Sunday Jazz
The Portland Museum of Art serves up a musical brunch sure to lift your spirits.
The days are dark, the nights are darker, and the wind is blustery off the water. Winter's almost here, and your spirits are sagging. Sundays seem particularly gloomy. Where can you find some uplift? Get a wiggle on over to the Portland Museum of Art (PMA), cat, for its Sunday jazz breakfasts. These swinging events have become a tradition at the PMA, and they're a great pick-me-up. Grab some eats in the Museum Café and be ready for a darb day, Daddy-O. Upcoming performers include !zing, an eighteen-voice chorus; pianist Tom Snow; the Chameleons quartet; and the ever-popular Port City Jazz. It's tasty, it's tuneful, everything's jake. Afterward, you can tour the museum and get further acculturated. Call 207-775-6148 for the straight skinny. Now you're on the trolley!
Off the Map
You don't have to be a cartographer to appreciate The Map Store of Old Town. Anyone with a passing appreciation of maps and Maine places could be entertained by perusing the collection of charts, atlases, and maps housed in this clapboard-sided building across the street from Old Town Canoe on Main Street. The store is the only place in the state to stock the entire collection of U.S.G.S. topographical maps of Maine. It has Tyvek wall maps and Hubbard Scientific contoured plastic topo maps, too. You'll also find maritime charts for the state, as well as a full line of software and accessories for the most popular GPS units, along with compasses and globes. This is all expected in a place that calls itself The Map Store. What might surprise are the shelves of Maine field guides. From Peterson to Audubon, Appalachian Mountain Club to DeLorme to sport-specific titles, the place has just about every outdoor guidebook you might want. All of this comes in pretty handy with the holidays fast approaching. You can check out the inventory at www.themapstore.biz, stop by 240 Main Street in Old Town, or call 207-827-4511 for more information.
Ducks Down East
We might all be shy of venturing out onto the cold North Atlantic when November comes around, but seabirds certainly are not. Though most boaters have long since shrinkwrapped their vessels, many avian species are just making themselves comfortable for the advent of winter — and it's one of the best times to see them. On November 12 Maine Audubon is sponsoring a boat trip Down East out of the Jonesboro area to take advantage of the arrival of these hardy ducks, grebes, gulls, and loons. The intriguingly named Norman Famous, along with Bob and Sandi Duchesne, will be the leaders of the journey, taking passengers out of the Shoppee Point Boat Launch (near Roque Bluff State Park) for a cruise through the region's fabled archipelago. The boat will even land among the isles to search for purple sandpipers, boreal chickadees, white-winged crossbills, and maybe even razorbills. Your friends will think you're crazy if you sign up — who goes boating in mid-November? — but you're sure to have a tale to tell. (And think how good some hot chocolate will taste afterward.) The boat shoves off at 9 a.m. and the trip costs $25 for members and $35 for nonmembers. Call 207-989-2591 to reserve a spot.
Art in the North Woods
"I've put myself in proximity to the artists rather than the collectors," says Marsha Donahue. That's an understatement about as big as Mount Katahdin. This past summer Donahue opened North Light Gallery in an old furniture store in Millinocket — about three hours from the closest place anyone might expect to find collectors. What the enterprising entrepreneur has found, however, are plenty of artists. "I'd heard about some of the people painting the mountain, but I had no idea just how many there were painting up here — and doing real, quality work," says Donahue. And she knows quality work, having spent time as an assistant director or manager of two of Maine's better galleries: Greenhut and Bayview. A painter herself whose canvases have fetched large dollars, Donahue has one criteria that all her artists must meet: "They all must paint the interior of Maine," she says. Which in this part of the state is a fairly easy condition to meet. "I put out the word, and within two weeks I had fifteen artists." These include Chris Huntington, David Little, Abbot Meader, and Evelyn Dunphy, all of whom have been associated with Katahdin Lake Wilderness Camps, the very same place where Marsden Hartley did his famous painting of the Mountain of the People of Maine and where James Fitzgerald did the same. Donahue knows that selling high-end artwork in Millinocket is a challenge, which is why she plans to actively utilize the Internet (her site is www.artnorthlight.com). So far she's been encouraged by the amount of business she's already seen. "I've been really picking up a lot of traffic," she says. Visit 256 Penobscot Avenue or her Web site to see some of the work. Or call 800-970-4ART.
Holiday Pies
To most people in the midcoast and southern Maine, the name Borealis conjures up thoughts of exceptional breads. Delightful rosemary, three-cheese focaccia, French peasant — there's a reason Borealis Breads calls itself the Van Gogh of Dough. What people might not know is that the Waldoboro-based company offers a delectable menu of additional baked goods, notably pies. During the holidays, this is a great boon. When you're tooling up Route 1 in a panic because you forgot to bring a dessert for the family dinner or the company party, fret not, your salvation lies in the bright yellow building at the blinking light across from Moody's Diner (also known for its pies). There are several varieties to choose from — the pumpkin and apple are especially recommended — and they'll run you $11.95. You'll find plenty of other temptations as well. Drop by or call 207-832-0655.
Total Body Workout
Look down any trail in Maine these days and you'll see a hiker carrying poles. The trekking phenomenon has become huge in the past five years, with hikers everywhere utilizing poles for balance and for a little relief on the joints on the descent. What's become apparent in recent years is that there are other, more-subtle benefits to walking with poles. Because of the constancy of upper body motion, the ski-pole-looking devices give a total body workout, much like cross-country skiing. Use poles and you burn 20 to 40 percent more calories and you do so without perceiving the added exertion as, well, added exertion. Interested? Kittery Trading Post, that southern gear giant, has Nordic walking seminars on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. Commercial though these classes may be — the instructor is from Exel, maker of poles — the walks themselves are free, and the science seems to make sense. The walks are scheduled for November 19 and December 10, with poles provided. Call 888-KTP-MAINE or visit www.kitterytradingpost.com for details.
Off the Map
You don't have to be a cartographer to appreciate The Map Store of Old Town. Anyone with a passing appreciation of maps and Maine places could be entertained by perusing the collection of charts, atlases, and maps housed in this clapboard-sided building across the street from Old Town Canoe on Main Street. The store is the only place in the state to stock the entire collection of U.S.G.S. topographical maps of Maine. It has Tyvek wall maps and Hubbard Scientific contoured plastic topo maps, too. You'll also find maritime charts for the state, as well as a full line of software and accessories for the most popular GPS units, along with compasses and globes. This is all expected in a place that calls itself The Map Store. What might surprise are the shelves of Maine field guides. From Peterson to Audubon, Appalachian Mountain Club to DeLorme to sport-specific titles, the place has just about every outdoor guidebook you might want. All of this comes in pretty handy with the holidays fast approaching. You can check out the inventory at www.themapstore.biz, stop by 240 Main Street in Old Town, or call 207-827-4511 for more information.
Ducks Down East
We might all be shy of venturing out onto the cold North Atlantic when November comes around, but seabirds certainly are not. Though most boaters have long since shrinkwrapped their vessels, many avian species are just making themselves comfortable for the advent of winter — and it's one of the best times to see them. On November 12 Maine Audubon is sponsoring a boat trip Down East out of the Jonesboro area to take advantage of the arrival of these hardy ducks, grebes, gulls, and loons. The intriguingly named Norman Famous, along with Bob and Sandi Duchesne, will be the leaders of the journey, taking passengers out of the Shoppee Point Boat Launch (near Roque Bluff State Park) for a cruise through the region's fabled archipelago. The boat will even land among the isles to search for purple sandpipers, boreal chickadees, white-winged crossbills, and maybe even razorbills. Your friends will think you're crazy if you sign up — who goes boating in mid-November? — but you're sure to have a tale to tell. (And think how good some hot chocolate will taste afterward.) The boat shoves off at 9 a.m. and the trip costs $25 for members and $35 for nonmembers. Call 207-989-2591 to reserve a spot.
Art in the North Woods
"I've put myself in proximity to the artists rather than the collectors," says Marsha Donahue. That's an understatement about as big as Mount Katahdin. This past summer Donahue opened North Light Gallery in an old furniture store in Millinocket — about three hours from the closest place anyone might expect to find collectors. What the enterprising entrepreneur has found, however, are plenty of artists. "I'd heard about some of the people painting the mountain, but I had no idea just how many there were painting up here — and doing real, quality work," says Donahue. And she knows quality work, having spent time as an assistant director or manager of two of Maine's better galleries: Greenhut and Bayview. A painter herself whose canvases have fetched large dollars, Donahue has one criteria that all her artists must meet: "They all must paint the interior of Maine," she says. Which in this part of the state is a fairly easy condition to meet. "I put out the word, and within two weeks I had fifteen artists." These include Chris Huntington, David Little, Abbot Meader, and Evelyn Dunphy, all of whom have been associated with Katahdin Lake Wilderness Camps, the very same place where Marsden Hartley did his famous painting of the Mountain of the People of Maine and where James Fitzgerald did the same. Donahue knows that selling high-end artwork in Millinocket is a challenge, which is why she plans to actively utilize the Internet (her site is www.artnorthlight.com). So far she's been encouraged by the amount of business she's already seen. "I've been really picking up a lot of traffic," she says. Visit 256 Penobscot Avenue or her Web site to see some of the work. Or call 800-970-4ART.
Holiday Pies
To most people in the midcoast and southern Maine, the name Borealis conjures up thoughts of exceptional breads. Delightful rosemary, three-cheese focaccia, French peasant — there's a reason Borealis Breads calls itself the Van Gogh of Dough. What people might not know is that the Waldoboro-based company offers a delectable menu of additional baked goods, notably pies. During the holidays, this is a great boon. When you're tooling up Route 1 in a panic because you forgot to bring a dessert for the family dinner or the company party, fret not, your salvation lies in the bright yellow building at the blinking light across from Moody's Diner (also known for its pies). There are several varieties to choose from — the pumpkin and apple are especially recommended — and they'll run you $11.95. You'll find plenty of other temptations as well. Drop by or call 207-832-0655.
Total Body Workout
Look down any trail in Maine these days and you'll see a hiker carrying poles. The trekking phenomenon has become huge in the past five years, with hikers everywhere utilizing poles for balance and for a little relief on the joints on the descent. What's become apparent in recent years is that there are other, more-subtle benefits to walking with poles. Because of the constancy of upper body motion, the ski-pole-looking devices give a total body workout, much like cross-country skiing. Use poles and you burn 20 to 40 percent more calories and you do so without perceiving the added exertion as, well, added exertion. Interested? Kittery Trading Post, that southern gear giant, has Nordic walking seminars on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. Commercial though these classes may be — the instructor is from Exel, maker of poles — the walks themselves are free, and the science seems to make sense. The walks are scheduled for November 19 and December 10, with poles provided. Call 888-KTP-MAINE or visit www.kitterytradingpost.com for details.
- By: Andrew Vietze
