And the wind was coming from exactly the direction we needed to go – so much for sailing. A Maine friend has recently admitted he only gets to sail about 30% of his days on the boat – the rest of the time the wind is too light or from the wrong direction and they wind up motoring. That seems to be our summer this year, though the sailing we have done has been absolutely lovely, albeit slow. We were at least able to put out our jib as we rounded Port Clyde and motorsailed up to Maple Juice Cove. The weather turned wet, so most boats kept to themselves. John and Helena from Petronella had anchored right next to us, so they came over in their dinghy in between rain spells. Trip was happy to talk boats and I was happy to talk baking and cooking – John was kind enough to bring me yogurt starter and tips on making it. Other than that it was a quiet afternoon and evening.
The next morning we had the chance to visit the Olsen Farm which is now an extension of the Farnsworth Museum. The farm and Christina Olsen are the subjects of two of the most famous Andrew Wyeth paintings titled ‘Christina’s World’ and ‘Wind From the Sea’. Wyeth himself is buried along with the Olsen family and other locals in the small cemetary just across the road. We were fortunate enough to have a private tour of the farmhouse and learned many stories behind what initially seem to be innocous paintings. Example: Christina’s world appears to be a painting of a young woman stretched out in a field looking back toward the farmhouse. If you look closer, her arms are quite spindly and her knuckles worn and knobby. It turns out Christina had a rare familial disease that left her unable to walk in later years as an adult. Rather than use a wheelchair, she dragged herself about by her arms, subtly reflected in the painting.
We had been split into two staggered groups for a less than crowded visit and had been asked to dinghy with other boats over to the limited dock space. Sid and Ron on Cadeau were gracious enough to give us a lift, which gave us a chance to get to know yet two more members of the OCC. At the age of 80 (?), Sid had just the year before crewed for a boat that crossed the Pacific to the Marquesas. She also had the accomplishment of having been the first female commodore of the Camden yacht club. The more people I meet in this group the more impressed I am – what an inspiration.
Late that afternoon we were invited ashore by Cabot and Heidi Lyman to have a potluck dinner ashore on their property. I used up the last of my Maine blueberries and made lemon blueberry bars with some lemon cake mix (cheated). Most of the talk was about where people were headed next: mostly how far south and how quickly were people going to move. We knew Mads & Lotta needed to be in the Chesapeake mid-September and would begin their run south as the weather shifted to favorable east and north winds. We made plans for a final get together down in Port Clyde the next day with them and Saphir.
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