I was the youngest by several decades at church today. The first day Mum and I arrived here we noticed on the church’s marquis as we were driving through town that they were having a lobster and chicken dinner that evening. We decided to go and ended up sitting at a table with a group of older women who were simply a hoot. Well, after the service was over today, two women from that group spotted me and rushed over. They had talked amongst themselves, Margaret and Sally told me, and had decided to include me in their group, because they thought that I would be lonely here by myself.
After exchanging phone numbers with Margaret and Sally and making plans to meet at the ice cream social in town on Tuesday evening, I drove out to the harbor to write, which I haven’t had a chance to do since I’ve been here. I only stayed for an hour because it was chilly and dreary, and I spent the majority of the time staring out over the sea instead of writing.
I didn’t think I could bear sitting by myself in my dim apartment all afternoon, so I pulled out my map and drove the cracked, rutted blacktop roads in a large loop around the peninsula. I went to Castine, Maine, a small, picturesque seacoast village that houses the Maine Maritime Academy. I parked at the docks, got a scoop of Gifford’s brownie batter ice cream in a waffle cone (if I keep eating ice cream, banana bread, and apple zucchini bread, I’m going to be as big as a barn by the time these few months are up…) at a pier-side shack, and walked around the town. I spotted a ship moored in the harbor, wandered down to get a closer view, and ended up having a free tour. The State of Maine is a retired Navy ship that is now a teaching vessel for the Maritime Academy. That was the first time I’ve ever been on a ship, and I found her fascinating. I don’t know that I’d want to spend weeks cloistered in her stale bowels as she crossed the waters on the way to foreign ports, but it’d be a great way to see the world.
Fascinating. Sounds like a good afternoon. Our weather has finally broken a little. At least the humidity has subsided.
ReplyDeleteHow come if you finally had a chance to write I didn't get an email? :( miss you
ReplyDeleteI wrote maybe a page in my notebook, and I decided not to use it. That's why. ;) Miss you!
ReplyDelete