Squid

One of the biggest adventures of the Maine shore exploration was that Dale spotted a squid. This was amazing: neither Fred nor Michael had ever seen a squid before, and that is really saying something, because Fred is a local naturalist and Michael is a diver. Here is the pretty thing… orange with purple spots!

Uncle Fred quickly snatched it up, which surprised the heck out of Dale; that wouldn’t be my first instinct, either, but Fred is a very interactive guy. He somehow held onto it while it whipped its tentacles this way and that trying to break free.

Michael asked to hold it, and while Fred was trying to pass the squid to Michael, the squid bit Fred. Surprise! It hurt, and he dropped it, but Fred was not harmed. The squid somehow landed on a crab, so that when Michael snatched it up again, he had a bundle of writhing squid-crab craziness.

Fred thinks this was a “boreal squid,” though those are native to the Pacific, and we were on the Atlantic at the time. Whatever it was, it was very exciting!

Maine family

We loved the Maine landscape but we also just loved being with family. The crowd was the four of us (though Jordan had to leave early to get to Vocalpoint camp), Sue and Rob, Michael and Linda (and Journey the dog), and Fred and Linda, and we all just loved being together. Sue was actually fulfilling a lifelong dream by going to Maine: she had written a book report on Acadia National Park when she was a child, and had always wanted to go there. How sweet is that?

The six of us west-coasters stayed at a house that some friends of Fred and Linda’s rent out as a vacation home. It was wonderful – a lovely old Victorian, with a wonderful porch looking out on the water.

At dusk, gigantic spiders would come down out of the eaves onto the porch screens (on the outside, thank goodness). We all hung out there eating pie and watching the spider show.

There was always pie - I think my aunt Linda made six pies while we were there. Here’s Fred and Linda’s awesome house, a short bit down the road from our place.

There was grilling with Uncle Fred, and playing with the dog.

Michael and Aaron are best buddies by now, after Michael’s two trips to Seattle, and this trip brought them even closer. I love this picture so much... I could look at this picture all day.

Michael tried to take Aaron scuba diving off the shore of Fred and Linda’s property. Aaron gave it a go, but there was no wetsuit for him, and it was extremely cold. He loved learning about all the gear.

Uncle Fred is an amazing person to poke around the shore with, or go on a walk. He knows everything there is to know about local flora, fauna, and history. He’s the kind of guy that will see a bit of a hole in a dirt road you’re walking on, and show you that it was a turtle nest, and find a bit of turtle shell right there to prove it.

He loves where he lives and likes sharing it with us.

So does Aunt Linda, but she tended to be indoors making pie, and so we didn’t take as many pictures of her. We love you Aunt Linda, and the great trips you took us on, and also the pie!

Maine landscape

[Blogging now about events of a month ago.]

On our family vacation in August we drove from Massachusetts to Maine, stopping for lunch in Augusta at a seafood place called the Red Barn. Aaron and I had the most fantastic seafood stew there – a full cup of tasty lobster, scallops, shrimp, and fish, doused in a light seafood broth touched with cream. If I could have that for lunch on every road trip, I'd be a happier person. 

My Uncle Fred and Aunt Linda live in way eastern Maine – almost as far east as you can go and still be in the US. The landscape out there is amazing: a thousand little inlets and islets and channels, full of calm water, with the sky overhead.

This aerial view shows Fred and Linda's house tucked into the trees:

The views from the ground are pretty great too.

The really astonishing thing is the tides, which can be 40 vertical feet. That is really an amazing number. At low tide, walking into the intertidal zone is really walking on the sea floor. The boys were endlessly entertained poking around in the rockweed and turning over rocks. That includes not only Aaron and Jordan, but also Dale, Michael, and Fred – all of them can do this for many hours. You have to watch out, though, because when the tides are changing they change the landscape dramatically. Fred and Linda’s property has a long peninsula at the end of it – but at high tide it’s an island, so you’d better get back in time, or you’ll have to swim.

On the bright side, high tide is good for kayaking.

Massachusetts day

[Extremely belated blogging on fantastically significant family events…sigh. Better late than never.] 

In August, we had a family trip to visit multiple Gralenskis, first at my brother’s place in Massachusetts and then up to my aunt Linda and uncle Fred’s place in Maine. We had only one day in Massachusetts but wow, my brother really knows how to make the most of one day. We started with a sentimental tour of my grandmother’s property (Michael still owns it and lives next door). The kids got to drive my grandpa’s old tractor, which was a giant thrill for these city boys.

Then Michael took us mushroom hunting in the woods behind his house. We must have seen fifty different kinds of mushrooms – purple and red and orange and so many others, though sadly none of the edible kind he was looking for. He took the kids to his childhood swimming hole, which was freezing cold. They even did a little scuba diving (scuba dipping?), or at least examining the gear.

And Jordan had his first driving lesson, ai yi yi, in the same field where I had my first driving lesson, in Michael's truck (mine was in my grandpa's truck). He was great and I was verklempt. 

Michael was a very good teacher: patient, compassionate, and firm, with memorable stories about the reasons for things, as only a police officer can tell them. For example, in training Jordan to always turn around and actually look out the back window when you are in reverse, he recalled an incident when a woman backed over her fiancé on their wedding day, and the guy died, and she was held responsible. “I would never want you to have to live with such a terrible thing,” he said. After hearing that story, I tell you what, I’ve been looking out my own back window extra conscientiously.

There was also a lot of fun playing with Journey the dog, and an ice cream stand in the evening. There was room for all of us in one car if Journey crammed onto someone’s lap; fortunately both kids loved this.

The whole day was a great bonding day, especially for Michael and Jordan, which was really meaningful to me since Jordan has missed the other opportunities to connect to my brother. Yay uncle Michael!