The Day after Valentines 2012

 Someone had paid a visit to our apartment and left valentines stuck to the door.  It was a wonderful thing that they did.  We feel loved and accepted.

 The bald democrat, Mr. Ben Grant, making his point at the press conference in the reception room  I visited this room some time ago and just behind where he is standing is a large glass case containing a collection of butterflies.

 Press corps - appropriately sober and hanging on every word that is said.  I guess you can do anything if you get paid for it.

 Bill found that there was some food left over from the reception and he decided to sample it.

 Norman Rockwell pictures that had long since disappeared and mysteriously reappeared.  The picture on the left is of Mr. David Cheever examining the pictures when they reappeared.

 The front of the State House.  Looks like Greek influence with Ionic Columns in front.

 sign on the gate to Blaine House - the official Governors mansion.  Note the visiting hours.

 Bronze plaque on the front of the Governors mansion - note the difference in visiting hours posted.

 Blaine House.  The governor lives upstairs and downstairs is open for visiting.  I hope they have maids to keep this place clean........looks too large for me to want to clean it.

 Another view of Blaine House.

 Front portico of Blaine House.

 the house next door to Blaine House.  Most of the former mansions that surround the state house are now used for political offices and for the special interest groups.

 Anolther interesting architectural piece near the state house.

 A truck on the left hand side with an Ice Shack in the trailer behind him.

 Second shot of the Ice Shack.

 This truck is always in our parking lot.  It belongs to a man in the Museum Staff.  His number plate says "Arctcat"

Guess it is no secret where he is going after work today.

We took some time off to go visit around the area.  Went to the State House in the afternoon and met a man who told us about the original oils that hang in the House.  They were all taken down so that the sprinkler system could be tested and when they were down they were cleaned and after the test reinstated to their original positions.

One is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln. We were told that the artist painted 3 such pictures of Abraham Lincoln.  One is here in the Maine State House, a second one hangs in the House in Massachusetts and the third one is unaccounted for.  It is open for speculation where it is today.

There is a painting of George Washington – it is very large and because the artist was not paid for his work he painted the portrait of Washington leaning against the rear end of a horse.  It is not known if this was a political statement of the artists sentiment or if it was a mark of derision for not being paid for the portrait in the first place.  In any case, the portrait leaves things open to speculation.  When they were taking it down for cleaning and testing of the sprinkler system, it fell and it is so heavy that it cracked the marble bench that is situated underneath it.

There is a painting of a governor who was a single man from Portland who loved Irish Setter Dogs.  He bought an island off shore where he has buried each dog.  When his last dog died, he had the flags of the state lowered to half mast and the military veterans and active duty people were quite upset that the flags were lowered to half mast for the death of a Dog.

When we entered the State house, we were required to go through a metal detector.  This is an innovation since the civil unrest caused by the Occupy Wall Street/ Occupy Maine disturbers.  There has been quite a mob of people exhibiting civil unrest this session of the Legislature.  A few weeks ago I visited the state house and there was no metal detector or armed guards such as there was yesterday.

As we passed the reception room there was a press conference going on.  An important Democrat was addressing the Press Corps. announcing the incoming democrat who won the recent referendum.  The thing that was remarkable was the person at the podium was demonstrably grave in his appearance and manner and he had completely shaved his head.  Was that a statement?  The press corps were armed with pads, pencils and expensive cameras and the TV station truck was outside doing a direct broadcast to home base for the incident to be aired on the news at 6 and at 10.

We are almost out of minutes for our hotspot so this is written at the Archives using their internet connection.  Last month we went over and they charged us a bundle for over use.