Days have gone by and I have been enveloped in the changing of the season. The next season has been on my mind as the last bits of summer are put away (the grill and cabana are still at the ready!) and preparations for winter have begun. The heat pump should be installed next week. The flower gardens have been dug up and plants moved around, and beautiful rock edgings have been put in place. The "Genny Shed" a little building for my generator is going to be built in the next few days. Flannel sheets are on all the beds.
And I picked up my friend Marcia from the Bangor airport a week ago. We will have a month together, the longest time that Marcia has stayed for her annual Maine getaway. The fall colors greeted her all along the ride back to Patten, and we spent a couple of nights at home settling in before making our way to the Mid Coast.
I am fortunate to have good friends who have a cottage in Ocean Point, and they offered saltwater respite time for us both. What a wonder to have the ocean right there, across the street, to hear the waves, to watch the water crash against the shore, to smell the saltwater. Marcia, who is recovering from a very bad fall, was so very happy to be at the ocean edge. She lives in the "driftless land" - the region's distinctive terrain is due to its having been bypassed by the last continental glacier. The term “driftless” indicates a lack of glacial drift, the deposits of silt, gravel, and rock that retreating glaciers leave behind. The land is beautiful there, I lived there as a young woman, my daughter was born there, it is a very special geological place (just as the Katahdin Region is where I live today) and far far away from an ocean.
Ocean Point is near Damariscotta, eighty percent of the oysters that are harvested annually in Maine come from farms on the Damariscotta River. The Damariscotta River meets the Atlantic Ocean and is also an estuary. I have wanted to take a water tour of the farms and found a fun cruise "oysters and fall foliage" and booked a trip.
The afternoon was stellar, beautiful sun, warmth on your cheeks, no breeze. We saw workers on the "farms", learned about raising oysters (at least a two year process), had a selection of 5 different types of oysters, and watched harbor seals and shorebirds as we slowly cruised up and down the river.
The oysters were great and next summer I am going to do the "land cruise" of the oyster farms and hear from the farmers themselves about their crop and how they grow and harvest the oysters.
We went out for dinner one night at the Ocean Point Inn, they are in their 124th year of continuously operating as a family lodging and restaurant. They were closing for the season in 4 days and all the staff were happy, some leaving for warmer climates, some getting ready for life as a year round resident where the number of residents shrink exponentially and the the bonds of community tighten and sustain.
The ride back home was easy, I forego taking Highway 1, and headed to Augusta and the interstate. There was more color than when we drove at the beginning of the week. Traffic was steady and we made a stop at Dysart's. (It's a Maine thing!)
This morning the sun is shining. My herbs, mums and Gerber daisies are still alive and well. The house is cozy and I have tomatoes waiting to be picked up at Ada's farm. It is good to be home.
More adventures await but for now I am loving the beauty of home.
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