We experienced all kinds of weather while we were in Maine and all of it was better than the crazy heat and humidity of Washington, DC. Pretty much everyday the temperatures were about 30 degrees (F) cooler than they were in DC. The fog was quite lovely. It was wonderful to sit on the porch and read with these foggy views. There were some days were the fog condensed on the window screens.

  
I was going to wait a few days before I posted these but John has been away on business since Tuesday and he is missing Lucy. So this post is for him.
  
It is a wonder we got any photos of Maine on this vacation. All just a backdrop for Lucy (aka: Little Lulu, Lucinda, Lucy J. Prufrock, Pupsi, Honeybear, Chompers, etc.)

John and Lucy

I know where you live, squirrel.

Lucy was hell-bent on getting a bee. Thankfully she was never successful.

Lucy spots Ryder, the Golden Retriever from next door.

L’après-midi d’un faune

Just in case you aren’t convinced we took lots of pictures of Lucy.

  
Since Simon and Polly who are hosting Discovering Daphne in October asked me to make buttons for their event I got to thinking that I need to discover Daphne for myself. I have never read anything by du Maurier. So a few months back when I found this great copy of Hungry Hill I had to buy it. So imagine my delight when I came across this similar edition of Rebecca while we were in Maine.

    
John is the master online sleuth when it comes to finding beautiful things. He did a wonderful job finding us this old school rustic Maine cottage for our two-week stay on Islesboro. He even managed to convince the owner to relent on his no pets policy.

The view from the hammock

Looow tide

High tide

  
There were so many great used bookshops in Maine I was a little amazed. Unfortunately, since we were staying on the island of Islesboro and were beholden to the limited hours of the ferry, we didn’t have much time to browse the many shops that dot Route 1 along the coast. We were very fortunate however, in that Islesboro has two (that’s right two) bookstores despite only having about 600 year-round residents. One Artisan Books and Bindery which has a small but wonderfully curated collection of new and fine used books. The other is another branch of Artisan but devoted to fine used books. And the beauty of the two island bookstores is that since there was no pressing schedule for us at any point, I was really able to comb the store from top to bottom. I came away with more than a few wonderful things. They had a particularly good selection of books on books.

Tell me this one doesn’t look fascinating. And it is in perfect condition. This is a review copy from 1970 that has clearly never been read.

It still had this loose inside the front cover.

 

I know my audience. You want to know the contents of the three volumes of Book History. Volume 1 (Click on any photo to make it larger)



Volume 2

Volume 3

Update:  I just found out that Guinevere Griest (the author of the Mudie’s book) lives in Washington and graduated from Cornell in 1944. (I went to Cornell for grad school.) Maybe I will run into her…

   
When was the last time you colored?

Years ago I got a very large photocopy of a U.S. Geological Survey Topographic Map of Washington, DC. When I first brought it home my thought was to use it as a reference map. But over the years I felt like the contour lines on the map were just begging to be colored-in. For those of you who have never seen one before, a topographic map usually shows the elevation of a mapped area using contour lines that represent a fixed distance (in this case the space between every line represents 10 feet). So the closer together the lines, the steeper the slope, the further away the lines are the flatter the land.

Contemplating two weeks without TV or Internet, I knew I would crave something that wasn’t reading. One needs a break from everything after all. What I suspected was that I would have a blast coloring. The Disney princess coloring book I did with my niece back in March didn’t quite do it for me. But this map, with all of its interesting patterns, and a nice set of colored pencils could really be the thing.

And it was.

The first photos are me getting started while we were in Maine. I am not sure I will color here at home but I did take a few pictures since we got home just so you can see what I did while we were away.

  
I am very happy I decided to eschew the Internet for the two weeks we were in Maine. If I hadn’t made that decision prior to the trip I think I would have checked in from time to time which would have led to commenting on other blogs, returning emails, and the urge to post something on My Porch. And then all of that would have snowballed as I felt the need to keep up with everything.

The downside to not using the Internet for two weeks is that I didn’t review any of the books I read during that time. I took notes so I could write reviews later, but now that I am home I don’t really feel like trying to turn those notes into full reviews.

So a recap is all ye shall receive.

Sigh.

The Road to Lichfield by Penelope Lively
Quite enjoyed this easy read. It is Lively’s first novel and has all the hallmarks of many of her later works. A main character interested in both personal and public history in both real and pedagogical terms. Another character dealing with memory loss at the end of life. Family drama. Sex. It’s all there.

The Birth of a Grandfather by May SartonI really enjoyed reading this as the majority of the action took place on an island in Maine and it is typically and delightfully Sartonian. In some ways I felt like this one was shades of The Magnificent Spinster but for some reason Sarton decided to focus the title (if not the action itself) on the male lead. As I said I really enjoyed it, but if you are looking for a Sarton novel (and I highly recommend that you do) choose The Magnificent Spinster first.

Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery
I can see why this one gets mixed reviews. There were moments I enjoyed it but many others where I found it kind of tedious and pretentious. The kind of book that makes an undergraduate feel deep.

The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett
My second time reading this one, but I found just as unengaging as I did the first time so I set it down. I hadn’t intended to go back to it, but given Frances’ recent review, I may have put it down too soon.

The Tenants of Moonbloom by Edward Lewis Wallant
I really wanted to like this NYRB classic but halfway through it just wasn’t doing it for me. I might have persevered if I hadn’t been on vacation, but who knows. Oddball Norman Moonbloom serves as rent collector for his slumlord brother and interacts with even odder tenants. Just wasn’t in the mood for it.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
I only made it through 600 of the 1200 or so pages but I fully intend to finish it.

   
Given that this was our first vacation with Lucy, it is hard to interpret the trip without lots of references to her.

Isn’t she cute in her doggie life preserver? It is making me rethink my disdain for doggie outfits…



Lucy studying the life boat safety protocols.



Wondering why we aren’t taking the time to acquaint ourselves with the emergency procedures.

It didn’t take long for Lucy to make friends.

Life is tough.

Saying goodbye to the mainland.

  
While we waited for our ferry to Islesboro, Lucy had a chance to meet the ocean for the first time.

Lucy looking very unsure.

Notice the “I can flee at any moment” leg stance.

Making sure the rock has no nefarious intentions.

And a step back in response to her first little wave.

Making sure the seaweed’s credentials are in order.

Toes wet at last. But that is about as far as she went. This is no water dog.