A picture story

Lake view surrounded by trees and forested hills

Long Pond, Rome, Maine

The one word that best describes my week lakeside in Maine with my dear friend, Kate: heaven! 

We’ve known each other since the first day of kindergarten. We’re both 74 now (we were born 12 days apart). Our friendship is more precious with each passing year.

Each and every day of our week together was marvelous. 

Some highlights:

The lake was crystal clear. We swam all but several cool days at the end of the week.

The Canadian wildfire smoke did not make it to Maine until the day after I left, and by the time I got home to DC, the smoke had cleared. What a break!

Rack of linen clothing in Mothertree Vintage shop

We stopped on the way home from the airport at a vintage shop where I bought toffee-colored linen shorts made in Morocco that fit me perfectly! A special find. (I’m really into thrifting.)

Great Blue Heron peering into lake from dock

Sitting on the lakeside deck reading, I saw and heard pairs of loons (not close enough for good photos, though). But this guy! A Great Blue Heron! He landed steps away, fluffed his feathers, lifted his long legs, and slowly stalked around the dock, peering into the water. Then he swooped off, halfway across the lake with one flap of his huge, elegant wings. Wow!

Every day, I walked up the steep slope of the driveway to the highway, crossed, and walked up a curving road to a mountain trailhead, where one day I encountered…

Fawn stepping off the road into the woods

We were walking right towards each other on the same side of the road when we suddenly noticed. Oh. My!

Eyes like saucers, we stood stock still and stared at each other. Very slowly, I moved off to the left to indicate I was not a threat. After a couple of moments, the fawn calmly turned and stepped off into the woods. By the time I reached that point and looked into the trees, he had vanished.

The best part of swimming was floating on our backs and looking up into the white pine trees…

Looking up into the sunlit pine trees and blue sky

I bought several skeins of this ivory-colored Juniper Moon Farm Patagonia organic merino wool at the Yardgoods Center in Waterville for this Hello Friend vest pattern and made swatches with three different needle sizes (the winner is on the left). It’s lovely yarn to knit with, and with Kate’s expert tutoring, I now truly know how to knit and block a proper swatch. Gains! As my youngest son would say. 🙂

Cream wool swatches and ball of yarn on dark green porch railing

One night we made Kung Pao Tofu from NY Times Cooking (gift link), and it was SENSATIONAL! A total triumph, which Kate’s delightedly savoring in the photo below. We served leftovers to our friend Linda for lunch when she arrived the next day, and she 100% agreed. I’m telling you—this is a good one! I plan to make it a spécialité de la maison chez moi.Kate smiling over delicious dinner and glass of Chardonnay

There was a terrific storm mid-week, and the little Sunfish sailboat belonging to the owners of the cabin (see photo at the top)…disappeared! It had been moored to a buoy. After the storm, Kate and I were in the kitchen cooking when Linda, sitting on the porch, called out loudly, “WAIT! Where’s the boat?”

As luck would have it, it was caught and held by the dock next door (WHEW!). Linda, an excellent sailor, kayaked over and towed it home the next morning. The mooring rope had, after ever so many years, rotted and broken. She found a fresh piece of rope in our shed and had it securely fastened in no time.

Don’t you love can-do people?

And of course, I read like crazy on the front porch, with a perfect view of the ever-changing lake and sky and beauty of loon calls from time to time. This was my favorite. (Thank you for mailing it to me in time, Suse!)

Pink and blue sunset reflected in the lake

Thank you, Kate, for another magnificent sojourn together! 

What could be finer?

Love,
💛
Jo

Photos by Jo Cooper