Good Night, Sleep Tight

Still Not Ready to Catch Up Here

Still Catching up and Hope to Blog Tomorrow

Don't Want to Leave Maine's Beauty

....or family.

This vs. That

Today, I reluctantly left that:

The Inn at Ocean's Edge. That's the pool house,
where I had a Swedish massage with lavender oil this morning
before checking out by 11:30 a.m.

And tomorrow, I head home after a 450-mile ride to this:

Darling Punchy took it upon herself to cut her own hair, very short,
when her friend was over for a play date
yesterday and our very good sitter
wasn't aware. This action by Punch annoys me. 

Ah, yes. It's okay. It's all good. That lovable little rascal.

Going to bed soon. Have to rise 6:45 to get a last coffee at the Co-op with Figgy and her friend, Elizabeth, maybe three of H.'s four Belfast-based Hurley brothers and my sister-in-law Therese. Then E. and I take our cups and head for the hills...and Montclair. We should arrive by 5 p.m. My neighbor is getting Punchy off the schoolbus at 4 p.m. and tonight, she is delighting in a sleepover with Nikki.

Seaside treasures today:

• Massage by Amy. Very relaxing. I chose medium vs. deep or gentle pressure. We chatted a bit about how massages are good for you--your nervous system, your circulation, your life.
• Freshly baked blueberry scones and muffins and smoked salmon at the inn. And I liked the charm of the small but lofty hand-cut Maine biscuits, marmalade on the side: 
  
• Ferry to Islesboro. I've been coming to Maine for 29 years and never went to this island, where H.'s brother John Hurley, a house painter with an impeccable reputation, has been painting estates for years. Today, John treated us to lunch at The Dark Harbor Shop [Pat ferried us there]. Figgy bought basics for her Maine summer--including Band-Aids, calamine lotion and candles--while waiting for the veggie/hummus wrap she and Elizabeth shared at the counter. Pat got a coffee frappé in an old-time soda fountain glass. Later, Fig and Eliz peeled down to their swimsuits to swim in a cove.....I loved the old ferry boat, the salty captain who told us to put our phones away and the lovely estate John & Co. were painting at the end of a private Maine lane. Remote and dreamy, with its own dock, cove and swimming pool. 
• Shopping at the Co-op. As a member, I came in right under the wire for the period of time when members get 10 percent off their entire shopping order at the Belfast Co-op. This was my chance to help stock Fig's fridge with vegan delights before I leave tomorrow morning. She got so much: frozen fruits, frozen vegs, tofu sausages, frozen pizza, chips, cookies, pesto Vegenaise [those mayo alternatives are really good], rice milk and a lot more. I got local cornmeal to make corn muffins back home for Punchy; orange walnut oatmeal; a vegan green tea and pistachio Suecakes cupcake; a lavender Bubble Bear for Punchy's baths; pretty hand-dipped tapers; lemon parmesan tortellini from the deli [yum]; a pint of Stone Fox Farm ice cream; and perhaps my favorite find for today, Casco Bay Laundry Soap in lemon scent, $6.99 for a 24-oz. sack and it comes with a little wooden scoop. Check out that website! It's beautiful.
• Dinner at Dave & Sheila's. Fresh crab rolls, turkey burgers, roasted cauliflower, baby kale, wine, candelight...so lovely. Dave is H.'s artist brother.

Well, I'd better get to sleep so I can stay alert at the wheel tomorrow. But once you start blogging, it's a never-ending battle to get all the accents [frappé ] and product names/site links right. 

Sweet and salty dreams.

Good night.

Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me

Beautiful sea-blue sofa in the pool house--near the massage rooms,
hot tub, infinity pool and cushioned lounge chairs.

Where land meets sea; at Lincolnville Beach
this evening about 7 p.m.

Planning to smooth my hair and add volume with
sunny yellow DryBar rollers tonight.
Also want to polish my nails. But rising pretty early.

Oh, what a day. I think I will remember it always. It's funny, in the midst of chaos at home--popping up and down from my desk chair, making dinner, doing dishes, filling our dying fridge/freezer with ice bags, walking and feeding Sug, getting Punchy up for school, moving piles of clean laundry and somehow never putting them away--I crave solitude and peace. Yet here on my own for one overnight at this storybook inn by the sea, I did feel a twinge of loneliness. I missed my H. and thought about him and the girls a lot.
 

Staircase to the sea--sapphire in the rough.

How beautiful is it here at the Inn at Ocean's Edge? Let me count the ways.

1. A steep, humble wood staircase leads down to the rugged coastline. First, I breathed in that fishy smell, then I stood for a while on a rock and just watched the water slap the stones, slap, slap, slap, and I thought. And thought and thought. I studied some stray logs and branches drifting on the water, looked to the left to a picturesque cove, listened to the fog horn. Stared at that rock-choked shore. I couldn't see the sand for the stones. How did people settle here? So hard to walk on the edge, let alone bring in a boat. Tears came to my eyes. Exactly who is my daughter Figgy at age 20? I tried to see her as she is, not as the granddaughter of my mother and father or the daughter of me and H. It occurred to me that my parents were born almost 100 years ago [well, in 1923 and '24] and their lives were so different from Fig's. When they were young, my mother wore saddle shoes and my dad snuck cigarettes. I tried to see Fig not by our expectations but by hers. I tried to see her as the world sees her, and as she sees herself. This is all on the cusp of her moving here [to Belfast] for the summer. I tried to contemplate Punchy, too, but it was different, and harder to grasp. She is 9. And then I came to, who am I? What is my path?
2. The hot tub felt good. Nice and warm and soothing. I sat in it while evening mist rolled in.
3. The coffee in the lobby is excellent; it's from Carrabassett Coffee Company in Kingfield, Maine. And, small detail, but I like that you can pour it right into a to-go cup or a real cup and saucer.
4. The gas fireplace in my deluxe room is pampering. I feel rich. Just flick a switch.
5. I booked a Swedish massage for tomorrow morning, before I check out.
6. The young lady at the desk told me the beds are super comfortable. I can't wait!
7. I can see the sea from two sides of my room, as I'm in a corner. And I can hear the breeze. And be cooled by it.

And yet, yet....as we are both freelance writers, you know that H. and I are often waiting for paychecks. Two we were expecting arrived after I left for the drive up on Saturday; H. deposited them and $300 cleared but the balance of the checks doesn't clear until tomorrow [Tuesday!] morning. That has been hard, because I had to pay for gas to get up here, plus food, help Fig pay for some groceries, etc. My shopping has been seriously curtailed, but I guess that's not such a bad thing. Still, tonight for dinner, I had a total of $18.79. I went to the Lobster Pound and got a pulled pork sandwich. The lobster roll was a bit over my budget, with tip and tax. The scallops, too, though the lady at the table behind me was ordering them broiled, and that sounded pretty good!

I hope to have a good meal tomorrow night. But then I head for the hills--with Figgy's dear friend, Elizabeth--by 8 a.m. Wednesday morning.

I better go shampoo and condition and get those rollers in. Sweet dreams.

Arrived at Inn at Ocean's Edge!

My room with a view of the water. I am going to walk down there soon.
Violet, the sweet young woman at the desk, said it gets rocky
and steep. I will put on my sneakers and be careful. After
coming to Maine for 29 years, I know the Maine coast is
rocky. But then so is life sometimes.

My haven of tranquility, for one luxurious day and night
at The Inn at Ocean's Edge in Lincolnville, Maine.

I brought my Lilly Pulitzer and Aerin makeup bags from Sis,
and the little turtle candle holder she gave me.

Going to snatch a quick nap. More to come. Think I will get tea or coffee from downstairs first.

When in Belfast, Maine

I'm very tired from 450-mile drive yesterday, so quick bullet list of Belfast area not-so-hidden treasures. Click on boldface names to jump to websites.

1. Chase's Daily. H.'s brother Mike and Mike's wife, Therese, treated me to breakfast there. So good, including Rosemary Polenta toast and a couple forkfuls of Therese's buckwheat grits. 

2. Bellabooks & Antiques, owned by Gary and Kim. Kim bakes cookies and sells coffee there, too. Today I tried a crinkly, oversized, soft molasses ginger orange cookie. I can't begin to tell you how delicious it was--all buttery and sugary and fragrant. [As you can see, I'm allowing myself some treats here.] Kim said the lady who runs the yarn store around the corner loves these cookies and tells everyone about them, so Kim makes them often.

3. My beloved Belfast Co-op, of which I am a paying member [$15 per year]. And when I popped in to get veggie burgers, I picked up a container of Tide Mill Creamery Lillian* Honey Lavender Chèvre. It's organic, of course, and impossibly delicious--so creamy. Made in Edmunds, Maine/$11.99 per lb. I also saw Figgy's friend Alex, who works in the Co-op's meat and cheese dept.

4. Pat & Martha's farmhouse kitchen in town with wood stove and old-time built-in pantry. They brewed Green Tree origin select Ethiopian coffee. Pat is a coffee connoisseur [actually, all 5 Hurley brothers are crazy for coffee] and he has sent H. and me to check out Green Tree Coffee Roasters in the past. It's in nearby Lincolnville Beach. 

5. Not Belfast, but in Camden, the Camden Deli. It was raining pretty hard about 7 p,m. and the view of the harbor from the big picture window was lovely and soothing.

Then I drove back over rolling Route 1 in a thick, soupy fog, zipped into the Co-op again for Back to Nature Peanut Butter Creme cookies to drop by at Figgy's house, and sugar for Martha. And now I'm going to sleep. Good night. More tomorrow.

TCOY

1. Walked around a bit, and up a big hill; 3.5 miles on Fitbit.

2. Missed early Mass, but meditated a bit while watching water splashing over rocks by the dock of the bay.

3. Took a shower with lime coconut shea butter scrub.

*Just read that the cheeses are named after the goats themselves, such as Frida, Fannie, Edith, Imogene--and Lillian. Love that.

In a Fog

Drove 9 hours to reach Belfast, Maine. Dropped Figgy and friend at amazing house rental, near water, with treehouse and a porch and fat peonies. Fig will be here all summer.

Then trustworthy Siri put me on the wrong route to the hotel, in the fog. Finally got here at midnight. 

Gnite.