7/2/09

Now and Again Notes from Maine—Thursday, July 2

Hi all—Keeping in touch this way (and I KNOW, I should have a Facebook Page, but am resisting getting sucked into that right now—soon, I promise).

Maine is COOL and DAMP!! June almost set records for the rainiest June –think it got to 4th maybe 3rd rainiest—and today it is in the 50’s and misting. Gardeners are fit to be tied –things rotting in the fields—but I say it is a nice relief from the heat of DC!! The last two days the mist burned off by midday and we had nice sun and breezes (remember how it did that on the island?)—and now it is lightening up, so may be are in luck again today. Downeast always has its own weather system.

As usual, it took a couple of days to recover from life elsewhere, plus this time I was extra tired from dealing with the animals and motels and the exertion over the weekend of helping with Miriam’s stuff—getting it loaded and into a storage unit. Need I say that the U-Haul truck and the storage unit made me shiver with difficult memories!! BUT—I haven’t lost my touch at loading trucks and packing storage units, have I Merm & Jer?

It is always worth the effort to get here, though. The rushing stream, croaking bull frogs and flickerin fire flies are soothing to the soul. My garden is doing nicely—all the things I rammed in last fall have come up and are blooming—white Siberian irises, day lilies, a hydrangea (not blooming yet), lots of hostas… and I put in annuals when I was here Memorial Day weekend and my little neighbor girl watered when it wasn’t raining, so they are trying to thrive despite the soggy weather—flower boxes all ready for the deck.

Neighbor Ray Martin, inspired by the workmen at the house on the other side of me who cleaned the slope down to the river of the alders blocking the view, decided to continue to clean alders on his land—turns out our property line is much further over than I thought, so he is getting a lot of what I thought I would have to deal with—plus he is doing some of mine, too. He is working from the river side of the alders towards the houses, so there is still a thicket of alders keeping him from view from the houses. Once in a while I look out my window and see alders moving and toppling but can’t see him—I told him the scene reminds me of Burnam (sp?) woods in MacBeth!!

To get in the spirit of things, I grabbed my new set of loppers and began trimming all the saplings wedged in between the huge granite blocks along my stretch of river. I have done almost three hours of work and it looks terrific. The view up river is now clear and prepared for when the alders are gone. Ray is a great inspiration himself—works quietly and methodically—he says he likes to use loppers and have just the noises of the river, the wind and the birds keeping him company. And he stacks the brush very neatly. He will burn when he can get a permit—or perhaps in the winter.

And the river is ROARING what with all the rain. It is a short river, really, coming about 10-12 miles from a set of lakes directly north of us, and everything is full to overflowing, so the river is making like Niagara, foaming over the rocks and churning up the pond.

The renovations on the house next door are coming along—I have been over twice to ogle the work—though it looks like a little house, it is actually big—4 bedrooms and a big room that is becoming a bathroom upstairs and a bedroom and bath down, with a huge great room—living and dining—that has a fireplace and windows overlooking the river. Kitchen is big, too. But what a lot of work! Some ceilings are still not done and every single surface has had to be redone after wiring and plumbing. They have put on new siding—pale yellow and white windows and doors. Very pretty. Today there is a whole brigade of workmen working on electric garage doors. I am so jealous that they can get all the renovating done in a fell swoop. A neighbor told me today the house was sold in foreclosure, so was bought at a song. Explains why they had so much to put in it….

The other local news is that a couple is lobstering off the Steuben wharf—they threw up a little makeshift dock on the old wharf side and sure enough, there are wire traps piled up there. Agnes says they have put out 50 traps. Sort of nice after it being abandoned for so long.

Small towns have their major advantages. Last night I went into Milbridge (next town up that has some commercial activity) to see the movie Ice Age: Dawn of the Age of Dinosaurs. I was early so went across the street and did some grocery shopping in 10 minutes, parked at the bank right across from the movie theater and went in at 7:20 The lady at the ticket booth was out of 5’s and 10’s and just as I got in the short line she hollered at her husband across the aisle at the popcorn machine and he handed over a fistful of bills to some little girl in line and asked her to hand them to the lady…!! The line for popcorn was long because the man makes one kettleful at a time, so we had to wait for our hot, fresh popcorn since one kettle made about one large size bag! The wait for the line to get popcorn meant the movie started late, since the same man runs the projector! Ticket, medium popcorn, medium drink for under $10.00—can’t beat it!! And the movie was hilarious!!

This was my second time to the theater and I am always amused by the step ladders stacked up to the right of the screen and the stained ceiling and other informal touches—but also grateful for the ORIGINAL fittings—curtain-hung little alcoves, red wainscoting with white stenciling under the stage area, original seats and ticket booth and a lot of movie memorabilia, my favorite being a page from a Seattle newspaper from 1939 hailing the opening of the Wizard of Oz.

My friend Agnes is here for the summer so she and I have already combed the events calendars and have a host of things marked to go to—concerts, plays, fairs etc. Looks like we will go to Jonesport, further east on the coast, to watch model lobster boat races on Saturday morning. The boatmakers on Beals Island, which is right off Jonesport, evidently have a long tradition of making finely crafted miniature lobster boats that are run by remote control—nice Maine variation of the sailboats on the pond in Central Park, don’t you think?? Agnes wants to do fireworks in Bar Harbor, which is where we were 4 years ago when I first decided to buy my house.

The funnest part of being here is watching my cats, Helen and Sissy. They are 7 months and in 7th heaven—they are into EVERY nook and cranny of the house and explore the gardens daily, chasing bugs and stalking anything that moves. Last night I took Lily out to the side yard before bed and the cats showed up, so all three played chase for a good 15 minutes. Lily runs flat out and cannot catch them—then they race up an apple tree and turn around and meow at her and me!! Then one will come down and rub Lily and wind a tail around her neck and off they go again! They also love going out on the deck and playing on the deck stairs, which are a full storey tall. At night, all three—two cats and little dog—cuddle up with me in bed. The cats come and stand on my chest and rub my face when they think it is time to get up. Better than an alarm….!!

I had a nice visit with the Fishes (Anna’s Jason’s family)—Marc is off today to a new job at a school in Queens, so I was glad to have seen him if only briefly. Beatrice and Alicia (Jason’s youngest sister) and I will have more time to get together, I hope. The Fishes have a grandchild—now about 5 months old—and will go to Texas for his christening in July—and for their daughter’s hooding/PhD graduation—Imagine! She did a Ph.D., a baby and a new job all in one year!!! Makes me look like a real slacker, doesn’t it???

I just saw our neighbor Richard (one of the ageing gay couple who have the cutest cottage on Village Road, bar none) who says he would like to sell and move to Eastport, ME—which is on the Passamaquody Bay between Maine and New Brunswick, north of Lubec, where you cross to Campobello. For those of you who remember, a year ago I was reading the mysteries of Sarah Graves, who sets her stories in Eastport, where she and her husband are renovating a large old house. I was already intrigued by Eastport from those. And in last week’s Ellsworth newspaper, there was an interesting article about Raye’s condiments, particularly the stone ground mustard, which is made in Eastport. It was in the paper because Olympia Snow, senator from Maine, gave some to the Obamas when she learned Barack loves mustard on his burgers. Richard says Eastport is a beehive of artistic and cultural activity. I am sure I will get there for a visit this summer.

Well, Karen M, doesn’t look like you will get up here, and Lisa B, not sure about you—would love to have a visitor or two, but I have a LOT of writing to do if I AM going to finish this dratted degree in the next year!

More when the news warrants—bullfrogs still croak at night and the fireflies are thick as usual. Miriam loaded me up with stuff from her cupboards, so there is lots of food, should anyone make it up! Love to all, Mom/Robin