My Oyster

The sound of water says what I think.

Today we spent our first full day on the lake.  We used to live on a lake.  I like being close to the water.  I think Chuang Tzu did too.  He was a Chinese philospher who lived in the 4th century BC and the quote above is from him.

The pic above is at sunrise this morning.  This one too.

 

It's very serene and calming.

The District of Columbia is bordered by two rivers - but still feels very landlocked to me.  It is not really connected to either the Anacostia or the Potomac in the way that NYC (to the East and Hudson) and Boston (to the Charles) are to their rivers.  Let alone Prague and Salzburg (where I was last month).

So I plan on taking advantage of this week on the water. 

This afternoon I took a little break to get out in the kayak. 

The sound of the water was definitely saying what I was thinking.

Good stuff.

"The west coast is larger than life: an epic landscape that bowls you over with its grandeur..."

"Maine’s beauty is more personal.  You can grab hold of it."

So very true. 

That is a quote from a book I finished today.  The Slippery Year.  It really resonates with me - especially right now.  I am up here for a stretch and grabbing hold of the beauty.

My parents and I are spending a week here on Lake Sheepscot.  It's in the woods.  We have a nice, big cottage with decks and docks and boats.

We have a loon that greeted us right in our little cove. 

He never left - just hung out only feet from where we were sitting on the dock.  Now that is Maine!

Culchah in Maine - not just lobstah...

Maine has some really good small art museums.  I have been wanting to check out the one at Bowdoin College in Brunswick for some time - and I did this afternoon.

OK, so the pic above has nothing to do with culture or lobster, but it is the state flower of Maine and I liked the shot - dangling high above my head on a huge pine tree on the Bowdoin campus. 

The Bowdoin Art Museum is in a beautiful small building that was actually only the second museum in the country built specifically for a college.  Stanford was first. 

I couldn't take pics in the museum, but I really enjoyed this Rodin sculpture of the Three Shades. 

It was created for (in some way) The Gates of Hell - a monumental sculptural group depicting a scene from Dante's Inferno.  I walked around it several times.  So much detail.

After the art museum i walked a few steps to Hubbard hall and the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum.  He was the first person to reach the North Pole and he had something to do with Bowdoin.  That's all the details I have on that one.  I was mostly looking at the fur coats - on the animals and on the people...

While I was soaking up the visual arts my parents were taking the performing arts at the Maine State Music Theater - also at Bowdoin.  We met up after and had a nice dinner. 

Brunswick is a cool little town.  I need to explore it some more.

"Coming Out...

...from the harbor but you don't see where."

That is the meaning of the Abenaki word "Wiscasset".  And that is the small town where we had lunch today.

It is a beautiful village on the mid-coast of Maine.  Settled in 1663, it has grown to around 3600 people now. 

We ate at Sarah's, a favorite spot for soup, but the lobster roll shack across the street seemed to have generated some buzz and a line.  I love the lobstah pots right next to it...

After lunch the sun actually came out so we walked around and checked out some of the antique shops. It is coastal Maine afterall.

Sarah and stuff...

 

Kinda creepy...

 

Love a tin ceiling...

 

And pie even more...

Oh No...

Portsmouth Memorial Bridge, originally uploaded by noahdelaughter.

Save this bridge.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced its list of 11 Most Endangered Historic Places today and the Memorial Bridge connecting Maine to the rest of the United States.

When I am driving north on I-95, I am always excited to see it because I know I am close to home. Growing up, my family always celebrated once we got half way across the bridge and so into Maine.

You can read more about the bridge and even try to save it by going to this link.

**Note - I have my bridges confused and was quickly corrected in the comments.  I was blogging while watching American Idol.  Oopsie.  Thanks Mel & Mike for the catch.  It's still a nice bridge, though - don't you think?

I Love Snow...

Let me qualify that. I love snow - before Christmas.

I arrived in Maine on Friday and we have had two big snow storms in the last 3 days. The pic above are the trees outside my window. The pic below is me - out in the driveway at 730am working with my father to clear the 16 new inches of snow.

 

Apparently they got 42 inches about an hour north of here.  Yowza.

I have to say it really looks like a picture postcard here right now.  Big pine trees sprinkled with fluffy white snow.  I hope everyone gets to experience a white Christmas at least once.  It is really beautiful.

Nothing More Beautiful than Maine in Autumn...

There really isn't. 

The pic above is sunrise from the top of Cadillac Mountain (really a big hill) on Mount Desert Island - home of Acadia National Park.  I made the trek up there early on Sunday morning with family.  Brrr.  That was for the temps not the familial relations.

We all spent a long weekend up on Hancock Point near Acadia.  We rented a beautiful house and relaxed and enjoyed each other and nature.  I had not been to Acadia since I was pretty young - so it was exciting to rediscover it.  I want to go back - often.  It is amazing.

Here are some more pics from the weekend...

Jean and I trying to stay warm at sunrise...

The rest of the group watching the sunrise...

Suz and Grant exploring one of many tidal pools (puddles?) at Schoodic Point...

Pretty boats at Hancock Point...

The family descending down the Seafarer's Ledge...

More Pics at my flickr account.

Autumn at the Seafarer..

SFcottageNEW-lg[1], originally uploaded by dcjay64.

It's Autumn in Maine and we are headed to the rocky coast and this house for a long weekend.

We (that means Ma, Tut, Suz, Grant, Jean - with a visit by Mike, Mira-su, Christopher James, and Heather) will be in Hancock - right by Acadia National Park.

I am looking forward to some relaxation, some fresh air activity (biking, hiking), and some back to nature time with family.

The weather is predicted to be perfection. The leaves are near peak color. Maine - the way life should be!

Daytrippin' in Belfast...

This is the town's old Mason lodge.  It is right on Main Street.  It was dedicated in 1879 before a crowd of 10,000.

The town, it's actually a city, is on Penobscot Bay. It was really a beautiful day to get outside and be by the sea. Here I am at the harbor in downtown Belfast...

One of the very best things about the small towns along the coast of Maine is, of course, the food.  Mammie and Tut and Murphy were my daytrippin partners in Midcoast Maine.  Here they are where we ate lunch - a little shack for lobster rolls and other stuff...

5 Things About Belfast, Maine...

1. It has nearly 6500 residents.  The 2-3 blocks around me in Columbia Heights have about the same number.
2. The area was once the territory of the Penobscot Tribe of the Abenaki Indians.
3. Schooners then seafood then shoes then chickens and now credit cards have been the cornerstone of the local economy over the past 150 years.
4. The English burned Belfast in 1779 then held it for 5 days in September 1814 during the war of 1812.  Bad Brits!
5. It has Maine's oldest & largest Co-op AND Maine's oldest shoe store AND Maine's only curling club & facility.  Who knew?

That is Belfast.  Every time I go I want to get a little apartment on the top floor of one of the old commercial buildings on Main Street - and just knit and stare out at the sea and be creative...

Oh, and no summer day in Maine is complete without home-made ice cream.  Including today...

A Few of the 3,478...

Maine has more of them than California.  Maine has more of them than the rest of the entire east coast - combined.  All the way from New Hampshire down to the tip of Florida.

What are "they"?  Miles of coastline.  And Maine, because of the "cragginess" has tons of them.  Nearly 3500 to be (kinda) exact.  Very few of them are sandy, maybe 20-25 of the 3500.  They are rugged and tough just like the people up here.  Almost all of them are beautiful - at least the ones I have seen and the ones I imagine.  The miles of coastline, not the people, that is.

The few miles you see in the pic above are just south of Portland.  From a plane.  Last night as I was flying in at sunset.  Gorgeous.  Soothing.  Spiritual.  Home.

I gotta say, I wish there were some more coastline in Columbia Heights.