Sunday, May 4, 2008

Plenty of Live Music

I’m always wishing you were here to be a part of all the great and crazy things the inn and Blue Hill have to offer. This weekend is the 18th Annual Pan New England Steelband Festival—there are pan players everywhere and I went out last night to dance to Steel Sensation. Today bands from all over New England play a range of music in a five-hour panorama concert. All summer long, our local pan band plays benefit concerts and street dances.

On the way home I stopped in at the monthly contra dance—who was filling in but Gary Bushee, an old friend who helped out at the inn last summer. Perhaps you had the singing waiter if you came to the Blue Hill Inn last fall.

I didn’t admit just how long I left the Christmas wreathes up. I did remove the red parts, telling myself that that made them just decorative wreathes, but eventually down they came. I hate that bare look and had been keeping an eye out for something nice to put in their places, especially at the Cape House. I recently found a lovely wreath made of twigs at Silkweeds in Searsport. Apparently a pair of birds find it lovely as well. At first I thought the mess of broken twigs beneath the wreath was from a bird pulling out bits for its nest—this morning I realized the wreath was home to the nest. It’s the first time I’ve wished there were fewer guests coming to the Cape House! I hope the happy couple either like the idea of living in a lively place or decide to relocate to a nearby tree. The irony of May being our benefit for Habitat for Humanity wasn’t lost on me either.

The magnolia is still looking so pretty. The willow overhanging the Cape House deck is leafing out as are most of the bushes around the yard. The tulips are plump but not blooming yet. In the herb garden, Jean, the handywoman (who is just back from a winter gardening in Hawaii!), unburied the mint and lavendar. She and I have big fruity dreams—raspberry bushes, blueberry bushes, a peach tree. I do need to confess that, though I live in a low-bush blueberry state, I prefer, dare I say it, the high bush variety. In my defense, high-bush berries are much easier to pick—you don’t have to bend over and rake them like the lowbush. They can be huge—big as a quarter—and they’re sweet. Give me a year or two and we can have taste tests and you can see which you prefer. What I do like better about the Maine blueberries is the gorgeous color in the fall. Scarlet blueberry barrens… Photographer Terrell Lester does a great job catching those.

Now I’m off to breakfast at Chase’s Daily in Belfast.

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