Leaving the House on the Cove

We are preparing to leave the House on the Cove. A final cleaning, packing, mail forwarding, coordinating with the person who will be here while we are gone ... it is a busy time. The cat has had her teeth cleaned by the veterinarian here and is a bit curious about the reappearance of the boxes.

I have said Shalom! to my church friends here. Worship yesterday was an all-Island gathering at St. Mary's By-The-Sea. It is a beautiful stone chapel, with lovely stained glass windows, a high, arched ceiling ... very picturesque. For the message, someone read Bishop Steve's address. It was interesting to hear his thoughts on how to be Episcopalean in this place in the future. The reception was at St. Mary's winter chapel/reception hall in Northeast Harbor. They have their heated sanctuary on the first floor and their fellowship hall on the elevator-and-stairway accessible second floor. It is a room with much light and liveliness, and the people who prepared the food and did the welcome were warm and friendly. I loved that they had candy corns as a part of the food - I have wanted a piece of candy corn since I saw them in the stores earlier this fall, but did not want to purchase an entire bag (as I would then eat them all!)

Papa Bear and I took one last drive around Ocean Drive on Friday last. Pictures from it follow these words. We should be at the House on the Creek (where the caretakers there are busy moving out) by the end of the week. It has been a magnficient summer! I am looking forward to being able to return next year!!

Columbus Day Weekend: Before, During and After

We spent the week leading to the Columbus Day weekend cleaning house and shopping and working in the yard. It is a quiet time of year here on the Island and it is really gorgeous this fall.

Baby Bear and Boo Boo came for a long visit, arriving late on Thursday. Friday we hiked the Upper Hadlock Pond Trail, followed by dinner at XYZ Restaurant. The food was flavorful and the fresh limeade was refreshing - tangy yet sweet: just right! Saturday we stayed closer to home. I did a long run. I think I need to eat on these runs as I can do six miles (with water) but more than six is a struggle, so I will have to contemplate how to accomplish some mid-run sustenance. We had dinner at home. Sunday we hiked the Lower Hadlock Pond Trail, which was absolutely lovely. Baby Bear made a wonderful dinner (pork chops, drunken beans, corn). We finally made it to Grumpy's for a late breakfast on Monday, and then Baby Bear and Boo Boo headed home.

This past week we have had rain and wind and frost and the leaves are nearing peak. It is suppose to be in the upper 30's at night this week. We are continuing to try to get everything in place to journey back to the House on the Creek. That departure is coming all-too-quickly, it seems. On Wednesday, we took a break from our work to hike Conner's Nubble, which is on Eagle Lake and near Cadillac Mountain. We saw hillsides turning crimson and gold, blue skies, and sunshine. The day was cool, the people we met smiling. It was a fun experience!! We also took care this week to visit Top of the Hill Restaurant as their last day of operation for this year was Saturday (yesterday).

Last night's sunset (no picture, sorry: we were cooking dinner!) included a sky that was mostly cloud-covered, but there was an area between the horizon and the cloud cover that was only partly cloudy. The in-between clouds were a brilliant pink against a deepening blue sky, and the water on the cove reflected the pink clouds, which made the water a choppy purple. It was really lovely to see.

I have been participating in a Bible study on Thursdays. We meet, and do readings from the Hebrew scriptures, the letters of the apostles, and the Gospels. We read a lesson aloud, then reflect on it silently, and then share a word or phrase of feeling that struck us. We then read it again and after reflection, share what it means to us in the context of community. We move on to the next lesson. At the end, we try to share what we have heard as a whole. Last week, the overall sense was one of hope (these are the lectionary readings for October 24) and one person recalled the Emily Dickinson poem:

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

I love the fact that hope is linked to the soul: both are eternal.

We have tons of pictures! A few are included here. Opening picture of this post is from the Lower Hadlock Pond Trail. Enjoy!

Upper Hadlock Pond Trail
Lower Hadlock Pond Trail
Conner's Nubble

Worship, 17 October 2010

Worship on 17 October 2010 at St. John's the Divine in Southwest Harbor, Maine, was led by the Rev. Anne Mallonee. She talked of the importance of the persistence in prayer, even when things do not change. Prayer, after all, is a conversation with God, and it changes the person making the prayer, who then has the blessing of this change. Prayer allows us to be open to the power of God, to be aware of God's love. It is a way of connecting with positive energy.

She talked of studying the parables by trying to become one of the people in the parable, and looking at what is happening from their point of view. The lesson today was from Luke 18: 1- 8, about the woman who continually pestered the unjust judge until the judge gave her justice. She talked about looking at the parable from the point of view of the woman (a person seeking justice) but then changing to the point of view of the judge. This change in point of view caused her to ask who, then, was the woman? And she felt that perhaps the woman was God: each and every day asking us to be just. God is the most persistent, god is love, and invites us every day to do justice. God asks us to be in relationship, and to be a part of the solution. We simply need to respond when God asks. How we respond will be different for each: for some, we will care for our family; for others, we will make changes in the world at large: each can contribute. We need to know, and understand, what it means to be Jesus in this world, and, with faithfulness and persistence, we can then use our words, our lives, to model this to the world.

As always, the sermon was much more eloquent and cohesive and meaningful than I have presented. These words are what I heard and remembered. The words about this lesson are my interpretation of what was said. The actual words said and ideas presented belong to Rev. Mallonee and were delivered in a manner that was more interesting and likely clearer than what I have shared here.

Worship, 3 October 2010

Worship on 3 October 2010 at St. John's the Divine in Southwest Harbor was led by Debbie Little-Wyman. She talked that someone told her that the best advice for life is to go where it is warm. And, as the days get colder here, I can understand how people might believe that statement. I have not, however, owned that statement for myself as yet. When she talked on the scriptures, she talked of God's mercies, and how they are new for each of us each and every morning. We are lovers and we are loved, and we are all in this together. It is not easy to live in community with others, but we need to open ourselves to this experience, to look for openings and make our lives spiritual adventures. It was a much better lesson than I render here, and left me filled for the week. The words about this lesson are my interpretation of what was said. The actual words said and ideas presented belong to Rev. Little-Wyman and were delivered in a manner that was more interesting and likely clearer than what I have shared here.

Fall colors unfold slowly

Fall colors are unfolding slowly - we are told that we are at light to moderate leaf change. Splashes of color (yellow, oranges, vivid reds) appear amidst the green. Assuming that the winds of last night did not blow all the leaves away and that the anticipated heavy rain this evening does not strip the trees, we should be seeing good color as soon as we have a bit of cold. We have been sleeping with the windows open. The rain is suppose to bring warmer air with it.

Papa Bear has been experimenting with what is called a raw photograph. It is software he has added to his camera from the public domain that allows him to capture and save pictures that have many more pixels, which allows him to produce pictures with range of light details similar to his High Dynamic Range pictures, but the objects in the pictures (water, leaves, clouds) can be moving as only a single image is needed. The sunset picture of this blog is such a picture.

We have been working in the yard as weather permits. We took one day to travel to Ellsworth to look for a saw. We also shopped for groceries at the Hannaford grocery there, which is a super store compared to the Hannaford on the Island: a couple aisles of organic foods, many more no-hormone meats. As we finished putting the groceries we purchased in the car, the skies opened and we were instantly soaked!! We have not seen such a sudden, short and heavy storm here before.

I have been loving my running - hope to do about 6.5 miles on Saturday after the rain stops. Could I run in the rain? Yes, and if I have to, I will, but the rain is suppose to stop by mid-day. I have found that my longer runs require water so I am now carrying water.

I attended a Bible study at St. John's on Thursday afternoon. The group meets for a hour or so. We read the scriptures from the lectionary. The words are read aloud, we reflect, and then share what jumped out to us - a word, a phrase, something we heard. The words are read again, and this time after we reflect, we talk about how the words relate to community - our local community, or a wider community (for example, the world.) At the end, we get to ask questions and discuss possible answers. The process is interesting and makes us responsible for understanding what we are reading and hearing. Several different translations are used and hearing the text with different words causes us to think closely about what we hear.

And a wonderful woman has shared a book with me about worship in the Episcopal Church, so I am learning more about what is done and why it is done. I am so thankful for her gift of this book!

I have been on a baking streak and we have had apple crisp, pumpkin bread pudding, brownies and large oatmeal cookies. I have another brownie recipe I want to try, too.

We are talking about what we need to accomplish before we leave, and anticipating for a visit from Baby Bear and Boo Boo next weekend.

Sunday Worship, 26 September 2010

Forum on Sunday morning was about the upcoming "experiment" of shared pastoral duties among the Island's Episcopal churches and how it will impact St. John's. There will be parish priests in three of the Island's Episcopal churches and a fourth priest, in a part-time position funded by St. John's, who will be a part of the priestly community. The priests are meeting and sharing what is happening in their parishes. The part-time priest from St. John's will be a part of this community, and on some Sundays there will be joint services between parishes, held only at one location (so, for example, on October 24 at 10 a.m., there will be no service at St. John's but instead a joint service at St. Mary's in Northeast Harbor.) The priest from St. Saviour's in Bar Harbor will continue to have office hours at St. John's weekly. The priest funded by St. John's and the priest from Bar Harbor will take turns presiding at each place. These changes are hard for people - words I heard were: "Who do I tell people is my priest?" "Who do I call for counseling/care?" "Will this situation be evaluated and how?"

The Rev. Stephen Hayward presided over worship at St. John the Divine's in Southwest Harbor this Sunday. The scripture lessons were from Jeremiah and Luke (the story of Lazarus). They tell of how we define ourselves in terms of what we have instead of by what we give and what we produce. Jeremiah is a prophet who sees opportunities and possibilities for us to care for each other and for God's creation. Lazarus shows us a reformation of society - he who had nothing is given everything, the nameless one who had everything was given nothing. There is hope for the future, for changes and reformations to happen. We need only be open to it and to live in a contributing manner.

The words about this lesson are my interpretation of what was said. The actual words said and ideas presented belong to Rev. Hayward and were delivered in a manner that was more interesting and likely clearer than what I have shared here.

As changes and reformation are about in the Island's Episcopal churches, and as change is always difficult, it will take their faith and their contributions to make the moves forward.

Leaves are Beginning to Turn

The kayaks are gone from across the cove. The red and yellow hulls leave a void in the area just above high tide. I suspect they disappeared Labor Day weekend, and I have only just now was able to discern what has changed in the view.


Yesterday we went to the Ocean Drive part of the Park Loop Road to catch sight of the waves from Hurricane Igor, some 600 miles off shore. The waves in the cove were small, with tiny white caps tipping seaward: an unusual sight! The waves at Thunder Hole were not what we had seen with the hurricane earlier this summer, but we were at low tide when there this time, so that likely affected what we saw. The crashing and splashing of the waves, the ebb and flow of the water, the multitude of colors that play as a wave gathers in the deep blue, becomes a dark line that moves closer to shore while growing in height, lifting to reveal a smooth pale green sheen that marks the top of the wave just before it begins to break and curl white that then crashes in sun-dazzled foam upon the rocks ... I know of few things better than finding a warm rock on which to sit and allowing oneself to be immersed in this centering environment.


We also saw our first signs of the tree leaves changing color. The bush outside St. John's in Southwest has had a red hue for a couple weeks, but we had not seen any Fall colors on any of the trees. As recently as last Friday, when we traveled to Bar Harbor do to a weekly grocery shopping, there was no hint of Autumn in the leaves of the trees. Yesterday we saw small splashes of color - a limb here, a solitary tree there: just enough to make us notice.


Papa Bear also took a picture of a Northern Gos Hawk (Accipiter gentilis) that landed in the trees just outside our windows, as well as a picture of a gull when we went to see the waves. The gull we had watched move from rock to rock as it evaded the waves. Papa Bear alleges that the hawk arrived to rest after a fierce battle with Ducky, the Creature of Duck Cove ... I was running at the time cannot say more about what happened.

This morning we greeted the day with popovers: not as good a those that Baby Bear makes, but still yummy!

More pictures from Papa Bear follow. His pictures are so amazing. I am grateful that he shares them.

Sunset

I have shared with many how special the cove has been this summer: different levels of water, different levels of light throughout the day. The ongoing, never-ending beauty is never tiring and always restorative. I feel so blessed to have witnessed what I have seen. And we have remarkable sunsets, too. Today, 19 September 2010 (International Talk Like a Pirate Day!), Papa Bear was able to capture the sunset presented to us. I share with you two of his pictures. They are both high dynamic range and show that of which I speak.

Flying Mountain

Saturday, 18 September 2010, was a marvelous day so we went to Flying Mountain for a hike. The hike is categorized as moderate by the guide books and we found the categorization fair. There is a steady somewhat steep climb/scramble up to the low peak, some marvelous views from the top towards Somes Sound and the Western Way, and then a steady and somewhat steep descent to the Valley Cove. Papa Bear took many amazing pictures, a few of which I have shared. We had chicken stew and homemade biscuits for dinner, followed by an apple crisp. It was yummy!

Sunday I had church, Papa Bear paid bills, and then we watched television. I slept a bit, we had a late and easy dinner.

Trail Head	Trail
Western Way - IOD's	Summit
Marker	More trail
Fungi	Rocks
Cliffs	Valley Cove
Trail end

Sunday worship, 19 September 2010

I attended the forum prior to worship this morning at St. John's. It was the first time I had been in the undercroft of the church, and I found this prayer on a bulletin board:

Lord,
When I am hungry, send me someone to feed
When I am thirsty, send me someone who needs a drink
When I am old, send me someone to warm
When I am sad, send me someone to cheer
When I need understanding, send me someone who needs mine
When I need to be looked after, send me someone to care for
When I think only of myself, draw my thoughts to another
So let us pray as though everything depends of God
And work as though God depends on us for everything
Amen.

It did not have an author, but is an amazing prayer, in my opinion.

The forum was led by a person who ministers in a prison in Baltimore, Maryland. He shared that the number one problem for prisoners is the death of a loved one: they are not allowed to leave for funerals, and so the loss of a loved one with no closure is especially difficult. I cannot imagine how challenging his job must be.

The celebrant at worship was the Rev. Lawrence Estey. Scriptures read were Jeremiah 8:18-9:1, Psalm 79:1-9, 1 Timothy 2:1-7, and Luke 16:1-13.

He talked of how disappointed we can be when we entrust something of value to someone else, and then they disappoint us. He talked of how we can often forgive the other if it is someone we love, but how suspicious we are of those with whom we deal commerically: we will change rather than try to understand what happened that caused the disappointment. He, too, used the parable of the prodigal son (not a part of today's readings) in his sermon. He assured us that there is no score keeping allowed. We need to forgive and move on. We need to stop counting our wrongs and simply forgive. And keep on forgiving, for such is the kingdom of God, for such is the Grace of God. Doing so might change a small part of the world. And that might make a huge difference.

The words about this lesson are my interpretation of what was said. The actual words said and ideas presented belong to Rev. Estey and were delivered in a manner that was more interesting and likely clearer than what I have shared here.

During announcements, we learned that there were three strong candidates for the associate rector position at St. John's/on Mount Desert Island. I can only imagine the decision was difficult given the candidates whose names I heard: any choice would have been a great asset to this community of faith. Emily Blair Stribling will be the new associate rector at St. John's, with an island-wide connection to all parishes. And so the experiment here in shared pastoral resources continues. I am sad I will not be here to be a part of it.

Sunday Worship, 12 September 2010

I loved worship at St. John's the Divine in Southwest Harbor, Maine on Sunday, 12 September 2010. The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Bourgeault was the Celebrant, and her sermon was amazing. The scriptures from which she spoke were Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28; Psalm 14, 1 Timothy 1:12-17, and Luke 15:1-10. She also included the parable of the prodigal son, which follows the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin in Luke.

She reminded us that being lost is not the end of the world, for we will be found by God. She talked about the great celebrations in the parables over finding that which was lost, and recalled to us how we, too, after finding something for which we have been searching tend to feel joyous and share our news with someone who is near, how our relationship with that we have found seems more intense than our relationship with all the things for which we have not been searching. She shared that she believes that this joy is what is reflected in Luke 15:7 - that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who have no need to repent. She said this was not so much permission to run amuck and repent as an expression of the special joy we have when something lost is found. She talked of the older son in the parable of the prodigal son and the unfairness he found in the joy of his father with the return of his youngest son. She said when we start to think in terms of fairness, we need to stop: we need to consider why we are feeling that way. She cautioned that hardness of heart is a fatal condition. Jesus is not a teacher of morality but a transformer of consciousness. Jesus wants us to stop and see the world he sees. If we can see it, we can live in this world without distorting it. Jesus is the fulfillment of Ezekiel 36:26: (New International Version (©1984)) "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." She called Christ the Spiritual Cardiologist - an image I love!! With a heart of flesh, we can authentically connect to the world, and to each other. Love is whole, love is seamless and yields joy and fullness. And love is a choice. Exchange of mercy makes manifest the mercy of God.

I so love the idea of Jesus as a Spiritual Cardiologist. To help us forgive ourselves, to help us love ourselves, so that we can live with others. Simply amazing.

The words about this lesson are my interpretation of what was said. The actual words said and ideas presented belong to Rev. Bourgealt and were delivered in a manner that was more interesting and likely clearer than what I have shared here.

Busy week!

It has been a busy week here at the House on the Cove!! We have worked outside on the yard, had people in to fix some things that needed attention, and I attended (via telephone) a meeting in my community at the House on the Creek and also a class at the Alcyon Center in Seal Cove. The class was on the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, a soon-to-be-published translation from the Laconneau tradition. It was an intense day-long experience that required a huge amount of concentration on my part, which I found really tiring. Running has been going well. Yes, I will post about worship last week, which was amazing, but will do that in a separate post (for those who want to ignore those posts.) Our weather is getting cooler (though it is nice during the days - in the 60's!) The Cat, who spent much time away from us for a while, has rejoined us for evenings (she still sleeps by herself during the mornings - she does need her 18 hours of beauty sleep, after all!) We continue to enjoy the water and the cove: one evening at low tide there were many pools plus some ground visible, too, and the rays of the setting sun painted the pools pure gold and gave a lovely view that we had not seen previously. We are savoring our days here.

Cooler temperatures are here ...

We will likely have some warm days between now and the end of our visit here, but this week has been mostly cool. Tuesday we arose late and went seeking a late breakfast/early lunch. We found a couple favorite places closed (owners taking a few days after the season to regroup before the winter) so we tried a new place - Sea Biscuit Cafe. It is, for the fall, open only for lunch. Food was great, wait staff was accommodating and pleasant and given that it was the first day they were open, it was a good meal at a reasonable price.

Upon returning home, Baby Bear and Boo Boo packed to return to their home. Baby Bear and Mama Bear picked more blackberries for them to take with them. Their journey home was uneventful and they kindly let us know that they had arrived home safely. We ate leftovers for dinner that night. Wednesday we spent washing clothes, catching up on cleaning, and resting from our weekend. We had breakfast for dinner. Thursday was errands-out day as we did our grocery shopping and other tasks. I had book club last evening and they again kindly put up with my having to connect and reconnect. I am learning better how to keep the connection active and tried to be more participative last evening. My biggest frustration thus far is when someone will start a story and I will lose the audio as they get to the conclusion. Argh!! We did our usual analysis of the book, and laughed along the way, so much so that Papa Bear reported that he could hear us laughing (he was downstairs, I was upstairs). Today we have gone searching for berries at the Farmer's Market (no luck) and mailed a package. We had the broken window replaced today, and the repair person has a suggestion for how to replace a missing piece of trim on another window. We have a few more things to do here to the cottage and are slowly working on them. We are having a lazy day on this cool and cloudy day and are considering hiking to the fire tower on Beech Mountain or hiking Flying Mountain tomorrow, when it is suppose ot be sunny and warm. We will make chicken enchiladas with green chile enchilada sauce this evening: yum!!

We asked Boo Boo for his recipes and since he is a person who cooks by seasoning and tasting, he has given us his best guesses, so we will be trying some of his recipes in the not-too-distant future. We LOVE the way he cooks!!

It is amazing how quickly the time here has passed so quickly.

Labor Day: Beech Mountain Cliffs

Labor Day was much calmer wind-wise so we decided to hike the Beech Mountain Cliffs trail with Baby Bear and Boo Boo. We took the short-and-easy way up and did the loop that provides great views of The Ducks (islands beyond the Cranberries in the Atlantic), the mountains to the east (St. Sauveur, Acadia, and those on the other side of Somes Sound), Echo Lake, and the far end of Somes Sound. The views, for the hike effort, are amazing. We then took the longer way back to the parking area going towards the Canada Cliffs area before turning back to the parking area.

Boo Boo had been marinating honey curry chicken since Sunday and cooked it on the grill for us after we returned from our hike. He made (on the stove) green beans with beans, roasted red peppers, garlic, and seasonings. Boo Boo has many wonderful qualities and among them is that he is a fabulous cook. We devoured his dinner. Papa Bear made a batch of pineapple sorbet that we had after dinner had settled. Papa Bear and Boo Boo watched baseball and football; Baby Bear and Mama Bear played on their computers and read.

Pictures are courtesey of Papa Bear and are from our hike: views to the Duck Islands, of the Beech Mountain Cliffs, and of the top of Somes Sound.

Being Prepared (Sunday Worship)

Mama Bear worshiped again at St. John's the Divine in Southwest Harbor. The Rev. Alice Downs was the celebrant. Today we did not hear the names of those who died in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts this past week. Perhaps there was no one who died. Perhaps they have stopped with the names because the Iraq conflict is concluded. I do not know, but rather missed the opportunity to pray for those serving our nation in this way, and to pray for wise, just and merciful world leaders to help us move to living in peace with others.


The sermon today was based on Luke 14:25-33. With all the preparations everyone here was urged to do for Hurricane Earl last week, Rev. Downs reminded us that Jesus, too, taught about being prepared. She shared a story from Katrina - a long and good friend of hers lived in New Orleans, and they believed in being prepared. So when the call came to evacuate New Orleans prior to Katrina, they grabbed their always-packed evacuation suitcase, their cache of documents and cash, and moved to their much-farther-inland motel: the mother, the father, the two daughters, the two cats, and the six carrier pigeons (pets of one of the daughters.) The storm was horrific, but after it passed, they checked out of their motel and began to press homeward. They had a chain saw, and they would drive down a road until they were stopped by a felled tree. They would cut it, move it, and press homeward. They did this repeatedly and became tired, but kept moving. At last they came to Baton Rouge, where they found they could go no further. There was no place to stay, so they were living in their car: the mother, the father, the two daughters, the two cats, and the six carrier pigeons. They would take turns going to a nearby fast food restaurant to clean as best they could in the restroom, get something eat, sit in the air conditioning a bit, and then they would return to their car. After several days of these activities, the manager of shop came to them. He looked at them, and asked, "Are you evacuees?" They said they were. He said, "I don't think you should come to this place any more." After a pause, he continued, "I think you should come to my home." And he closed the shop and took them home: the father, the mother, the two daughters, the two cats and the six carrier pigeons. They lived with this man and his wife until they could return to their own home in New Orleans. They were prepared for a storm. They were not prepared for this man's generosity. The woman tells of this event changing her life. And Rev. Downs wondered how many of us are prepared to offer God's love in the way this restaurant owner did, and how many of us are prepared to receive God's love when it is offered to us. Jesus tells us to be prepared for this type of gift - to give it and to receive it. It was a powerful and sobering sermon and provided much for Mama Bear to ponder.

The words about this lesson are my interpretation of what was said. The actual words said and ideas presented belong to Rev. Downs and were delivered in a manner that was more interesting and likely clearer than what I have shared here.


After worship, Mama Bear used her Droid-X to take a few pictures - of the flowers, which she learned today are provided by a man on the Island who is not a member of this family of faith but who loves it and so grows and then cuts and arranges the flowers each week, as well as a picture of the crane mobile, representing homes for peace throughout the world.

More after Earl Adventures

Papa Bear and Mama Bear continue to enjoy having Baby Bear and Boo Boo visiting. Boo Boo made us blueberry flan that is creamy and light with a definite blueberry flavor: a huge YUM!!! Boo Boo also helped us resolve the purpose of two light switches that seemed to be connected to nothing: they are, in fact, both connected to one outlet that Papa Bear and Mama Bear do not seem to use often as heretofor we could not determine their purpose. Tonight we played a girls vs. boys Trivial Pursuit game, which the boys won.


As I mentioned yesterday, we went to Seawall, a rocky area of the coast, just before Earl left this area. This cloud was amazing to watch as we observed the waves splashing and the southwestern horizon becoming blue and then spreading to the northeast as Earl departed.


Later in the day, when we went to the Ocean Drive area of the Park Loop Road, where we saw much larger crashing and splashing waves. Given the number of pictures we took as a group, and the number of people I saw there taking pictures, I confess I am a bit curious how many will be published to the web in some manner. I will likely never know, but I suspect it is a rather large number.


Today it was windy - much windier than had been predicted, and it was blowing in just the right direction to push water into the cove with such force that we had real white caps on our normally quiet cove. It was also much colder than recent days: we closed ALL the windows today.

We took time this afternoon to visit the Bass Harbor Head Light. The views from the shore yield two channel buoys as well as the light house. We have noticed in our travels that harbors are emptier as owners pulled their boats from the water or moved them to safer harbors.

Pictures today are courtesy of Papa Bear. The Bass Harbor Head Light picture is an HDR picture.