Our First 2022 Trip to America: Maine

 

I say "First" because there's another one in November to see the kids.  THIS one was to see sister, Ruth, and her hubby Don in Maine and then to attend a family wedding with them in New York, 2 weeks total.

Clamp your seatbelt because this is from both Astrid and me (from our Facebook posts), for the record:

Let's start with when we landed in Portland, ME, on Astrid's 68th birthday, August 24,

and met up with 8 family members for supper in an Irish pub at the harbor.

It was a great beginning to our trip, after a hassle-free travel day!

We still had to drive the 2 hours to Searsport, where Don and Ruth live, but we made it,

and 25.5 hours from when we started in the Netherlands, we finally turned out the light for bed!

And then we just relaxed at Don and Ruth's!

Good food...and later a walk, with free peaches to passersby! 

Look at the pics Astrid got of the resident bald eagle!

The days were shorter, so the walk ended just before nightfall...and the hordes of mosquitoes!

Sometimes Astrid takes her own walks alone...so, these are her pics.

See why Don and Ruth...and WE...love where they live!

Don and Ruth love trying new recipes, like this deep-dish pizza in their cast-iron skillets.

And as if that wasn't enough, how about this complicated lobster bisque (with Reuben sandwiches).

Did I mention...from scratch?  Look at them trying to figure out the recipe on the cupboard!
O M G.  Guess who are the lucky ones to be their guinea pigs.  HA!

The only sight-seeing outing we took the entire 1.5 weeks was to Stonington,

the lobster capital of Maine, on a gorgeous, sunny day.

You know me and architecture.  Can you tell that this is New England?

This is what Astrid saw....

and this.

We're both similar/different witnesses to the same thing.

And as outings go, it was perfect to have it be the only one.

In the meantime, everyone (except moi!) was working on projects.

Besides helping Don hang a cupboard in the garage, Astrid made a copper hanger

for the slate shingle painting she happened to find.  It didn't make sense for US to keep it,

so she left it for Don and Ruth:  a Maine keepsake.

And besides all their meals, Don and Ruth made jam out of their yard's blackberries

(giving us a bottle to bring back home with us, thanks to their generosity!).

But of all the projects Don and Astrid did, THIS was THE ONE to top the charts:

a cutting board (one of Don's hobbies) for Astrid's son Jeroen. 

Don helped her through every step of the process from choosing the wood, planing, gluing

and clamping it, sanding and planing again, oiling and waxing.  Step after step for a week.

I couldn't show it on FB until we came home to give it to Jeroen.

But talk about Happy Campers:  All THREE of them!

(BTW, it's made out of white oak, cherry, ash and black walnut.)

But now back to Searsport.  This was the first time I walked with Astrid,

including our last trip in 2019, the 6-km round-trip into town.

I really DO like architecture.  I really DO like New England.

Astrid's pics.

In between everything, we played games:  mostly Five Crowns (which we learned in England).

AND, in the evenings, we watched the Alone 7th TV series of the 100-day Arctic $1m challenge.

After all that, on Friday, the 2nd of September, we left Searsport for Cooperstown, NY,

for the wedding of our niece, Jennifer, and her Joshua, on Sunday the 4th.

Another story altogether, so, to be continued....

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

As a BTW, for those of you who reply to my posts when they arrive in your InBox, instead of commenting on my posts here, now that I'm using a different feedburner, my post notices are from a no-reply address.  Please make sure you change the email address, otherwise I won't receive your replies.  Thank you.  You know who you are.

The House Renovation Project in Maine

For the record, this is exactly how it happened:

Sister, Ruth (and hubby Don), bought a house from 1860 in Maine a year ago.  THEY LOVE IT.  However, their son Peter always had allergic reactions when he visited them.  Long story short, they decided the culprit was the remaining carpet in the two guest bedrooms, up and down hallways and stairs.  They removed the carpet from the smaller guest room and, BINGO, they were right.

Don and Ruth knew they'd have to remove the remaining carpet.  It was a no-brainer.  But it was also a huge project for Don, since Ruth's carpal tunnel meant she'd be of little help for the grunt work.

One day here in the Netherlands, while preparing dinner in the kitchen, I had a brain fart:  Astrid would be the perfect person to help Don, if she were willing and able.  You should have seen the look on her face when I suggested it:  it was like CHRISTMAS!

When we suggested the idea to Don and Ruth, for the last two weeks of February...well, the rest is history!  In those two weeks, there were 8 work days, accomplishing the following (Ruth/Astrid sent me the pics each evening so that I could make the collages each day, making me feel part of the project):

Day 1: Carpet removal, up and down, including all the nails, staples and tacking strips.

Day 2:  Astrid worked on removing several layers of paint on the stairs...

...while Don filled the cracks and nail holes with putty in the guest room,

prepping the floor for painting.

Day 3:  That paint was so stubborn they had to order a heat gun to remove it.

Even so, the last vestiges of paint (remember, the house is from 1860) refused to budge.

Instead of Plan A, to stain the steps, they moved to Plan B, to paint them.

All this while Don painted the big guest room black!

This is a very New England look.  How stunning.

Day 4:  Astrid spent the entire day prepping the stairs for painting...

...while Don painted the first coat of white paint on the upstairs landing.

Day 5:  Both Astrid and Ruth primed the stairs for painting.

(Ruth, bless her, wanted to help so badly but realized her carpal tunnel protested, so she stopped.)

Meanwhile, Don filled cracks in the landing floors with twine before putty (a nice trick).

He realized this needed to be done (after the fact) before the second coat of paint.

Day 6:  Both Don and Astrid painted the first coat of white on the kick-boards and side panels,

plus other odd tasks for Don.

Day 7:  Don and Astrid measured, cut and painted the quarter-round molding

for the guest room as well as the landings.  And Astrid cleaned out the floor registers!

Day 8:  The Grand Finale!  Astrid painted the first coat of black paint on the stairs.

(Don painted the second coat yesterday, a week later, giving the first coat curing time.)

While Astrid did the stairs, Don used a nail gun to attach the baseboard molding 

and then painted the second coat of white paint to the downstairs entryway.

And just like that, the transformation was done!

Eight days of hard work during two weeks of collaborated blood, sweat and tears LOVE.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Lest you think it was all work and no play, look at the collages Astrid put up on Facebook

whenever she had a chance:

Feb. 16, Sun:  a walk in the neighborhood before work started the next day.

Feb. 17, Mon:  a walk in Belfast after a hard day's work.

Feb. 18, Tue:  the only day of snow falling.

Feb. 19, Wed:  on an early morning walk, captured with her 1365 mm lens.

Feb. 19, Wed:  making sourdough bread in between work.

Feb. 20, Thu:  a walk in the Searsport neighborhood.

Feb. 21, Fri:  turkeys out in the yard, through the kitchen window.

Feb. 21, Fri:  a trip with Ruth to Bangor for shopping,

while Don helped my bother, Nelson, at his own house project!

Stephen King's house (top-left) and Paul Bunyan (bottom-right).

Feb. 22, Sat:  a day out, including Nelson, to Stonington.

Feb. 23, Sun:  sourdough muffins.

Feb. 24, Mon:  another walk in the Searsport neighborhood.

Feb. 28, Fri:  the lighthouse in Portland, last day before flying back home the next day.

As you see, it was not all work and no play!
And even though I was not there, it feels as though I were part of the entire endeavor,
keeping in touch with Astrid and Ruth via Facetime, as well as the Facebook posts.

A memory to have and to hold forever.

America Trip 2019: Maine

So, yes, we were there and back again!  Home safe-n-sound...after a week first in Maine, then in the Atlanta area (including the annual cabin trip with my kids to the North Georgia mountains), followed by a few days with Bob and Peggy south of Atlanta.

Let's start with Maine, showing what we posted on Facebook to give a smattering of what we experienced.

Believe it or not, our vacation always starts once we're at the airport in Amsterdam, after security!

Astrid runs off to get us a latte macchiato, after which we catch up on the internet while waiting.

I saved this Happy Color for exactly that moment on FB that Tuesday, 15 October.

Wednesday, 16 October:  Bar Harbor

We hadn't planned to go to Bar Harbor with Don and Ruth our first full day,

but since it was forecast to be the best day of the week weather-wise, we just did it!

I had been there years ago in my past life, but this time was different...and special.

Walking along the harbor path was a treat for all of us.

[Astrid's collage]

After eating in town (pop. ca. 5K), we drove to nearby Acadia National Park

and climbed to the top of Cadillac Mountain, one of Maine's top tourist attractions.

These are the photos sister Ruth took that day, which I made into my own collage.

Thursday, 17 October: Belfast Rail Trail 

Before the outside day started for the rest of us, Astrid took a walk into Searsport from the house

and captured these great images...ones I never saw with my own eyes.

While she was walking, I went around the house to capture nooks and crannies I fell in love with.

Ruth and Don find treasures wherever they live and decorate so deliciously with them!
I wanted to see everything carefully, my first time in their new house/home.

That afternoon brother Nelson, who lives 20 min. from Don and Ruth, joined us for a
get-together walk on the Belfast Rail Trail, 2.3 miles along the Passagassawaukeag River.

What a fun word, pronounced pas-uh-gas-uh-WAH-keg!

This is Astrid's collage of the day.

Back at Don and Ruth's for supper, Nelson brought salmon to saute

and Don and Ruth together made an apple pie.

Talk about us feeling spoiled!

Friday, 18 October:  Belfast Harbor Walk

First, here's Astrid's walk that morning into Searsport town.

Though Don and Ruth live in Searsport, they adore nearby Belfast more, 8 miles away.

Part of the reason is because of Belfast's shipyard and harbor walk on Penobscot Bay.

It was a delightful walk along the water in this autumn season.

[Astrid's collage]

Saturday, 19 October:  Penobscot Narrows Bridge and Great Pond Mountain

Both Nelson and Ruth moved to Maine from Michigan this year, 4 months apart, and 16 miles away.
This was Nelson's day...his chance to take us where HE wanted to go.

He had us meet him at the Penobscot Narrows Bridge, which we now call the Nelson Bridge,

because from it you can look across to where he lives in Bucksport (top-center).

The observatory at the top of the bridge, BTW, is the first bridge observation tower in the US

and the tallest public bridge observatory in the world (center).

After a careful walk-through of Nelson's own new home and surroundings,

we ate lunch at one of Bucksport's eateries.

[a Ruth photo]

From lunch we drove to the nearby Great Pond Mountain that Nelson can see from his home.

Its 2.3 mile trail, reaching 1,029 ft (314 m), is ideal for a good workout,

which Nelson has done several times now.

Look how Astrid captured us three sibs (and Don, of course)!

Nelson is the oldest of the 8 kids, I'm #3, Ruth is the youngest...a 14-year spread.

That day Astrid used the panoramic option on her new camera to get these 3 panos!

The top is of Bucksport (Nelson's town) from the Penobscot Narrows Bridge,

while the other two are from on top on the mountain.

Sunday, 20 October:  A Movie and Lobster Rolls

This was our very easy and relaxing day!

After lunch we three girls drove to Belfast's Colonial Theater from 1912, where we saw "Judy"
 (about Judy Garland and definitely worth an Oscar for Renée Zellweger).

Don stayed at home to watch football.

Once back home, we picked Don up and drove back to Belfast to fetch us some lobsters! 

Don and Ruth have learned how to make lobster rolls as good as any restaurant serves in Maine,

at probably less than half the price. And we were the lucky ones to eat them.
Maine is the Lobster State, you know!

Monday, 21 October:  Moose Trail  

From Astrid's morning walk, she captured what happened during a half-hour power break.

Apparently one of the poles snapped but was then quickly fixed .

This was our last full day and one last walk with Nelson to nearby Moose Trail.

You can see how glorious the weather was.

[Astrid's collage]

Earlier in the day and later that evening, we learned a new game, Sequence, and loved it!

The next day was our leaving day, flying to Atlanta from the Portland airport.  As we know by now "all good things must come to an end," at least for this year.  But since we've already decided we'll make this a habit every year possible, parting was not as sorrowful as it would have been otherwise.

We really do want to make this a habit!