Grandma Got Run Over By a Maine Made Product

Grandma's downfall

Pineland, New Gloucester, Maine

Okay, so I have not written an entry in here in about five days, almost a week. So I think it is high time I did so.

The title of today's entry comes courtesy of two good things that happened today.

First, I FINALLY heard "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" on the radio. You wouldn't think that would be a difficult thing to do. In fact, most of you are probably hearing it every five minutes. Or have no desire to hear it whatsoever. Or haven't heard it since 1988. One or the other. But, Liberty is unique in many ways, few of them good, and one way they are unique is their protection of dear old Grandma and her egg nog. I heard Christmas Shoes. I heard part of "So This is Christmas" by John Lennon, on what station I'm still not sure... it was staticky and coming from another station that was not the one I was on, so I could barely hear it. Probably a classic rock or AC station. Couldn't find it. There is surprisingly no AC station here. None whatsoever. Most markets are drowning in them. Gee, what in the world do office workers here listen to? No elevator music to drown out the workday woes with, lol. And the first time in years I haven't heard an all Xmas station, since AC stations always go all Xmas. Not that I WANT one, but it was tradition. And I would have heard "So This is Xmas" and "Grandma" by now if I had one.

But I digress. 102.1 finally decided to let those reindeer out of the pen. Bye, Bye, Grandma. She had hoof prints on her forehead. Since this is Liberty, it only follows, the reindeer that ran over her? He was on a snowmobile. Wearing boots. Walking in the (plowed) graveyard. Haha.

When I was walking home from the health food store, they played it. It was VERY good timing since I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much had I heard it when home. It made me happy to hear and have the "Xmas Triad," that is, the only three Xmas songs I like, finally heard. It ain't Christmas without some kid who doesn't have enough change to buy shoes for his dying mother, Grandma getting run over by a reindeer, and John Lennon reminding us that this is for the weak and strong, rich and poor, black and white, yellow and red ones (Hmm, now where do I fit reindeer in there? Do hoofs count?)

Anyway, so you might ask, if any of you have actually got this far, which is somewhat doubtful but we won't tell Grandma, what Maine Made products have to do with this post.

The answer is, when I was at the health food store today, I was talking with J and M in the back room while they finished making soup. And I saw a box from "Pineland, New Gloucester, Maine." Pineland! Woohoo! Maine rules. Everywhere you go, you see Maine products. Everywhere. Just like "the south will rise up," this is "Maine will take over the nation." Or something. But seriously, when I was in Montana, I saw Stonewall Kitchen stuff everywhere (from Freeport, Maine), and now I'm in Liberty, NY and they have cheese from Pineland in New Gloucester. I just think that is too funny. I love it. So I told them that I had been to Pineland and I described it. It is a very beautiful place. It is a working farm with a huge visitor's center (including a gourmet chocolate shop and bakery inside, as well as lots of meeting rooms). You can get guided tours of the place. Which I did once. Lots of animals.

My Aspie group used to meet there. New Gloucester is not an easy place to get from, well, anywhere. Once we started heading towards NG and ended up in Brunswick. An hour or so in the OTHER direction. But hey, it was a lot more fun than the meeting, because no one showed up that day. Maybe they all got lost in other, opposite directions. It could be a new tourism program. "Try to find us! You'll get lost and see the world while doing so!"

The first time we ever met there, it was January and it was 60, maybe close to 70, degrees that day. Bizarrely warm weather. Needless to say, it was the first time I had been there, it had beautiful, exciting, huge green fields to wander in, it was the first warm day in months, and sitting in a meeting room wasn't exactly on the top of my list of priorities that day. So, I stayed in the meeting for maybe 30 minutes or an hour, and then left, and hung outside and had a ball. Then I found the gourmet chocolate shop and bakery. THAT was memorable. Somehow, I don't think I would have remembered the day so well if I had stayed inside the whole time. Playing with others is good most of the time, but sometimes you gotta take advantage of opportunities and enjoy yourself while you can.

So, good memories from Pineland. I should have asked to keep the box. Ha. Maybe not.

I just realized it stopped raining. Sometimes silence can be deafening. After hours of intense, loud rain, the silence is....very welcome, but somewhat odd. Hope it doesn't come back tomorrow. Most likely kids will have another snowday since they are predicting freezing rain. They predicted a few inches of snow and freezing rain today, but all we got was rain; and school was cancelled. For rain. Ha. Poor parents.

So, that, you all, is why I call this post "Grandma Got Run Over by Maine Made Products."

I leave you with this profound question:

Should we open up her gifts or send them back?