Sunday, September 22, 2013

Ending Summah In Down East Maine

As August faded into September, our time in Ellsworth drew to an end.  A few parting shots of some food, friends, places and things we enjoyed.
Wayne had more than his fair share of Alaskan smoked salmon.  Thanks Donnie.

Huge pans of bacon wrapped scallops added to our cholesterol count.  Thanks Lori.

Salmon in buttah, garlic and dill weed.

Baked haddock with onions and the ever present buttah.

Stonington, Maine smoked mussels in garlic and olive oil. Thanks Donnie

Shrimp sauteed in onions and garlic ... with buttah.
We took a day to visit Shady Oaks Campground at Orland, just up the road from Ellsworth. These are the people, and the place, where we were first introduced to this great group. In the picture below, Wayne visits with friends on the popular Shady Oaks Campground front porch. 

Wayne and Shady Oaks owner, Don Nelson. 
Shrek and an unidentified camper look on.... suspect of Wayne's hand on Don's knee, I expect.

Richard and Jean Merrithew are summer residents at Shady Oaks. 
They invited us to join them for the campground brunch..

Joyce and Don Nelson run a great family campground. Don has just given us a golf cart tour.
Unfortunately, they established a "no dog" policy long ago and we can't stay there now that we have Lexie and Ozzie.
Another day, we got to rendezvous with friends from Fort Myers. Mary and Fran (and their dog Zoey) live in New Hampshire. They spent a week at nearby Acadia National Park and later came through Ellsworth where we joined them for breakfast at Denny's.

Zoey, Mary and Fran
Wayne spent time getting the coach cleaned and waxed for fall.  This day he conditioned the roof. 


One of the last Sunday mornings at Ellsworth, Wayne cooked breakfast for the gang. Bacon, sausage, eggs, croissants, biscuits, molasses and fruit filled us up.  Funny how we always look forward to eating events.

Chef Wayne in formal attire takes a break from cooking breakfast.
Errol (sitting) and Gleason (standing) wait in hungry anticipation.
I learned also that Stephen King is from nearby Bangor. We looked up the address and drove by. This is the home where he and his family still reside.
The Stephen King home. Notice the spider web and bat wrought iron ornaments.
Another last minute activity for me would be candy making. This was arranged especially for me as I have so few cooking skills. Because I had said that I like those little chocolate covered cherries, Barbara made a batch and later showed me how it's done.  Surprisingly easy!
Making chocolate covered cherries with Barbara and Gina. Yes, they were good.

Barbara taught the chocolate covered cherry making class.
A superb cook, Barbara ran her own candy making business while her boys were young.
Last but not least was my first taste of mince meat pie.  Not just any ole mince meat pie, mind you... This is the Down East mince meat.... made with venison!  Errol introduced me to it when he saved a piece from a pie his sister, Julie, made for him.  It was delicious!  In the end I would order two of these delicious pies from from Julie. We went to her home to get them on our last day at Ellsworth.

Mince meat pies
The mince meat pies were still hot from the oven when we arrived at Julie's.  We visited for a few minutes before taking the pies to the car.  To our surprise and horror, Julie's Jack Russel terrier managed to jump right past me and into the back of our car just as we got the pies placed.  The dog's front paw pushed down onto the aluminum foil and into one of the pies.  I'd cut the "pawed" piece of pie away and freeze them both for our upcoming rendezvous with friends at Cape Cod. 

Ellsworth and all of Down East Maine continues to be a favorite place for us. Not so much for the location, though there is so much to see and do here.  But our love is of the warmth of the friendships we have here.  Can't wait to come again.