A Taste of Maine (August 2013)

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A Taste of Maine

First and foremost – lobsters galore: steamed lobster, clear-meat lobster rolls, fried lobster, lobster newburg, lobster casserole, baked stuffed lobster, lobster stew, lobster macaroni & cheese and even lobster donuts; lobsters any which way you can imagine and all sweet, meaty and delicious. We are steadily working our way through the summer lobster harvest. Maine lobsters are a reason to come to Maine and many ‘out-of-staters’ do just that!

We wake every morning to the sound of loon’s on Garry’s Pond. Some mornings we go for a walk around the lake (Joan the full walk of 10km and Greg partway and back). Other mornings we go for a swim. And some mornings we go out for breakfast – large fluffy pancakes covered in real Maple Syrup with sides of hash browns, bacon and sausage.

Our days are spent hanging out at Garry’s Pond (also known as Middle Rang Pond) reading and sun-bathing and watching the water-skiers. At one of the houses on the opposite shore the owner has his own sea-plane . Greg has played golf twice – once with his mother (9 good holes, 9 bad holes) and once with his brother (13 good holes, 5 bad holes). We have visited Portland, Maine’s largest and most-cosmopolitan city, for an award-winning lobster roll and a second time for a wonderful meal in an old converted Methodist Church. We also went to the Portland City Blue Jazz Club and heard some young local musicians – a quintet with trumpet and trombone playing all original songs and a trio playing standards. We have also done some ‘mall-shopping’, a much-loved American pastime.

Garry’s house is in Poland Spring opposite the world-famous Poland Spring Inn and Resort. Last night we went up after an early dinner to hear a local finger-pickin guitarist, Jim Gallant, play some bluegrass and Americana songs in the All Souls Chapel, originally built in 1912 and recently renovated. We were served cookies and soft drinks at a nearby museum called the Maine State Building that was originally built for the 1893 Columbia Exposition in Chicago for commemorate the 400^th anniversary of Columbus’ arrival.

While the pace of life here is relaxed and even tranquil – the Poland Spring Inn considers itself a ‘Stress Free Zone’ – we are very busy and never seem to have enough time to do all that we want to do. And Greg is continually buying the local newspapers and magazines and finding even more things to do, (such as a two-day jazz festival in Stonington that was just to remote to attend; the Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland); even more places to visit (there are a seemingly infinite number of cute small coastal towns as well as former mill-towns further inland that are reinventing themselves); even more restaurants to eat at (and my mother has a list that includes some we didn’t get to last year).

We are thoroughly enjoying our stay at Garry’s lake and hope to go kayaking tomorrow (after a big breakfast) and then visit the lovely towns of Bath and Brunswick for lunch and a walk-around (Bath still has three independent bookstores), the Art Museum at Bowdoin College has an interesting exhibition of Maine artists, then on to Freeport and LLBean’s for more lobster! And if we don’t get all that done tomorrow we can always do it later!

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