Today’s bookmark is from Maine. You’ve probably seen bracelets made with this sailor’s knot technique (I had one as a child). This bookmark is special to me because it reminds me of Captain Bob Smith. For most of my childhood, my family rented a cottage on Smith Cove (near Blue Hill), Maine for two weeks each summer. Bob and his wife Wilma owned Gull’s Way Cottages, a group of three cottages. The one we stayed in was built of logs and must have been built in the early 1900s. It was a summer home for a wealthy family, complete with a tiny maid’s cottage on the grounds. It was a magical place. The screened in porch sat above the shore and there was a decrepid upholstered porch swing I spent my days on, reading. In front of it was a cobbler’s bench that served as a coffee table. A card table was set up on the porch with a jigsaw puzzle. A creek trickled through the property to a small waterfall on the shore. A stone patio with a fireplace was built into the hill and stone steps went down to the rocky beach where there were mussels and shells. A wooden pier led to a floating dock where a rowboat we used was tied. I would swim in the frigid water and explore on the shore that smelled of salt, mud, clams and seaweed.

Captain Bob had been a sea captain and so were both of his sons. When we arrived each year, we sat in his living room with his mementos and looked out a big picture window on the cove. He would stop by our cabin every few days to check on us and tell stories of his life. He took us out on his Boston whaler and let me steer.  He learned to make sailor’s knots during his time at sea. It helped pass the time. He wouldn’t eat lobster (scavengers he called them and insisted no real Mainer would eat them) and told me Coke was poison (he may have been right about that).

One year he gave me a sailor’s knot light pull he had made for me. For years, it hung from the overhead light in my bedroom, then on my closet light until I got married. It traveled with me and eventually got left behind on the pull of a closet light at a rental house. Moving out with a two-month baby, I simply forgot about it. It makes me sad to have left that behind. So this bookmark that I bought on one of our trips to Maine makes me remember Captain Bob and the cottage on the cove that I loved so much.

Today’s bookmark is from Maine. You’ve probably seen bracelets made with this sailor’s knot technique (I had one as a child). This bookmark is special to me because it reminds me of Captain Bob Smith. For most of my childhood, my family rented a cottage on Smith Cove (near Blue Hill), Maine for two weeks … Read more →

The letter from Martha in August Martha Stewart Living about Maine not only made me nostalgic, but it made me think about how to bring a little Maine into my house.

When we stayed in Maine a few years ago, we were in a house right on the coast, with a very gorgeous, rocky shore (in York Harbor). I loved hearing the waves crashing on the rocks all night. Every time we climbed down to the beach (and this was not an easy walk – it was rocky and steep), I would come back with my hands and pockets full of rocks. “What are you going to do with all of these?” Mr. MarthaAndMe asked. I didn’t really know, but I knew I was not leaving without them. Thank goodness we didn’t fly because it would have cost an arm and a leg to fly them home since they are so heavy.

That trip left me with a collection of gorgeous Maine rocks. A few years later, we stayed on Cape Cod for a week and again I brought home piles of rocks. Mr. MarthaAndMe knew better than to question me that time. These rocks were even harder to procure though since the beach was down a 35 step steep staircase. Hauling all those rocks up was a challenge.

These trips left me with rocks for brains – no, just kidding – they left me with piles of rocks. I read Martha’s article about Maine and it made me crave the rocky beach. I got out my rocks and decided it was time to do something with them.

I decided that this gorgeous big rock would work well as a doorstop. It now sits next to the door out to the garage and it works perfectly. It stands up by itself and it is heavy enough to hold the door. I love the designs on it.

Next I had lots of smaller Maine rocks.  I decided to put these in a basket and put it in the family room. I love the mix of different colors and types of rock. Blue rocks like these just say Maine to me.

Next, I moved on to the Cape Cod rocks.  I took the larger rocks and put them in another basket in the family room (a basket which happened to come from Maine).

I love the green rocks from Cape Cod. I still had some smaller Cape Cod rocks left, plus some small pieces of driftwood. I bought a rectangular glass vase and put the rocks in it and put it on a shelf in the kitchen with the driftwood next to it.

I’m really happy to have all of my rocks out and on display. I think Martha would approve.

The letter from Martha in August Martha Stewart Living about Maine not only made me nostalgic, but it made me think about how to bring a little Maine into my house. When we stayed in Maine a few years ago, we were in a house right on the coast, with a very gorgeous, rocky shore … Read more →