Heading for Cobscook

Camden, Maine

The three days in Camden have included two days of cold, rain and fog. We're moving on to Cobscook State Park in the morning before entering the Canadian Maritime Provinces (which I think includes New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia).


We did get in one day of tennis (I lost again 5-7 to Mrs. Phred). I used the rain days to explore the facial recognition features of Google's free Picassa program. So far, as an example, I have 518 pictures of Mrs. Phred's face in the 23,000 pictures I've taken since we retired and began traveling in 2005. They're are grouped in an album so I can make a slideshow or a movie with all the photos that she appears in. In 20 or 25 years it's going to be extremely tough to be a fugitive with millions of video cameras slaved to facial recognition programs...I've seen the future: it is prison.
Cobscook is on the Bay of Fundy and has 28 foot tides. The Indian name "Cobscook" means "boiling waters". Our oceanfront campsite has no water or electricity. Only 12 State parks in Maine offer camping and only two have on site water and electricity (Lake Sebago and Camden Hills).
We will be able to dig for clams when the tide goes out. I had some really bad clam chowder today. It was watery and the clams and potatoes were both tough. Maybe I can make my own better? I bought Mrs. Phred a big lobster and I had a mixture of lobster, scallops and shrimp in a pastry shell covered with a sherry cream sauce.

Ingredients

* One pound fresh minced clams
* 1 cup minced onion
* 1 cup diced celery
* 2 cups cubed potatoes
* 1 cup diced carrots
* 3/4 cup butter
* 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 quart half-and-half cream
* 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* ground black pepper to taste

Directions
1. Drain juice from clams into a large skillet over the onions, celery, potatoes and carrots. Add water to cover, and cook over medium heat until tender.
2. Meanwhile, in a large, heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth. Whisk in cream and stir constantly until thick and smooth. Stir in vegetables and clam juice. Heat through, but do not boil.
3. Stir in clams just before serving. If they cook too much they get tough. When clams are heated through, stir in vinegar, and season with salt and pepper.

This trip is now going on 60 days, and, except for the two week side trip to Belgium and the Netherlands, we've been mostly hitting places we've been before. New places are definitely better than repeat visits, but it's getting harder to find novelty. The Maritimes trip should be fun.

We did add Canada to our Verizon calling plan, but we'll have to rely on finding wi-fi for e-mail and blogging. Our wine cellar is depleted to the point that I can afford the customs duty. What is left is Cream Sherry and Ice Wines that I can't force myself to drink...Maybe presents for friends?

Down on the Bayou

Camden, Maine

A Bayou is a relatively small, sluggish waterway through lowlands or swamps, generally with a slow, almost imperceptible current flow. There is a finger of land, bayou and swamp that extends about 125 miles south of New Orleans out into the Gulf of Mexico.

The people that live in this area tend to be fishermen or work in the oil industry offshore. There is a tribe of Native Americans here that adopted a strange form of French when they retreated into these swamps. They've never been recognized by the U.S. Government. They number about 750 and the island they use for an ancestral burial ground is now threatened by an oil slick.

I went down a year after Katrina to take pictures and see if there was any volunteer work I could do. They were too disorganized to need my help. The ancestors are all dead, of course but the birds, fish and dolphins were doing OK until recently. The GNP of the area is about two trillion a year. Possibly half of that could be lost because of the BP oil spill. The effects could be worse if shipping up the Mississippi river is interrupted because of oil slicks that ships might drag upriver. President Obama picked the wrong day in April to endorse offshore drilling.

We had a flock (?) of ravens in the campground last night. I've seen single ravens exhibit high intelligence, but ravens in groups are a little like people in groups...very stupid.

I put bread out on the picnic table and a flock of ravens waddled over, shrieking loudly. One raven took a single piece of bread and the other ravens all attacked him to get the single piece, leaving the table covered with bread.

Fame is a fickle food
Upon a shifting plate
Whose table once a
Guest but not
The second time is set.


Whose crumbs the crows inspect
And with ironic caw
Flap past it to the
Farmer's Corn --
Men eat of it and die.

Emily Dickinson

It's raining hard here today. We're on the way to New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. I'm trying hard to drink up my New York wine to avoid the customs duty going into Canada.