Maine Event: Day 26

Last night was chilly and got down to 50 here but much colder inland. I know that is not really cold - it is more like an ordinary summer in SF but after it being significantly warmer at night it is noticeable. The day today was sunny and warm but not muggy at all. We had a relaxed day and made chicken stock and doodled around the house. We did go for a nice walk downtown in the late afternoon but otherwise stayed mostly nearby. The plan is to adventure tomorrow. 
I have no news about Hesperian's Afghan partner, I reached out to him a week ago but haven't heard anything. I did read that Catholic Charities is going to resettle 100 Afghans in Maine.
One super cool thing about Maine is that there is so much pride in things made here. It is as if the locavore movement was statewide and the ordinary stores prioritize selling Maine grown and made things. There are several different kinds of foods that are better here than in California and I'll highlight those in a future post but much of the fruit and vegetables don't really compare

Here is some rhubarb growing at the edge of the Clark Street Community Garden. Rhubarb here is plentiful and way better for example. 

A view from the Harbor View Park near our house and the garden.

Cute coffee house 

This is the foot of my friend, the red oak. What isn't obvious here is that at about 5' high he is about 14' around. "The formula, from a publication of the International Society of Arboriculture is as follows:

Figure the tree's circumference, in inches, by measuring the trunk 4.5 feet above the ground. Divide this number by pi, roughly 3.14, to get the diameter. Multiply the diameter by 5.0 if it is a white oak. If the tree is a pin oak or red oak, multiply the diameter by 3.5. The result is the approximate age in years.

We stress that this is an estimate - not an exact way of measuring a tree's age." (copied from here). Given this calculation, my friend the red oak, on Spring St. is roughly 187 years old.

Also on our evening walk by the Western Cemetery, there is a cooler of oysters for sale on the honor system. We need to seek out oyster knives then we can get them. 

Finally, I leave you with change. I expect that tomorrow I will be sending you a link to a website where I will post in the future. I believe you will be able to subscribe to it if you want a link to be sent to you when I post. This way I don't clutter up your inbox with all my images. 
Sending love, Tawnia