are then small, and harder to spot. (Turns out if we had used the Gazetter, it actually would have been easier to find.) As it was, we had quite a drive around various parts of Pembroke before we found the place (and we were this close to giving up.)
This is not a waterfall – it’s feature of the tides in this part of the bay, with all the rocks and crannies there. We saw two seals when we first arrived, and then a succession of ocean ducks seemed to be body surfing the worst of the rapids. It was a hoot to watch, and we were the only people there.
Cobscook Bay State Park is not much further up Route 1 than the turn off to Lubec. There’s some lovely shoreline scenery in what’s starting to be the land of more extreme tides. (Cobscook is the local tribe’s word for boiling tides.) One cool feature is you can go clamming – there was a family out while we were wandering about.
Jasper Beach is not a state park – it’s owned and managed by the town of Machiasport. It’s not even labelled in our slightly older version of the Delorme Maine Gazetter (look for Howard Cove), but it is is sign-posted from Route 1 in Machias, and it’s worth the detour.
It’s an interesting glacial feature (you can read more about that here) that ended as a mostly red-colored pebble beach. (It’s actually rhyolite, and not jasper, but who’s keeping track?) The scale is incredible – that’s the BF in the top photo, and he’s not a small guy.
Oh, have I mentioned that our main day out was foggy, or rainy, or drizzly, or some combination of those? There was some blue sky, I swear. You can see it in the fourth picture, right?
Anyway, Roque Bluffs has both an ocean beach,and a pond to swim in, which just may make it the perfect beach park.
This is a lovely little pocket beach, with amazing views of Penobscot Bay, just out of South Thomaston village. Wasn’t even very busy when we stopped by (this is apparently the first year they’ve even bothered with a warden).
Last weekend, we were up in Ellsworth visiting my father. On our way up and back, and instead of braving the insanity that is Mount Desert Island in August, we did a big drive to fill up the stamps in our State Park Passport book with Midcoast and Downeast parks. There will be photos to follow, with a few exceptions.
Damariscotta Lake, Lake St. George and Swan Lake State Parks are all lovely little lakeside parks, the kind of place the locals bring the kids to play in the little bit of sand they’ve managed to cultivate in a certain place, and maybe do a little canoeing. I’ve been to Lake St. George before as a kid, when my aunt and uncle used to live nearby. And if you’ve seen one Maine lake state park, you’ve pretty much seen them all. It’s not that the lakes aren’t nice, but I’m an ocean girl. So no pictures there.
The other exception is Shackford Head State Park. Yes, we made it all the way to Eastport, and the rain had held off until then, but no more. We’re lucky we managed to get a stamp there.
And finally, there’s Fort O’Brien State Historic site in Machiasport. Which is wonderfully historic (it’s the site of a naval battle that preceded the Battle of Bunker Hill in the Revolution), but is just an earthworks. We did see a clammer at works in the flats below, which was a nice piece of local color.
So, for the rest (and two locally managed parks), pictures will be forth-coming.
This ebook is a compilation of three short stories that appear in different anthologies. Mister Fitz is an animate puppet, who was once the nursemaid to Sir Hereward, but has now become his companion as they travel to rid the world of godlets that are trying to invade from a different dimension.
Since they’re just short stories, I confess, it does feel like something’s missing. There’s really no back story, other than what you can pick up by comments they make, and I definitely would like to know more about that back story.
These stories also have a caution that unlike most of the author’s other work, they’re not for kids, and that’s true. It’s not like they’re full of adult themes, but there are definitely some references that are not kid friendly.
The North Wind and the Sea 