Booknote: Dance & Detectives

  Since I’m traveling, my reading gets a bit neglected, but here are two recent book recommendations I’m happy to share. Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead. Shipstead is the author of Seating Arrangements and this is her second novel. It takes the reader into the somewhat cloistered world of ballet. The main character is Joan, …

Booknote: Voyages

My most recent reading was an intriguing novel about a ship voyage. This book reminded me of other titles about journeys of various sorts. 18th Century French Expedition Landfalls, a first novel from Naomi J. Williams, is marvelous and inventive.  Williams takes as her subject the doomed expedition of two French frigates, Boussole and Astrolabe, which set …

Maine Musings: Winding Down of Summer

  We just ended a week of house guests as we wind down our Maine time. My sister and her husband were easy to have and together we visited the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, ate lobster as often as possible, and enjoyed another excursion to Pemaquid Point.   We then welcomed our 3 year old …

Maine Musings: Light and Color

We have moved to another house in Maine and are now enjoying views of the Sheepscot River. It’s a saltwater river and so we have some gentle tidal action exposing mud and rocks and seaweed, then covering them over again. A large family of ducks swam by yesterday and occasionally the thrum of a power boat …