The Home Stretch.

It is about time I issued my annual public service announcement warning readers of The Tempest of what is to come. 2023 has been the year that I cut back on the number of posts here. However, in a couple more weeks this space will be filled with photographs and commentary from our Maine summer vacation. I will be providing a running monologue of events from the shores of Quantabacook. There will be photographs and videos of the many stunning vistas of Mid-Coast Maine. I will write about fishing and sunsets and the adventures of Lake Dog Lucy. I will regale you with stories of great food eaten at amazing restaurants. I will offer observations on the oddball ways of Mainers. I will brag about Pam’s paddle boarding skills. There will be way too many pictures of loons.

I will go on and on about our favorite shops. There will be close-ups of lobster rolls and frosty mugs full of Baxter IPA. When we have guests, you will hear all about our abilities as tour guides. When my children get here there will be lots of pictures of all of us lounging on the dock huddled around charcuterie boards. I will brag about the weather (I hope!). I will write a lot about the strange magic that seems to arrive with the morning fog and drift through the trees in the afternoon. Eventually you will notice a change in my writing. It will become less hard headed, more whimsical. I will hope that what comes across is not boring, repetitive or vain but rather a profound gratitude that I get to come to a place like Maine. We actually get to live here for most of our summers. When we do we try our best to fit in, not to transform this place to suit us. We make no demands of this place. We never want it to change, to become more like home, mostly because in a very real sense it is home. All of the differences, all of the idiosyncrasies are exactly what make it magical.

I will lavish money on a series of local establishments that we have grown to love over the years. I will not complain about the prices or the taxes. Its only money, after all. I will give free advertising to all of them, going on and on about their friendliness and excellence. I will enjoy living six weeks away from national chain anything. Instead I will do business in places with names like Hazel’s, Fraternity General Store, and Hoot. I will have coffee not at Starbucks but at Zoot instead. If we need emergency things, we won’t go to Walmart, but Reny’s. When I buy gas it won’t be at a Sheets, but Maritime. And if something goes wrong with either of the beautiful lake houses we have rented I will rave about the service and professionalism of On The Water In Maine, who will have it fixed practically before I hang up the phone.

So…you’ve now been fair and truly warned. This space is about to become the no negativity, all Maine all the time Blog. Ready or not.