I'll be competition for the Michelin Man

)

 There are loads of restaurants in Bar Harbor - this is just one of them that we did not eat at.........you have to watch your waistline sometime (as well as the pocket book!!!)

 Looking down the main street towards the harbor.  Everything here is geared to the tourists and trying to separate them from their hard earned cash - just like every tourist trap.

 This is  Testas Restaurant.  We bought our tickets for the bus tour here and wanted to eat here but after we saw the next (Picture below) item, we decided against it.  If this is what they use as a WC then the prices may have been pretty high in hopes that they could afford better in the future..................maybe!

 The Thirsty Whale where we ate the best clam chowder I have ever tasted.  The waiter here gave us three pieces of paper and announced, Solids, Liquids, Specials (menu for the meal, drink and special of the day)

 In the background of this picture you can see the sand bar that joins the mainland to an island (background and to the right of the picture.)  It is low tide and at low tide you can walk from the mainland to the island but you had better cut your visit rather short or the incoming tide may assure you of about 12 hours stay on the island before you can walk out again.  It is because of this sandbar that Bar Harbor gets its name.  The cruise ships anchor on the other side of this island and send their paying customers to the shore in Tenders (small boats).

 A pier jutting out into the bay.  The water was very quiet the day we were there and you can see how far out the water is at low tide.

 the high water mark is delineated by the refuse high up the beach near the sea wall.  the Mansion in the background used to belong to some rich people but now is is a restaurant and Yacht Club the bus driver said.  I have no idea if that is right, but you have to take her word.  I collected some sand from this beach to add to my sand collection.  It is a dark grey in color and does not look inviting to lay out on it and not only that, the seaweed stinks because it has been out of the water and left high and dry and the little creatures that were clinging to it in the ocean have died from lack of water.

 This blurred picture is a clandestine picture of a glittery shop.  Seems like it is made of dichloric glass or some other stuff that makes it glitter.  Rather pretty but looks nothing like the Blue Heron it is supposed to represent.

 The sun shining through the fog on the State Capitol.  I thought it was rather a spectacular sight myself.

 The state capitol minus the fog - taken about 4pm the same day as the above picture.

 An example of the beautiful writing we get to see daily as we digitize.

 The computer screen that shows us what the camera is seeing.  The thumbnails on the bottom of the screen are pictures of what we have taken so far.

 The nine books we have digitized so far.  The index books are lying on top.

Today 's sunset from Wallyworld parking lot.  It was spectacular.

We finished Book  Number 9 of the court records for Oxford County, Maine and we are half way through digitizing the index books that go with them.  We have 44 volumes that are ours to digitize.  The books are very heavy and in contrast, the index books are very thin and extremely fragile.  It is a good thing that we are digitizing them now because in a few years they will be a crumbled mess of pieces of old paper.  As it is the covers have fallen off a few of them and one of them is so fragile that it is just a collection of papers that have an alphabet letter on them to distinguish them from each other.  It is so sad to see the degradation of the paper, but happy that we can preserve them.

The leaves that remain on the trees continue to give us joy as we drive around.  But soon they will all be gone and become mulch for next year’s crop of dandelions.  You can always rely on the dandelions to come back year after year but purchase a prize rose bush and you have to almost pray over it just to have it bloom if it survives the winter.  Surviving the winter is a feat in itself for not only the rose bush but me.

I went out and bought insulated boots today and the salesgirl assured me that they were warm and that they were waterproof.  I also purchased thermal underwear and I only have a few more layers to go and I will pass for the Michelin Man.  Cold is not my forte and my waistline disappears under various garments designed to keep the cold out and this winter is no exception.  It is not even winter yet here, and they assure me that it gets MUCH COLDER here than Prescott and I believe them.  I went into Dicks sporting goods store and saw all the wonderful ski jackets there that start at $100 and on up – but I don’t ski so the jackets are still in the store.

This apartment building has an in house washer and dryer setup.  It costs $1.50 to wash a load and $1.50 to dry a load.  The washers can be controlled to not just wash everything in the hottest of hot water but the dryer is another story.  It dries your clothes really well and if you put the setting on delicates it dries them hot – medium us hotter than that and high is melting point for any garment that is not 100% cotton duck.  So, I have resolved that after our stay in this apartment and using the laundry facilities here, my clothes will be beat to death and good only for the trash bin as we leave.  Whooppee!  I get to buy all new clothes when I get back to Prescott.  There is a BIG sign in the laundry room telling you exactly how to use the washers.  First you load your clothes, close the door, open the little drawer that takes your detergent and the instructions specifically say that you are to use NO MORE THAN 1 table- spoon of detergent per load.  Close the little drawer, insert your coins into the slots and push them into the machine, then press the start button for 20 seconds and away the machine goes, whirling and sloshing and the spin cycle is truly vicious.  A centrifuge could not go faster than the spin cycle these machines generate.  I am glad that they are enclosed in the machine, because in my estimation, if they ever broke loose from their moorings, we would never find our clothes – they would have rolled clear to Boston by the time the spin cycle was over.

I guess I need tell you that I was surprised that one tablespoon of detergent was sufficient to get the clothes clean – and it doesn’t, but I don’t know the owner to inform him of this.  So, when we arrived, we went shopping (before I knew the specific instructions about the laundry facilities) to get the necessities and knowing that I use about ¼ cup of detergent in my own washer at home, I bought a gallon bottle of detergent to do laundry here.  Well at a tablespoon a load, it will be a long time before I even make a dent in the gallon of stuff that we have.  I wonder what would happen if I used two tablespoons of detergent in the washer?  I won’t break the rules, I need a place to stay for a year or whenever we get done with the job in hand here in Augusta.

Yesterday there was a heavy fog that we had to drive through to get to the Archives.  I looked up at the State House (Capitol) and the sun’s rays were diffused over the building through the fog and it looked wonderful.  Hope you like the picture.