Mid Winter Fun
The days are getting longer…we came out of the movies the other night at 5:00 and it was still daylight for the drive home. This is lovely news, mostly because the sunrises and the sunsets are still at very easy to accommodate times…roughly around 6:30AM and 5:30PM. It’s been a quiet week of computer work and regular chores. In this post I’ve purposefully included lots of links that will be useful if you’re looking for more to do while you visit…this would definitely qualify as “off the beaten path” travel.
This week we drove out to Unity and rode the Belfast & Moosehead Lake train to Thorndike. It was a lovely Valentine’s treat complete with handmade heart garlands, a lovely dinner of local foods & wines, shopping local crafts and a great group of people who came as much for the community as for the music and libations. The B&M Lake Railroad has celebrated 150 years in service and is now a completely volunteer driven organization. For our Valentine trip, they partnered with the Thorndike Mill and created a memorable evening for everyone…we even got to catch up with our friends Wendy and Robert Esposito from Unity Pottery Not only are the volunteers creating specialty themed train trips but they also offer railcycle rides in the summer…check it out and we’ll help you plan a day trip that includes the train, Unity pottery and if you’re lucky enough to coordinate all of this on a Wednesday, homemade raised doughnuts from the Amish Community store. Here are a few pictures and if you’d like to see more, check out our facebook post here.
On Sunday we went down the coast to Cushing to help a friend prepare her artwork for the Ogunquit Museum of American Art. We’ve been lucky enough to spend time with the incredible Katharine Cobey over the years…she guides our choices in Fiber College and life in general. To assign labels to this incredible woman is like trying to box the wind but the labels that apply to her work are poet, knitter, spinner and keen feminist. While Steven found all the necessary documents in her computer (like bios, descriptions, installation notes and images), I went to her studio and helped pack the artwork and armatures into crates to be picked up later this week. Boy, I had no idea it was all so complicated and I was glad for the experience. It helped that the day was a sparkling one and after a lovely stew and polenta lunch, we took our leave and found ourselves in Rockland just in time for the Stan & Ollie movie at the Strand.
We got a wonderful storm Tuesday night and all day Wednesday so I close with Valentine’s wishes of happy and cozy weeks ahead. For us that means snowshoeing, spinning, bread making and maybe more movies (Sunday’s movie reminded me of how much I love seeing the big screen) and we have four awesome, independent movie theaters close by. Let me end by giving you these websites to add to your list of things to do while visiting Searsport (just in case of fog, drizzle or need for a bucket of popcorn in a dark comfortable room): the Alamo in Bucksport, the Colonial in Belfast, the Strand in Rockland and Ellsworth Arts in Ellsworth.
Be well and stay in touch!
Astrig & Steve