A little of everything: midnight mass, a tour of the Rockland Breakwater, a simple and tasty recipe, and a story about some wild, wild weather.
Do you celebrate Christmas? If so, I wish you the Merriest of Christmases! Today is the day. As I sit here and look out my window though, I’m not seeing much that would remind me that it’s this time of year. It’s 41° and partly sunny. We usually have a thick blanket of snow on the ground by this point. Actually, we did have one, but that’s another story. One I’ll share down below. For now, let me express my most heartfelt well wishes for this holiday season.
St. Lawrence O’Toole Church
Growing up, my mother brought my family and me to a local church in Brewster, New York. It was (and is) called St. Lawrence O’Toole Church. It was a very good looking traditional stone building that offered everything we could have ever wanted or needed as those wants or needs related to religion; first communion, confirmation (also known as chrismation), confession, weddings, funerals, and even a teen club. If memory serves, my brother Jeff used to attend some of the teen club events when he was a kid. The group spent time in the attic of the Catholic school that sat adjacent to the church. Up in that attic were pool tables, TVs, couches, and a bar for soda and that sort of thing. I swear, I think I was shown around the club once or twice. It was so long ago though that I can’t recall if those occurrences were dreams or reality. And if anyone from Brewster is reading this, these were the days of Father Bob. We all remember him. He was surely a favorite.
The reason I bring this up is because, today being Christmas, I was thinking back to a time when a friend of mine and I attended midnight mass at St. Lawrence O’Toole Church. My friend’s name is Craig. When I lived in Brewster, Craig and I would hang out a lot and for a few years there, we even exchanged Christmas gifts. Those were good days. Everyone was working and making money. Families were nearby and gatherings were had. When one person wanted to see another, all that was needed was a knock on the door or a phone call. Good days indeed.
I don’t remember who came up with the idea. “Hey, we should go to midnight mass at the church tonight!” Either Craig said it or I said it. Regardless of who was behind the the drive over, at around 12:15am, the both of us found ourselves standing way in the back of the church, along one of the side aisles. Yes, our idea was grand – for the first time in either of our lives, we’d attended midnight mass. Unfortunately, everyone else in town attended the same mass. The church was packed and we were nowhere near sitting, or at the very least standing, anyplace that was remotely comfortable. Ultimately, we left. We didn’t stay for that mass, which is a shame. We remained in the church for about 10 minutes. As I look back on the experience, I wish we had stayed longer. At least I’d have the memory tucked someplace in the recesses of my mind. Why? Because I’d like to remember something like that. The church was decorated for the holiday and it seemed as though everyone who attended made the conscience decision to do so. It was special.
The Rockland Breakwater
A “breakwater” is a line of stone in a harbor or along a shore that “breaks” dangerous currents and waves. Rockland, Maine plays host to a breakwater that traverses half of their harbor. While something like this wouldn’t usually garner much attention, in this case, the breakwater houses a lighthouse at its end. And what’s more, the breakwater is walkable. It’s nearly a mile long and it’s open to walking each and every day of the year. Should you walk it every single day? Absolutely not. Choose the days that offer nice weather, lest you find yourself trapped nearly a mile out at sea in a snow or wind storm. Not that Laura and I were trapped in any sense of the word, but we did encounter both wind and snow. But mostly, we enjoyed the sunshine while it shone down upon us. This is yours truly in the midst of capturing what had promised to be some stunning photography.
The photography was actually very good that day in mid-December. Because of the turbulence in the cloud coverage, the sky was much more interesting and full of character than anticipated. And because the sun hangs so low during the winter months, nearly every hour was the golden hour. Primarily though, the setting was lovely. I’ve been wanting to visit the Rockland breakwater since we moved to Maine 10 years ago. I’ll have to scratch this activity off my list.
While the unexpected snow storm barely reached Laura and me while we were walking the breakwater, it certainly reached the coastal towns just north of us. I was able to capture the scene of the Rockport Harbor which is the next town north of Rockland. It and Camden were getting inundated with snow for a good few hours. You can see it falling from the sky as well as gracing the trees atop Mt. Battie.
I wrote a post that describes our trip in full detail. I included 41 glorious photos and in the post, I share our experiences visiting downtown Rockland, a gift shop or two, Antiques Etcetera (a local antique shop), as well as the breakwater. If you’d like, please feel free to visit the post. My photos are sitting there all alone, waiting to be viewed. To visit, simply click this link:
Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse, Maine
Before I move on to my recipe below, I’d like to quickly mention that even now, when I reflect on the photos I took of the Maine coast just last week, I’m in awe. I’m still in shock that I somehow managed to find myself living someplace so vivid and raw in the most wonderful sense of those words. I said it the day I arrived and I’ll say it again today, Maine is wild. And to have the opportunity to walk that breakwater and experience the wind whipping around me in all directions, in all its haste, and in all its determination, well, I’ll just say that I haven’t experienced something like that in a long time. The Maine coast is a magnificent place and its beauty is undeniable. It’s no wonder Maine’s slogan is, “The Way Life Should Be.”
Mediterranean Style Orzo Pasta Salad
I know this is what might be considered a summer dish, but for some reason, a few days ago, I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I’ve always loved orzo and putting a nice salad together that’s built around it is easy and fast. In the past, my orzo salad results have been very good, so I decided to give it another go. This time though, I’d focus on the Mediterranean. And by that, I mean I’d include Mediterranean diet-like ingredients, such as cherry tomatoes, cucumber, Kalamata olives, bell peppers, olive oil, basil, and a nice balsamic vinaigrette.
I’d say my results were just as I hoped them to be.
Why do I bring this up? Two reasons. First, I’d like to introduce my new food blog cleverly titled RecipeJay. I launched it not too long ago and I’m excited by and proud of the quality of what I’ve been sharing. In previous posts on previous blogs, I’d take some pictures and sort of whip up a post within minutes. I guess I’ve changed and somehow matured since then. These days, my posts take days to write. But, while they do take much more time to craft, I’m ever so satisfied with that I’m releasing to the world.
Case in point: I worked on my orzo salad post for two days. I’ll tell you, by the time the first day came to a close, I was ready to call it quits with anything remotely related to orzo, but by the time the second day closed, I was ready to share my post with the orzo loving public. So here it is.
Which brings me to the second reason. I now want you to try this dish. In my post, I detail pretty much anything you’d ever like to know about orzo, the Mediterranean diet, and how to prepare this specific dish. So, without further ado…
Mediterranean Style Orzo Pasta Salad Recipe
At the very least, click through to see what a real food blog post should look like. I’ve completed three or four of them thus far and boy, what work!
The Storm From Nowhere
I’ll wrap this newsletter up by sharing some current events. I’m not sure if our most recent rain and wind storm affected the entire east coast, but wow, it sure affected Maine. Let me tell you all about it.
By the way, all the snow that once covered our nearby property has now come and gone. By the end of this story, you’ll know why.
About a week ago, Sunday night, the rain began falling in our local area. By Monday morning, a good portion of the state had flooded. In some locations, over five inches of rain had landed, which washed out bridges and roads, covered far too many Main Streets with water, and utterly ruined even more businesses and homes. This was a big one and, for me, it was completely unexpected. I recall reading the weather forecast on Saturday. “Hmmm…looks like we’re going to get some rain and light wind. No big deal.”
I volunteer at a local food bank every Monday morning. It’s called the Clearwater Food Pantry and it’s a wonderful place. The pantry offers an incredible service to our local friends and neighbors and I couldn’t be more thrilled to help out in any way I can. I’m so happy to have found it and to have gotten involved with it.
This past Monday morning, another volunteer, Tom, and I were watching the rain fall in the pantry parking lot. As we loaded with food boxes the few cars of those brave souls who ventured out in the torrent, we became drenched with water. Besides our discomfort, up until about half way through the morning, we had only the rain to contend with. But as Tom and I stood outside watching the weather and waiting for more cars, the wind arrived. And arrive it did. Within minutes, a few small nearby trees had fallen and just as I walked back inside the building that houses the pantry, the electricity was cut. The lights went dark and Tom yelled, “I just saw the tree that snapped the power wire. It fell across the street.” And surely enough, Tom was right. A tree branch had somehow severed the topmost wire of the bunch; the one that flows the electrical current throughout the area. The wire lay on the road.
At the time, I really thought the storm and power outage was localized. I hadn’t realized it was a statewide event until a day or two later. After all, we had no electricity in our home, which obfuscated any ability I had to access the internet and ultimately, information.
On Wednesday, Laura and I were still without power. We decided to visit the library of a neighboring town to do some work and to find out what was going on. We brought a laptop and our tablets and we used the library’s internet access to learn that our power restoration was scheduled for December 23 at 10pm. That would be six days without electricity. Not that we haven’t experienced something like this before and not that we couldn’t handle it, but still, there’s not a lot that’s good about having dishes pile up in the kitchen sink for an entire week.
Luckily, our power was restored on Thursday evening, a mere four days after it had disappeared. There are some, however, who suffered for the full six days. My heart truly goes out to them.
There are many places in Maine that look quite apocalyptic. Bridges that once stood for generations have simply vanished. Roads that were once smooth and fast, gone. The Kennebec River runs through a town called Madison. On a normal day, the water level is a good 20 feet beneath the pavement. On Monday and Tuesday of last week, the water level nearly touched the pavement. Needless to say, anything that was settled nearby so long ago isn’t so settled anymore. When Laura and I crossed the bridge in question Wednesday afternoon, we noticed a layer of mud covering the adjacent roads. We’d yet to see this sort of thing in that location. It was completely new.
If you’d like to view some photos of the flooding, I encourage you to view the Abstract Aerial – Maine Facebook page. The pictures illustrate just how devastating this storm was.
This picture below was taken by Central Maine Power.
And this picture was taken by Abstract Aerial.
When weather events like this occur, it’s common to ask why it takes so long to restore the electricity. During the aftermath of this storm, our power company kept the public very well informed. To start, the wind needed to stop. That took time. Then, roads needed to be cleared of trees and other debris. That took more time. After that, bridges needed to be somehow restored and the flooding needed to subside. Even more time. And finally, once the repair trucks and crews were able to access and assess the damage, repairs could begin. In Maine, over 465,000 homes and businesses lost their electricity during this time and to have over 98% of it restored within five days seems nearly impossible. I don’t know how these crews do it, but I’ll take my hat off to them. They’re obviously very good at their jobs.
This brings me to the end of another post. I sincerely hope you enjoyed it and, if so, I invite you to leave a comment down below to let me know your thoughts. It’s always nice to get feedback on the things I share.
Below are a few questions I’d like to ask you:
- Would you like to receive these posts via email? If so, you can sign up here. I send out a new post every single Monday morning, bright and early.
- Do you like food? I sure do. If you do too, you may just want to follow my delectable looking food blog. It’s all food all the time. Visit RecipeJay today.
- Are you new here? Are you interested in reading through my entire list of posts that go way back? If so, you can start right here.
If you did any of these things, I can tell you right now that you’d truly make my day. Thank you so much and with that, I say adieu. Or at least, until next time.
PS – Can you do me a huge favor? Can you please share this page with someone you think might enjoy it? Here are some links to help you do that. Thank you!
Leave a Reply