Sunset at Camden Harbor, Maine

Have recently returned from a busy 3 weeks avoiding Tropical Storm Debby 😉 Whilst she relentlessly hammered Florida we took full advantage of the far lovelier weather in New England.  Photo’s are at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17OATc9x8w6-CpCRWl-_VQIOP65Pe8RKb?usp=sharing

Actually it was pure luck – we didn’t even know she was coming to visit and managed to drive the entire length of the country before we learnt of the devastation in our wake!

Geoff was in a conference in Boston for the first week busily slaving at whatever he was slaving at whilst I walked the length and breadth of the city gleefully snapping photos to paint and watching the world (and the puffy white clouds) go by 🙂 It seems to have changed a lot since we lived up in the frozen north 😉 Of course, for the 7 years we were there,  the worlds biggest tunnel was being built under the city which was, frankly, messy and quite unappealing  😉

Now there are parks and walkways where I only remember building sites and rubble……miles of Harbor Walk which may well have been there in parts before but I don’t recall spending any time on it…

So……sun…sea..harbour views….fab architecture…and miles of places to stroll…I began to wonder why it is we haven’t been back since we swapped the snow blower for the pool in the sun 7 years ago!! 😉

A quick weekend diversion to Camden, Maine followed – another old haunt we haven’t seen in a while…..weather continued as ordered so we managed to squeeze in a very relaxing Schooner sail round the Penobscot Bay…a hike to Rockport….I was sure I’d read it was only 2 miles…luckily it was quite lovely ….glistening sea views….bucolic countryside….wild turkeys in flower-filled meadows…farms etc etc….not sure why it took 4 hours for the return trip…I’m sure we didn’t get lost 😉

Also managed to completely underestimate the strenuousness of a rather humid 2 mile hike (1 mile practically vertical) through forest (ticks and poison ivy thrown in to keep us on our toes 😉 ) to reach a (luckily) fab view over the surrounding lakes, sea and hills…..G kept himself entertained by scuttling about in the undergrowth picking wild blueberries whilst I collapsed on a rock to recover…really must get back to the gym and toughen up!

The final evening was spent at a roof-top restaurant whilst we (and our cocktails!) marveled at a very impressive sunset casting its final rays on the yachts in the harbor…..all very picture-perfect New England 🙂

Spent 4th July with our friends Don and Sue in typical New England style ganneting lobster rolls and local ice-cream…it was fab…..in fact every last one of the lobsters I consumed in 3 weeks (probably 15 😉 ) were delicious and not a single one died in vain ;-)…..also managed to throw in meeting up with various old friends from our New England days….time flies and suddenly we are all 7 years older…..how and when did that happen?? 😉

…and finally, decided to squeeze a weekend of work in at the Mystic Outdoor Art Festival 🙂