2022 Georgetown

Day 1:  August 6, 2022 (Saturday):  On the road again

I am here in Maine with my artist friend Martha, we come every year to paint and make art.  We are in a little village called Five Islands on the island of Georgetown.  Five Islands is one of six small villages on Georgetown Island, the villages are Five Islands, Georgetown, Bay Point, Marrtown, West Georgetown and Robinhood.  The village of Five Islands gets its name from being on Five Islands Harbor which gets its name from being surrounded by five islands.  We will be here 7 nights.

I was up at 6:00 Saturday morning, caught an Uber at 7:30 to Grand Central and met Martha at the Stamford, Connecticut train station at 8:56 for our drive to Five Islands at Georgetown. The first stop in our drive is always Donut Delite for breakfast food.  Mine was a yummy cranberry walnut chicken salad on WW toast.

Second routine stop is the Ruby Road TA stop for gas.  Martha loves laughing at me and I do my best to keep her chuckling.  The next photo shows me and a Shell oil membership card that gave me a 5 cent per gallon discount.  Martha just goes Pffft when I do things like that, not realizing that it is for her entertainment.

Above:  Diane at Ruby Road AT.

Third stop the New Hampshire liquor store for you guessed it, gin.  And some carbordeaux wine, aka wine in boxes. The drive was long and hot.

Sometimes the car said the outdoor temp was 98F degrees.  Inside we were comfy.  Love Martha's Subaru Forester. One of the traffic back-ups was in Maine, when there were firefighters and trucks extinguishing a brush fire on the embankment of an overpass, the rubbernecking was nuts.

Fourth stop the Circle K gas station at Topsham, ME, where we leave the Interstate to go to Bath and on to Georgetown, and our home at Five Islands.  At the pump I got another Pffft from Martha, when I said I was going to apply for a membership card to get a discount on gas there too.

We are staying at the same VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner) at Five Islands as last year, but in a different cabin. Last year we were on the hill, this year we are on the water.  See the following two photos  These are markups from photos I found on the Internet, I forget the source and would credit the photographers if I could remember the source.

Above:  Aerial view showing out cottage location this year.

Above:  Another aerial view showing our cottage location this year.

After we unloaded the car, we sat on our porch to have gin and tonics and look at the view.  Some boaters came by and asked to take a short cut across our lawn (all big rocks) and we watched as they partied and took off for Boothbay for dinner.  Then we walked to the Five Islands lobster company (on the dock) for dinner. We were sort of late after the gin and tonics so they were out of a lot of stuff, Martha had scallops and I had haddock.  YUM.  We’ll go earlier tomorrow so we can have clams or lobster.

Following are 3 photos that show our cottage, the Five Islands Harbor as viewed from our porch, and the dock area where the Five Islands Lobster Company is located, also as viewed from our porch.

Above:  Our cottage on the harbor.

Above:  The harbor from our porch.

Above:  Five Islands Lobster Company, photo from our porch.

Day 2:  August 7, 2022 (Sunday)

Sunday was a laid-back day.  I didn’t realize how weary I was coming back from my Florida visit, then my Indianapolis visit, then packing to come to this part of heaven.  I spent most of Sunday on the porch watching the boats, the waves and the folks that came for the lobsters.

I took more photos of the harbor and the Sheepscot River and read a new-to-me book called “Drawing Scenery: Landscapes and Seascapes” by Jack Hamm.  I tried some of his exercises whilst sitting on the porch, looking at the scenery. It was so exhausting, I had to take a nap.

For dinner, Martha and I went back to the Five Islands Lobster company and stood in line forever, then abandoned the idea of getting the lobster dinner and went to the shorter line and had the best lobster roll ever.  Just as we brought our suppers home, a boat with 100 or more people showed up and got in line for their lobster delights.  Whew, we made it just in time. I wonder how long they had to stand there for their food.  Martha laughed when I explained how I would organize the tour for their pleasure by ordering the lobsters ahead. She just said, “Diane, this is Maine!”

Attached are a few photos from Sunday.

Above:  The harbor and Sheepscot River.

Above:  The harbor and Sheepscot River (Maiden Island in background).

Above:  Front of the Five Islands Lobster Company where we had dinner.

Above:  Some boats at the Five Islands Lobster Company dock.

Above:  Other side of the Five Islands Lobster Company of just the red building.

Above:  Looking across the Five Islands harbor towards Maiden Island.

Above:  View showing three of the five islands that make the Five Islands Harbor.  I forget where I got this photo or I would give credit.  I added the names of the islands.

Day 3:  August 8, 2022 (Monday

Sunday night I went to bed early and Monday morning when I woke up, it was foggy and fabulous. All photographers dream about fog. 

The harbor was busy, it was cacophony with all the lobster boats loading up and taking off to mind their traps.  Many of the rather portly “lobstah men” wore waders in their boats.  It is a messy business.

After I wrote some and ate breakfast, I went on a long walk to get more fog photos. I was too late as most of it was gone, but did get a few, but the reflections in the water were beautiful.  I spoke with a “down east” lady (that’s a Maine term) who was sitting on her porch while the roof of her house was noisily being torn off, to be replaced. It had been 80+ degrees on Sunday and was in the mid 70’s yesterday.  I commented to her that it was a better day for the roofers to be working like that. She responded, “It’s too hot today too, it’s not supposed to be like that here.”

By the time I finished my 4-mile walk, Martha was up; I reported on my trip over a toasted bagel. We painted in the afternoon.  Her paintings were lovely, mine were torn up by me. I’ll do better today. Mr. Jack Hamm and his “Drawing Scenery: Landscapes and Seascapes” book didn’t help me enough.  Maybe it made me worse.

It rained and cooled way down in the lower 60’s, so we had to close all the windows and get out our woolies.  Martha brought a puffy poncho in camo and even ate dinner in it. The lobster house had a limited menu so we ate steak at home, it was good too.

Attached are a few photos from Monday.  The first four were taken early in the morning of some foggy landscape.

Above:  Two boats on a foggy morning.

Above:  Foggy morning.

Above:  Foggy morning.

Above:  Two youths fishing.

The next photo is another early foggy morning photo, of one of the “lobstah men.”

Above:  "Lobstah" men.

 

Next are 4 photos I made on my morning walk, notice the reflection in the water in the first photo.

Above:  Reflection in the water.

Above:  South side of the Five Islands Lobster Company red building.

Above:  Flowers in a garden.  Hydrangeas? 

Above:  Small cabin on a trail on my morning walk.

The next and last photo for this morning is of Martha in camo and her morning coffee.

Above:  Martha in camo and her morning coffee.

Day 4:  August 9, 2022, Tuesday

It was a dark and stormy night on the Maine coast.  When I woke up the rain had departed briefly and in its place on the rooftop by my window sat 8 small birds that looked like mini robins. I couldn’t get my phone or camera out fast enough to capture it.  It rained off and on all day, causing Martha great consternation. She was worried that the Lobster company would close and we couldn’t get our lobster dinners.  More on that later.

There was no fog so the photos don’t really look as good. The following photo I call "Surfs up. Well not so much,” and was taken standing outside our cottage looking out on the harbor.

Above  "Surfs Up.  Well not so much."

We didn’t plan on painting plein air as we have this wonderful porch looking over the harbor, so we didn’t bring our little painting tables. The next photo is of the outside of our back porch, I was standing down by the water to get this photo.

Above:  Our back porch.

 
As far as my painting goes, the next photo shows how I coped.  This is my less than ideal painting studio. What you can’t see is the twisty and the tape I had to use to make the rack stand up.  Note the improvised table.

Above:  My painting studio.

 
The following photo shows the entertainment of the day, the lobstah men.  We watched them come and go and unload their catch.  What interested me was how back breaking the work is with no winches or other assists with the boxes of lobsters.  They moved them a few at a time from a box on the ship to a box to be used on the dock.  After they filled the dock boxes they floated them in the water keeping the catch alive until time to be sold, cooked and eaten.

Above:  "Lobstah" men.

 
Between rain showers, I took my exploratory walk along a road more traveled by cars than my ideal.  It was curious.  From porches with no houses, to gingerbread houses that looked more like Martha’s Vineyard than Maine and then the junky house with a front yard that made me laugh out loud.  See the next photo.

Above:  Junky yard.

Martha was so concerned about the rain that she went and asked if they would be open later.  They told her to check at 3 p.m. They said they’d be open but then….. about 4:30 there was no line and no one ordering so Martha panicked and we went early to order our dinners.  I had to ask about the difference between a Hard Shell Lobster and a New Shell Lobster other than the obvious; the obvious was the answer.  When the lobster sheds its shell, it grows a new one; and it takes awhile for it to harden.  They looked the same to us, but the lobstah men knew the difference. The lady said that with the New Shell Lobster there isn’t as much meat but it is easier to get and sweeter, so I ordered a New Shell Lobster. (Mine was bigger than Martha’s and cheaper too). Even though we waited a while to eat; they were kept warm in special bags so the butter didn’t even harden.  Martha wrestled with hers and even got shell chips on the floor. She complained and complained.  Friday when we go back, she’s getting a New Shell Lobster too.

Day 5:  August 10, 2022, Wednesday

I woke up to no fog this morning, but there was a high tide which was nice.  The tide must be about 10 feet which makes for good photos. It was cloudy all day too.  The first 2 attached photos are a couple of high-tide photos.  

Above:  High tide photo.

Above:  Hide tide photo (love this little blue boat).

Today was an artsy-fartsy day.  I did an acrylic pour, this is the messiest thing I've ever attempted.  I had a construction bag, cups and plastic knives and Elmer's glue and Floetrol (a pouring medium) and well a big mess as you can see in the following photo.  I was hoping to get results sort of Paul Jenkins-ish (an American abstract expressionist painter).  I think he had more practice before he got into museums.  I got mixed results.

Above: Acrylic pour process.  Photo by Martha.

Above:  One of my acrylic pours.

 

Under Martha's influence, I did some J.M.W. Turner (an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist) reproductions.  The next photo is a Turner original (“Stormy Sea Breaking on a Shore").

Above:  Original by J.M.W. Turner.

The following photo is my reproduction. 

Above:  My reproduction of the J.M.W. Turner painting.

Thursday, I plan on doing one of my photos from yesterday (the “Surf's Up” photo) in Turner's style.

I also spent time working on a personal commission.

The Five Islands Lobster Company was closed so Martha cooked a sumptuous dinner and I went to bed early.  Being creative takes a lot of energy I guess.

Day 6:  August 11, 2022 (Thursday)

Not much happened Thursday.  It was gray when I woke up and gray when I went to bed.  Mostly I worked on paintings although I have nothing to share in photos yet.  The dismalness of the day completely discouraged my normal exciting walk, and avoided the omnipresence of the goldenrod that exacerbated my sneezing attacks.

Above:  Goldenrod blooming.

 
I’ve always thought the goldenrod was the most highly allergic weed in the East, but a friend just told me that it was a myth that goldenrods cause allergy symptoms.

Anyway I spent the day inside our cottage except for a visit to Bath.  There was no big ship to ooh and aah over, but the big crane was in full view.  We went to Highbrow, a recreational pot store, for Martha to get some sleep aids and to the grocery for tonic, so much for the vices.

Then we painted, Martha has done some very nice watercolor views and I keep painting and washing it off. 

At about 6 pm, we saw the long line for the lobster dinners at the Five Islands Lobster Company but undeterred we joined the line.  It took a long time but it was successful and we enjoyed our fine, red repast.   See the next two photos.

Above:  Line for dinner at the Lobster Company.

Above:  Mr. Lobster.

Speaking of lobsters I saw in the news today where a Red Lobster restaurant in Mississippi recently found an orange lobster among the others — just a few weeks after another Red Lobster location in Florida also found an orange lobster. 

The next photo is of Martha and one of her watercolors.

Above:  Martha and one of her water paintings.

The next photo is just a crop of the first photo, Martha does excellent work as you can see.

Above:  Crop of Martha's water color.

 
Martha and I were disappointed that we didn't get to see the last supermoon of the year Thursday, the Sturgeon Moon, due to the clouds.  Maybe Friday.

Maybe tomorrow will be sunny and more active and I'll have something more interesting to share.  I did get some personal insights during the day so it wasn't a total loss.

Day 7:  August 12, 2022 (Friday)

Friday was the very nicest day of the entire stay. Sunny, dry breezes. Half the boaters in Maine took the day off.  It was a parade in front of our porch.  It was so nice I was either on the porch or on the rocks all day.  Just like you imagine it to be.
 

No photos from Friday until the most gorgeous sunset.  It was pinker, or better said more pink, than the 2 photos below show.

Above:  Friday sunset.

Above:  Friday sunset.

I was sad Thursday night because I missed the supermoon due to the clouds.  Living in Greenwich Village I never get to see astronomical events.  Well I got to see this supermoon (known as the Sturgeon Supermoon) on Friday night.  So exciting.  See photo below.

Above:  Friday's supermoon.

Then off to bed Friday night for a 6:00 am wake up alarm Saturday morning for the long ride home.

Day 8:  August 13, 2022 (Saturday):  Heading home.

Martha and I were so efficient that we left 28 minutes earlier than planned. As we drove over the Sagadahoc Bridge on US1 over the Kennebec River, we waved goodbye to “our” big crane at the Bath Iron Works (photo below) and headed to our homes. 

Above:  Landmark Bath Iron Works crane that towers over the city that we waved goodbye to.

_______________

PS:  About whether goldenrods cause allergies, I did a little googling on the Internet Saturday morning and found that "Ragweed triggers allergies; in most cases, goldenrod doesn’t.”

One source stated “So why does goldenrod get blamed for causing our allergies when it’s really ragweed? Ragweed blooms at the same time as goldenrod (between July and October). Unlike goldenrod, which is much showier and more conspicuous with its bright yellow flowers, ragweed has nondescript flowers like most wind-pollinated plants that most people don’t notice. So when people start sneezing and they see the blooming goldenrod, they assume that’s the plant that’s responsible. The inconspicuous ragweed flies under the radar and the goldenrod inaccurately gets the blame, and that has gotten passed on through word of mouth to the point where it’s a widespread, but incorrect, belief.”

PS #2:  Also, I am grateful to my friend Lowell in Scottsdale, Arizona for helping me put my emails of this trip together as it is tough for me to do by myself when on a trip.  I text and/or email photos and words to Lowell as I have the time, and he gathers them and puts them all in one Gmail for daily mailing to friends and relatives.

A big thank you to Lowell!

PS #3:  Attached is a photo of me taken by Martha that Lowell altered with an app called Prisma (transforms your images into “paintings").  Isn’t it fabulous?  Makes me look good too.  Thanks again Lowell, and Martha also of course since she made the original photo.

Above:  Prisma "artwork."

All of the above photos can also be found in my Google Photos album at https://photos.app.goo.gl/ivFGaZe6PXfBm2co6.