Wordless Wednesday: if you've got to have a fiasco...

 

Stuff you just don't see around here

 

Now that I'm back home in semi-arid heat, the cool sea breezes and dense woods of Maine seem like they're on a different planet.

I've blogged before about the glorious fungi you can see on almost any woodland hike up there...downright amazing what kinds of stuff can, and do, grow when you get ample rainfall! And this visit's hikes didn't disappoint in that regard, either. The spectacular specimen you see above was spotted on our hike in Rines Forest, along with several other great examples of the breed:

ghost pipes!

I'd seen fungi growing out of dead trees before (these sights are wonderful "other things to see in a redwood forest") but I don't think I'd ever seen this much on one log before...WOW!

Another great hike took us to Robinson Woods Preserve...there are so many great hiking places within a short drive of Portland! These woods had great fungi on offer, too...

...as well as some lovely vernal pools—clear evidence of the abundance of moisture blessing this part of the world...

But there's another type of flora (although, however much they might resemble plants, I do know that fungi are a separate kingdom) that I was quite taken with on some of our other outings, particularly those that took us to the beaches. Seaweed! Lots of it was washed up on several of the coastlines I showed you in a previous post, and I just couldn't seem to stop snapping photos of it.

Closeups...

...panoramas...

And put the exotic, photogenic weeds next to the lovely Maine coastal rocks, and you just can't beat this for micro-scenery...

Here's a closeup of this scenic symbiosis:

Yessiree! Traveling to see things you can't see at home...I'm so lucky to get to do this!

Wordless Wednesday: well, have you?

 

Wordless Wednesday: tomato heaven!

 

Guarding the coast

I thought I'd vary my posts about the natural wonders of Maine this time and relate some interesting military history. Take a look at the state's geographical position, stuck 'way out into the Atlantic, and you can understand why some of its headlands make ideal guardposts if danger to the US is feared from points east.

The photo above was taken at Two Lights State Park (this is where we went to see the high surf that Hurricane Henri was displaying for us). In addition to its lighthouse (a single one now) it has a military history that explains the fortifications still visible to the curious tourist.  The intriguing passageway you see above is not open for exploration, but the battery still offers some opportunities for play by active grandchildren. Here is a demonstration of its "bunk beds":

This Wikipedia article notes that the entire park area was a military reservation during World War II. And although it was never armed with the large guns for which it was designed, there was German submarine activity in the area. Yikes!

A more extensive and accessible set of military structures is on offer at Fort Williams Park, specifically Battery Keyes. This installation is also a lot older, as you can learn from these links. The Fort was originally built in the 1870's, and this battery in 1906. It was manned during both World Wars, and was the headquarters of Portland's coastal defense during WWII. Since there was a lot of crucial shipbuilding going on in the area, it would have been a tempting target.

The most fun feature of the site, as far as our young companions was concerned, was the tunnel you can see the younger ones in our group sampling on the left. It's actually open all the way to the back where it makes two 90° turns before letting you out on the other side of the building. Such fun! Here is older Adorable Granddaughter (who's pretty adventurous) at the exit...after she convinced Gramma to join her for the whole length of the tunnel. It was...an experience!

Here are some more looks at the interesting structures at Battery Keyes...

one of the main rooms, open on the fourth side

I assume this is where one of the big guns was situated

the bunker

Here's the other side of the bunker, with attentive moms checking out the goings on inside...

...which was this kind of fun...

There is a nice beach, too, adjacent to all this stonework (at least it's nice when the tide is reasonably out). This makes the area a wonderful place for kids...

You can probably see on the far left of this photo a large pile of rocks just begging to be climbed by the granddaughter who was obviously a mountain goat in a previous life. Here she is at the top:

Isn't it great that these once rather imposing and threatening (at least to our enemies) structures are now just a great playground? 

Maine's Fabulous Flora

Although we're here at the end of the flowering season (not quite late enough for fall color though, sadly) there is still an abundance of photogenic floral feasts for the eyes in and around Portland.

The super-cheery daisy-ish flowers you can see above were evident in many gardens. As were some related species...

Another flower type that shows up a lot in Portland yards are these hydrangea trees. In my part of the world, you only see much smaller versions in pots, but, it's amazing what happens when you have adequate rainfall and cool nights all year...

We also have altheas (or Rose of Sharon, as they seem to be called up here) in Texas. Although I think they're more common in Houston than in San Antonio; the ones in our yard came from my Mom's in big-H. But even over there you don't see such stupendous bushes of these flowers...

Close up, they look just like mine, although my guys don't have nearly so many friends!

Before venturing further afield, here's a selection of some more lovelies in the Deering neighborhood:

the morning glories, especially in the–duh!–morning, were incredible 

ENORMOUS sunflowers in the community garden

nasturtiums–which always remind me of our yard in Montana

and how about these lily-like beauties!

There's a nice little woods nearby that is a favorite walking destination, partly because of these lovely flowers...

...well, not just the flowers, at least for the younger set. Their seed pods, which are beginning to develop, can be induced to pop open, rather alarmingly. Showing this to Gramma was great fun for the experienced Mainers I was walking with. But I liked the flowers, too.

On my previous post about the various coastal views I enjoyed, you can see some of these striking goldenrods. But here is a closer view:

a few individuals in a large field of the flowers

Also near the coast you can find some incredibly aromatic beach roses...

Sorry I couldn't provide the fragrance!

At another beach, the blooms were gone, but they left behind the largest rose hips I've ever seen! They look like very healthy cherry tomatoes, don't they!?

I don't know if they would make good tea or not, but they were excellent for decorating sand castles!

Wordless Wednesday: potential sandwich thief getting sassy

Maine's Amazing Coast

 

I've gotten to see several examples of fabulous coastline during my current visit (just look at a large-scale map of southern Maine's coast if you want to see the most complicated meeting of land and water anywhere!). The water, the islands offshore, the fog, the seaweed (it will get its own post later) and of course this lovely, lovely black slate...it's quite a feast for the eyes.

We've been to Kettle Cove twice so far, once in fog and once on a clear day. That's where the picture above was taken, on the sunny day. Here's a look at it in the fog...

The Cove is a popular beach spot and has several nice amenities (like bathrooms!) such as this cool bridge over a stream draining into the cove...

...as well as some late summer flowers that provide very photogenic foregrounding...

(You know I'll have more to say about Maine flowers in a later post!)

Another really spectacular spot we visited was Two Lights State Park. We picked the particular day to visit because the first (there was eventually another!) hurricane that threatened our area, Henri, was swinging by and we thought there might be some spectacular surf.

And there was! The photo above doesn't really do it justice. I could have sat on the rocks watching the waves pound for hours. So very cool!

Even the Adorable Granddaughters enjoyed the view. Here's one of them taking in the stormy environment...

As it turned out, neither Henri nor Ida did much violence around here; Henri didn't even give us much rain. We were of course very lucky not to have been hit like they were lower on the Atlantic coast.

Another gorgeous day found us at Fort Williams beach in Cape Elizabeth. The tide was low enough that there was plenty of beach for playing on... 

...but except for lots of good seaweed photo opps, I was most interested in the rocky sides of the cove...

The expert climber Adorable Granddaughter and a friend also love the rocks, for more active interaction. But here they are sitting together and resting after a strenuous workout on Ft. Williams' boulders...

Good company, good weather, good scenery, and rocks to climb...what more do you need?

Of course, Maine has lots more to offer, and I'll show you some more of its wonders next time.