Fireworks, Puffins, and Back Road Antiquing | A July Week in Maine

A holiday week filled with village fireworks, an unexpected antiquing adventure, a wildlife cruise, and simple summer meals with friends.

Hello friends! I hope you had a great July 4th weekend.

Summer doesn’t truly start here until July, and I am happily settling into it.

As I type this missive from the porch, I look out at a colorfully layered landscape: Closest to me, bright green limelight leaves, suddenly reaching over a foot above the decking. Next, shimmering gold marsh grass, heads swaying gently in the breeze. Then the blue of the harbor — lighter today, but deepening as it opens into the ocean. And on the other side, a stripe of dark green shoreline meeting pale cloud-streaked sky.

Summer also means visitors, and for the holiday, I had friends (we met at work years ago) who come every year at this time. They left on Wednesday. Thursday was spent doing the usual post-guest chores — stripping beds, laundry, cleaning out the refrigerator, and, of course, a visit to the transfer station.

So time is short for me to get this dispatch out to you by Saturday. We had some wonderful adventures, though, that I want to share with you — fireworks in the village on the 4th, a day of back road antiquing, and a boat cruise where we spied all kinds of wildlife (puffins, and porpoises, and eagles, oh my!) . Plus links for all the summer salads I made to feed my friends.

Let’s get right to it!

Fireworks

I love fireworks — the anticipation, loud bangs (which always startle), and feeling of surprise with each explosion, It all makes me feel like a kid again.

Our town does not do fireworks for the 4th. Instead, there will be a large display in two weeks when we have our town celebration (a thing here in Maine).

But often the fishermen in our little village take up the July 4th slack. This year, there were fireworks being shot off simultaneously from three spots — the fishing co-op, a private dock, and a boat in the harbor. All could be seen from “downtown,” and they drew quite a crowd.

I have enjoyed a lot of fireworks in my life. The display my dad was in charge of at our summer swimming and tennis club when I was growing up, the show on the National Mall, and the Boston Pops on Nantucket fireworks and concert spectacular are all particularly memorable.

But here, at the end of a peninsula in Maine — moon shining on the water, boats lulled by the current, spruce trees silhouetted against explosions of color — these are probably my all-time favorites.

Verging on the wild (and perhaps slightly dangerous) and most definitely magical.

Just like Maine.

Backroad Antiquing

On Sunday my friends and I enjoyed a delicious brunch at The Alna Store. The plan afterward was to head to Elmer’s Barn, a great place to while away the afternoon digging around for that antique or vintage item you never knew you wanted.

Read more about Elmer’s Barn and my other favorite Midcoast antiques stores here.

As we were walking to the car, though, I spied a hand-lettered sign for vintage and antiques. The arrow pointed in the opposite direction from the way we were headed, but we decided to go check it out anyway.

I am so glad we did — it took us on a little antiquing adventure I hadn’t planned.

The best kind!

Annie Nutbrown, Alna

A series of signs led us down a dirt road through the woods to a charming property with a log home, patios, and beautiful gardens. The shop, located in a shingled outbuilding, is a mix of vintage clothing, fabrics, sewing notions, and 1950s and 60s home goods, plus beautiful antique furniture, quilts, and fun decorative pieces.

I eyed a chest of drawers with fabulous chippy blue paint and a hand-pieced quilt embroidered with birds. Ultimately, though, I settled on an antique cast iron sailor doorstop — priced very reasonably because it is missing its base. It works perfectly fine as is, but I might eventually fashion some kind of base to give it more stability.

He has moved into the Captain’s Room, where he immediately became best friends with the headless sailor lamp.

Annie Nutbrown is located at 71 Nelson Road, Alna. Open weekends, 9-4.

Little Village, alna

Before leaving Annie Nutbrown, the proprietor, Marilyn, directed us to Elmer’s Barn via another antiques store, Little Village, also in Alna. (Who knew all this existed in a town with a population of just over 700?!)

Little Village opened just this year in the historic Head Tide General Store building. It has a varied collection of mix-and-match china, art work, furniture, stoneware, and some new handmade goods. As a nod to its past, there are jars of candy for sale and a small exhibit that tells the story of the post office that was located there. An adjacent barn contains large furniture pieces.

I fell head over heels in love with a small tin chocolate mould shaped like a fish with a sailor on top. Alas, it was not for sale. My friend, looking on the bright side, pointed out that at least now I know that something like that exists. So if any of you ever see a similar piece, let me know!

I settled for a collection of vintage clip-on bowties in shades of blue. I have no idea what I will do with them, but they made me think of the framed bowties I have in the Captain’s Room. They were just $3 apiece.

Little Village is located at 45 Head Tide Rd, Alna. Open Wednesday to Saturday 11-6, Sunday 10-5pm.

Elmer’s Barn

From Alna we headed via back roads through Amish country to our original destination, Elmer’s Barn.

I hadn’t been to this favorite spot for quite a while, and I had a single mission — more fish moulds for my recently redesigned display in the kitchen. (Read all about that here.) I thought for sure I would find several in the jumble of items that fills Elmer’s Barn, but I came up empty-handed. My single purchase was a vintage book with a sailor graphic on the cover that cost just one dollar.

That’s how antiquing goes sometimes.

It was still such a fun day spent with good friends.

Elmer’s Barn is located at 107 Rockland Road, Coopers Mill. Open daily, 9-4:30.

A Nature Boat Cruise

My friends have visited many times, but we have never been out on the water. So on their last full day here, we went on the Monhegan Boat Line Puffin and Nature Cruise out of Port Clyde. I have done this cruise several times, and it never disappoints.

The day began with fog, but by the time we boarded the boat, there was a bit of blue sky. We did run into some residual fog out on the water, but it just made it feel very Maine.

The cruise starts with a few stops in the harbor to haul lobster traps and discuss sustainability efforts in Maine that protect the lobster resource and coastal environments. There were lobsters in two traps, but they were tossed back because they didn’t meet size requirements.

We then passed by Marshall Point Lighthouse — a different vantage point from the water — and on to Allen and Benner islands. Now property of Colby College, they once belonged to Andrew and Betsy Wyeth. The islands are home to several buildings that Betsy either designed or brought there and restored, which made for a nice tie-in to the Betsy Wyeth exhibition I visited recently and shared in my previous post.

From there we made our way to Eastern Egg Rock, an Atlantic puffin nesting site. This tiny island is home to many different birds, but the puffins, with their dramatic black markings and orange beaks, are the main draw.

After circling the rock a few times, we cruised leisurely back to port.

In addition to puffins, we saw seals, porpoises, and a variety of sea birds, including two bald eagles.

Our guide was a young man who grew up visiting his grandmother here every summer. He teaches high school art in Maryland now, but still comes back in the summer to stay with his grandmother and paint. He is also a very talented artist. It is my dream that my grandchildren will come stay with me when they are grown.

Puffin cruises run Tuesday-Saturday at 11:30 in July and August.

Visit the Monhegan Boat Line website for more information and tickets.

Summer Salads

I love to cook for my guests. This time I kept things simple with a variety of salads. These salads would be a nice side to anything grilled — we did veggie dogs on the 4th. The more substantial ones with beans can even serve as a vegetarian entree, with the others as sides.

Asian Slaw with Peanut Dressing: Already a substantial salad with edamame and nuts (I used cashews instead of peanuts), you could make it a full-on entree by adding tofu.

Picnic Potato Salad with Pickled Onions: This is an old Deborah Madison recipe. It is a lighter alternative to potato salads with mayo dressing. The capers and pickled onions add some nice zing. I made it with fresh oregano instead of marjoram.

Cucumber and Onion Salad: A NYT Cooking recipe. If you can’t access it, you can probably find something very similar. Super fresh, with just cucumbers and onion in a dressing of white vinegar, sugar, and ground pepper. Be sure to let the cucumbers “sweat” for a while, though the salad still releases a lot of liquid when it sits.

Classic Bean Salad: Another NYT Cooking recipe. It uses three types of canned beans, so it comes together quickly with a cider vinegar, olive oil, and mustard vinaigrette. It makes a full meal when paired with some of the other salads.

Broccoli and White Bean Caesar: This one, also from NYT Cooking, was my favorite. A cross between a panzanella and a Caesar, it has roasted broccoli, torn garlic “croutons” (which cook with the broccoli), and my favorite white beans. I substituted capers for anchovies in the dressing to make it vegetarian.

This Week Into Next

July is shaping up to be a busy month, with a couple shifts at the lighthouse, a fundraising dinner, a local brand event (can’t wait to share that with you!), and a house tour. Plus I have Maine friends coming for two separate overnight visits.

There is also a house project I have had on my list for a while. It requires moving quite a bit of furniture, though, so that might get put off until September.

And of course, I need to make sure to take the time to relax and enjoy all that is summer in Maine.

Speaking of that, I am going to sign off for the week and sneak in a bit of porch time with my book. I’m reading Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune and loving it.

I hope you are making the most of your summer!