Fall ’08 Newsletter

Fall is upon us and it is a beautiful display this year!

Our welcome bear has made a friend. Most mornings our resident chipmunk sits on the bear’s nose and watches through the window as the guests eat breakfast. He thinks their antics are quite amusing. The chipmunk was nowhere to be seen once all the picture taking started.

So, on to the news in Freeport…there’s a new grandchild on the way! Expected date of arrival is in early May. The older siblings are all in school now and are very excited at the prospect of a new baby. There’s been a little bit of ‘dibs on the baby in my room’ already. The family has settled nicely into their new house in upstate NY and is enjoying home ownership.

Super-duper Cooper had his first birthday party in VT. It was a family camping trip with lots of aunts, uncles, cousins & grandma in attendance. Coming at it does at the end of August, we were unable to attend. Figuring he’ll be 10 before we see a birthday party.

Next week we’re hoping number one son will be here for a visit.

Things are on the move in Freeport!

Sadie Green’s has moved down the street and is now located next door to Wicked Whoopies. The Lazy Bear is moving out of town to Topsham. We’re sorry to see Joy leave. Her store has so many fun, woodsy elements. Wilbur’s Chocolates and Simply Divine Brownies held their open house in the new location last week. The ‘Pumpkin House’ (so called because of its color) is a short walk from the former location, on Lower Main St. (Across from Gritty’s and Pedro O’Hara’s.)

It may be a little early to pack your bags, but start thinking about taking the train to get to Freeport and points north. The search is underway for a location for the new railway station for our stop on the Amtrak Downeaster from Boston. Finally connecting Portland with Rockland (and points in between), the train is due to arrive in 2010.

Construction on the Freeport Village Station (not to be confused with the train station) is proceeding quickly. The tentative opening date is in May, 2009.

Here it is, summer again! We have been chugging along this year, doing small projects around the inn. Stripped off the wallpaper in 4 more bathrooms and painted them all in cool greens and blues. Really changes the whole look of the rooms!

Finally decided this was the year we attack ‘our side’ of the inn and stripped the wallpaper off in our bedroom. Still have to paint, but it’s a start. I’m looking at a yellow that approximates the color of the cabinets in the kitchen. Bright, cheery, but not ‘school bus’ yellow! We’ll pick back up on that project come November.

We’ve taken out some shrubs near the stairs. They were getting so big and out of control that guests were telling us they couldn’t figure out how to get to the door to check-in. Now I have started a small flower garden where the shrubs came out. I bought the flowers at the flower sale at the church across the street. I got a huge hosta, one of the ‘elephant’ variety, some purple coneflowers and some purple irises. I dug up a pink creeping phlox from under a conifer, where it was not happy. That should eventually drape itself down over the stone wall and make quite the display in the spring!

The bachelor’s buttons self-seeded all over the place this year! I can’t believe how many new plants I had when things started coming up. They are such a pretty blue flower but tend to completely fall over once a heavy rain sets in. This year the peonies were unbelievable! The honeysuckle was a bit of a disappointment, though. There were great buds but the flowers didn’t amount to much. I may have to dig those up and replace with a climbing rose.

So, what’s happening in Freeport? I try to keep a running list on our blog of what’s new. (Which is one reason this newsletter has taken so long to produce.) The blog is where I have been expending the creative writing juices that build up.

Here’s what’s new:

Tommy Hilfiger is open in the old Lenox/Dansk location.

The Freeport Cabaret has opened up on Depot Street. Check it out for late-night entertainment. Yes, you read that right, Freeport has entertainment after dark!

Buck’s Naked BBQ is in the new location where the Dexter Show Store used to be. They also have entertainment and a much larger restaurant. It’s kid-friendly, with a play area inside and balloon animals being made for the kids (selected nights). As for the balloon animals, one guest here brought back a moose. It was really rather good!

Coffee by Design is now running the coffee shop inside LL Bean. Coffee by Design is a local company out of Portland.

Wicked Whoopies are now available in Freeport! Yowza, you are going to want to stop in there and try them out!

Simply Divine Brownies has moved here as well. They are located in the new Wilbur’s Chocolate Factory, just south of where the old factory was located. (As of right now, the old factory store is still open as is the one on Bow St.) During the summer there will be tours available to see both chocolates and brownies being made. There will be tastings and ‘make it yourself’ events. We are fast becoming the ‘Chocolate Capital of Maine!’

The Freeport Village Station is really moving along now. You can definitely see more of what it will look like upon completion. Even though it appears construction is taking up a lot of parking places, many parking lots have been reconfigured with better signage and lines, especially for campers & RV’s.

On the home front, Alicia and family have moved to Vermont and Sara and family are moving to NY. Some get closer, some get farther away! Bre is still happily available for hugs on demand!

We know things are tough right now for planning a vacation so we hope you are able to find the time and resources to make it over this way sometime this summer or fall. For Maine residents we are offering a ‘Staycation’ package and our Lobster and Foliage package is available for everyone. I know it’s a bit early to plan, but we’ll be offering our ‘Wrapping Paper Party’ again this year, starting the Friday after Thanksgiving and happening every Friday and Saturday until Christmas. If you’ve missed this in the past, how it works is we provide the wrapping paper, tape, scissors, labels & bows so you can wrap your Christmas presents here, before you head home.

It’s not too late to book the Inn to Inn package we are doing with Seaside B&B in Port Clyde. Give us a call today, we’ve got an excellent line-up of things to do here, there and in between!

And don’t forget the LL Bean Summer Concert series! Still a whole summer’s worth of free entertainment every Saturday night!

Stay cool! Hope to see you soon!

Happy Spring! 2008

“Spring has sprung;
The grass has riz-
I wonder where the birdies iz!”

And that is certainly the truth! What we got for Spring this year was more snow! It’s a lovely day today, the Saturday before Easter, but it is still pretty darn cold out there. Temps only getting to the mid 30’s. Brrrr! How are we supposed to have Maine Maple Sunday tomorrow without getting the wide variation in temperature needed for the sap to run? (BTW, Maine Maple Sunday is always the 4th Sunday in March. Because of Easter being the same day this year, many sugarhouses are celebrating on a different day and keeping Easter set aside for family.)

I just returned this week from a couple of days’ getaway to Georgia. My friends, Sue and Bob, just opened their B&B in Columbus, GA, just a couple of blocks from the University and RiverWalk. Let me tell you, sitting on their porch in the 80 degree temps while it was snowing back home was a delight. I love winter and I love the snow, but it gets old about this time of year!
New news in Freeport:

The groundbreaking ceremony for the new Freeport Village Station Shopping Center was held on Thursday, March 20. Governor John Baldacci attended and there were announcements from several local businesses. The LL Bean Outlet Store will move back across the street, kind of to its old location. (This won’t be happening too soon, the parking garage needs to be finished first.)

One of the new stores announced for the new shopping center is a Nike outlet. Still haven’t heard what restaurant will be setting up in the new center. We’re always looking to try something new!

The new jazz club is set to open on May 1st on Depot St. The club will be located next door to Wildflower Florist. From what I’ve heard, they will have an eclectic drinks and dessert menu. Yum-o! We can’t wait to have a music venue in walking distance.

Buck’s BBQ is moving right along in their expansion plans on Rt 1 South. They are due to open in April. We also heard they are in talks with LL Bean to open a BBQ concession in or near the Hunting and Fishing store. Perfect match!

Tommy Hilfiger is open on the corner of Bow St and Main St, in the old Lenox/Dansk building. It’s a bright and cheery setting and the windows are done up very nicely. For those shoppers of a certain age (and you know who you are) this is an easier store to shop in than Abercrombie. I’m good for all of 5 seconds and then I have to get out. Don’t you hate getting older?

For those who head out to Wolfe Neck Farms (NOT Wolfe Neck Woods)- they find themselves in a bit of a pickle. The state determined that the bridge that connects the two sides of their farm (and all the families who live out that way with the main road) was too deteriorated to repair. Although the decision was made several years ago, the state, in its infinite wisdom, showed up on very short notice a couple of weeks ago and removed the bridge. Kind of a surprise if you use that road to go to work and find it’s gone when you return home! Folks in the area, including the cows that are pastured on the opposite side of the bridge, now have a 4 mile drive around to get to and from. (Didn’t mean to imply the cows were driving to and from their pasture…)

Brown Goldsmiths is undergoing renovations at this time. They are expanding the store. Can’t wait to see what they’ll have when it’s all done. I love their jewelry!

I think that’s about it for Freeport news. Check the blog for more up to date news, I blog a couple of times a month with things to do and see. Also check the Things to Do page for more up and coming events.

On the family front, Super Duper Cooper is just starting to scoot along. He’s 7 months old now. Grandpa is just itching to get in the car and go visit. He did get to go back in January but he has ‘grandbaby fever’ and is just looking for a couple of free days to hop in the car and getaway.

It’s been pretty quiet on the home front with the older grandkids. They had a great winter break with their parents, all of them heading to the slopes for a week-long ski vacation. Sean loved it so much he cried when he woke up in the car and realized they were leaving his ‘favorite place in the whole world.’

Well, if Freeport is your ‘favorite place in the whole world’, we hope we get to see you this year!

One new package we are offering this year is professional color consultation and make over. Julie Cunningham has been in the business of making people look their best for over 2 decades. Let her work her magic on you and, as she says, ‘Never buy another wrong piece of clothing again!’

Happy Spring!

Winter 2007 at White Cedar Inn

Once again I’m a bit late with the newsletter, I’m slacking off in my old age. 🙂
It’s been snow, snow and yes, more snow here lately. Upwards of 30 inches around town over the month of December. How come you’re not here skiing or snowshoeing? We’ve had great weather for both! Even Bre enjoys a day out at Wolfe Neck Woods State Park! We’ve tried out the trails around the bay area (Casco Bay Trail) as well as the river side trails (Harraseeket River Trail and Old Woods Trail).

The Casco Bay trails are a bit easier if you’re a real novice, but even the wooded trails are not difficult. Everything on the bay side was a bit granular after this last snow. It was a very wet snow that stuck to the trees and as it blew off or melted, it created some crunchy terrain.

We’re going to try out Pinelands and Bradbury Mountain sometime this weekend.

This being January we are ‘on vacation’. What that means is the inn is closed for the month but we are working everyday on projects to make everything a bit nicer for you in the coming year. We can’t, of course, top the big reno from last January, so this year it is a lot of ‘small stuff’ that has been bothering us…chipped paint, dripping faucets, problem wallpaper, the usual stuff everyone has going on.

Right now Rock is replacing a bit of wallpaper in the stairwell for the Crow’s Nest. Last April we had, as we call it, a wicked bad storm on Patriot’s Day. It caused a small leak in the roof which subsequently made its way down the wallpaper. We’ve been grimacing at it since then, but no longer! The ceiling has been primed and the bit of stained paper is coming down as I write.

While Rock was waiting for the primer to dry on the ceiling, he stripped the wallpaper out of the Lillian bathroom. (Holy cow! can’t leave that guy alone for a moment!) We’ve picked out a nice, crisp minty green paint for that bathroom. It matches the small flowers from the bedroom wallpaper. The Lillian is getting a new queen bed! For all of you who suffered in the past sleeping in the double bed, fret no more! The new queen bed will be delivered this month. Right after I paint all the trim and put up the new curtains.

Lots of other small projects are in the works. And somewhere in there we may squeeze in a vacation!

I should mention that we were awarded a Certificate in Green Lodging from the State of Maine! We’re pretty proud of it, too. White Cedar Inn is the first B&B in Freeport to receive this honor. We are continuing to ‘go green’ in small, helpful ways that anyone can undertake to do at home. We’re not putting in wind generators or solar panels, but keeping things manageable and affordable. We applaud those who have taken steps to generate their own power, it’s just not something we’re prepared to try just yet!

So, what’s new in Freeport?

The Lenox store closed right after Christmas. It looked like all the ‘Who’ houses after the Grinch got done with them! Not a pegboard or shelf left the day they closed. Even the employee microwave went out the door to some lucky person! Coming in its place is Tommy Hilfiger.

Remember where the British Goods store used to be? That is now an upscale women’s clothing store newly relocated from Portland. Betsey’s has fresh, modern clothing for the discriminating buyer. It’s a little hard to find, but worth a look!

Construction has definitely begun on the first part of the new Freeport Town Center shopping area. The 550-car parking garage should be completed by next fall. After that, construction on the upper level shopping concourse will begin. Hard to see with all of the construction fencing is Petrillos Pizza on Depot St. Dominick is still there so stop in for a pizza or a panino!

The LL Bean Outlet is now on the main campus, just across the way from the flagship store. It is located in what was the Hunting and Fishing store. The Walk-on Adventures are the perfect place to start if you want to get out and try a new winter sport. Also spotted at the Bike, Boat and Ski shop last week were the latest craze in sleds from Mad River Rocket.

If it’s January, Valentine’s Day can’t be far behind. If you find yourself Valentine-less this year, don’t fret. Grab a couple of non-romantic friends and make it a weekend away from all the ‘old, familiar places’ in your town. We promise we won’t have any roses, chocolates, candles or other Valentine’s Day ‘stuff’ around the inn. And if I should, by some chance, get a sugary sweet card from dear old hubster, I promise not to share it!

Here’s hoping your New Year is a happy one!

See you soon…

Fall ’07 Newsletter

First thing I have to report on is our brand new grandson! Cooper Lee was born August 31 in Virginia. We spent a few days this week visiting him and his happy parents. Here’s himself just hanging out enjoying the day!

While we were off visiting, Bre had a spa day at camp. She looks mahvelous, dahling.

So, what’s new in Freeport?

The Button Store building was purchased by Thomas Moser. The building was removed to another location. No news just yet what the space will be used for. The second building on that corner is still there. The report was that building was also to be moved to another location to be used as a home. More on that as we hear more info.

All of the demo on the old LL Bean Factory Outlet store seems to be completed. Just a big empty space remains as we await the construction of the new downtown shopping area.

Hope you had a chance to get to town for the LL Bean concert series this summer…wow! There was a spectacular line-up and almost every evening was perfect weather-wise.

The White Cedar Inn celebrated its 20th anniversary on August 18th with a cupcake party and a gift of the new logo mug to all the guests in the house that day.

New stores in town include HJ Beausoleil and Rite Aid. Gone are Tuesday Morning and Brooks Drugs. Expansion at Bean on the new Hunting and Fishing store is proceeding apace.

We have a couple of fun specials coming up in the near future…our ‘All Things Maine’ getaway, the Ghost Walk in October and the Gourmet Progressive Dinner in November are just 3 of the packages or specials we have in store in the upcoming months.

It was truly a beautiful first day of Autumn here today. Blue skies, cool breezes and warm sunshine. Just another day in paradise!

Hope you come and see us soon.

Sorry I’m a day late getting the newsletter out. We had a beeyootiful first day of summer yesterday and we took advantage of it by going on a boat cruise to Eagle Island, summer home of Robert E. Peary. The cruise was great fun and it leaves from the Town Dock in South Freeport.

We were out on the water for almost 2 hours and spent an hour on the island. Atlantic Seal cruise boat on Casco Bay. morred of Eagle Island.

This is a shot of the tour boat, the Atlantic Seal taken from Eagle Island.

Along the way we saw numerous seals, although we did not get in close enough to them to take photos. This early in the season and just after the pups are born, so the seals will more than likely be scared and jump right into the water.

The guided tour around Casco Bay is given by Tom Ring, long-time Freeport resident.

Along the way, ‘Capt Tom’ hauls up his lobster traps giving a demonstration of how the traps are hauled and baited. All we had on this trip were a dozen or so crabs, which none of us had a license for so they were thrown back!

Hauling up the lobster traps.

Here are a few more pix taken on the cruise, from left to right- the view from Adm Peary’s study on Eagle Island, sailboats in the Freeport Harbor and a ‘river of rocks’ on Eagle Island.

OK, enough about what we did yesterday! (You could do this, too, when you’re in town…call ahead and make a reservation…Atlantic Seal Cruises…207-865-6112)
What’s new in Freeport?

We’ve gotten a few new shops here since the Spring Newsletter…

Georgetown Pottery opened a new store just a few doors down from us where Freeport Knife used to be. (Freeport Knife has moved to larger quarters on Lower Main Street near Gritty McDuffs.) The new Georgetown Pottery store is 3 levels. We were there last night for their open house and it is gorgeous inside (and out!)

Mexicali Blues has opened up on Bow Street just down from the J Crew store. They specialize in clothing and jewelry.

Pet Pantry has moved to Lower Main Street, also to larger quarters near Grittys.

The Lazy Bear is now open on School Street in the former Maine Wood store. Joy specializes in fun Maine home accents and gifts. We have a couple of her painted shore birds on the mantle in the living room.

Acorn Footwear is in the Denney Block, across from Dooney & Bourke. They specialize in high-end footwear.

The new addition to LL Bean is proceeding apace!

The demolition and construction of the new ‘Freeport Town Center’ has come to a halt for the time being. Still waiting word when that will pick up again.

The LL Bean Summer Concert Series has started and is really exciting this summer. We already have 3-4 performers we can’t wait to see, including Robert Cray, the Indigo Girls, Arlo Guthrie, Shawn Colvin and John Hiatt. And that’s just the beginning of the great line-up!

Don’t forget the 4th of July parade! It goes right past the inn and we have front row seating!Uncle Sam in the Freeport parade.

Here is Carol driving ‘Uncle Sam’ in the Jameson Tavern truck from last year’s parade.

There are plenty of other fun entries in the parade along with marchers and fire trucks galore!

That’s all I can think of for town news! Out of town news includes the sailing of the Bounty out of Boothbay Harbor on July 2nd. Also happening in Boothbay is the grand opening of the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, now the largest in New England. There are miles of trails throughout wild and cultivated gardens.

In family news, we are awaiting the arrival of a new grandbaby! We’re hoping this new little guy makes his appearance just before our scheduled arrival to see him! (And not a day later!) The rest of the family is doing well and we hope to see the 2 oldest grandkids over the summer. Bre celebrated her 9th birthday on Mother’s Day with a vanilla cone at Ben & Jerry’s. (Yup, she’s spoiled!)

Keep up with the happenings at White Cedar Inn and Freeport with our blog.

Also keep an eye on the Packages page, we are looking into having a ‘medium’ come to the inn and do a ‘spirit tour’. If that all comes together it will be in October. And don’t forget the Gourmet Progressive Dinner happening Nov 2-3!

I guess that’s all for now…hope we get to see you this summer. Wherever you go for your vacation, relax and enjoy yourself!

Mid-Spring ’07 Newsletter

Just a quick update on what’s happening here in Freeport…we just got back from a week in Santa Fe, NM, trying to understand how anyone can live without the ocean in their backyard!

This is me at Tent Rocks National Park (Kasha-Katuwe). The jacket was a necessity as it was snowing, you can see the little white specks in the picture. (Just 2 days before it had been 80 degrees, just glad we brought the coats!) The formations you see behind me are the result of volcanic activity. In some places, there are huge boulders balanced on top of those points! See pix below for what happens when the boulders dislodge!

As an example of what happens when the rocks give way, Rock is walking over some of them as we hike up the ‘Canyon Trail’ a 1.5 mile trek through the canyon to the top where you can see Cochiti Lake and the dam on the Rio Grande. This park has 2 trails, the ‘Cave Loop’ and the Canyon Trail. Each is about 1.5 miles, but the Canyon Trail doesn’t loop around.

I got to within 100 feet of the end of the trail and then had to climb up a 6′ rock face. With the open canyon behind me and trying to look straight up to find handholds, vertigo won and I had to sit out the ‘view at the top’.

Of course, we ate at great restaurants! It’s not vacation if we don’t find fab food! We both really recommend the diner on the Plaza. If our luggage ever shows up, I’ll get the map out and figure out the name of the place! Other great eats were found at Tomasita’s and The RailYard. So what delicacies did we have? Cactus salad, flautas, sopapillas, frog’s legs (OK, not a New Mexican specialty), prime rib and so much more! (Great snack food…green chile pistachios!)

We’re not great shoppers (laugh if you will, but it’s safe for us to live in Freeport) but we did go to the plaza and talk to the Native American vendors who set up under the long portico. They had some beautiful silver jewelry there. The attention to detail in the art and talking to the person who actually makes what you are browsing or buying makes the purchase so much more personal.

The next day we were back in the desert canyons again, this time traveling to Bandelier National Park to view cliff dwellings (one of the main reasons we wanted to go to New Mexico). Unbelievable! Some of the most amazing human constructions we’ve ever seen.

This is the entry to a 22-room cliff dwelling that is over 800 years old. Below is some of the trail that had to be climbed in order to access the ladder you see here to enter the dwelling. Keep in mind the original inhabitants did NOT have the handrails you see in the photo! It is 140′ straight up from the river to the cliff entry. And, yes, that is a river (Rio Frijoles) you see waaaaaay below!

After we left the main site of the Bandelier park, we found an ‘adjunct’ Bandelier Park along the side of the road. If you have time and are somewhat adventurous, definitely go to this small, out of the way park. You are pretty much ‘on your own’ here. Pick up a trail map at the gate (which is closed at dusk) and head out. There are NO handrails here, a couple of ladders are all you have to help climb up and down the canyon walls. In some places the trail was as wide as my shoe, cliff wall to the right and deep canyon to the left!

Not too many pix taken along this trail, I was doing my best to hang on! But, along the way, this is what we found to make the fear of falling off the cliff wall all worthwhile.

Spring ’07 Newsletter

Happy Spring! Still trying to figure out how Spring works here in Maine! First year, snow banks over the tops of the car roofs; next year, no snow at all and Rock had the motorcycle out; this year, back to piles of snow!

You can certainly all guess that there is no motorcycle this year! See the Summer ’06 newsletter for all the gory details.

“I noticed some white snowdrop flowers had come up along the side walkway last week. Maybe a tad on the early side, but still a nice harbinger of Spring.” OK, that’s word for word from last year’s newsletter, but the snowdrops really were up, then we got a foot of snow. I’m sure they’re just biding their time, they’re hardy little flowers. But, enough about the wacky weather…it’s wacky everywhere!

What’s new in Freeport?

Big news is LL Bean’s 95th Anniversary. They are celebrating in a big way, including commissioning a new nature park (pdf file) for the town. The park will be located at the end of School St (take a left 2 blocks from here) and will have a skating pond with warming hut and numerous trails with small bridges over the streams. We are really looking forward to this as a great place to walk that’s off Main St and out of the way of traffic.

Another part of the celebration is an extended concert series season, fireworks display over the 4th of July weekend and more Walk-On Adventures. Rumor has it Arlo Guthrie will be performing on August 4, if you can sing Alice’s Restaurant by heart (c’mon, you know who you are!), be sure to book early for this one! Also appearing this summer at the LL Bean Summer Concert Series are the Indigo Girls (August 18), I’m setting up my chair early in the morning for this one! Hope you can join us for one or more of these concerts. I’ve heard some other big names but can’t verify them yet, more news as we get it! (As always, any concert is subject to change.)

Other Freeport news…

J Crew is expanding. The structure is being framed in now and the store looks like it will be about 2x the size it was before. Just read their CEO is really pushing to get the brand name back on everyone’s lips and is branching out to include a line of wedding dresses. Not sure if that line will be here in this store or not, but I bet they’d be fun dresses.

Demolition has started in preparation for the new shopping district going in downtown. The LL Bean outlet is now located (temporarily) at exit 20 (just past Shaw’s).

Also in the works for the Rt One South area are weekly classic cars nights. Get out your bobby socks and slick back your hair! More on this as dates are firmed up.

Jameson Tavern celebrates 25 years with a road race on May 20th and different specials every day during the month of May.

White Cedar Inn is celebrating this year as well! It’s our 20th anniversary. Twenty years of cozy lodging, scrumptious breakfasts and thought-provoking conversation! Come see the newly redecorated dining room, just one of the upgrades we are making to celebrate. Also check for Specials on our Packages page for last minute discounts and fun giveaways.

One really special package we have in April is the Gourmet Progressive Dinner and B&B Tour we are doing with 2 other local B&B’s. This is happening April 20-21.

Maine Maple Sunday is the last Sunday in March, see the sugaring process and sample Maine maple products where they’re made.

The Regional Soccer Championships will be held this year from June 29th to July 3rd in Yarmouth and Brunswick. For those from out of the area, Freeport is equidistant between the two venues and there are lots of places to stay, eat and shop while waiting for game time. Try an LL Bean Walk-On Adventure in kayaking, GPS orienteering or fly fishing. Freeport is on the water and there are great parks for walking and biking.

Family news…Chris is back from the Philippines. He’s decided there’s no place like home (the USA). Alicia is doing well, now in her 2nd trimester, we still don’t know what flavor grandchild we’re getting (although Grammie says ‘girl’). Sara starts work at Harvard in a few weeks. She’ll be in charge of undergraduate studies in the Psych Dept. Bre is just fine, too!

Hope you are having a wonderful first day of Spring! It’s sunny and warm-ish here, come on up and visit this year!

Winter ’06 Newsletter

It may say ‘First Day of Winter’ on the calendar but it is way too warm out there for me to believe it. We just saw ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ and weather like this certainly makes everyone think about what they can be doing to slow or reverse the damage done. After all, Mother Earth has been here quite a long time, and will be here long after we’re gone if we keep this up!

OK, off my soapbox, you didn’t come here to read about global warming! I will add at this point, that we are making plans this year (2007) to be recognized as ‘Green Lodging’ by the state of Maine. More on that as things progress.

We’d like to thank all our guests who stayed with us this year, it was our best year ever. We broke occupancy records in July, September and October. Thank you one and all, we truly appreciate your patronage and all the wonderful comments you leave for us in our guest books.

What’s up in Freeport?

Rapid River has moved from School Street to Lower Main Street (down near Gritty’s). The total rebuild of the building that used to house the Blue Onion has started to show progress. The foundation is in and the first floor is taking shape. Still no idea when Antonia’s Sports Bar will open, though.

LL Bean is having a ‘First Night’-type event on New Year’s Eve. Music all day, magicians, activities for the kids and then a Countdown at midnight with a light show to follow. Even if you can’t be here for New Year’s Eve, we hope you had a chance sometime in December to see all the trees and lights in Discovery Park. We walked down there last night and it was beautiful.

There is a new shop above Deroshier’s on Main Street, called ‘Brewtopia’. It’s everything beer, except the beer! (Which can be purchased downstairs, along with what we’ve been told is THE best pizza in Freeport. We’ll have to give it a try and report back!)

The Tarot Card reader is gone. I never had a chance (OK, never was brave enough!) to go in and have a reading. Oh well, I generally don’t mind being surprised by what comes along, better than worrying about it!

We hope you’ve had a chance to see Rachael Ray’s magazine, Everyday with Rachael Ray, and to see the short article on Freeport, with a picture of White Cedar Inn! Yum-o! Also, the December issue of Down East had a mention of us along with a lot of fun places in Freeport, including Jacqueline’s Tearoom. If you haven’t been there, plan it for your next trip here. It’s a perfectly lovely way to spend a couple of hours in the midst of shopping, sampling from a list of over 60 different teas. Jacqueline makes wonderful finger sandwiches, scones and delightful pastries to go along with the tea. (Reservations required.)

I mentioned the new building going on in the last newsletter. That has not started yet, waiting for January and the Christmas shopping to be done with, I suppose.

Freeport Knife is moving to a much larger location down by Gritty’s. The building they are presently in has been bought by Georgetown Pottery. No estimate just yet on when Georgetown will move into the building. Georgetown Pottery will take over the entire building including the sections formerly occupied by The Wine Cellar and Freeport Fine Art. At the new location, Freeport Knife will also reopen the kitchenwares department they had in the downstairs of the old building. We wish Doug & Rhoda good luck in their new location! Be sure to stop in and see them. Moving date is around February 1.

Wow! Go through town one day and the next day, something new! The old Falcon Restaurant, more recently home to Del Sol, is really gone now! That whole section of the building was removed to make way for an addition onto J. Crew. Brrr! It must have been the coldest day of the year and there were holes in the side of the building.

Then, on Lower Main St, we noticed that the ‘Crickets Restaurant’ sign has been covered over and there’s a new sign announcing Pedro O’Hara’s will be opening there ‘soon’. We’ve been to Pedro’s in Brunswick and it’s a fun, quirky restaurant with a fusion of Mexican and Irish cuisines. Yeah, boggles the mind, doesn’t it?

Always something new going on around here!

The Freeport Community Center opened up in the fall. They have a quirky resale shop down there and you never know what you’ll find!

What’s up with the family?

The family is all doing well. I’ll start with Bre as most of you know her! Alive and well and looking fit and trim. This is the time of year she loves. A little snow out there and she’ll be in heaven. Nothing like nosing along in the cold snow looking for the tennis ball. We’d like a little snow also so we can get out on the snowshoes. This year, we’ll be trying snowshoeing at Pinelands, about 20 minutes from here. I have to find out if dogs are allowed anywhere on the farm.

The kids are all doing well. The grandkids are fine as well. Chris (the son) packed himself up and took himself off to the Philippines a month ago. If anyone sees him there, tell him his mother says ‘hello!’ He’s had an interesting few weeks so far. Thankfully, he has not been in the path of the typhoons or the mudslides. He has been invited to meet the mayor of the town in which he is living and he’s helped build a fish pond by digging it out with his hands. (News update…he’s back home again! Waiting to see if his old job at the Wynn in Las Vegas is still there.)

Sara and Alicia are doing well. No big news there right now. (Big update here…Alicia is having a baby! This will be her first child and our third grandchild.)

Rock has healed up quite well from the motorcycle accident.

We’ll be doing our long-awaited renovation in January. New floors and wallpaper in the dining room. I’ll post pix as we go along. Hope you’ll come on up and take a look sometime in 2007.

Here’s wishing everyone peace and joy in the New Year.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And a Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish friends!

Fall ’06 Newsletter

Things are certainly hopping in Freeport this Autumn!

First up, the new LL Bean plans…

New Freeport Town Center DesignThere was a meeting at the Town Hall to show the new proposed layout of the old Factory Store off Depot St. Included in the new plans are a 550 car parking garage, all new stores in an outdoor pedestrian mall with a ‘skyway’ from Main St leading into an atrium starting near where the long steps down to the Factory Store are now located. The new shopping area will encompass 113,000 sq ft of retail shopping. Construction is slated to begin once the new Factory Store is built.

Across the street, the new Factory store will be built behind the Main Store. Discovery Park will be expanded to include more green space for events. Construction on the new Factory Store is slated to begin in January, 2007. More details as they become available!

New in town next summer will be a Ruby Tuesday restaurant to be built in the parking lot next to Freeport Cheese and Wine on the corner of Bow and Middle Sts (in the above illustration, the restaurant will be located at the end of the word ‘Project’ at the top of the drawing). Along with the new parking garage and additional shopping just across the way on Depot St, this will bring more foot traffic to a part of town that gets overlooked by most shoppers.

All this new store and restaurant construction will certainly be a boon to shoppers. The stores slated to open in the new retail space will be more strict retail and fewer outlet shops. Let’s hope we get a quilt shop!

There are also plans afoot to get bus service between Freeport and Portland. This will be great for folks who want to spend an afternoon in the Old Port but just don’t want to try to find parking. Also in the plans, but a lot further out (years and years!) are plans to continue the train line from Portland to Freeport and then on to Brunswick. The train would then connect from Brunswick to Camden. That will make a lovely day trip!

Big ‘celebrity’ news here…Freeport will part of the Holiday issue of Rachel Ray’s ‘Everyday with Rachel Ray’ magazine. We’re excited to see what Rachel thinks of Freeport in the winter season!

A new feature in Freeport is a pedi-cab. You can call for a ride around town in this great ‘alternative transportation’ vehicle. And, yes, he does do hills!

On to Inn news…

Rock and I now have a monthly column called ‘Beyond Cereal’ in the Community Leader. Rock whips up some of his best recipes and I photograph them and send them in to the paper. It’s been fun learning how to photograph food! So far we have done waffles with berries and berry cream, stuffed french toast and herbed baked eggs. The paper does not have a web link to the recipe column, drat.

The leaves are just starting to change here. We had a week or so of very chilly weather (some temps in the upper 30’s! Brrrrr!). That caused a few trees to just up and change color. We planted 2 new tree hydrangeas this week in the curve of the stone walls at the end of the driveway. When they get nicely rooted they will be a charming addition to the entry.

More gardening plans are in the works for next spring. I am laying out plans for moving several shrubs and perennials that have overgrown their space. The daylilies this year were fantastic and I’m hoping to divide them up next year and move them to new gardens.

We are continuing the ‘Lobster and Foliage Special’ from last year. It is good Sunday-Thursday in October. Pair that up with some great foliage drives and antiquing. There are plenty of pick-your-own pumpkin patches and apple orchards around as well.

In November there will be a town-wide Christmas light ‘contest’ with the initial lighting to take place the Friday after Thanksgiving. Walk or drive through town and vote on your favorite decorations. All participating homes and businesses will be listed for voting purposes. Also starting that weekend will be free horse and wagon rides through town. Boarding locations will be marked with signs. The free rides will continue on weekends until New Year’s Eve.

Sparkle is December 1-3 this year. Rock is already signing up to be the talking tree again and the corny jokes haven’t gotten any better! The Bed and Breakfast Open House will be on Wednesday December 6. Following the Open House is a concert at the Freeport Performing Arts Center given by the Royal River Chorus.

OK, my fingers are about ready to fall off from all this typing! Hope we get to see you sometime this year. The days are truly beautiful here at this season…blue skies, crisp breezes, brilliant foliage and those Maine blueberry pancakes for breakfast! Yum!

Summer ’06 Newsletter

For those who read the Spring Newsletter and saw that photo of Rock on his motorcycle…new news… he had an accident 4 weeks ago on his way to get it inspected (luckily, we saved the $10 inspection fee! chuckle, chuckle). You’ll have to ask him for the details when you’re here. The cast comes off in a few weeks but he is already back at the griddle cooking up his ‘world famous’ blueberry pancakes!

Rock’s words of wisdom for everyone? ‘Wear your helmet! This story would have had a very different outcome if I had not worn the helmet and other gear.’

As a side note on the ‘world famous’ aspect of Rock’s cooking…we have used this phrase ‘world famous’ for years for most everything he cooks. What we didn’t realize was that the grandkids were picking up on it. The oldest grandchild, Kevin, is in kindergarten. When asked to write what he was doing for Thanksgiving he wrote that he was making ‘world famous applesauce’ for his family dinner. When his mother, Sara, saw his journal, she knew exactly where the ‘world famous’ had come from!

We have upgraded the Winthrop Fogg Room with a new king bed. The Crow’s Nest has also been upgraded with a queen bed (the single bed is still there as well). Getting that king bed up the stairs was quite the adventure!

Our springtime helper, Kate, has left in order to have a few weeks ‘off’ before her new baby arrives. Emma is due to make her grand entrance sometime in early July. Good luck to the soon-to-be new parents, Kate and Andrew!

Taking Kate’s place is Kristy, a sophomore at USM. I’m sure she’s wondering what she has gotten herself into for the summer but she’s doing a wonderful job for us so far!

New in town this summer is the LL Bean Bike and Canoe shop on Main St. You do have to stop in to see the great bikes they have. On our nightly walk on Tuesday, Bre and I saw a man of about 50 leaving the store with his new purchase. He was going to ride it to his car and if he didn’t look like a kid on Christmas, well then I don’t know what does! There’s something about a shiny new bicycle isn’t there?

Speaking of LL, we are doing a half-day kayaking special this summer. The sea-kayaking with LL Bean has been a big favorite with quite a number of our guests who have just gone out for the first time ever in a kayak and have come back raving about how well they were treated and how exciting it was to be out on the bay seeing nature up close. With our package you can kayak one day and shop the next so you won’t miss any of your favorite shops! A dinner gift card is included.

Don’t forget the wine tastings that happen each month at our two wine shops. The third Friday of every month you’ll find us at Freeport Cheese and Wine for great wine, good friends and yummy food samples. Wine tastings are also held once every month at the Wine Cellar on Main Street. Give them a call for dates and times. 207-865-9766

We had another wet spring here but today, the first day of summer, it is beeyootiful! Clear blue skies, you know the kind I mean, cool breezes and the perfect temperature make for a wonderful start to summer. We hope you can join us for at least a couple of days this summer. It’s not that far from where you are!

Check out the August, 2006 issue of Country Home for a great (cover) story on antiquing in Maine. Freeport plays a big part as home base for the writers.

This July 4th Freeport is hosting a 4 day festival of events. A 10k race, fireworks, the big parade, sales galore and lots of fun events. We have ‘front porch’ seating for the parade! It’s the perfect time to follow the antiquing trail or just relax at the shore eating lobster! Check here for availability.

As for family news, our oldest daughter and her husband, Alicia & Chris, bought her first home in VA. It’s a big step for them and we can’t wait to get down there to see the place! The youngest daughter’s husband, also a Chris, graduated from BC with his MBA. They then spent 8 days in Japan at the wedding of one of Chris’ classmates. The wedding included a week of sightseeing with the newlyweds on their honeymoon. What a great adventure! And our Chris (yes, there ARE a lot of them!) is still in Vegas at the Wynn. One of Rock’s brothers is in China with his wife, as I write this, adopting their second child. It will be exciting to meet her!

Keep up with the happenings at White Cedar Inn and Freeport with our blog.

I guess that’s all for now…hope we get to see you this summer. Wherever you go for your vacation, relax and enjoy yourself!

Spring ’06 Newsletter

Happy Spring! Last year when I wrote the Spring Newsletter we had snow banks over the tops of the cars. What a difference a year makes! Rock is on his way out the door to take the motorcycle out for a ride. And this is not the first time, either. It is shaping up to be a wonderful Spring.

I noticed some white snowdrop flowers had come up along the side walkway last week. Maybe a tad on the early side, but still a nice harbinger of Spring. The tulips are up about 2-3 inches and they are just waiting for an extended warm spell to push up the rest of the way. (The section of garden you see behind Rock in this photo is already greening up quite nicely!) The robins were everywhere just a couple of weeks ago. The Canada geese are headed north and we’re coming back to life here in the North!

Construction has begun on the new storefront LL Bean bought over the winter. Still don’t know what they are going to put in there but we’ll keep our ears open and let you know. UPDATE: the new store will be the home of the Bike and Kayak section. Work is proceeding apace!

Thanks to all who inquired about Bre, she is doing just fine. She had a check-up last week and all is well.

I just came back from a short trip back to Vermont. Got to catch up with friends I haven’t seen since we moved here, had a couple of dinners out and a lunch as well. Always good to go ‘home’ every once in awhile! Forgot how close the mountains are to where we used to live. I’ve gotten used to the ocean being nearby.

Rock spent a few days in New Brunswick attending a funeral and he left me here to hold down the fort. Some of you know I don’t cook, but Rock left me directions and I seem to have pulled it off, the guests we had in house while he was gone said I did just fine. Whew! We make a good team, Rock & I, and it’s much better when we’re both here helping each other with what we each do best. Wouldn’t want to do this without him, that’s for sure!

We’ve got some new photos of the rooms. Take a look and let us know what you think.

Rock did a wonderful job repainting the Front Room bathroom. It’s a lovely shade of cantaloupe now. He also installed a new showerhead and there is a heater behind the shower now to take the chill off when it is cold and windy outside.

Right now he is working on our own bathroom. Yippee! We’re going to paint it a soft blue or green (we have the paint chip cards stuck in the door frame and we’re trying to decide which one we like best). New vinyl tile for the floor, new countertop and faucet and we’ll be set. Still trying to decide if we should paint the oak vanity. I see it done on HGTV all the time but it’s tough to take a paintbrush to oak!

After that, he’s on to the Parlor Room bathroom. I think a nice pale green would look good in there.

Well, while we have wonderful sunshine and blue skies outside I’m going to head out and start the spring cleanup of the gardens and lawns.

New pizza place on Depot St…Petrillos. Great panini sandwiches, salads and cook-to-order pizzas with fresh toppings. Excellent prices! Across the parking lot from the LL Bean outlet in the red building with the picnic tables.

We’ve hired a new housekeeper who will be with us until mid-June. Her name is Kate and she is spending her first few days with us doing the DEEP Spring cleaning!

Take care of yourself, and we hope to see you again this year!

Mid-Winter ’06 Newsletter

We’re back from vacation and I just wanted to let you all know we had a wonderful time! Savannah was beautiful, the weather was perfect, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s the whole time. Of course, we went to the beach! Went on a trolley ride around the city to get oriented and then we walked and walked and walked. I guess we put about 30 miles on our shoes!

You know Rock has a big Civil War bug so Savannah was perfect! This photo of him is taken at Fort Pulaski. He just can’t stay out of trouble!

This is the actual set of cells where the Confederate POW’s were held. Surrounding the Fort itself is a moat with signs to beware of the alligators. The soldiers here complained quite a bit about the ‘musquitos’ and I don’t doubt it!

Of course, after treating him so poorly as to take that picture of him behind bars, we had to find a great place to eat dinner. Not sure how many of you watch the Food Network but I occasionally find myself wondering what Alton Brown will do next! He doesn’t have a restaurant in Savannah but, Paula Deen does so that’s where we went. You have to stand in line to make a reservation and that line went around the block! I’ll skip us waiting in line (because we didn’t, we had an insider on our side) and get right to us having dinner…Rock had shrimp and grits and I had she crab soup and crab-stuffed portobello. ‘Yum-o’ as Rachel Ray says!

And we certainly can’t go south without going to Charleston! We spent Sunday in Rock’s favorite city viewing the ‘Hunley’, the Civil War submarine that was found in Charleston Harbor and raised a few years back. It is quite an amazing story. If you ever get a chance to go, it is definitely worth it. When the recovery and cataloguing is done, the ‘Hunley’ will be moved to its own museum where the story can better be told. The actual sub is not round but more of an ovoid shape. The dimensions are 42″ wide by 46″ high. The tallest man aboard was 6’2″!

After seeing the sub we moved on to walk around town and find the house Rock wants to have when we retire. This is a good example of what we aspire to…I think something like this, in this location, goes for about 3 million…I’ll go buy another Megabucks ticket tonight…

Once we got to Tybee Island, we had to climb the lighthouse! Only 178 steps to the top! Oh yes, and another 178 steps back to the bottom. The museum there is very interesting as well. You can see details of Fort Screven which was built as a defense during the Spanish-American War. A walk through the lighthouse keeper’s cottage is very interesting. The layout of it was very similar to our old house in Vermont. Later that day, we spent a few hours walking on the beach, swinging on the swings that are along the beach and wandering out to the end of the pier to watch the locals fish for dinner. (Yes, we spent the whole time eating or talking about what to eat next!) A bit of trivia…each lighthouse is painted a different color combination, known as a ‘day-mark’, which allows sailors to pinpoint where they are when they pass a lighthouse. The particular light signal a lighthouse puts out is known as a ‘light signature’, allowing identification at night. (Pop quiz next time we see you!)

Rock liked the grits so much in Savannah that he brought home a bag of quick-cook grits and last week he practiced on 4 ladies from, collectively, GA, SC and VA. Here is the grade he got…’Pretty good, but…’ After the ‘but’ came a lot of suggestions on how to make the grits better. So, don’t be surprised if you get ‘Grits au Gratin…that’s Cheesy Grits Y’all’ when you stay with us. (Have no fear, it is not required that you eat them if they are not to your taste!) If you have a recipe you’d like us to give a try, please let us know!

Bre had a great time at ‘camp’ while we were gone. No bad habits picked up and she seemed pretty happy when she got home. No sulking or moping, which usually means she’s very unhappy!

Don’t forget there is still time to book your room for the Hospitality for Habitat Event in May. Please click here for details.

No more news right now on the LL Bean expansion but we’ll keep an ear out for more information. Hope all is well with everyone. Take care until we see you again!

Update on the LL Bean expansion…The new storefront has been formally purchased and the Spring Fishing Expo will be held in the new space. No info yet on what will eventually end up in the space on Main St. The parking garage will go forward once LL Bean has other merchants lined up to share the space (and the expense)!

We also now have Casco Bay Wool Works in town. They are located just behind the UPS Store on Main St, same parking lot as Harry & David and Coach.

Winter ’05 Newsletter

The first day of winter! The way I usually celebrate is to look forward to the days getting imperceptibly longer, week by week. Hooray, summer is coming! But, as summer will not be here for another while, we need to enjoy winter for what it is, a time of rest from our labors and a storing up of energy for the seasons ahead. (This doesn’t mean we’re closed, just that the pace is a little slower at this time of year. In case you’re thinking of coming up, the prices are also lower at this time of year! Just a thought…)

To that end, we have been taking some time each week to acquaint ourselves with all the great outdoor spaces Freeport and Maine have to offer. We had a wonderful snowfall 2 weeks ago and we have been out showshoeing with Bre in Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park, which is a short drive from the Inn. Bre loves the snow and being outside with ‘her people’ is one of her favorite things.

The paths at Wolfe’s Neck meander through white pines woods (White Pines being one of the trails). Suddenly, though, you find yourself coming out of the pine-scented woods and facing Casco Bay. It’s quite pretty at this time of year. The woods are still, the bugs are gone and there are random wedges of Canada geese still honking overhead.

Even though we were on snowshoes, this is a wonderful walk with just boots. Especially after all the snowshoers have gone through and packed down the trails.

Next on the agenda is Pineland Farms in New Gloucester. That is more of a wide-open experience. We need more snow and we’ll take the cross-country skis out for that trip.

Rock is busy doing little repair jobs on the house. He’s freshening up all the bathrooms, replacing worn caulking and wallpaper. His goal is to have them all done before the end of the year.

We want to take this time to thank everyone for this wonderful year we had. This was the best October on record as far as the number of guests who came to stay with us. We do truly appreciate the business! Even though the fall colors were not what they were in past years due to the relentless rainfall, many guests traveled here from Europe and were quite thrilled with our New England. We’re hoping to get our maps put up in the living room so everyone can see where all the guests hail from.

We hired a designer to redo the kitchen area. She should have a proposal for us in the next week or two. We hope to start work in the near future, if the plan is to our liking.

Around town the word is that LL Bean is expanding. The word is they will be taking over the old Levis building to have a ‘storefront’ on Main Street. The Information Booth will then be able to stay in the niche between the two storefronts. Also on the table is a plan to expand the outlet store and put in a parking garage where the outlet store is now, locating the store itself so that the parking garage is hidden. Nice idea!

A new upscale pizza shop is due to open in early January down on Depot Street, across from the Hose Tower. Yum! We can’t wait. We’ve heard there will be panini sandwiches as well. Double yum!

The town development board has been working on getting more shops to open in town. (We heard a quilt shop may be coming! There’s something I’ve been waiting for!) A movie theater has been mentioned as well as another restaurant. More details here as we hear about them.

Hopefully, you will plan on coming up in January for WinterFest. We have a package special that includes lodging, dinner, breakfast and 2 tickets to the ice park. Check the details here.

The B&B Open House during Sparkle Week was a great success! We had about 6-7 tour groups come through the Inn, share cookies and mulled cider and take a look around. Several women who came through relayed to us more information about ‘Capt Dan’ and the talks he used to give in his sister’s parlor. One woman revealed that the entire wall in the living room, where we now have the fireplace, was once covered with memorabilia from Capt Dan’s trips to Labrador. She said as a child she was fascinated by ‘Eskimo’ clothes and toys she got to see here. We were so pleased with the response we got to the tour that we are planning to have it yearly. Next Sparkle Week we’ll have it advertised in travel columns so more people will be intrigued by getting a peek at the ‘old houses’.

Speaking of Sparkle…many of you have been through town during Sparkle and have noticed (or been noticed by) the ‘Talking Tree’ outside Bath and Body Works. Well, not to give away any Sparkle secrets but Rock did a stint as the Talking Tree this year…he really branched out, you might even say he went out on a limb to show how deep his roots go in Maine. (Now I wouldn’t say that, that’s the way he told it to unsuspecting holiday shoppers!) Rock had so much fun, he’s made a note to store away more awful puns for next year. (This year he got all spruced up for the job, if they don’t ask next year, he’ll pine away!)

The new website will be launched in early January. I would appreciate your comments. Things don’t always show up on other computers the way they look on mine so let me know if something looks odd to you. The more I learn the better the site will be. I should take a class!

In other news at the Inn, we were closed the Saturday after Thanksgiving so our families could stay with us and celebrate my birthday. It was one of those milestone birthdays so it was good to have the kids and grandkids (and I’m especially lucky to have had my parents here, too!) gathered round. Besides which, this old grammie needed help with all those candles!

Please take note that we now have online booking. If you’re up at 2 AM and just need to make your reservation, you can do so without waiting for us to wake up! It’s very easy, just click the availability link on any page and select the date you would like to stay with us. Then pick the room and fill in the reservation form. We’ll get back to you as soon as we get the reservation. If you would like to stay on a day that is already full or your favorite room is taken, please call or email in case we have gotten a late cancellation or someone doesn’t mind switching rooms with you. However, if you’re not a big fan of online purchasing, please give us a call, we’d love to talk to you! (As anyone who has ever gotten Rock started on the Navy knows!)

OK, gotta go…Bre has a vet appointment today. As some of you know, she has had some epileptic seizures and she’s taking medication. We have to make sure all is well so she needs some tests. Not to worry, though, she’s still her same old happy self, plenty of tail-wagging left in this old dog! (Update: Bre’s tests came back A-OK! She needs to take the medication for the rest of her life but it should be a good, long one.)

Take care until we see you again!

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And a Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish friends!

Fall ’05 Newsletter

Glorious Fall! My favorite time of year. The leaves are just starting to change here in Freeport. A few precocious trees are already at peak and shedding their leaves quickly in the autumnal breezes. It’s looking like it will be a show-stopping season of color!

Speaking of colors, the Portland Museum of Art is sponsoring an evening with Christo and Jeanne-Claude. If you have ever seen one of their fabric installations, you know what I mean about color! They will be speaking about their 44-year collaboration, including their newest project, ‘Over the River’. The date for the lecture is November 9, 2005. It’s a 20 minute drive to the Museum from the Inn. Come for the lecture and stay the night with us.

We have had a wonderful summer season that is continuing on into fall. We had some ‘famous’ guests here including the creator of the hit series ‘Lost’ and ‘Alias’. (No, we won’t be making a guest appearance on either show!)

What do these words all have in common…Hummer, Aragosta, Langosta…if you guessed this is how people from ‘away’ say, “Lobstah,” you are absolutely right! Our question this summer has been, “How do you say ‘lobster’ in your native tongue?” The examples here are from German, Italian and Spanish and, of course, Maine.

It’s never too early to start thinking about Sparkle weekend so the area inns are planning a B&B Open House for Sparkle week. Local B&Bs in Freeport, us included, will be participating in an open house. There will be cookies and lights and all things Christmas all up and down the streets of Freeport. It’s the perfect time to check out all those places you’ve wanted to take a peek at! Participating inns will be denoted in the Sparkle fliers.

Bre has been keeping the squirrels on their toes these past few weeks. She watches patiently from the living room window until it is time to go out. Then, she bounds down the stairs and out the door and straight across the yard. I doubt she would know what to with a squirrel if she ever caught one, but it’s not something we really want to find out. We have acorns aplenty and those squirrels and chipmunks are working hard for each and every one of them. Yesterday, there was a chipmunk with both cheeks full, rolling an acorn with his nose across the patio.

In the kitchen…Rock has a great new recipe…Blackberry-stuffed French Toast. If you like his Strawberry-stuffed French Toast, this one is sure to please. Already it has been causing gasps of delight in the dining room.

Well, until we see you again…here’s hoping you are having the best Fall yet!