What a beautiful weekend it was here in Maine. Fall weekends up here are always very hit or miss, and this was one was as close to perfect as they come. We had bright blue skies with highs around 70 both days.

Combine great weather with all the amazing colors of a New England fall and all the activities of a holiday weekend and you have a recipe for a very tired little girl come Sunday evening.

With the exception of the very last photo of Tougy with smiley stickers on her face, all of the photos come from this past Sunday. Columbus Day is the last hurrah of the 'summer' season here on the Boothbay peninsula after which town will be quite quiet again until next May or so.

There is of course a regular year-round crowd here, but as so much of the local economy revolves around the non-resident summer crowd, many of our restaurants and other shops close up for the winter. Additionally, the many resort communities and waterfront cottages shut down their properties as the town shuts down town water to everything but the downtown area from 15 Oct until 15 April.


Though we live close enough to hear the train whistles from the house, this weekend was our first visit to the Boothbay Railway Museum. During the Fall Festival, the museum grounds were full of vendors, food, music and other things for families to enjoy.

Tougy enjoyed climbing into the old caboose and looking out through the clerestory windows.


'Eskimo kisses' are coming back in favor as a fun new game.



The museum runs and maintains a narrow-gauge rail with a steam engine, passenger car and caboose that runs at least hourly all summer long.


The train ride lasts roughly 15 minutes making two loops around the railway village. Along the way, it passes through the woods, travels beside a pond, passes through a second station, and heads through this covered bridge.


The train is tended by an engineer and two conductors. Here the conductor on the caboose keeps a watchful eye out as the train passes through Summit Station.


Of course for our adventurous girl, there was only one place she wanted to sit as it was the only seat that required extra climbing.


A happy Tougy taking it all in.


The view from the train shows some of the fair set-up and some of the fall colors as well as the tractor that pulled a train of barrel cars for kids.


Of course Tougy had to give it a go.


Tougy is fascinated by live performers, especially guitars. She walked right up and plopped down practically on the stage.


There is an interesting collection of things at the railway museum, including a whole section that houses an amazing collection of antique autos and assorted bits of automotive past.


As you may be noticing, the opportunity to feed a goat is never passed up


So this was taken from the car as we were driving to the second half of our Sunday plan. Even as a "local", I still marvel at the colors that the leaves can turn.


Over the weekend, the town of Damariscotta held its annual Pumpkin Festival. As you can see in the photos below, Big pumpkins have many uses. Who knew?

First the pumpkins are brought in and positioned in front of the sponsoring businesses on Main Street, then the artist get several hours to perform their transformations in front of the curious crowds who wait to see what this years pumpkins will become.

I found this caterpillar to be among the more creative of this year's patch.


Tougy found more connection to the designs she recognized, such as this bunny.


Just as no two snowflakes are the same, so too with pumpkins.


At 792 pounds, this was the largest of the street pumpkins this year. I heard amid all the talk of such behemoths that the larger pumpkins put on as much as 30 pounds a day towards the end.


Some are carved into, others carved upon, and some like this, simply painted upon. Each artist is left to their own interpretation of the pumpkins true inner soul and potential.


I keep meaning to remind folks that you can click on any photo in the blog to enlarge it. Likewise, you can 'grab' any photo and move it to your desktop, photo program, or folder for personal use. All other uses of the photos contained within the blog need our permission.

That said, the use of images from this blog have been granted to Kazapalooza, MAPS, and the Spoon Foundation.


This was another of my favorites for its use of the fall icon transformed into a winter one.


The street pumpkins are one part of the festival. Another is the parade in which the pumpkin boats are brought down to the public landing for launching and final fitting out before the next morning's races.


What would a parade be without the generous throwing of sugar?


You know you've hit the bigtime when you get farm tractors from sponsors.


As the sign says "Ya gotta love a town that plays with it's vegetables". We agree - even if it's not quite right with its punctuation.


Aren't you surprised you never thought of this. It seems so obvious! Like peanut butter and jelly, or Tougy and us, some things are just destined to go together well.


Another of the entries in the power division. The number on the side is the weight of the pumpkin before it was hollowed out for comfort. Who knew expanding foam could be used as an adhesive when putting a deck on your pumpkin? Great trivia for your next holiday party.


As best anyone knew, this would be the first attempt at sailing a pumpkin.

I spent quite a while talking to this guy at the dock, and as you would guess by looking at the build quality of his boat, he had lots to say. I think he assumed I was a reporter and he wanted to be clear I understood each of his engineering and design choices.


These were some of the entrants in the paddle division.


For those of you who have always wondered what a 1000 pound pumpkin looks like, here it is, 1024 pounds of orange goodness. Surprisingly it was only good enough for a second place at the county fair.


Here is the podium of sorts from the Cumberland Fair with the winner in the center (1129), flanked by 2nd place (1024), and third (1026).


Following the parade, the power and sail pumpkins were launched and tied to the public dock for the evening.

Who knew you could even find sponsors for your speed pumpkin. In fact, the brand new engine was donated even though historically, a number of entries end up under water. Now that is optimism.


Just in case the foam isn't enough, a few carriage bolts should inspire the requisite confidence. And of course, what self-respecting pumpkin boat would be seen in public without carpeting.


Proving that there is room within pumpkin racing for both wine and beer, the meticulous sailboat.


Among the more amusing paddle entries.


Now that is a healthy stem. The walls on this pumpkin were apparently not quite up to the task and this pumpkin broke apart during the paddle race.


So that was our Sunday. As you can see, it left our little girl quite depleted. Actually we were at the parade with KJ's parents, and went back to their house for dinner at the end of the day. Needless to say, Tougy slept in on Monday.


We'll end this post with a photo of our little Tougy having fun with a sheet of stickers from a Highlights magazine she found at the doctors recently. Take Care.

Little Miss Tougleton reached the year-and-a-half mark over the weekend, and to celebrate, she ... kissed a cow?

Seemingly not ones to ever stay put for more than a day or two, we headed over to the western side of Maine on Saturday to visit the Fryeburg Fair.

Having lived in this part of Maine from 2001 to 2007, it is always with a bit of nostalgia that we return. The fair is a large annual event that we have always enjoyed and we looked forward to someday sharing it with our kids.

Below are some photos from both the fair as well as some from our old house there that Tougy visited for the first time over the weekend, though before we get to that, we thought we would give you a sneak peak into the first contender for Tougy's first halloween costume.


KJ found this cow online(One Step Ahead) and as soon as we showed it to Tougy, we knew we had a home run. She loved it as you can see. In fact we have since worn just the hood around from time to time.


Of course even Tougy knows that cows don't really stand up and so it was necessary to get down on all fours to view herself as a proper cow.


Our bovine princess.


The cow costume was waiting in the mail when we came home from the fair otherwise I feel quite certain it would have been her fair going outfit. She would have made quite a statement walking through the barns as a cow.

This was Tougy's first up and close with a cow and so it of course necessitated an introductory kiss. She loved the boisterous Moo's that real cows make - so much more emphatic a noise than daddy's imitation suggests.


As is customary with all faces, it was necessary to point out all the features that Tougy knows. The game goes something like this: Where is the cows nose? Where are the cows teeth? ...


I can't imagine the stomach ache the goats have at the end of the day, but then again they are goats. In the children's area is a barn where each child is given a small cup of feed and set free amid a group of goats and sheep.

After several hours of this, finding a goat that is still interested in your food can be a difficult task. Thankfully Tougy eventually found a willing stomach to play along and her game began.


Every animal gets a hug and a kiss in Tougy's world. People may not always be so lucky.


The animals and the people watching were fun, but what our little girl really was interested in was the rides. Although most of the roller coaster type rides were height dependent, fortunately for Tougy, the cars and trucks were not.

Where this fascination will lead us in the future I don't know, but you put a wheel in front of our little Aitugan, and the world is made right in an instant. A quick adjustment of the mirrors and she was off.


For some of the rides, KJ was right beside her, but as the truck cab wasn't big enough for an adult, Tougy had the controls all to herself. Ooh the power.


The anticipation of the start of the ride was nearly as fun as the ride itself.


Though as soon as the ride was over came the gesture for more...


followed a few seconds later by immediate cries of misery as her calls for more go unanswered.


So now we are at our old house, and this is in fact the very first apple ever eaten from the selection of fruit trees we planted as saplings several years ago. During our time there, they had never been mature enough to fruit, but here on this visit were two good sized apples. To my surprise it was great tasting.


KJ and I were married out front of the house upon this very rock and the cairn of stones remains set upon it from that event. We had always wanted a chance to bring Tougy here for a photo - so thankfully the house still has not sold ;).


Like the rock, this tree was part of our wedding ceremony as we had our guests assist us in its planting. It is certainly not the same small tree it was then. Life moves on.


Yes, Tougy loves the phone. Anything even remotely similar to a phone warrants an attempt to talk to Nonna, Mor Mor or Mimi.

And so this is it. We would like to say welcome home to Steve and Jane who brought their daughter Jem home from Astana this past week and also congratulations to the Serra family who are just days away now from flying home with their daughter Leeza from Kostanai.

It has been a pleasure following both of your journeys and we hope to be heading over to either Astana or Kostanai sometime in 2009 for either a brother or sister for Tougy. Take Care.