Cape Neddick Light (Nubble Light)

Nubble Light - click to enlarge it's nice.

The Cape Neddick Light is the official name of more commonly known Nubble Light.  Located two miles from the mouth of York Harbor in York, Maine.  It is on a small island known as the nubble.
  Constructed at a cost of $15,000.00 in 1876, the tower was originally painted a reddish brown, it was an iron tower lined with brick (the common materials at that time).  It had a fixed red light through a fourth order Fresnel lens.  It still shows a steady red light with an optic lens.
  Travel back and forth the short distance to the mainland is by "the bucket", a small cable car (non-motorized) pulled back and forth on a cable.  A photo is shown below.
  Always remember as my Moms favorite it is indeed a scenic view.  At Christmas time the buildings are trimmed with lights making an especially nice sight.

The Bucket. Want to go for a ride?

A different view of the tower.

At Christmas time (also shown for one week in July)

Portland Head Light..

This is it! Click to enlarge, it's big.     Wikipedia photo

  The first lighthouse built in what is now Maine, and, yes, the first keeper was appointed by President George Washington.  The light is located on Portland Head in the Town of Cape Elizabeth and on the grounds of the former Fort Williams.  This geezer was first sworn in to the United States Navy at Fort Williams - now sadly, only a handful of buildings remain.
  The "original" light was completed in 1790 at a cost of $2,250.00 which must have been a huge sum in those days, and the keeper was paid $160.00 per year and allowed to raise animals and farm the grounds.  The tower has been made taller, or shorter, so many times it would make your head swim, I can't keep it straight; so let's just say it's more than three.  The light is still operating, a white flash every 4 seconds from the Optic Lens - all automated.
  I'm guessing that this particular lighthouse is one of the most visited and photographed in the Country.  I take Hollie about once every year, it's 150+ miles away, it's her absolute favorite.  It could easily become anyones favorite; it's a beauty, the grounds and surrounding Fort Williams Park are excellent, and it's free!  Come on up, or down, and see for yourself.
   Visit http://lighthouse.cc/portlandhead/history.html  for more history and information.

July 23, 1931 the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) in the background.

September 21, 1938 being "washed" by a hurricane

One of the Fort Williams buildings, there were about 20 of these all kind of alike,
now there are four, well preserved.  The Fort was started in 1810.

Portland Breakwater Light.......

A favorite of mine

....better known as Bug Light, is a small light in Portland Harbor.  It's known for it's unusual architecture in the lighthouse world.
  The first light on this spot was constructed in 1837 because of damage during a huge storm in 1831.  Construction consisted of an 1800 foot breakwater with the light at its end.  The breakwater was not capped and there was no "keepers house" at the light so during winters when the rip rap breakwater was icy the keeper had to crawl out on his hands and knees. Ouch! The first light was made of wood, as were many at the time.
  The present structure was built in 1857 of iron.  The light is modeled after the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Greece.  The light is 24 feet tall from the base to the tip, and 12 feet in circumference.
After the initial building a small house was added for a short period of time, and the breakwater was shortened and capped.
  See http://lighthouse.cc/portlandbreakwater/history.html for a full history and more photos.

In the 1880's with house.

The sixth-order lens

The first structure.

My personal favorite....

West Quoddy Lighthouse and Visitor Center

...of Maine Lighthouses is the one at the most eastern tip of the continental United States.

In 1806, a group of concerned citizens chose West Quoddy Head as a suitable place for a lighthouse to help mariners coming into the south entrance to Quoddy Roads, between the mainland and Campobello Island. According to some sources, Hopley Yeaton, an officer in the United States Revenue Cutter Service who is regarded as the father of the Coast Guard, played a role in the establishment of the station. Yeaton had retired to a farm in the area and was active in local affairs.

Pasted from <http://lighthouse.cc/westquoddy/history.html>

The earliest light was constructed of wood and lasted only a few years.  The second light was made from "rapple" or loose stone, it wasn't water tight at all and the interior would have a coat of ice all winter, the house built at the same time wasn't much better.

For a time during the war of 1812 the British held Eastport and Lubec and had control of the Light and kept it running.  The English had promised to keep the Keeper and pay him, he worked all during that time no payment was forthcoming.

In 1857 the present light was built along with a one-and-one-half story house (now the visitor center), all for the sum of $15,000.00.  It is made of brick, and painted white with horizontal red stripes.  East Quoddy on the other side of that channel is also painted white with a red "cross", or one vertical stripe and one horizontal stripe.  The channel separates Maine and Canada's Campabello Island.

A geography lesson

Inside the tower, a lot of steps

The lens

Little River Light

A home for the Holidays

  For the first time in 162 years one solitary person spent Christmas in Little River Lighthouse.  As part of a social experiment Bill Kitchen will spend a year alone on the island in Machias Bay.  As a bonus people can pay to spend a night, it would be quite an experience, wouldn't it?
  Mr. Kitchen has all of the modern amenities that weren't available when Keepers and their families lived in lighthouses all over the world.  Bill has a cell phone, Internet access and TV, life will still be a challenge without company though.  But what about back when families lived there, I give one example.
  The Corbett family manned the light in the 1921-1939, a Keepers pay at that time was $68.00 a YEAR, and all the vegetables they could grow and of course fish and lobster.  Mr. and Mrs. Corbett had three children the oldest was Neil.
  Neil would help his dad wind the clockwork that rotated the light and ran the foghorn, the mechanism was wound like you would a non-electric clock (they still make those?).  On July the fog stayed on the Island for 575 hours and the "clock" had to be wound every three to four hours!  That was a busy family!  Neil went on the serve in World War Two, came back to Cutler and earned a living as a lobsterman.  He also formed the Quoddy League, a semi-pro baseball league with about 14 teams.  The League lasted into the 1960's; Neil was elected to the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame for his achievement, he died in in 2008.
  So the light has a long history, Mr. Kitchen will spend an interesting year alone and the last time a family spent Christmas on the Island was 38 years ago.
  You can find more at: www.LittleRiverLight.org or http://lighthouse.cc/littleriver/history.html

An old photo of the island and light.

Making the place liveable again, a worker from a conservation association.

Neil Corbett

Taking a break.....

....after Christmas is one thing that Santa does not have trouble with.  He has been known for a long, long time to simply lay down and take a nap, or two.   It has been rumored that he even has visited Hawaii after Christmas.  Hawaii would be a good choice warm sand, warm water, some shade and a good hotel should be in order.
  So, let's look in on the old elf and see what he's up to this year.

Norman Rockwell showed us this in 1935!

In Hawaii living it up!

...lest we forget....

...so get out in those stores, there's some sales today.  Go, go!

He's here....

...in a red Corvette!  Way to go, Santa!

  You never know how the Old Elf will arrive, or what will meet him.  Oh, sure, a plate of cookies and a glass of milk are okay, but what about some Vernor's Ginger Ale (don't think that's around any longer), or a Coke at least.
  As he speeds around the world he gets to see a lot of different ways to celebrate.  In the good ole' USA we have different things or ways to light stuff up.

Southwest

   In the desert Southwest there are Saguaro Cacti to light up, but somehow I think you could get your hands on a Christmas tree, US and Canadian farmers sell 37 million of them a year.

Dairy farms celebrate, this one's in Wisconsin

  Some farmers grow trees, and some produce the milk, actually that's the cows job, but you get the idea.  Decorate the silo but hope Santa aims for the chimney.

A seafaring Christmas.

  Some things used to celebrate, like chocolate, are shipped in from other countries on ships.  Or, this is Maine, eat lobster.  Gotta have them boats for that.

Merry Christmas everyone, no matter how you celebrate it.

Come fly with me...

Enlarge to read.  click on the photo

    Kulula Airlines, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, has it's aircraft painting like no others.  The airline is known for its sense of humor, so that is reflected in the paint scheme.
   Each part of the plane, or nearly so, is identified on the outside of the plane.  I thought it was a pretty good idea.
   You can find more at:

www.southafrica.to/transport/Airlines/Kulula-flights/Kulula-humour, or simply "google" the name of the airline.

Click to read

I like it!

A visit to Saint Nick

  If someone has a child with autism a visit to Saint Nick can be something to avoid.  Although Hollie always wanted to see Santa, she wouldn't get too close, or sit on his lap.  Kids, or adults, with autism very often don't want to be touched, held or in any way too close to someone else.
  I found an article the other day about a special program for kids with autism:

You may have seen photos of some child kind of pushing away from Santa, maybe that was autism, but in my estimation Santa scares small children, they don't want to sit with him.

That's it! I outta here!

That's as close as it gets, that boy has no intention of sitting with Santa.

Poor guy; doesn't stand a chance

You need to know that Just because the man is Santa Claus, he doesn't have an easy time doing his job.  I guess he's just like most people, workers looking out for themselves first, and dissatisfied customers.  As I examined the problems I came away with the feeling that, well, there's just no answer.  Just take a look at just a few of his problems.

First there's a geezer who has probably never been satisfied with anything:

See what I mean?

Then we have an angry employee:

That Joker is finished!

Next a really dissatisfied customer, one who used bullying tactics!

Just as I said!

Now, on a personal note, I identify with the geezer.  I saw a surgeon yesterday who said what really was wrong with me was old age.  Can you imagine that?

How does this Santa thing work?

I guess we'd all like to believe that Santa and his Elves just keep making toys.  Out of what?  Thin air?  All of those toys contain real stuff don't they?  So where, and how, does that happen?
  I'll show you.  Santa, I don't know much about Elves, has several ways of making all of those things, and more, happen.  He works!  And he even searches and finds some of the pieces.  So there!

He looks in all the right places.  One mans junk is another............

He is in one of those "work from home" deals.

And last, but certainly not least, he works as a model; you know he poses for all of the photos and paintings.  He even poses for Cosmo, I think.

See? (or seen enough?)

I'm not a fan of.....

   ...the space program, or NASA.  I think there is a greater need right here than spending billions of dollars to fly some fool to Mars, it's just my opinion - an I'm entitled to one of those.
  But this past week I came across some photo that show the Earth the way Santa Claus must see it.  So why I don't believe in NASA they do something right every so often, I guess, well I concede.  But I still don't want any more of that stuff funded, except for satellites - those ARE useful.

This is the Golden Gate Bridge, seen from the Shuttle, nice shadow too.

Three of the five Great Lakes, from a satellite.

Florida and parts of neighboring states from the International Space Station, at
night obviously, I can see Micky Mouse(not really).  That green "ring"
at the edge of the earth is light bouncing off our atmosphere, it's
always there and always green.  Hey! Maybe we're the little green people!

It's winter in my mind

Acadia National Park is one of the most visited; in the summer.  Winter is another thing altogether, most roads close but the gates are open.  People, mostly local, still go to the park in winter to hike, cross country ski, or to nose around.
  I walk almost everyday but I wouldn't be able to go there and wade through the snow, but what would I see if I did?  Good question, lets take a look.

Loop road in winter.

The Loop Road make a semi-circle around the whole park, or at least the whole part of the park on Mount Desert Island, that's almost the entire park.  Snowmobile, cross country ski, or walk?

The road along side of Day Mountain

The Loop Road goes fairly close to most major parts of the park, it goes right by here, Day Mountain.  By the looks of things there's a lot of water that leaks and drips through the rocks.  This is a common sight in Maine, but I have always been amazed by the amount of water leaking from the small spaces in ledge or other rock formations.  In winter you can easily see just how much because, of course, it freezes and stays in one place.

Cross country skiing.

Popham Beach or Popham Colony

A recent edition of the Bangor Daily News provided a pictorial "tour" of winter at the beach, Popham Beach State Park was the subject.
  I hear about the Popham Colony just about every summer when the University is looking for volunteers to help excavate a little bit of the old Popham.  Founded in 1607 a few months after Jamestown, Virginia; Popham was far more successful, even then it lasted only a few years.
  There were a number of structures built, they were mostly burned in a fire before the colonist left.  The first ship built in North America was built at Popham, the Virginia of Sagadahoc was a successful build as it sailed to Europe and back a couple of times.
  Today Popham Colony site is a part of Popham Beach State Park, on the Atlantic where the Kennebec River enters the sea.  It's a very popular spot in Southern Maine (which for some reason they refer to as Midcoast Maine-they're about a hundred miles off).
  Well, lets see the photos!

Sequin Island Light seen from Popham Beach

Sunrise (time lapse) over Fort Popham (think War of 1812).

Seagulls here too.

Weathervane on Popham Chapel.

A view of Georgetown from Popham.