Maine: Southport & Around

SUMMER READING The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter by Hazel Gaynor This is the kind of historical novel that sweeps you up immediately and keeps you absorbed all the way through.  Set in 1838 on the Irish coast and in1938 off Newport, Rhode Island, two young women become attached to, devoted, some might say, to their respective lighthouses. Grace Darling, …

Tidy Tidbits: Reading & Eating

CONCERT NOTE Kudos to the Ladies Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel was a talented and precocious composer and pianist.  But, she was female, and as sister to her talented brother Felix, she was relegated to the back of the room.  Their father declared that Felix would have the musical career and she would not.  In her day, some of her …

Tidy Tidbits: Reading Update & More

A NOVEL, A MYSTERY AND A MEMOIR Carnegie’s Maid by Marie Benedict This historical novel is built around the premise that someone or some event must have triggered Andrew Carnegie’s transformation from merely a successful, rich, and somewhat ruthless businessman into the philanthropist and library founder he became.  Clara Kelley is poor and young and sent …

Savoring the Sarasota Scene

MARVELOUS MUSIC Sarasota has a rich and wide-ranging music scene, and some of the best musical performances all year occur during the Sarasota Music Festival, sponsored by the Sarasota Orchestra. This three-week series in June brings together music students, now called fellows, from conservatories across the country and pairs them with first class music professors and …