Maine Days: Reading & Viewing

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RECENT READING

The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict

Author Benedict has created a niche for herself writing novels about women, notable women whose contributions to society have often been overlooked.  Previous novels focus on Albert Einstein’s wife, Andrew Carnegie’s personal maid, and Clementine Churchill.  These novels are well researched and engaging reading; I’ve read the one about Andrew Carnegie.

Hedy Lamarr (the guardian.com)

This latest novel is about Hedy Kiesler, known to most Americans of a certain age as actress Hedy Lamarr.  Austrian by birth and an aspiring stage actress in 1930’s Vienna, Hedy is romanced by entrepreneur and munitions dealer, Fritz Mandl.  She is beautiful, and his attentions are pronounced, his determination evident.  Hedy appreciates the finer things he offers.  As Austria battles to stay out of Nazi German’s arena, marriage to him is a politically wise step for herself and her Jewish parents.  What this marriage entails, how Fritz controls her activities, and what Hedy learns hosting high level business dinners becomes both valuable and dangerous.  This is a multi-faceted Hedy Lamarr who takes risks to help in the war effort.

I enjoyed this novel but found myself wishing that the author had included an epilogue about her life after World War II.

CRIME IN DENMARK

The Sommerdahl Murders (Season 2 on Acorn)

Flemming, Marianne & Dan (rotten tomatoes.com)

Dan Sommerdahl, his partner Flemming, and his wife Marianne return for a second season of crime, Danish style.  Set in the waterfront town of Elsinore, there are eight episodes, and each case is solved over the course of two episodes.  What makes this series appealing is as much the dynamics between the three principals as it is the intricacies of solving the case.  Dan and Marianne have been married for 25 years, but the marriage is on the skids, Flemming has feelings for Marianne, and Marianne feels she’s taken an unfulfilling detour in her choice of career.  Plus, she’s attracted to an old suitor. Each of them is attempting to define a satisfying personal life.

The culture of a particular country is reflected in a crime series.  The behaviors and attitudes in this one seem especially Scandinavian.  Good entertainment!

LOCAL CUISINE

The Thistle Inn

One of our favorite Boothbay Harbor restaurants of long standing, the Thistle offers comfortable dining indoors and out.  Its dark wooden booths and bar inside are especially welcoming on a cold wet night.  During the summer, dining on their porch is airy and made magical by little lights strung in the trees.

We’ve already dined outside twice this year and were pleased with old favorites and new choices on their menu.  Their crab cakes are always delicious as was the baked haddock with cherry tomatoes and sautéed greens and their New England clam chowder.  I especially enjoyed the seared diver scallops over a lemony risotto with spinach and bacon bits.

I liked their concept of shrimp scampi over pappardelle but wished that the pasta had been a little less sticky.  For dessert the other evening, we shared the special pistachio crème brulee, a different twist. A very popular place making reservations essential!

Note: Header photo is a view of Little Christmas Cove ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).

Maine Days: Wyeths & Lawyers

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FOR WYETH LOVERS

Farnsworth Art Museum

Along with the the Brandywine River Museum outside Philadelphia, the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland has one of the largest collection of works by the Wyeth family.  Here are works by Andrew Wyeth of Cristina’s World fame, by his son Jamie Wyeth, by Andrew’s father, N. C. Wyeth, and some by other Wyeth relatives.  This year’s featured exhibit is works from Betsy Wyeth’s estate, a gift to the museum.  Betsy, wife of Andrew, died in 2020 at the age of 98.

Islander by Jamie Wyeth
Fisherman’s Family by N. C. Wyeth
Wicker by Jamie Wyeth

I was also struck by a couple of works in their permanent Maine collection, a striking woman in white and a still life of intense golden flowers.

Kym in White by Alex Katz
Orange Prince by Beverly Hallam

Another highlight for me this year was the Women of Vision exhibit.  It focuses on thirteen women who are either artists or patrons of the art whose work and/or philanthropy has ties to Maine.  Some are historical figures like Edna St. Vincent Millay, one was a Passamaquoddy basket weaver, while others like photographer and gardener Cig Harvey are actively working.  I was particularly struck by a charming strawberry basket.

By Molly Neptune Parker

PERFECT FOR AN AIRPLANE FLIGHT

A Good Mother by Lara Bazelon

Author Bazelon is a law professor who also spent seven years as a federal public defender in Los Angeles.  She knows how the federal court system works and has penned a fascinating and gripping courtroom drama set in LA.  This is her first novel.

Lead defense lawyer Abby Rosenberg is a bit of a hot shot who utilizes bold and sometimes questionable techniques to win her cases.  She is also a new mother still on maternity leave.  Her client, Luz Rivera Hollis, is a nineteen-year-old accused of murdering her soldier husband at an army base in Germany.  She too is a new mother to infant Cristina.  Abby’s co-counsel, Will Ellet, is young, ambitious, and unsettled in his marriage.  You may wonder about the ethics and behaviors of these lawyers, but their actions make for a good story!  What exactly constitutes being a good mother?

Note: Photos by JWFarrington (some rights reserved). Header photo is cone flowers at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.

Maine Time: Trolls & More

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TROLLS IN THE GARDEN

We made the first of this year’s visits to Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens yesterday.  It was lovely and mostly sunny.  We were impressed with some new annuals and the expansion of beds near the entry bridge.  These gardens get better every year!

Lisianthus in purple
Pink member of the canna family

This year’s highlight is the presence of some gigantic trolls. These wooden sculptures are the work of Danish artist Thomas Dambo.   They were built on site over several months by the artist with assistance from garden staff and more than 150 volunteers.  Dambo has been working with wood since early childhood, and his trolls are found around the world.  

Soren Troll by Thomas Dambo

I was told that these five trolls will remain in place until they deteriorate and fall apart, estimated to be about five years, longer if they receive some maintenance.  They are impressive works!  We tramped around and found two of them, Soren and Birk.

RECENT READING

Baghdad 2002

When the Apricots Bloom by Gina Wilkinson

I must confess to buying this paperback book partly because of its very attractive apricot-colored cover.  It’s a novel set in Iraq in 2002 when Sadam Hussein was ruling the country.  The author is a former international correspondent who spent a year living under that regime.  Her depictions of the city and the environment are picturesque and chilling.  

Wilkinson has created three female characters, one based to some extent on her own experiences.  Ally Wilson is the wife of the Australian ambassador, Huda is a village girl who has advanced in life to working at the Australian embassy, but also acting as an informant for the government.  Rania, born rich and privileged, has fallen on hard times; she and Huda were close friends as children.  How these three women come to interact with one another and how Huda and Rania’s concern for their teenage children makes them compatriots is the heart of the novel.  

I found the descriptions of daily life fascinating, but noticed a lack of tension in the narrative until about the last third of the book.  Nonetheless, it’s worth reading about Bagdad during this brutal time.  (~JWFarrington)

VIEWING—BRITISH CRIME

Unforgotten (Season 4, PBS Masterpiece)

Cassie and Sunny (radiottimes.com)

Detective Chief Inspector Cassie Stuart and Detective Sunny Kahn are partners in solving cold case crimes. Bodies turn up years later in odd places, in this season, a freezer.  This duo must identify the victim and then excavate his or her past to determine how and why the individual died.  Was it an accident or murder?  And who were the principals in this person’s life and what role did they play in the demise?  One incident and one quick decision decades ago reverberated through the lives of four people.  

From the haunting and ethereal opening song, “All we do is hide away,” to the detailed interviews with possible suspects, each season is gripping drama. This season is exceptionally so.  Nicola Walker as the lead (familiar to some viewers from her role in Last Tango in Halifax) is superb, as is Sanjeev Bhaska as Sunny. This pair like and care for each other as friends as well as colleagues. Their mutual respect is echoed in the respect shown to victims, suspects, and family members.  Complex, involved, and compelling—highly recommended!

Note: All garden photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).

Maine Moments: First Days

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MAINE IN 2021

On Saturday, we traded hot Florida sun and humidity for cool gray Maine.  Due to airline schedules and a cancelled flight to Portland on Friday, we flew into Boston’s Logan Airport.  Waiting for our bags and then dealing with the scrum of people all pressed together waiting for the bus to the rental car center was one task. Getting ourselves and all our many bags onto the crowded bus was another!  Thanks to a mother with a young child on her hip, we and our bags made it on board.

Masks were required in the airport and on the airport buses.  Once in the rental car garage, few masks were in evidence; those that were, were mostly on young kids.  Social distancing is still encouraged and urged, and you are advised to wear a mask entering any business or store if you have not been vaccinated.  This means we’ll be able to freely socialize with our friends, inside each other’s homes and without masks.  

The bigger issue is the hit that restaurants and other businesses have taken due to the Covid epidemic.  Many restaurants are unable to find and hire enough staff to cover all the hours they wish to be open.  Add to this missing, delayed, or shortchanged food deliveries given staffing shortages at the large distribution warehouses, and you have another reason for their shorter hours.  Several local restaurants are closed a weekday or two, and some didn’t open at all this season.  But there are more tourists here than last year and so the demand for tables makes reservations essential!  Even the general store on this island is now closed all day Sunday and only open until 4 pm the rest of the week.  

Our first full day here, it teemed rain on and off all day, and the high only reached 64.  Despite that, it’s good to be back!

MONDAY FORAY TO PORTLAND

It’s a complicated story, but we had to drive down to Portland to deal with paperwork related to our rental car.  That errand was blessedly quick and gave us the excuse to go to downtown Portland and spend a bit of time in the Old Port area.  I was able to replenish my supply of note and greeting cards at Sherman’s.  We then made our annual visit to Le Roux Kitchen, a longtime favorite, where we picked up several thematic Maine mugs (simple white with blue and gray whales), paring knives and a grater, and several styles of cocktail napkins.  

Alfresco dining at Duckfat

The high point of this expedition, however, was an indulgent lunch at Duckfat, a casual eatery on Middle Street specializing in Belgian fries and local charcuterie.  We ate a wonderful lunch here two years ago and the return visit was also special.  All seating this year is outdoors under a robust wooden structure outfitted with picnic tables.  We ordered the fries, of course, a glass each of Albarino, the blistered shishito peppers, and the charcuterie board of ham, duck, and smoked salmon with appropriate garnishes.  

Very tasty!  When asked if we’d like doughnut holes for dessert, we couldn’t resist!  A small metal cone of six holes arrived along with a caramel dipping sauce with overtones of maple.  The holes had been rolled in cinnamon sugar and the interior was accented with citrus.  Yum!  Even better than churros and chocolate!

Doughnut holes!

Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).