Apple Picking

We're ending a great month in New England, and since fall is around the corner, we do what seems perfectly fitting: apple picking. Though they are early apples, they are super-crisp, juicy, and a little tart, just the way I like them. Pippa has a hard time eating them since she is now so toothless.

 

At Shelburne Farm, it's not just about the apples. There's also ice cream, apple cider donuts, and some very sweet time with the grandparents.

 

All in all, it seems like a fitting way to end our trip to New England and to usher in fall. The girls and I can't eat one more gigantic American "kiddie" scoop between the three of us; we are leaving my parents with about 20 pounds of apples that we, sadly, can't smuggle in to France; and the girls have started to complain about going swimming every day. Now we can't wait to get back home to Paris.
 

Maine in Technicolor

Do not adjust the color on your screen. If you are blinded by technicolor, you're seeing it just as it should be.

 

From Acadia, it's the Moss and the Gloss. (Or should I say, we're Likin' the Lichen!) First we have the girls in their birthday suits -- literally, that is: the bathing suits given to them for their birthdays. And then some beautiful moss/lichen growing on the rocks at the top of Cadillac Mountain.

 

 

 

Up at our rental in Southwest Harbor, it feels like a like a little bit of Nepal has snuck in. The owners have decorated their dock with these gorgeous flags, and I can't help but photographing them -- repeatedly.

 

  

 

Back at Cape Elizabeth, we stop by to see the rock at the entrance to town that is covered with messages, with the police chief's approval. The latest is the gift from a graffiti artist who was staying with my sister's family as an exchange student from France earlier this summer. Besides having special meaning for my sister's family, it's also generally acknowledged to be the best rock ever painted here. Yes, the town is even selling it on a sweatshirt.

 

 

Here's the colorful Cape Elizabeth ice cream stand.  

 

 

 

And the birdhouses the girls paint are planted in Aunt Lisa and Uncle Paul's garden. Lucky birds! 

 

 

And last but not least, a tradition, but one that is so colorful, I had to include it in this posting: picking bouquets at the local flower garden. Besides its physical beauty, what makes it so lovely and quaint is that there's just some scissors and empty vases hanging around, with a pay-by-honor system. Pick what you want and pay what's appropriate! Borrow a vase if you need one, and just bring it back with you the next time! (As opposed to Paris, where my wallet has twice been stolen -- from inside my bag and inside my pocket.) This time at the garden, in addition to my normal two beautiful models, I also have some little creatures that poses for me quite obligingly.

 

 

    

 

It's going to be really noticeable to go from Maine in technicolor, back to Paris in black and white!

 

 

 

Tradition, Tradition!

There are few things in life that are certain. Death. Taxes. And, for us: S'mores and More -- the things we do every summer on our visits to Maine. It's nice that even though our girls have been so peripatetic, they still have these magical summer traditions. So, in addition to the inevitable death and taxes, we have:

S'mores: too big, too sweet, too sticky, too perfect. Every year, one of the girls gets a little in her hair.

 

 

Walking Minnie (a.k.a The World's Best Dog). Greatly coveted. Minnie must be exhausted after our visits because of the near-hourly walks.

 

Belly dancing and a hippie-feminist drum circle with cynical Peter Brady-esque audience member.

 

Arts and crafts: usually it's beading, and we have the necklaces, bracelets, and earrings to prove it. But this year, Aunt Lisa branches out and gives the girls birdhouses to paint.
 

Firecrackers: the teens and grown-ups stand around and let the girls light them all, one after the other. The little pyromaniacs.

 

 

Competitive board gaming. The new board game added into the mix this year is Parcheesi. Bananagrams is a favorite old standby for the grown-ups. This year Gigi plays a round; though she doesn't win, she manages to sneak in the impressive word "trivia". In another landmark, somebody actually beats Pippa at the game of Set. Sam, a 21-year old engineering student, manages to take a game from his 7-year old cousin, and though it is her first-ever Set defeat, she maintains composure. We are proud, proud parents. And Sam is rightfully proud too, having achieved his lifelong goal of dethroning the reigning Set champ. 

 

 

And last, but not least, walking by The Portland Headlight. Does it get any more perfectly Maine than this?!

 

 

 

 

 

What Does GPS Stand For?

Getting Pretty Stranded....

Gorgeous Pine Stand...

On our way out of Acadia, we try to stop in the town of Ellsworth at the AAA office so that Anthony can get an international drivers' license for when we rent cars in Europe (which is not entirely kosher, but that's a whole other posting). Anyway, the GPS takes us directly to...this spot. Apparently, we are not the only ones to find ourselves on an Oak Street that is not in town but, rather, in the middle of the actual oaks. The lady at the AAA is able to give us better directions over the phone, and eventually we get there.

The town of Ellsworth has an excellent California/gourmet/creative/not-authentic-but-highly-delicious burrito shop called "86 This!" where we stop for lunch after the AAA errand is done. So GPS could also stand for Gorging on Pollo & Salsa. That's a taste we miss in Paris!

 

The Epic Lobstah

For dinner tonight, we walk down to the lobster shack in Southwest Harbor. The price list says $11.45 for < 1⅜ pound and $12.45 for >1⅜ pound. That seems like a decent price, and not too high since there's a glut of lobster this year. At the stores, we can purchase it retail for $4/lb, so this seems like a fair mark-up.

Well, it always pays to read the fine print. They pick out big lobsters for us and put them on a scale. I assume it's to make sure it's over 1⅜ lb, but it's actually to get the real weight. Three of us order lobsters, and it turns out to be over 10lbs, at $12.45 per pound for the jumbo lobsters. So, instead of a 1.5 lb lobster for $12.45, we have now each bought a 3.4lb lobster for about $42. Live and learn.

 

Anthony, who has grown up eating these creatures, excitedly declares it "the most epic lobster ever!" Sure, people who really know lobster will tell us that the smaller ones are actually sweeter and better, but don't forget: this is a 3.4 pound lobster! It's the lobster that ate New Jersey! Run for your lives: It's Godzilla vs. Megalobsta!

Some prefer the chicken nuggets and fries, instead. Given the creepy-crawly factor, I can hardly blame them.

 

 

  

 

The setting is beautiful, right on the dock where the lobster boats come in. It's buoys and traps and quintessential Maine, right out of a picture postcard. And the lobster? Well, it's epic.

 

 

 

 

Acadia Adventuring

Something I find almost too incredible to contemplate: Anthony grew up in New Hampshire, with a family that likes nature, hiking, and traveling (within means), and yet he had never visited Acadia National Park -- the most-visited national park, just five hours from his home in the neighboring state. Until now.

 

And so, we go kayaking in Southwest Harbor...
 

 

 

...hiking on the famous Bumblebee trail and others, and picnicking at the top of Cadillac Mountain...

 

   

  

 

 

...swimming in a pond, but rather trepidatiously once leeches are found...

 

...and riding bikes along the carriage roads inside the park -- all the way to Jordan's Pond. There, we take in all the calories we spend for the day (and a whole lot more) eating huge meals and multiple hot, fresh, buttered-and-jammed popovers, which are the specialty of the house.

 

                                                                                                                                   photo of popover from: http://ruthsrecipes.com/Drecipes/donnapopovers.html

 

And perhaps the highlight of the week: rock climbing on the South Bubble. Anthony used to be a pretty serious rock climber, and I think it is particularly special for him to introduce this to the girls (who have only ever done an indoor wall before). Our girls are half monkey, half mountain goat, and entirely fearless. So this is a perfect activity for them.

 

 

Well, it's perfect for them to be the climbers. Would you trust this child to belay you?!