New England

Portland (Maine, not Oregon)

~ MaryG ~ 11 Comments

We’re getting pretty lousy weather for Memorial Day weekend—the kick-off of “summer” here in New England. It’s currently 43 degrees F and raining. My heat is running. (They’re saying it’s a slow moving Nor’easter.) Last weekend wasn’t much better.

I was in Portland (Maine) last Friday and Saturday. We saw some sun on Friday, but by Saturday the downtown was misty and chilly.

We could see the MSC Meraviglia, operated by Swiss/Italian MSC Cruises—the world’s third-largest cruise line—docked in downtown Portland, Maine last Friday from our hotel room window.

By Friday evening, the chilly mist had rolled in. It almost looked like part of the ship was on fire in the dark. There was a darker eerier blue/black mist coming from one section of it.

My friend Gail and I like to investigate mysteries we encounter on vacation. Here’s what we learned (but feel free to skip this part and go right to the food photos at the end):

The dark, smoky mist being emitted from the ships exhaust stacks was due to the ship’s use of exhaust gas cleaning systems, commonly known as “scrubbers,” during maintenance operations. The MSC Meraviglia was docked in Portland for emergency repairs, specifically to replace damaged propeller blades. Since the ship couldn’t return to a dry dock, dive teams conducted underwater repairs, utilizing hydraulic grinders to remove and replace the faulty blades. During this period, the ship operated its engines to power onboard systems, leading to the activation of its scrubbers. These systems are designed to reduce air pollutants by “washing” exhaust gases, but they can produce visible emissions, especially when the ship is stationary and undergoing maintenance. The emissions sparked concerns among local residents and environmental groups. While scrubbers reduce airborne pollutants, they can transfer contaminants to the water, potentially harming marine ecosystems. In response to over 50 complaints, city officials engaged with the ship’s captain, resulting in a switch to cleaner-burning fuel to mitigate the environmental impact. (It didn’t look much cleaner to me, but I didn’t see the smoke earlier in the week.)

This blog explains what was happening with the MSC Meraviglia and how some states (like California) ban scrubbers near the coastline.

Honestly, the cruise ship industry seems so environmentally harmful and disease-prone, I’m not quite sure why cruises are so popular.

We saw the MSC Meraviglia leave the harbor on Saturday, but another huge ship had pulled in. (At first, we thought the Meraviglia had just moved to a different spot, but then we saw it was the MS Zuiderdam.)

The MS Zuiderdam, operated by Holland America Line, was docked in Portland, Maine, as part of its 15-night “Atlantic Seaboard & Colonial New England cruise,” which began in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and ended in Quebec City, Canada.

PORTLAND FOOD

Given that the weather was bad, we abandoned plans to take the ferry to Peaks Island and decided to try as many of Portland’s popular eateries as possible. We ate our way through the Maine mist.

Maple bacon, honey lavender and toasted coconut donuts from The Holy Donut—made with Maine potatoes
Delicious sandwich from Duckfat, Portland
Brown butter lobster roll from Eventide Oyster Company
Fried oyster bun, also from Eventide
Mmmm…that’s the eggplant lasagna at Isa Bistro
We had fantastic service at Isa Bistro. I don’t even remember telling them it was Gail’s 60th birthday, but a lovely mango ice cream with candle appeared at the end of our delicious meal.

Not pictured, but highly recommended: Gelato Fiasco on Fore Street. The gelato is delicious and they also have great coffee and tea. They’ll even make you an affogato—a single or double espresso shot poured over gelato.

The Portland Observatory on Munjoy Hill
A dense fog on Casco Bay from the Eastern Promenade in Portland

Portland is less than two hours from Boston, so it’s not a bucket list destination for me. I’d been there before and I’m sure I’ll go there again at some point. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Portland in warm sunny weather though. It’s always misty and grey for me.

But hey, it’s Maine.

One final note: the city gives liberal/hipster vibes. I saw not one MAGA hat, shirt or sign, which is a major plus for me. In the 2024 U.S. presidential election, Kamala Harris won Portland with approximately 80.5% of the vote, while Donald Trump received about 15.6%. Good job Portland. I’ll be back.

Patriots Day

~ MaryG ~ 11 Comments

Patriots Day is a special Massachusetts holiday commemorating the start of the American Revolution. In case you don’t know the story: On April 18, 1775, British regulars (aka “Red Coats” because they wore bright red uniforms) marched from Boston to seize weapons stored by colonial militias in Concord. Paul Revere and others rode ahead to warn colonists. At dawn on April 19 in Lexington, Red Coats confronted about 70 militiamen (aka “Minute Men” because they could be ready to fight in a minute); a shot was fired—“the shot heard ’round the world”—and fighting began. Eight colonists were killed. The British continued to Concord but met fierce resistance. Amazingly, the Minutemen forced the Red Coats to retreat to Boston under heavy fire using fighting skills they learned from native people. A bunch of ragtag New England farmers chased the world’s most powerful army back to Boston with their tails between their legs. This marked the start of the American Revolutionary War.

Patriots Day is also the day they hold the Boston Marathon and many people have it off work.

This year, Massachusetts is kicking off the 250th birthday celebrations for the entire country. We’ve had all sorts of patriotic celebrations this weekend—all with a decidedly anti-Trump sentiment.

If you have time, it’s worth watching historian Heather Cox Richardson give an address at the Old North Church detailing the events leading up to the “midnight ride of Paul Revere.” One of her final points is that the two men who lit the lanterns in the steeple to start the process of warning the colonists that the British were approaching “by sea” were not doing anything extraordinary. They were just doing what they considered to be “the next right thing” at that time.

Since the heartbreaking election in November, I haven’t felt much like getting back out there and joining the resistance, but Patriots Day is special.

I was there in Concord for the Bicentennial in 1976, and wasn’t going to miss out this year. It felt like “the next right thing.”

The American Revolution started here.
My friends and I with a Concord Minuteman
There was a huge anti-Trump crowd in Concord center for Patriots Day
Speakers and singers on the steps of the Unitarian Universalist church
That’s me!

No Kings.

🇺🇸

A ChatGPT mini-adventure

~ MaryG ~ 14 Comments

I’m starting to use ChatGPT a lot now. For example, yesterday I had nothing on my calendar so I asked Chat to suggest three local adventures for me and my husband within 30 minutes of my house. One of the suggestions I had never been to (or even heard of): The Bancroft Castle. Intriguing! It looked like a little bit of Ireland in the next town over.

As we were about to leave, my husband was being grumpy (it was about 45 degrees and windy), so I ditched him and went alone.

Here’s the story: In 1906, after a long career as a soldier, politician, and businessman, General William Bancroft began building his lavish retirement home on a scenic hill in his old hometown (as Harvard Men do). He even had a pretentious name in mind: Shawfieldmont. But Bancroft’s dream project only got so far, when he ran out of money. He kept the property for 12 years, but then sold it to Harold Ayres, a physician who converted the structure into a “sanatorium.” Through the 1920s, patients in the area suffering from ailments like tuberculosis (who could afford to pay $20 a week) reaped the benefits of the fresh air and treatments offered by the Groton Private Hospital, as Ayres named his facility. 

When the hospital closed down toward the end of the decade, the space segued from sanatorium to social center, where dances and other events were held by the Groton Hunt Club. The fox hunting-related festivities came to end when parts of the structure burned down after a firecracker accident on the Fourth of July, 1932. (Oops, but at least the foxes could rest easier.)

It was a short but steep hike up to the Bancroft Castle in Groton, Massachusetts.

Kind of creepy, right? And I was the ONLY person up there! But I was brave and went in.

Major ghost vibes inside

I headed up to top of Gibbet Hill from the castle (despite heavy winds) and the view was pretty spectacular.

One more selfie inside the castle before heading home

Thanks Chat. That was interesting.

People don’t look good

~ MaryG ~ 23 Comments

I don’t know if this is just a New England thing or what, but people do not look well to me. It’s been a looooong winter here in New England (currently 42 degrees with light snow in Nashua, NH), but it’s like this every year. We know this. March is a winter month and it’s foolish to expect anything else, even with global warming. You can easily get snow on Easter Sunday. Hell, I’ve seen snow on Mother’s Day.

But this is different. A lot of people look miserable to me. An older woman with a walker was my cashier at Marshall’s yesterday. At age 65+, she has a job that requires her to stand up—for hours. Can she not retire? Is she one of the millions of Americans whose retirement plan is “work til I die.”

I have no idea of the political affiliation of strangers, so maybe this has nothing to do with the erosion of democracy or ascendent authoritarianism, but it does remind me a bit of my trip to the Soviet Union in 1987. Nobody smiled there. Everyone looked…grey (for lack of a better word). If they did smile, you could see that their teeth were horrible. They did not have American smiles.

I have done a fair bit of traveling and I can tell you that we tend be the warmest smilers in the world. And as a rule, we have fantastic teeth. (Maybe it was the fluoride and all the other public health initiatives we benefited from as kids.) But I’m seeing far fewer smiles lately. And more people are missing teeth.

An older woman sitting in a museum in Suzdal (Russia/USSR) in 1987 – “smiling” without showing her teeth
A couple struggling their way through a Nashua mall today in search of a free wheelchair for her to use

Winterlights

~ MaryG ~ 14 Comments
Stevens Coolidge House & Gardens in North Andover, Massachusetts
You gotta love a polar bear
I want to get some of these sphere lights for a tree near my driveway.
Shooting in 0.5x (ultra-wide lens) mode on iPhone gives a wider field of view but is available on the rear camera only, so you have to take a blind selfie (with the back of your phone facing you). It gives the photographer a very long arm.
It was in the low 20s last night on my son’s birthday, but we were dressed for it because we know how this works. It’s all about having the correct outerwear!
We added our wishes to a wishing tree. “Learn Italian without Trying” was my son’s.
Mine was the same as many others: 🌍☮️

All in all, a fun outing, but the lights were not quite as impressive as I’d hoped.

For some truly impressive winterlights, check out Brian’s post from Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania.

Product review

~ MaryG ~ 9 Comments

I like indoor fairy lights, but get tired of constantly changing the AAA batteries, so I took a chance and ordered some solar-powered ones from Amazon (even though Jeff Bezos is totally on my shit list). Where else can you search and compare tons of cheap electronic crap from China and have it delivered within 2 days? Amazon stands alone!

And seeing as the price of cheap, electronic crap from China is about to go up, I thought I’d share the link:

https://a.co/d/5oLLUI4

The lights come with small stakes for using outdoors, but they also work well in interior windows that get sun. You just have to face the little solar power packs south. They charge during the day and come on automatically after dark. You can set them to steady or flashing/twinkling mode.

It’s one way to ward off the doom and gloom of early darkness. The sun sets here by 4:30pm now…

Image by ChatGPT