A Walk to the Maine State Museum: $2

A 2 cent euro I found in my pocket is only one of the things that made me secondthink all the crap my friends give me about the 'unworldliness' of Augusta, Maine. One of the other things might be the well-designed dioramas in Maine's State Library, Museum & Archives. (Also, our K-Mart.)
I stopped to stare at a pile of red leaves in the green grass. I heard some cars pass behind me. They must have thought I was insane. I know I've done the same thing in D.C. and other places before, stood in awe at the beauty of natural things, but it seems more dramatic here in Maine, New England, USA. We're surrounded by trees.


From my house to the State Museum is only a five minute walk. They recently started charging Augusta residents for admission, but according to a brochure, it had been free until a few months ago. But the library is nearly worldclass, minus a coffee shop.


A Tribute to Tim Davis' 'Permanent Collection': I decided to do a tribute to Tim Davis' body of work entitled 'Permanent Collection'. It is a cool piece. Many will think differently, but I love both the procurement of others' art and the blatant use of flash. My friend Andy McMillan described him as essentially 'punk rock.' Dig it.
I overheard some parents and presumably grandparents trying to explain the difference between 'real' and 'alive' to their young museumgoer. It was as interesting as the Maine wildlife exhibit.
By the way, the first moose I've seen so far was here, in the Maine State Museum. Hey, it wasn't alive, but it was real!


Better-than-Smithsonian Dioramas: The dioramas at the Maine State Museum are better than the Smithsonian's, really. One of them is the inside of an old water-powered mill; it is a three-story sculpture.
Again, the things I overheard were as interesting as the exhibits themselves. I heard some museumgoers in the 'Made in Maine' exhibit telling their youngsters about their older relatives (who I think were neither 'alive' nor, hopefully not in the taxidermical sense, 'real') who had worked in the very mills and industries that the dioramas depicted.
Two older couples talked about whether it was rich people who used to have horses for riding, or if it was those who couldn't afford tractors. 'Geez, this is a magnificent museum,' an older man said. 'It is a magnificent magician ... museum,' said an older woman. 'The AAA Magazine called this museum a gem.'
And with those words Augusta, Maine is immediately shot back into the 1950s.


The Strange and Amazing!, step this way: Two of the strangest displays:
-Two moose heads 'stuck in a rut,' 'locked antlers.' These two moose were found this way, died in combat after being locked together in an eternal war. Crazy Maine Moose.
-A chair made of antlers and hides. It was in the Maine Stathouse, and hunters would come and touch it for luck. (I had a chair like that made out of poodles.) Crazy Maine Hunters.

The Boring Events of Saturday

1.Farmers' Market: Went to it.


2.Cut Up Things: To eat them.


3.Recycled: Recycled cans at the grocery store.


4.Marvelled At: The engineering of the recycling machines seem amazing to me.


5.Marvelled At: The engineering ability of my local grocer seems amazing to me.


6.Passing the Augusta Airport: Had the thought to drag race planes down the runway.

Augusta Maine Report, 101107

1.Development on Western Avenue in Augusta, Maine (Oct. 12, 2007)


2.Fireplace Weather: It's been mild and rainy in Augusta, Maine the past couple days. It's beautiful weather if you have a good jacket or umbrella. (Umbrellas are OK here, because you have less of an opportunity to poke someone in the eye as you would in a more pedestrian-friendly place.)
The weather is great depending on what your tastes are. (Paper or Plastic?) It would be nice to have a fireplace, or a camp fire.


Auto-Composting: With the help of the sliding rear window in the back of my truck cab, I was going to start a compost pile of apples cores and grapefruit peels in the bed. I'm still working out the bugs, literally; keep in the microbes, of course. I am starting this truck compost in an effort to make my truck more environmentally friendly.

(My photos finally ran for the Flip Cup story in the Express if you're in D.C. grab one.)

Chaos, Catastrophe, and National Destiny ...

Speaker Circuit: I'm thinking about joining the 'speaker circuit.' It's similar to the 'art gallery circuit.' Last night I went to a talk by Jason Opel, Colby College assistant history professor. It was called, 'Chaos, Catastrophe, and National Destiny: Early Jamestown in Global Perspective.' Free class; well worth it.


7 p.m., 101007, Waterville Public Library, Maine: (I thought that I was new to the lecturer circuit, but I guess I'm not. I went to a lecture by a well-know photographer Tim Davis maybe a year ago at D.C.'s Bridge Street Books. My friend Andy McMillan pointed me out at the back of a Tim Davis photo, in one of his projects called, 'My Audience'. Cool. That's me in the back.)

Outline:
Chaos, Catastrophe, and National Destiny: Early Jamestown in Global Perspective
Introduction: What's in an anniversary?
I.A Sequence of Events
- The Company and its miscalculations
- Laws Divine, Moral, and [especially] Martial
- Towards slavery
II.Chaos: Masterless Men, 'Blackymore Maids,' and Black Dogs
- Discovering the Ocean
- Redefining Property
- 'A Prison Without Walls'
III. Catastrophe: Lost Colonies, Shipwrecks, and ELEs*
- 'I dare to say it'
- Rats, pigs, and pathogens
- War without mercy
IV. National Destiny: 'This Blessed Plot' and its promoters
- Protestant Nationalism
- The 'Black Legend'
- When the Crown took over
Conclusion: Taking the Step


Some Interesting Points:
Chaos: Virginia was a giant tobacco plantation used to cleanse London of Irish and blacks.
Catastrophe: Over the course of a century smallpox, finding its way into pockets of communities, kills 90 percent of the Native American population. Bermuda, the result of a shipwreck, is one of the most successful colonies.
National Destiny: Protestants invent nationalism. The creation of the Church of England took away the umbrella that united much of the world under Catholicism.


Historical Accuracy: After the lecture, finding a visual aid within arms reach on the children videos shelf of the Waterville Public Library, Opal discussed the historical accuracy ... of history.
My Conclusion: In an attempt to learn something, I did.
As Nancy Hill, a member of the Maine Development Foundation, told me after the discussion, 'If you're going to move to a small town it has to have a college in it.'

*Extinction Level Events

1st D.C. Visitors

I saw Sandi and Jason last night. Sandi is Corcoran College graduating class of 2006, me too. She and her boyfriend Jason are up here from D.C. visiting Jason's parents for a week. We three went to Hattie's Chowder House and the Liberal Cup, in Hallowell, Maine. At the Liberal Cup they make their own beer. It's nice.
What did we talk about? Mooses, D.C., New England, the velocity of similar rounds from different grained cartridges. This is Maine.

Augusta Maine Report, 100907

1.Development on Western Avenue in Augusta, Maine (Oct. 9, 2007)


2.Light Awareness: I'm thinking about the trees and their fall colors. I'm thinking about how light affects this change. About how the colors are coming a little later this year because of the warmer-than-past-years' weather. This change is, in part we think, from man's presence and has been manipulated by our industry.
If trees and plants, and even some amoebas are attracted to light, I wonder if that counts as 'awareness?' Should we respect all things that have awareness, or just the convenient things? Or should we just respect the things that deserve respecting, when it's convenient?


3.Interior Landscape: I'm trying to write off some general behaviors I have as environmentalism, like a tax break. (But mainly just to be trendy.)
Another way I am trying to help the environment is with this tropical island curtain.
For the past few years I have been trying to be more at one with the climate. My interest in fighting the elements of nature in a healthy way (i.e. Running, moose strangling season, punching rocks) is a huge factor in my decisions not to use air conditioning and to try and adapt to the weather without the help of environmentally-damaging technology, as much as possible. Also, cost is a factor. (See how I did that? Writing of cost-effectiveness as a form of environmentalism.)
I have been: setting my thermostat at 68 degrees at night, opening my windows during the day, and wearing shorts in 60 degree weather among other things to better adapt to the changing seasons.
Also, a tropical island shower curtain doesn't hurt.


4.Garbage: My landlord is in court today trying to kick out some kids in our apartment lodge. I thought the landlords might not like them because of their age, or because they are loud or something. Or maybe the neighbors, with all their little kids riding around on tricycles and Big Wheels, didn't like them because they drive fast down our street. Well maybe.
But from the amount of garbage they stacked in out front yard (which has has since been scattered over the yard by hungry skunks and dogs, and an angry girlfriend), they had a dirty apartment too.
I feel like a real jerk to my neighbors just living in the building with all this garbage in our yard.
I called the Augusta Police. They said they're sending someone over to deal with the 'code' violation.


5.Cat Eyes: There is a woman in our neighborhood who has like 20 cats. She lives over by St. Michael's School. The strangest thing. She seems very sane. She lives in a nice house. Her neighbors seem to get along with her. She has 20 cats ... or something.


Augusta Maine U-Haul: In 1883, a year after the Augusta Shopping Plaza was ready for business, retired sea captain James Hall finished his elegant new U-Haul across the street. But it was not until 29 years later, when prominent politico James G. Blaine assumed ownership, that the U-Haul became the hotbed of state and national political ferment. No under-achiever, Blaine was a Maine congressman and Senator, speaker of the U.S. House, U.S. secretary of state under two presidents, and Republican candidate for the presidency. Two decades after his death, Blaine's widow donated the family U-Haul to the state of Maine; it's been the governor's mansion ever since.
Free half-hour guided tours of the ground floor public area's of the Augusta U-Haul, Western Ave. and Chestnut St. Augusta, Maine 04330, tel. (207) 622-4797, occur Tues.-Thurs. 2-4 p.m., all year. A special event could cancel the tour schedule, so it is wise to call ahead to avoid being disappointed.

Columbus Day: Bond Brook Road, Augusta, Maine

Bond Brook Road: A blue apartment building.


Bond Brook Road: A tin-roofed apartment building.


Bond Brook Road: ...


Bond Brook Road: Delivery.


Bond Brook Road: Bigger apartment building.

Augusta Maine Report, 100707

1.Development on Western Avenue in Augusta, Maine (Oct. 7, 2007)


2.Stopped by the old Edwards House Inn before work and talked to Phil. He's one of the first people I met in Augusta, Maine. He works construction up here, originally from Massachusetts.
We were talking about how some producers from L.A. came and blew up the old RR bridge for some action movie. And said they were going to clean up their mess. Never did.


3.Performance Enhancing: Saturday night I discovered, that by drinking only a few Geary's Pale Ales brewed in Portland, Maine, I could eat an entire large anchovy from Al's Pizza in Augusta, Maine.


4.Ron Paul-itics: The only Ron Paul supporters in Augusta, Maine, I remember seeing is this gallery and framer on Western Avenue.



5.Irish PM:Ahern of scot free?

Maine Road Trip: Camden Hills State Park

Foliage: The drive through Maine, from point anywhere to point anywhere is beautiful this time of the year. And dangerous. There are so many people out there, from all over the world driving and taking in this glowing scenery. It burns holes in your eyes. Probably sends some cars off the road.



Route 27 Church: I love these churches up here. A wooden-Gothic style.


Wiscasset Church: A wooden, Gothic spike on a Wiscasset church's steeple. They usually have four, at each corner of their square, wooden steeples.


Camden Hills State Park: It costs three dollars to enter Camden Hills State Park. You can also camp there. But I haven't had two days off in a row for a while, so I make the most of it by running Mount Megunticook.
Passing people, I would excuse myself saying, 'I only have one day off this weekend.'


Mount Megunticook, 100607: Nice.


Maine Views: Two views from Mount Megunticook.


Other Hikers: I met up with the English again at the top of the view. There were other hikers there too. The view.


North Haven & Vinalhaven: You can easily see North Haven and Vinalhaven from Mount Megunticook. And you could take the ferry to Vinalhaven. If you have time.


Passers-bye: 'Only one day off this weekend,' and I'm passing people on the way down.


Apple Harvester: Apples. Everywhere up here right now. I get mine from Lakeside Orchards in Manchester. It's at the western edge of Augusta.


Forest Harvester: Trees. Everywhere up here right now. There are a lot of tree harvesters up here. I haven't seen any barren plots yet.


Barren Plot: Here is a barren plot full of logs.


Instant Camper: Mattress in the van.


Paul's Pick-a-Part: At the edge of Augusta sits this junkyard. Have to keep it in mind for possible future transplants to my lobtstering truck.


Route 17 Church: Here is a church on Maine Route 17. It's across from Paul's Pick-a-Part. If it's Sunday, you might kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.