Maine Minutiae : Going Coastal

Searsport

Like so many coastal towns in Maine, Searsport has roots that grow deep in the maritime industry. Searsport is the state's second largest deep-water port and at one time was home to fully ten percent of all American deep-water shipmasters. During the 19th Century, Searsport boasted of seventeen shipyards and over 200 ships were built in the town. Searsport's location was also perfect for rail access and wood products to ship via rail or sea to places all over the world. The area around the town was settled in 1620, but not incorporated until 1845. After a fire in 1747 destroyed the Province House in Boston, Samuel Waldo (for whom Waldo County is named) was an advocate to name Searsport as the new capital of Massachusetts (remember, at this time Maine was still part of Mass.). Needless to say his efforts were not successful and the capital of the Bay State remained there. Searsport is is surrounded by or near to all sorts of recreational activities, namely water sports and fishing, some fantastic hiking and biking trails and several parks and State Parks, as well as Sears Island, the largest uninhabited island on the East Coast. Searsport - another jewel in the treasure that is the Coast of Maine.


*Photo from Readers Digest

Texas Tidbits : What's In a Name?

Are You  Sure?*

One thing is certain about Texas. It's BIG. But when it comes to location, where on Earth am I? I don't know. I'm Uncertain, but I know I'm Happy it's a small town where nobody tried to Cut and Shoot  me. Another sure thing about Texas is that is dotted with small towns with some interesting names, as evidenced by the four towns previously mentioned. I thought that today we'd take a look at some real places with real odd handles. Like Muleshoe. Or Telephone. There are dozens of other locations in the Lone Star State with unique, if not downright funny names. American Profile has an article with several good ones. Texas Escapes tells us of Looneyville (it's near Crazy Creek! I am not making this up!) , Diddy Waw Diddy and Old Granny's Neck. I have personally been to the Home of Bob Wills, Turkey, Texas., not to mention Spurger, Fred and Dime Box. The only important thing to me, no matter if it's Bug Tussle or Bettie, when I'm in Texas, I'm always in Paradise.

*Photo from texfiles.com

Maine Minutiae : Open Lighthouse Day!

Maine, as has been written about in this very space, is known for, at one time, having at least seventy lighthouses up and down the coast, in rivers and one in a lake! The lighthouse has been a part of Maine's character since at least 1794, when an array of these beacons in the night was begun to help sailors navigate the rocky and rugged Maine coastline. Built in 1910, the lighthouse at Whitlock's Mill  in Calais is the youngest of the bunch. Maine ranks third, behind Michigan and New York in total number of lighthouses, but leads the nation in number of them along the coast. Lighthouse continue to attract the attention of visitors from around the world to the Lighthouse State (the Official State Nickname is The Pine Tree State, but unofficially, it's The Lighthouse State) year in and year out. One month from today, on September 18, the US Coast Guard, the State of Maine and the American Lighthouse Foundation are holding an Open Lighthouse Day for everyone! Last year was the inaugural go round for Open Lighthouse Day and hundreds of Mainers took advantage of this unique opportunity. Tours will be conducted of each lighthouse on the list half way down this page. My birthday is a couple of days before this open lighthouse thing, I would love to take a tour of one. (Hint hint, Heather :)) If you visit a lighthouse near you, be sure to take your camera and some fresh batteries along and snap some photos as a visual reminder of this iconic figure in Maine's history.

Texas Tidbits : Lightnin' Strikes Texas

Blues. Music that touches and tortures the soul. Music that sings of joy and triumph and, at the same time, despair and tragedy. We all, at one point or another, have experienced the gamut of emotions that is the blues. However, it takes an artist, a Van Gogh with a guitar, a Shakespeare with a song, to make someone feel the blues. One such man was born in Centerville, Texas on March 15, 1912, Sam "Lightnin' " Hopkins. As a young black boy growing up in Centerville (halfway between Dallas and Houston on I-45), Sam was immersed in the blues. At age eight, Sam met a true Blues Man, Blind Lemon Jefferson, at a church picnic in nearby Buffalo. That experience was Sam's baptism into the church of the blues. By the mid 1920's, Hopkins was jumping trains, throwing dice and playing the blues, living the blues. But a decade or so later Lightnin' was imprisoned in Houston County for reasons unclear. After prison, he moved to Houston to get in on the music scene there. Unsuccessful, Sam was soon back in Centerville working as a farm hand. Taking a second shot at Houston in 1946 turned out to be a monumental decision for Hopkins, the blues and, eventually, the world. From then until the early '50's, Lightnin' rarely played outside Texas, but when he did...as the late Paul Harvey said, "Now you know the rest of the story"- playing in countries around the globe, in front of monarchs and poor folks, Hopkins became a legend. On January 30, 1982 in his beloved Houston, Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins succumbed to cancer at age 69. Cue the the blues... "Lightnin'" has struck Texas.

Prepping for Mother-In-Law Day

Today is gonna be a busy one. We have several errands to run in preparation of an impending visit from the disaster that is my wonderful Mother-In-Law (pictured above), therefore, posts will be running late today. I'll get them up and running as I can throughout the day. There are, for your perusal and entertainment, a number of good, nay, great posts in the archives. Simply browse through page by page or put a keyword in the search box at the top right of each page, enter it and WHAM!, Instant Brilliance! Or Instant BS, depending on your definition of "brilliance". I have extremely low standards, so my idea of brilliance is another man idea of BS. But, I digress. Here's a list of some of the more "brilliant" recent posts :

• Texas Tidbits : Irving : My Hometown
• Maine Minutiae : The People of The Dawn 
• Colorado Chronicles : Nederland and The Frozen Dead Guy

Let's be real here. Is the stuff above some brilliance BS or what?

Colorado Chronicles : Buffalo Bill - American Original

William Frederick Cody was born February 26, 1846 near LeClaire in the Iowa Territory, destined to become one of the most famous men of the American Wild West era. The Cody family moved to Leavenworth, Kansas when William was seven years old. It was there that the tales of adventure about the cowboys of the day captured young William's heart and imagination. At age eleven when William's father, Isaac, died leaving the Cody clan in desperate straits "he took a job with a freight carrier as a "boy extra," riding up and down the length of a wagon train, delivering messages." (Wikipedia). Three years later, Cody was hit with gold fever and decided to set out to strike it rich. Somewhere along the way he met an agent of the famed Pony Express and the gold fever subsided rather quickly when William was hired by the Express. He built several  Pony Express stations along the PE route and was rewarded with a job as a Pony Express Rider. After a stint as US Army Scout, Indian Fighter and buffalo hunter supplying meat to the Army and some other endeavors, Cody, now known as Buffalo  Bill, began producing and performing in Wild West Shows all over the world. Though highly rewarding and popular shows, the performances didn't leave Buffalo Bill exactly a wealthy man as one would expect. Bad investments away from the Wild West Shows left Cody with little money to retire on, and though he was ready to call it a career, he kept on keeping on until his dieing day. In 1917, while visiting his sister in Denver, Buffalo Bill Cody died and was buried, per his last wishes, on Lookout Mountain in Golden, Colorado. His burial site is still a major tourist attraction for people passing along I-70, west of Denver. William Frederick Cody, truly an American original.

Maine Minutiae : End of Summer Hoorah!

 One of the nice things about living in Augusta is that there are plenty of amenities to live comfortably. Another cool thing about living here is that it's never too far to drive to get to a less-crowded, remote even, place to escape from the rat race. Danged if I didn't find another such place while just goofin' off this morning. Franklin County. A mere 38 miles from Augusta, Franklin County seems a world away. In the winter time, there's always skiing at Sugarloaf. However, as we put another summer behind us, Franklin County still has much to offer. Like the family-owned (I like family-owned businesses. They seem to work harder to make you happy) resort at Saddleback, which features hiking and ski trails, streams and lakes where Fish.Fear.Me. and so much more. While Sugarloaf and Saddleback are doing business in one way or another year round, I wanted to bring up a specific event that I know readers of all ages and both sexes will find well worth the time and money spent. It's billed as the End of Summer Hoorah! The main attractions include a Car/Bike (motorcycle) Show, Texas Hold "Em Tournament and....wait....for....this....a pig roast! I'd slap my mama away from the supper table to get some fresh roasted pig. They'll also be BBQing some yard bird at this hootnanny. How fast can I get there??!! What a great way to wrap up the vacation season! Rangeley, a recent Maine Minutiae subject is also in Franklin County and would be a terrific place to spend some time during your trip to the festivities. Hoorah!