the Great Cow Harbor Race Day....sigh

The Native Americans that once lived here called this place the Great Cow Harbor. Some days I wish they were around to see what they started but they are all busy kicking our collective asses at the many casinos nearby. Today is the 10k race and tomorrow is the even bigger horror....Cow Harbor Day. Now don't get me wrong. Many years ago someone had the brilliant civic and business minded idea to have a festival in the fall here and bring out all the neighbors and PARTY... DOWN...BABY! There is a very big parade and stuff goes on all day at the harbor park. The Rotary has a big Italian sausage & peppers-burgers and hot dogs stand. There's kiddie rides and games and folks end the boating season by decorating their sailboats and speedboats with all kinds of stuff. I think there are fireworks tonight or tomorrow. There is craft stuff in the park and raffles for a quilt which I have entered for 900 years and never won a thing. Up until this year there was a contest called cow patty bingo. The grass is chalked into a bingo grid and nature does the rest with the help of the real Dairy Queen, Nelly. Not sure what happened to Nelly this year and not sure I want to know-whoa Nelly!

If all of this sounds like fun-in some great ways it is-in some worse ways...not so much! The first thing that happened a while back is that the local politicians took over the floats of note with a bunch of political crap like we don't get enough of that already. Then they planted themselves at the foot of Main St. with all manner of crappy leaflets that they shoved at you and you immediately shoved back. This caused a major paper jam at the end of the block that takes street sweepers all evening(on overtime)to clean up. Then around the same time the real estate folks, or as I refer to them, real estate slime, began the same thing and they also had big fat floats to remind us of their ugly presence in the community. This was in case you only have three brain cells left and can't already see how much mess they've made with the McMansions and deforestation of or Village already. Around about then, the Village govmt. decided it would be great to advertise our little celebration and announce the great, quiet, country fair quality of it. I don't need to tell you much about that. I'll just leave it with the one famous anecdote that summed up my last appearance at Cow Harbor Day. I was walking home elbow to elbow and shoulder to shoulder with people I've never seen before and this humongous guy with a very, very, thick Brooklyn accent says to the misses-"Ain't it effin great to be out in the country? Looka all these GD trees" That was, for me, the day the charm ended.

Today I had to go and pick up my new glasses a couple of towns over-First, since it's RaceDay-we are not allowed to drive on our roads between 8:30 and 10. Then, because all of the ten thousand people who descend here for the race have to park and then leave after it, it takes 25 minutes to go 5 miles. Anyone who lives here and is not a politician or real estate person dreads this day. It's fine for the kids who don't mind being shoulder to shoulder and such but you rarely see anyone who really has lived her for any time get out in it. It's really scary out there. Like driving bumper cars and since a large number of people come out from the city you are more likely to get the finger than a friendly wave. It is, my friends, the worst of times....Oh well, I suppose you think me a curmudgeon and cranky but it just seems to me that they need to make Cow Harbor Day about the local residents again-and that ship has sailed.

We are leaving on Monday morning on the Cross-Sound Ferry to Bridgeport, Connecticut and places north where we will, undoubtedly, assume the roll of the UGLY NEW YORKERS that piss off the local Maine population. As for me, I just want to eat a boatload of effin Lobster and see some GD New Englandahs...Ahoy Mateys...see you in a week or so with the quilt shop booty.....harrrr

For those of you that were kind enough to wonder-James thinks the interview went well but they aren't making any decisions for a couple of weeks. I'll keep you posted and thanks for the good thoughts.