Maine Event: Day 21

It is so luxurious to have a long weekend. Happy Labor Day and thank you Francis Perkins. We got up early and walked the West Bayside neighborhood to the East Bayside neighborhood which is in the far northeast of the peninsula (we are located in the West End which is South West section of the peninsula). The West Bayside is a poorer neighborhood with more former factory shaped buildings which are now mostly gyms, yoga places, bakeries (eg. two fat cats bakery - I mean to go there but it will need to be on another day), aikido as well as the largest fanciest Whole Foods I've ever seen (from the outside) as well as Trader Joes. There is a walk that goes around the peninsula that we were heading towards cross-city and found right around the big grocery stores. This path (paved) lead up to a wonderful wooded area with a dirt trail and stone stairs nestled in a deep dark forest. You could still hear the highway noises but it was refreshing to be in a city and yet in a forest. In the beginning, you come out right at the water level where you can see boats and the islands. You can choose stairs or a really beautiful start to a path right next to the bay. The bay walk had lots of people, bikes, dogs, and runners and it was still early so we opted for the stairs and only came across two runners headed down them. It really reminded me of parts of trails on the wetter side of Mount Tam. Then we came home through downtown to chill. It was a sunny lovely day that was briefly interrupted by a torrential downpour from 4-5 pm and then the sun came out again. 
I've been learning about the 1947 fire that was the year of Maine fires. There were 200 fires that burned between October 13 to October 27, 9 towns were wiped out and it burned 220,000 acres. The cost was 11 Million dollars at the time! If you have time and interest this article is pretty good and the video of old-timers swell also. I laughed at the fire person at the end who is so sure nothing like this could ever happen again. The National Park Service also has an article on the 1947 fires (scroll past the many alerts at the top of the page). I've been thinking a lot about forest fires.
West Bayside bicycle sighting across from a colorful sign for "Aikido of Maine, the art of peace"

The decision point, a walk along the waterfront looking at boats and islands...or

A pathway overland through the trees.

A decrepit old wooden house on the way back home.

A view of the community garden where we take our compost. Note the beautiful blue sky. This is about 1 pm

This was 4 pm. It lasted exactly one hour.

We had a delicious yellow eye bean soup. We cooked a base of carrot, celery, leek, chile flakes, garlic, and thyme in a little olive oil. Added the already cooked beans and a bit of leftover chicken. Let it cook for a while until it came together. Added amaranth leaves (aka pigweed) and let them cook. Finished with parsley and sauerkraut to give it zip. Oh, and no soup ladle so we used a coffee cup to deposit the soup from the pan to the bowls. :) 
Sending love, Tawnia
p.s. if you didn't answer my question about how you eat sauerkraut and have something to share I'm still accepting submissions :)