Boothbay Bits

GYNECOLOGY A LA “MAD MEN”

We happened upon a PBS Mystery series last week called “Breathless.”  A three-parter set in England in the 60’s, it features a set of louche and callous medicos who practice obstetrics and perform back alley abortions.  The women are all either beautiful or flighty (or treated as such) and the men full of testosterone-fueled superiority.  The lead, Dr. Powell, does have a mysterious past, but it takes some time before that becomes apparent.  Overall, “Breathless” is a wonderfully realized period piece that will make you scowl and wince while simultaneously luring you in.

PORTER PRESERVE

The Boothbay Region Land Trust supports a network of preserves in the area open to the public with trails and paths that range in difficulty from easy and moderate to challenging.   The longest ones are 2.75 and 3.7 miles.

Last week, with my sister and brother-in-law, we did one of the trails at Porter Preserve on Barter’s Island which has a number of marked vistas that take you onto the rocks or at least overlooking them and the water. This trail was marked “easy” and last year we did one version of it with our then 3-year old granddaughter who navigated much of it on foot before resorting to her father’s shoulders.

This time we took more offshoots to explore more views and spent about an hour on the white trail with some blue diversions. I think the trail markings have been enhanced since our last visit and perhaps the trail lengthened.  Trail maps are available in the small parking area and are a handy reference. Basically, the main trail is a big loop around the acreage.

NEW HOUSE

We have re-located to a new house for the second half of our Maine time. It has a totally different vibe and I feel as if I’ve gone from suburbia to the wilds. The first house was a comfortable modular one with lots of lawn and a sizable flower garden extending to a cove at the front edge of the property and at the back, beyond the garden, the open ocean.  This new house is part of a cluster of houses on the east side of the island and is situated right on the rocks. It was built in the 70’s and is more old Maine than the previous one, with even more spectacular ocean views.    A lovely stretch of rocks, almost flat in places, remains exposed even at high tide and is perfect for the nimble explorer. All day and even at night, one hears the lapping of the waves and can watch an approaching storm close up.  There are two lovely screened porches, one for dining. off the living room, and one above on the corner off the bedrooms, the ideal place to laze on a chaise and read.

GRANDDAUGHTERS

This week our house was made lively with a visit from our son and daughter-in-law and their two daughters, now ages 4 and 4 months. E is a busy little girl, full of ideas, and always ready to move on to the next activity.  She was a great assistant chef for blueberry pancakes, adding the liquid to the batter, stirring it, dropping the batter in the pan and then topping each pancake with additional berries.

Together we colored in her coloring book, read several new books (multiple times for each), played with her ballerina doll, navigated two games of Old Maid, and watched her try out her pink shark bubble machine which produced a stream of tiny bubbles to a Chinese tune.   (This was her grandparents succumbing to a very nice and, obviously persuasive, street vendor in front of the Whitney Museum in May). In addition we re-visited the botanic garden, one of her favorite places from last year. This year she watched two puppet shows (one for older campers about pollination) and presented a brief show of her own.

Baby F  is full of smiles and very squirmy as she seems to want to take off on her own.  On the floor, she rolled over for only the second and third time, but couldn’t quite figure out how to get her other arm unstuck from underneath. She watches everything closely and finds her big sister a source of delight and laughter.

Photos by JWFarrington (some rights reserved)