biddeheaven.com

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/biddeford/

There’s a small groundswell effort starting to try to convince Trader Joe’s to NOT move to Scarborough, near the new Cabela’s strip mall but rather, to an old department store in downtown Biddeford. We need you to sign the petition and pass it along. Yes, we know that Trans and New Mornings are great places and will probably be impacted. But we also know that Trader Joe’s is a really great store and can add a lot to the area in terms of bringing (lots) of new people in who will notice our awesome restaurants and bookstore, etc. The mom & pop shops will have their niche and following and we believe there’s room for everyone.

I made it into Ontario, California, on the 4th as planned, skirting torrential rains and winds in San Francisco and Tahoe. Russell picked me up and drove us out to Landers, near Joshua Tree, to Michael’s hacienda. Michael is a set designer for TV commercials and he’s created this cool little pad for himself out there amidst the dust and sand. He’s taken an average little 50’s ranch-style house and made it sort of urban-hip by tearing out the ceiling to expose the rafters, as well as tearing out the horrific carpeting and some walls. The floor is just concrete now, with a lacquer over it, which looks great. The winds blew like mad the first night we were there and I realized it would be tough for me to love that area. So much dust. In everything. But I do love the sharpness of the air, the vistas, and the light. Those things I miss a lot in the east. Too many damn trees. I feel sort of closed in out there.

We left Michael’s and headed east toward Arizona, toward Arcosanti. We stayed north of Phoenix in some discount hotel near a prison. In the morning, I looked out the window to see a fence with razor wire on top. At least the room was cheap. Phoenix enjoyed torrential rains on Monday while we worked away at a local faux-Starbucks. We made it out to Arcosanti later that afternoon, got into our room and took a walk around the grounds. Arcosanti, for those of you too lazy to click on the link, is an experiment in arcology (architecture + ecology) by Italian architect Paolo Soleri. I honestly knew nothing about this before I stayed at Michael’s. He had this awesome book about utopian living environments. Arcosanti is an urban laboratory, an alternative to urban sprawl. Lean living, Soleri calls it. The place is a pretty crazy looking. Right out of Blade Runner, says Russell. But the concept is wonderful. 50+ people live here on 2% of the space a typical subdivision would require for the same amount of people. Solar/wind power. Very frugal accomodations but sufficient. We’ll be here for a couple of days while we both work and then we’ll head out of here, probably to New Mexico.

Happy New Year. I went out last night and decided that I don’t fit very well anywhere, especially alone, on New Year’s Eve. The first party I went to featured about eight couples and me, solo. They all knew each other and seemed content to continue just knowing each other. I adore the host and hostess, but wasn’t crazy about the dynamic. Maybe they really were all social-introverts, as my friend explained. Maybe I did misinterpret the lack of effort to get to know me for a certain chilliness. More than likely. I don’t try to push my way in too hard so I’m probably guilty for not interjecting myself better. My own inferiority complex started getting the best of me. Regardless, I’d overbooked myself and had to leave at about 9:30.

I drove on up north to meet Jared at a party for the 20-30 something hipster set. That might’ve been fun if it hadn’t been too freezing cold to enjoy the bonfire and I hadn’t immediately felt my age. People usually mistake me for younger than I  for some reason (probably not looking closely enough) but I just felt a bit out of place. Maybe it’s because I was there solo and felt more conspicuous because of it. Then, I resorted to meeting Chris, knowing he’d need a ride back to Biddeford. It’s never any fun being a DD on New Year’s Eve, but I did it. It just makes me less enthusiastic about being around really, really drunk people. Ahhh, another one under the belt. I wish I wasn’t conflicted about needing to go out and be around people or just staying home or watching a movie. I should’ve just stayed home. My energy probably rubbed off on everyone else and set the tone for the entire evening.

I read an article by some writer who was going to go out and stand amongst his horses at midnight. Something about all horses having the same birthday, Jan 1, and that he wanted to spend it with them. I thought that sounded nice. Really nice.

I’m leaving on Friday to fly to Ontario, California where I’ll be picked up by Russell. We’ll be spending a couple of days in Joshua Tree and then heading east toward New Mexico. A couple friends have recommended a small town in New Mexico called Madrid. Mad-Rid. Not Muh-drid. Supposed to be some artsy place. Our friends Gil and Coco say it’s a great place, on the slow road to Santa Fe. A slow road sounds lovely, doesn’t it?

I’ll be in touch.

Yesterday I turned down a bit of work. Yeah, I know…how silly of me. A very nice gentleman from Belfast called, He’d somehow gotten my name in a roundabout way and asked if I’d help create a newspaper ad, to help elect some council candidates that are in support of building a WalMart about a mile from Belfast’s downtown. He says people drive right by the exit to Belfast and head to Rockland and building a WalMart would get people to stop in Biddeford. I’ve been to Belfast and found their downtown to be quite charming and beautifully situated. I have not spent much time in Rockland but I’ve heard a lot about their investment into the Contemporary Art Museum and their downtown. Rockland, it seems, has become a bit of a cultural mecca. They’ve invested in their downtown in a serious way.

This gentleman seemed to believe that WalMart would save Belfast. As I respectfully turned down the work, I asked him if he thought the people who would shop at WalMart would then turn around and visit..and support…his downtown. He didn’t really have an answer, but he said something about how when he was younger, their downtown was a busy place. I’m not sure how that related to my question but I do believe that big discount box stores don’t do a lot for the local economy, necessarily. I’m not economist, by any means, but WalMart alone won’t save these little communities. It will be people changing their spending habits and refusing the cheap off-shore made goods in favor of locally-made, high-quality goods that last. I’m guilty of buying the cheap, I’m a big fan of IKEA having just renovated a couple of apartments. Scandanavian design is nice, but most of their stuff is made in China. Even though we mixed custom built cabinets with our IKEA purchases, I have a certain amount of guilt associated with any trip to IKEA. I’m hoping that in the future I can do more to support our local cabinet builders and furniture makers.

In Biddeford, our one remaining textile mill just layed off another shift, bringing it down to two. 43 workers let go. Corporate said it was because orders are down, because the fall has been so warm. Their biggest client is WalMart. I’m not a fan of Vellux blankets, myself. They’re 100% synthetic with some sort of chemical infused to keep them from being flammable. I don’t want to sleep in that. I’m more concerned with what I wear, what I put on my body, what I breathe these days. If the mill could adapt to something that was more in step with the times, maybe they wouldn’t be laying off a shift. High thread count cotton sheets and 100% cotton blankets seem to be very popular. Just speculation on my part. Maybe I’m a just a different type of consumer.

So what does Biddeford have that no one else does? A cultural heritage of immigrants from all over that contributed to making this town. It’s something to be proud of and Biddeford could capitalize on that. A cultural heritage museum, one that really visually portrays the culture, could be built in the heart of downtown, to draw people from all over the eastern seaboard and Canada who vacation in Maine during the summer. Give the Canadians who flood down to Old Orchard beach something more for their money. A look into history.

Regarding Belfast, I hope the town keeps WalMart out or, if they do let it come in, they focus on using the revenues from property taxes to greatly improve their downtown, fix up storefronts and sidewalks and find a niche, like Rockland has, to offer some real value and a unique experience to their visitors.

Well, my theory that MERC takes advantage of the fact that no one ‘cept us downtown folk are around on Sundays is proving to be true. It consistently stinks of MERC trash on Sundays. We can smell it in our new beautiful apartment. I’m sure everyone else can smell it too. We’ve called the Enviroline over an hour ago but it must be a big crime day in town because no one has shown up yet. I guess everyone down here has just gotten used to it. Glad to see the Odor Protocol that the City pushed for so hard is working to stem offensive odors.

Whether it’s MERC, the sewage treatment plant, the sewers, WestPoint Home…call it. Let’s use the protocol the City set up for us and pushed so hard to get. It’s painless. You don’t have to wait around for anyone to show up. They ask where you are, what your name and number is and that’s it. You’re free to go your merry way unless you want to see how long it takes for someone to show up. Like watching paint dry but if you have nothing better to do.

OK. 41 Franklin Street is going to be a gallery. Yep. I am so attached to our little 800sf, like a mama with a newborn. It’s so pretty, dark oak floors with really cool blue centivo tiles in the bathroom. The walls are just begging for some kick-ass paintings to be hung. We’re looking at probably late July/early August before I’m really ready to open it up. I need to find just the right musician and coerce one of my artist friends to get a show together. Oh, and that bit about how I’m going to make any money doing this…details, details.  The crowd I hope to bring in should be an interesting juxtaposition with the current demographic of our area. Indeed. The art space has a real fishbowl effect which is a bit unsettling at times but it sort of brings you face-to-face with Biddeford.

Last day in Savannah was spent looking at some properties. A great old brick building with some apartments and a couple of commercial spaces below. 1920’s style with nice porches on the two floors. Loads of work needed. Looked at a house in a really nice neighbhorhood that has been renovated on the outside, mostly, but the inside has to be completely redone. The houses around it though are all renovated and seem to be taken care of very well. After looking at these places, we drove south to Wormsloe Plantation. It’s close to the campground we stayed at when we visited Savannah on our round-the-country trip in ‘05. I was preparing for the onslaught of mosquitoes because of the marshy-ness of the area and my memories of my camping nightmare. But Georgia is really dry this year, wildfires raging in the southern part of the state are a testament to the conditions. So, not so many mosquitoes although I ended up with 3-4 mysterious bites anyway that itch like hell. Wormsloe Plantation is from the Oglethorpe times, settled by one of the founders of Savannah. Not much left but the 1.5 mile oak alley on the way into the property is beautiful. I always have this vision of galloping my giant gray horse down those kind of roads…guess I’ve got the girl/horse bug and have watched way too many Merchant Ivory-style movies.

R. and I are in Savannah. Russell has had a fascination with the South for a while. We’ve tossed around the idea of finding a winter home (or maybe full-time home) here. There’s a big revitalization going on and you absolutely would not believe the number of beautiful homes and buildings down here. And you also would not believe the incredible state of decay many of them are in. We’re looking at three properties tomorrow.

Savannah is known for its laid-back pace. We’re having some of it. Today we walked around, sat in some squares, drank some coffee, had a fabulous late lunch at Zunzi’s thanks to our boy Devin who knows where to go. I recommend the falafel pita. But it’s the only thing I’ve had there so of course it’s my favorite. Other places we’ve eaten (yes, much of my focus is on the food) include Firefly Cafe, Queenies, and B. Matthews (the bowl of oatmeal will hold you over for a week). Coffee at Gallery Cafe (short on friendliness but the coffee is great). Drinks for sure must be had at the Mansion. Sort of a over-the-top Miami Beach hipness to it next to Forsythe Park. Have a mint julep on th patio. Then plan to stay all night.