Three Mini-trips

I haven't written in a while because, except for two days, we've stuck pretty close to home. However, some fun has occurred and if I don't write about it now, I'll forget.

This breaching whale is made from driftwood and will be displayed prominently on our coffee table when we return to Phoenix. We bought it in Mystic Seaport, Connecticut.

 This is Leary's Landing Irish Pub in Bar Harbor, Maine. It's a touristy town, but the ride there is fun and so are some of the shops, bars, and restaurants.

 This is Cleonice, a tapas bar in Ellsworth, Maine. This is the closest city to where we are staying. It has a Walmart, a huge T J Maxx, and a great Beverage Center. It also has Reny's, well-known throughout Maine for its bargains.

 Bob, loon watching on Schoodick Peninsula.

 Bob getting some exercise in one of our kayaks, launched right from the cottage. We both kayaked two miles that morning (had to get back before tide went out).

We have a small family of these on the property. I saw a young one last night.

Let's talk about the three excursions.

First excursion, Bar Harbor. Bar Harbor is a bit touristy with many tourist shops filled with interesting and not so interesting souvenirs. Since this was not our first visit, we knew most of the places and had already hit (and bought at) the tourist shops. I did some clothes shopping, but the prices were ridiculous, even if they were one-of-a-kind creations. Isn't it funny that when one doesn't have money, one desires almost everything in a store's window, but when one does have money and can afford anything in the store's window, he or she doesn't think it's worth the price? Well, that's how it was. There is an art shop there, however, that we always love. It began to pour and the poor shopkeeper could not close the skylight, vent. Bob, of course, stepped up, closed it for her and she was so grateful, that she gave us a print of Bar Harbor as a gift. Bob saw a print that he loved of a schooner wreck that we had seen often on the way up the coast. Gee, we're running out of wall space at home and we sure had plenty of it when we bought that house 23 years ago.
We thought about taking the brewery tour, but there was a better one outside of Bar Harbor, so we'll wait until Antoinette and Heath get here to do that.
A very ironic thing happened, though, in Bar Harbor. I mentioned before that it began to rain, but I should have used the word "pour." Tourists were stationed in doorways and under store awnings, but these two Arizonans just walked on by under our umbrellas. I guess you had to be there.
We had a delicious lunch at the Irish pub shown above--prime rib sandwiches. Everything here comes with kettle chips. I enjoyed a locally made blueberry beer and Bob had Guinness (a couple of them). A couple of hours later, we arrived at the end of the long shopping street and we stopped into a restaurant called Testa's. The bartender, Debbie, was an ace. My knee was bothering me a bit, so it was time for "medication." Bob had a Shipyard, a favorite of his on this trip, brewed in Portland, Maine. I had one of my favorite drinks, the Caipirinha.

Caipirinha (pronounced kie-purr-REEN-yah) roughly translates to "country bumpkin". It is made with cachaça, an intensely sweet Brazillian style of rum made from sugarcane juice. The Caipirinha is the national drink of Brazil, where it originated, and is a common Carnavale drink. Although it is more difficult to find, it's important to choose a premium cachaça for this cocktail in particular because the drink is not heavily flavored and a cheaper brand can ruin an otherwise perfect Caipirinha. You may also like the neater Caipirini.

Ingredients:

• 1 lime, quartered
• 2 tsp fine sugar
• 2 oz cachaca

Preparation:

1. Place the lime wedges and sugar into an old-fashioned glass.
2. Muddle well to create a paste.
3. Fill the glass with ice cubes.
4. Pour in the cachaca.
5. Stir well.

Note: Keep the sugar mixed in the drink by stirring often.
Not all bartenders know what this drink is, so when Debbie did--I ordered one. We met another couple who were drinking mint juleps. They were from New Hampshire. They had been renting a cottage outside of Bar Harbor every summer for the last 6 years, so they recommended a restaurant to take Antoinette and Heath to. It is called Jack Russell's and it's supposed to have great steaks. So, that will be our destination on one of the days we are with them.

Another foray was to Ellsworth. We had one visit in mind and that was to try out the Mediterranean restaurant, Cleonice. http://www.cleonice.com/HOME.html However, when we arrived at 3:00 PM, we were between servings, so we had to kill two hours before eating (we hadn't eaten all day). A few of my favorite shops, thankfully, were still there. I love the Grasshopper shop (kitchen goods and women's wear). I bought a one-size-fits-all bra. Never heard of such a thing, so I had to have it of course (Post note: it fits, it's comfortable, but it does not do a great job holding up the girls--good for sleepovers!). I used to really love another shop called J & B Atlantic http://www.jbatlantic.com/. It's changed a bit, but still has many charming goods--part of it is now an antique store.

Across the street is a new antiques place called the Dreamcatcher. By the time we finished in the organic food coop,John Edwards http://www.johnedwardsmarket.com/ it was time to eat, Rooster Brothers http://www.roosterbrother.com/ and the Dreamcatcher will have to wait until the next time we come in with Antoinette and Heath. Hope he doesn't mind shopping a little.

Cleonice's menu, though small, is quite ambitious. This place was reservations only, but we managed to come in-between times and snagged a booth. Bob had tapas and I had a four course dinner in honor of their 3rd anniversary (they weren't open the last time we were here). I started with a glass of prosecco, followed by a course of tapas (blue cheese filled figs, chicken wings with a Tunisian rub, and I forgot?), I had paella (it was just okay). Bob shared his tapas with me. For dessert, I had a vanilla-bean flan--it was very good. I also had wine with dinner.

On Saturday, we drove to Cherryfield, did some antiquing, had breakfast (that's another story), and went for a wine-tasting at a brand new winery called, Catherine Hill Winery. The luncheonette, in an old gas station, was a one-woman operation. There were a bunch of old-timers who were sitting waiting for their orders, and a few people came in to pick up called in orders. The television was playing Law and Order SVU (the first television we watched in two weeks) and although Bob ordered pancakes and I ordered bacon and eggs, it was about an hour wait. That was okay because we got to see another side of Maine. Here were some pretty poor people. I was agitated and sad, again. I feel guilty and so grateful that Bob and I are in a position to do this, but these poor people. There is a huge movement underway to revitalize this small town (and, I'm sure, other small towns throughout the state). We first heard about it from one of the antique dealers and heard about it again from the vintner at Catherine Hill winery. There was a very cute shop on the river called Riverlily https://www.facebook.com/riverlilycherryfield. The owner is from Florida and said she always dreamed of moving somewhere cooler and opening a shop. The shop had jewelry, hippy-type purses, mermaid themed things, rugs, children's homemade apparel. It was darling.
The winery's owner was from Westchester County and Florida. He was previously a technician for Verizon, but he ended up taking the bonus retirement after 20 years and with it, he started this winery. Right now, they buy the grapes and juices and ferment and process the wine, but they are beginning to grow grapes. The owner was very entertaining, friendly, helpful, and certainly knowledgeable about wines. We bought four bottles. That brings our total to 8 that we have at the cottage. I've taken a liking to chocolate wine and have a glass at night before going to bed.

I've not talked at all about the glorious kayaking. The first time we went out, I was so ecstatic that I didn't want to come in. However, because there are 12-foot tides, and I had to go in as low tide was near (unless I wanted to pull the kayak through mud and sand for quite a distance). This morning as soon as we had some coffee, we were out trying to get to the waters between the islands. This turned out to be much farther than we had surmised, but it was so much fun. We probably kayaked around 2 miles and I can feel it in my arms. It was a little warm when we returned to the cottage, but the breezes have kicked up again, the norm for this spot, and it's absolutely wonderful.
Our time in the cottage has been spent napping, guitar playing, reading (books and magazines--I'm on book #4), and when I'm done here, I'm doing some piano work on my keyboard. This has been heavenly and it's wonderful to know we'll be here just long enough.  Adventures are still ahead even when we leave this place, so we are happy. Wish our kids could be here too, though. Miss them a lot.