Our newest accommodation

Our newest space, the Cape House Studio, is ready for guests. All of our rooms are works in progress--there isn't one I don't have some plan for. The Studio, though, is ready for the 2009 season.

The kitchen/sitting area has a sink, stove, microwave, and small refrigerator. There's a table large enough for a good game of cards plus the chair you see here with a good reading lamp. In the bedroom, you'll find the charming spindle beds, either twins or a king, and matching dresser. The bathroom is a bit beige--perhaps to be remodeled in Winter 09/10? The views toward the back catch the trees in our lower garden. The front faces the gorgeous academy across the street but mostly you see azalea bushes, beautifully in bloom right now. You might wonder why we call it the Cape House Studio. We refer to the whole building, adjacent to the inn, as the Cape House. This is the Studio because it has artwork, paintings by my aunt, Ky Wilson, and great grandmother, Arline Wilson, in the bedroom, and photographs by Terrill Lester in the kitchen/sitting area. You'll find an easel in the closet and watercolor pads and paints and books on the shelf. Mention the starving artist discount and we'll take 10% off your Studio stay. Please forgive these snapshots. I used my iPhone, wanting to show you as soon as possible.

We've been seeing old friends come through already this spring. I love the Morrises--they notice and appreciate every single change and are very complimentary about the food here, pushing us to do a cookbook--someday. Pat and Pam from Connecticut came through again. We try hard to spoil everyone but they are always leaving presents for us. You should see the whoopie pies! This doesn't show how adorably they are wrapped, or were wrapped...

From the guest book this week: "Hooray for your excellent bacon." I have to agree. We still get it from Smith's Smokehouse. Tomorrow I'll pick our order up at the farmer's market, while I chat with Dan from Gravelwood Farm about the eggs his chickens have been laying for us and say hello to Dan from the Flower Farm and get one of Jill's sticky buns. She's from Millbrook Bakery, where we got lots of our toasting breads. The farmer's market is great--came through on a Saturday and we'll give you directions. It's not far from the inn. Breakfasts have gotten good reviews from the guest book, too, and it's no wonder with Matt and Jeff whipping up gingerbread with a fresh lemon glace, chocolate scones, Belgian waffles with sauteed apples, omelets with the yummiest fillings. For today's afternoon treat, Jeff made graham crackers--my first homemade graham cracker ever. I'd be happy to share the recipe--once I get it, of course. These are crisp childhood memories, like the graham crackers you remember only so much better.

I hope your June has been as delicious!

Spring Bounty

Dan, from Dan's Flower Farm, brought in his first bouquet of the season. They truly are so beautiful you could cry. My photographs do not do them justice in the least but I had to show you.

On the menu for hors d'oeuvres tonight? A blueberry sage baked brie, a recipe adapted from one in Brooke Dojny's cookbook, Dishing Up Maine. Lest you think I only cook out of one book, let me tell you about the Maine Mapmaker's Kitchen, newly out. Jane Crosen--of the incredible hand drawn maps of this area--together with Richard Washburn, her husband, has created a Downeast cookbook celebrating creative, healthy recipes "for home, camp, and a float."

It took reading a review of Becky's in Portland in the latest issue of Maine Boats, Homes, and Harbors to articulate something I have always felt. "Grilled crab and cheese! Try that and you'll never waste your money on a lobster roll again," wrote Peter Spectre. My first crab and swiss came from the Fisherman's Friend, when it used to be across from the elementary school, when the school was still in Stonington, say 1988. You can still get one at the Friend. Mmmm mmmm.
I hope your spring has been as beautiful and delicious and bountiful. If it hasn't, come see us.

Lupine! And Belted Galloway Cows

Just as the lilacs bloom in time for the inn's open house, the lupine come along right in time for their very own festival. Deer Isle's Lupine Fest, June 19-21, truly does have something for everyone, and it's all a short drive from Blue Hill.

Recipes, mattress information, recommendations for a tasty lunch--we've been offering it all to guests. "The most charming inn on all five continents, with the most friendly welcome," wrote one guest in our book. It must be Matt's breakfasts that send them into such compliments. He tried a new sauce, blueberry rhubarb, with the waffles. Mmmmm. It's heaven to have rhubarb, chives, mint, sage... right in our garden. Our strawberry plants are coming along well.

Blue Hill Mountain beckons... You can hike right from the inn. We even have backpacks to loan you. This image isn't even from the top but from one of the "catch your breath, catch the view" stops I encourage people to take on their way up. An old homestead at the base of the mountain left its footprint in day lilies and lily-of-the-valley. The apple tree was probably in the dooryard.

Do you know about Aldermere Farm in Rockport? (Thanks to a guest, I now know about it.) The 136-acre farm is one of the world’s premier breeders of Belted Galloway cattle (you know, the Oreo cows) and it's owned and managed by Maine Coast Heritage Trust, a statewide land conservation organization dedicated to protecting the working landscapes of the Maine coast, among other things. The Trust maintains Aldermere as a working farm and educational center, helping visitors deepen their appreciation for land conservation and sustainable agriculture.

I hope you're getting your share of strawberries, and Nervous Nellie's jam filled tea cookies, and Carrabassett free trade coffee. If not, come on along--we've got some for you. Here's to a beautiful June.