Day 17.202: Devil's Back Trail - West

As Exile #2 mentioned, our second stop on Sunday was at Devil's Back on Orr's Island near Harpswell. Having chosen to cross the road and enter the west half of the trail (for no particular reason), we ended up walking the northern half of the trail loop on that side.

Here are some things that caught our eye.

Snowy egret

Common terns carrying their catch...

...and feeding their young

A double-crested cormorant doing its thing

A fly-by from a bald eagle

Eiders living their best life

More tern fishing action....

...and just flying

This is a flycatcher of some kind - possibly olive-sided 

I think it was too big to be a phoebe or eastern wood pewee

This inlet splits the northern half of Orr's Island in two.

We turned this amazing multi-limbed tree into a family tree

Exile #4 had some impressive hat-hair (and a well-formed curl)

Day 17.160: Lawn maintenance

Yesterday, I managed to fit in cutting the grass before the heatwave hit today. We also fitted our A/C units. The yard is looking not bad at all considering the little care and attention it gets.

As we discovered during no-mow May, it is far from a grass monoculture. I am also getting some assistance with keeping the broad-leaved plants in it under control.

 As long as that is all it eats, it's welcome to stay.

Day 17.152: Frustratingly close

I arrived at Boston Logan airport about twenty minutes before Exile #2's mum's flight's* scheduled arrival time. By the time I'd parked and made it to the arrivals area, another ten minutes had passed, and the flight had landed - about fifteen minutes early.

After a quick check of the area to ensure she hadn't got out spectacularly quickly, I settled in to wait.

And wait.

After about 90 minutes, I was beginning to wonder if there had been a problem, and attempted to contact both the airline and the airport assistance lines to see if there was anything they could tell me. There wasn't.

Fortunately, someone else meeting someone from the same flight overheard part of my conversation and was able to give me an update. Apparently, the flight, having landed, found the gate they were due to use blocked by an unrelated broken-down plane and no other gates were available. Eventually, they found a spot at another gate - but only after a two hour wait. It was certainly a relief to know what kind of issue was causing the long delay.

While we continued to wait, I spoke my informant a bit. He was from Italy originally and was meeting an Italian friend who lives in Wales (where Exile #2 and her family are from) - explaining why he was wearing a "Cymru" hat. Then it turned out that his mother lives in England - and not just that, but in the small Yorkshire town where I lived from one to eleven years old.

Soon enough, his friend came out and they left and shortly after, Exile #2's mum emerged as well, and we had a fairly uneventful drive home.

* I enjoyed this little possessives' party

Day 17.079: Eastertide restoration

Maybe not a resurrection, but I’m happy to say that the basement is back to normal after our little water incident and even tidier - for now at least. 

Day 17.068: Back to … normal?

Exile #3 is back and doing well after her fun week away, I was back at work today, and we’re back to deodorizing the basement. It’s a second - and hopefully final - round of vinegar spray followed (not immediately!) by baking soda to dry and absorb odors. It definitely did a lot of good the first time, hopefully a second round will clinch it. 

Day 17.044: Flashback Friday: hat?

Not much to report at this end of the work-week, so here are some photos from 15 years ago today of E5N1 with some novel headwear. 

Day 16.318: Easy assembly?

Another activity yesterday was assembling a lamp. However, unlike the flat-pack projects of old, this one assembled itself as soon as the box was open - so much easier.

and here is the finished article:

Day 16.231: Coast to coast

My morning started very early. Before dawn I was flying out over the coast:

This was the coastline as I arrived at my destination later in the day:

And this was the full moon as the day ended. 

As for the “coastline” I am near it is just a lakeshore - a long way from any real coast in Madison Wisconsin. 

Day 16.199: Stormy skies

We've had some hot summer weather here the last few days - with some stormy intervals. The storms haven't really amounted to much for us, but it has made for some dramatic skies.

Day 16.193: Hazy at the beach

We didn't see many birds at the beach - a raft of distant ducks, a single tern (with a strange looking wing - in both this photo and another one I took) and some gulls. Other than that I enjoyed the views of distant boats through the mist.

Day 16.153: Parade (Exile #2's Monday? column)

Exile #2 writes...

While Exile #1 went off to film the dance show on Saturday, I headed in the opposite direction to see E5N1 marching in a local carnival parade. It began much like the Memorial Day parade, with a row of police cars, sirens wailing and ended, similarly, with a fire truck from each local town, making as much noise as possible. In between, however, things got a little wild.

The Shriners were out in full force, wearing their customary fezzes, speeding around on bikes, go karts and miniature semi trucks. The Franco-American organizers went by on a float, performing what I assume was the French version of the Birdie Song (the actions appear to be universal!) There were politicians, pageant queens and pipers, vintage vehicles and, of course, the local septic tank service, complete with a guy in a poop hat throwing candy.

E5N1's band was worth the wait. Here they are close to the end of the parade, still bringing some energy.

Day 16.143: More welcome

As well as the unwelcome woodchuck (still not seen again). We have been getting more birds back on the feeder (perhaps as new families demand quicker and easier meals). Here is one of the returnees, not seen much since mud season but back regularly now.

Exile #2 took the lovely photo one day this week.

Eastern bluebird atop the bird feeder

Day 15.344: Cookie; Holiday show

I’m currently in the middle of editing the video for the winter dance show. This was a lovely thank-you on the day - a spectacular decorating job. Since it was gluten free, I could share it with Exile #2 as well. 

Day 15.340: Storm path

As I watched the snow fall all morning, the plan to spend this afternoon driving to Massachusetts to bring Exile #4 home started to seem a little more ambitious than it had when we were predicted to get only rain. 

Fortunately, by the time I got twenty miles down the highway, I left the snow behind me and the rest of the journey was in “just” pouring rain. 

Unfortunately, the snow was waiting for us when we returned to a similar place and the last few miles were very wintry. 

However, everyone behaved sensibly and we made it home safely:

And yes - Exile #4 did travel home from college wearing a shirt from Elementary School!