“Why, dearie, I never worried.  I just did first one thing and then the next.” The Mother in the Home

I’ve thought about this quote lately. After two wonderful weeks in Blue Hill, I drove to the Adirondacks and cleaned gravestones in an old family cemetery, then drove two more days to return to our Wisconsin lake house.

One day after my return, I had my first-ever, positive Covid test. Rats.

Between the first bout and then a rebound, it took eighteen days before I tested negative. That was a challenge, because I had returned to full-time care of my mom, and I needed her to stay healthy. Open windows, an air purifier, disciplined masking, and lots of time outdoors accomplished the goal–hallelujah!

As soon as I was well, I closed up the lake house, packed the car, and brought Mom back down to Kansas for the winter. You know how that is–it takes a day to pack and all week to unpack and get things back in order. Four generations live in my house at present, from age one to ninety-seven. It’s heartwarming and wonderful… and it’s a lot.

Something had to give, and that was writing. I have a lot to share in my next few posts, so let’s get to it!

Emilie Loring’s New England Travel Guide

This year’s travel goal was to flesh out the details of the travel guide, figure out how best to share the places and experiences that we know from Emilie Loring’s books and her biography. The list of places came together quickly, and I am gradually developing good maps, clear directions, and both background information and quotes.

Perspective

Each of my visitors to the cottage this summer added insight to the “Blue Hill Tour.”

Grade school friend Donna hasn’t read Emilie Loring or Happy Landings (yet!), so she enjoyed Blue Hill as any visitor would–a beautiful, vacation spot with unique features and great food. This must have been how Emilie first experienced it, absorbing the atmosphere that she would later create in her books. It’s the quintessential, Maine experience, Emilie’s but also everyone’s–and the selling points for friends and family who may come along.

Lobster, Lobstah

Emilie made five pounds of lobster, a pint of cream, butter, mustard, bread crumbs, and dashes of cayenne, pepper, and salt into Deviled Lobster, prepared early and reheated later for supper. She served it with sliced cucumbers in French dressing and fresh-baked cinnamon rolls. Great job, Emilie! I take the easy way out with a fresh lobster roll, but you can choose when you’re there.

Time and Tide

In both Where Beauty Dwells and Give Me One Summer, there are small islands that are accessible by land when the tide is out and accessible by boat when the tide is in. It’s easy to see these from several vantage points around Blue Hill Bay.

Looking at you, Mountain

Prudence Schuyler looks across to the hills of Mount Desert Island in Hilltops Clear. Donna and I did the same from the shore of my cottage. If you go across to Mount Desert, you can look back and see Blue Hill Mountain.

The “Sleeping Giant” to the east is Mount Desert’s Western Mountain.

Checked Out

Of course you’ll want to go to the Blue Hill Public Library.

One of our readers perused the library’s copy of Happy Landings: Emilie Loring’s Life, Writing, and Wisdom. When I came in a few weeks later, it was checked out. “Yay!” that it was checked out, and “oh gosh, that’s too bad,” if you happen to be the one who stops in on vacation and finds it unavailable. [It’s not too late to get your own copy. 🙂 ]

I showed Donna the Emilie Loring collection, which includes books autographed and donated by Emilie herself. They are under lock and key, and there’s no sign to help you find it, so I’ll include this photo in the guide and ask the library to consider some sort of label to let people know the collection is there.

Beach bound

Emilie and her summer friends all had waterfront properties and her grandchildren grew up swimming, climbing on rocks, and picnicking on the shore. The water’s edge is still what we seek when granddaughter Eve and her husband, Bill, come to town, but it’s not the same when you don’t have shorefront property.

I wish I could get you right down to the water’s edge, but the roads that wrap around Blue Hill Bay only touch the shore at a few, precious points. The rest is private property, and that’s one of the snags I need to figure out for the guide. We need a boat tour!

Go Inside

For years, I was satisfied to view the Congregational Church from the road, but the view from the inside is not only prettier but also the view that Emilie would have seen when she attended services there. Sometimes, you have to get out of the car.

Congregational Church

Barncastle Hotel

The same is true of the Barncastle Hotel, Emilie’s model for Here Comes the Sun’s “Shorehaven.” You don’t want to miss the oriel window and grand staircase.

Loring Legacy

This year, I had the pleasure of introducing Emilie Loring’s great-granddaughter Kate to Blue Hill. The centerpiece of the visit was, of course, Stone House, where Emilie summered for forty years. In imagination, I see Emilie at the front door, beaming with delight that the next generation of Lorings has come to this special place.

The general populace of Blue Hill may not be aware of it, but there are traces of Emilie Loring and her books in the village all around the bay. Sharing them with Kate, I thought also about sharing them with you. The Blue Hill Inn, a ring of iron attached to a broad expanse of granite, and a very fancy, apricot flapper dress–each has a history, a story that connects it to Emilie Loring and to her books that we know and love.

Think about what you’d like to see in the travel guide and please share in the comments. I’ll share more in my next post.

For now, the furnace has stopped working, and the whole family will be home soon for dinner. It’s another one of those days–no worry, just do one thing and then the next.

Happy Landings, everyone!