Dinner with the Bowdoin

A lovely evening that found Grandma bringing her plate and glass of shiraz down to the rocks to watch the arrival of the Bowdoin. Later we buzzed over to watch her dock at the Maritime Museum.

How excellent it is to be coming into real summer. On the other hand, I'm sure the BUGS feel the same way. We can sense an exuberance among them.

Pride

On Saturday we went to South Freeport, where Emily was one of the organizers of a festival to benefit the Freeport Historical Society. It was a pretty big "do," with tents and a dance at night and a visit from the historic schooner Bowdoin. Gregg did the lighting.
Emily is involved in more charitable and service events than anyone I know about. She takes these occasions and makes them her own, and the whole thing sparkles. She is active, and innovative, and is becoming very well known in Portland and our coast. I am very proud of what she has done, and especially of the hugely giving spirit with which she does these things. How great it is that Gregg is inclined this way, as well. Together, they make a powerful duo for good.

Sunset

Calm has come to 19 Water Street.  the boys are in bed and the river is quiescent. Molly and Toby are out for dinner in the neighborhood. This is the wonderful part of the summer when there is really no news.



Maybe this journal will go to sleep like its author.

Hot, hot, hot

Not, not, not! Heat wave elsewhere, cool at the Crotch, thanks to a breeze off the water. I think it didn't get much above 80 here today (but 92 yesterday). "Think," because we took off for Boothbay in the Whaler. It was a pleasant ride, and even a bit chilly crossing the Sheepscot and in Boothbay. So we don't know how hot it got at the middle of the day.
Top Five fish sandwich at Andrews' Harborside in BBH.

Rodents reprise

So far, the war has not extended to gray squirrels. They have not intruded, and they think they're just SO smart. Watch the fella above attempt to conquer the bird feeder. This was his third try: previously, he leaped from the laurel bush, with the same result, only funnier. As you see, he slunk away at the end, defeated. Ah, nothing like it.
The chipmunk count is way down.
But wait! Yesterday I sunk a cup of Bud Light in the terraced garden -- to catch slugs. This morning, I saw that the cup had been rudely ripped out of the ground. I guess something larger than a chipper shares my abhorence for lite beer. Stay tuned on this one.

Timber!

We dropped two trees this week, and decided to celebrate, on this gorgeous clear day, with a trip down to Five Islands for lunch. Wow, fresh oysters! The best I can remember.
Then we had a walk on the beach. The water is cold but the sand was hot, and "they" have greatly rearranged the Half-Mile beach.

If the summer is at all like today, it will be a gem.

On the road again

An overnight trip to Higgins Beach in Scarborough was a lot of fun. We scouted out Crescent Beach, and both there and at Higgins Beach we found the water very warm, especially when it had come in over a long sloping beach on the incoming tide. It turned out that former colleague Kevin O'Connor has a house right across the street from the Higgins Beach Inn, where we stayed, and so we had a drink with Kevin at the Inn and then took him down to the Rising Tide restaurant at Pine Point for a windblown supper. Pine Point Road has all the excellent seafood you could want, and we ate our fill.
Love these short excursions -- Maine has great delights. (But not so many in February.)