July 6 -- Shopping day in Freeport

Well I had the name of John and Angela's 42 foot Malo sloop wrong. Frodo is the name of her dink; the mothership is Galadriel Hamble. Both names are from the Lord of the Rings according to John, shown above, without his characteristic smile. Here's the boat. Note the Hallberg-Rassy style hard wind shield and the interesting anchor position. ILENE, on her mooring, with her twin headstays, is visible in the slot between this boat's  headstay and  dink.

Most of our day was spent in Freeport. We ran into John and Angela in Coach. There, I was proud of Lene for deciding to not buy a $400 bag for "only" $135. She actually bought a number of sensible things for me and a few for herself and the boat, before and after lunch. 
Our costliest purchase, however -- by far -- was at Frost Gully Gallery, and not of the sensible variety. My navy friend from Boston, Hugh, had recommended the gallery (and the Haggar outlet store). We called and learned that the gallery is more than a mile from the hub of town, the complex of about six L.L. Bean stores, surrounded by perhaps fifty outlet stores, e.g., Coach. We could walk that far, but not both ways on a stiflingly hot day laden with the prior purchases. The owner, who also produces and sells his own paintings there, Thomas Crotty, sent his daughter Erin, who lives in Washington Heights in Manhattan, where I grew up, to get us. I had not intended to buy anything, but we fell in love with a sculpture in stained cherry wood by Hank Tyler of a bird. I did not notice, until after the sale had been consummated, that this bird will join our owl of sweet tamarind wood from Little Farmers Key in the Exumas (blog: April 17, 2012) and a black raven in metal from Kent CT. So, somehow our little sculpture menagerie is all birds.
Tom had sailed with Hugh and Arlene and knew the owner of one of the other Saga 43s, "Alcid." Again, a small world. We had thought to stay for the free rock concert by tree local bands that L.L. Bean presented in its outdoor amphitheater, starting at 7:30, but as the day wore on it became clear that that was too late for us. We had coffee with George, an Attorney from Boston and his wife, who have a house on the New Meadow River, where we will be going in a few days. They had spent six months touring Europe (by land) and were interested in our cruising. We ended by walking to the Bow Street Market, a bit out of town in the other direction, where we bought a lot of food and caught a cab back to the Brewers, for a home cooked meal and a good night's sleep. Here is a view of the Marina from ILENE.