Bobbing Fog

The fog has been bobbing on the cove for several days now: at times we cannot see the near shore for the fog's all-encompassing grey nothingness and yet minutes later we will be able to see the far shore through a thin mist, but cannot see the sun nor the sky. If we had need of sunshine or sky, often we would only need to drive a short distance to find them. Bar Harbor, for example, has been sunny these past few days. On some days, Southwest would be sunny, too. I need to be mindful of this situation, so that I remember to take my sunglasses when we go out in the car, in case we find a bit of sun. Today it is both foggy and gently raining, a delightful combination.

I am happy to report that new detector devices are working well and that cooking is happening in blissful silence.


Yesterday Mama Bear arose early and did her walk/run and then we went to the Flamingo Festival and Parade in Southwest. It was delightful! We took our new chairs, which I think will work better at a concert than at a parade where people crowd to the street to catch the candies thrown from the floats. Mama Bear purchased a pink balloon and made a mental note to obtain a hot pink shirt for next year. The Friends of Acadia marched, playing their wheelbarrows, rakes, and shovels. There were pink flamingos everywhere. The Southwest Polo and Yacht Club, which exists to host one event in the Festival (but has no other meetings or duties during the year) was present. We walked among the various booths near the Harbor House and near St. John's. A smattering of pink parade pictures appears at the end of this blog entry. After the parade, we purchased bread to be served with dinner. We were home in time to get our mail from the Post Office (which closes at 11:30 a.m. on Saturdays.) We watched the Tour de France and the Boston Red Sox and did a bit of reading. In the evening we watched the PBS shows Mama Bear had recorded.

We have also been shopping online: there are so many things we have trouble locating here that we can find quite easily online. I do not know if it is that we do not know where find these items here or that the items are unavailable here. I find I have limits about how far I want to drive to find something and how much time I am willing to put into it. Yes, quests are fun, but for me there are limits, too.

This morning, Mama Bear went to church, again at St. John the Divine in Southwest. The congregation, without a full-time priest, is undertaking a capital campaign. It is interesting to observe this congegration at work: I love the responsibility the laity is taking for leading worship, talking about their ministry, and carrying it out. Today the sermon was led by the Reverend Jonathan Appleyard from Bar Harbor (he shared time with two members of the congregation). My take on the sermon was the importance of being a neighbor (from the Good Samaritan story in Luke). The word neighbor has its roots in a word that means "be near." And that is what we humans are called to do: to be near each other, for when we are near each other in genuine and authentic ways, we not only minister to others, but have them minister to us, sometimes unknowingly. And that presence to each other provides grace - to both parties. I did not stay for the post-worship reception, but perhaps I need to make a practice of attending it.

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

We have discovered we have missed the Moxie Festival, which was this weekend. I am beginning to think that there are too many festivals to attend them all. We also understand that raspberries are now in season (early this year), so we will have to watch for them.

We are having philly cheese steak sandwiches tonight, so after worship we went to the store to get bread for them, plus a few other items that were on the list. We have watched the Tour de France, the Red Sox and are now watching the World Cup game and reading.

*TWO* Strawberry Seasons!!

Have I mentioned that the local strawberry crop is producing at the moment? The strawberries are lovely in size, shape, color and oh, so, sweet!! We had our traditional May local strawberry season at the House on the Creek and are loving the season here, too. Though this day has dawned into light fog and mist, it is suppose to become partly sunny and warm later. We are hoping to make strawberry sorbet later today with the wonderful machine given us by Baby Bear and Boo Boo: the strawberries have been prepared, the lemons squeezed, the container is in the freezer; all we need to do is mix and chill and put it into the machine.

Dinner last night was stuffed green peppers - very yummy and followed with a fresh apple tart from Little Notch Bakery in Southwest (you really need to visit their website: I wonder how long it has been in that state! :-) . Today will be a chicken dish of some type, with some fresh broccoli. (I love broccoli!)


I cannot decide if I like the cove best at low tide, at high tide, or in between. At low tide I can see the features of the bottom of the cove - mostly mud, rocks and sea weed, and the gulls visit then, too. At high tide I experience the fullness of the cove and feel the spirit of the water more strongly. In between, I taste the transient nature of this world and, in a peaceful calm manner, can accept the ongoing change therein.

We continue to watch the World Cup matches and are sometimes watching the Canadian station for their local news programs, too, especially since the G8 and G20 have been meeting there recently. We think that local advertising, both on the Canadian station and on the Maine stations (though particularly on the Canadian station), is much gentler than we experience in United States national ad campaigns, the latter of which tend to be, in our experience, rather in-your-face. Perhaps local advertising at the House on the Creek is also gentler, but our memory is that it tends to mimic more the US national advertisements. The Canadian ads are just softer in some way. And there is a wonderful ad for the Maine Lottery that has a "La La" song singing in our heads all days: far more upbeat than the tired fairy princess used sometimes in Virginia Lottery advertising who constantly seems to be confronting problems. Perhaps our country would be kinder and gentler on a whole if we turned the advertising back a notch or ten or twelve.


No idea on plans for today. We may open a local bank account, and the wrapping did not happen yesterday, so we will have to try to get that done sometime. I also want to stop by the library in Southwest sometime to see if there is a book club that is open to summer members.

News articles found online from the House on the Creek are that it may take weeks to completely clean all the debris from last Thursday's storm, and that there are people there (in an area with temperatures and humidity levels have both run in the 90's each day of late) still without power. Not a good situation.

Rainy days and foggy days

We seem to be having a foggy/rainy day followed by a sunny/mostly sunny day this week. It is also delightfully cool (sorry people at the House on the Creek and its environs, where we understand it is hot, hot, hot.)

We have been window-shopping for things of late - looking for bicycles (I saw a really nice carbon fiber model that is out of our price range but, as I said, was very nice), some furniture and kitchen equipment for the cottage to make it easier to live here instead of visit here, and just to explore the area a little. The Cat does not mind our being out as long as we come back before her dinner time. Papa Bear now understands my plan for the proposed bedroom furniture arrangement. We are square with the post office and receiving mail at our box there. I also saw a really cool pink Vespa scooter ...

We are still trying different grocery stores to find what we want. Tried a local organic store today - they will give me a 10% discount when I bring them $100.00 worth of receipts from there (and gave me an envelope in which to save the receipts!) Hormone-free beef is still proving a challenge to find (and expensive when we find it.) Perhaps I will suggest it at the general-purpose grocery store we have visited and see what they can do, but I suspect that as Maine is not a beef-growing state, it may be more difficult to find here than at the House on the Creek. Chicken and fish are abundant, but I love the occasional burger.

We saw a deer swim the cove today - the first time I have seen that happen (and the first time I have seen a deer on the Island.)

The house at the end of the road has chickens and ducks (and ducklings). We have learned to enter the road VERY slowly to accommodate whomever might be in the midst of crossing the road.

We love the flowers - the rhododendron are blooming profusely, as are the lilacs and lupine.

We are avoiding the traffic backups in town that are due to construction by taking back roads when we can. It is interesting to note that construction work continues on rainy days: they do what they can in the season they are given to work.

There is a primary election here next Tuesdsay. The commercials thus far are very civil and each candidate seems to talk about what they will do instead of how bad someone else is. I like this positive approach to campaigning.

Am including some more pictures. The fog picture shows our visibility across the cove late today. The lobster buoys were found on the beach after a storm last year. One of our guests found them and hung them beneath the porch. The fact that they were found here attests to lost income for someone - the traps to which the buoys were attached are at the bottom of the ocean someplace off shore. The garden shed is used to keep the tools for the garden a neighbor has each summer. It was more simple when we first began coming here but received this major renovation (it is so cute!) within the last few years. The remaining pictures are more flower pictures. I think we need to get a picture of a rhododendron, too! Maybe tomorrow ...

Fog view across cove	Lobster buoys
Garden Shed	Lilacs
Lupines	Seaweed