It is close to 30 degrees here yet this Orb Weaver is the most optimistic spider I have ever seen. He has positioned himself on the screen but on the inside between the screen and the window. If it was his desire to decorate my apartment window with a wonderfully constructed web that will catch all the droplets of water from the morning fog, and have them glisten like diamonds when the sun finally makes it to the window., he is sadly mistaken and I am disappointed. I really thought Orb weavers were more astute than this fellow. I wonder if his parents have talked to him about the propriety of building a web in a place where the bugs cannot come. Not only can they not venture near the web and become ensnared in his creation, they have finished their life cycles at the end of the summer and so this spider has cheated himself out of a meal all the way around. Like I said, he is optimistic, but brilliant bug catching strategy is not his forte.
I visited Hallowell today to escape the bedlam of Wal Mart and other "Black Friday or Bust" stores at the mall. I entered all the little shops that line the main street of Hallowell and had a visual picnic. the above bowl was in a craftsman's shop. They have over 200 artisans who contribute everything from candles, to hand painted scarves, to turned wood, and have pottery galore and glass items as well as folk art things. quite eclectic to say the least. I should mention that many of the stores in Hallowell are around 200 years old and they are not quite plumb any more. One even looks like it is sliding down into the River below - it is out of plumb about 15 degrees.(my estimate - and not that of an architect). However, because Quilters are always checking and re-checking to make sure that the stitching lines are straight, it does not take too much practice to see that the buildings are leaning off center. When things are off center in a quilt, the points don't match and there are sometimes glaring problems as a result. Well, one of the problems with a building that is out of plumb is that the door scrapes the floor when it opens and the windows do not shut properly etc.etc.
This stained glass peacock is at Hattie's chowder House. We ate lunch there.
This particular antique shop only has lights - all kinds of lights and the building has a tin ceiling and none of the lights is lit - only daylight coming in by the ill fitting windows is how I was able to view this shop. when I entered it had a distinctly musty odor and I remarked to the wizened lady behind the counter that the shop "smelled old". She just grunted some sort of reply and I wandered around the maze of lights and light poles, and lamp stands etc. It is amazing that they can find anything in this shop.
This is one of the ornate lamp stands in the lamp shop.
They had a lot of these types of lamps int he shop. I don't know if they are tiffany or not, but they sure look interesting.
This is the jumble of stuff on the river side of the store.
This is the front of the lamp store. It takes up two storefronts.
Looking East on the Kennebec River.
There were hordes of people in Walmart and the parking lot was jammed so I did not go there today but rather opted to explore Moore's crafts store while Bill scouted Best Buy. One lady in Moores had a large shopping cart just crammed with stuff. I guess she is expecting a long cold winter and she holed up in the house with all her crafts stuff to keep her busy. She may never be heard from again if she begins work on all the stuff she bought. Someone should have reminded her that the 50% off coupon was good on only one full priced item. Found out that Moores takes JoAnn and Michaels coupons. I think it would be best for me to not go into this store too much if at all.
I opted to spend an hour or two wandering the main street of Hallowell. When we go to church, we drive through Hallowell and then again on the way back and you just cannot see what treasures are in the stores when you are running late for church and you are hurrying to get there before the opening prayer.
One of the stores I went into had a plaque on the wall showing the high water mark for the 1897 flood of the Kennebec. It was 15 feet at full flood stage. The shopkeeper then said that today's full tide was just that, a VERY FULL TIDE due to the melting snow and overly excited streams and little rivulets that drain the higher ground and then the banks. She said that the last time they had a flood, the water was 12 inches below the floor boards that we were standing on. She said that the Kennebec gets ice pack on it. The Stoneycreek River in Johnstown used to ice over as well.
So I had a very relaxed Black Friday and look forward to an un-rushed Christmas a a result.
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