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July 6, 2012

ONWARD, TO THE POLE

... forecast was for hot and humid, which meant–you'll understand this if you know anything about waterville–that the downtown was going to be sweltering ... so, atypical for me, i went to bed before midnight and planned for an early start to the day (which is to say, of course, that i'm not really phobic concerning the am's) ... having decided to go to where it was sure to be cool at noon, i skipped my usual bowl of bran flakes, packed what i figured to be the extra necessities (mostly, that would be a bottle of water, towel, and my bathing suit), and pointed my trusty little machine north, towards the arctic circle ...


NIKON D200-NIKKOR 18-135@130MM@F9-1/640th-ISO400

... okay, so i only made it half-way ... actually, a bit better'n that since after i took this picture i continued on to the forks ... met some river rafting flatlanders and stopped and watched the road crew winch a big truck out of a ditch ... during that little interlude i chatted with an "ol' codger" who grew up in a house that had been relocated when the wyman dam impound flooded, which was quite interesting because the little house we owned on oak street had been disassembled and then flatbed trucked to waterville for the same reason ... after a truckstop break to enjoy some tender chesterfried chicken with "fresh hand cut" french fries, i meandered route 16 to north anson, then negotiated the river road to the wire bridge in north new portland ...


NIKON D200-SIGMA 10-20@14mm-F9-1/125th-ISO100

... for this time of year the water was both high and fast, and, as you can see from the picture, unusual for a weekday there was an actual "crowd" on the beach ... those of you who follow my journal know that this is of my favorite places on earth, and, during the couple of hours i was kicking back and relaxing in the cool, clear waters of the carrabassett river, i wished that i could've been sharing the beach with each of you ...

... a nice ride home, supper and an episode of "sherlock" with liz, then robert called for me to join him at railroad square cinema to watch "moonlight kingdom" (highly recommended) ... now, it's decision time, "comfy bed with the fans set at turbo, or, the not-quite-as comfortable futon couch in my den where the air conditioner's dial is currently set to 'risk of serious frostbite'" ... hmmmmm, what a dilemma ... but, now that i think of it, i did begin the day with a mad dash for the north pole ...