Maine photos (June and September 1999)

Here are a few of the pictures I took on my recent trips to Eastport, Maine, where I visited my old friend Walt Emery and his kids.

	Driving along coastal Rt. 1 on the way to Eastport, it was hard to make any progress--because every couple of miles I'd see a scene like this and want to stop and take pictures!
	This far north, the summer late afternoon light lasts much longer than in New Jersey.
	Walt lives in a big old Victorian house (built in 1893) which he's in the process of renovating. He's been working on it for fourteen years and is only about halfway done.
	This is the living room, probably the most "finished" room in the house. Walt made all the hardwood paneling and shelves himself in his well-equipped shop.
	This Victorian doorknob is typical of the detail that Walt is putting into this restoration. It takes a lot longer this way than just gutting the house and putting in new fixtures and paneling from Home Depot, but the results are worth it.
	On the other hand, much of the house is still "under construction," as this dusty pile of Gothic chairs in the (future) dining room attests. (The family eats in the kitchen.)
	Here's the sunny guest bedroom where I slept. It's at the top of the front stairs, which aren't much used since the living and dining rooms are still unfinished.
	And here are the stairs outside the guest room. The wall, as you can see, is in the process of being stripped. How Victorians lived with wallpaper like that I'll never know!
	This may seem mundane, but I think it's pretty neat. In the downstairs bathroom, this little sink sits atop the toilet. When you flush, the water that fills the tank runs through the little faucet first so you can wash your hands, then drains into the tank. This not only saves water, but makes it possible to have a sink in a bathroom that's otherwise too small to allow one.
	Here's Walt, opening his Father's Day card from daughter Megan.
	Megan was only 6 years old when last I saw her. My, how people change! At 19, she's now a college freshman...and a snowboard wizard.
	I made this stuffed toy snake for Megan on the morning of her christening, on the theory that if a child had a cuddly toy snake, she might not grow up afraid of reptiles. It seems to have worked...Megan's not afraid of anything!
	During the summer, Megan sews for a small local outfit called "Recollections" that specializes in authentic recreations of Victorian and Edwardian clothes. Here she models an elaborate beaded gown.
	Son Willie is 13 and spends most of his time fishing (Eastport is a good town for that!) or talking and playing sports with his buddies.
	Willie is an active athlete, and wins most of the road races around the area. (I didn't take this picture, but it's so great that I just had to include it!)
	Here's Walt in a more pensive mood, reading a copy of "Smithsonian" magazine.
	One of Walt's many workbenches. This area in the attic is devoted to building model trains, which are a passion of Walt's.
	Eastport (which happens to be the easternmost town in the US) is a small town--population 1,900 or thereabouts--with one main street, Water Street, that parallels the Atlantic shoreline. One of the street's modest storefronts houses "Recollections," where co-owner Steve Koenig is seen here at the cutting table. His wife Mimi founded the company in 1984, leaving a career in computer science to design Victorian clothing full-time.
	In a storefront next to "Recollections" is this large-scale model of the Passamaquoddy Bay Tidal Power project, initiated in the Thirties. The cast cement model, built by the Army Corps of Engineers, weighs eight tons and holds another four tons (1,000 gallons) of water, which is recirculated by a pump system that simulates the actual tidal cycle. Walt is measuring the model so that he can help with its restoration.
	Here's President Franklin Delano Roosevelt looking over the dam model back in 1936 when the project was new. Roosevelt had a summer home on nearby Campobello Island, so he was well aware of the Passamaquoddy's enormous tides--perhaps the largest in the world--and the energy that could be extracted from them.
	Perhaps attracted by all the gurgling and splashing, this small cat with a big tail wandered in to see what all the fuss was about.
	A favorite place of mine on Water Street is the little combination bookstore and cafe. Here's the dessert I chose when Walt and I had lunch there. This sinfully good confection is called an "Eleanor Roosevelt," in honor of the Roosevelts' summer retreat, Campobello Island.
	While I was in the cafe, I bought this swell adventure book, published in 1923 for "Boys of All Ages." What a keen story! I can hardly wait to read the sequel, "The Radio Boys in Darkest Africa."
	A little further down Water Street is the Eastport Gallery, home to a surprising variety of paintings, drawings, ceramics and sculptures. (Photography is not represented here, unfortunately.) Eastport seems to attract artists, and some of the work here is quite good...
	...such as this decorative "Transforming Butterfly" mask, made from glazed ceramic.
	On the other end of Water Street is the Wa-Co Diner (a name coined from the first letters of its founders' surnames) where I had breakfast before heading back to New Jersey. It may look humble, but the food was good!
	Eastport is a fishing town; the major industry is salmon farming: thousands of salmon are raised in pens just offshore. The town also serves fishing boats and other ships with these two tugs, tied up at the wharf behind the Wa-Co diner.
	This never really happened, of course. But as Walt is such a lover of the great ocean liners, I couldn't resist making up this montage of the Normandie--greatest of them all--steaming into Eastport harbor.
(All pictures except "Willie running" taken by Andy Baird with Nikon CoolPix 950 digital camera.)