The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

My "most wonderful time of the year" is Autumn,  mid-September through mid-October when the leaves are in various stages of color, the lakes have a lazy morning fog hanging about til the sun peaks through, revealing all manner of water fowl, fish, fishermen, and fearless, hungry ducks. The mountains are ablaze with color and one has only to walk outside to feel the snap of a crisp Fall day,  ripe apples falling from our four apple trees and my house fragrant with home made apple sauce and apple pie. Geese and loons are contemplating their winter journey south but still hanging about for a last fattening up from the bounties of Summer. My husband and I usually take day trips staying close to home for spectacular local color.  This year was different. Recovered from respective Spring surgeries, we were ready to hit the road.

First stop was Frenchman's Bay between two of the three Acadias. We spent a week hiking, biking and exploring the territory in what is regionally known as Down East.  Warm weather, mostly sunny days and spectacular natural surroundings made this trip memorable.

The 163rd Fryeburg Fair, "Maine's Blue Ribbon Classic", came to town late September.  This is the largest agricultural fair in New England home to blue ribboned farm animals, a large midway with fair food and endless rides, woodsmen's day, sled dragging, harness racing.  People watching is the best part.

 

Schoodic Point, Acadia National Park, Maine  September

 

Acadia National Park, Mt. Desert Island    September

 

 

 

 Morning fog on Back Lake, Pittsburg N.H. October

 

 

 Cole Scott Sunset shoot 

Schoodic Point  September

 

 

 

"A Fast Pace" by Cole Scott

Harness Racing at the 2013 Fryeburg Fair in Maine

October

 

Fryeburg Fair midway at dusk 2013
 by Dick Pollock

 

The Grand Theater in Ellsworth, Maine

September 2013

 



Next stop was Coos (pronounced coh-oz) County, New Hampshire, an unspoiled country of rolling hills, spectacular lakes, rivers, forest, hunting, fishing, snowmobiling in winter and now home to the brand new Ride the Wilds ATV park, over 1000 miles of trails in New Hampshire and Southern Quebec. We took an entire day to ATV a very small portion in a Polaris Razor known as a two-up.  What a rush that was!  It was like being on a very scary ride or rollercoaster for over 40 miles.  Not for the faint of heart.  We got stuck twice and they had to winch us out of mud and logging trail ruts in two different places.  It was a gorgeous warm sunny day so no problem.  I do not have photographs of this trip, having dropped and broken my new camera while in Acadia.

 

Here is a link to a newly produced TV feature on this not-to-be-missed part of my state.  

Gone Fishin'

"Gone Fishin" a popular title for print articles, signs and email, is code for "I'm on vacation"...which I am.

Fishing on the Lake  Summer 2010

We are, for a very short time, not empty nesters.  Our chicks are home to roost as we pursue a favorite summer activity, a home on the water, this time a lake.  We are in Maine in a waterfront cottage with a dock for our ski boat, a basement room for our dogs, a fire pit, a comfy house with lots of windows overlooking the lake.  We brought very little for the week as everything has been provided except the food and liquor.  Bathing suits, shorts, tees, sunscreen, lots of food, beer, soda and dog food.  My husband brought his hammock and cameras.  I, obviously, brought my computer although this is the first time I've opened it since Friday.  It is Monday.  I'm through one of three books I bought:  "That Old Cape Magic", Richard Russo's latest, then "The Girl Who Played With Fire" Steig Larsen's # 2 in his series; and John Irving's latest, "Last Night in Twisted River" which the bookseller assures me is akin to his older style of writing, i.e. "Garp", "Cider House Rules", "Owen Meany".  We'll see.

Oh, and by the way, the glasses are dirty, there are crumbs everywhere, the food is eaten as soon as I buy it and there's no running around naked except for the boys who think they are God's gift in the physique dept.  Oi.  What was I musing about in my last post???????

Ta ta for now.  Off to the boat to get in some quality time with the menfolk while they wakeboard and waterski. 

 

More from Ogunquit

Ogunquit Rocks by Cole Scott 

This is the beach we clambered down to when the tide was out.  It's below Marginal Way, pictured in this post. My husband submitted this and a few others to a gallery in the town for jurying.  If they like them, he'll get a showing!

Words of Wisdom from Mark Twain

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the things you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore. Dream. Discover.

~Mark Twain

Photo of Perkins Cove in Ogunquit, ME. where we spent five wonderful days over the Memorial holiday.

The cove is a tiny peninsula dotted with this harbor of fishing and excursion boats, restaurants, shoppes, and delightful places to walk and sit. We had a fantastic lobster dinner here one night and a couple of great lunches and morning coffee after a long walk along Marginal Way, a glimpse of which may be seen below.

Ogunquit reminded me of Nantucket without the rigid architectural requirements. In Nantucket, all homes have to be natural wood shingles and conform to the way they were built and/or looked originally. There's a sameness to it that I don't care for. Ogunquit obviously has planning and building codes to conform to the quaintness of the town but there is more diversity.

  Marginal Way, Ogunquit, ME.

Trip to Maine Part 2

The first night of our recent trip, we drove to the beautiful city of Portsmouth, N.H. staying at a restored 19th century hotel, Wentworth by the Sea.  As with all great hotels, it has substantial history.   In 1905, the Hotel Wentworth as it was then called, housed the delegations from Russia and Japan to conclude an end to the Russo-Japanese War known as the Treaty of Portsmouth.   Before and after that, it was a summer retreat for the well-to-do.

  

Advertisement Scribner's Magazine 1915

The hotel closed in 1982, fell into disrepair, was rescued from demolition in 1997, renovated and reopened in 2003. It is so lovely, even in Winter, you have a sense of what it must have been like in days gone by. It's also one of the grand old wooden ladies, i.e. wood structures, from the Gilded Age. There are three in New Hampshire, the Wentworth in New Castle, the Mt. Washington Hotel at Bretton Woods and the Mountain View Grand in Whitefield.

 1906 post card of the Hotel Wentworth

We had a lovely room with a view of the lagoon.  The hotel sits on a spit of land, up on a hill, with a view of the ocean to one side and an inlet lagoon on the other.   There is a marina on the bay side, still tying up boats after more than a hundred years.  The golf course too is vintage, opened in 1897 and enlarged by Donald Ross in 1921.                                                                                 

                                                                           Wentworth by the Sea 2010

After the Wentworth, we made our way up the Maine coast into Camden.  One of the first sites we stopped for was a beautiful point out on the water, overlooking Penobscot Bay.

 

On a point between Camden and Rockland overlooking Penobscot Bay

Trip to Maine Part I

My husband and I took a trip to the coast of Maine last week. It was Winter Break in Massachusetts and we wanted to get out of here because the White Mountains are filled with wall-to-wall skiiers, snowboarders and tourists. Normally, a trip to Maine in February is probably not a great choice but we discovered we could stay in some very nice places at reasonable rates and receive perks in the way of gourmet meals, spa treatments, etc.  We went on a photography excursion almost every day and I'll post them as he completes his work.

These are three versions of one image, Camden Harbor:

 

 

Small Boats

Small Boats, Kittery Pt. ME

My husband, my beautiful husband, took this photo last week. We were on a day trip to the coast of Maine. I had an appointment with a doctor and afterwards we just drove. We ended up in Kittery, ME., one bridge length across the open sea from Portsmouth, NH. It's an unexpected and incredible drive. The homes along the shoreline are breathtaking: perfect cottage or New England shake homes with perfectly manicured lawns and gardens and whatnot. On the one hand, there is the New England irreverence for anything perfect, for anything that smacks of being an impostor, a Hollywood version of the truth. On the other hand, the New England version of truth is just as beautiful. It's an awful beauty; a terrible beauty based on hardship, inclement weather, harsh climate and hard rock unsentimentality. I say "unsentimentality" which is not a word, but based on the New England way of looking at things, ought to be. These folk are tough, immovable, granite-like in their approach. They do not sentimentalize things, the past, present or future. They are in the here and now and it is what it is.