Sunday, June 24, 2012

Ground Water

There are many things I like aboout Maine, but one of them is the temperature of the tap water. Back in Virginia there's no such thing as cool drink of water much after Memorial Day. Not so here-- it is icy cold from the faucet all year long.

I have been drawn to this state since the first time I visited here seventeen years ago. To be honest, it was only courtesy that led me to accept a new friend's invitation to visit her family's summer home on Mt. Dessert Island. When I arrived, the brilliant 80 degree days in mid-August certainly turned my head, but it was the combination of ocean, mountain, and forest that won my heart.

We were driving down yet another road lousy with views of lobster boats, light houses, forests, and granite ledges, our windows open to the balsam and salt air, when it all became clear to me. "I hate it here," I said. "There will never be any place better. The coast of Maine has ruined the world for me."

My perspective has been tempered over the years since then, mostly by mosquitoes and long drives, but this evening after the rain clouds cleared to a painfully blue sky, Treat and Josh and Kyle and Isabel and I did a most remarkable 1.5 mile hike through field and forest and leading to a lovely cobble stone and sand beach, and as if that was not enough, there was lobster for dinner and some ice cold water from the tap.

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