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.