Summer Retrospective, Part I

I haven’t blogged since early June, with a promise that I’d be back soon to post pictures from our trip to Little Diamond Island, Maine. The picture above epitomizes the vacation: while we visited the Portland Art Museum, Portland Head Light, and a delightful Shaker village, it was mostly about being on an island in Casco Bay, spending time with our friends, eating good food, drinking win, and watching the world go by.

It was a lovely, restful week. The only downside was that it was quite chilly until our last day on the island. (Of course it gets warm when you’re trying to drag all your stuff in carts to the ferry dock because there are not only no cars on the island, there are no roads to speak of, just your choice of gravel or grass paths.) All too soon, we were home to a wild-grown garden and novels to write. Luckily I love both writing and gardening, so it wasn’t a comedown.

I definitely missed looking out over the water every day, but I have to admit: I’ve always dreamed of living on a little island, but after this experience, I’m not so sure. Portland is a brief, inexpensive ferry ride away, which was grand for a vacation–but the island doesn’t have any stores or other resources. There’s a lobsterman (lobsterwoman, actually), but she hadn’t put her traps in yet when we were there, since so few people were on-island yet. (Only a handful of people live there year-round.) I’m sure I could adjust, and I’d certainly get a lot of work done, especially in poor weather, but needing to get on a ferry–which run only a few times a day–if you realize you’re out of milk or aspirin is a pretty big inconvenience for someone spoiled by being in walking or quick driving distance of shops. Perhaps a slightly bigger island, one with few distractions, but with a general store.