Visit with relatives

First of all, I need to say that the picture has nothing to do with today's activities. Today we drove to Lewiston for a rendezvous with a number of Durelle's relatives. There were cousins from Oxford and Lewiston and a spouse plus Durelle's brother and his wife from Lynn, MA and Durelle and I. It was an uneventful hour and a half drive, a pleasant two hour lunch and a drive back to Belfast. It was good to keep in touch. The drive back was lightened by a Red Sox come from behind victory on the radio. There were a few sprinkles in the morning, but the day turned out fine, albeit with a 69 degree dewpoint.
Oh, yeah, the picture...it was taken a couple of weeks ago at one of our lobster feeds. Notice that we are huddled under the Dunn's canopy. Thanks for the picture, Ann.

A sunny Saturday on mid-coast Maine

I had to hunt for a while, but I found my sun hat! First a couple of administrative comments. As I began this post, I discovered that I could no longer add pictures!! I went to the help site, posted questions, followed several suggestions all to no avail. Then I changed browsers from Internet Explorer to Mazilla Firefox and everything worked fine. While perusing the help pages I learned how to make it a lot easier to add a comment. You should no longer have to be registered to add a comment. I may get some spam, but I enjoy the comments. So, if commenting was difficult before, try again.
We started the day at the Belfast harbor. There were some finely crafted small wooden boats on display. Then we drove up to Bucksport for a small town summer festival. The shot of Fort Knox (the first Fort Knox) is taken from the Bucksport harbor as is the seagull shot. The weather is now great, and we are happy to have the Peck's back in the fold after the latest chapter in their unbelievable string of scary mishaps.

Today was ANOTHER rainy day. But, we still had a great time. Paul Poythress is a Houston high school physics teacher. He and wife, Judy, have bought a small apartment overlooking the Belfast harbor. We got acquainted last summer, if you remember my blog. Some of the women in his apartment building have taken a major role in the Belfast Garden Club, and worked hard on the small adjacent grounds. Today was their show. Unfortunately, it rained all day. Paul invited us for lunch. In spite of the rain, which discouraged the tourists, it was a fun event. One of the events was a poetry reading. One would think that a poetry reading in the rain on a cool, 60 degree day, would have no appeal for our crowd. You'ld be wrong. One of the poems she wrote today. It poked some very satirical fun at our current weather. She was clever and funny. Some of her other poems, largely about gardening for benefit of the expected crowd, were equally clever craftsmanlike poems. Cindy's care package of mail arrived today. So, after we got back from our very pleasant lunch at Paul's, I spent the rest of the afternoon paying bills and dealing with paperwork. At five we fed Belle and adjourned to the Dunn's camper for happy hour. There are worse places to endure rainy days.

Two posts in one day!

Well, would you believe we are going to have two posts today? As we were watching the sun go down at the Moorings at Belfast , there was an interesting scene of pastels out to the east. I went down to take a shot which you can see. I visited with a family of three (their son is a junior at Delaware in mechanical engineering). It was a really fun visit. As I walked back to the bus I discovered that the the sunset (in the opposite direction from the ocean) was also a great shot. When I got back to the bus, Durelle was still walking Belle. She had a good time too.

Christmas Cove

Today was a pleasant trip south for about 1:40 to Christmas Cove. Again, the pictures are in inverse chronological order. We discovered that a classmate, Harry Calvin and his wife Mary were spending a couple of weeks escaping the heat of Houston by spending it in a cottage on the shore of Christmas Cove. If you can't find it on your map, check South Bristol, ME. As you have already seen from the pictures, this is your prototypical Maine harbor. Their drawbridge is a rotary span which is very rare. It opened a couple of times when we were there. Notice the dichotomy of the mix of working lobster boats and 80-100 foot yachts. There is one interesting shot of a guy rowing a wooden dory toward a multi-million dollar yacht. We had a great lunch (thanks Harry) at the Coveside restaurant. I had a bouillabaisse. Harry had a local favorite that may be unique...blackened haddock Reuben! It was a great day on the Maine coast. On the way back we stopped at Beth's farmstand for some veggies and a potted daisy for Durelle.

A bright, sunny Sunday

Dare we hope for a run of good weather? I was coming back from an errand to get a copy of the Sunday Globe and saw a couple of shots I wanted to take. I returned to the bus for the camera and went back. Good pictures are usually only fleetingly available. The sun angle on the water was causing every wave top to be sparkling, and a nearly high tide made the Belfast harbor look like a field of diamonds...or at least rhinestones. Alas, by the time I returned, the moment was gone. I took the picture anyway. The other picture identifies the river. Don't try to pronounce it without adult supervision. Try wrapping your tongue around "pa-SAG-ah-suh-WA-keg".

Another foggy day

I took this picture during happy hour this evening. The fog layers were constantly shifting. This shows Penobscot Bay at the entrance to the harbor in Belfast. You can see a century old monument and a bell-buoy. The fence in the foreground is between the campground and the shore. There is an cormorant nest on the old monument. I didn't really capture the layers of fog that prompted me to go back to the bus to retrieve the camera. Ansel Adams I'm not, but it was a typical scene. Durelle has greatly enjoyed the performance of Tom Watson in the British Open.

TGIF

No pictures today...not many words either. We had sorta planned on going down to the jetty at Rockport to watch the parade of windjammers including the Eagle from the USCGA. It was so foggy that we didn't bother. Durelle, of course, got up early to watch the British Open. Since it was Friday, we had a campground-wide happy hour with new foods and new friends. Then we adjourned to our regular happy hour. Although the fog had lifted in the afternoon, it rolled in again in the evening and our second happy hour was short. We are now watching the Red Sox, waiting for a call from Cindy and generally enjoying life.

The weather breaks!!!

It is now the 15th of July and we just had our first happy hour that wasn't inside or at least under an awning. Starting at the break in the circle with the guy in the red hat and going clockwise the principals are: Rick and Judy Feyler from Owls Head , ME, Duane and George Peck from Brunswick, ME, Ann and Bernie Dunn from Cape Cod, Durelle and an empty chair, Eleanor and Dick Roth from Houston, Dick Brann from West Gardiner, ME and Jim and Debbie Tatum from Indiana. Today we took a trip a dozen or so miles inland to the Monroe Salt Works. This is a place that creates, and ships all over the world, salt glazed pottery. It is very attractive and practical stuff with typical Maine motifs glazed onto it. The place is the most rural (dirt road) and inelegant place you can imagine. There's no customer showroom. We rummaged around in an attic with portable lights (!) seeking out the stuff that Durelle wanted. The salt glazing process has about a 70% yield, so there are a lot of neat seconds to choose from.

I moved the bedside clock over to Durelle's side so that she can get up tomorrow to watch the British Open live.

More Rain

There was a recent joke circulating on the internet (thanks, Ann). It seems that a fellow was waiting in line on judgement day anxious to discover his destination for eternity. It was a long line, and he observed some passing through the pearly gates and others being tossed into a fiery pit. But, in addition, the devil would occassionally yank one out of the line to the fire and set him aside in what appeared to be a waiting area. The anxious observer said, "Pardon me, mister Prince of Darkness, what are those separated folks waiting for?" The devil said, "Oh, those are New Englanders. They are still too wet to burn." Actually, it hasn't been all that bad. Most of the showers have been squall-like and intermittent. Activities have generally proceeded as scheduled. When we are confined, it is not unpleasant. It's a cozy rig...there is satellite TV and books...and I am really enjoying the new Kindle.

Today was a stereotypical Maine summer day. I went up to Searsport to watch the lobster boat races with the Roths, Dunns and others. There was quite a bit of breeze and "chop" on the water. There was one serious incident when the two racing boats got too close to each other, the wakes interfered and one of the boats rolled up on its beam ends and pitched a participant into the water. The injuries were apparently serious. It was a half hour before they finally got him on a backboard and into the ambulance. Meanwhile Durelle was at the "Arts in the Park" event in downtown Belfast with the Pecks...complete with many craftspeople, fiddlers and blue grass music. At four we had twenty folks get together for lobsters and clams. We had four boilers going. I think we have this art down to a science. My hard shell lobster was big enough with a thick enough shell (2 1/2pounds) that I could not crack the claw with the nut cracker tool. Rick Feyler's K-bar knife did the job. With my big lobster, Durelle's normal one, and a pound of clams it cost $24 for the two of us. Thanks to George Peck and Dick Roth for the success. When the cleanup was done we had a brief happy hour. It got too cool!! Actually, it was the breeze. It is 61.7F as we speak at 9:00 PM. At the moment we are watching a small cruise ship in the bay and watching the Red Sox who are leading 9 to 1 in the 6th.

A "day trip"

It has been a week since I posted, but I will do better. School is over and the weather has apparently decided to improve. So yesterday, while Durelle and Cindy were trying to play golf on a course too wet to be playable, I joined the four letter words (the Roths the Pecks and the Dunns) as well as Bob and Linda ?? for a day trip around Cape Rosier and tiny towns on mid coast Maine such as Sedgewick and Penobscot.
The pictures appear in reverse order from what I post them, so they are in reverse order chronologically. Our first stop was the Bagaduce diner (pardon the poorly framed picture) for some famous seafood. Then there is a shot of Eleanor Roth approaching one of Maine's uncountable coves and bays. I took a picture about a mile and a half accross a bay toward Castine where Maine Maritime Academy's training ship, the State of Maine, had recently tied up. There is a picture of an idyllic cottage on the water. There was no end of photo ops. The last picture I took was of a small flock of wild turkeys. We are sometimes asked, "What do you do all summer in Belfast?" Day trips like this are a big part of the answer. The trip took six hours with good friends, good food and good views. Does it get any better than that?