Maine Time: Jaunting & Reading

JAUNT TO BIDDEFORD

Earlier this week, we headed south of Portland to visit friends on the outskirts of Biddeford.  This is a part of Maine we had not seen before, and we were struck by its quiet beauty.  Their house sits above Hills Beach bordered by rock with a view toward Basket Island.  There are homes there and the owners can drive their cars over the sand at low tide—quite amazing.  It being low tide we walked along the sand to the edge of the island.  

Lunch was at a general store cum deli counter near Biddeford Pool where we ordered salmon salad, pokes, and fish tacos.  Opting for a picnic table on the grass, we had a view of the placid water on this gloriously warm blue-sky day.

Later, Jill gave us a personal tour of downtown Biddeford.   An historic textile town (former home of Pepperell), Biddeford is having a bit of a renaissance with a weekly farmers’ market, a cozy café/used bookstore, live music on the street, weekday tours of the mill, and a selection of appealing restaurants and shops.  Definitely worth a return visit!

Mural in downtown Biddeford

SUMMER READING

The Guest Book by Sarah Blake

This is one of the best books I’ve read this summer.  Set mostly in Maine, it is not a simple read, and I puzzled over some of the family relationships (there are Evelyns in two generations, e.g.).  Initially, I found Blake’s prose choppy, with no smooth rhythm, but then I got into her groove. She excels at creating the atmosphere around Crockett’s Island and the hold the island with its big frame house, white, faded and worn, has on this, the third generation of upper crust cousins.  Especially Evie.  She is the principal character in the present day, a middle-aged academic, married to Paul, a Jew, and mother to teenager Seth.  

Evie and her cousins need to make a decision whether to sell or keep the island and house since the trust money for its upkeep is close to running out.  Grandfather Owen Milton and his wife Kitty bought the island decades ago.  The Miltons took great pride in being Miltons, being successful in business, and living life according to a certain set of mostly unwritten rules.  They were at the top of the societal heap and both proud of it and complacent.  In their world, one associated with members of one’s own class, one’s children attended only the best schools, and, of course, they married the right people.  

Joan, Evie’s recently deceased mother, had one dying wish— to be buried at the island, but not in the graveyard, instead by the picnic area.  Evie is unsettled since she doesn’t know why there, and she encounters objections from her cousins.  She is an historian whose life work has been uncovering the truths in letters, diaries and archives.  But, she feels she knows little about her mother who lived life in the shadows, not fully present to her.  

Author Sarah Blake (bookbub.com)

The novel is layered, replete with family secrets, and moves back and forth in time, mainly between the 1930’s, 1959, and the present day.  In the 30’s, Grandfather Owen has business dealings in Germany; in 1959, a pre-wedding gathering on the island ominously brings together family members with two outsiders; and in the present, Evie wrestles with a recurring dream about her mother, and with why she herself feels so tied to keeping the island and having nothing change.  

Issues of race, religion, and class surface in the characters of Len Levy, who works for Owen Milton, and Reg Pauling, a black man who is Len’s friend and former Harvard classmate.  How these two men intersect with the Miltons and how, together and separately, Len and Reg challenge various family members to examine their beliefs and actions make for a novel that I will ponder for some time to come.  Highly recommended!  For more about what shaped the work, check out this interview with Sarah Blake.  (~JWFarrington)

No Visible Bruises:  What We Don’t Know about Domestic Violence Can Kill Us by Rachel Louise Snyder

This is a heavy book about an issue, really a crime, which is often misunderstood and occasionally overlooked.  Known familiarly as domestic violence, this author believes it should more appropriately be called something like  “intimate-partner violence” or “intimate-partner terrorism.”  The statistics on the number of incidents worldwide are staggering, and Snyder presents several case histories that ended in a woman’s death.  Death despite restraining orders, time in a shelter, interactions with the police, and the like.  For beat cops, domestic disputes have too frequently been viewed as nuisance calls rather than criminal behavior.  Added to that, women victims too often recant their testimony due to fear of greater consequences.

Snyder discusses a new tool called the Dangerousness Scale which, if used and heeded, can predict which women are likely to be killed by their partners.  One of the strongest predictors of death is if a woman has been strangled by her partner.  Violence against a woman escalates in a repeating pattern as her partner works to isolate her from family and friends and to strictly control both her behavior and her movements.  When there are children involved, the woman’s incentive to return to an unsafe home environment is largely because of fear of what the man might do to the children.  

Author Snyder (amazon.com)

Fortunately, there is room for hope with new research and with the creation of programs for violent men that educate them about the toxic aspects of their masculinity and prompt them to change their actions. Snyder’s book has added depth thanks to the innumerable hours of interviews she conducted with battered women and their families and with abusers; these interviews form the basis for the case histories.

 Recommended reading, but not for the beach.  For a short piece about the crux of the issue, see this Atlantic article by Snyder.  (~JWFarrington)

Note: Header photo shows Basket Island. All text ©JWFarrington; unattributed photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).

Maine: Southport & Around

SUMMER READING

The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter by Hazel Gaynor

This is the kind of historical novel that sweeps you up immediately and keeps you absorbed all the way through.  Set in 1838 on the Irish coast and in1938 off Newport, Rhode Island, two young women become attached to, devoted, some might say, to their respective lighthouses. Grace Darling, a real individual, lived in the lighthouse on Longstone Island, Ireland, and rescued survivors of a shipwreck in 1838.  She became a national hero touted in the papers and painted and drawn by many artists. In 1938, the fictional Matilda, nineteen, unmarried and pregnant, is sent from her home in Ireland to a relative in Rhode Island, who is one of a handful of female lighthouse keepers.  

How the parallel stories of these two women, Grace and Matilda, are linked through storms and destruction is the stuff of the novel.  In the process, you learn a lot about what was involved in keeping a lighthouse functioning pre-automation.  (~JWFarrington)

Force of Nature by Jane Harper

I liked Harper’s latest mystery, The Lost Man, so much that I’ve gone back and gotten her two earlier works.  One still resides unread on my Kindle; this one I read in paperback. Five women trek into the Australian bush on a corporate team building exercise, but only four return to the appointed site.  A wide-ranging search is undertaken to try and locate the missing Alice Russell. 

Although I did not find this novel as compelling as the other one, it is well plotted and creatively organized with two timelines running simultaneously.  In present time, federal agents Aaron Falk and his partner, Carmen Cooper, are asked to become involved since they are investigating the company’s CEO in a separate matter.  Interwoven with the ongoing search effort are day-by-day accounts of the hike told from the perspective of the individual women.  Disagreements, underlying jealousies and office competitiveness combine for a less than harmonious experience that leads to tragedy.  (~JWFarrington)

KEEPING BUSY

While I can spend many enjoyable hours just reading, Maine at this time of year offers a varied selection of diversions. And when we have house guests, there is even more reason to take advantage of this region’s cultural and dining opportunities.

Home and Garden Tour

Each year the Boothbay Region Garden Club showcases six area homes and their gardens.  This year three of the houses were on Southport Island, including the former Lawnmere Inn, and the others in Boothbay Harbor.  It was a lovely blue sky day and just warm enough to be pleasant.  To deal with narrow streets and difficult parking, school buses were used to shuttle us around, and the whole affair was very well organized.  As is our tradition, eight of us rounded out the tour with lunch on the deck at Linekin Bay.   

Organ Concert

All Saints-by-the-Sea is a summer chapel on Southport that not only offers weekly worship services, but also the occasional organ recital or evensong service. This small wooden chapel is more than a hundred years old and sits in the woods, hidden down a side road and overlooking the water.  You can park on the main road and walk down the hill or arrive by boat at their dock.  All Saints is Episcopal in its affiliation, but welcomes visitors from all denominations and faiths.  

We’ve attended several recitals here in the past. One recent Sunday afternoon, despite the heat, we were pleased to hear renowned organist, Henry Lowe.  Organist and music director emeritus, Church of the Redeemer in Baltimore, Lowe played pieces by several French composers (Faure and others) as well as a prelude and fugue by Bach.  His short comments about each work were enlightening and added to this listener’s appreciation.  These recitals always end with a lovely reception (with wine) on the deck looking out at the rocks, dock, and water.

Yacht Club

View of Boothbay Harbor

Florida friends visited us this week and thanks to B and A’s reciprocal privileges, combined with B’s charm offensive, we were able to have lunch at the Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club.  In their attractive dining room with windows on three sides overlooking the harbor, we enjoyed some tasty sandwiches and salads.  We hope to return!

Note: All photos and text ©JWFarrington.

Tidy Tidbits: Reading & Eating

CONCERT NOTE

Kudos to the Ladies

Hensel, 1842 by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim (Wikipedia)

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel was a talented and precocious composer and pianist.  But, she was female, and as sister to her talented brother Felix, she was relegated to the back of the room.  Their father declared that Felix would have the musical career and she would not.  In her day, some of her more than four hundred compositions were attributed to Felix. It is only recently that her work has been rediscovered.

We had the great pleasure recently of hearing a performance of Fanny Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D Minor by three very talented women, Carmit Zori, violin, Natalie Helm, cello, and Jean Schneider, piano.  Pianist Schneider got the biggest workout on this demanding piece.  It concluded the concert and was a fitting end to our set of Sarasota Music Festival concerts!

RECENT READING

When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton

This is Cleeton’s second novel related to Cuba, this time featuring Beatriz, one of the sisters in the sugar rich Perez family who fled Havana for Palm Beach after Castro took over their government.  Beatriz is determined to avenge her activist brother’s death in that revolution and very much wants to return to their Havana homestead.  On the periphery of Palm Beach society, restless and bored by the endless round of parties, Beatriz is easily importuned to get involved in espionage. 

Discouraged by what she sees as feeble efforts by the Americans on Cuba’s behalf and quickly becoming involved with highly regarded U.S. senator, Nick Preston, she never knows for sure whom she can trust and to what degree.  This novel about the Cold War and the Cuban crises of the early 60’s is absorbing, suspenseful and romantic.  The perfect beach read! (~JWFarrington)

Exposure by Helen Dunmore

Helen Dunmore was a British poet, novelist and author of children’s books.  A prolific writer, she died of cancer in 2017 at only 64. This novel is one of her last works.  Exposure is a look into London in 1960 during the Cold War when there were still secrets and spies. But it is not a conventional spy novel; rather Dunmore focuses on the details and minutiae of life for three individuals all impacted by the misplacement of a top-secret file.  

Giles Galloway, middle-aged, works for the Admiralty, as does Simon Callington, a younger married father of two children.  Simon’s wife Lily, who emigrated from Germany as a child, is a part-time schoolteacher. When Giles falls in his flat and calls Simon to retrieve the file and return it, but Simon doesn’t, life unravels for all of them.  Giles ends up in the hospital, Simon is arrested, and Lily leaves her job. What secrets they hold close, how they cope with dire straits, and how each puzzles out what should be exposed and what not, make for a multi-faceted novel—part love story, part human drama, part thriller.  (~JWFarrington)

CASUAL DINING

Metro Diner

A friend introduced me to Bradenton’s Metro Diner, one of several local locations for this chain.  The restaurant is airy and attractive with a mix of booths along the walls and tables in the middle of the space.  A large American flag (made of tile?) graces much of one side wall.  Specials of the day are on a blackboard at the rear and included a green tomato BLT, beef pot pie, and two soups of the day (loaded potato and their version of Manhattan clam chowder).  The menu is a mix of traditional diner fare (meatloaf, hot turkey sandwich) as well as fried chicken and waffles, salads, and variations on eggs Benedict for breakfast.   We sampled the beef pot pie and the white meat chicken salad sandwich with cole slaw (one of several choices of sides).  Both were very good.  Portions are generous to very large so go with an appetite.  Our waitress was friendly and helpful and took good care of us. 

Blue Marlin Seafood

Steamed clams

This deep blue cottage is cute inside with nautical notes that would be as right in Maine as they are here in Bradenton Beach.  Our dining partner knew the ropes and had requested a table in the front room—and we got the best one.  This room is quieter and a bit more open than the back room and bar.  For a livelier crowd and a more boisterous experience, there are also outdoor tables and live music.  

Thai snapper nugz

Everything we ordered was fresh and delicious and exceeded my modest expectations.  The house salad had a tasty Caesar-like dressing, and my steamed clams were luscious in a broth that included nubs of bacon and a dash of hot pepper along with the requisite garlic.  My companions ordered fish nuggets prepared Thai style, exquisite scallops on roasted Brussels sprouts, and the black grouper (fish of the day).  We ordered mostly small plates and small salads which are very reasonably priced; the fish entrees tend toward the mid-30’s. This was a great discovery and we’ll put it on our regular list!

Note: Text and photos ©JWFarrington except as noted.

Tidy Tidbits: Reading Update & More

A NOVEL, A MYSTERY AND A MEMOIR

Carnegie’s Maid by Marie Benedict

Author Benedict (wesa.fm)

This historical novel is built around the premise that someone or some event must have triggered Andrew Carnegie’s transformation from merely a successful, rich, and somewhat ruthless businessman into the philanthropist and library founder he became.  Clara Kelley is poor and young and sent by her family from Ireland to the States in 1863 to find a job to help support her family back home.  She travels in steerage and upon disembarking, hears her name called, answers, and is swept up by a woman who places lady’s maids with wealthy clients.  Clara is not that Clara, but assumes her identiy and thus leads a double life pretending to be someone with experience. 

Fortunately, her father saw that his children were educated so Clara is not without knowledge or ability.  Serving as Andrew Carnegie’s mother’s maid in Pittsburgh, she becomes acquainted with both Carnegie sons, but especially Andrew, and listens in as he and his mother discuss their business affairs. The focus of the novel is Clara’s relationships with both Mrs. Carnegie and Andrew and how they play out over several years.  The action is limited and the scope somewhat slight, but I found it an enjoyable book. (~JWFarrington)

The Lost Man by Jane Harper

I have not yet read any of Harper’s other mysteries, but this one was gripping.  Set in the hot dry dangerous Australian outback, it’s the tale of three brothers, Nathan, Cameron, and Bub.   But Cameron is dead, his car abandoned, and his body found near an isolated grave. For someone born and raised in this forbidding landscape and who knows the risks of the extremely hot sun, it’s a mysterious ending.  The novel is related from Nathan’s perspective.  Nathan is a solitary sort who lives alone on the adjoining property (adjoining but distant by several hours) and stays away from town due to an earlier misfortune.  What binds Cameron’s wife and kids together and what secrets they and the brothers’ mother keep hidden are slowly revealed as Nathan seeks answers. (~JWFarrington)

The Salt Path by Raynor Winn

Moth and Ray (startribune.com)

In one fell swoop after a long lead-up, Ray and her husband Moth lose their home, their livelihood, and his good health.  Without any resources and children just beginning their own independent lives, they are truly homeless.  Avid hikers in their earlier years, they decide to walk the South West Coastal Path through Dorset and Cornwall, or at least the first half of it.  Armed with only the clothes on their back, rucksacks stuffed with a tent, cooking utensils, a copy of Beowulf, their remaining few pounds of cash, and not much else, they set out.  Ray is 50 and Moth several years older and recently diagnosed with a terminal disease.

This is Ray’s account of their journey, wild camping on cliff edges, enduring every kind of weather from blistering sun to driving rain, being hungry, and surviving many days on a diet of noodles and fudge bars.  From hopelessness to acceptance, it’s initially a slog which becomes a walk in nature lightened by a newfound appreciation of freedom and the wider world.  These are resilient individuals and I found myself rooting for them.  It’s Winn’s first book and she’s a good writer who captures nature’s beauty while relating their struggles with wry humor.  Near the end, I did tire a bit of the nature descriptions, one more cove, another cliff, but that’s just me.  (~JWFarrington)

BIG SCREEN

Late Night

Kaling and Thompson (bookandfilmglobe.com)

I would go see Emma Thompson in almost anything.  She’s one of my favorite actors and she’s marvelous in this new film as Katherine Newbury, the reigning host of a late night comedy show.  After 28 years, Newbury has gotten stale, but doesn’t realize it until that truth is forced upon her.  In an effort to diversify her all male staff of writers, she hires an inexperienced Indian woman, Molly, whose naivete and refreshing candor create waves in the studio.  As played by Mindy Kaling, Molly is a delight. There has not yet been a late night female TV host, and Thompson’s character illustrates the harsh realities of women trying to age with grace on the screen.  Funny, relevant, and entertaining.  I’d see it again!

EATING OUT

Roessler’s Restaurant

Tucked in off busy Route 41, Roessler’s is south of Sarasota in a former residence with lovely windows overlooking a pretty garden.  There are several small rooms at one end, one with a bar, and then a spacious dining room (actually the former swimming pool area) decorated in soft greens.  Adam, our waiter, was new to the staff, but helpful and professional.  They were still offering a Savor Sarasota menu so we and our friends took advantage of it. 

Two of us ordered the Roessler Chicken with mushrooms and artichokes while the other two had the veal and the bouillabaisse.  First courses included a choice of house or Caesar salads, soup, or a crispy lobster tail.  For dessert, we sampled the parfait and the nicely tart key lime pie.  The lobster and the veal each came with a slight up charge.  It was a most relaxed and pleasant meal and also a place to visit again!

Note: Text ©JWFarrington. Header book photo from runningoutofpages.com