September 8, 2009
Welcome to Camelot (in Prospect, Maine)!
Come as a guest or come as a participant, but please do come to Fort Knox on the bank of the Penobscot River in Prospect (just a half hour up the coast from Belfast) for the annual Medieval Tournament held one day during Labor Day week. Featured are live demonstrations of Medieval and Renaissance pastimes enacted by The East Kingdom (central and coastal Maine) members of the medieval recreation organization, the Society for Creative Anachronism. The granite fort and grassy parade grounds are a perfect backdrop for the noble’s luxurious camping pavilions used during war, displays of hand-made crafts and a fashion show, a concert of music written over 500 years ago and dancing. For the more vigorous, there are displays of rapier duels, archery, and knightly combat in full armor. If you are interested in joining the organization you can learn needle arts, performance art, Medieval clothing, dances of the Middle Ages, combat art, and re-creating and enjoying food of pre-1600 western Europe at locations from Bangor to Belfast year-round.
To see a calendar of meetings, tournaments, classes and feasts and find out how to join go to: www.endewearde.eastkingdom.org.
July 22, 2009
Belfast Community Garden
Since 2005 a community gardening project has been growing just outside of Belfast. Located in a field adjacent to the new YMCA building within walking distance of town is a place where gardeners looking for a sunny spot to raise a summer crop can come to plant and tend. Some come to work on their own plots and some come to help raise vegetables to be donated to the soup kitchen or the elderly in the community. The garden area is about one third community garden and two-thirds individuals’ plots. Water is provided by hose connection, courtesy of the YMCA.
Although gardeners are welcome to be at the garden site any day, Mondays are usually "weed and water days" and the gardeners come for an hour or more to work and socialize. A novice gardener who recently settled in Belfast joined the group to learn what to do about slugs, nitrogen enrichment, and which hearty varieties of common vegetables should be chosen. In a year or two she plans to start her own garden in the backyard of her new home. Another gardener thinks about elderly friends in her neighborhood who can no longer stoop and hoe, but appreciate sun-ripened tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and string beans. She delivers harvested vegetables from the community portion of the garden to them.
Drop by any Monday or call Carolyn Pressley at (207) 338-0842 for more information.
June 9, 2009
Belfast’s Friday Gallery Walks
During the warmer months (June through September) you can enjoy downtown Belfast’s art galleries and some open studios on foot after hours on Fridays. Most of the 20 galleries in the downtown extend their hours from 5 to 8 pm when visitors are likely to want to stroll before or after dinner around town and see what’s new in the vibrant art world that flourishes here. You will find groups-of-artist-friends galleries, like Aarhus on Main Street, theme galleries like Maine Farmland Trust Gallery also on Main Street, individual artist’s galleries like Phoenix Loft Gallery on High Street and galleries in businesses like the Belfast Co-Op Gallery Café also on High Street. To enliven the evenings, live street artists perform at random locations as well. You may see a mime, a musician, a hula demonstration, or improvisational dance.
Don’t miss the multi-site art installations of public art by local artists on display from June through October 31on sidewalks and street corners in the Belfast downtown area. This year the theme is Eco-Motion reflecting the environmental and artistic nature of Belfast. The sculptures are made around and including bicycles and tricycles and are intended to be interactive. Hop on the "Fish Bike" and pedal! www.artsbelfast.com
April 27, 2009
You CAN get there from here...
We are a small community with no subways, trains or municipal busses in Belfast but we have public transportation in the Belfast area. Originally established to transport the elderly to medical appointments, several transportation grants have allowed Waldo County Action Partners to expand their routes and the fleet of small busses and mini vans to accommodate the public’s transportation needs as well. Many of the 12 vehicles are wheelchair accessible and range in capacity between 9 and 18 passengers.
The Belfast Shopper route is an 18 passenger bus run that makes a continuous loop through the city hourly every day, stopping at congregate housing apartments, Penobscot Shores assisted care cottages and places like doctors’ offices, the grocery store, the hardware store and the Belfast food co-op. There is a timetable and regular stops but drivers will make variations to accommodate passengers. The fare is $1 for a one-way ticket and no reservations are needed.
If you want to ride the bus to shop in Bangor, Waterville, Augusta or Rockland there is a scheduled route leaving Belfast around 9 AM two days a month to each city. The fare is about $8 round trip and should be scheduled in advance because the driver will pick you up at your home the day of the trip and needs the directions. Call 1-800-439-7865 or visit the website at www.waldocap.org/pages/programs/transportation.php.
April 6, 2009
The Good Table Cooking Class
My favorite cook-wares store in Belfast, The Good Table, is hosting a series of 10 Saturday cooking classes nearly every week. Upstairs in “Cookbook Heaven” with over 500 titles is the demonstration kitchen area. I attended a class with instructor Erin French, a professional baker for Trillium Catering in Belfast who made almond cake with chocolate ganache and vanilla buttercream frosting. Oh, the number of sticks of creamery butter! The aromas from the baking cake! Erin decorated the two layer cake with roses from Lily, Lupine and Fern, a florist and wine shop next door on Main Street.
Confessing to be self-taught, Erin was nonplussed facing her audience of women who had baked and decorated hundreds of cakes collectively. She showed us some tricks we had never seen! I learned about an electromagnetic cooktop that pulls metal pans to the surface to speed up the cooking time and wastes no heat. I also now know how professional bakers support a heavy top cake layer using neon drinking straws. Everything Erin used in the class from the cookbook to the pre-cut parchment papers to the rubber-tipped Cuisinart paddle is sold in the store.
Upcoming classes include cookbook author Sandra Oliver demonstrating chowders, chef Bryan Dame making hors d’ouveres and Soone Hitt making Thai spring rolls.
March 31, 2009
Left Bank Books
We are readers in mid-coast Maine! And when we need a gift for a special occasion we think of giving a book. My favorite place to discover the perfect match (or find one for myself!) is Left Bank Books on Main Street in Searsport, the village next door to Belfast. The historic brick corner building that was once a bank has the charm of a typical British shop. Inside are oriental rugs on the creaky floor, oak wainscoting, a fireplace, a metal vault and a welcoming bell that tinkles when you open the door.
Of course, there are the expected collections of mysteries, fiction, books about Maine, children’s books and biographies, but what makes this shop special is the personal attention. No teen behind the counter chatting with a friend on her cell phone here! The mature staff or one of the owners greets you when you enter and genuinely wants to make a suggestion to help you find what you want. The shelves are stocked with over 6,000 personally selected titles you probably won’t find anywhere else, and they also carry the daily newspapers from New York and Boston.
Do you have some time to browse? The tea kettle is always hot. Choose a bone china cup and settle into a worn velvet wing-back chair to read a few pages of your book selections before you make a decision. Ask for courtesy gift wrapping or choose a sheet of beautiful wrapping paper and an unusual ribbon to take home to wrap it yourself. There are also imported chocolates, unusual greeting cards from England, and little whimsical “extras” to tuck in the package. Sign up for the shop’s newsletter to learn when the evening talks by authors and book signing events are scheduled.
March 28, 2009
Come Boating!
As in many coastal towns, Belfast’s community boating club, "Come Boating!" offers Sea Scouting and sailing lessons for children and adults. What sets Belfast apart is the community rowing program giving folks with no prior experience an opportunity to be part of a "pick-up team" on a six-oared Cornish Pilot Gig. For an hour or so about 12 times each week you can go for an early morning row in the harbor when the fog is rising off the water or an evening row when the harbor is quiet again. The course leaves the public boat launch at the foot of Main Street, heads south to the Monument at the mouth of the harbor where you may see cormorants nesting or gathering, then rounds the Monument and heads back to the inner harbor. Usually, the row passes the boat landing and scoots under the footbridge before turning around to head back.
On every community row is a trained volunteer coxswain who stands in the stern to call the strokes: "Stroke!...Stroke!", and steers using two ropes attached to the rudder. It is the coxswain who needs to recognize the different fog horns and lights and know where the rocks are in the harbor. The twelve-foot-long oars are hollow and light weight (hand-me-downs from the Harvard Crew Team) but need to synchronously dip into the water to pull the gig forward.
Come Boating! volunteers have built two 32’ western red cedar hulled gigs for the club, named Belle Fast and Selkie. The launch schedule is on-line and at the boathouse (the sign-up sheet is in the black mailbox) and indicates which times are for "Community Row" or "Quiet Row", both requiring no experience.
March 21, 2009
Walking at the Ocean
We are so fortunate here in unpretentious Belfast to have public access to the ocean in so many places. A stroll beside the waterfront in Steamboat Landing Park or along the actual shore is a daily activity for many retirees during three seasons of the year. There is a public right-of-way to the shore at the end of 10 streets that dead end at the Bay with a welcoming Parks Department sign. You can also get to the rocky shore at the Belfast City Park.
Beginning at either end of the mile-long stretch from the Belfast City Park to Heritage Park in downtown Belfast, you can walk along the waterfront at low tide (check the tide chart before you go!). For variety, return to your starting point through the neighborhoods. You can bring along binoculars for bird-watching or a camera or even a picnic because there are many places along the way to stop and rest on ledge outcropping or large rocks.
Belfast tides average 10’ every 6 hours or so, and sometimes the tide moves as much as 13’. There are a few special things to see at low tide here. The most amazing display of living starfish I have ever seen is visible in the area north of the public boat launch just above Heritage Park. At the end of Main Street between the tugboat tie-up and the harbormaster pier there are HUNDREDS!
There are also the remains of two old wooden-hulled schooners visible at low tide. One can be seen by walking along the paved path in Steamboat Landing Park between the Boathouse and Consumers coal yard and one is upriver on the East Side. You can see that one if you cross the footbridge and walk down Robbins Road (off Rt. 141). The ship is stuck in the mud and only the keel and ribs remain, but it is a reminder of Belfast’s vibrant past as a ship-building port.
March 10, 2009
Playing Bridge in Belfast Area
Learn to Play: While you can play bridge online or have a deck of cards handy to work out what you read in the bridge column in the newspaper, there is nothing like actually playing bridge with a group. If you are new to town and want to learn or practice with other seniors, the Waldo County YMCA in Belfast has a free drop-in bridge room open on Thursdays from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. This is an informal group of players who will help you learn the bidding and advise you how to play a hand (someone at another table will consult with you) if you want to sit down and play at a table. Coffee and snacks are always available. Or you can observe some games in progress and kibitz with the other extra players waiting to play. You may make some friends here and be invited to play at a home bridge party.
Duplicate Bridge: If you are an accomplished bridge player, you will want to join the group that plays duplicate bridge on Wednesdays at St. Francis of Assisi Parish House in Belfast from noon to 4:00 pm. You are welcome to come with a partner and play a more serious game and get to know a mostly different group of alert seniors with enviable memory skills.
Contract Bridge: If you prefer to play with an American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) Club, the closest is in Camden, just 20 minutes away. Camden Duplicate Bridge Club meets Thursday evenings at Windward Gardens Retirement Homes at 6:30 pm. Here, master points are awarded, tournaments are held and new players are welcome. A partner is guaranteed.
February 22, 2009
Registration Time at Senior College
At Belfast's Senior College, the center of learning for those 50 years old or older along with spouses and partners, it's time to register for the winter term. Located at the University of Maine's Hutchinson Center the classes meet once a week for seven weeks. Many former educators choose to retire to the mid-coast area of Maine, but find that they are not really ready to retire. That is how we have such rich diversity in the offerings taught by our area seniors.
This winter you could join the discussion, "What kind of world do we wish for our grandchildren?" with Bill Taylor in his course about diplomacy and non-violent conflict resolution. Bill served 30 years as an active Naval Officer, moved to Maine in 1994 from Monterey, California and built his dream home in Camden.
Or how about learning some "Flops, Failures, Follies and Foreign Policy Blunders" from Robert Rackmales, now retired in Northport after 32 years as a Foreign Service Officer with the State Department?
An accomplished artist, Nancy Blatz has retired to Maine after teaching high school math in New York for 33 years. She is offering a watercolor class exploring using different painting surfaces like canvas, clayboard and unusual papers.
A Senior College field trip to view Civil War painters at the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland will take place on February 10; a slide presentation of the works of many Belfast area artists entitled, "Fear No Art: Maine Is A Garden" is scheduled for February 12; a talk by former Governor, Angus King, entitled, "Is Maine the Saudi Arabia of Wind Power?" will be held on March 3. http://www.belfastseniorcollege.org
Spring classes begin March 19.
February 22, 2009
Belfast Dog Park
We are so lucky in Belfast to have the only maintained and monitored, fenced area for dogs to run free in Mid-Coast Maine, thanks to the inspiration and efforts of a group of about 15 area dog lovers, Friends of the Belfast Dog Park. The new Dog Park is beyond the Little League ball field known as Walsh Field on Rt. 52 just before the YMCA. About a mile from the center of downtown, it is within walking distance for many area residents.
Friends of the Dog Park received project permission from the City Council and the Parks Department and began fundraising to install a fence, stone walkway, a motion-activated dog waterer, benches and later a gazebo for dog owners to wait in during inclement weather. In August 2008 the new park opened with separate areas for small and large dogs, and every day since then frisky doggies have been experiencing the joys of being safely off-leash.
The Belfast Dog Park is free and open to the public from dawn to dusk except the second Saturday of each month it is closed from 9 to 11 AM for maintenance and cleaning. Volunteers are always welcome!
http://www.friendsofbelfastparks.org
February 22, 2009
Belfast's Art Deco Movie Theatre
Not really a museum, but with a vintage feel, The Colonial Theatre has been Belfast's movie theatre since 1912, opening the same day the Titanic set sail. As live Vaudeville shows often performed prior to the movie in the early days, the theatre was built with a stage, heavy, brocade curtains and a movie screen that was lowered electronically. When I was a child in the 1950s I attended a baton twirling contest held on the stage.
Today, the owner is an artist and the Art Deco theme can be seen in the carpets, interior and exterior walls. The old pop corn machine from my childhood still pops, but now there are three movie screens. The third theatre, called "Dreamland", is accessed through a tunnel under the building and includes the original stage and balcony seating. In 1997 when Perry's Nut House was sold Colonial's owner purchased the two elephants that stood outside the Rt.1 tourist attraction for many years, Hawthorne and Baby Hawthorne, and brought them to the theatre downtown. Hawthorn (fiberglass) now trumpets on the roof above High Street and Baby Hawthorne (hand wood-carved in the 1930s) invites children to sit on her back in the lower lobby. A big Centennial Celebration is planned for the theatre in 2012. In addition to popular block-buster-type movies, the Colonial Theatre shows independent and foreign films. Visit @ www.colonialtheatre.com.
February 22, 2009
Volunteer Opportunities for Retired Teachers and Gardeners
Far from 12-year olds sprouting bean seeds in a Styrofoam cup on a classroom windowsill, since 2001 the Garden Project at Belfast's Middle School for grades 6, 7 and 8, has been producing salad bar options for the school cafeteria and selling the produce at the Belfast Co-Op. I buy fresh basil and mesclun mix at the Belfast Co-Op grown and harvested by the students just two miles away.
The project's outdoor gardens cover about a third of an acre on the school campus and are complimented by two hoop-style greenhouses, a commercial greenhouse (with rabbits, fish and chickens in addition to crops inside) and 40 fruit trees in a small orchard. Over 100 plant varieties are grown and over four tons are harvested each year. The students also operate a farm stand at the school in the fall and spring.
Even when the outdoor temperature is 7 degrees below zero, students are raising spinach and other cold weather crops under polyethylene covers in the hoop houses. Thanks to summer garden camp at the school, students are able to maintain their crops of vegetables, herbs, fruits and flowers year round. Read about the pizza garden, red worm farm, popping corn trials, identifying aphid species with a digital microscope and see the many blue ribbons won by students at Common Ground Fair in October on their website.
Volunteers are always needed. Retired gardeners, educators and good cooks are especially helpful. Whether you can spare a couple hours each week or are able to be a summer assistant your help is welcomed. Contact teacher Steve Tanguay. www.schoolgardenproject.com
185 W. Main Street
Searsport, ME 04974
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