Artwalk: Inside and Outside and All Around Bath

In summertime there's an Artwalk in Bath every third Friday, and on July 26, 2013, on the eve of my 50 something birthday, I strolled along Front Street and Centre Street with Joe. It was our very first Artwalk, but that night we promised each other that we would go on many more because for some mysterious reason art looks fabulous in Bath light. At the Centre Street Arts Gallery, "Softly Focused," a watercolor by local artist Sharon Bouchard, held us captive for quite a while. In fact, the artist was there and noticed our interest. It was so much fun to speak with her and hear her talk about her own pathway to a gallery in Bath. We contemplated buying her Chinese style watercolor, but we knew that at the top of the "to do list" for our Maine house was painting inside and outside.  Furniture, curtains and art would have to wait at least 500 days. Even so, it was wonderful to think about hanging an oil, a pastel or a framed photograph on a newly painted wall. What a grand achievement that would be! In the meantime, on a hot summer night, we just kept strolling by some 20 different locations where amazing people were creating and displaying their works of art. Marking's Gallery was tempting with the art quilts and bead work of Natasha Kempers-Cullen, the charming pressed flowers of Patty Olds and the beautiful, useful ceramic pots of Nan Kilbourn-Tara. It was a feast for the eyes and for the soul as well. Beauty quite simply can be intoxicating. Joe and I smiled and laughed a lot as we sipped sweet tea along the way, and we held hands as lovers often do in Bath.

Fast forward to February. What a snowy whirl! Its too cold to be strolling along Front and Centre, so what do Mainers do? They take the art show inside! In the middle of winter the best place to be on a Sunday morning is Mae's Cafe. At the top of the hill, on the corner of Centre and High, the sunshine fills the main dining room with warmth and light, and the Maine 10 Artists find the perfect place to parade their one of a kind paintings. Apple pancakes, dripping with Maine syrup, melt in your mouth while your eyes take in walls of flowers, trees, rivers, waves, and boats! My eyes always come to focus on a boat: boats of many colors, sizes, and shapes. In Maine's Cool Little City of Ships, love for sea going vessels grows and grows! I actually find myself craving the color blue. And there is a "Blue Haiku" by local artist Susan R. Wood at the exhibit at Mae's Cafe! The haiku is the bright blue rowboat that twinkles from across the room. Great art brings life into ordinary spaces, and you can taste the sweetness of the Sunday morning. The feeling here is so optimistic that I want to bottle it, so I ask our up-beat waitress to snap our picture realizing that if Joe and I were thoroughly modern, we would take a selfie! Life in Bath, like the art that surrounds us, is authentic and real. We enjoy the clarity!

Art in Maine is irresistible. True confession: I purchased a photograph at the Maine Maritime Museum's gift store on my very first visit to Bath. It was a black and white, museum quality photograph, of a 1920 schooner named "Irene & Myrtle." With a name like that, how could I resist! This ship seemed to be calling my name! My maiden name is Murtagh, which means navigator in Gaelic, and when I was little, people used to call me Myrtle The Turtle. As someone who loves to run, I have never liked that nickname, but perhaps the name callers knew how important my home would always be to me and suspected I would like to carry it with me wherever I went. Years ago I made a sampler in counted cross stitch that still hangs in my kitchen today. It reads: "Home - that our feet may leave but never our heart." Maybe my love for home is what drives me to write this blog about our new home in Bath. Even though we are not there all the time, I carry it around with me, but it is not on my back like the turtle would have it; rather, it is in my heart and in the words I say and write about it every day. As for the gift store's photograph, I wanted to bring it home and frame it because there was something so majestic about the waving sails of that brave wooden ship. They reminded me of my dad, who was a sailor and a chief petty officer in the United States Navy. From Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal and beyond, my dad served on cruisers and destroyers. As fate and Bath would have it, most destroyers in operation during WWII were made at Bath Iron Works (BIW). I feel a strong connection with my dad when I visit the Maine Maritime Museum. I'm a sailor's daughter, and the City of Ships is a good home for me. And Bath's maritime museum seems like a great, big, family album, but how many family album's include lighthouse cruises and BIW tours? I cannot think of any! Sometimes the Artwalk around Bath takes you "from away" and brings you home again.


P.S.  John Ater, our comedic painter, has returned! We finally decided on paint colors: Tranquility for the living room and Wildflower for the dining room. Bath seems to bring out our wild side! The Kennebec River is nearby, and its beautiful voice is telling us to kick back!  

Smiling Faces Add Sparkle to a Winter's Night

A few of my favorite places on Earth seem to sparkle more in winter than any other season of the year. I believe Bath is one of those places, and February is a wonderful Bath Time! Proof positive: Joe and I discovered Maine's Cool Little City last February, and we just celebrated our one year anniversary as Mainers at heart by attending a cocktail party at the Cosmopolitan Club on Saturday night. This Valentine fundraiser for the Cosmo Clubhouse not only affirmed our love for Bath, it presented us with a surprising and slightly ironic friendship.  Many years ago, when I was a young mom, I vowed never to attend a party without finding out in advance if I would know at least one other guest. Sadly, I am party shy because once I was a newcomer in an established neighborhood in Illinois, and I failed to connect with any of the ladies at a church event when I desperately needed to connect. The experience haunted me for a long time. But last Saturday night, the spirited beverages and the smiling guests at the Cosmopolitan Club eased my party phobia instantly. What followed is an example of pure irony, or maybe you could call it poetic justice!

It was snowing rather heavily in Bath when we arrived at the Clubhouse, so Joe dropped me off at the door before parking, and I entered alone. In so doing, I broke my first party rule because I did not know a single soul attending the party except Joe, who was not by my side when I opened the door. Even though I was greeted by a sea of strangers, all the faces were smiling and that encouraged me to buy ten raffle tickets and stay a while. I began to return a smile for a smile, and with unusual boldness I introduced myself to several club members as the online author of "Bath Time," a new blog which recently spotlighted the Cosmopolitan Club. To my surprise, several members of the club, including the president, Michelle Ober, had already read my love post supporting the Cosmo ladies and their zany, generous style of giving! I have to thank Elizabeth, our favorite innkeeper, for sharing "Bath Time" with the officers of the club before Joe and I showed up at their door. I suspect Elizabeth's introduction added some extra warmth to their welcome! Outside, it was definitely a cold, winter night, and the mounds of snow were growing taller by the hour, but inside the lights and the love were aglow and the crowd was beginning to make some joyful noise. Two very pretty bartenders from Byrnes' Irish Pub were mixing their signature cocktails, and Joe and I began to relax with the flow. Since good times demand pictures for Facebook, I tapped a stranger on the shoulder and asked if he would snap a photo of Joe and I. He said yes, and then we began to chat. Here comes the irony! Within minutes of taking our picture, our friendly photographer, Bill, asked us where we were from, and as fate and Bath would have it, he used to live in La Grange, Illinois, and so did we! But the "¡No me digas!" you've got to be kidding part came next. Bill used to live on Catherine in La Grange, and we had lived on that block, too! True, we did not live on that street in the same time period, but the party lights seemed to wink at the coincidence anyway! And there's more! Bill's wife came over to join us, and a few minutes later we discovered that Alaine, Joe and I all graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA within a few years of each other. Suddenly, that old Bath magic turned strangers into schoolmates,  neighbors, and hopefully new friends.

Just when you think the world is going dark in winter, a little soiree on Washington Street puts the moon and the stars in the right place. Remember the ten raffle tickets? Well, Michelle Ober pulled a ticket with my name on it out of the big, glass jar, and I won an entire tray of gift certificates. Before the end of summer, I will spend lucky dollars at Tony Dance and Fitness Studio, InspireMe, Byrnes' Irish Pub, and Shore Shop Gifts of Isle au Haut. My good luck continued as I met Tracy, one of the dance instructors at the fitness studio, and Perian, a personal trainer from Inspire Me. Both ladies seemed to sparkle with health and well-being.  They also seemed like a lot of fun! All Saturday nights should be so lively. As Joe and I walked along the slippery road to our car, one of the bartenders reminded us to visit Byrnes' Irish Pub soon. She thought we would enjoy the karaoke! I laughed and bathed in the winter light.

 
 


P.S.
The Starlight Cafe at 15 Lambard Street is another bright spot in Bath, and it opens at 7 o'dark early. When Joe and I have to go on  a road trip, or set out for Logan Airport early in the morning, we stop at the cafe for coffee and a raspberry white chocolate scone on our way out of the city. Leaving Bath is never easy, but it's amazing what a raspberry white chocolate scone can do for an aching heart. A raspberry white chocolate scone can make Bath Time last just a little bit longer, and that's good!

Bath, Beatles, and Penny Lane

There's a new dog in the city! Her name is Penny Lane, like the Beatles' song:

"In Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs
Of every head he's had the pleasure to know
And all the people that come and go
Stop and say hello....

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes..."

Beatles - Penny Lane Lyrics | MetroLyrics

It's funny how a good dog can lead you to good people, and good people tend to gather in good places. Last year we moved into our Maine house just in time for the dog days of summer. As a teacher, I have the whole summer to play, but my husband is not quite as lucky. From time to time, he had to return to Chicago to work, and that meant Penny Lane and I were in charge of finding new friends in Bath! For Penny that was an easy task; for me it was a bit more daunting. In Bath, you see bumper stickers circulating around town that say, "My Dog Digs Bath." Translation: the people of Bath love dogs, all dogs, and anyone who cares for them! Penny Lane, our little rescue dog with woeful brown eyes and long-haired dachshund, sheltie fur, practically guaranteed our acceptance into the neighborhood. Within the first week, we met Popeye, the loyal companion of our neighbor from around the corner. And as it turns out, "from away" like us. In fact, he used to work at Northwestern University's library in Evanston, Illinois. How ironic that my daughter attended NU and might have seen him there. It's a small world after all! On one of our many walks, Penny Lane and I also met Maya, the realtor's dog, and Atticus, the innkeeper's dog and lots of sundry people who just wanted to stop and chat about life in Bath and the dogs they know and love. It's amazing how easy it is to start a conversation when you walk with a dog! Another neighbor, who also turned out to be from away, as far away as Texas, rushed across the street to tell me she had noticed Penny from afar and wondered what crazy mix produced such an adorable dog! Penny Lane was becoming the newest celebrity in Bath. And her name, Penny Lane, fit the city so well. It's true that there's not a single street in Bath with the name Penny Lane, but there is definitely a British connection!

Fifty years ago, on February 9, 1964, John, Paul, George and Ringo, the Fabulous Four from Great Britain, came to America to perform on the Ed Sullivan Show, and the rest is rock and roll history, but the untold story is that they never came to Bath, Maine, a place that would have wrapped them in a warm hug like an old, familiar friend. Bath and Great Britain just seem to go together. Why, there's even a Bath in England, so the similarities appear everywhere you look: Big Ben in London; Hallet's clock on the corner of Front and Centre; high tea with English society; Mae's scones on High Street; London Bridge far away; Sagadahoc Bridge here to stay; Harrod's of London; Reny's of Maine; crossing the Thames or kicking back on the Kennebec; the Beatles on the radio or Max Ater's Band performing live; fish and chips or fish and chips. It sure tastes like home!

Of course, the British Invasion of the 1960's was not the first landing of Englishmen on our sandy shores. As early as 1607, it was the English who settled Popham Colony at Fort Saint George, and it was there, so close to Bath, where they built Maine's first ship, the Virginia. In recent times, the city of Bath has launched the Main First Ship (MFS) project to reconstruct the Virginia as a hands-on history lesson for high school students. Determined, young history buffs can be found in Bath's well known and well preserved shed on Commercial Street working like shipbuilders of yesterday. As a seasoned high school teacher, I have to applaud the vision of the master teachers, skilled tradesmen and students involved in this extraordinary construction! You can follow their progress on line at mfship.org!

The moment Ringo Star began to sing "Yellow Submarine" on prime time television for  the Grammys' salute to the Beatles, the wheels of my random thought generator began to turn, and Maine's cool little city, Bath, came softly into focus.  "And our friends are all on board, many more of them live next door, and the band begins to play...We all live in a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine..." For the past week, I have been humming that Beatles' song as I spy in my mind's eye the Bath Iron Works' 220-ton crane scraping the sky over the Kennebec River, standing ready to build another stealth destroyer for the United States Navy. It is a majestic image, and it makes me feel proud to be a resident of Bath!

P.S.  As for Penny Lane's transition to Bath Time, she did hit a small bump in the road when we told her that Bath Heritage Days' Five Mile Run was for people only. Thank goodness my daughter-in-law is a licensed counselor. Lauren was able to convince Penny that the rules existed for safety reasons. Lauren also managed to win a third place trophy for her age group, which is typically very fast and forever young!

Love in the Time of Bath

Love in the Time of Bath

What do Carrie Bradshaw, Valentine's Day and the city of Bath have in common? Cocktails! Like the principal character of the 1998 television phenomenon "S.. and the City," Bath has a cosmopolitan connection.  For 101 years the ladies of the Cosmopolitan Club, the only women's club in Maine with its own clubhouse, have been working to keep the fun in Bath Time.  Cosmo ladies know that home is where the heart is, and they will be opening their heart at 849 Washington Street this Valentine's weekend when they host a "Love for the Cosmopolitan Clubhouse" cocktail party from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on February 15, 2014. The bar will be serving two "signature" cocktails.  One can only imagine a Carrie or Samantha serving a cosmopolitan in a stylish glass! Joe and I have decided to attend this ultimate happy hour in Bath. After all, we only have to stroll down the street where we sometimes live! I am becoming a great fan of this historic club which was established on April 11, 1913 by Miss Elizabeth Webber, the one time owner of the gracious Greek Revival style home which still serves today as its clubhouse. The members purchased the house in 1915, and a century later they are raising funds with rather unique events to restore their lovely meeting place.

Last July, less than a week after purchasing our home on Washington Street, my whole family attended the  Strawberry Shortcake Festival at the Cosmopolitan Club. The event was advertised as one of the highlights of Bath's Heritage Days, and it was the only event my daughter suggested. Her brothers, sister-in-law, dad and I agreed to go. Katie is very persuasive! We had no idea what to expect, but we hoped there would be lots of whipped cream involved, and I secretly feared there would be dozens of children running around with big screen TVs playing Strawberry Shortcake cartoons from the 1980's in the background. To our delight, the reality was a high tea like atmosphere with hostesses seating families at round and square tables with white and red linens and tall glasses of lemonade. As for the strawberry shortcake, it was homemade and delicious. Suddenly, the melting hot July day became sweet, and pleasant, and incredibly cheerful. And that is when I decided to find out more about the Cosmopolitan Club!

As a new member of the Seasonal Society of Bath, I am intrigued by this mighty women's club and its loyal following. I have learned that every November, right after Thanksgiving, they host a Gingerbread Social. Can it possibly be as good as their strawberry shortcake? I think it is necessary to taste and see! Joe and I hope to spend next Thanksgiving in Bath, and we will seize the day after Thanksgiving for the test. In the meantime, we will be wearing the suggested "red and white dressy casual attire" on February 15, 2014  at the Cosmopolitan Clubhouse on Washington Street, and I for one will be ordering a traditional, cosmopolitan cocktail. At the same time, I will be supporting the women's club that in 1917 was sending care packages to WWI French war victims and in 1941 was buying defense bonds to help our troops fighting in WWII. These fine ladies of Bath clearly represent
the best of society! And they do it all in such an uplifting, light hearted way.

Paint Colors

Blue Feather, Mt. Rainier Gray, Hollingsworth Green, White Dove, Cloudy Sky, Wildflower and the 2014 Benjamin Moore color of the year, Breath of Fresh Air, are all whirling around on my painter's wheel of fortune. Bath Time is less than two weeks away and that means it is time to pick a paint color for two rooms in what we affectionately call the Maine house. Who knew that paint colors would occupy so much of my brain space, but they do. I notice color everywhere, especially when I watch beautifully filmed movies and "Downton Abbey." I find myself Googling "What is the best green to paint a living room?" It is pure insanity and yet the question lingers there in the Google box! Thank heaven for John, the most patient, dependable, funny, honest painter you can imagine. Last summer, when Joe and I turned the key and opened the door to our Maine house, we were certain of only one thing: we needed to paint. Please know that this is not a judgement on the good, former owner of our  house. I truly believe no two people can ever completely agree on the best paint color to paint any room. If only you could unwrap the mystery as easily as fish and chips! But you cannot, so you have to look for that magician, a.k.a. house painter, and a friendly hardware store, which if your lucky reminds you of Walt Disney and Dad. In Bath, the house painter is really a stand up comedian, and the friendly hardware store is Roger's.

You are probably wondering how one finds such a sweet pairing: comedic painter and Disney like hardware store. Sometimes the road to fruition begins with a phone call to a well known, highly recommended realtor.  I believe the right realtor can make the impossible seem possible, and our story is proof positive. We were in fact blessed three times.  Elizabeth, the innkeeper, introduced us to Patty, the realtor, and the color wheel began to turn as Patty introduced us to John, the painter. Call it providence, but I call it Bath. A good realtor can quickly identify what draws a potential buyer to a home and in the same moment recognize what keeps that buyer from sitting down and wanting to stay. All the woodwork in our Maine house was beige, almost brown, and the walls for the most part were off white. The rooms seemed tired under such dull colors. The outside was really yawning with paint chipping all along the trim, and the garage seemed to be weeping, so Patty arranged for John to meet us at the house to plan a rescue in bright daylight. As they say in Spanish, ¡Qué genial! (Did I tell you I'm a Spanish teacher?) It was a smart move. John didn't actually move in, but he certainly spent a good part of last summer at our house, and if I can decide on the best color to paint a living room and dining room in 2014, he will hopefully visit us again this year! In addition to being a skilled painter and a sterling general contractor, John has become a part of our circle of friends in Bath. One of the best days last summer was the day we all sat in the kitchen trying to decide on the best color combination for the walls and shelves. My husband is usually serious, but after 34 years of marriage I know he has a funny bone, and John found it that afternoon. Joe made a subtle, straight-faced joke that could have been missed by a slower man, but John is quick, and he caught the joke, and he ran with it, and those two men, Joe and John, were belly laughing in our kitchen, and it felt like home. We were finally home in Bath. It was Bath Time, and it felt just right. I cannot wait for that fun to begin again, to laugh in Bath a few short weeks from now.

Bath Time Begins

It's Bath Time! Well, it is almost Bath Time. Today is actually Super Bowl Sunday, February 2, and I am in Chicago, which is about 1,100 miles from Bath, Maine, the inspiration for this blog. What do these two cities have in common? They are both cold in winter, and the residents all know how to live with snow. On a more personal level, they are both home to me, but I am not from either place; rather, I have come to these cities by chance, by luck, by choice. Joe, my husband of almost 35 years, and I will leave for Bath on February 14, Valentine's Day, for a winter weekend in Maine's cool little city, the City of Ships. And if you could, you might ask "Why Maine in winter?" And my answer would be "Bath is beautiful every season of the year!" But Joe and I can only be there from time to time, not every day, because we work in Chicago. So we, like a good number of people we have met in Bath, are part of a Seasonal Society.

Our Bath Time this February will be especially poignant because it marks our one year anniversary as lovers of Bath. I am not sure the term "Maniacs" applies, but we are mainly happy in Maine. That's a statement I can stand up for, and I can tell you that the last twelve months have been rather euphoric. Just when you think life is ordinary, you can discover an extraordinary place where you never looked before, and suddenly you feel a little giddy and even a bit dizzy with the newness and the beauty of it all even if the place has been there for hundreds of years, literally hundreds! So yes, after a weekend visit in February, 2013, we returned in April, and then in June we bought a 1830's Greek Revival style home on one of the loveliest, most historic streets in Bath. And that, without a thread of doubt, is the craziest thing my practical, cautious, "let's think about this some more" husband and I have ever done!


Our new, very old home in Bath, Maine may appear to be the focus of this blog, but truth be told, and it will, it is the community of Bath that enchanted us. It was Elizabeth, the innkeeper, at the Inn at Bath, and her guests that weekend who shared our exuberance for all things Bath. There was a big snow storm that weekend, but it didn't hush our laughter or conversation. It was a truly magical time for Joe and I, and our son, who came along that weekend with his girlfriend to escape Boston and work. It was Bath Time! We all felt the wonder of it. We suddenly wanted to take up bird watching, and a guest at the Inn, a Maine writer, suggested the perfect guide to birding easily obtained at, of course, L.L. Bean.  The twenty-somethings looked wide-eyed at a new activity beyond technology. So Bath really is Maine's cool, little city, and we find ourselves waiting for our next time: Bath Time!