A beautiful day for the 2nd Annual Lobster Bake Event, hosted by the Naples Grange #94 (http://www.naplesgrange.com/). Naples is near Sebago Lake in the lakes region of western Maine. Had a couple of soft-shell lobstahs (a 1 1/4 and a 1 1/2 pounder -- wit' seaweed!), drawn butter, a cahb a' corn, an excellent 3-bean salad, a baked potato (alongside an onion), a hot roll, a slice of watermelon and a large cup of ice tea. Fantastic! Sat under the big tent and listened to some live music and other entertainment and chatted it up with folks around the table and those nearby. A true delight to sit down at the table of a town I've never been to -- sitting there on the village green to share a meal with perfect strangers and jus' get' to know each other in the process.

Learn the fascinating story about granges in Maine with this MPBN video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEz5Cm0BkUQ

Walked back to the car on the other side of the causeway bridge (it opens to let tall-masted boats through) and stopped in to the bridge operator's "house" to chat things up. His name is Don and he explained how the bridge opens (it turns horizontally instead of going up vertically). He's also an animal control officer for the area (Raymond and Casco), and I had to ask him about there being moose in the area: "of course there ah." He's seen them in Raymond (which is the next town southeast of Casco). So that means there's a possibilty I may spot one someday. I asked Don if I could take his picture and he said "sure," at which point he stood up, turned his back to the camera and dutifully posed with his hands on the bridge mechanism control board. Later on in the conversation he let me take a photo of him facing the camera.

Been trying to identify the birds in the treetops around my cabin: so far I've seen and heard mockingbirds, cardinals, blue jays, chickadees, white-throated sparrows, crows, woodpeckers, mourning doves and finches; and have heard the loons up on Coffee Pond. Occasionally I heard the extremely elusive whippoorwill's quirky trill late into the night. There are a couple of bird sounds (I think they're birds) that are occasionally heard, and they've really got me stumped.