House on the water

 

This is the last Maine vacation blog post and it is all about the house where Stuey and I stayed. It is my grandmother's old house - granny 'Thurby' - and began life as a warehouse on the water. You can still see the old rock dock piling in the intertidal zone in front of the house. I've actually thought that maybe we should resurrect this old dock - it certainly would make it easier to launch the paddleboards and kayaks that we currently drop over the porch railing at high tide.

In any case, it is a huge old house with many bedrooms. And it still looks very much like it did when my grandmother lived in it. It still has all the old posters, art, photos, and maps on the wall. Many of them sun faded from more than 60 years of UV damage.

This year as sort of a documentation project I went around the house taking pictures of all the old rooms. Looking back at the photos I just realized that I captured what many of the old rooms look like but that I completely failed to document the hallways and stairs. The stairs have maps on the walls that show sequentially the entire coast of Maine and into the Bay of Fundy.

Patrick

The house on far left back in the day when it was a warehouse

Levitating

More Lobsters and Another Shell Midden

 

When I picked up lobsters at the bait barge for my roommates, I talked to the lobsterman and they agreed to keep and hold some large crabs for me. We agreed that I'd drop by again in a few days and they would have the crabs. Amazingly enough in Maine it is incredibly difficult to purchase live crabs. Anyway, I showed up a few days later and none of the lobstermen had kept any crabs for me. So instead of crabs I grabbed some hard shells for Stuey, my mom and I. Stuey got 2 big lobsters just for himself. With my roommates we had purchased soft shell and it is amazing how different they are from Hard shells. Soft shells taste sweeter but Hard shells have much more meat and the body and legs are meaty enough to be worth eating.

On a gloomy afternoon Stuey and I went exploring up Perry's Creek by kayak. I had flashbacks to my archaeological surveys on Kodiak by kayak. And I even found a shell midden - Just like when I was back in Uyak Bay this past May (click here for post). I took pictures and recorded what I saw and will try and report them to an archaeologist in Maine. But I don't know the archaeological scene in Maine so it might be difficult to find anyone interested in I found.

Patrick

Kayak trip to the very head of Perrys Creek

Eroding shell midden

A couple of flakes I saw on surface

More Sailing

 

This year while on vacation in Maine we went sailing practically every day. In years past the weather often did not cooperate and rain and/or high winds kept us off the water. But this year it was generally clear with light southwest winds that gained strength in the afternoons - perfect for sailing.

For me the sailing highlight of the trip was a sail with my mom. She sailed the first part to windward and we had a nice breeze. Then we sailed over under the lee of Crabtree Point. I wanted to check out the houses and docks. My mom warned that 'there is never any wind over there'.  And she was right - we got over there and the wind totally died. It was flat calm and we even called my sister for a tow. But just as my sister got there the wind picked up again and we sailed on home under our own sail power.

Patrick

sister arriving to offer a tow we no longer needed

Stuey returning to shore after a sail

Brats on the deck

 

When my old roommates from college visited most of our time was spent on the lower deck. It is right over the water so we could jump in and swim, launch paddle boards or kayaks, or just hang out and talk. There is also ping pong - the same old ancient table with a dead spot that I've used for 50 years.

For our first lunch we cooked up brats on the grill and had them for lunch. We ate them with sauerkraut and hot English mustard. Mmmmmmmm one of my all time favorites.

In the evenings we would take down a cheese platter and wine. A local store had some duck pate and I think that was my favorite.  

Ahhhhh good times.

Patrick

Floating after a leap off the deck

The 88 Eight and Lobsters

 

One of the highlights of our Maine vacation was a small reunion with my college roommates. My college rooming group gets together on a semi annual basis and this year it was my turn to host. This year all but one of the roommates made it to the reunion. But we joked that Stuey had joined us in his stead.

The roommates came for 3 days and we made the most of it. Big meals, golf (I played for the first time in almost 40 years and did not do too badly!), paddleboarding, swimming, long hikes, and lots and lots of reminiscing and re telling of old stories. I was a little worried about what Stuey would think of it all - and I think Stuey was too! But Stuey enjoyed hearing all the stories and enjoyed meeting everyone.

Of course for one of the meals we had to have lobsters. We boated out to where the lobstermen bait their traps and store their lobsters and bought them direct right off of the boat. And then we steamed them and ate them right on the lower deck. The deck is right on the water and we could throw the shells right over the side.

Patrick