Category: Stinking Thinking

Blogging About Maine Small Town Peace And Quiet

Peace and quiet, Maine small town living offers plenty of both.

At a state Maine REALTORS convention this past week in Portland, it was great to be in Maine’s largest city for lots of continuing education credits. To rub shoulders, to compare notes with other professionals from around the state is invaluable to my small Maine real estate operation up here in “The County”.

Congratulations to Martin Cates, Maine Association Of REALTORS “Realtor Of The Year” Awardee.

REALTOR Of The Year In ME Broker/Agent? Martin Cates Received The Maine Association Of REALTOR 2025 Award!

Well deserved for years of community volunteering, real estate listing sales mentoring service Martin!

Lots Of Maine REALTORS Attended The State Convention In Portland Maine!

Heading north up Interstate 95 after this year’s MAR convention wrapped up, I thought about all the many areas of Maine there are.

Hard not to as the mile markers rack up and township signs flash by the jeep passenger side windows.

One session speaker had done the math, counted over 480 communities in the great state of Maine.

That’s a big number of small towns. A lot of little communities in Maine.

The common denominator for many seemingly is lots of peace and quiet all for season.

A commodity not so plentiful in population centers outside of Maine. But don’t believe the low bidder ad agency that often wins the contract for providing out state generated tourist information.

I like see, hearing about the real deal Maine. Not the re-constituted spun kind that regurgitates old not accurate story lines.

Here’s the A-Z of what Maine offers in cartoon form.

Maine Is Low Cost High Beauty Real Estate! Welcome To Small Town Maine Simple Living!

Too many paint the picture that small Maine towns once were thriving but not anymore.

Change is inevitable in life and Mainers adapt, retool and press on in highly creative ways.

Squeezing more from what they spend is a life skill learned and earned early in life.

Picking in the potato fields, raking in blueberry barrens or harvesting seafood in fishing villages that dot the rock bound craggy Maine coastline.

One Basket At A Time! Picking Maine Potatoes Skills Learned By The Lucky Youth Growing Up In A Fall Harvest Potato Farm Field.

Please don’t get the wrong impression about what it is like in Maine.

It’s an easy trap to fall into when many are waving their fingers and flapping their tongues. About something making them hot and bothered on the national stage.We don’t make everything about who you did or did not vote for last election, the one before that.

When from our perch in a small Maine town, we think the peace and quiet out in the vast low population setting is the key. To stay balanced and aware of what is really important in life.

Volunteering and helping others is what Maine simple living is all about in Vacationland.

Preserving family traditions and making sure the next generation is taught more than just how to survive life. But to enjoy and cherish how lucky we really are to live in a place so beautiful and unspoiled and not crowded.

Details, Fine Workmanship, Small Maine Towns Are Special! The Community Is The People, Not Empty Buildings.

Maine small towns are not sleepy but many just don’t get the press.

Nothing ho hum or boring. Undiscovered small Maine communities often feel like a step back in time by design.

What’s important is preserved and the respect passed on. All the members of the small Maine community have important jobs besides what they do for work.

Volunteering and signing up to do the task year after years helps all of us get to know the other community members. There is so much local talent and nothing needs to be “hired out”.

Can I Help You? Here To See A Maine Moose? You Are Seeing Double!

Small Maine towns surrounded by serene peace and quiet are left alone by politicians too.

Not enough voters to bother with and too much travel or ROI for their support. Everything is local, grass roots and home grown. Garden fresh close to home always beats out trucked in store bought right?

Simple living in Maine has a lot of advantages.

So waking up on a Maine lake, slurping my hot coffee and peering out over the water, I feel blessed.

Maine Lake Loon Fishing, Feeding It’s Young. Living Here You See The Skill Taught To Baby Loons On A Maine Lake.

Have my do list for the day back from the Maine REALTOR convention hammered out, am wrapping up the blog post on peace and quiet simple living.

Feeling energized to rise above and seize the day.

Knowing I really am so so lucky to live in one of the many small communities that make up the vast majority of the state of Maine. Where we talk not just text.

And most locals don’t suffer from FOMO.

Our energy is saved for the big challenges of day-to-day life.

Not feeling sapped, always filled with the fear of missing out and anxious that somehow, we are missing out on a perfect opportunity. That desperation only leads to hurried or financially unsound decision making.

Laugh. Laugh Loud. Maine Small Town Comedy Is The Most Entertaining!

Small town Maine living teaches you what priorities to keep straight and never forget to deep down contentment and happiness.

What really matters?

That easy living happens with peace of mind. That practical is not square. That debt is a cancer. Knowing relationships matter and need to be tended like a garden. And enjoying what you do for work, valuing your time is the secret. Thank you for reading, sharing, following our Me In Maine blog posts.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

October 10, 2025
All You Need: Quiet Richness Of Small-Town Life In Maine

All You Need: Quiet Richness of Small-Town Life in Maine

In a world that moves faster every day, there are places where time still respects rhythm. Where the post office is also where you catch up with neighbors, and where the hardware store has what you need—plus the advice to go with it. People care about you, others in a small-town life in Maine. Living in a small Maine town is really like being a member of a very large family.

Small Town, Living On A Maine Lake. Priceless.

Small towns in Maine don’t always make headlines, and that’s part of the point.

What they offer isn’t flashy. But if you’ve lived it, or even visited long enough to notice, you know: there’s something here. Something solid. Something that fills the cup in ways city life never seems to touch.

In a Maine town—especially the ones tucked along a river bend or beyond the reach of a cell signal—you’ll find a kind of practical wisdom that doesn’t come from books or podcasts. It comes from living close to the land. From knowing the seasons. From understanding what matters and what doesn’t.

You learn how to fix things before you replace them in small towns in Maine.

How to grow food or source it from someone who did. How to cook from scratch and stretch leftovers into something better the next day. Frugal, grateful, respectful happens in small town living in Maine.

Maine Is Outdoors, All Year Long. It’s Woods, Water, Major Scenery And Not Crowded.

You learn that generosity doesn’t need attention. That a neighbor who plows your driveway might never mention it—and doesn’t need to. But you can make a pie, drop off a jar of honey or home grown distilled maple syrup to pay them back. To show them you appreciate the good deed doer going above and beyond or out of their way to help in so many ways.

Keep it simple, always be aware that it is not just about you.

Pitch in, work hard, show up and help. Be kind, considerate and don’t hold anger or seek revenge. This is the kind of common sense applied to daily living that knows better than to argue online. Just work steady, quietly, day after day. For the greater good and to make a difference, that’s the mission with simple living in rural Maine.

Not A Lot Of Traffic, Pretty Much Zero For Crime.

There’s a temptation to see the word wholesome as something soft, nostalgic, or naive.

But in small-town Maine, it means something stronger. It means raising kids to look adults in the eye. Taking ownership and making restitution for damaging property that is not yours. It means showing up when there’s a fire, a funeral, or a fundraiser. It means Sunday potlucks and benefit suppers, and you better be the kind of person others can count on.

Life here in Maine teaches respect—not just for people, but for weather, tools, land, and animals, the great outdoors. It builds resourcefulness, humility, and trust. Going home grown and wholesome in the best way: honest, human, and rooted. Uncomplicated and nothing to split hairs about and criticize. Be productive, not decisive. Tackle issues not attack personalities.

Eating Outdoors, Take Out Food In Maine. Everything Is Better Outdoors!

Small-town living in Maine has a way of reshaping your idea of “enough.”

You begin to realize that peace isn’t found in more, but in meaning. A woodpile stacked high for winter brings more satisfaction than an expensive gadget ever could. A pantry of preserved food is worth more than a shelf of imported goods. A kitchen table full of laughter is as rich as life gets.

Have all you need and grateful? Most Mainers are. You don’t need a thousand friends—just a few good ones living in small town Maine. No need for constant noise—just the sound of the wind in the trees, or boots on snow, or loons calling from the Maine lake at dusk or early morning.

Up To Camp In Maine. Leave A Note, Tell Them Where You Too Off To….

Contentment here isn’t loud. It’s deep, a constant, a comfort.

There’s a peace in knowing what’s next. In small-town Maine, the rhythm of life is still shaped by the land and the calendar. You plant in spring, you cultivate and hoe, hay in the summer, you gather and harvest in fall. You get your wood in before the snow for next year.

This year’s wood fuel supply is all stacked, seasoned and more than enough to get you to spring.

You check the almanac, even if only out of habit. And with each cycle, there’s a kind of peace that grows—knowing that whatever comes, you’ll face it together.

Hiking, Climbing, Hitting Rec Trails Part Of Small Town Living In Maine.

Because small-town life in Maine isn’t just about self-sufficiency. It’s about mutual sufficiency. It’s about living in a way that doesn’t just take, but gives back. To each other. To the land. To the next generation. Be a good steward, make an effort to protect and preserve the natural resources. To pass the woods, water and wildlife refuge or farm property to your kids, a new owner in as good or better condition than you received it.

Living in a small Maine town takes a certain persistent positive attitude.

In a world full of noise, trends, and hustle, small-town Maine life offers something far more valuable: a clear mind, strong hands, honest work, strong back and genuine rest.
Everyone’s cup of tea? It’s not for everyone. But for those who choose it—or are lucky enough to have grown up in it—it’s not a fallback. It’s not a compromise. It’s not a step down.

It’s a kind of freedom most people don’t even realize they’re missing.

So what if the road ends in gravel? That’s often where the good stuff starts.
As snow melts into the soil, a certain kind of energy comes back to life.

Living Off The Land In Maine. Amish Are Masters At Simple Living.

You feel it in your boots and hear it in the woods, from out over the water.

It drips from tapped maples, the rattle of a woodpecker, the quiet of your first hike on bare ground.
Across Maine, sugarhouses fire up. Families and farmers boil down gallons of sap, standing watch over steaming evaporators. The smell is unmistakable: smoke, steam, and sweetness.

By mid-April, the trout are moving and so are the fishermen. Along rivers and streams, casting begins again. Foraging for fiddleheads becomes a favorite ritual in pockets of shaded forest. And the trails? Muddy, sure—but full of promise. Minimalist living, rich in what matters and all natural not pretentious. That’s small town living in a Maine rural community.

Sewing Circle, Nap Time, Feeling Safe And Well Fed?

There’s a rhythm to summer in Maine woods trails and open land, and most of it leads to natural water.

With thousands of lakes and ponds, and an island-dotted coastline that never seems to end, Mainers and visitors alike head out in canoes, kayaks, and skiffs. There’s something grounding about a slow paddle or a quiet float on still water. It’s not about the fish. It’s about being there

At the same time, boots hit trails from Mount Blue to Mount Katahdin. Hiking, biking, camping, and backroad exploring keep things moving. Maine’s natural spaces are as open and welcoming in July as they are in October.

Evenings are for grilling, lake swims, or sitting around a campfire while kids chase fireflies. Nothing fancy—just the way it’s always been. Simple living in small town Maine.

Autumn: Color, Harvest, and Preparation

Life On The Maine Farm. Easy Does It Simple. Early Morning Chores, The Day Wraps Up Late At Night.

As the light shifts, so does the pace. Fall in Maine brings a sense of purpose. The air smells like wood smoke and damp leaves, and every hillside seems to catch fire with reds, oranges, and golds.

People hike more, not less. It’s the best time to be in the woods: cool mornings, no bugs, and leaves underfoot.

The views from fire towers or mountaintops stretch out farther than they did in July, clearer and somehow quieter.

Hunters begin to track game, not just for sport, but to fill freezers and carry on traditions passed down for generations.

Others spend weekends stacking wood, storing vegetables, or canning what the garden gave.
And of course, the apple orchards, the farm stands, the cider—autumn in Maine isn’t just a sight; it’s a feeling.

And Then Comes Snow

As the seasons turn again, the land doesn’t shut down—it settles in.
Those who love to ski wax their boards and scan weather reports.

Others strap on snowshoes, haul sleds, or take to the trails on snowmobiles.

Ice shacks appear on lakes like little neighborhoods, each one a warm shelter with a story inside.

Small Maine Towns On The Water.. ‘hole ‘nother Way Of Simple Living.

You’ll see kids sledding down local hills, and people still out walking the dog at sunset, bundled but content.

In Maine, winter isn’t something to survive—it’s part of the cycle. It’s the quieter season, the one where the light changes and so does the pace.

You don’t need to promote it as extreme or wild. It just is. It belongs.

Outdoor Life, the Maine Way

So what does outdoor recreation mean in Maine?

Land Not People. That’s Maine. Loaded With Wildlife But No HOA’s, No Four To Six Lanes Of Traffic.

It means walking a woodlot, foraging for greens, dropping a line, hauling in a trap, sitting on a dock, skiing a trail.

Or hunting a ridge, paddling a cove, hiking a slope, or simply enjoying the view from your porch.

Listen, wait for it, see it? It means being out there, in the elements—not because you have to be, but because you getto be.

And it means doing so all year, because around here, we don’t have favorite seasons.

We just have different ways of being outside up here in Maine.

There is a quiet richness to life in communities, to living in small town Maine.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

April 2, 2025
“From Away” When You Live In Maine

“From Away” when you live in Maine.

How do those two words make you feel when you hear them? I am a Maine lifelong native but if I was labeled “from away”, I don’t think I would glow warm and fuzzy inside. Maybe once someone discovers a place they love, there is a need to hog it all to themselves? Plenty of room for more in sparsely populated and vast rural Maine regions. That’s the truth of the matter.

Maine, The Cat’s Meow For Many! The Unspoiled Four Seasons Of Maine Is One Big Attraction.

If someone reminded you about being “from away”, how could you not feel like an outsider?

Somehow referred to as “from away” makes me feel I missed a lot or am not as valuable or part of things. Or don’t get too comfortable, you will never be a local. Hmmmm.

Everyone wants to be included no matter where they were earlier in life during childhood or while in the service or working in a relocation location other than Maine.

Is there a sense of excitement when you learn someone is “from away”? Does it means new ideas, a broader pool of experiences for everyone to draw from and tap? It could.

And often the “new person from away” is actually a native. Called away for work, school, Uncle Sam service for their country and now returning home in Maine.

Maine Is Home Grown Food, Local Events, Always Outdoors.

New people, more volunteers to put their heart and soul into the community, sports team coaching, church choir group, whatever local event.

New blood to operate a small business with flare. When someone moves to Maine, they bring with them plenty. Kids for the schools.

I remember during 911 sudden explosion of US Border Patrol, Customs, Immigration hires thinking “hope one of the kids plays hockey, could be our new goalie”.

Feeling Safe, In Harbor Town In Maine. How Are New People Moving To Maine Treated? The Welcome To Maine Reception Is Important!

One of the US Border Patrol agents had a wife who could create Tex Mex to die for and she cooked every Tuesday night.

At The Blue Moose Restaurant in Monticello ME you could graze on the best southwest cuisine. Nothing like Old El Paso refried beans out of a can. The real deal. By living so close to Mexico in Texas, this cook in the kitchen knew her south of the border cuisine and shared her culinary knowledge every Tuesday night.

Slowly I started to notice grocery store shelves with new items. The spices, new items to make the these Tex Mex creations in our own homes was possible. Being “from away” meant sharing what you learned with the small town Maine community.

The Summer Meeting Place In Small Town Maine When Temperatures Soar.

Like travel, the person “from away” has something to contribute. And often the “from away” person moved to your town as an infant. Not their fault they missed four months or a couple years in the beginning of their life somewhere other than Maine.

Ken Knowles, a town manager of two local towns, Linneus and Hodgdon Maine told me he was “an outside from away”.

He was four months old when his family moved to Aroostook County. Not bitter, just stating a fact. That he would always be “from away”. Does it make a difference if you are “from away” wherever you move to? Will it impact your life in Maine?

Share The Road With Horse And Buggy Amish Drivers.

In a crowded city, most folks coming and going are “from away” or somewhere else. Maybe no distinction is made whether you hail from the area from birth or just rolled into town twenty minutes ago.

Moving to an area is a change, upheaval in a person’s life and you left behind your last “home”.

You do leave behind family, friends, old familiar routines when you move away from what was home. Somethings left in the rear view mirror, put behind you leaving Dodge when you hit the trail are a good thing. But happy memories, hoping your new area creates more of them is a legitimate expectation right?

Is Being Different Unique Bad Or An Asset In A Small Maine Town?

What about the people in Maine that are not from away or maybe they are.

What happens when they get the impression the move to your area is a disappointment. Expressions like “back in Tuskaloo, I blah blah blah.” When heard a lot in conversation, especially when Maine is portrayed as lacking this, this and that. It can get old. And you could wonder why did this person move or what did they expect?

Maybe moving to a new area seemed like a good idea at the time but how could you really know it was the best idea?

Try it, you might or might not like it. And how long do you give a new area to settle in, create a new mailing address to mold you?

Welcoming, Hospitable, Warm And Friendly. Hope That Is The Reception You Have In Maine.

More than two words “from away” involved here.

When you made the move to Maine matters and did you do it for a better small town experience for your kids? Was it to escape too many people, crime, traffic and a high cost of living? To save money. Or because you loved Maine vacations, thought wouldn’t a full time relocation move be a fantasy dream come true?

COVID trapped and working at home online taught folks hey, as long as I have long and strong Internet. Let’s pack the job with our personal belongings and point the car north to Maine.

If you are happy and you know it, clap your hands. Welcome to Maine.

Enjoy Your Surroundings And Not As Many People In Maine To Share It.

If you were not handstand happy the last three locations you lived out of state, that trend to continue. Like let’s have a baby to improve a marriage or fix it, a relocation to Maine might not be the end all solution to all of life’s problems.

What does the search online show for “from away”?

“A non-native person or a person who doesn’t have roots going back three-plus generations” is the definition I found.

Learn something everyday right? I thought “from away” means you were somewhere else, not in class, just not here in Maine 365/24/7. Or just not stork delivered here as a new born. Just had no control over where your delivery took place. We’re not talking culture, race, religious, etc but just the fact you are new, not from here. Does someone feel threatened?

Is “from away” a stigma or something a person carries like a disease?

Trips To Maine Traveling Light On Two Wheels With Rain Gear.

Is there any reason to point it out. Like “I didn’t go to college” comment or observation some make to all they meet. I never would have know if you had not pointed it out and so what. Maybe they don’t think it’s a big hairy deal but when someone does not like you, utter the expression. They remind you you are from somewhere, anywhere else but Maine. Ouch.

Thank you very much and feeling pretty warm, special, welcome Chummy, Mister Man.

In a small Maine community, it’s not just a case of all the folks three generations deep are on this side of the gym. You “others” just line yourselves up on the opposite side please and thank you.

Making everyone feel welcome and empathy for others, enjoying socializing and learning together. Do you march to that drum beat? In a Rotary or local service club, your church, in the workplace, in your social media posts, is it obvious you have a spirit to include others? It better be if you want to grow and improve.

Maine, The Way Life Should Be. One Big State, Lots Of Special Hidden Areas To Discover. Welcome, I Really Mean It. Glad You Are Here.

Shake it up and move around at all those meetings you attend.

Don’t sit in the same place with the same small group and break it up to include “others”. What is the fear not too? That someone that new person is different or you can only have so many friends or acquaintances?

“You’re not from around here” feeling or reminder is not being a member of the Welcome Wagon.

Hospitality and a sense this small Maine home town proud community is a place I want to spend time.

To pitch in and help out and to be sensitive to others new and old around me. Friendly, genuine interest and attention is never forgotten by the brand new to your small Maine town.

Grooming Trails To Make Them Smooth, Fast, Helpful To Discover Maine.

The new kid in town and all alone the first day of school at lunch in the cafeteria.

If you have never been one, easy to not be so sensitive. When you know or are related to many around you, it is easier to forget to reach out to any and all new folks who wander into your small Maine town.

I would like to see my small Maine town of 6000 grow to 7500 people.

All ages, from diverse backgrounds and young, older, in between. Back in 1957, my small Maine town peaked around 10,000 population.

The Bangor & Aroostook railroad, a local college, industry and the downtown were bigger before the Internet and Interstate. My small town in Maine

With the outward migrations from crowded, expensive city urban areas, Maine is seeing the population numbers increase slowly from the siphon to the city where eight out of ten people had to go for jobs.

Online working remotely and telecommuting to jobs has helped change all that.

Big Game, Summer Watching Little League Baseball Games In A Small Maine Town. Priceless.

Simple small town living and feeling safe, needed in the Maine community. That kind of place is searched for online hard as Maine comedian Bob Marley would empathize “HHHHHAAArddd”.

Everyone wants to find a place where they feel wanted under the sun and stars.

Where they can glean and give back to make where they call home all that it can be. To do more than make ends meet and to enjoy life instead of chasing the almighty dollar to keep the wolf from their door financially.

Some of the most interesting people are from all over the place and many land in Maine.

Not because they are on the witness protection program but life took them here and there. Super vacations in Maine primes the relocation pump.

Past, rich experiences they had personally over the years can be a very valuable resource that causes Maine to pop to the front of the mind when it’s time to move somewhere.

Tap these individuals on the shoulder, shake their hand.

Go out of your way to Invite them into your population as you reinvent and improve it. Also, the folks shut in and without family connections. Include them in your celebrations and holidays.

Be friendly, reach out and see what a valuable resource you have living right in your own small Maine town.

Maine in so many ways is the way life should be with one unique rich history.

Hope you enjoy our blog post hunt and peck about Me In Maine.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

July 1, 2024
High School Class Reunions In Maine | How To Make Attendance Higher

High school class reunions in Maine.

How to make attendance higher at Maine high school reunions? This blog post about a recent high school reunion in Maine I attended and reasons why or why not classmates attend one.

For starters, COVID messed up the in person Maine high school class reunions for a few years.

High School Reunions In Maine, How To Make Attendance Increase?

Or you could argue more people could attend a cyber class reunion using ZOOM technology. But we all know online meet ups are just not the same. How do you mingle and move around the room in a ZOOM meeting?

You don’t get to make the rounds to personally see and talk with your high school class group sitting up straight peering into a video camera.

So high school class reunions in Maine. Here are tips to make the attendance the best it can be. What to do and what to avoid to cause great participation at a Maine class reunion.

First, in small Maine towns, lots of the high school classmates still live local for the reunion.

Some of them moved away, climbed up the ladder, joined the service or left for many reasons. Some away classmates relocated and then later in life returned to their small town Maine roots for a simpler lifestyle.

High School Class Reunions In Maine, How To Improve Attendance Numbers?

Cheaper Maine real estate and cashing in the chips with high priced urban properties.

Trading it all in for no crime, no traffic the push to return back to small Maine town living.

If you already live local and are in the biggest group, a high school class reunion should be a piece of cake to gain large attendance.

This is the biggest group yet often the hardest to get to attend your class reunion. Why?

Fear of I am not quite successful enough to attend my high school class reunion.

Not wanting to be judged or comfortable with your answers to “what have you been up to since we graduated from a Maine high school?”. Some classmates attended their fifth or tenth class reunion and got a dose of “why did you stay in your home town” questioning. I thought you were smarter than that is the inference from anyone in your class out to impress you with their Worldly success.

High School Class Reunion, Where To Have It In Maine?

Made to feel like a “loser local” or hearing continuously about me me my success in life by just a few not so warm and fuzzy classmates can be disastrous.

For some wanting to see old high school classmates but secretly hoping a few just don’t make it home to attend they view toxic.

Some argue the high school class reunions are not so needed due to social media keeping everyone up to date. Heck, you even get notifications when it is someone’s birthday. People already feel connected and can catch up or get updated online on a regular basis.

Were you active in your high school class or moved away before graduation?

Were there several clicks in your high school or one big happy family with lots of spirit? Let’s face it, some high school classes just were tighter knit and the chemistry more connected.

High School Reunions, What To Serve Up For Hungry Classmates?

Small high school class size in Maine towns has something to do with it too. When your graduating class was in the teens or under one hundred, you were closer. No one forgotten or lost in the shuffle. And smaller class size Maine high school graduates I think make a bigger effort to attend.

It is harder to miss who did not come in a small high school class then one from Maine’s handful of city larger class size reunions.

High school class reunions in Maine, it’s a lot like a family reunion too.

The bigger the family, the more like a reunion it feels when more make the effort to show up on the magic day. With all the generations in the family bringing their covered dish or whatever contribution to the family party celebration.

What To Serve up To Eat During The High School Meet And Greet?

Some families are closer than others just like Maine high school classes. With families, who married into it can be a blessing or cause division. At a class reunion, who they married does not impact the attendance as much. Unless at the last reunion someone drank too much or flirted or just did not like all the old high school information shared with their new spouse.

So, was the high school reunion experience a good one for the classmate?

If yes, why wouldn’t they want to attend each and every reunion? Unless sickness, distance away or timing was an obstacle, some classmates from far away always make the most effort to attend the reunion.

The high school classmates handy to the reunion who do not attend.

Have they forgotten the ones from out of state and feel they get to see everyone local already? Unless you pick up an old high school year book and thumb through the images once in a while, it is easy to lose touch. Until you see or hear about a classmate’s death, and feel we need to have a high school reunion. It’s later than you think and none of us is getting any younger by the day right?

High School Reunion On Drews Lake In New Limerick ME!

So more tips to improve attendance of your Maine high school class reunion.

Pick a good easy to access high school reunion venue, like Tall Timber Lodge in New Limerick on Drews Lake. There is a cost for the out of town or state classmate to attend. But regardless if local or not, a personal contact by email, snail mail, social media postings have to happen. Watch a video on Drews Lake island property sold a while back but that gives you a feeling of what the Northern Maine waterfront location is like.

If you want to improve attendance, effort to show each and every classmate no one is left behind has to be obvious. The classmates that were in the flock until eighth grade or moved away should be invited to the reunion too. Those that were in one high school but finished the education in another. It can be like a ball player traded mid season and like a man or woman without a country in not feeling like you belong. The class reunion attendance improving approach has to always be “not member left behind”.

Who’s Changed The Least, Most? Who Traveled The Most Miles To Get To The Class Reunion?

“Also, no one let me know until the last minute. “

That’s a huge excuse for why some classmates missed the Maine class reunion. But is it the truth? When high school reunion notices were mailed, emailed, with follow up texts and personal calls. Even getting your family to sound the bugle charge to retreat, return to your class reunion.

Or what if the high school experience was not so much fun or you were not so social, not a scholar or an athlete? For some they ran away from their home town high school or parents relocated, divorced and severed the connection.

Why would you want to go to the expense, take the time to hang out with a group of classmates and a high school you spent years trying to escape?

Is that how you feel about your high school class? Let’s face it, some of us are more social than others. Or high school was a struggle for lots of personal reasons.

Maybe a few in your class are the last people on Earth you would want to spend a few hours with after all these years. Or do you fall in this group “I attended the 10th high school reunion, found little in common with my fellow classmates who I shared those four years of high school. Went to the 20th reunion under pressure from my best friend and it was even worse.”

“Everyone Line Up, Tallest In Back, Shorter Ones In Front Class! “

So now there may be mini high school reunions where a few in your class stay in touch and it is pick and choose. If the “reunion” is a few classmates critique members in a not so favorable way when they do “meet up”, that could be a big reason why so low a turnout to milestone events.

The cost of the reunion, especially in the early class meet ups can be a factor.

Was the event lavish and expensive or simple and low cost to appeal to a larger audience? Did the high school reunion committee work long and hard or was their disention in the planning ranks? Too many, too little planners for the reunion?

The many little reasons that help or hurt attendance means awareness of how people decide should I go or not?

The more reunions you miss, the harder getting classmates to go becomes. Some don’t view high school graduation as that big a deal. Many argue I “peaked” outside of the halls and classrooms of their high school. Done, finished, not going back to their high school reunion.

Hopping Table To Table To Meet, Greet, Catch Up At A Maine High School Class Reunion.

Or what if your small Maine high school is no longer?

Lost are the game balls in a trophy case, class colors and the gym, classrooms, cafeteria because the school is no longer. Merged with a larger school administration district SAD or RSU.

I’ve been told “you feel out of the loop”. The feeling only intensifies the more reunions you don’t attend. So just go to the next one, l heard someone whisper in the blog post audience. Like a church invitation that is always open for you to attend.

The invite that says “you can always come home”.

All’s forgiven, here’s this week’s program and all the church bulletin happenings to get you up to speed and back in the flock. Many who do attend class reunions is because they sincerely want to reunite and see old friends, recall school stories. These folks wish there were more class reunions.

“I’m over weight, just went through a divorce, or oh, I wasn’t that close to anyone in my class.” Good excuses and how some decide I’m not going to this or any of my class reunions. For some, I could wait to get out of town and after the graduation, I high tailed to the big city lights. Rippe3d off the rear view mirrors and never looked back.

I didn’t graduate from this Maine high school.

Was that the reason not to go or were they even invited to the class reunion? Don’t overlook anyone in your class and make an effort to find their location. In this day and age of Internet connection, it is easier than ever to “Google” someone. To search Facebook, other social media platforms to find your classmate. Without the “return to sender” experience.

High School Class Reunions Deceased Members. Sad But Part Of The Reunion Head Count And Catching Up Process.

Calling other local classmate’s family to get them to help invite the MIA’s is good recruiting too.

You really ought to go to your class reunion Maine high school.

And put an extra emphasis on if you have not been to any class reunion, you especially are missed and classmates so happy to see you. Or your spouse helps push you to the event with or without them.

But what if that spouse views your class reunion as torture being in a room where probably half the attending have no connection to the class. Or maybe they do and married a classmate, someone a couple years older or younger who is anxious to attend.

Time of year, trying to schedule a class reunion for your Maine high school when out of towners are home anyway helps your attendance.

Cost, menu, venue, timing impacts attendance whether everyone has a good time or not.

Class Reunions For Your High School In Maine? Do You Go? Why Or Why Not?

The program for a Maine high school class reunion, how do you make sure everyone has a good time? The year you graduated music that is like a time machine transporting your class back to high school. Alcohol, can it help or hurt the class reunion. Everyone comes away glad they came and thinking about the next reunion because of the success.

And isn’t the entertainment beside music is good food, the classmates themselves?

Remembering the good times, paying respects for those you lost as the Maine high school class year size of the living shrinks?

Apathy, because of overbooked living or because high school classes differ? Some more rah rah rah school spirit and others “meh”? I know some high school classes that just were tighter, like one big Maine family that stays together closer during and after graduation.

Maine class reunions, the effort to attend important or thinking the high school event has gone the way of the hoola hoop, chia pets, cherry cokes, drive ins, mullets, bobby socks, penny loafers and cracker jacks? What’s your experience with high school class reunions and any tips on how to increase attendance?

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com | MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

September 6, 2022
Work Life Balance When You Live In Maine

The work life balance when you live in Maine. For me, each new day is an amazing opportunity to try something new.

Work. Life. Balance. To meet and learn from folks both local and far far from my home town Maine zip code surroundings. I believe being raised on a Maine farm with three older brothers in a tight working family created a positive foundation to build on day by day. The challenges of dealing with the unpredictable weather, precarious agriculture produce markets and trained to be efficient in time and money management early on has serve me well through out life.

Juggling Your Life Work Balance And Keeping Perspective. More Time In Maine Helps Clear Your Head.

Wikipedia defines work-life balance as the “lack of opposition between work and other life roles”.

It is the state of equilibrium in which demands of personal, professional and family life are equal.” Balancing work and life outside your job. I believe living in Maine has so so many advantages when walking that life tight rope. To have it all, to do it your way, to smell lots of roses along the way is anyone’s hope and desire right?

But how to easy does it balance your work life balance and pursuits living in Maine?

Knowing what is important to you, knowing how you tick. Making time for what seasoning needs to be in your life to enhance and enrich it. Maine to me is the perfect back drop to study and tweak what truly is needed for harmony and balance in the work life competition for how you chose to use your time. All this space, unspoiled pure and natural outdoor beauty. Maine. It’s not like this many other place. Maine is really like the marketing slogan says, “the way life should be”.

A New Day Spent In Four Season Maine. The Surroundings Help Your Work Life Balancing Act.

Money. Cash in your pocket, tucked away in a bank account or invested around you in the Maine community.

You need far less to keep your head above water in Maine. Housing is way cheaper. You don’t need to sell a duplicate organ or cut off an arm or leg to buy a house in Maine. Carrying one or more mortgages for long is not the local norm. Mainers are brought up to expect hardships, set backs and bumps in the road. Experience with tough situations is what sharpens your skills and level of deep down inside gratitude. Work life balance living in Maine.

They say seventy five to ninety percent of visits to the doctor are related to stress according to national medical statistics.

Problems with depression and stinking thinking. The work life balance when you live in Maine, anywhere. Stress causes everything from headaches to back pain to the inability to function properly in life’s simplest tasks. Poor coping skills can cause added stress. Expectations beyond what they should immediately be is a mental load that robs a person from a feeling of peace and contentment. Chasing the financial objectives to fuel the retail therapy for temporary happiness won’t work in the long run.

Your Backdrop That Helps The Feeling Of Contentment, Reduces Stress And Adds Fulfillment. Maine Offers That!

Debt is a cancer too. Better money management should not have to come from a Dave Ramsey course charged on your credit card in ongoing installments.

You should see the how to run your household finances the right way from your parents and share the same financial skills with your youngsters around the meal time table conversations. In talks from spending more time with family and less time working a zillion hours a week to keep your head above water and making ends meet. The mission is not just to exist and live by the seat of your pants without a plan or practicing procrastination. But to squeeze out the natural juices to enjoy all that life can offer with the right perspective and expecting not everything is going to always run smoothly.

Mainers keep it simple, have their heads screwed on straight. Their kids work, do chores, learn early on how to manage money and what impulse control is all about to save for rainy days. Something they really want and can buy themselves with their own money if the price is right. If money they earn is not wasted on nickel and dime endeavors only. Saving needs to start early to become a life long habit of living below your means for the nest egg for retirement, for a rainy day.

Earning Money, Entry Level Work Early On. Mainers Are Workers, Not Lazy.

My Dad’s University of Maine at Orono college graduation commencement speaker told the crowd sitting in the audience waiting for the rolled up diplomas to go forth and make a difference.

Be a spark, add to your surroundings and be an asset to yourself, family, local community. But in the wise words of advice to apply to their life, he sincerely shared that it was his hope that each and every new college graduate “knew adversity early on in life”. So they could apply what was learned from lessons made from mistakes early on to benefit and shape their life for the better as it progressed.

Around Maine, streamed cyber and safely distanced graduation ceremonies are one by one happening this week across Vacationland. Despite COVID19 adjustments to the norm routine in small town Maine living, creative work arounds to do the job at hand are underway. Making the most of what life throws at you is a test of not just your resiliency to survive and persevere. But it is the mental exercise that boosts your sense of appreciation, patience and helps you stay centered. To take stock along the way of what is really important to you and others you share your life. We all strive to live in different degrees off the land. For farm to table food locally sourced. For recreation and exercise and healthy perspective to remind us what is important, what is not worth the time to purse that is shallow or artificial or not lasting.

Fresh Eggs, Farm To Table. Satisfaction Knowing Where Your Food Comes From Daily.

When you live in Maine, the four season outdoor recreation is always ready and waiting.

You can mix business with pleasure and keep things balanced. We have Nature in our backyards, not hours of driving or miles away. Hopping on the bike for an early morning ride or strapping on your boards for some aerobic exercise to clear your head. Nothing is stopping us from heading out the door where we all spend most of our time through out the year. Dressing a little different to adjust to temperatures and weather patterns all taken in stride but we are not going to deprive ourselves from fresh air, all the rich scenery that involves water, wildlife, no crowds of people.

Social distancing was already the norm when the population is small and sparsely spread over a state as vast and unspoiled at Maine.

We like our own company, need time alone to think and process. Parked on a rock terrain on say Cadillac Mountain gawking out and detaching from your day to day cares, joys, woes is the all natural medication to apply to ourselves. When you already live in Maine, you have it made for safe and drop dead gorgeous surroundings. We have plenty of practice being one on one or alone and don’t fight it. Those times to reflect and process without interruptions or distractions are important vitamins to help the work life balance.

A New Day, The Air Cooler Than The Maine Lake Water Temperature Gives You Perspective.

Money is not so important living in rural Maine.

The right perspective and don’t take yourself so serious humble attitude works best in small communities around Maine. The can do spirit to dig in and learn how on your own or networking with others that barter back and forth in the exchange of goods and services. Small town Maine life is more connected. All the individuals in the small community social fabric are needed to rise and fall like the boats in the harbor lifted by the tide.

So work life balance living in Maine.

If what you do for work is fun, if there is sincere enjoyment from a labor of love well done. That’s what builds joy and gratitude. Helps the unpleasant developments roll off and not cause such a negative reaction. I believe Mainers are highly enthused and don’t get discouraged as easily as those feeling helpless and lost in the sea of faces along a crowded city street. We are more hands on, in control holding the reins to our own destinies.

Fresh Air, Long Views, No Worries. Life Work Balancing Easier In Maine. Exercise Is Key. So Is S-P-A-C-E And Elbow Room.

Binge eating, smoking, over drinking self medication only causes insecurity, exhaustion and difficulty concentrating and we have too much we want to accomplish to waste time on those endeavors. The satisfaction from our work and not the hours poured into it is the key to work life balance with family care giving and relationship maintenance. Work takes less effort when you are excited to get up and hop out of bed to begin again.

If you are not in a career that more often than not gives you a sense of purpose and satisfaction, plan your exit.

At the right time, juggling all the obligations surrounding you and people depending on you to enter in a new life phase. Don’t complain, do not blame or sit on your hands. And ask the person you stare back at brushing your teeth and combing your hair in the morning mirror one question. What’s wrong, what’s right and if anything needs adjustment you have control over, what are you gonna do about it? What are the options and best move ahead of you? Here my piece of Maine life story change of careers.

Empowerment comes I think from being more personally involved in your life.

Hands on and less hired out. You get your hands dirty lifting the hood and tinkering. Not relying so much on others to engineer your life. More skills developed early on in life increases your confidence, avoids delays, saves money and creates satisfaction. Teach your kids life skills and reinforce them in yourself is not a bad ideal to stay sharp and current. Life is not sour, not worthless or hopeless unless you thrown your hands in the air and give up. Feeling good about yourself means get moving, become involved and help others who in turn offer their assistance.

What’s For Sale, What Do Your Need Or What Do You Want? Window Shopping In Camden Maine At Night.

Summer is underway in Maine.

People are opening up camps. Many out of staters have been using their second vacation homes in Maine as their new outpost. Working remotely and telecommuting to leave the packed like sardines city apartments or households. Trading it in for simple Maine living. Getting out on the water, hitting the recreational trails, planting gardens, puttering around our homes and involved in community affairs. Working from home, educating our kids under the same roof as school vacation during COVID19 rolls on for locals too.

Glad to live in Maine where work balance is easier even with the coronovirus impact on daily life in Vacationland.

Our work defines us and for those out of work, you can only do so many job jar household projects repainting and repairing. But as the state opens up and health safety procedures with the face mask, gloves, booties too as I list and sell Maine real estate, every day is a reminder. From folks outside Maine who are not so fortunate and lacking the simple options living here not there offers.

Here’s a couple videos of new properties in Maine for sale to show you what I do in my day job.

Maybe you are looking for a lakefront property in Maine for summer living, even more. Pick a pair of ME waterfront listings.

Promoting Maine to others helps reinforce my own glad to live here more than ever convictions.

Work life balance when you live in Maine. Ever thought of relocating to achieve that ebb and flow harmony? With two grandchildren, healthy family around me and a wonderful partner, good health, living in Maine. I know how lucky I am and consider that I have it made. Stay safe, take care and thank you for following our Me In Maine blog post. Good luck keeping your work life in balance in check during COVID19 and other juggling balls your keep in the air.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |

MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA

June 3, 2020
Solitude | How To Be Alone In Maine During Coronovirus

Solitude, Maine, Coronovirus. Sheltering in place.

“Alone together”, “social distancing” all takes practice to develop the skill. Presidents, movie stars, writers, artists, families, farmers, fishermen and lumber jacks. They all selected Vacationland as a destination long before Maine even became a state in 1820. Maine’s unspoiled natural resources and remoteness considered perks. In 1878, Teddy Roosevelt got the historic spot put on the map where he daily opened the good book at Bible Point near where I live in Maine. Teddy the rough rider relished solitude mixed with a good adventure.

Making Music Won’t Be This Close In Small Maine Towns. Parades, 4th Celebrations Won’t Be Quite The Same As We Adjust To Protect Against Coronovirus Spread.

Not everyone is hand stand happy being alone or trapped in just small groups for long stretches of solitude time.

Peace and quiet. You seem to need it most when it is missing or in very short supply right? Older people eagerly seek it out more than the go go go younger generation that find the pace way too slow. Easy does it thinking and moderation? Boring to young grasshoppers. Why would you want to live life in the slow lane and do that? Many avoid alone at all costs or just never never had the opportunity to give it a whirl. The coronovirus “shelter in place” mandates started out with a no thank you helping to see how you liked it. Before “they’re HHhhhhh-here” (the coronovirus punk spiked head cells) announced by our Maine media. Like the long blond haired little girl in the early hours watching the static on the TV in her parent’s bedroom.

The coronovirus news at first like a far away asteroid that might or might not hit Earth’s surface.

Let’s wait and see if stricter measures are needed that impact our lives even deeper. Still wrapping up the end of winter weather as the news reporters provided the coronovirus play by play. We caught things out of the corner of our eyes and bits and piece with our ears. Local life as we knew it still held its distraction. We had time for the get ready, cause here she comes. Given just a taste of rein it in and stay at home as the World news story unfolded. While the country’s eyes and ears watched and listened in the dress rehearsal study on our media news channels. How to flatten the curve, head deeper into quarantine to protect others and yourself.

Ramping up to apply stricter measures here in the states as we circled the wagons. Adjusting, processing what was handled right or poorly in other concentrated hot spot areas as the coronovirus picked up steam. Reacting slowly to what we all watched play out for infection rate spread and body counts across the pond and beyond. Mainstream media and arguing politicians, a scared population all helping or hurting the new culture shaping around us.

Just how we felt on any given day about the virus news can vacillates from “we got this” to not so sure as things drag on. As solitude, alone time racking up the hours deepens. As ventilator production increased by local economies stalled. Consumer confidence dipping and the restrictive stay at home, shelter in place mandates caused take a number, have a seat. And if you don’t mind, can you wait out on the curb? No we don’t have a drive through window. Yet. (more…)

April 15, 2020