Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and Used Book Stores

We've just had our first two-week vacation since 1988 and we loved it.  But being in the same cottage we rented in Cape Elizabeth last year, feeling that we were coming back to a place we love, made it harder to leave.  The cottage is on a point jutting into the ocean, on a dead end road with only dead end roads around it.  We never heard a car horn, a motorcycle, shouting, beer bottles breaking, car alarms, or anything to disrupt the sound of waves on the rocky shore.  Perfect.

A view of the cove and open ocean from the bedroom.

A view from the living room.  The ocean is visible at the end of the lane as that bright patch of blue.

A view of Two Lights lighthouse from the lane in front of the cottage.

The cove and a house I'd love to have (except that it's too big).

We saw a lot of wildlife on this visit.  One evening a doe and two fawns ran past the window and settled in to eat in the back yard.  Jack took this photo through the window (through the screen, unfortunately).  Another evening, two grey foxes chased each other through the yard and made their weird cries.  You can hear them here.  Creepy!

The following two photos are of Portland Head Light, a lighthouse painted by Edward Hopper and other artists. 

Prout's Neck is only a few minutes drive from the cottage.  We drove out there, but most of the roads are dead ends and private ways.  One of my favorite artists, Winslow Homer, had a house out there.  You can tour it, but you have to go in to Portland, get tickets at the art museum, and have them shuttle you back and forth for a tour of the house.  It's also not inexpensive.  We passed on it this year, maybe next year.

We spent most of our time reading (surprise, surprise, and even Jack read a book), walking, and sitting on a log at the cove.  We met a resident who introduced us to another resident, both very nice.  I'd love to buy a house there, but, apparently, once you're there, you don't leave.  There's nothing for sale along any of the roads on the point.  I'll be happy, I guess, as long as Holly keeps renting us her cottage.

I got a 'Maine Guide to Finding Old Books' pamphlet and visited five or six used bookstores.  Several were too stuffy but I loved three of them.  I'm not collecting books any more, so I prefer less expensive books I can read and pass on.  Two Brothers Books in Freeport was great, as was the proprietor and his two very fat cats.  Equally wonderful was Mainely Murder Bookstore in Kennebunk.  The two retired ladies who own the store were helpful and a hoot.  They're happy to run next door or into their house to look for books for you.  There was also a library bookstore that had two Elizabeth Daly mysteries.  I think it was in Brunswick.  It's not in the pamphlet;  I think I found it on-line.

It was a great trip, if a long drive (7 hours from Philadelphia if there's no traffic or accidents, which is impossible these days).  We thought that by staying two weeks, we'd get our fill of Cape Elizabeth, but it only made us want it more.  Cape Elizabeth vs. Philadelphia:  heaven and hell.

The moon was full while we were there.  Jack took these two final photos of the moon over the cove.