Back to Maine: Chocolates & More

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GETTING TO MAINE

Portland and the Maine coast are popular vacation destinations.  Flights to Portland, generally on smaller planes, fill up fast and with summer thunderstorms often an issue, travel can be delayed.  Getting to Maine took us two days after one cancelled flight, one seriously delayed flight, and then a nonstop flight to Boston.  From Logan Airport, we had the new experience of riding Concord Coach Lines’ express bus service to Portland!  Time en route is generally 2 hours and a bit, depending on traffic. The bus was comfortable and had WIFI. 

We were happy to arrive at the Portland transit center to begin our Maine time, and the Chief Penguin was delighted he didn’t have to navigate the traffic out of Logan!

First lobster roll of the season, a must!

PORTLAND TREATS

It was hot and humid in Portland (hot for Maine, that is), but we were determined to check out a specialty chocolate shop, Chocolats Passion.  Our friend Margaret introduced us to these intriguing artisan French chocolates.  Despite the heat, we trudged up Spring Street to be rewarded with a cool little shop and an array of scrumptious chocolates.  Our handmade selections included pistachio raspberry, orange creamsicle, pineapple black pepper, and Palet d’Or, made only with chocolate from Madagascar.  We learned from the woman behind the counter, a co-owner, that she had recently spent time in Madagascar and loved it. We enjoyed sharing with her reminiscences of our 2009 visit.  

VIEWING—FRENCH CRIME

If the heat is getting you down and you need a change of pace, you might sample this slightly quirky French series.

The Wagner Method (PBS Passport Walter Presents)

Cesar & Elise (tpt.org)

Cesar Wagner is a police detective based in Strasbourg, France.  He and his small team are tasked with solving high profile murders.  Wagner is a serious hypochondriac, always armed with medications, and every ready to break with protocol in his actions.  He frequently finds himself at odds with his boss and her boss.  Adding further to this dilemma is that his mother (who doesn’t look old enough to be so) is the city’s mayor.  She regularly reminds him that his actions may reflect poorly on her.  

The interactions and repartee between Wagner and pathologist Elise Beaumont provide extra spice as Wagner’s team members, Farid and Lea, put up with and are amused by his frequent so-called attacks of ill health.  

Episodes are 90 minutes long and overall are more police procedural than fast-paced action. In French with subtitles, the first two episodes dealt with the death of a rising soccer star and the murder of a journalist.  Season 1 has four episodes and Seasons 2 and 3, just two each.  I’ve watched all of the first season and found I liked these characters more each episode. And Cesar is a handsome eyeful.   Recommended!

PREVIEW OF COMING ATTRACTIONS

Art is high on our summer list.  We will return to Portland to see the ground-breaking exhibit, Jeremy Frey: Woven, at the Portland Museum of Art.  It brings together fifty examples of his Wabanaki basket artistry.  And no visit to Maine is complete without seeing the newest exhibits at the Farnsworth Art Museum.  Featured this year is Unsettled, an exhibit of some of Jamie Wyeth’s darker images.  

Watch for future blog posts on these exhibits!

Note: Header photo of Maine cove and other of lobster roll ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Carolina Comments: Holiday, etc.

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THIS HOT FOURTH OF JULY

Like many Americans, we celebrated this 4th of July holiday with picnic fare (hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, and barbecued ribs plus sides) albeit indoors.  In the afternoon, we were treated to a recital by A Touch of Brass, an instrumental group consisting of trumpets, trombone, drums, and French horn. 

This group of six entertained us with a wide variety of patriotic songs and marches including America the Beautiful, God Bless America, and Yankee Doodle Dandy along with When the Saints Come Marching in and Sousa’s great march, Stars and Stripes Forever. 

It was both heartening and encouraging to sing these American songs, a reminder perhaps that despite today’s messy, troubling political scene, this country will strive to remain strong and viable into the future.

SUMMER READING

What Constitutes Home?

Long Island by Colm Toibin

Toibin (wikipedia.com)

Colm Toibin’s latest novel, Long Island, a sequel to Brooklyn, is set in a small community on Long Island and in Enniscorthy, Ireland.  Devastated and motivated by some shocking news about her Italian American husband Tony, Eilis returns to her Irish hometown after twenty years away.  Although married with two almost grown children, she has never felt at ease in the enclave of Tony’s brother’s and their families and his mother. Enniscorthy offers escape from her stifling home scene and the opportunity to be present for her mother’s 80th birthday.  

While Ireland is familiar, it is also different. Eilis re-connects briefly with her longtime friend Nancy and becomes close again with former boyfriend Jim Farrell, not knowing that his affections have been engaged elsewhere.  She is also both puzzled and hurt by her mother’s responses to offers of help.

The novel flows slowly and is told from Nancy and Jim’s perspectives as well as Eilis’s.  There are secrets and silences and gossip.  These individuals, and others in Enniscorthy, are reluctant to be open with each or to address straightforwardly the questions and concerns each has.  Aside from Nancy, ambivalence seems to be the approach of the day.  

Would Jim be happy leaving the pub he owns and runs?  What does Eilis really want?  She loves her children, but their lives are in the States.  Where does she fit?  

I enjoyed this work, but not as much as I liked Brooklyn and The Master.   (~JWFarrington) 

POLITICAL POSTCARDS

If you have some extra time, write legibly, and believe it is crucial to vote, then you might want to consider writing postcards to select voters in various states.  Under one project, Postcards to Swing States, you pick from the list of states and agree to write 200 postcards between now and October 15 when they are to be mailed.

The postcards are provided, you purchase your own stamps, and you choose from three different approved messages. I picked North Carolina, a key battleground state, and am now working my way through my list of names and addresses.  

Another organized effort is Postcards to Voters.  This organization requires you to go through a few hoops before being approved and receiving your first list of names and addresses with instructions.  These postcards are messages to mostly Democratic voters urging them to vote for specific Congressional candidates in key races in their state. 

Note: Header photo of the American flag is from www.history.com 

Carolina Capers: Vicars, Trains & More

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VIEWING: VICARS AND CRIME

Grantchester Season 9 (PBS)

On set, Robson Green (Geordie) & Rishi Nair (Vicar Alphy Kottaram) (pbs.org)

Life in the village of Grantchester rolls on, and Vicar Will Davenport, with some hesitation, accepts a new job offer.  He and Bonnie and their kids will move to Newcastle.  

The Chief Penguin and I watched the entire season of eight episodes, and we think it’s an excellent one. Episodes 1 and 2 do provide murders to solve, but they more significantly focus on Will’s decision to leave and how that is unveiled to Geordie and others in the community.  These episodes present a wonderful depiction of male friendship, both the complex yet deep relationship between Will and Geordie and Will’s strong bond with former curate Leonard.  

From this poignant and moving departure, the series continues with the arrival of new vicar, Alphy Kotteram, whose initial welcome is cool to tepid.  Women’s roles, or more specifically, women’s place in society, come to the fore as evidenced by cantankerous yet devoted Mrs. C. demonstrating her loyalty, Cathy struggling with midlife issues, and Miss Scott in the police department assisting in the murder investigations.  

Grantchester has been renewed for yet another season.  Recommended!

TRAIN RIDE THROUGH THE WOODS

New Hope Valley Railway

This past week, we went on an outing to nearby Bonsal about 20 miles south of Cary.  From Bonsal, you can ride a train on historic track for 4 miles to nearby New Hill.  A locomotive pulls airy passenger cars through leafy woods of pines and deciduous trees.  There is not a lot to see, but the trip is a pleasant meander.  

The most action is at New Hill when the locomotive engine uncouples from the front of the train, runs on a parallel track, and then couples up with what was the back of the train for the return to Bonsal.  The whole trip takes just under an hour.

Engine on the parallel track

An all-volunteer enterprise, the railway goes all out for holidays with flying witches at Halloween and Frosty the Snowman and Santa around or on board in December.  Gina, the brake woman in our car, overflowed with details about the these preparations.

Also on site is a gift shop, of course, a range of antique train cars, and an elaborate G Scale model train layout that is mesmerizing for all ages.  We enjoyed sampling this North Carolina attraction and know that it would appeal to many folks’ grandchildren!

READING—NOT ON MY SUMMER LIST

A Poet’s Memoir

You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith

(nytimes.com)

I like memoirs and read a good review of this book, so put it on my birthday wish list. Prior to reading it, I had not heard of poet Maggie Smith nor was I aware of her 2016 poem, Good Bones, that went viral after the horrible shooting at the gay nightclub in Orlando.

Other memoirs have dealt with marriage break-ups and the challenges of parenting as one and not two.  What Smith does in You Could Make This Place Beautiful is unique; her memoir is made up of snippets of life, questions one could pose, and a play within the memoir.  

The reader gets raw, painful episodes of hurt and anger along with accounts of the joys she shares with her young daughter and son.  She discovered her husband’s infidelity on a postcard; she dubs herself the Finder in her drama scenes and he The Addressee.  Throughout her musings are some sections that recur like “A Note on Plot”, or “A Friend Says Every Book Begins with an Unanswerable Question” where one time the text reads: “Then what is mine? how to forgive or “how to remain myself.”

Smith reiterates that this is not a tell-all book, but rather a “tell-mine.”  She omits certain scenes and specifics yet delves into her early life, their courtship, and their marriage.  Ultimately, she believes her view of her professional life and his view of it, her work vs. his work, colored their relationship, and ignited its fracturing.  

None of this is written in a linear way as she reflects, revisits issues, revises her thinking, consults and quotes other writers, and shares her experiences with her therapists. At one point, she states that she had hoped to have more levity on the page to offset the sadness and hurt.  She studies and revises her view of herself again and again as she works to become, I would phrase it, a more fully integrated person.  

There is an immediacy here; some issues, such as finalizing the divorce drag on in litigation as she writes.  Her children also take turns on take center stage as she ponders their futures, mourning the fact that their father moved out of state, limiting their access to him. The depth of her love for these two resilient kids is clear.  

There is pain on the page and yet, there is a magnetic quality about the writing (her poet’s eye for precision, e.g.) that kept me glued to the text.  Highly recommended!  (~JWFarrington)

Note: Unattributed photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Carolina Capers: Novels & TV Series

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INDIAN FAMILY SAGA

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

(lithub.com)

Abraham Varghese does not write short novels.  His earlier work, Cutting for Stone, which I read and enjoyed was also a tome.  The Covenant of Water is more than 700 pages; one must persevere, and one must endure, but it is worth the effort.  I do believe it could have been edited down some, but I felt that about the earlier novel also.

Covering the years 1900 to 1977 and set mainly in Kerala, India, and somewhat in Madras and Glasgow, it begins with a 12-year-old girl marrying a 40-year-old widower, father of one son, JoJo.  Over the years, she becomes Big Ammachi, the matriarch of the family, presiding over and nurturing three generations at Parambil, the family seat.  Threaded through the generations are an uncommon number of deaths by drowning.  Those who drown have a fear of water and work to avoid contact with any water.  This affliction is known as The Condition, and for decades, no one knows what causes it or why.  

Dense with descriptive prose, detailed descriptions of unusual medical procedures (Vergherse is a physician and a professor), and a host of characters, intriguing individuals seemingly unrelated to the main story, The Covenant is rich and engrossing.  As is his wont, Verghese brings these characters together, connections are made, and the strands become a cohesive whole.  For readers with patience, it’s a rewarding journey! (~JWFarrington)

MAISIE DOBBS REFLECTS

The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear

(harpercollins.com)

I have read all of Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs’ series and have been a big fan of this author.  About fifteen years ago, a good friend and I went to a small bookstore lunch in Marin honoring Winspear.  It was to celebrate the arrival of her latest Maisie Dobbs.  Not surprising, Winspear was gracious and warm. She chatted with us individually during lunch and then read a selection from the book.  It was a memorable affair. 

In addition to the Maisie Cobbs series, Winspear has written two standalone novels and a poignant memoir, This Time Next Year, We’ll Be Laughing. I recommend these works as well.

The Comfort of Ghosts is the 18th novel in the series and a fitting end to Maisie’s career. It is 1945 and the war is over, but London folk are suffering with bombed out buildings and a lack of suitable housing.  Food is in short supply, some homeless become squatters in vacant homes, and demobbed soldiers are haunted by what they have witnessed.

In her last case, Maisie becomes protector and investigator for four young squatters who believe they’ve seen a murder.  She must call upon all her sources and friends for assistance, while simultaneously reflecting on her own part in both world wars, and on the deaths of friends and spouses.  As always, Maisie is determined, detail-oriented, and perceptive; these traits all come into play.

For anyone who hasn’t read the early works, this one is a valedictory to Maisie’s career and personal life, providing glimpses and explanations about how she rose from lowly household maid to investigator and psychologist. Along the way, readers are reintroduced to Maurice Blanche, her mentor and friend; Pris her longtime friend since college; her father and stepmother Brenda; and Julian and Rowan Compton, parents of her first husband James.  It’s a trip down memory lane, shadowed by old ghosts, and yet reflective of the challenges Maisie and her compatriots face in moving on past the terror and damage of WWII.  

Winspear convincingly portrays both the postwar climate in Britain and the mental struggles those who served must overcome to function again in peacetime.  Maisie Dobbs has her own regrets and concerns, but she is a stalwart, and her first response is usually to provide help.  I found this a very satisfying conclusion to the series, but I will, nonetheless, miss Maisie.  (~JWFarrington)

REGENCY ROMANCE

Bridgerton, Season 3 (Netflix)

Colin & Penelope (eonline.com)

Bridgerton, first viewed during Covid, has now advanced to its 3rd season.  For those who’ve read Julia Quinn’s novels on which it’s based, it’s a logical viewing choice.  Created by the talented producer Rhonda Shimes and Quinn, it’s a romance lover’s delight—complete with lavish costumes, fancy balls and intrigues, frustrated and beleaguered lovers, and, of course, the redoubtable Lady Whistledown’s gossip sheet.  

This season focuses on Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton.  She is the youngest and an overlooked sibling in her family, while Colin, the Bridgerton brother she has been friendly with and adored for years, has recently returned from Europe.  This is Penelope coming into her own as a woman alongside Queen Charlotte’s ongoing quest to learn the identity of Lady Whistledown.  The season is steamy and sexy with plenty of couplings, engagements, and even an incipient attraction between Lady Violet Bridgerton and a certain lord.  

It’s fun, it’s poignant, and the women have their day!  I think it’s the best season thus far with greater depth than the previous two.  Enjoy!

OTHER DOINGS

This week we participated in a Juneteenth celebration which included commentary about the holiday, music, and some tasty African-inspired nibbles. Another day, we lunched out with the Adventurous Eaters at La Victoria, an attractive Mexican restaurant in Cary. The waitstaff was friendly, the guacamole fresh with a punch, and the enchiladas verdes I ordered delicious. Add in an afternoon performance of songs from the 1950s, 1960s, and 70s by the BackFence Duo; it was a full week.

Note: Header Juneteenth graphic courtesy of Vecteezy.com