luluIn Maine, farm to table is not a trend, it’s a reality. Dine out or eat at home seafood is fresh from the sea, animal meats are from a nearby farm and veggies are homegrown. A great place to experience a farm to table dinner is at Point Lookout in Northport, Maine.
What used to be a softball field has been converted to gardens and greenhouses where seasonal produce provides most of the ingredients for the meal.
One greenhouse serves as a dining hall where long tables and mismatched chairs are set up for forty guests.
The table decor, candles and simple arrangements of flowers in bottles, is just my style.
All around the greenhouse are arrangements of herbs and vegetables that enhance the ambience.
A temporary kitchen facility is set up outside the greenhouse, so all the food is cooked right there and served immediately.
The menu features what is in season and no two are the same which makes eating there a real treat.
What is a constant is the hot out of the oven focaccia with roasted garlic. I could make a meal of just that!
With it comes a beautiful salad topped with an array of edible flowers.
The main course is a selection of meat and seafood. I am always a happy camper when lobster is on the menu.
Finishing the main course is a perfectly roasted combination of seasonal vegetables.
By the time dessert comes, there’s scarcely any room for it, but there are 40 smiling faces around the table!
Joining
Like many of you, I’m crazy about hydrangeas, and here in Maine one variety or another blooms from spring until late fall.
The first to appear is the climbing variety. It does tend to take over if not groomed which makes my hubby crazy. If I don’t keep a watchful eye, he will attack with a vengeance tearing them away from whatever they’ve attached themselves to.
A favorite is the lace cap which starts blooming in late June and is still lovely as it fades away in September. These were almost lost as they were in the path of construction, but I dug them up hoping to save them until they could be relocated. Now there is a bumper crop!
This full bodied bloom changes from white to lime as it matures. It reminds me of my great grandmother’s house where outside the window of her living room was a hydrangea with blooms as big as my head. We called them snowballs and that is how I continue to think of this lovely.
Late August the hydrangea trees begin to show off cone shaped blooms that are first white and then turn to beautiful pink tones. 
When they have turned, it is a great time for gathering stems to dry for use in lovely arrangements.
How lucky am I to be surrounded by all this beauty right in my own yard!
Some things you’ve thought about doing for a long time aren’t always what you’d hoped they’d be, but that isn’t what we found to be true of an Alaskan cruise. Our seven days on Admiralty Dream exceeded expectations and took us to places full of wonder.
As with other places we would visit, much of Sitka’s economy depends on fishing for halibut, salmon and rockfish.
The days of wonder began when Admiralty Dream left the dock at Sitka and headed to open water and sights startlingly beautiful. 
As lovely as snow capped mountains were clouds hanging low splitting the mountains in half.
Though it doesn’t seem so, most of the mountains are higher than 5,000 feet which explains the snow. At that height, precipitation is snow and ice whereas at lower levels it becomes rain.
Because of those rocky surfaces rain cannot be absorbed so it is not unusual to see water cascading down the mountain creating some pretty impressive waterfalls. Should there be a few days without rain, rare I’m told, the waterfalls disappear.
Along the coast we stopped in places where we were exposed to new opportunity for discovery whether it be beachcombing
or learning about the Tlingit culture that has existed in southeast Alaska for hundreds of years. 
Theirs is a complex, socially organized matrilineal society whose stories and tradition are communicated in many ways. Tlingit stories that have been passed down through generations enhance knowledge of the physical changes that have occurred in southeast Alaska over the years.
It is impossible to capture the experience of seven days in one post, so you will have to come back for more about the days of wonder.
When there is as much hype surrounding an event as has happened with the block buster show Hamilton, one can only wonder if it is as good as advertised. The answer is an enthusiastic YES! I held off going during its Houston run because the tickets are pricey, but at the last minute there were some single seats available for a somewhat reasonable price, and I bit ending up with a great seat close to the stage.
As the story goes, the creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, was inspired by Ron Chernow’s book Hamilton. Now, I read the book and while I learned much about Alexander Hamilton and his contemporaries, I got so bogged down in detail that I couldn’t imagine being creatively inspired. Thankfully, Miranda did not have the same response. As a result, he presents American history with a lesser known founding father, Hamilton, as the central character surrounded by the more familiar Washington, Jefferson, Madison and others.
While some clever person actually published a wonderful book of garage sale photos, I’m probably not that ambitious, so I focus on the presentation as if I were doing a shop.
Clothes are carefully organized by style, size and gender. A simple rack the hubby made for me back in the days when I did shows displaying my woven pieces has been invaluable for garage sales.
The same is true for another of his clever creations which works perfectly for arranging accessories.
Household and kitchen goods are arranged just so making it easy for shoppers to see without having to move things around.
Books are always a challenge, and no matter how orderly I arrange them it doesn’t take long for them to be all askew.
At the end of the day most of the stuff is gone, and I feel good about having gotten rid of some of what the girls don’t want to have to deal with. My only disappointment is that this top didn’t sell. Maybe all the stories that go with it mean that it should stay with me for at least one more Christmas dinner!
It is not often I share personal opinions on my blog as it is safer to write about food or travel or art. The recent tragedy at Parkland High School, however, compels me to speak out because it is silence that keeps change from happening. One thing I know for sure is that these senseless killings must not continue and our voices must be heard.
OK, you know the table is set so what’s for dinner?
Chicken Stoup