A Summer in Maine (The Coldest Birthday)

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I spent the coldest birthday ever in Friendship, Maine. I lived there the summer after college, and worked at a little store in Camden on the water. Camden was a TINY town, but it was a foodie town, sporting the best bakery I've ever encountered, a phenomenal lobster roll shack I ate lunch at daily, and a little stand that sold HOT chocolate chip cookies and coffee right across the dock from where I worked. It was idyllic, truly.

But it was COLD. Not a fun cold either. A wet cold. Yes, it's true, some places don't have what we think of as summer. Maine is one of those places. 

The wildlife, as usual, was my focus when I was there - seeking out all the critters - the little crabs in the water, clams on the beaches (I use that word loosely - it was cold, wet rocks), and the spectacular birds. So many neat birds I had never seen before. My favorite, however, were the colorful, and LOUD puffins and loons. They were both sort of nonchalant birds, that didn't spook easily, and hung out on the rocks, undisturbed by me and my daily walk before work where I looked for rocks and shells.

Speaking of rocks - the rocky beaches meant mucho beautiful rocks. There was an artist there that I would LOVE to find again - he did these incredibly realistic, photographic looking watercolor and ink paintings of beach rocks. I thought I had bought one, but in many moves, it is lost now and even though I've searched for his name, he was popular before the internet, and so I haven't had any luck. Any of you Mainers out there who know what I'm talking about, please let me know his name! I'd love to buy a print. 

Anyway, today, I'm tickled to find a puffin stamp! These are birds that are so cute they almost don't look real - even in real life!

This little guy is sized just right to color - I colored him with OLO markers and added a strip of a cool turquoise gel print behind him to make the red pop. I cut him out with the matching dies, and the embellishments are these. I love them so much! They were a gift from my friend MaryAnn.

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Crazy that we are almost halfway through January, right? Are you doing any New Year's habits? I don't really do resolutions, but I am trying to just do a little very minimal daily journaling. Just the weather, tracking my water intake, meals, anything noteworthy - jotting it down.

This is what I use my planner for - not planning, more like a diary. I spoke about how I organize my work tasks in this post - this works so much better for me.

FYI - I've closed my PO Box, so please delete that address if you have it saved. 

Loveyameanitbye.

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