we're back!

Vinalhaven was as lovely as ever. I wish we could stay as long as our neighbors there do ("until it gets too cold to sit on the toilet seats"), but I haven't been at my job long enough to push for working from afar and grudgingly returned home on Monday. It's really difficult to get to the island — the Maine State Ferry will only let you make a reservation for your car exactly 30 days in advance, and then only reserves spots for 4 cars on each ferry, which means that unless you are mindful of dates and adept with speed-dial you need to put the car in line the day before you want to take the ferry. The process for returning is a bit more of a hassle (!); if you don't have a reservation someone needs to get the car in line the night before around 3 or 4 a.m. and wait for the woman to come out of the office at 5:30 with her clipboard and assign you a number. This process, along with the fact that there's no cell phone service on 99% of the island and there is an active land trust organization to keep a sharp eye on development, seems to do a good job of keeping away the sort of people one goes to Penobscot Bay to get away from.

We rented the same cabin that we did last year. It's down a dirt road and surrounded by water on three sides, with no other houses visible except for distant farmhouse. We hiked a lot, and we spent a lot of time sitting on the deck drinking wine and watching the birds (osprey, bald eagles, kingfishers, a few others). There's not much else to do there if you're not a lobsterman and that's fine with us.


looking West from the bridge on the way to Lane's Island nature preserve

a view from the trail at Lane's Island

the hiking trail in the Huber Preserve brings you to Seal Bay

and the trail in the Williams Preserve brings you to the Basin

The more we hiked, the more I got into photographing mushrooms:





There's a nice view from the deck at sunset . . .


but at night, it's just DARK.


Of course I ate a couple of lobsters -


and a few other tasty things -


and will be posting recipes this week and the next!