When you’re writing a blog and you’ve lost momentum, added to the general inertia is the realisation that whatever you’re about to write is probably going to be sitting on the front page for yonks. I’ll try and update regularly enough to knock this off onto page two soon, but I’m not feeling massively inspired right now, so here goes nothing.
I’ve been reprimanded by my own mother (Hi Mum!) for not keeping her up-to-date with the goings on round our way at this blog. “It all seems to be just photos and I’ve seen them before”. So here’s an attempt to assuage my critics.
Brunswick’s a small town. Now the students are back its population has swelled a bit, but basically it’s a high street with a park area, a few restaurants, music shops and a dvd rental place. All surrounded by a few streets of housing, a river, forest and then the sea. One of the most popular places was an ice-cream shop that had a queue from opening to closing time but despite the evident sky-high demand for frozen dairy products it’s closed down ’til next spring. Without wanting to be slanderous, I’m guessing it’s some kind of tax evasion/ money laundering operation. It’d be perfect, Who’d suspect an all-cash ‘mom and pop’ lolly emporium? I would. On our tour of Portland, ME, t’other day the guide mentioned that somewhere nearby there’s lobster-flavoured ice cream to be had. Everyone except Sally made a that-sounds-less-than-delicious face. It probably tastes better than tutti-frutti mind.
If you like seafood, it abounds. If you don’t like seafood, it still abounds. It’s pricier than we were led to believe but that might just be because the entire Maine economy is based on tourism (and blueberries. And toothpicks.) and it’s still high season. I’m no expert, but I have it on good authority that it’s quality stuff and can assure you that it’s a fine source for all your omega oil needs. And sodium. And vinegar. We’ve been working our way round the restaurants. My favourite as of yet is El Camino (their website– warning: MySpace). It does a fine line in (almost) Mexican food and the decor looks like something out of From Dusk till Dawn. Though the food is not the most ‘authentic‘, the music in the background was straight out of a proper cantina’s jukebox and I reckon I recognized a fair few of the decorations as coming directly from Tlaquepaque/Tonala.
We were a bit worried when we arrived that the town centre was all that was on offer in terms of entertainment and supplies. It’s lovely and all that but sometimes you just want to see a film that features Seth Rogan, aliens or 3D glasses, or you need to buy furniture that isn’t lovingly hand-crafted by Maine’s finest carpenters. Soon after exploring we found all manner of malls, superstores and a cinema a few minutes drive outside of the ‘city limits’. Squint a bit and you could be in Downey, CA if it weren’t for all the trees and the general absence of police helicopters circling. There’s a Borders book shop that stocks Word magazine too, which makes me happy. Trader Joes is sadly absent from Maine but there’s one 10 minutes from Boston airport and it’s looking like we’ll be there on a regular basis. I mustn’t go on because according to some forum or other that DrSita read before we got here, one sure way to piss off Mainers is to complain about the chain stores they don’t have.
IKEA’s another one.
Talking of IKEA, my office is full of built-in shelves. I have enough stuff to fill about 2 of them. DrSita has several hundred books so she chose the office upstairs. With no shelves. That’s what I get for not charging enough for my heavy-lifting/removal services.
How’s Atticus you ask? Well he’s settled in nicely. We don’t have much of garden and it’s not fenced but he appreciates the carpeting indoors. It provides the necessary traction for tight turns, rapid acceleration and provides pleasing acoustics for his frequent barking fits. He’s also happy to have a fair few areas where he can run unfettered in the countryside and keep the squirrels on their toes. If squirrels have toes. Claws? Talons? Anyroad, he’s content striking poses for the camera all around the coastline and defending his reduced empire from the likes of pizza delivery boys, Bowdoin college maintenance crews and his old nemesis, the postman.
That’ll do me for now. Personally I never read posts as long as this, unless they’re written by Stu who never fails to delight and entertain. Right now it’s all text. I’ll spend the next 10 minutes punctuating it with pretty pictures. Maybe I can fit some bullet points in. I’ll try and write again soon, I’ve been pretty busy of late a-localisin’ and a-webdesignin’ and it shows no sign of letting up anytime soon. Which is a good thing.
Thanks for reading this far. And Mum, I expect a comment now. In Spanish please. Using the subjunctive. Twice. Only if you have time between walking Ramble/Jed and Welsh Society bureaucracy though 😉
Hey! bueno de verte de regreso, prometo seguir tu ejemplo antes del proximo fin de semana. Ahora vives junto al mar, eso suena bastante chido =)
gracias Don Mario! Como no, y mi iPod ya reclama un nuevo Circulo Vicioso también.
Aquí estamos pa cuando quieran visitarnos 🙂 antes del nieve sería mejor…
great, gwyn, you’ve made my day. Blogs i can access on this ancient laptop.
if I knew what to buy, I would have got a new one already.
Dogs are taking over my life again. I’ve just taken Ramble for a walk in the spinney, but filled up the little plastic bag with mulberries, not the usual …. It is such a beautiful evening. The autumn cyclamen are out and i half expected to see the first badger emerge from the sett but as usual, they were nowhere to be seen.
I hope that you both and A enjoy the weekend and that you can spot a few subjuntivos in this. So I have done a subjunctive en espanol. two can play at this game.
Love Mumxxx
Ello Mum!
Hiciste trampa con tu interpretación especial de las reglas para dejar un comentario… ¿Qué pasó? ¡Yo quería que escribieras en castellano!
I reckon wait till you’re over here then we’ll buy you a decent mini netbook. They’re only about 180 quid here and in the UK they’re almost double that. And while we’re there, let’s see if we can’t find a little camera with a ‘Welsh’ setting especially for dimly lit committee meetings…
Lovely to chat as always today, cheers 🙂
Hello my old friend Gwyn :-). ¡Bien Hecho! …I’m not huge on blogs, but I found yours to be an excellent, informative observation of your status, loved ones, surrounds and economy…which appears to be suspiciously based predominately, on the illegal supply of ice-cream by tax-dodging wholesalers and the more curious fascination with frozen sea-foods?…Reminds me of Lyme Regis & the cockles & muscles cartels that operate the coastline!..They’re all in on it!…still, I’d rather the supply of lobster flavoured ice-cream over crystal meth.
My mind boggles, as this is surely a world away from sleepy, sunrise, yokal-Zummerset by which the only exciting news to report is shops have already started stocking for Christmas (relentless money-grabbing gits!) & the lovely leaves in our woods are changing colour and will fall shortly…a lifetime away from your fast, urban, seafood / ice-cream based environment.
Well Done!, I also liked the Han Solo – “here goes nothing reference”. I should hope if I ever write a blog it would be as humorously amusing and as informative as yours..Kindest regards to you, DrSita, & the star that is Atticus :-). Eug.
And I didn’t even mention the “Lobster Wars”, Eug… Many thanks for yer thoughts. Did you make it to the Mediaeval Fayre in B.L. yesterday?
Well, Gwyn-
you have inspired me to try to log a new entry on my much abandoned blog, after a while it seems to almost glare at me reproachfully with accusation in its eyes….(as if it had them) but the overall canine/feline carnaval that is chez moi prevents regular posts. ok, not really. i still have time to play fb games, while the old blog just stares blankly at me. hmmm.
anyhoo, love the bookshelves, the snapshots, and the updates on the cutest little schipperke i’ve ever seen.
mandando abrazos
x
jeje, at least your dogs haven’t learnt how to chew your blog. Yet. Cheers for stopping by X
BTW, I’m taking advantage of Snapfish’s 50 6×4 free prints + free shipping today to get some Atticus’ Fan Club Tchotchkes made… Stay tuned!
LoL 🙂 Thanks your yours, Yes..I’m always slightly anxious to us the term “perfect day” in-light of the balance of life & nature…as surely a piano will fall on me..but yes, to all intents & purposes we had a perfect day. ‘Twas exactly as ye old flyer said on the tin..plus enormous bouncy castle which fascinated and amused my daughter beyond belief. Tasha has managed to take some excellent photos & I shall be hoping to pinch a few to upload to FB soon :-). Take care & speak soon, Eug 🙂
the subjunctive??? madr.. cual es ese? heh .. err really. Bueno, si lo ves por el lado positivo, tienes el oceano cerca y eso es un super plus! Ya empezaron a cambiar de color las hojas? es cliche o es cierto que el paisaje se ve increible? pictures galore, please! y luego vas a tener como 10 meses de nieve!! woooooh (sarcasmo aqui) Ikea es chido, el traders joe mmm le tengo que agarrar la onda todavia.
Saludos a Don Atticus
El subjuntivo es la parte más difícil de aprender español, Ale- lo bueno de ser nativo es que no hay que saber lo que es. Casí no existe en inglés… pero el inglés tiene otras complicaciones…
Las hojas están cambiando, habrá fotos! El otoño en Oregon fue impresionante, a ver si aquí también. Y sí vamos a tener nieve… y mucho. A ver si puedo construir otro iglú, de hecho sí me gusta!
Don Atticus te manda muchos saludos, está en su quinta juguete después del fallecimiento triste de Froggy.
Saludos!
Thanks for the update on your little familia. I read the whole post! It took me most of the day, what with the baby and all, but I’m glad I did. Lovin’ your new photoblog, by the way.
Love the photoblog. Good to read what you’ve been up to!
Thanks Gina & Annelise!
Really appreciate the comments, it makes it all worthwhile. More soon!
Saludos a DC and OK respectively