ME II: 10 days left - quiet day

· Maine Event

We had a super quiet day today. We woke up to heavy clouds as another strong storm moved in. The pressure made me sleepy most of the day. The low today was 44° and the high 60°. There was a chilly little breeze in the morning that made you want to stick your hands deep in your pockets. We did mostly household stuff – cleaned the fridge, did laundry, that sort of thing. We spent a few hours working on another app release for work. The impending storm made it feel like a good day to get on top of a few things so that wrapping up here will go smoother.

I've written before about the shortage of workers here. It seems that everywhere there are Hiring signs. The county jail is making the regular news because out of 130 positions 70 are vacant. The USPS just closes one of its offices in Portland without any notice if there aren't staff to work there. It's one thing if the local pizza place closes because there aren't workers but when government services, hospitals, jails, and so on don't have workers it's another. It feels somehow really wrong when basic services don't have staffing.

In other news, if you are following along on my lichen journey here is a short article about lichens in Acadia National Park. Perhaps next year we will find a way to get up to Acadia and also maybe to the Central Coast Botanical Garden which has so many exciting things including trolls.

Lincoln Park downtown is just starting to change colors. It's a delight to see the gradual change day to day.
Our street: right outside the front of our door is getting totally lit up these days.
Fall cleaning has happened at the Community Garden and only the magestic kale remains.
Harbor View Park. Gray sky. Steely gray sea.
Ta-da! Unfazed by the cold.
Cats of Portland: This cat is known as the Pillar cat. It is super friendly and likes to sit at eye level and demand attention. Otherwise it will run after up to you to demand some respect.
Oysters!
Definitely soup weather and time to use up all the things.
Hallway of trees
Mighty little Ginkgo in YELLOW! I love this little sprite of a tree.

Have a deep renewing kind of sleep and take good care of one another.

Sending extra love, Tawnia

And a modest bird list but pleasing withal:

  1. American Crow 
  2. Herring Gull 
  3. House Sparrow 
  4. Rock Pigeon 
  5. European Starling 
  6. Northern Cardinal 
  7. White-throated Sparrow 
  8. Blue Jay
  9. Black-capped Chickadee
  10. Northern Mockingbird 
  11. Great Black-backed Gull