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.

Friday July 5 -- Portland to South Freeport

During breakfast, Dave, my hinge friend, came by in his skiff after fishing and was welcomed for a tour of ILENE. He visits NY from time to time and has our numbers as we have his for our next stop in Portland.
But one must move on, today to South Freeport, which is in the Harraseeket River and about two miles by road from Freeport, which is the home of L.L. Bean with a huge collection of its stores surrounded by many other outlet stores -- a shopper's Mecca. 

I am fortunate that Lene is not really a shopper, at least for diamonds and other luxuries. (She does have an obsession with supermarkets though.) And she loves a bargain. So we came up here into the Northwest portion of Casco Bay.  The chart shows that the Bay is full of many long skinny islands. They seem to be arrayed in the form of some of those fireworks sprays, with the big explosion in the NE corner and the islands radiating out to the south and southwest. Our passage was only about 13 miles and for a while at 14 knots of wind speed, we made 7.5 knots over ground including maybe half a knot of tidal current. Most of the time, however, the wind was too light to sail and when boat speed dipped below 2.5 knots, we motored. We were underway from 9:15 to noon.

We saw a seal swimming off our port side, only his head above the water. He (or she?) took a good look at us. At the entrance to the river is a tiny island that the chart calls "Pound of Tea" with a house on it. Cute! The boats off to the left are where we are moored.

But before mooring in the Brewers mooring field here we pulled onto her dock and gave ILENE her first drink of diesel fuel since she was filled up last November 14, after hurricane Sandy. Then she had 2128.6 engine hours. At the end of today's trip, she showed 59.1 additional engine hours -- 2188.0 total. Those 59.1 engine hours were incurred in part from daily engine idling to freeze up the refrigerator's cold plates, but mostly in moving the boat. We always use the engine for a few minutes per day when picking up a  mooring or landing at a dock but, as you know, we frequently have to motor sail all day to get where we want to go. Since her last fill in October, avid readers of this blog will note, ILENE  has had 19 sailing days. And today she drank 33.9 gallons of diesel fuel, having used .57 gallons per hour. Another way to look at it is that we got five local day sails out of City Island and from there to here on only 33.9 gallons of fuel. 

In addition to her supermarket obsession, Lene likes clean laundry, so we did three loads of laundry. The marina has only one washer and one dryer so this took quite a while. In the process she met Angela who sails with her husband John. They are retired dentists who sailed across the pond and have lived aboard for the past ten years with fortnightly vacations from their boat to visit their home in Winchester, about once a quarter. Their boat, "Frodo," is a very solid and well maintained 42" Malo, built in Sweden, hailing from the Isle of Wight. That Island on the south coast of England, was the site of the first Americas Cup race, which the Americas won. It is still the centre of British sailing. (Photos in tomorow's post.) 

We had dinner with them, at Harraseeket Lunch & Lobster,

after some wine aboard Frodo. Nice folks and we hope to sail with them a bit more before their next trip to England in a few days. The most exciting thing this evening occurred while we were walking (running really) from Frodo to the restaurant and while huddling under its outdoor awning: a huge deluging thunderstorm. But the restaurant provided a towel for us to wipe off the picnic table and benches where we consumed our first Maine lobsters.

July 4 -- The Glorious Fourth, Portland Style

A hot clear day. We had a late breakfast in town while walking to The Victoria Mansion at the far western end of town, where we had never been before. At breakfast, and again later, at the Standard Bakery, which they had recommended (in the background), we met Robin and Bill,

who we had also met two days before at the Maine Jewish Museum and yesterday at the Art Museum. Both are teachers, vacationing here by car, from New Hampshire. Portland is a small town in a small world.

The Victoria mansion, however, was closed for the holiday.

On our return trip we walked almost the length of Commercial Street and spent a good part of the afternoon aboard. I took care of some sewing projects and looked into the possibility of buying only the inside plastic parts, made in China, of the ship’s clock which now tells the correct time only twice a day. I bet the greater part of the expense of this item is the brass case and brass enclosed glass cover, which I’d like not to replace, but merely to shine up. We also plotted out our next week or so, here in northern and eastern Casco Bay.

Then to the Celebration of the Glorious Fourth. Our walk there took us past the Portland Observatory, built in 1807, which is at the highest point in the city and looks like a lighthouse, but is not.

We had climbed it in 2002. It was used, in the days before radio, to make merchant ships’ calls in Portland as short as possible -- so they could get out to sea again to make more money. Armed with a telescope, the operator could see ships approaching the port while they were still out at sea. By raising coded signal flags, visible in town, he informed the shore-side representatives of the ships to muster their crew of longshoremen to unload and reload their cargoes.
Many cities think their civic patriotism display is “the best” and Portland is no exception. They have a great venue: the east end of town. It is called Eastern Promenade and includes a wide park consisting of a hill sloping from the high street to the water, covered in grass. They expected 50 to 70 thousand people but projected the crowd at 30,000. It was enough. The street at the top of the hill was lined with trucks vending food so no one need go hungry.This shot was early, before the spaces filled in.

They do not vend alcohol which keeps the crowd from getting rowdy. We looked for our friends, Dave and Bill and Robin, but without luck.

There is a big tented stage near the bottom whose shape put me in mind of the Parthenon, perched over Athens. These Maine people seem to love art, culture and reading -- lots of independent book stores -- not yet invaded by the Barnes and Nobles of this world.

Many boats were moored or anchored in the waters below, to the left (the lights); we had contemplated going there but for my aversion to anchoring in crowded places at night with revelers.

We got there a couple hours early and sat on our lawn/boat chairs and watched the sunset.

The area in front of the red white and blue bunting was reserved for those who paid $100 for a barbecue dinner and a good seat. But we were as close as we would be at the back of Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center home of the New York Philharmonic. The Portland Symphony Orchestra performed, with Maine resident Don McLean as a guest star.  He did both Starry Starry Night and American Pie, with lush orchestration. They also had a Lincoln presenter who, in top hat and tails, read the Gettysburg Address in a dramatic voice, on the day after the 150^th anniversary of the end of that momentous three day battle, accompanied by music composed for such a reading.

The lovely woman sitting next to us, Sue,

who works as the accountant for a lobster packing business that supplies many of New York’s lobster houses, had told us that both of her great grandfathers had been in or near the battle, one as a private and the other as a officer. 

And of course Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, with its Marseilles and Russian peasant dances, followed by stirring Sousa marches, were accompanied by fireworks.

A wonderful stirring evening followed by a warm dry calm night.

July 3 -- More touring

The weather did get good today, but we want to be here for the Fourth and a mooring will be hard to come by that night we are told, with 70,000 folks expected and there are still things to see here, so we stayed.We don't seek out public spectacles but when we happen to be there when they occur, we go, as Carnival in Ponce, Puerto Rico 
We actually had an eclectic breakfast out: Ever had scrambled eggs with pesto sauce and tomato slice on whole wheat english muffin?

Most of the day was devoted to the Portland Museum of Art.

We had visited here in 2002, but the paintings seemed new to me 11 years later. Lene is suffering from some pain in her hip joint which is really slowing her down. I'm hoping she recovers soon. After a couple of hours she headed for home -- the boat. They have a nice collection of one or more paintings from most of the well known American and European artists between 1850 and 1950. Except for native son, Winslow Homer, these are not their most famous works but good work, and for a city this small, they can be proud. They have recreated Homer's studio from Prouts Neck, 12 miles SW of the city. As a maritime city, it has some sea and ship scenes, but not as a subject per se. The museum backs up on the home of the man who donated the money, a wealthy merchant whose house is beautifully maintained, but with almost no furniture. They also had an extensive show from the Met in New York (the Paley Collection), which we can see at home and I must confess I rather dodged the big show of primitive Tanzanian art. I have not been able to warm up to primitive art.

As sailors, and hence without a car, we get to walk the cities we visit and obtain a closer to the ground perspective. Here, Congress Street, runs east - west along the ridge at the top of the city, parallel to its waterfront street, called Commercial Street, with the most tourist restaurants and shops. Congress street is where all the museums, City Hall, the fire station, the Public Library, Post Office, etc. plus a lot of galleries, and restaurants and half a dozen churches are located. 

Then dinner at home again. We are spending more in museum entrance fees than restaurants!

July 2 -- Touring Portland

Portland Oregon, where my daughter and her family live, is a great city, and has been mentioned in this Blog. I have visited it several times since my last visit to this other, smaller, eastern Portland.

The first step today was pumping out the dink, which had several inches of fresh water after last night’s rain. Next was wiping off its pontoons (side seats) with a chamois cloth so as to not get wet butts during the short ride to the Yard’s dock.

The Maine Jewish Museum was not here in 2008.

I noticed it on the map of the city showing the locations of points of interest and advertisers. It has become the seventh most popular tourist attraction in Portland, according to Trip Advisor, we were told. It was created as Synagogue Etz Chaim (Tree of Life), in 1921, converted from what had been a six apartment building in a neighborhood of working class immigrants. It grew and prospered until the ‘70s when urban neglect and decline almost caused it to die. But it was then revived and restored early in this century and reopened in 2009. It charges no dues or fees and has a vibrant communal life now. Its art gallery revolves every two months and it has a museum about the Jewish Communities of Maine. We enjoyed our visit. These photos do not do justice. After lunch we visited the Maine Historical Society and adjacent Wadsworth Longfellow House.

The former

had an exhibition on Maine’s contribution to the Civil War. More than one of every ten residents (and residents includes women, children and the aged and infirm) was in the Army or Navy, 20% of them (this being a coastal state with lots of seafaring men) in the Navy. Actually, a few little known skirmishes were fought off the Maine coast (not generally considered a theater of that war) with marauding southern saboteurs.
The House was where Henry Wadsworth Longfellow grew up is shown under the right side of the museum in the photo above and here is a better view.

He wrote his first poem here at age 13, before going off to Bowdoin College and then to teach at Harvard. Several generations with large families lived here. What “made” this tour was our guide, James Horrigan, whose dramatic style and infectious enthusiasm for his subject made me sorry when our hour with him was over.

He is a writer and has sent me some sea stories he has written.

We had thought to dine out for dinner tonight but the weather all day was so yucky that we dined aboard.




Here is a picture of the shipyard from the boat and you will notice the masts of a big schooner at the dock, just to the left of the yellow apartment house

And here is the same scene in the all-day misting light rain and fog.The schooner stands out because everything else does not:

As Annie sung: The sun will come out tomorrow….

July 1 -- Rainy Lay Day in Portland

We registered, paid our bill and found out that the only place to which we could take a long walk to fill our propane bottle, only delivers home size bottles and does not refill odd sizes like boat bottles. We are not out of cooking gas, and even if we were, we have a spare auxiliary supply, but Lene likes to think ahead.  She loves being "fully stocked"

My mission today was to visit Hamilton Marine, the Westmarine of Maine. Its warehouse is a few hundred yards from the shipyard at which we are moored. I had gotten things here on prior visits and I just like the feel of the place, the extensive stock they have on hand and the friendly and competent help they provide. I spent a few hundred bucks, mostly on LED bulbs for interior lighting. A non sailor might ask: Why pay $19.00 for a lightbulb? Well, for one thing, they never burn out -- good for 50,000 hours is close enough to never for me. But the real reason is that they use almost no electricity. We have had them for navigation and our anchor light for a while, and these are for the frequently used interior lights. I also got a spare can of air for the fog horn, a barrel bolt so the cafe doors can't swing open with a bang during tacks (I must be an idiot to have waited six years for this!!) and other screws and bolts that were needed to complete projects that had been on hold until such hardware could be obtained.  None of these projects were mission critical, but they are all nice to have done: Lene is happy. One bit that they didn't have was a thin brass interior piano hinge to replace one that broke on a cabinet door in the aft head. They had plenty of hefty marine grade hinges, but not the tiny one I needed. Up walked Dave

who said he might have one at home that he could give to me. We exchanged phone numbers and  I gave him half the broken hinge. (Sort of like the half locket that Annie's parents had left her with at the orphanage.) Dave called; he didn't have my particular hinge at home but he had driven to Ace Hardware, on the other side of town,  and bought it for me. And meeting him at his fishing boat at our marina, I had to struggle to persuade him to take any money! Dave is a 6th grade teacher and I told him his students were lucky to have him. We have each others' phone numbers and maybe we can get together for the big Fourth of July Fireworks concert. What a fine representative of the State of Maine!
We had planned to do some touring after lunch but rain dampened those plans so I finished off all those projects. Don't worry, there are more of them. 
Lene cooked up a great dinner and reading by LED bulb is easy on the batteries.

COMPETITION!

In June this blog had 1494 page views. This is the second highest monthly total  in its history, which began in the fall of 2010. The only higher number was 1509 in May 2011.We would have had a new high except for new competition for my readership.

Yes, starting at the beginning of our current cruise, in mid June, I have had competition. My beloved Ilene, who started this blog and then sort of gave it over to me, has been engaged in unfair competition!  She is sending a daily email to about 40 of her closest family and friends, the most likely of my readers, describing her take on the events of the day. Her emails are well written with photos but less details. And some of my readers are contented with her condensed versions of these posts. Some people do not like details.

 Don't worry; I love her anyway and will continue these posts. Competition is the American way and good for business. It causes people to try harder.