New2Maine.com

Holy cow. I just looked at the timestamp on my last post and realized that somehow two weeks have snuck by since then; my last post was about the weather, too, so it’s high time I wrote something. After my last post, I headed back to Albany for a get-together with some fraternity brothers I hadn’t seen in quite a while. This was only the second time I’ve left Maine in the two months we’ve lived up here, and it really felt like I was leaving home this time. As I reached the “Now Leaving Maine Wildlife Preserve” sing on 95 S, I actually momentarily contemplated turning around and heading home. It’s interesting how quickly this place has come to feel “like home” for me.
Continue Reading »

The calendar has turned the page and autumn has arrived in southern Maine. After a wet start to the week, the last several days have been simply perfect fall weather. We’ve had sunny days in the low 70s and breezy evenings in the low 50s. She and I have broken out light jackets for evening dog walking duty, the fans around the house are all off (probably until next year), but we’ve not had to close any windows yet.

Obviously it’s still early in the season, but so far fall up here has been quite enchanting. The leaves are turning, the autumn beers are on the shelves, and we’ve smelled a few wood fires from the houses we stroll by in the evening. If this lasts until late October or even the Maine Brewer’s Festival in early November, it will be simply wonderful. I can’t wait to see how the season develops. And yes, the pun was intended.

She and I had a great time at the Sea Dogs game on Friday evening. The section 202 seats offered a great view of the action from behind the Dogs’ dugout, but we were not behind the netting so She got very nervous every time a ball was fouled off. The Friday game was a good one, with lots of baserunners but not many runs. After answering the Thunder’s run in the third inning, the Sea Dogs gave up two in the fourth.

They threatened several times throughout the game, but couldn’t plate another run until they were down to their last out. They got to within one and had the winning run at bat. The crowd was on its feet and cheering to try to help drive in the tying and/or winning run, but it was not to be. A roar rose from the crowd when the catcher, Otness, drove one to very deep center field, but in the end, it only made it to the warning track for the last out–395 feet when he needed 400. I’ve posted some pics from the game on our Flickr account.

Saturday’s contest (which we did not attend) did not go as well as Friday’s. The Dogs’ Chris Smith gave up two two-run doubles and they could not score a run themselves. After the Sea Dogs ended the Thunder’s season the past two years in the playoffs, the Thunder returned the favor by taking the series 3-1. Overall it was another good season for the Sea Dogs, though the last two weeks certainly could have been better. Now we await opening day 2008 at Hadlock–April 11 vs. New Britain. Until next year…

We continue to meet new Mainers up here. She was considering offering tutoring in French and so took a look at Craig’s List to see what might be out there. While perusing the listings, she came across a listing offering tutoring from a woman whose background was surprising similar to hers–a degree from SUNY Albany and time studying in France (Paris vs. Tours). And she’d just moved to Portland to boot. She emailed this other woman to see if we might get together for drinks.

We got a call back Saturday evening and agreed to meet at Wine Bar in Old Port at around 9:00. We got there at just about 9:00 after finding a surprisingly good parking spot on Commercial St. Things really quiet down after Labor Day I guess. We had no idea what our counterparts for the evening looked like (She had neglected to get any kind of details about appearance or apparel), but a quick phone call informed that we’d ended up sitting right behind them.

What followed was a lovely two-hour chat about life in Portland and teaching (it turns out that both of our companions for the evening were teachers). I avoided most of the talk about teaching, but we very much enjoyed discussing our new city. It turns out that this other couple had just moved up here one week ago, and they’d also come for no particular reason other than liking Portland. We had lots of restaurant and pub recommendations for them. She and I were pleased to hear that it sounded like we’d been in Portland for a year. Not quite…but we’ve certainly tried hard to explore our city since we’ve gotten here. Much of that exploration has been chronicled here, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about it. Thanks, J & B, for a lovely evening. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

We also have dinner plans to meet with the publisher of The Monocle and his wife for Thursday night. That will make three couples we’ve met up here through the Internet. Pretty good for six weeks I’d say.

I am really getting into this minor league baseball thing. I’ve not been to a major league game in a few years, but I don’t remember it being quite this much fun to go to Fenway and cheer for the Sox. Granted, there are several times as many people at a Red Sox game, and I don’t really like driving in/around Boston, but the hometown feel of Hadlock Field is very appealing. She and I are looking forward to tonight’s game, especially after the Sea Dogs gutted out a 3-2 victory over Trenton last night–in 13 innings. I actually signed up for an account on MiLB.com so I could listen to the last few innings of the game after the Colts-Saints game got out of hand.

As I said before, She and I will be in section 202 tonight to cheer on the Sea Dogs. We’ll bring our camera this time and snap a few photos of the park and the action. There is just something about rooting for a minor league ball player whose dream is to make it up to the Bigs. It’s almost like watching college football or college basketball, where they still have a bigger goal in sight and so play their hearts out. The quality of baseball isn’t what you’d see at Fenway, though there are several Sox who were in Sea Dogs uniforms not too long ago, so it’s close. The campy between-innings presentations and contests seemed very sophomoric the first, but they’re becoming a little more endearing. This is small-town baseball, and it’s a lot of fun. If they have another good game tonight, the Sea Dogs will have a chance to close out the Thunder tomorrow night at Hadlock. Let’s go Dogs!