midsummer's eve

Tonight, the Mary Ann Moran finally came out of the barn, i.e. was launched, and a more perfect evening cannot be imagined. Holly, Jack and I went out and cruised the bay until the moment came and with just a bit of effort by the little red tug here in front, the Mary Ann came slipping down into the water. Horns honked, and glasses clinked all across the River, as we had all felt badly for the tug that wouldn't come out of the barn.
The evening itself was doing its best to encourage the tug. For the first time in my memory, summer has arrived when its supposed to, and everyone here in E Bbay is pleased.
When all the trauma of the launch was over, we picked up two little boys and their grandpa, and di some more cruising around the bay, watching the sun go down and the half moon come up. Dolphins crossed our path for a while.
I can't think that this might not ever happen again, if the Gulf oil spill happened here. It must not, but we all must use less oil, and/ or find alternatives to it, and quickly!

A Week That Was

It's been a Sisyphean week. The barn moves along at its own pace - now it has footings and a frost wall. Next week, the hole will get filled in with sand, etc., and then covered with a new concrete pad for the floor of the barn.
At the same time, the engine on the boat decided to give me grief through a mis-communication with the guy in the Shipyard who was commissioning her. But after being terrified that I would have to buy and install a new motor in her, at some incredible cost, the Yard fixed it, and she's running smooth as a top now.
Additionally, this was the week to put together all the stuff, 21 items, for the Historical Society Silent Auction on Fisherman's Island. The stuff is all ready except for one pot and a baby basket, but it was my job to put together all the info and the bid sheets, etc.
But now it's all done and tonight cousins came over with their little grandson and his mother for pizza from the General Store, and fresh salad from the garden. Life doesn't get much better than that. Tomorrow promises to be gorgeous and hot - for the first time. Perhaps I'll check on the garden, then go out on the boat!
aaahhh, East Boothbay life!

a barn stew

Here's where we got today with the barn de-contruction:

Billy Dighton is taking my barn apart just the way I'd hoped he would. I got my building permit about a week ago, having decided to take the barn down and rebuild with the good pieces. It is quite fun to expose the old structure, and to see how it was done 'then' - whenever that was. Barbara Rumsey thinks it was in the 20's or 30's that the barn was built, and it was built out of other older barn pieces. So it had no post and beam integrity, but there are wonderful pieces here and there, which we will reuse.

The shed is a bit of a mystery though. It is a double - walled structure on the far end of the barn, and has been a real problem to break apart. We're not sure what it was used for - a milking shed? a cooler place? a pig pen? Who knows? But it is a definite challenge to bring down. Tomorrow , the frame will come apart, and we'll save the good beams, posts and knees.

The interesting part of the second floor was that all the boards had simply been mortised into each other, and laid down on the beam/joists. No nails were used, so we saved those boards to use as siding or finish somewhere. They are great.

More action tomorrow!

rain, finally!

(I just learned how to upload photos for the blog, so here is the Camel Crossing - about to be unnecessary, I hope)

Thunder and lightning just when the garden needed it! I think I could see the asparagus growing it's so happy to have real water to drink. I think it has been nearly a month since we had a decent rain though it's been raining in California. The irony!

Drought is uncommon here, and while I was never desperate for water for the garden, I was contemplating siphoning water out of the two old wells the old-fashioned way - by mouth. It felt almost necessary when I could smell the smoke from forest fires in Quebec as I worked in the garden. I didn't quite need to use it though, and I am grateful.

Memorial Day weekend was memorable for the rest of the Boothbay region, though not so much for East Boothbay. Because of the water main construction, the powers that be in the VA cancelled our parade, and people were quite upset. It has not been that good a season for East Beirut here. First there's been the construction which has been going on since December. Then last Thursday, Washburn and Doughty were to launch a new Moran tugboat on the new ways in their new steel building. It wouldn't go. A littler tug pulled and pulled for over an hour, and got the new tug about 1/3 of the way out of the barn. But she just wouldn't move any farther. So she's sticking out of the barn by about a third, and looks a bit forlorn. Best not to have a parade go by.

The good thing about Mem Day was that Whorff Construction finally laid some tar down on the gravel that has been creating all the dust, that caused us to become East Beirut. Now, with this wonderful rain we've just had, maybe I won't have to wash the house and the rhododendrons, which were sagging under the weight of the dust they bore. All in all, a cup half full.

Soon, a political event - the primary for Governor, plus a referendum on the tax reform bill passed last Legislative session.

forget camels, it's the garden, stupid!

So I've had it with the constuction. A rock came and bombarded me while I was in the garden the other day - they're still blasting on my corner. It hit the trees near me, but not me myself, for which I am grateful. But still. It needs to be over.

So while I've been obsessing about the constuction and the blasting, I've really been working on the garden, or gardens. I am starting an asparagus bed on the upper terrace of my property, and I'm quite excited. I've never thought I really had a chance for one until now, and it is quite thrilling in an odd sort of way, to have it come to fruition at my age. I had a neighbor come and plow up some old dairy land, near the old wells, then another man came and added loam mixed with manure, and now I've been shovelling manure on the 100 asparagus crowns that I planted two days ago. It rained in between, so some of the crowns have sprouted and it is quite gratifying to see the tiny sprouts coming up already!

The pile of manure is smelly and wonderfully steaming, so I'm sure it will produce great asparagus! But since there is so much of it - two full yards of it, I have also been spreading it around the corn patch and the tomato patch and the squash, beans and cucumber patches, so there should be a whole lot of produce this summer! - which is good because there seems to be a whole lot of guests, too. The boat is already in the water but it is not ready yet for sailing, and until the gardens are done, I'm afraid my head will not be into the boat. So it is...

more camels, crossing

last night, a local photographer, Bob Mitchell, held a powerpoint photo show called "So you think you know Boothbay?" at the local Opera House. He got up and told some wonderful stories and then showed some of his photos of both people and places, and asked the audience to identify the people and places and then we all got to telling stories. It was quite marvelous, especially when he showed the photo of "Camel Crossing" on my yard. (see prior blogs. )But the best moment came when he showed what looked like a wood sculpture of a penny with Benjamin Franklin on it. Some people knew where it was, but when he asked for us to identify who it was, a very deep voice with a very thick Maine drawl, answered, " I think that's my pool boy." - which brought the house down. So much for BF coming from Boston...we really know him! But perhaps you had to be there. It was a good time however you measure it.

more construction updates

Whorff and company are still blasting (whuffff is the sound!) around the village today. Yet more rock has been discovered to be in the way of the water main. But the weather has been decent, so the dust is not intolerable, and it is not uncomfortable to be only 15 feet from the road, as I am.

The signs to Kandahar, East Beirut, and the Oasis are still up, as is "Camel Crossing" - my own personal sign. But there are signs that the project is beginning to wear on everyone. While most of us have a somewhat passive fatigue over the disruption and we wave, and occasionally feed, the workers who are going as fast as they can, there has been a rumor of "an old lady in a red sports car" who gives the finger to the guys as she drives past every day. Even the guys in the Harbor hardware store had heard the rumor. And then, driving home from the hardware store, whom should I see, but the very same "old lady" in a red MG with the top down, giving the finger to the guys blasting. So she's real and feeling testy as she drives around East Beirut with her top down. I hope she has a garage to put the car in at night.

It has been a beautiful spring except for the construction. The forsythia has been in bloom for at least a month, as have the daffodils, and quince. Driving up river to Damariscotta, yellow clouds of forsythia are like Christmas lights in the gray green gloom of early spring forests. And now finally, it is May and gardens are getting planted, and weeded, and plants are getting swapped for others. Rhubarb is getting stewed, and canned, and there are fiddleheads in Hannaford's. I have been stewing about my barn.

My barn is a "carriage" barn, tall with a big tall door for a dairy wagon, and a hay mow. It was probably built out of scrap from another old barn as there is no post and beam integrity to the structure. But it still smells like hay and old barn. And the whole Northwest corner, really almost half of the barn, has a non-existent or rotten sill. So all the guys are telling me that it should come down and I should build a nice new one, that will do what I want it to do. I have just about decided to do that, but I am writing this down now, to see how it looks in writing, and to see how bad, or good, I feel about it. I have spent a good part of my life helping people save old buildings, or art work, and tearing something down just gives me the willies. But I think that in this community of exquisite ship builders and carpenters, that I can let them do their thing, and give me something that will be truly mine.

Then I will have a place to put my car, when, and ever if, I should be so testy that I need to give construction workers the finger as I drive by. As they say in California, NOT!