PAINTING & LOBSTERING IN MAINE

​PAINTING & LOBSTERING IN MAINE WITH GRANDCHILDREN
 
         What a nifty week Pat and I have had with our oldest grandchild, Charlie Fletcher and his bright and attractive wife, Megan.
 
         One evening, after eating fresh lobsters on our screen porch, we headed out to the local church for what we thought was an evening of two local lobstermen talking about their industry. Well I messed up the date of this event—it’s next week—so Megan, Charlie, and I headed to Coveside for an after-dinner drink.
         Lo and behold, we sat at the bar of this Christmas Cove restaurant with a stern man of the lobster boat, Trudy Lee, Mitchell Kelsey and had an enjoyable discussion about lobstering. Mitchell attended the South Bristol School with our grandchildren, Winslow and Sayde. Mitchell substituted for the missed-lobster-lecture—the main business in the small village we’ve adopted for our summers. He outlined an average day with his boss, Mr. Gamage, starting at five am, managing 600 lobster traps. This is demanding work and Mitchell is proud of what he does.
         Our bartender was Mrs. Annette (Lynette?) Farrin, whose husband and two sons build ‘modern workboats.’ I’ve seen the Farrin’s boats launched at the Gamage Shipyard next door to our cottage. She filled in Mitchell’s knowledge with her own comments and facts about lobstering.
         What a wonderful evening eating dessert and sipping drinks at Coveside with delightful people—who also happen to be Pat and my grandchildren. (I guess the wife of a grandchild automatically qualifies as another grandchild?).
 
         Earlier that day, Megan and Pat painted with the Plein-Air group Pat paints with every Wednesday in Maine. The results of Megan’s morning of painting is shown above. Wow! (and she’s given us her painting, thanks Megan).
 
         Charlie captained my boat, MORGAN, with great skill and told us he’s decided to have a nautical room in their Charlotte house—called “The Cove.”
 
         We dropped the Charlotte Fletchers off in Portland yesterday after a splendid week together.