West End Court

Not the back roads of Maine, but a trip down memory lane... I went to Connecticut last weekend and spent a day with an old friend that I had lost touch with for 30 years. We did the tour of all the old places, some of which are now gone gone gone. West End Court is a little road behind the main street of Old Greenwich where I lived in the mid '70's. I lived in the first house with my brother, and friends of my brothers' lived in the other cottages. In the '70's, the cottages all looked like the second one in, all about 800 square feet, basic places to live, and we loved it. We had the best time living there... lots of good meals all together, the rock climbers hanging out in the front yard. It was the best time of my life.

The Feeding Frenzy

The owner of this little health food store/cafe hand painted these signs. The store is called The Feeding Frenzy in Woodstock, Maine, just north of Paris, and before Bethel. It is located in a really old creaky building that smells great... lots of natural foods, and the BEST meatloaf sandwich I have had since my mother made them for me back in the '60's.

The Olsen House

This is the kitchen of the Olsen house in Cushing, where Christina Olsen lived with her brother. Andrew Wyeth was a great friend of theirs and spent a lot of time in this house. He painted from a room upstairs, and there are a couple of paintings that he has done of rooms of the house. Very spooky.

Autumn

Finally...autumn has arrived!

Andrew Wyeths Grave

Last Saturday I gave the Coastal Maine Tour to a friend from Connecticut. We saw three lighthouses, made the pilgrimage to LL Bean, and visited the Olsen House, (from Andrew Wyeths painting Christina's World) in Cushing. On Saturday it was open, so we had a tour of the house.. a little spooky. As an aside, the docent told us that Andrew Wyeth was buried next door. This is a small cemetary that contains the graves of Christina and her brother as well as all her relatives that lived at one time in the Olsen House. And Andy's grave is the very first one. The old fashioned gravestone is plain black granite and very simply inscribed..very fitting for Andrew Wyeth.

Saddle Shoe Cows

Actually, they are reverse saddle shoes. The Belted Galloway cows are very popular in Maine. There is a herd in Rockport that is a tourist attraction (?). These guys live in Freeport. I stumbled on them one day driving down a side road I had never been on before. I like the one on the far right... he just barely has a white stripe at all. Wonder if he gets points deducted for lack of stripe ?

Staircase

This is the main staircase in a 200 year old house outside of Freeport. This house is so old it had Indian Shutters (which were closed in case of Indian attack, which, as far as I know, hasn't happened there in a while). I love the built in drawers.... what a great space saver. The staircase is very steep, like on a boat, so you almost go up the stairs using your hands. This is a great example of the quality of workmanship in old houses. Very little has been done to this house since it was built, aside from electricity and central heat, and it is still very functionable and comfortable.

Bicycle

Leaning against a pole on Danforth St, late August.

Point Lookout

This is a dry stone wall at the top of Point Lookout, a resort in Northport Maine. From the top you can see Penobscot Bay and the Islands. And... it is the perfect place to have a wedding!

The Queen Mary

The Queen Mary came into port in Portland a couple of years ago... really big deal. And it is such a big ship that it couldn't dock, so they anchored at the head of the harbor and had fireworks the first night they were in port. The next day they had tours on the Peaks Island ferry. They had Coast Guard boats guarding her, so you couldn't get too close. Wouldn't you know it, the only day they were in port was SO FOGGY. I couldn't see the ship until we were as close as they would let us get, so this is the only photo I could take. I actually took a lot more photos, but they are all of...fog.

Zen Garden

This little Zen Garden is at the drive up window of the Dunkin Donuts near the Maine Mall in South Portland. OOMMMMMMM.

Crows

These crows are on a mailbox on Route 25 in Standish. Made of cast iron. Just hanging out over a mailbox, watching the traffic go by, summer and winter.

Strange Car...

This is the photo that started this whole project. There were a bunch of them, all restored, sitting in a field next to an old barn just outside of either Paris or Rumford. I took this photo before I started writing down where I was, so I am not quite sure, but I remember the house I was appraising and it was in South Paris... I think. Anyway, this is a three wheeled car, one in the front and two in the back. I have absolutely no idea what kind of a car it is, but whoever owns them spent a lot of time restoring them... all either lime green or lemon yellow.

Town Landing Store

Town Landing store, Falmouth Foreside. This is a typical general store in Maine... they sell lobsters, fresh vegetables, some groceries, etc. I think someone lives over the store...

Big Hairy Cows

Monmouth Maine. Big hairy cows. I think they are Scottish Highlands. There is another herd of them on Route 25 just east of Cornish. I came over the crest of a hill on Route 132 and there they were, right next to the road. I screeched on the brakes, backed up and started taking photos... this one looked at me like I was crazy.

The Crab

About a half mile down the road from the mermaid is this gate to a beach house right next to Crescent Beach, which is the Cape Elizabeth public beach. Nice place, good parking, nice walk in the marsh, great place to watch big storms come through. Big Problem... they don't allow dogs on the beach. This is a major problem of living in Maine. Yes, there are nice beaches, hip and organic people, great houses, but NO DOGS ALLOWED. So how wonderful can a place be if you can only get to the water in certain places, and can't bring your dog. Let me tell you, it pisses Ryder off...

Bug Light

Bug Light is the small lighthouse at the entrance to Portland Harbor. This photo was taken during the first snowstorm of the season.

Mermaid

Can you imagine being a lobster at the bottom of the ocean off Cape Elizabeth and, looking up, seeing this ? I do believe, I do believe. This is the bottom of a dinghy on a side road in Cape Elizabeth. The yard has lobster traps and a lobster boat in it, and this boat leaning against a treet. A lobsterman with whimsy... typical Mainer. The boat is gone now, don't know where. It was there for a couple of weeks this spring, and then gone. Probably scaring the daylights out of the local lobsters and seals.

The Olsen House

Can you name this place ? This is a side window from the Olsen House in Cushing, Maine. This house is in the painting Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth. On Route 1 in Thomaston there is a small sign for the Olsen House, and one day last fall I took the right turn and rambled down 9 miles to a dirt road, turned left and, there at the end of the road was this gem. The day I was there it was closed (the house is owned/managed by the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland) so I was alone and Ryder and I walked around and photographed the house from all angles. Nice little piece of history.

August 11, 2009

Thank you, Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan. Sitting in the fourth row of the Merrill on August 6, listening to these two men speak about the National Parks film, a project that took them 10 years to complete, inspired me to do something more with my life. My work has slowed down quite a bit... I can still pay the bills, and I can't leave town for an extended time, but I can resurrect a project that I started two years ago and, like all others, abandoned.

I am a real estate appraiser, have been for 16 years... I still can't believe I have done the same work for 16 years. I work for myself and by myself, and I love the work. Since I will go just about anywhere in the state of Maine to do an appraisal, I have seen a lot of the state that most people have not. I take back roads when I can, and give myself enough time to look around. I began taking photos of interesting things (lots of old buildings, lots of little tiny houses, funny cows, interestng mailboxes) about two years ago. I have a collection of them, and I take photos almost every time I go out.

As my situation right now prevents me from doing the cross country oddessey I have been planning since 1977, I can at least explore more of the back roads of Maine. There are a lot of really strange and interesting sights that most people miss. So this is my mission: to travel and photograph the back roads of Maine, and keep a journal of where I have been.

My navigator is my 100 pound, 9 year old Chesapeake Japhy Ryder, who has been riding in the car with me since he was 6 weeks old. I drive a red 1998 Hyundai Elantra, which I call an old ladies car. I feel invisible in this car because it looks like every other little 4 door sedan on the road, but, it gets good gas mileage, runs well, I own it free and clear (thank you, Uncle Edson), and since it is full of dog hair, I don't worry about getting it dirty.