Tag: Maine

Musings: Winding Down 2013 in Maine

Snow falls on a tranquil island in Maine.
Snow falls on a tranquil island in Maine.

“Wicked” winter weather in the form of heavy snowfalls,  a major ice storm, and power outages have kept me busy and away from my blog over the last couple of weeks, but I hope those readers who celebrate Christmas had a happy one and that a festive Solstice was had by all on December 21. I’m sure there was an intriguing Solstice celebration at Stonehenge in England, as there is each year. If you haven’t visited there, it’s well worth a side trip if you find yourself in England someday.

Now we are in the long days of darkness, with daylight starting to fade shortly after 3PM here on my small island, and darkness shrouding everything by 4PM.  I use this week between Christmas and New Year’s to clean out my office and get ready for what the next year may bring. I’ve never been much on looking back, preferring instead to savor the present and plan for the future—which is a little ironic, given that I was born in January, a month named for a two-headed god who looked both forward and backward.

From my office window I watch lobstermen setting out early in the morning and returning by mid-afternoon. With temperatures in the low teens, I admire their grit and determination. The ocean is gray and choppy, although right now we are having a brief hour or so of sunshine.

However you spend these last two days of 2013, I hope you’ll enjoy the remaining moments and make the most of the rest of the holiday season.

Thanksgiving in Maine

Guest of honor at the Thanksgiving feast
Guest of honor at the Thanksgiving feast

Although it feels more like Christmas, complete with blustery winds and snow falling,  we’re just a little more than a day away from Thanksgiving. It’s my personal favorite holiday, largely because there is no agenda other than family, friends, and good things to eat.

New Englanders tend to stick to a traditional menu, parts of which–squash, for example–date back to that first Thanksgiving long ago. There was wild turkey as well, although it’s likely that the centerpiece of the feast was venison.  With plenty of root vegetables and perhaps an early version of cranberry sauce (did you know that the Pilgrims called the berries “crane-berries” because they thought the flowering plant looked like a crane?) perhaps that first Thanksgiving might have looked quite familiar to us.  There were guests, too,  as the Pilgrims welcomed the friendly Wampanoag Native Americans who had helped them so much during those first few years.

Here on my small Maine island, we’re bundling up and getting ready to welcome company tomorrow.  I hope you, too, have a great day on Thursday with friends and family. Christmas shopping can wait, no matter what the ads say……enjoy the moment!

October’s End

A final look at the leaves of autumn. Nathaniel Hammond photograph.
A final look at the leaves of autumn. Nathaniel Hammond photograph.

October is ending and November is just hours away. But first the ghosts and goblins come calling and a brave few will venture down our long driveway. I think they enjoy being a little scared as they wander beneath the trees and head toward the porch light. And they always head home happy with plenty of candy in their bags. It will be a chilly evening here on my small Maine island, and I’m remembering how much I hated having to bundle up in a coat over my costume when I was a kid. However, plenty of candy makes up for a lot of things and at least it’s not snowing as it was two years ago tonight when we all had to shovel out before the trick or treating could begin. Have a safe and happy Halloween…..and then,  on to Thanksgiving!

 

Musings from a Small Maine Island

Despite what the calendar may say, summer officially ended yesterday. Many of our summer people head home at the end of August, especially those with children in school, but others stay through Columbus Day.  The last of them rumbled across the swing bridge to the mainland yesterday, leaving a silence that was palpable this morning. Gone are most of the morning joggers and walkers in their designer

A Maine lobster boat at anchor at the end of a day's work.
A Maine lobster boat at anchor at the end of a day’s work.

outfits, leaving only us year-rounders briskly navigating the island in our sweats and sturdy LLBean hiking boots. The weather is unusually mild and the foliage currently is at its peak, so all in all it has been a lovely day and time to get down to the business of late autumn. It’s a good time of year to get some work done, both in the house and yard and in the office.

From my office window, I’m looking out at the water where just a few lobster boats bob on their moorings, along with a few pleasure boats belonging to year-rounders here on the island. The latter will soon be hauled in, but many of the lobster fishermen will set and haul their traps throughout the winter.  As the weather and water turns colder, they have to go farther and farther out to sea, so I admire their fortitude. But I also know how much they love their work and that most of them would be unhappy doing anything else for a living.

We’ll begin a quick segue now into the fall and winter holidays….Halloween soon, followed by Thanksgiving. Pumpkins are everywhere, along with witches and goblins decorating lawns, and before long we’ll all be thinking about family celebrations and turkey dinners. And from there it seems like just minutes until Christmas.  For now, though, I’ll enjoy these unexpected warm days and the glint of sunlight on orange maple leaves.

Leaf-peeping in New England

Fall colors near Rangeley, Maine. Nathaniel Hammond photography.
Fall colors near Rangeley, Maine. Nathaniel Hammond photography.

Throughout New England, color is just about at its peak now, bringing thousands of leaf-peepers to enjoy the show.  In Maine, the best colors tend to be in the northern part of the state. I especially love the Rangeley area where, along with the beautiful trees, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll spot a moose or two.

We’ve just had several days of Indian summer. The leaves are glorious, and once they fall, we’ll all be looking ahead to winter. That’s fine with me.  Unlike most New Englanders, autumn has never been my favorite time of year.  It’s beautiful to be sure,  but there is something about the fading light  and shortened days that makes it a very melancholy season. Winter, despite the cold and snow, somehow seems a lighter, brighter, time of year…..perhaps it’s the winter holidays, perhaps it’s the contentment of having time to tackle a new book or other long project, or maybe it’s the thought that spring can’t be far behind. And I do love spring with all its promise, and summer, which has always seemed a time of fulfillment.

See, I told you that fall brings out the melancholy musings!

Summer in Maine

Pleasure boats bob on their moorings in the beautiful harbor of Camden, Maine.
Pleasure boats bob on their moorings in the beautiful harbor of Camden, Maine.

At long last, summer is well underway here in Maine and with the Fourth of July right around the corner,  visiting families and tourists are arriving daily. It’s been a bit damp and rainy, but predictions are good for the holiday weekend and all its activities. Here on my small Maine island, I now see cars from far-away places, very different from winter when there are only about 100 hardy souls here.  Pleasure boats are bobbing on their moorings, the local eateries have opened for the summer season, and life is good ….indeed, as the Maine motto says, it’s “The Way Life Should Be.”

If you’re planning a trip to Maine or elsewhere in New England, you might find my book, Backroads & Byways of New England: Drives, Day Trips and Weekend Excursions helpful. I just had a nice note from a group of six travelers from Australia who are using it to plan their trip to Maine with stops in the other New England states.

However you spend your holiday, be safe and enjoy!

Springtime in Maine

Sea smoke rises over the water on brisk April morning in Maine
Sea smoke rises over the water on brisk April morning in Maine

After a snowy winter, it’s great to see tulips and daffodils popping up at last and trees getting their first buds. That’s not to say that we don’t still have some cool days ahead as winter breathes its last gasps of cold air. From my office window this morning, I watched sea smoke rise over the water….a phenomenon that hapens when cold air moves over warmer water.  It’s an eerie kind of fog that shrouds everything in a silvery light.  It soon passed as the day began to warm up, but it’s a reminder of how fickle New England weather can be. My little Maine island remains quiet for the time being, but before long the first summer people will be arriving to open up their summer homes and another busy summer will begin.

If you’re planning a trip to Maine or elsewhere in New England this summer, you might want to check out my guidebook, Backroads & Byways of New England: Drives, Day Trips and Weekend Excursions (Countryman Press) for ideas of things to see and do along with some very easy-to-read history of the area.  Happy spring and happy travel planning, everyone!

January in Maine

It’s a cold and snowy new year–time for a little cross-country skiing to replace my usual morning hike around the island. I like to get up in the morning after a light dusting of snow and see what has traipsed through my yard in the middle of the night. This morning the tracks were clearly from my neighbor’s cat sneaking a midnight run on the bird feeders and a couple of deer wandering through.

With the summer people gone and the holidays over, January through March are quiet months out here–time to tackle big projects and then relax in front of a fire in the fireplace.  I especially like snowy weekends when it’s impossible to get out of the driveway and curling up with a book and a pot of tea seems like the only reasonable thing to do.

When the ski slopes beckon, there’s great skiing right now at Camden Snowbowl, Saddleback in Rangeley, Sunday River,  and Sugarloaf in Carrabassett Valley. If you’d like more information on things to do in Maine during the brisk winter months,  go to visitmaine.com and check out my guidebook, Backroads & Byways of New England for some off-the-beaten-track ideas for things to see and do.

Wishing everyone good health and happiness in 2013!

Christmas Comes to Maine

“Tis the season! With wreaths on every door and twinkling lights in windows of old New England homes, the holiday season is well underway here in Maine.  It’s time for fun festivals — like the Earmuff Festival in Farmington last week, honoring the inventor of the ubiquitous ear warmers–and unique decorations such as the village Christmas tree in Rockland comprised entirely of lobster traps.  And we won’t forget church fairs and the seasonal decorations on every village green.  Don’t shy away from Maine in winter — it’s truly a wonderful season here and Santa has been known to arrive in all kinds of unique ways, from fire trucks to helicopters and lobster boats.  More later on all there is to see and do in Maine in winter!

More Leaf Peeping in Maine

The road less traveled is often the most rewarding.
Color is at its peak throughout most of Maine now. I love this photo of a road leading who-knows-where, but with the promise of something wonderful at the other end. It doesn’t matter that there are no houses or businesses or exciting historical sites to be seen — the foliage itself is worth the journey. For more information about visiting Maine and the rest of New England, check out my book, Backroads & Byways of New England: Drives, Day Trips & Weekend Excursions. Special thanks to my husband, photographer Nat Hammond, for these photos and others on this blog.