THROUGH MY WINDOWS

DEER ISLE, MAINE

WHY I LIVE THERE

PUMPKIN ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE

Deer Isle Sedgwick Bridge

One side of the Deer Isle Village. If you blink you miss it.

If you are wondering why most of my pictures have ocean scenes, it is because I live (2 weeks of every month) on an island connected to the mainland by a bridge. The group of islands; Little Deer Isle, Deer Isle, and Stonington, are about 10 miles in length and five miles at it's widest. I estimate about 5000 natives live on the islands year round. In the Summer there are many more as it's a very popular tourist destination. The Summers are beautiful but the winters can be harsh.

I am a native, I was born and raised there but left for college after graduating high school, left college after 2 years to get married and raise a family. We ultimately ended up in Pennsylvania in 1980 after living in Canada and moving back to the Island long enough for my husband to realized that he was very allergic to even the smell of shellfish. My parents had a seafood restaurant and he worked on the wharves for my father, buying the lobsters and crabs, clams, etc that the fishermen brought in. My dad then shipped everything he didn't need in the restaurant via his trucks to Boston, Mass and New York. So, we decided to move on to somewhere that he could live without asthma attacks. The move was not easy. He went on ahead and found a job. I stayed behind with the little ones and a bunch of dogs to fend for myself. One of the ways was by making wreaths in the Fall for the Maine Christmas trade. My survival doing those 8 months is a story in itself!

We raised 2 children in Allentown, PA. Both graduated from local colleges and have settled in the area within an hour of where I live now. My first husband died in 2000 of cancer. We had been married for 35 years and it was tough adjusting. God is good. He brought another person into my life who had lost his spouse also. We married and settled into his house in Saucon Valley, near Bethlehem. It was a hard row to hoe, as they say. We were both set in our ways and are very stubborn. I am told that I am strong willed....maybe a little. We have been married 11 years. He is retired army and post office. I had worked for many years at Good Shepherd Home and Rehabilitation Hospital. Since I really didn't have to work anymore I retired at the age of 55. In retrospect I should have stayed working. My Good Shepherd pension didn't kick in until I turned 65 which meant I didn't have access to money of my own until then. But, life was good. Health issues have reared their ugly heads and hubby has had a bout of cancer that he won. I have had this and that but nothing life threatening.

Now we come to why I live part of my life in Maine. My parents have a house on Little Deer Isle, the same house I grew up in. They just assumed that their life would go on until they died at home or the local hospital on the Mainland. They made no plans for their later years despite my brothers and myself tried to get them to do so. To make a long story short-this past December my dad fell, ended up in the hospital for a month and then had to go into the Island Nursing Home when he no longer had mobility in his legs. Mom was devastated and said she couldn't live in a nursing nor could she live by herself. (I get my strong will and stubborness from her.) So, I drive from PA to Maine every month to stay with her for 2 weeks or more and return to my life here for 2 weeks. I have macular degeneration in one eye and have monthly injections. I also fell and injured my shoulder and rotator cuff so have PT appointments when I am at home in PA to unfreeze the shoulder. We have access here to wonderful medical facilities and I can't begin to tell you how much I appreciate them compared to what is available on the mainland close to Deer Isle. Truth be told if you have something seriously wrong with you, you are out of luck or you will have to travel a long distance to get any help. The waiting list is long, needless to say, at those places.

I do love the beauty of the Island and I have always loved to take pictures. I earned my first camera when I was a little child. I sold the most magazines for a school function and my prize was a little browny type camera.

Today I don't have an expensive camera. I had one I loved and it took excellent pictures but it was dropped in the water and from then on I just buy point and shoots. I hope that you enjoy what I do post in this blog from the many photos that I take. I have my camera handy most of the time but don't always have the time or energy to stop and do what it takes to get the perfect angle.

If you've kept reading this ramble, I thank you and hope that you will visit again.