MAINE PACKING

LEAVING MAINE
 
         While we admire the magnificent New England fall foliage we’re packing for the trip home to Hilton Head. This year we are particularly pleased that we have a house to return to on the island. Hilton Head suffered much damage from Hurricane Mathew with gusts in excess of 80 mph recorded.
         We’ll stop at Nancy and John’s house in Unionville, PA on the way south and plan to attend a Clemson Player’s Reunion, staying in our Clemson house for a few days.
         This summer/fall has been one of the best we’ve ever had since our summering in Maine started almost 20 summers ago.
         We started out renting a small house in South Bristol that we called, “The Shack.” That little place looked out into John’s Bay with Pemaquid Point and the broad Atlantic off in the distance. We loved the weather and the location, but when we found out Le Shack was not for sale, we started looking for a place we could afford and on the water.
         Sixteen years ago, we discovered a small house adjacent to Gamage Shipyard. Gamage was once a major Maine boat builder. During World War II, Gamage built wooden minesweepers for the U. S. Navy, and required a guardhouse. Following WW II a lobsterman named “Tot” Morton bought this guardhouse and built a wharf for his lobster business. We bought this house from Tot. At about the same time, a Massachusetts’ entrepreneur, Rory Cowan, bought Gamage Shipyard and is making it one of the nicest boat-yards on the Maine coast.
         We’re sorry our west coast children and grandchildren are too far away to visit us often but the Mohr’s and Fletchers do make it here when they can. This year Margo drove us up here and Jan cared for our dogs when we travelled to the DC Doll Show and to Seattle to visit Tina, We were delighted that Charlie and Megan, our grandchildren, visited.
         For Pat and me our little Cove House serves us well. Although summer of 2016 has been particularly busy, we mostly use our Maine house as a get-a-way. Pat reads a lot and paints with a plein-air group when she’s not repairing dolls or visiting flea-markets/antique shops looking for more dolls to repair. I cruise the Maine coast on board my Eastern MORGAN and spend lots of time reading and writing. Our two Jack Russell dogs love the outside where they can run in our fenced-in yard.
           We're headed south, carrying lots of our stuff and our fond memories of the Summer of 2016.