A Winter Hike

Yesterday the thermometer barely broke 10 degrees. Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the 40’s and raining all day.. so the forecast today, sunny and a high of 23 degrees made it seem like a great day to be outside! Our friend and former colleague, Megan, joined us for a hike around the property where we live and work. The outer loop is between 3 and 4 miles, and includes segments through the woods as well as along the shoreline. A hike is a wonderful way to connect with people during the ongoing covid experience.

We had a lot of catching up to do a lot of time has passed since we last enjoyed one another’s company. Every once in a while, one of us would stop and say “Check this out” just so we did not miss the beautiful scenes surrounding us as we walked and conversed.

Robinhood Cove

The afternoon slipped by quickly, and the light began to fade.

moon slightly visible through the branches

As the sun dipped below the horizon, the moon became apparent through the trees. This is when I wish that I had an actual camera. The moon was quite spectacular from this location.

Frozen brook

The frozen brook is a testament to just how cold it has been the last day or two. Thank goodness for wood stoves!

We concluded the hike and said our farewells. In other times, we surely would have invited Megan to stay for dinner, but we will just need to wait for a better time when we can do that sort of thing without increasing our level of anxiety.

We made our way back to our little cottage and put the water on for tea and shared a piece of cinnamon bread that I made yesterday. That could be a post of it’s own, but maybe I will just put a pic of the bread with this post.. this recipe is definitely a keeper!

Yummy!

And that brings us to the close of my first post for 2022. Happy New Year!

Home Sweet Home – we love to explore all that Maine has to offer, but it is always nice to come home!

A view of Robinhood Cove from Todd’s Landing

Looking forward to moving to our home in Phippsburg in the spring is an exciting prospect, and yet, slightly bittersweet. We have been living in Georgetown for the past four years, and have found it to be a beautiful location, and we have made some good friends here. We found our way here by responding to an advertisement that we saw on the website Working Couples back in 2017. The heading for the ad was “Island Farm Caretakers” – it sounded like a perfect fit, and it has been a wonderful chapter in our lives!

Reid State Park

Maine is known for its rocky coast, but there are beaches as well. Georgetown is fortunate to have one of the nicest ones, and it is within biking distance from where we live.

Five Islands from Ledgemere Preserve

There are a number of hikes on preserved land on the island. This shot was taken at a small, quiet one at Five Islands, an easy bike ride from home – when we are really ambitious, it is a nice walk from home.

Loring Conant Preserve

If we head further out on North End Rd, we come to the Loring Conant Preserve which has a nicely maintained trail of just over a mile. There is a spur trail which leads to a lookout spot pictured above. This shot is from our most recent visit, just earlier this week. The view looks out over Goose Rock Passage which connects Robinhood Cove with the Sheepscot River, a very busy thoroughfare during boating season as it is the route from Robinhood Marina to the ocean. It is fun to sit here in the summer and watch the boats come and go.

Sunset from the deck

My grandson who is just 4 1/2 complained this past summer that our driveway is too long. it is nearly a mile and a half to get from the road to the cottage that we live in during the summer, but it is totally worth it! We get to keep tabs on what is happening on Robinhood Cove – seals, osprey, blue herons, loons, fishing boats… and wonderful sunsets!

Robinhood Cove on a sunny fall afternoon

I was moving firewood with the tractor a couple of weeks ago when I paused to take stock of my surroundings.. life is good in Georgetown , Maine!

Summer has Drawn to an End!

I probably do not have to mention that this has been a crazy summer. Quite honestly, we have been fortunate to be living in our little bubble on the end of Georgetown Island with minimal impact aside from very limited time with friends and family.

And now the fall colors are emerging, and we have a little time to reflect on the highlights of summer. We are also back in our winter cottage where we have internet – enabling me to return to my blog after a very long absence!

The image at the top is one of the many beautiful sunsets we got to enjoy this summer. The added highlight, and this is by no means something small, was that for some yet to be explained reason, we had very few mosquitoes and ticks this year. Georgetown is known for its mosquitoes, and the ticks have been a menace the past three summers, but this year we were rarely chased inside by the hordes of mosquitoes that are typical.

Work on the house in Phippsburg has progressed – always a little slower than we would like, but it has been a busy summer! We got a deck built before lumber prices went sky high 🙂

lots more shingles to install but this gives the impression of what things will look like in the future.

Another highlight of the summer was that we got our boat in the water after it sat for 6 years in PA. We were treated to a whale surfacing off our stern during our second voyage, and we sailed to Boothbay Harbor and to Damisarcove Island.

heading out to sea …

lunch in the cockpit at Damariscove Island

path along the shore at Damariscove Island

did i mention some spectacular sunsets from our porch???

one new aspect to this summer was that I got a part time job at the local marina. My first assignment there was to build some docks. we got this set of three docks in place just before…

…this guy arrived!

most of the summer I worked on the fuel dock where I got to meet some great people.

It was a wonderful summer in many ways, but we are certainly yearning for the carefree pre-covid times when enjoying gatherings of friends was the norm.

And now on to the fall!

Not a quiet Winter

We have not had much snow in Georgetown so far this winter, but last weekend a storm swept through the area and left its mark.  The wharf looks pretty quiet, but there are still a few lobster boats in the harbor, and we have enjoyed some wonderful gatherings with folks from town.   Tomorrow is the monthly community pot luck at the Community Center which is just down the road.   And, the Tuesday night open mic  event has started again at the Robinhood Meeting House.  So, we are not lacking for things to do!

We still go to the beach from time to time – even when it snows…  and so do the crazy surfers! 

It was really cold at the beach –  like  -10  wind chills, but on the way to take this picture, we passed some cars with surfboards laying by them and folks inside trying to warm up.

 The tide was out, but the surf was pretty whipped up – I bet they had a good time.   We only lasted about 10 minutes before heading back to the car!

 

And, after dreaming about a house in Maine  since we bought land in Phippsburg back in 2014, we decided to bite the bullet and charge forward.    For the past few years, we have been gradually clearing a spot for a house, but  now the big machines have moved in.  It is amazing how much can be done  quickly with the right tools.

if the weather cooperates,  we may have a foundation in before the town closes the roads to heavy vehicles –  an annual event when the ground starts to thaw and the roads begin to heave.  The truck ban can last a month or so.   We have our fingers crossed.    At some point in the future, I will take a picture of the house which should look something like this

we will  see!   keep posted.

 

 

 

Goodbye Summer 2018

One of the projects that I worked on this past summer was this deck in the front of the cottage that we all home – at least for the summer… We have actually had a number of  mosquito-less mornings and evenings to enjoy on the deck..   but just last week we began the move from this cottage to the one where we will be spending the winter.. our second in Georgetown.

During the past few weeks we have enjoyed the opportunity to get on our road bikes  Our first ride was to Reid state park.  it is just 6 miles away, the the distance suited us just fine for the time of day that we left.   I did not have my phone on the ride, so no pics to share.  But we did get to explore the Todd’s point beach for the first time.. it is about a mile beyond the beach that is closer to the park entrance.

Our second ride was the park loop road at Acadia.. we took a day trip up to Mt Desert to visit our friends at the Mt Desert Campground.   It was a beautiful day and so enjoyable to visit for former colleagues there.   The ride around the loop is about 22 miles… It was crowded – and traffic was heavy till we got beyond Thunder Hole.. but after that the roadway was pretty easy to negotiate… These are some pics from that ride…

we had a packed lunch along with us, and stopped at this turnout to eat…

We have so many fond memories of the 3 seasons that we spent working at Mt Desert Campground…   a beautiful spot to live and to play!

Our most recent cycling trip was on Westport Island..  the tip of the island is only a mile or so away from where we live..  but it is about a 45 minute drive to get there by car.   We decided to park at Norm’s used car sales and to ride from there..   that made it about a 22 mile drive.    Westport Island is off of rt 1 near Wiscasset.. you really will only end up there if you are intending to go there..  it is a quite town with very few businesses, so the traffic was fairly light compared with the road down to Georgetown.   It was a great afternoon.. beautiful weather..  nice road surface..  a perfect ride.    We met some folks along the way – talked about life on Westport Island..  and even made plans to return the following Monday evening for  pizza at the  Squire TarBox Inn!    I have just a couple of pics from the ride..

a beautiful example of New England architecture..

and a place to buy our next pie…

Some of the other pics that I took did not turn out so well…   the  pizza on Monday night was delicious..  there was a band playing some blues music , and a nice crowd of locals who obviously appreciate the opportunity to have a place to socialize on what is otherwise a very quiet island..

Another trip that we took recently was to Monhegan Island.. this was not a trip for bikes, but rather, an opportunity to do some great hiking..   A few years ago I posted about a trip to Monhegan with some students…  this was Janet’s first visit.   The weather report called for a foggy morning  which would clear with sunny skies by afternoon..  that never happened, but it was perfectly ok.. we enjoyed  the mystique that began with a 10 mile boat ride through the fog.. to land on this small island, known for its appeal to artists..    it is certainly an experience!

this is a shot looking down on the landing.. there is a great little cafe there  where we got a sandwich and soup while waiting for the boat on our return…

we headed out on what I suspect is the typical hiking pattern of a counter clockwise direction around the island.. 

the hiking is great.. lots of cliffs on the east side of the island..  it can be pretty dramatic..

we made it a good way around the island and then headed back to the village via the Cathedral Woods trail..   we picked this one because it is known for its fairy houses..

it is so neat to see the creativity that folks put into their creations…

On the way back, the boat captain took us close to some shoals where seals like to  rest on the rocks..   we saw a bunch of them… and then we filled out a customer satisfaction survey on the boat, lured by the prospect of winning a free trip.. which we never win..  except, wait.. Janet Thatcher.. yup.. she won.. looks like we will be heading back next year!

I just took this photo yesterday..  the light of summer is gone… fall is definitely in the air, even though we still have a number of beautiful days ahead of us… we know what is coming, and it is time to prepare..  maybe a little more wood for the stove ( there are still some standing dead oaks around)   putting the summer clothes in bins and getting the warmer ones out… finishing up some painting projects while we still have some warm air…  all in all,  Life is good in Maine!      comments or questions?     email me at   cp23_1983@yahoo.com

The first Spring Weekend!

Here is a sure sign that spring has arrived on Georgetown Island!   It is  also confirmation that our time spent last fall  digging and planting bulbs was very well spent..     What joy a simple daffodil can bring to one’s spirit after a long, snowy winter!

We were fortunate to be able to spend this weekend in a number of constructive ways..   spending time  performing actual work around the property is certainly rewarding, and we accomplished some of that..   walking  the trails is another, and we did that last evening as the sun was setting..

Riding our bikes to Reid State Park was another..  How cool is it that we can ride our bikes to the ocean.   It is about an 11 mile round trip ride..    and totally worth it..

we are looking forward to swimming here this summer… well, at least one of us is looking forward to that..

it is also a great  place to take a picnic lunch..

or to just go and sit on the rocks and watch the surf..

This evening we took advantage of  the calm waters of  Robinhood Cove  and spent some time kayaking – this was our first outing here in kayaks.   It was a very different look than our beach day yesterday, but just as beautiful …

There were lots of  loons out and about…

 but I need to take an actual camera next time so that I can zoom in on them better…

 these are the bones of an old schooner that was left to rot in the mud many years ago..  apparently, a common practice when a ship had worn out its usefulness.   This one is just a short distance up the cove from where we are living…

headed back home  as the mist begins to settle on the water…

Yesterday we  also enjoyed come community spirit at the  monthly potluck dinner that is held at the community center just down the road… what a great way to get to meet our neighbors..

and to top it all off, after we stopped at the  town dump… or transfer station as it is now called,  we headed out to  Kennebec Point Road  to see if we could see eagles ( acting on  a tip that we got from a friend at the dinner last night)  and we were delighted to spot 6 of them!   Something tells me that we will be visiting that spot on a regular basis in the future…     That just might be the destination for our next bike ride.

All in all, it was a  productive and fun packed weekend..  with all that life has to offer, who has time for work????

 

Is Spring Here?

We have experienced a few warm days and the sun is certainly climbing higher in the sky each day..  but last night it snowed ..  so,  is it really time for spring in Georgetown?    Even though there are still patches of snow in the deep shadows, there are indisputable signs that winter has lost its grip.  

Just the other day, I noticed this flowers popping up around some new apple trees that we planted last fall.    We also planted a couple hundred bulbs, and these were the first to show themselves.

 I took this photo this afternoon –  a very shady spot that is holding on, but which won’t last too many more days…

And  this is  the most surprising thing that we spotted today..   our first snake of the season!

it was a beautiful day today, and actually, the sun felt nice and warm..  I guess this fellow thought so too!    Yup.. spring is here!

 

We took advantage of the nice day and joined some neighbors  to do some community service by doing trail maintenance on the trail that we hiked last week which is located behind the Historical Society in Georgetown.  There were quite a few trees down on the trail, and some significant clean up was in order ..  always more fun when sharing the workload with friends…    here is a pic of Janet on the bridge which marks the end of the Georgetown trail and the beginning of the  Josephine Newman Audubon Sanctuary.    We are so fortunate to have access to the outdoors through many  preserves on the island..  lots more exploring to do this year..

After we finished our trail work this morning, we shared some cookies with our friends before saying goodbye and returning home for a lunch of left over pizza, and then we put the boots back on and set out to do trail work here  at home..   Lots of trees came down here as well, so there was plenty of chainsaw work to be done – and some still remains for another day.      After dinner we were treated to a spectacular sunset…  What a great way to spend a Saturday in Georgetown!