You never know exactly where the day will take you. A couple of Sundays ago, we needed to run down to Reny’s in Farmington. I had placed a special order for canned pumpkin and I had been notified that my order was in. If you are wondering why one would have to order canned pumpkin, well I will tell you my story. A few weeks ago during one of our visits to our local Hannaford, we noticed all of the canned pumpkin was out of stock. I knew there was no need to panic, but with a lot of items still missing from the shelves, I knew I needed to act quickly. I not only use canned pumpkin for baking, but our cat takes a small amount in his breakfast. I wouldn’t say he enjoys it, but let’s just say it has become beneficial in order to keep things running smoothly as pumpkin is a good source of fiber. Anyway, I know Reny’s usually carries a decent brand of canned pumpkin called One-Pie Pumpkin. Well it ends up Reny’s was out, too, and one of their very helpful sales associates, Sarah was kind enough to place a special order for me. In order to combat this issue in the future, I ordered twelve cans. I’m not taking any chances and who knows if there will be a real shortage in the future or not. Especially, with all of the baking people do for the holiday season. Upon further investigation, according to the stories circulating on the internet, it seems there was a delay in planting pumpkin crops due to rain shortages and there may be a delay in this item reaching the shelves. Other than that, I believe there just may be an abundance of over-eager bakers out there clearing the shelves and contributing to the lack of availability of canned pumpkin. No worries though and I now have more than enough to get me through the holidays and the cat will be happy as well.
Last year, I made pumpkin flan with maple syrup and it was a big hit for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I had used the One-Pie Pumpkin as the main ingredient and I really enjoy using this brand for baking. Apparently, this brand of canned pumpkin is quite a big deal here in Maine. This pumpkin has become a nostalgic New England tradition. New Englanders use this as their main ingredient for holiday baking. It is quite basic and straightforward as there are no other ingredients other than pure pumpkin.
As I mentioned, it was Sunday and Reny’s closes early on Sundays, so we had to get a move on to get down there. I grabbed my camera just in case because I never know what I will see. This turned out to be a good thing because after leaving Reny’s, we decided to walk around downtown Farmington for a while. This reminds me, here is another story for you. Jay and I have this new routine we started a few months ago. I know a lot of people have been feeling like they are suffering from major cabin fever due to the world’s current situation, but honestly, not much has changed for the most part where we live. It may be partly due to the way we live as well. We both primarily work from home and we are together a lot. Also, when you have been together as long as we have, let’s just say, things can get a little bit predictable. We are both on the same page when it comes to this concept, so we’ve been up for switching up our routine a bit. The original plan was on Friday nights to make sushi at home and then run down to Farmington for coffee and then come back home eat and watch a movie. Well, the first time we got coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts and while we were down there I thought we could walk around for a bit while we enjoyed our coffees. As I said, we have been doing this for a few months now and our plan has morphed into something totally new. We now make it a point to include walking as much as possible in our new routine. We are now up to five miles! It has turned out to be a win-win situation. We get out of the house, burn a few calories, and have had the chance at meeting a few new and interesting people. During this particular weekend, we didn’t get to chance to walk on Friday night because we had had really heavy rain. Not so fun with coffee in hand. We figured it was a beautiful day and let’s make up for the lost time.
McDonald’s has been running a one-dollar deal on all three sizes of their coffees. We get two hot medium-sized regular coffees and walk around town for a couple of hours. It is usually dark, but we don’t mind because we have a variety of places that are well-lit to explore. One such place is the University of Maine at Farmington. UMF is a fairly small liberal arts college and has a pretty nice setup as much of the campus is interwoven with many parts of the town. The campus also has a 25-yard indoor swimming pool in the fitness and recreation center for the use of the UMF students and members of the area community for various fees. This has sparked my interest as I may be interested in frequenting the pool. This would give me the opportunity to not only swim during the summer but all year round in town. After a couple of the students gave us a tour of the pool and facilities, they were kind enough to let us use the restrooms. Let me tell you, after drinking our coffees, and with a lot of places currently closed to the public, this has become a nice just in case spot for when “nature calls.”
We sometimes make Abbott Park part of our Friday night walks. The park is part of the college and the landscape includes Rollo Pond, four bridges, and woodland trails. A couple of weeks ago, during one of our walks, we saw a white-tailed doe and her piebald fawn. These two have become quite famous in the area as many people have had similar sightings. On this particular day, we had a few hours of sunlight left, and being that I had my camera, I was hoping to get a photograph of these two. With no such luck, we didn’t see the deer, but I was able to get a few beautiful fall shots in the park.
It’s funny to think as we walk around the campus, I can’t help but think of my own college years. I think this is especially true because being it is fall now, I always associate the season with a new academic year. My college path was anything but traditional, but I am glad I finally finished. I have three degrees and graduated with a 3.95 GPA. My only regret is, I wish I had found my love of ornithology sooner and was working more hands-on in the field. I suppose you never know where your life is going to take you and never say never. Jay and I also sort of met in college and we end up reminiscing frequently while we walk around the campus.
The following photographs are from a few of the sights and buildings from around the UMF campus. We picked a great day as the color of the leaves were so full and vibrant.
The University Of Maine At Farmington sign
A view of Merrill Hall from Academy Street
The beautiful windows of Merrill Hall
The Mantor Library and Mantor Green
The Student Center
A garden on campus
A view from South Street
The Mantor Green
Purington Hall
Another view of Purington Hall
Emery Community Art Center
The Emery Green
Psychology Building
Another view of the psychology building located on Main Street
The Brinkman House
Another view of the Brinkman House
Merrill Hall
The Historical Society
A view of Merrill Hall and Emery Community Art Center from Academy Street
At this point during our walk we were making our way back to the car and here are just a few places located in downtown Farmington on the way.
Farmington Public Library
Titcomb House
Route 27 in Farmington, Maine
Cosmos growing outside of the Farmington Post Office.
I always say the Pierce House building would make a great B & B.
The intersection of Route 27 and Broadway.
Looking up Broadway on a late Sunday afternoon.
I hope you enjoyed the photographs from the UMF campus at Farmington and around town.
Life has sure changed for us while living here in Maine. Before Jay and I started living together our Friday nights were a lot different than our days as singles. Although things are a bit quieter now in our life together, we are never quite sure what sort of path life is going to take us on, and maybe that is a good thing.
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