March 2 - Maine

I am going home.

After much soul-searching (and apartment searching), I have decided what I really want most is to go home. Back to Massachusetts.

I suppose it comes mostly from a lifetime of living there; born, brought up, etc. I have been very fortunate to have been able to travel as much and experience the things I have in my life. This winter in Maine - it has provided me with a lot of introspection and food for thought.

I have enjoyed it, and have been productive. Both in my thinking and my painting :) The people up here have been very friendly and quite kind, but after all is said and done it just - does not - feel like home.

Due to some unseasonably warm weather this past week I was able to get out a few times and take care of things (like laundry - ugh - but I made a new friend!). My sister and her significant other will be up tomorrow night for the weekend, and I look forward to that.

When I first arrived in Maine I was unsure what the purpose was for me ending up in this space and time (as mentioned in previous posts). Now I know. Not many people get to "try out" living somewhere temporarily before moving there permanently; I count myself lucky in having to been able to do so.

Many reasons for my decision: the taxes (Maine state tax is 8.8% on everything, including food), lack of reasonably-priced and good-size rentals (with weird fees!) even several hours away from here, missing my brother, and fickle weather - I decided no. I am working diligently on finding housing at home, with several options on the line.

Besides the "trying it out in Maine" thing, another very positive thing has happened. I have always had a good relationship with my sister and we have always been close. Staying up here and seeing her for long periods of time every few weekends, talking so much and spending the time with her, has altered the tides. I feel we have become a lot closer and our relationship has shifted for the better. It is very hard to explain. It has been a subtle, yet positive change. I believe it has been good for both of us.

And as Dorothy says, "there's no place like home".

February 25 - Maine

The weather has actually been pretty good for a change this past week, and is supposed to hold through most of next week. That will be nice!

No luck on the apartment search so far :( I looked at a few places a little south of here the other day. One was tiny - the bedroom would barely hold a queen-size bed, let alone a bureau etc. The other was a little bigger, but still quite small and came with a lot of fees that were amazingly left out of the ad (that was sarcastic). Non-refundable application fee, which is high by even Maine standards, and while they did allow cats it also came with a pretty hefty non-refundable pet fee. Are you serious? Upshot was it would have cost me almost $3,000 to move into a small apartment. In a money order as they do not take checks or credit cards (really??). No thanks.

Back on the hunt Friday for something further afield, as the farther north and inland you go the less expensive rentals are. And I am in a bit of a time crunch here. My intent was to make appointments for Monday (or even this weekend if possible), but the property management companies all seem to close quite early on Fridays here and are not open on weekends. I do have a list of several places to call first thing Monday.

Rentals seem to work a little differently here in Maine than Massachusetts in that most are handled by above-mentioned property management companies. They all charge a non-refundable application fee, but the fee varies by company. Most rentals do not charge first/last/security, just first & security. The pet fee thing kind of boggles me. I can understand an extra security deposit (reasonable!), but non-refundable? For cats?? Nope. Again, depends on the management company.

Stay tuned for the apartment saga. I am feeling a bit pressured here as I do not have much time to find a place, and I have a LOT of stuff.

I had intended to do laundry yesterday, but the apartment search was a higher priority. Got busy doing things around the place today, and the time window passed before I knew it. I do have to go out tomorrow, so I am aiming for then :)

I will try to remember my camera, as there are some beautiful shots to be had up here. Because of my geographical location, one can see both the sunrise and the sunset. If you look at a map of the coastline of Maine, it rather resembles a cookie someone has taken a few bites out of. (Use your imagination!)

Because the coastline is so jagged, there are a lot of peninsulas where this phenomena can be found. Other fun facts about Maine: the Gulf of Maine has over 4,000 islands - more than the rest of the entire East Coast of the US. Maine also has 5,785 lakes which cover about a million acres. There is, however, some dispute as to the difference between a "lake" and a "pond", although in the scientific community the difference is in depth. Ponds are shallow enough to sustain plant life, whereas lakes are not. So technically a pond could be larger than a lake (although not as deep).

Not surprisingly, Maine makes the list of the "top 50" coldest places in the US. It currently ranks #3, topped only by North Dakota and Alaska. Portland ranks #32 on the list of the top 50 coldest cities, and while not the capital it is Maine's largest city.

Your trivia for the day!

Stay tuned, my friends. I hope to have more information (and pictures!) next week.

February 22 - Maine

Back-to-back (to back) snowstorms and February weather do not make for interesting posts. I am certain no one wants to see more pix of the 2-plus feet of snow that ended up falling here by the end of last week! Suffice it to say, my sister's significant other came up last Tuesday to dig out from the worst storm - almost 2 feet plus the remnants from the previous.

Then it snowed. Again. More than enough that it was impossible to get out of the driveway.

My sister and her S.O. arrived last Friday afternoon and cleaned it up (again!). Kind of like "the cavalry has arrived"! They stayed for the weekend, and much good food and great company ensued.

The weather has finally broken (for now anyhow) and I am able to tend to some things on my list. I have appointments tomorrow to view several apartments. I will be able to haul the trash bins out for Friday morning pick-up. I will be able to get out & do more laundry on Friday (and hopefully visit the library for reading material). Yay!

On the up-side I have been painting, which pleases me. I have 2 large canvases I am working on as a "set" - they are meant to be hung together, with one offset (a little above) the other. So far the oils have been drying fairly quickly, which is nice. Certain colors take longer to dry than others; deep blues & the cadmium colors for example. Titanium white - a staple - takes forever to dry for some reason.

Between my search for housing, painting, trying to keep the apartment tidy, etc. - I do manage to stay busy!

I will leave you with 2 pix tonight of The Hoover. The bane and love of my life here. This thing weighs at least 30 pounds with the hose etc. But it does a most excellent job of vacuuming! Most of the cats do not regularly run away when they hear the vacuum (except Percy). However.... The Hoover sounds like a NASA rocket launching. They all scatter.

And the place is clean for a day. Sigh - long-haired cats. Ah well.

Apartment hunting tomorrow :) Stay tuned!

The Hoover, upright (storage)

The Hoover, ready to rumble