Maine was great.....wet but great.....

It was wonderful to be in Maine....to smell the ocean, to hear the ocean, to BE in the ocean....  It was lovely to spend time with Debbie and of course she was as generous as always----she adopted Ricky as another nephew for the week.  I waved to my father's hometown of Rochester for Mrs. Chicken as I went by and I splashed in the Atlantic for her and ate some lobster for my mother.  It was great.....but I have to admit it would have been nice if it hadn't rained every day we were there.  I mean it didn't rain ALL day so I did get enough sun one day to burn my shoulders and back enough to rationalize not wearing a bra for the rest of the week which was pleasant (for me).

 

The house.....well...uh, I don't think we'll be renting it again. It was just minutes from the beach and had an upstairs deck that looked over the water and God knows it's one of those location, location, location things.  However one would think that a house that sleeps six people would also seat six people somewhere.  No, there were two tables with two chairs each but one was regular height and one was bar height so you couldn't combine them.  There WAS a table outside that sat more but then again....there was the rain thing....I think we managed to have dinner there two nights the whole time we were there.  Our bedroom had a queen bed shoved in the room so tightly that it was surrounded by wall on three sides with about a foot and a half on the fourth side.  The screen was duct taped in the window and there was a bare light bulb overhead.  Yeah.

Oh, and I knew there was a washer and not a dryer and I figured that would be fine---there was a clothes line---we could dry things on that......oh, but remember all that rain?  By the end of the week we were having a hard time finding anything that wasn't damp much less sopping wet.

Oh, and then Ricky was sick for a day, I couldn't figure out if Leo felt sick or was just being his curmudgeonly self, Owen had diarrhea, developed a horrid cough and finished things up with an ear infection for the ride home.

Yeah.  It sounds like I am complaining and I'm not....really....it was great....just not exactly as I might have wished....

When I saw Leo in this hole he had dug all I could think of was Whac-A-Mole....

 

I love Maine however and it was great to be there.  I celebrated my birthday there (thanks Don for the birthday wishes) and got treated to a classic meal of lobster and steamers prepared by my sister.  I cooked a bit.  Made a good meal of grilled swordfish with sauteed peppers and garlic on top, a side of watermelon and tomato salad with smoked sea salt and Danny Kaye's lemon pasta from Ruth Reichl's book which I was in the midst of.  Pretty great if I do say so myself.  The next night I sauteed shrimp with smoked paprika, garlic, cherry tomatoes and lots of olive oil.  Served it with nice bread and also wrapped some beautiful scallops in prosciutto and grilled them....with a bit of lemon juice they were GREAT.  Good ingredients sure do help.  Made a few other things that I can't remember so I guess they weren't as good but it was fun. 

The ice cream truck even drove by.  Ricky recovered from his sick bed to race out and stop it....

I think this was the first time in over thirty years that I went to Maine and did not step foot in an antique shop.  It made me feel almost guilty.  Money was tight though and time seemed to be tight too so we didn't even try to tempt ourselves.  Assuming we do this next year I do need to plan a day away for Ernie and me and maybe Debbie and me.  Debbie is more than generous and told us we could take off anytime but somehow it didn't work so next year we need to plan ahead....that's the only way it will happen.

 

I hated to leave despite the rain and the house but the boys were homesick.  Owen told me he thought it might be the homesickness that was making him cough.

My favorite moments.....let's see.  The day we had breakfast on the beach complete with hard boiled eggs (my grandmother always made hard boiled eggs for beach picnics).  Exploring the beach at low tide, watching little crabs scuttle along.  Losing a few years of my life as I watched the boys bound fearlessly over the rocks. Sitting and watching the surf on the rocks at Two Lights.  Bobbing in the waves with everybody.  Owen taking me on a walk around Camp Ellis for my birthday present and talking nonstop all the way, periodically pausing to say, "I'm talking a lot, aren't I?" Watching Debbie prepare lobsters just like my Grandpa did. Buying fresh seafood at Bayley's lobster pound. Watching Leo jump over the waves. All in all....a wonderful time.