Farmington, Maine

Farmington is a fun little Maine town. There’s just enough to do, but not too much to get in the way. If you’re interested in learning what it looks like, scroll on down below. I’ve posted tons of pictures.

Hanging Out in Farmington, Maine

I’m so glad it snowed two nights ago and was sunny yesterday because it was the perfect setting for a visit to Farmington. Ever since I was a kid, I loved seeing the bright snow the day after. The sun definitely needs to be out because if it’s not, it’s just another day. If it’s sunny outside, everything practically glows. If you add slush to the mix and huge piles of plowed snow all over the place, you pretty much have yourself a winter wonderland. I do love the winter, you know. I said it on a number of occasions yesterday. It was 17 degrees outside and I said that I could live like this forever. Everything was so pretty. And with all that sun, it hardly felt cold at all.

We had to run into town for a few different things. We have a music store right in town that I wanted to visit. I never paid much attention to that music store. I really had no reason to consider it until I picked my guitar back up. Nowadays, guitar is all I can think about so the music store is beginning to matter to me. We had to run into Reny’s as well and we also wanted to make a quick pit stop at the bookstore. The bookstore sells only used books and it’s worth it to swing by every so often to see what they have in stock. We haven’t been there in quite some time.

A winter’s visit to Farmington wouldn’t be complete without stopping by our lake to see who’s sitting in their ice houses. Yesterday, on the way to town, there was only one ice house. On the way back, there were quite a few. There were also a lot more snowmobile tracks on the snow then as well. Here are a few photos of the lake.

I’m not sure what the fisherpeople do in these huts all day, but they do pull out some gigantic fish. I have a buddy who showed me some photos of a few salmon he caught in northern Maine. They were huge!

I snapped a picture of one of the huts that was resting near the shore.

I decided to take a few photos of some houses on the lake too. Some of these houses, especially the ones on the back side, are huge. They sell for prices in the millions. Needless to say, the owners of these pieces of property pay most of the taxes in the town for us. Thank you very much for that. Thanking certain people doesn’t happen nearly enough today.

And finally, since our grand old flag was flying high in the sunshine, I decided to grab a photo of that too.

Maine Maple Sunday is fast approaching, so this sign was of interest to me. I’m always looking for new sugar houses to visit and if this one is on the list, we’ll be sure to stop by. It’s located about half way between our house and Farmington.

After we parked in town, we went straight to a place called Everyday Music. It’s located right on Broadway in Farmington. This is the store that I’ve been driving by since we got here and never gave it much notice.

This music store is actually really cool. The owner sells used vinyl and cds and all sorts of instruments. The primary purpose of our visit was to get the lay of the land. I wanted to ask if they did instrument repairs and I wanted to also see what brands of guitars they sold. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get their hands on the brand I’m interested in, but they do repairs, which is very good to know.

This is a photo of the outside of the store.

I’m thinking that the largest customer base for this store is the students from the university. I bet there’s always a steady stream of foot traffic from them. It was a nice place.

We also had to pick up a few grocery items from Reny’s, which was located directly across the street. Check out those snow piles. This is what I was talking about when I said I love it after it snows. The landscape changes so much.

It’s a good old fashioned main street with hardware stores and thrift shops. It’s a lot of fun to walk around on.

Here are some used skis for sale from one of the thrift stores.

A few Halloweens ago, there was a “walk around town” art show with all different types of paintings and exhibits. I totally forgot to bring the camera for that one. Luckily, there’s still a remanence of the art leftover on some of the walls. What you see below was painted on a wall in an alleyway right next to Reny’s.

I snapped this photo as we were walking out of Reny’s. It was definitely a sunglass kind of day. Luckily, we both purchased new sunglasses while we were there. I have a feeling you’ll see a picture of me wearing them by the time this post is through.

Just a reminder for all of you who have bad memories out there. Valentine’s Day is this Wednesday. Be sure you take care of your sweetheart on this very special day.

Our next stop was the bookstore. As I mentioned above, it’s always a good idea to stop by to see what they they have in stock. This bookstore is called Twice Sold Tales and it’s located right on Main Street.

On the way there, we walked by Tuck’s Ale House. This is a new bar in town. It’s only a few years old and is already very popular.

And we saw the big beautiful Franklin County courthouse.

We passed by a few more small shops before making it to the bookstore.

It’s strange how blue the photos get once the sun disappears behind the buildings.

This bookstore is fairly large. It’s not crazy large or anything, but it’s got a good number of books.

I usually head straight for the cooking section and the fiction section. I did happen to locate a nice cookbook about muffins and quick breads that I bought. Here I am holding one that I almost purchased. I was so close, but decided that I simply wouldn’t use it enough. It’s about pasta. It looked so good.

While all the dishes looked stunning, I guess it didn’t help that every single title was written in Italian. I had no idea what anything was.

The books range from $3 to about $12, depending on their size and demand. They’re usually around $4 each in the fiction section and between $6 and $9 in the cooking section.

Are you ready for this? This is the photo of the day. It’s me sitting in one of the chairs in the bookstore while wearing my new sunglasses. You have to admit that I look totally cool. I mean please. And check out those new shoes.

Enough of that nonsense. Our visit was coming to an end. We left the bookstore and passed by Java Joe’s, a local coffeehouse. It’s incredible how many towns have a Java Joe’s. I seem to remember one back while I was in college.

As we were leaving, I thought it would be a nice idea to hop off the beaten path and walk up church street and then through the alleyway I showed you earlier. On the way, we saw some more leftover art from that show some years back.

In case you’re interested, this is what it looks like around here after they plow the roads. It’s always an adventure.

Well, that’s about it. I hope you enjoyed my short walking town of Farmington, Maine. I do like taking the camera out with me while we’re on these short adventures and I hope you get a kick out of looking at random and sometimes interesting shots of our local area. Have a great day!

Halloween in Farmington, Maine

A different time…

Yesterday was almost as perfect a day as they come. While it was cloudy in the morning, the clouds cleared and the skies were blue for the remainder. The night before, Laura and I decided to head down to the used book store to see if they were selling anything on our lists. I can’t speak for hers, but mine has grown substantially since the last time we made a visit. It’s a far cry from last year at this time. Last year, I couldn’t think of one new book to read. This year, I’ve got about 20 different ideas. I don’t know where they came from either. They just popped in my head. And it’s a list of such random books too. From Star Wars to Sherlock Holmes to The Belgariad. At least they’re all interesting.

So that was the plan – head down to the bookstore, look for some books and then come back home. The thing is, once we left the store, the skies began clearing and for some reason, I began relaxing. Lately, I’ve been in such a rush to get nowhere. I decided that yesterday, since it was the day before Halloween and since it was supposed to rain today (Halloween), I better cool off and relax so Laura and I can enjoy ourselves. If there’s one person who gets in the way of having a good time, it’s probably me. We don’t talk about that though because I shine in other areas. Such as installing chimneys and building roads in the woods.

The book store has new owners. It’s pretty nice now. Not that it wasn’t nice before – it’s just that I can see a difference in the little things. Yesterday, I first noticed that my corner had changed. I usually run directly to this corner because it’s where all the Philosophy books are located and it’s where the Fiction section begins. Half the books on my list are fiction, so I felt it was a good place to start. The corner, that is.

Instead of an empty area, I discovered a chair and a lamp. I though that was a nice addition to an otherwise barren area.

Unfortunately, I was only able to locate one book I wanted to purchase and I wasn’t even the one who located it. It was Laura. She found me a nice hardcover copy of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Just $6 for that little beauty. I did manage to locate a few other books, but they were all in mass market paperback format and I can’t read those things. The print is just too small for these old eyes. I wear glasses now, you know. I did manage to find a copy of Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau, but unfortunately, I didn’t need the civil disobedience part. I only wanted Walden. The search continues.

After a while, we left the store and that’s when I noticed how beautiful it had become outside. That’s when I shed my uptight self and thought it would be best if we walked around town for a bit. After all, Halloween was the next day and we hadn’t yet purchased a pumpkin to carve and really hadn’t taken notice of what a nice town like Farmington had to offer in the autumn of 2019. So we walked around and stopped every so often for a picture or two.

Farmington has a lot to offer. You simply have to stop and look around to see all of it. I’ve driven through this town so many times that I oftentimes overlook all its prettiness. Since I had my camera in hand, I captured what I could to show you. We began by walking through the park.

I wasn’t aware that the park had a name until I saw a sign that displayed it. It’s called Meetinghouse Park. That’s a good enough name as any.

Since it was so close to Halloween, it was only appropriate that we visit the town cemetery. We always manage to capture some of our better photography there. Yesterday, the lighting was good. I enjoyed the fact that the sun was hanging low in the sky to as to offer that long light photographers love so much.

The plan was to walk over to Tranten’s Market to see if they were selling pumpkins this year. We’ve seen pumpkins there in previous years and they’ve been on sale for around a dollar each. Since it was almost the holiday, I thought we’d find the same sale. My fingers were crossed.

To get to Tranten’s, we walked through the back alley to the main road. On the way, I discovered that Farmington has its very own escape room. I had no idea. I’ve toyed with the idea of doing one of these things, so we might have to try it out. This one is called The Underground.

We also noticed that someone had painted the alleyway orange and hung some lights as well. It was somewhat of a festive scene, even though we were the only ones there.

I suppose Tranten’s made no money on their pumpkins when they previously sold them because we couldn’t find even one in the store. There used to be a huge box with them all piled up, so I was especially disappointed. Because of that, we were unable to carve pumpkins this year. Not to worry though because we’ve already got big plans for next year.

The last item on our itinerary was to make a visit to Renys to pick up a few food items. I buy some ingredients for lunch in this store, so it’s in constant demand.

Yesterday, we were wondering what this building used to be. We suspect it may have housed some sort of school.

After Renys, we were off. We walked back to the car through the back way near the cemetery. The day was perfect. The weather, the vibe. Everything. Even the smell of those autumn leaves in the air.

Since I was in a different kind of mood, I thought I’d shake things up by taking an alternate route home. We usually drive on the busier of the two roads that lead to the same place, but since things were going so well, I figured a ride through the hills would be nice. It wasn’t until we were almost past another park that I decided to pull in for a quick five minute hike. Boy, I was really full of surprises. So spur of the moment.

This one is called Powder House Hill Trails and it’s got some great looking White Pine and Hemlock trees inside. It’s very well maintained and so beautiful.

It’s in this park, my friends, that I decided to pose for a photo. I felt like the small bridges were calling my name. I still can’t figure out how to smile, but at least I try to look presentable.

In closing, I’d like to say how pleased I am with owning a camera. It’s brought me such pleasure over the past few years. Where I used to hop in the car to do something or visit someplace with no distinct aim or goal, I now head out with photography and storytelling on my mind. The camera helps me look at things differently. Years ago, I would never have noticed the lights hanging in the alleyway or what the history of Renys was. I may have sat in the chair at the bookstore, but I certainly wouldn’t have thought about telling anyone about it. In the most basic sense, I think owning a camera offers more purpose to a day, albeit not a huge purpose, but purpose nonetheless. One of the activities I enjoy most in life is to sit back and read through my old posts from years and years ago. I look at photos from our first house to hiking in the bitter cold Maine winters to visiting the Connecticut coastline. There’s truly nothing like photographing and blogging and doing the whole thing. So, if you’re interested in doing something like this yourself, I’m full of advice, so please ask. You probably won’t get me to shut up about it, but at least we’ll have some fun going back and forth. Have a great day and thanks for reading!