Big Fish, Small Pond

So I'm at the end of Lisbon Street in downtown Lewiston today, walking around looking for the photography school I know is around there SOMEWHERE and I hear this live music. As I'm walking I realize that the voice I hear singing is that of none other than my good friend Jess Tardy! I had no idea she was in town, from Nashville. It was quite a surprise and it was great to hear her and talk to her after her outdoor set.

Oh, one thing to remember: don't assume that just because Lewiston is not Somerville or Cambridge that parking tickets will be any rarer or cheaper... It was worth the ticket though.

You find a lot of intersections here that are 4-way stop intersections, meaning everyone has a stop sign. You don't find a lot of these in the greater Boston area. Why? Because in Boston, you find that at these intersections, 4 cars will get to the intersection, and well, no one will stop. Here, you find the exact opposite. 4 cars get to the intersection, and... no one will go, even with a clear right-of-way. Sometimes they will even visually GIVE you the right of way, with a wave of the hand or a flash of the headlights, even though you are turning and they are going straight and they got there before you... weird.

I made my semi-usual trek to the annual balloon festival here, and despite the mostly crappy weather (only 2 out of the scheduled 5 launches took place) I was able to get some good pictures.





My keepers from the balloon festival can be found here.

Is that when one of your sisters gets a new puppy, you can visit and have some quality dog time. This little cutie's name is Tessie, she's a 9 week old Yellow Lab.

She's apparently not very camera shy either. :)

Before...


After...

Never thought I'd see those on my car again...

Today I gave Tim Horton's a shot. It can be pretty much thought of as the Dunkin' Donuts of the Great White North, Canada, eh. It's within walking distance, and I've heard it's not a bad competitor to DD, which is one of my favorite places for coffee and donuts. I figured, "What the heck, I can try it."

The results? The coffee wasn't that bad at all. I'm not sure how consistent it is, only having been there once, and consistency is really where DD has it going on, but it was a much better brew than I expected. Sadly though, while cheaper, you also get a smaller medium cup. I have to ding them for that.

I also had their version of my DD standard, a chocolate glazed donut, and I must say, their version was horrible. It was way too sweet, and the glaze wasn't just like sugar, it had some kind of flavor itself, so you could barely taste the donut underneath. Not good at all.

So, I give their coffee a solid 3, and their donuts a 1. I'll stick with Dunkin' Donuts, thanks, but Tim Horton's will do in a pinch.

This is the first of my samplings of the local Asian take-out restaurants. I've tasted some of the best, Hunan Homes in San Francisco; East Asia, a small place in Powderhouse Square in Somerville, MA. Since I wasn't really able to find any online reviews, I thought I'd keep track of my quest for great Asian take-out here.

Canton Wok
920 Lisbon Street
Lewiston, ME 04240

Dish Sampled: Cashew Chicken combination plate (cashew chicken, fried rice, spareribs), $5.50

Results:

The cashew chicken, while not the most flavorful I've ever had, was quite good. Lots of chicken, huge cashews, lots of carrots, mushrooms and chestnuts.

Pork fried rice: Along the lines of typical American Asian take-out: too brown caused by too much soy sauce, not enough chucks of meat or veggies. Still, better than many I've had at other places.

BBQ spareribs: Much better than usual. Not cooked to the point of being dried out, large pieces, good flavor.

Portion: Huge, more than I could eat for lunch.

Overall: 3 cookies (Recommended)

On Wednesday I saw my first Sea Dogs game in quite some time. For those that DON'T know, the Sea Dogs are the AA minor league team of the Red Sox. Think of them as "Red Sox lite." It's a very difference experience of course. First there's the absence of big-name players, and of course about 32,000 fewer fans. There's also the "contests" typical of minor league ball between innings, things like "Catch the Lobsters" where two people attempt to catch as many rubber lobsters, thrown by 3 lacrosse players mind you, in a lobster trap to win a prize.

The hot dogs, were not so bad, not Fenway franks but for $2.50 each, the price makes up for the difference.



The picture on the top: The little coke bottle, the little Citgo sign and the Sea Dog version of the Fenway Green Monster. The picture on the bottom: Someone just hit a home run, so a lighthouse, decked out with sparkler streams, is rising above the center field wall...

In case you were wondering the Sea Dogs won, and are in first place in their league.

Well, the big move is done, and here I am in Maine. Well back in Maine, where I haven't lived since 1988. I'm finding just about everything is cheaper, which is what I was counting on, but you'd be surprised at the things that I paid so much more for in MA.

As I walk and drive around here, I realize I had forgotten what it's like for people to have real yards, especially in this Real Estate crazed time we live in in which people are building on every available spot of land. I find myself looking at these yards and thinking, "wow you could fit another house there."