A trip to Maine

I have a lot of catching up to do. A week ago today we went to the final concert at the Marlboro Music Festival with Susan and Christian, and I posted about that. A great deal has happened since then. Monday, we went to Maine to join Katie and Brendon, and Jim and Mary for a restorative time for the Tolles siblings after Savanna's death. Katie and Brendon had gone to Maine on Saturday to stay in a little cottage, what Brendon called a "tiny house," which was in fact a manufactured house on wheels sort of permanantly set up on the shore of Damariscotta Lake. They had "won" three nights in this cottage in a silent auction at First Church, Amherst, a few months ago. They were still there on Monday afternoon when we went to Maine, so that was our first stop. It was actually quite nice: a lovely setting, and though admittedly small, quite attactive and well-designed. Brendon got the one bed and Katie slept on a comfortable couch in the living-room. We were there for only about a half-hour but got a quick "tour" and a short visit, and then went on our way to Friendship, ME, where Phil McKean was hosting us in his family cottage, 120 years old, called "Vistamont."

Katie and Brendon's "Tiny House" cottage in Damariscotta: front of cottage, living-room, kitchen and hallway, bedroom, view from the deck.******************************* The reason for our not being at Jim and Mary's house was that Katie and Brendon were leaving their tiny house on Tuesday and going to Jim and Mary's themselves, and there isn't room for all of us there. So we asked Phil if we could stay with him, and he graciously said yes. His cottage in Friendship is only about a 15-20 minute drive from Jim and Mary's, so it makes it fairly easy to go back and forth. It wasn't just us and Phil in Friendship - Phil's nephew, Mac Jacob, and his wife Susie, who live in Michigan, were there also. That cottage, which was built around 1900 by Phil's grandfather, is actually owned today by Phil's two children, Tom and Susannah, and Phil's sister, Ruth Jacob's three children, of which Mac is one. It can sleep as many as twelve I think, maybe more. We were on a sleeping porch that had two double beds. Unlike the "tiny house" in Damariscotta, which has sort of a generic quality, the Friendship cottage has a classic Maine ambiance. That is due not only to architecture, but also to the furnishings and especially to the "art work" that adorns the walls: magazine covers and clippings, amateur water color paintings, family portraits and photos, etc., plus numerous sail-boat mobiles made by Phil's dad (I think), hanging from the ceiling. Here are some pictures:

Family portraits and photographs.

The living-room.

The exterior of the cottage.