September in Maine
In September we traveled to Maine, to our family summer home in Sargentville, to celebrate the wedding of my son Tom and his lovely girl Jill. The couple are actually living in Hilo, Hawaii, but the bride’s family live in Philadelphia, and it was an opportunity to reconnect with roots back east. It’s a place we all love (and have been struggling to maintain all these years), bought by my great-grandfather in 1905, a large house on a lot of land, which has mostly reverted to spruce forest (when we were kids it was meadows with orchards and gardens), with shore frontage and a pond as well. My sisters (and several cousins) have all moved back to Maine and live in the neighborhood, and we’ve taken to renting it out in the summer to earn money for repairs and taxes, are hoping we can preserve enough to pass it on down to our children (and grandchildren!)
Edgehill is always where my heart is and we don’t get back there often enough. September, outside the rental season, is a beautiful time to visit, with clear blue skies and the beginnings of fall colors and a little nip in the air.
Edgehill (foto by Diana in 1999)
Diana again felt she couldn’t leave her Kindergarten until late in the week (we drove down to pick her up in Portland). But I decided to go early and visit old friends in Boston area, stayed with Larry Joseph (my college roommate) and his wife Judith, and we had dinner with our classmate Bob Volante (we missed him at our reunion last year) at his club. Needless to say, it was great to catch up with friends I hadn’t seen in a long time. I also stopped in East Vassalboro to visit more old friends, Chuck and Lore Ferguson.
Nature Preserve in Holliston
Larry and Judith
Bob Volante
Chuck and Lore
Sailing With Harmon.
Margaret and I had a chance to get away and go sailing with our friend Harmon Dunathan. He’s the husband of Mary-Frances Vookles Pitts (familiarly known as Mo-Fo) from Memphis, sister of Claudia, who married and divorced our Cousin Chris, and has been “family” forever. They loved summering in Maine so much they purchased a place in Stonington, and he shares the boat with Debby (M-F apparently doesn’t like to sail). We had an interesting day, with threatening and spectacular skies and flat calm, though eventually the wind came up and let us sail. But perfect for relaxing and chat. Out of Burnt Cove on the Penobscot Bay side of Deer Isle and through the channel past Stonington, a picturesque (and still pretty much unspoiled) village, which is important as a depot for lobster fishing and for its granite quarries. We caught sight of a couple of the popular “windjammers,” old working schooners which now cruise the Maine coast carrying tourists. A good chance to share some pictures. I later discovered a Deer Isle and Stonington group on Flickr with a large number of pros and some spectacular and beautiful fotos of the region.
Rowboat
The Victory Chimes, a three-master
Harmon
Lobster Boat
The Lewis R. French
Dinghy
Burnt Cove
