On vacation in Maine

I’ve been away! Steve came too… that made the trip to the airport interesting because Steve thinks any minutes spent waiting to board the plane are minutes wasted…

Well, we had just less than five minutes wasted. If there had been another red light or a few more cars in front of us waiting to turn right in to the long term parking we might have been boarding a different plane… but of course there weren’t and all was good!

It was very dark when we checked in to our hotel in Belfast, Maine. Maine decided to save money on street lights a few years ago so it was amazingly dark compared to home. Naperville has no qualms about being able to see where you are going any time of day or night.

We had been promised an ocean view from our balcony and it was waiting for us in the morning. So pretty.

We were actually in Maine for a wedding. Most of the men were playing golf on Saturday morning so I met up with the ladies for a trip into town. We did a little shopping, had a little lunch and wandered down to the harbor. I have no inclination to ever go to sea in a kayak but if I ever changed my mind I did like these pink ones!

Steve does not play golf. He set off on his own adventure all by himself. I glanced at my phone a few times to keep an eye on his progress. It showed him in the water… He went for a walk along the shore and the tide came in. I’ll not say more.

The wedding wasn’t until Sunday evening so Steve and I went back into Belfast for brunch on Sunday morning. I’ll spare you all but one of the photos I took of the boats in the sunshine.We had Michaelmas Daisies in our garden growing up and these ones were such a deep pink I needed a picture.Well we were in Maine for a wedding, so off we went North up the coast to Stockton Springs. Such a lovely venue in the late afternoon sun.And just like that we welcomed the new Mr and Mrs Andrew Osbrink into society and they were on their way back up the aisle!On Monday we drove to Portland. We stopped for a little walk on a beach somewhere pretty… There’s not a lot of seaweed in Illinois.And had lunch by the harbor in Camden.It’s just too easy to find quilt stores. Steve insisted we stop in Rockland so I could visit Clementine.It was my favorite kind of a quilt shop with lots of space, clear floors and fun displays. I loved the combination of non-traditional Halloween fabrics with novelty prints in this little vignette.Clementine does not classify itself as a quilt store. The owner is a garment sewer so there was a great selection of knits, wool, canvas etc. along with the traditional cottons.There was also a small selection of yarn, great notions and the latest book titles.
I hope my book makes it onto their shelves one day…

Portland was a fun city to spend a day wandering around. I went out early(ish) on Tuesday morning while Steve caught up on his e-mails. I found a yarn store up a hill and bought just a few skeins of locally dyed wool.

We visited the Art Museum in the afternoon. I enjoyed taking a close look at this plywood piece, Giraffe Garden by Bernard Langlais.

We made it back to the airport in Portland with enough time for Steve to charge his electronic devices before we boarded…

We had a super break. Lots of lobster and shell fish, beautiful weather. Lovely!

So now I’m home. I’ve got lots to do before Quilt Festival in Houston. But first, Ruby and Benjamin are coming to stay this afternoon … for the weekend …. by themselves.

I can do this, can’t I?