Antiques in Maine and New Hampshire

We always begin a Maine vacation with a thrilling tour of York Antique gallery. It is one of our favorite places to view some of the very best of Antique American Folk art that is for sale. (Antiques at West Townsend Mass. is another!) We were not disapointed, there were many wonders to enjoy. Alas our cupboards are full and our pockets are not, but we had a great hour there anyway, and thought of things purchased there in the past years. We did pick up a nice book on Black rag dolls for friend Dixie. I confess I have read it before I have mailed it on to her. Now Debbie of Woolen Sails has found a pdf version of the book on line, so every one can have a look. Thank you Debbie. http://www.blackclothdolls.com/web.pdf

Pictured with the book are two early dresses for my doll family and tw o star quilt squares just because. The brown print dress needs mending, I will place another piece of similar old fabric underneath the hole and darn it down. Patches hardly show when you put them underneath instead of on top.

Another favorite place to shop is Rt 4 out of Concord NH, we enjoyed Austin's and Fern's and Parker French. E

foggy coast

Our 7th day in the cabin has come too soon. This is our last evening here and I think I would never be ready to leave. Out of seven days, four have been gray and foggy and rainy, a disapointment for me, although on each of these we did drive and find things to do and see, and we took more pictures along the way. e

East Booth Bay Painting day

There is a nice group of over 200 painters loosely organised as Plein Air Painters of Maine. A wonderful woman named Corinne McIntyre is a gentle low key organizer who posts the activities on the web and informs readers of places and times to paint together. I was thrilled to paint with a group of about 20 yesterday, and afterwards went home with Corinne to her lovely gallery next to the home she shares with her talented husband. The house itself is a heart stopping beauty, a large 2 story post and beam. Corinne is a noted artist with a lifetime of achievments in the field.

We had a golden day of sunshine on the rocks and breakers as we painted on private property along the shore near Ocean Point. Leaving, we drove along Ocean Point and stopped to hike the short public walkway there. I am daily amazed at the wild flowers! The Rugosa Roses are everywhere, now past their blooming season, they are filled with great rose hips. Only an occasional bloom reminds passersby what a glory these roses have been all summer. Wild asters and Goldenrod and so many more I do not know by name astound this west Texas girl with their profussion. All plants seem to grow so easily! In the part of Texas where I live, plant life has a hard time of it.

There are miles and miles of these wild gardens along the edges of the land, "Sea Roses" is another name for the Rugosa roses.

We drove around in the village of Booth Bay, but found that area too crowded to invite a stop. it was a short drive up to Wiscasset where we stopped in one great gallery and two antique shops. Back "home" to New Harbor to a fish dinner at Shaw's maybe the best in Maine! We finished the full day with taking a few photos in Round Pond Village, love that place! Edyth

Round Pond Day

Today is a quiet gray day on coastal Maine, I am glad I painted a bit yesterday and the day before, because today is not a good painting day for me. I know some will find a sheltered spot and revel in a muted foggy tonal effect.

Jack and I drove a different road this morning and discovered a charming village, Round Pond, a working fisherman's cove with interesting boats and gear for that. The village surrounding the cove is full of sweet properties, for we who love rural New England architecture. There was a sign in front of one house that said "rug hooking classes". It would have been fun to stop in and visit! I kept seeing little capes, some with a for sale sign, and confess to a great longing for one as a part time home. These are well loved and dearly priced. Texas has given us such a hard hot dry year that I think I could be somewhere else for a while. One pretty blue and white house in Round Pond had a neat little sail boat on the mail box.

And next we had a luncheon date, a special meal out for Jack to enjoy a lobster at Shaw's Wharf. I ate Haddock and salad and then we finished with blue berry pie. On the way back to our cabin, we parked beside Rachael Carson's Salt Pond nature area, so I could watch the breakers come in as the sea and the little pond merge, as they do twice each day at high tide. Moving and beautiful. There is a marker there. I look at the sea birds and remember how much we owe the writer of "Silent Spring". Edyth

Monhegan sunset

Monhegan has always been a magic place in my imagination, I was first aware if it some 40 years ago from paintings by Stephen Maniaty, a great landscape painter in Mass. I went on to notice that place name in other great paintings.

This afternoon I painted the lighthouse on Pemaquid point. The first
one, a small 6 x 8 inch done plein air in the front seat of the car. For the photo that the second one came from, I coaxed Jack to climb down the hill on the sea side of the lighthouse, and aim the camera up at it.

Tonight at sunset as I looked across the water from Pemaquid peninsula toward Monhegan, it has turned a pink gold against an almost purple sea. Incredibly beautiful sight. I had to think it is a memorial for a man swept off Monhegan's rocky shore earlier this week by a huge wave associated with the Katia storm. The rogue wave took him away along with several others, but one did not make it back out of the sea. The young man lost was part of a wedding party.

We really never know! Every day is meaningful or should be so.

Added here later... a letter from a friend...

Hi Edyth:
Just a short note to say I'm sorry your stay in Maine was a little on thedamp side. Regardless, Maine is still a wonderful place to visit. We just returned from Monhegan, our annual visit, as my husband is an avid birder. We go out every Sept for the fall migration. However, this year was a rather sad visit due to the tragic accident involving the drowning of that young man. After talking with the locals, they said the people involved were in a dangerous spot and with the sea as rough as it was, they shouldn't have been there at all. I believe the young man was from Ireland. His girl friend was one of the bridesmaids in the wedding. They did, however decide to go through with the wedding which took place the following day. Such a tragic accident.

The weather was quite nice for our stay. It rained one night and had cleared by morning. We do love Monhegan and so look to our visit every year. You are so right, the sunsets are just beautiful. And each night, I couldn't help but think of that young man and felt that he too, was enjoying them. Glad you had a successful antiquing venture here in New Hampshire. You were so close to me. You mentioned Rt 4 in Concord. Love reading of all your goings on!Sincerely, Elizabeth B.

September in a lovely setting

Dear Friends. we still suffer in central Texas from drought and fires, but the heat is under 100 mostly these afternoons, and I have put fall wreaths in the dining room. I visited with a group of friends this last Thursday for lunch and a discussion of early treenware. It managed to be a good party, even though one of the fires jumped across a barrier and into the very subdivision where we were! And again that evening after guests were gone! It is a large development on a former ranch of considerable size, so my friend's home was not in the action.

I made the penny wool coaster for Phyllis more than 20 years ago, I love to see that she still uses them. The softly faded colors looked much this same way then I think. She has laid this one near an exquisite little papered box and a nice early Rush light.

Note the stunning hooked rug of a stag over the bed. My husband made the poster bed years ago.

Ann took some great photos for her blog, (A few of Ann's own interior are mixed in ) go see them here: http://hillcountryhouse.blogspot.com/

Izannah Walker Dolls Article

Last January my friend Dixie Redmond and I started writing an article about Izannah Walker dolls for Early American Life magazine.

To get a copy of the Christmas issue,

subscribe to Early American Life here.