July 13 -- Lay Day in Booth Bay

We spent a good part of the day at the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden, a few miles NW of town. This is a new attraction here, having opened only in 2007 on a large tract that borders the Back River, which runs into Sheepscot Bay, to the west of Booth Bay. Our tour was with a large group and our guide, Wendy, did a good job considering this was her first tour. When she learns interesting things about the various plants she will make an excellent docent. At this point the discussion was more about the history of the institution and the various sections, usually named after the donors who contributed the funds to make them possible.  Here is the lily pond, not named after Monet. 

One Garden of the Five Senses, has fauna designed to delight each of those senses and a display of gardening tools that handicapped people can use. The lawn was set up for a wedding. Several sculptures, both large and small are set throughout. The place is very eco conscious.They are open year round with many volunteers and a cafe and gift shop. They have plans to develop a lot more of their acreage. A lot of thought and money has been devoted to the place but perhaps the best part of it is the almost-wild sections, leading down to the river with trails and signage about various plants and rock slab benches. Electric jitney buses driven by volunteers take people around. We liked the Meditation center, overlooking the river, with the huge basin cut into a block of granite, polished in part, like many peoples' counter tops.

Our jitney driver, after her shift, saw us waiting for a taxi and gave us a ride back to the YC.

I thought of other botanical gardens we have visited, including those in the Bronx and Brooklyn at home, the two filled with tropical plants in Guadeloupe and St. Lucia we toured in 2010, the one in Richmond VA which was so enjoyable because our friend Stan (who we visited when in Yorktown) was our docent and knows so much about the plants, and the one in Portland Oregon, which was much like this one with its wild, not yet "developed" parts and which is at approximately the same latitude.

Our dinghy finally got its name, with the application of the plastic letters we had purchased back in Block Island: ROJAY, a corrupted spelling of the French pronunciation of my name, Lene's pet name for me. Many dinghies also would say "t/t ILENE", meaning "tender to ILENE". But this Roger tries always to act tenderly toward Ilene, so the extra letters would be redundant. (Here she is, looking pretty at the YC:)

Another theory for not adding the extra letters on the dink, one which I discount, is that naming the dinghy after the mother ship notifies thieves at the dinghy dock that the big boat is vacant, making it more of a target.

Then a dink ride into town; much faster than a cab ride -- a shot across the water. I had formed a bad impression of this port when we had moored in its inner harbor

one night on the way home during our 2002 trip. But that night was cold and damp and almost dark and we came in at the end of a long day's sail and left early the next morning. Today, in the relaxing sun, I could see the town's virtues. We saw Midcoast Clock and Music Box Company and asked the proprietor, Roger, if he could replace the inside of our seven inch brass ship's clock. New, they run about $150 but I had guessed that most of that cost involved the heavy brass casing, not the "made in Asia" works. I dinked back to the boat, got the clock, and after dinner, and payment of a mere $35, she runs again. My next chore is getting the brass to shine again. The second hand did not fit and the tide hand did not fit either. We never needed or used either; the tide hand keeps track of the tide in only one port and we cruise to many places.

There are three restaurants here, under common ownership and located near each other which everyone is talking about and highly rated by Trip Advisor. The menus are different but similar, as are the prices. We chose the Boathouse Bistro. The food was adequate but not special and the prices were moderate.  Another quiet night. This sunny weather has been accompanied by light winds.