Three weeks ago I took a trip to Eastport Maine with a friend. The weather was mostly rainy, misty, foggy, but I still managed to take a lot of wonderful photos:

My photo gallery of the Eastport trip has a slideshow here.

Eastport, Maine ~ © Pamela J. Leavey 2011

Last week I took a short trip to Eastport, Maine. Eastport will always hold a special place in my heart because it led me to find my way home again. When I drove onto the causeway that connects Eatport to the mainland, I remembered that “I am a little island off the causeway of life.”

Last week I drove up to Eastport, Maine with a friend. We both commented along the drive how green everything looked. It seemed as though a palette of rich and glorious greens had spilled across the canvas of our ever changing view…

Was it the mist hanging over the day that made the colors of spring look so verdant and rich? Spring was slow starting after a rough winter with lot’s of snow. Perhaps it is a greener spring…

Eastport, Maine Trip May 2011.

Today a simple reminder…

“For all blessings great and small, I am grateful.” ~~ Pamela Leavey

(Art Credit: Canopy by Lisa Marquis Bradbury of Eastport, Maine. ©)

After spending a 7 months living in Eastport, Maine, I’ve moved back home to the Newburyport area of Massachusetts (Amesbury), where I grew up. I’ve been away from the area for a little over 19 years.

I’m settling in, finishing unpacking and gearing up for a new chapter in my life. Next week, I’ll be starting a new job, which I’ll be juggling with my business and my blogs. I love to stay active and busy, so I doubt I’ll have much free time on my hands for a while.

It’s nice to be home again.

I love Eastport, Maine. It had been a dream to move here for a few years. Sadly, you never know what direction your life will take you in and that is what I find myself in the midst of at this time. Although I am excited about the prospect of moving back to the area of Massachusetts where I grew up, I will be leaving Eastport, on Friday with a heavy heart.

It’s been a joy to live across the street from my wonderful niece, Lisa and her family. They were in fact one of the primary reasons that my daughter and I moved here to Eastport. We’ll miss having family so close by, but the consolation is that it won’t be as hard to come to visit, as it was when we lived in L.A..

We’ve met some wonderful people here in Eastport since we arrived late last October and had a lot of fun with the family and new friends here.

We survived a winter! We took lot’s of wonderful photographs to remind us of the beauty of Eastport. Both of us will miss the fact that we can walk to a view of the bay in less than 5 minutes and we’ll miss seeing the deer in the field behind my niece’s home.

A friend recently reminded of me a great quote from John Lennon, when I told him I was moving again:

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

I was so busy plotting and planning what I thought life might be here in Eastport, that I missed the writing on the wall with the state of the economy and what was next for my life.

I’m extremely grateful for the time I have had here in Eastport — 7 wonderful months, that I will always remember as one of the best times of my life spent with loving family, who I love dearly.

There will always be a piece of Eastport in my heart and I will be back to visit often.

I grew up with a large vegetable garden (which was all organic) in our yard in West Newbury, Massachusetts. Every year my father would till the soil and we would all go out and help with the planting, weeding and then when the time came, the picking. The memories of the taste of the just picked vegetables is still ingrained in my mind and now that I have moved back to rural New England, I am anxiously awaiting the last frost so that I can plant my own little vegetable garden here in Eastport, Maine.

Needless to say, I think it’s awesome that the Obama’s are planting a White House kitchen garden, in effort to promote healthy eating.

Today at the White House, First Lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack helped a group of school children, from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington, plant seedlings in the White House Kitchen Garden.

Michelle Obama told the children that “the first question she had been asked on her recent trip to Europe was about the garden.”

“Every single person from Prince Charles on down was excited because we are planting a garden,” she said. “In many countries, they believe in the importance of planting a garden and raising your own food.”

AG Secretary Tom Vilsack “gave Mrs. Obama credit for a significant increase in seed sales.”

Both emphasized how inexpensive it can be to have a garden — the White House has said its garden cost $200.

When one child guessed that it would cost “over $100,000,” Mrs. Obama replied, “My husband would go crazy if he thought we were spending that kind of money.”

Sadly, the chemical industry is up in arms over the Obama’s organic garden. The Mid America CropLife Association (MACA), who represent big agribusinesses like “Monsanto, Dow AgroSciences and DuPont Crop Protection,” are “less thrilled about the fact that no chemicals will be used to grow the crops.”

The MACA wanted stressed to the Obama’s:

“As you go about planning and planting the White House garden, we respectfully encourage you to recognize the role conventional agriculture plays in the U.S. in feeding the ever-increasing population, contributing to the U.S. economy and providing a safe and economical food supply.”

Contrary to what the MACA would like to stress about the use of chemicals in gardens, the White House Kitchen Garden is however the perfect example of how people can can grow safe and economical food, organically.

It’s time to stop putting chemicals in our food supply and getting back to basics. If more families grew some of their own fruits and vegetables, they would not only save money but they would also improve the quality of their lives. Good for the Obama’s for setting this example.

[Cross posted from The Democratic Daily]

Yesterday, as the sun was setting here in Eastport, I took a walk up High Street towards the beach. The sky was simply spectacular:

I’m always struck by the majestic beauty here. It feeds the soul:

The skies here always hold a sense of magic and wonder.

[Photos © Pamela J. Leavey - Eastport, Maine]

A couple of weeks ago I was down in Newburyport, MA (my hometown) and saw that someone had erected a wind turbine. Not everyone there is happy with the wind turbine, however some get the value and understand that we must utilize alternative energy sources before it’s too late. One of the claims about wind turbines is they make too much noise. A Newburyport resident who drives by every day says not so.

After seeing the wind turbine in Newburyport two weeks ago, I wondered why Eastport, Maine, where I recently re-located to after nearly 19 years in Los Angeles, isn’t working on wind turbines of their own. The cost per KWH of electricity here is outrageous. Part of the problem is the transport of the electricity. A few well placed wind turbines would generate quite a bit of power for the lovely coastal city in the Passamaquoddy Bay and would give residents a break on their electric bills.

Much of coastal Maine has been shown to have “wind resources consistent with utility-scale production,” including the Eastport area. The Mars Hill Wind Farm on the summitt of Mars Hill Mountain here in Maine, “generates approximately 42 megawatts of power, enough to power 45,000 average Maine homes,” when operating at full capacity. 

Even at 35% capacity, the project generates enough power to accommodate at least 22,000 homes. The electricity produced from the Mars Hill Wind Farm results in a reduction of approximately 65,000 tons of carbon dioxide and over 350 tons of other damaging pollutants every year.

Listening to the roaring and howling winds last night and today, and over the months since I moved here, I keep thinking it’s time to harness the wind. And honestly when you think about those roaring and howling winds, they are probably noisier than a few combined wind turbines.

In early January, the Maine Public Utilities Commission introduced a new incentive program for Maine residents and business owners who are interested in installing wind turbines to produce electricity.  

I am fully aware of all of the debates over wind turbines and I have even written in the past, that I was not completely convinced of their benefit over the possible negatives. However, 5 months of the highest electric bills I’ve ever paid in 30 years or more, does give pause for thought.

We can’t be dependent on oil forever and I think that utilizing local resources is vital. Tidal power is another excellent resource to look at in this area, and thankfully there is something in the works here on that realm, though it still has quite a long way to go.

I love living in Eastport, but there have been challenges. Eastport is beautiful little city that has much to offer and it’s time to begin to revitalize it.

A small wind turbine project would bring much needed work to the area (even if only temporary), lower electricity rates over a period of time and give residents and business owners a much needed break on winter bills. With that, perhaps in time more small businesses would be able to flourish here in the winter months, rather than close their doors until the weather breaks.

Eastport was once, from what I understand a thriving little city. That could happen again, but residents must be willing to move towards the future and embrace alternative energy as a both an energy source and an economic boost for the area.