Late summer days

We have had such a wonderful summer here in Maine. I have lived here for many years and I have never seen the sun shine so many days in a row like it has since early July when I returned from Bali. Of course, some say this will mean a very cold snowy winter (please, no). When you live in Maine you learn to live with very unpredictable and many times disappointing weather. Someone once told me "in Maine we have 11 months of winter and one month of bad sledding". But for now, we are continuing with beautiful sunny warm late summer days through next week. How cool is that!

Harbor view

We sailed through the passage known as the "Deer Island Thorofare" which meant we would pass by beautiful Stonington Harbor on the southern tip of Deer Isle. Filled with lobsters boats, it is still a working harbor and has been for generations of lobsterman and fisherman.

Transitions—SOLD

I have lived in Cape Elizabeth Maine for many years and after selling my very old house on a beach, I moved to this sweet little neighborhood called Shore Acres on Trundy Point just down the road in 2004. I bought an old 1959 ranch house and renovated it in a mid-century modern style. New open floor plan, George Nelson lighting and furnished with a collection of mid century modern furniture.

Needing a new project, I sold that house and bought this old rundown 1958 ranch (above) across the street. A real "fixer upper"!!! Another mid-century modern renovation with Eichler triangular windows, retro atomic lighting fixtures and a wonderful modern style garden/courtyard viewed from every window in the house. I sold the house a couple of weeks ago to a wonderful family who wanted a contemporary home. After much negotiation, we settled on a price and it is now theirs. This ends another chapter in my life as I am already into the next one—Bali Indonesia and downtown Portland Maine.

Penobscot Bay cruise 2010

Map of our week long cruise

We spent a week cruising the Penobscot Bay on Zora a lovely 38 ft. center cockpit sailboat. We left Rockland Harbor the afternoon of July 31st. First stop for the night was Perry's Creek on Vinalhaven. Our daily destination was always decided in the morning after a leisurely cup of coffee or tea.

It was a busy week before we left for the cruise. Along with selling my house the day before we left, my hair had to be cut off because I managed to fry it in Bali—hair color and swimming a mile a day in a chlorinated pool don't work so well together. So before we set sail it all (or much of it) had to go. It's short and fun and the general consensus is it's a keeper, but it is still not back to it's healthy self, so every morning it looked like some Osprey had nested in it over night. Basically standing on end and going every which way. I had a kind of "Osprey nest bed-head" style the whole trip. Good thing we were mostly on the boat and there are hats!

On day 2 we sailed through the Fox Island and Deer Island Thorofares to our destination of beautiful Frenchboro Harbor, Long Island. Incredible views of the mountains of Acadia Park on Mt Desert Island.

Day 3 we sailed into Southwest and Northeast Harbors looking for showers and supplies. Then a beautiful sail to Isleford where we moored for the night and had dinner at the Islesford Dock restaurant—delish!

Glidden Point oysters for everyone but me. I don't like to eat them but love to draw them.

I had to at least have a bite or maybe two of this fresh homemade Raspberry crisp.

Penobscot Bay cruise continued

We spent the night of day 4 moored in Blue Hill Harbor. It was good to get off the boat and walk 1 1/2 miles into town for an afternoon latte, checking out the galleries and picking up a few more supplies.

After a wonderful long sail through the Eggamagin Reach we ended up a Bucks Harbor for the night of day 5. This is a wonderful protected little harbor. It was such a warm sunny evening that us brave ones jumped in the icy Maine water for a swim. If you floated on the top you could feel a warm layer of water from the sun. Other than that it is just damn cold. A warm hose down shower on the deck and drying out in the sun made it a prefect day.

The next day wasn't as perfect as the fog came in overnight. They were predicting thunderstorms so we motored and then moored in Holbrook Harbor on day 6, a sheltered cove near Castine. Sunny and warm the next day so a brisk icy swim got the day started. I usually scream when I hit the water and swim as fast as I can around the boat muttering "oh my god, oh my god" and then I'm out and totally awake.

We had lobsters on the deck that night in Holbrook Harbor. Eating the fresh juicy meat and tossing the shells over our shoulders into the water to become part of the planet again.

We had a lovely long sail of up to 8 knots to our final destination in Camden Harbor.

It was a lovely week.