IT DOESN'T GET MUCH BETTER THAN THIS!

Well, hello there! So nice of you to stop by! I have just returned from several wonderful  weeks in Maine.

Many of you already know that I visit there as often as I can in the good weather months to spend time with my parents who still live in their own home on a small island  called Little Deer Isle. We like to think that our little slice of the Maine coast is unique with  several islands connected together by causeways or small bridges which are then connected to the mainland at Sedgwick by an expansion bridge. That bridge shows up in a lot of my pictures because it spans across the Eggemoggin Reach, the stretch of water between the islands and the mainland.

In the Summer months it is a busy highway for sailboats especially,  both large and small,  that use the Penobscot Bay. I was fortunate to be crossing the causeway

Causeway between Little Deer Isle and North Deer Isle

heading to Deer Isle when I spotted a really nice schooner making it's way down the Reach. I headed for the Old Ferry Landing where I could have a clear view of it and started snapping away. I took a ton of pictures because low and behold there were 4 more behind it.

I heard from a gentleman standing beside me also taking pictures that they were a part of a regatta of training vessels from The Maine Maritime Academy. With my binnos I could spy, ahem, I mean see on deck very clearly. My camera has a 10x zoom so I was able to make the boats look much closer then they actually were.

A really beautiful day with a nice breeze. A nice day to be alive! To be sailing! To be watching! It doesn't get much better than this.

In the same general area a new walking trail has been opened. A part of the Maine Heritage Trust. It starts at the causeway, Scott's Landing, and goes around the point to the Old Ferry Landing. A really nice piece of granite sculpture adorns the beginning of the trail.

I was extremely lazy during my time away. I spent a lot of time reading, running errands for my parents and visiting with my brothers. My dad had had a very bad fall a few days before I arrived so he looked like he had survived a bombing. He had to make the trip to the mainland to the hospital to have his dressings changed every other day. My mother was her usual nervous wreck so I spent most of my time bucking them up and spoiling them in little ways. I made a huge pot of beef barbecue for mom to freeze.  They love KFC but only get to enjoy it when I am there because the closest is in Ellsworth, about 30 miles away. The same goes for Subway and meatball sandwiches. They do have one of those in Blue Hill now which is only 15 miles. Another treat was native strawberries that could be bought at roadside stands here and there. I ended up going back for more just about every 3 days.

INDEPENDENCE DAY

On the 4th of July, as luck would have it, our great weather took a nose dive with heat and humidity, thunderstorms, and the fog for which we are so famous. The parade in the tiny town of Deer Isle was cancelled as well as the evening fireworks postponed but other festivities went on as planned  in the town of Stonington,

the fishing village at the end of the cluster of islands that comprise Little Deer Isle, Deer Isle, and Stonington. It has a large community wharf and

Stonington community wharf

 restaurants and vendors had booths set up for the day where lobster stew, steamed clams, chowders, crab rolls, etc, could be bought  while lobster boat races were enjoyed as well as other activities in and around the town.

 Around the perimeter of the islands are coves and hamlets  with names like Sunshine, Sunset, Oceanville, Burnt Cove, and many others. Richard, my brother, lives in Sunshine. I like visiting with them. Very picturesque.

Sunshine Lobster Pound

 A lobster pound where lobsters are stowed until the market prices improve can be seen from their deck as well as vistas of  distant islands, mountains, and boat traffic heading to the Reach.

View from Richard's deck

Their house sits up on a little hill so they have a birds eye view of the comings and goings around them. Here are a few pictures I took while visiting with them one day.

House on the Point



The Sunshine causeway.



View from Richard's deck

 My small family gathered at my parents house and we had a lobster feast. I was leary about eating anymore lobster after the food poisoning I suffered through during my last visit but threw caution out the window and pigged out with not 1 but 2 large ones! I also brought 2 of them home for Roger with a container of freshly picked crabmeat. I picked the lobster meat out of the shell and froze it since I would be there for several more days after the 4th.

The next day and night we experienced the tail end of the storm, Arthur, that gave us 55 mph gusts of wind and torrential rain. It was pounding on the roof of my NEST or camper so hard that when Roger called on the phone (land line) I could barely hear him. (There is no cell service on Little Deer Isle. Nor internet where I am. A bummer for sure.) But around noon the next day it had passed on. However it was still humid and foggy.
 I decided on Saturday it was time to head back to Pennsylvania because Roger and my son both have birthdays on the 10th.  ON Sunday I traveled as far as York, Maine

I love eating at the Maine Diner

 about 4 hours away and had a lovely visit with my older brother, Thomas, and his lovely wife,  Kathy. She is a terrific cook. She sent home some frozen strawberry jam that she had just done up with local berries. Yum! My brother is a maker of wood crafts such as cribbage boards with lobsters hand etched  in the top of them as well as other crafts, birdhouses, etc. Kathy knits sweaters. The have a spot at the Farmers Market there in their very touristy seaside area.  Tom made this dust pan from a Maine license plate. I love it and have it hanging in my kitchen.

 

Last night after arriving home Roger took me to the local diner to eat. It was late when we left to come home and we noticed heat lightening in the sky not far away. We drove to Lookout Point and watched it jumping from cloud to cloud. It was awesome to look at but the awful thunderstorm we experienced later in the night scared our poor dog, Mysti, into a state of nervous breakdown! Poor thing. Today we have had more temps in the high 90's and tonight, right now infact, the wind has really picked up and I can hear the rain and thunder. Roger has informed me that the lightning has split one of our Dogwoods in half! I thought that last clap sounded very close! Poor Mysti! I must go find her and try to  offer some comfort throughout the rest of this storm. Hope it passes quickly.

So, until next time,  ENJOY your Summer!  I intend to enjoy mine. 

 In my next blog posting I will post more pictures of Maine that I took in the Kennebunk area.