Get calls from Maine real estate buyers who need to invest in property someplace else that where they now live.
Maine, The Way Life Should Be. One Big State, Lots Of Special Hidden Areas To Discover.
Some are looking for a vacation home location and Maine scores top of the list.
Moving to Maine.
Others just know they can not stay where they live now. Either to raise a family, run a business, to retire and enjoy the Golden Years as best they can.
Had a lady from Texas as a recent example who dreams of moving to Maine.
Getting Out Of The Maine Real Estate Office, Not Pinned To The Wall By A Desk. Lucky To Live In Maine Is How I Feel Every Day!
Her husband works for the phone company, she has MS and is from Maine.
Does not need a prepping on what it is like living in Maine.
The couple bought a house for around $150,000 years ago near Houston Texas that is now worth three times that figure.
“It’s too hot and burning up” is a remark I hear a lot these days and those exact words she shared with me on the phone today.
This lady says you know it is time to move when you come out of a big box store and your jeep is parked next to a Lamborghini on one side, a Maserati on the other.
There’s one of the signs. This couple in their early 60’s are looking to sell out and move away to get to Maine.
It’s not just the cost of living outside rural Maine that is nose bleed high pushing the pack up push back to relocate to “Vacationland”.
Maine is drop dead naturally gorgeous and a four season stunner.
The simple small town way of living in rural Maine is the hook, the carrot.
The communities, the people who live in small town Maine are the best. You wake up and wonder who plowed your driveway and have no idea. A casserole shows up with a hand written note “I know you are going through a tough time in your life and hope you like this covered dish at meal time.”.
Or “heard your mom had fallen and hope she is doing okay” is also on the same note.
In large over populated rush rush hurry scurry areas, kind gestures don’t happen like that. In small town rural Maine they do all the time.
Smaller group of people, friendly happens. More intimate, personal and friendly. Less crime, no traffic and lower cost of living kicks in living in rural Maine. High price of fuel oil or gas, no problem. Heat with renewable resource wood and warm as toast.
Live Music, A Maine Community Band Supplies It Weekly For Free. That’s Maine.
Next year’s heating supply of wood is all cut, stacked, stored away. Mainers are more organized and well prepared. The root cellar in the home basement has canned fruits and vegetables. The chest freezer gets pulled from over the winter months.
A garden is a source of joy and tasty food your planted on your knees and kept weeded, watered, tended.
Sometimes searching online comes up with very little Chamber of Commerce type information blurbs.
Hard To Stay Indoors For Long Living In Maine.
No chamber, low population and just not a lot to browse and consider in typical small rural Maine towns.
Or other times, lots of write up on many websites created that just miss the mark. What should happen is testimonials on why do you live in Maine? What makes you some kind of glad everyday you live in Maine? What is life like and what do you do for fun?
One website I stumbled upon tries to pick a region of Maine and showcase a “day in the life” there.
The hour by hour break down would not attract anyone to come to Maine let alone stay here. The same format write up but find a different local coffee shop, insert it.
Life Is A Maine Beach. Salt Water, Fresh Air, A Summer Breeze At A Maine Beach.
Highlight the mill the local Maine native works at and mention how during break they take a walk to enjoy the outdoor location. That’s it. No images, no narrative written by the local native… just how someone outside Maine would describe what life is like. About as exciting as watching paint dry. It is obvious who threw together the copy does not feel grateful they live in Maine.
We Have A Green Light On Derby Hill! Heat 109, Drivers Ready…? Check Your Brakes.
I hope the images, the video embeds and what is blogged about on Me In Maine is worthwhile and transparent.
Living here, raising a family in Maine and enjoying four seasons of so much natural beauty is part of what pulls at a person’s heartstrings.
But the community spirit, the local population that steps up to help out and shares the same lucky to live in Maine attitude.
So many people in this World want to run far away to hide out somewhere, anywhere. Moving to Maine. Itching to run away and doing your home work on just where?
Maine, are you looking for small town friendly and real, wholesome, healthy?
Houlton Maine, Everyone Is Excited About The Total Solar Eclipse April 8, 2024!
If you know of a boy or girl in Maine, anywhere around the state who wants to race in the soap box derby, please reach out.
Every young driver should not have to wait until they are sixteen to get behind the wheel of a car. Learn the “thrill of the hill” happens at Community Park in Aroostook County’s oldest town each June.
The winner goes on to represent the state at the big All American Soap Box Derby Race out west in Akron Ohio.
Need to send them a race application for the big state of Maine race on Derby Hill in Houlton Maine.
Also, the count down has started. Ready for the big total solar eclipse in Maine? Here to help with logistics if you are heading North to experience it in Northern Maine, Aroostook County!
April 8th, 2024. Circle it several times in red magic marker please and thank you.
Sorry, you snooze and lose. It will be a lotta years before the next one in Maine. There is no rain date for the total solar eclipse in Houlton Maine 2024, the last location in the USA to experience “Totality.
Mini vacations in Maine, Whaleback Lighthouse in Kittery ME.
Maine is a big state. But when you live here full time, exploring every nook and cranny happens. Return trips to parts of Maine that hit you deep inside are common.
Metal Extension Is No Longer On Whaleback Lighthouse, Kittery Maine
This blog post about a weekend getaway heading from Houlton Maine south on I-95 to visit a new granddaughter, a tad older grandson in the Boston MA area.
The travel distance, how far away in Maine is everything? This time of year it depends on the weather forecast on actual travel times for safety sake, not just the mileage.
If you have followed the Me In Maine blog, lighthouses are always a stable to cover.
The state tourism folks say there are 65 lighthouses in Maine. I always thought the number was 68 Maine lighthouses. Somehow Whaleback Lighthouse in Kittery ME escaped coverage. Once you start collecting them for photo and video capture, you realize one thing.
Some are easy peasy or very hard to access in the collection of Maine lighthouses.
Not the prettiest of lighthouses in Maine, Whaleback is made of granite blocks.
I think West Quoddy lighthouse in Lubec with the red stripes is the most attractive. Whaleback Lighthouse is at the mouth of Portsmouth Harbor. Started in 1829 and finished the next year, Whaleback Lighthouse set Uncle Sam back $21,000.
Then over two years starting in 1870, a new better built version of Whaleback lighthouse was constructed.
The Maine lighthouse had a cast iron fog signal attached seen in the black and white image. The metal addition did not improve her looks but with lighthouses in Maine, the purpose in communications is far more important than glamour.
The original lighthouse had poor construction but also is in a location hammered by the ocean waves at the mouth of Portsmouth Harbor. Probably could use a breakwater to help buffer the pressure from wind, water, ice.
Some Maine lighthouses are far far out to sea.
You need a Maine lobster boat or ferry ride to access. Or they are on an island close to the mainland parked at the harbor entrance but facing the Atlantic Ocean. From the shore these lighthouses not visible from shore. This is like the location of the lighthouse in Cutler Maine, Little River lighthouse.
Whaleback lighthouse is just off shore and Portland head light has just as convenient drive to easy access where to put your car.
Just park it and enjoy your walk around the trails. The areas of both Whaleback and Portland head light utilized as former forts to defend the Maine coastal regions from intruder attack. Used as observation points. To detect any possible hostile enemy force floating in hoping to be undetected from the seaward approach.
Can you imagine the lonely but important life signalling dangers in all kinds of Maine weather living in a lighthouse? With only ledge rocks and pounding waves rocking your small tight quarters and supplying all that ice cold sea spray.
You have to be able to entertain yourself with a good book or strive to be a writer, a painter.
To capture the experience off the coast of Maine calling a lighthouse home sweet home. The lighthouses with some patch of dirt surrounding them were often farmed.
Your own farm fresh local eggs, small animals and a modest harvest from the lighthouse garden soil.
Can you imagine life as a Maine lighthouse keeper? One lighthouse keeper I read about bought a piano for his wife’s entertainment. But only one sheet of music could defeat the purpose and cause emotions to rise in the solitude and a single tune over and over. Could too much peace and quiet most of the time challenge your sanity?
Walked the cobble stone streets to different Old Port places to eat on each visit. Last winter, on the same trek to Boston to see family, a stop in the Old Port happened.
The Sound Of Food Traffic And Vehicles On Old Port’s Cobble Stone Roadways. Hear, Feel The Rumble?
Perfect Blend Of Atmosphere, Friendly Staff And Farm & Sea Fresh Meal Ingredients At Fore Street Restaurant, Old Port Maine Place To Dine.Old Port Maine Dining Experience At The Fore Street Restaurant.Top Notch And Like Many Old Port Dining Option, First Class Food, Staff, Location.
After the Whaleback Lighthouse walk around the “fort”, a drive through the twisting, winding Kittery Maine roadways to catch some of the local scenery.
Kittery Maine, Can You Imagine Living In The State’s Southern Most Community Point?
Taking you along as readers, followers of Me In Maine blog posts.
Along The Coast Of Maine, Maine’s Southern Most Lighthouse Visit.
Feel so so lucky to live in Maine and to share what it is like in Vacationland. Down and back leaving Friday afternoon and returning Sunday night on this mini vacation in Maine.
Beat feeting it to avoid icy driving conditions along I-95 heading north up into Maine on the way back home.
Fort Kent Maine Is As Far North As You Can Go. On The Other End Of Maine, One Tall Wide State.
Getting another daughter all settled in for another semester at Husson College one extra to do list item on the way home.
In Bangor the freezing rain was just starting but Meg and I were able to drive out of it. Cloudy but no ice, warmer temperatures and no snow once we hit Lincoln Maine on the journey back into “Aroostook County”, the Crown of Maine.
Stay tuned. More lighthouses in Maine to explore and other popular and lesser know tourist suggestions to come.
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.
