2016 Calendar Letter

Greetings All!

Welcome to another year of fun and frolic in the beautiful Boothbay Harbor region of mid coast Maine. We hope everyone who was weather challenged this past winter made it through in good shape and eagerly anticipates the three other seasons we share.

Winter, undoubtedly, has been the feature topic of discussion, for those of us who plowed our way through, and for those who watched from afar in warmer locations elsewhere. It was a dandy. And, with all the social media recorders churning out weather happenings, little went undocumented. From the first “snowmageddon” that hit Buffalo, to the buried cars and plugged streets of Boston, we were kept abreast of all the weather we could stand.

One of the most amazing factoids of the winter, to me, was the need to move the extreme sled dog race in Alaska, because there was not enough snow for the Iditarod. Good heavens! What’s wrong with this picture? There were actually days when it was colder in Maine than Alaska, then, if that’s not screwy enough, warmer in Maine that in Florida. And now, as I write, there is high fire danger after tons of winter snow. Go figure.

I know we just thank our lucky stars that we have our wonderful little L2500 Kabota tractor with a bucket. As the storms came along, often within hours of each other, we ran out of plow space. Our handy dandy bucket loader just kept stacking it up and pushing it back. Fortunately (quite possibly dumb luck) I moved a lot of the early snow way back so as the later snows came along, there were places to put it. Some of the plowing people were really up against it, quite literally, as their roads and driveways filled back in (and wind blown) after each pass.

We spent the winter in our barn (converted to bunk house) again and almost had enough dry wood to get through. There was a bit of a scramble mid April (still quite chilly) for dry wood, but as snow cleared I was able to gather up a fair amount around the property. Even though its much easier to heat the barn, we still burn a lot of wood. And, this was the first time I totally drained our house. So if you see a geyser on the west side of Southport in mid May, you will be able to gauge the success I didn’t have!

Morgan and Andrei now live in Portland---- yippee! We get to see them much more frequently than when they were in Romania. Andrei has a great job with company CIEE in Portland which coordinates international student exchange work and study. He has already traveled to Hawaii, and Tennessee with plans for Thailand in the works at this time. It’s quite a job. He is super excited for the opportunity and well suited-- his languages skills and international experiences have been great assets. Plus, he’s a very nice person, which helps with most jobs.

Morgan is developing quite a new business with her hand painted t-shirts company, “MY MAINE TEE” and has also taken on some new projects with Woodford Family Services. She loves the work and enjoys her interactions with children and families in the Portland area helping to support Woodford’s commitment to people with special needs.

Mae remains in the New York City metroplex, continuing her pursuit of theatre and acting ventures. She has picked up some work here and there but still has not landed THEE big show that lights her up AND pays the bills. She gets home now and then and we always enjoy family time when everyone lands. In the summer of 2015 she returned to Dorset, Vermont, and The Dorset Theatre Festival, as house manager. It is an amazing venue and beautiful area. She may also have an opportunity for a role in one of the performances but at the time of this writing, no confirmation has come through. We hope to get over for a performance or two.

Susan continues her good works within the community trying to improve lives in challenging times. She has a special skill that is most appreciated and often requested and has had many opportunities to work with fascinating individuals. We are blessed with good friends and pleased to help when we can. Winter hit hard in a lot of ways.

Not to end on a sad note, but....... old pal Roobie, our 16 year old Jack Russell, who always marched to a different drummer, marched right out the back door in April and never looked back. She had many health challenges along the way but pulled it all together for the family gathering Easter weekend.

Shortly after the kids left, on a perfect sunny and warm day, she slipped by us and disappeared into the woods behind the house. There was just enough snow left on the ground so we could follow her tracks intermittently. We looked high and low for two days and even mentioned her departure on “Facebook”, but no luck. I think she was fed up with the set up and just decided to head for the big terrier spa in the sky. We miss her--- 16 years is a long time. I still hear her tags jingle in the night sometimes and get up to take her out. You sure do get attached.

On that note, and several others, we extend to all the very best from our glorious Maine coast and welcome you back through the images in our 2016 calendar. Order soon and order often! We got the kids through college, now its us you are helping to support!

Peace,

Robert Mitchell

As always, a portion of the proceeds from calendar sales will be set aside for the young people of our peninsula to enjoy Maine. Yay! 

Order this year's calendar here.

If you’d like to order an original Giclée print of any image, please contact us.