A Maine Escape

Here we are, it’s high summer. What I would give to be situated back in my favorite coastal Maine cottage for the duration. Years ago, this sweet 2 bedroom confection had a sister one one side nearby and open space on the other but then a relocated dwelling on the land was placed there and much too close.

The happy days spent walking down the lawn to sit in an Adirondack chair gazing at the ocean were marvelous. That far north in Maine, the boulders are jutting above the surface, the water too cold to swim in and now with a profusion of seals, I know great white sharks are hunting. Some of you may know or recall the incident of the two women swimming in wet suits off Bailey Island near Portland, a retired fashion executive and her daughter. The shark attacked and killed the woman 60 feet offshore. A tooth fragment embedded in a one body part was identified to be from a great white. Call it what you will, an accident or case of mistaken identity, it’s a cautionary tale.

Being along the Maine coast in July and August involves an onslaught of visitors but the further north you go, the fewer there are. Some of my favorite attractions are flea markets where some of these are seen.

There are uninhabited islands accessed by a pedestrian causeway to wander around.

Some days, rambles are moody which I love.

And other days, it’s time to visit it a more inhabited fishing village with a quaint downtown.

Ok, I’m done with spending more than an hour scouring this laptop for hiding places of photos taken by cameras I no longer have, in sites like Shutterfly, in android laptops and Apple devices. I did this because I had some pushback about using the Substack AI. One day I’ll try to find the strays and put them all in one place but today is not the day. All of what you see above is obviously my ‘work’ and that’s it for now.

To continue on with Maine, who can forget food: chowders galore, crab, lobster (I think I once mentioned that when I was married, we owned a rather grand summer cottage with an island between which was a lobster pound we rented to locals), blueberries, fish, brownbread made the old-fashioned way in a coffee can, whoopie pies, Moxie to drink, and biscuits. Biscuits remind me of the old caretaker we had who, when I trilled on about wanting a child who would be a ‘real’ Mainer, replied, “Just ‘cause a cat has kittens in the oven doesn’t make-em biscuits. Ayah.” Hah!

And the birds: rails, coots, osprey, hawks of all kings, gulls, eagles, sandpipers, sanderlings, woodcocks, terns, and the puffin, that dapper clown with a multi-colored beak.

Mammals include: whales (humpbacked, beaked, sperm, fin, and blue), orcas, seals (cue the music from “Jaws”), dolphins and porpoise. Black bear, moose, raccoon, beaver, martens, fishers, lynx, foxes, coyotes, and wolves, to name a few, are always around toward inland.

Maybe one day you’ll visit. I’m very certain you wouldn’t regret it. Meanwhile, hope you’ve enjoyed this flyover. And of course, please share your summer haunts.

To end:

Ocean Song
By Rachel Field

“Oh, the sea, the sea,
With its wild and untamed beauty,
It sings a song that only the heart can hear.
The waves crash and roar,
As they kiss the rugged shore,
And the seagulls cry,
As they soar through the sky.
The lighthouse stands tall and proud,
Guiding lost souls through the shroud.
Oh, the sea, the sea,
How it calls to me.”