There Ain’t No Cure For The Summertime Blues!

Babies don't need a vacation, but I still see them at the beach... it pisses me off! I'll go over to a little baby and say, “What are you doing here? You haven't worked a day in your life!” ~ Steven Wright

Well, I’m back. Or I guess I should say, we’re back, since I brought my wife home with me. I did my best to leave Maine without her, but she chased me down the road, pulled the door open and jumped in before I could get away. Of course that’s not true; just a small, feeble attempt at humor. In reality, I’m sure she’d much rather have stayed up in Maine.

I packed our SUV for our trip home, arranging and rearranging until, at last, I was able to cram everything in. When I finished there was barely enough room left for us!

Prior to our trip, we’d agreed not to pack everything we own and haul it up to Maine with us, but for some reason, which I believe is just part of the vacation mystique, we ended up with at least 50 percent more junk to haul back home – much of it gifts for our kids, their spouses and our grandkids and of course, a lot of the succulent bounty of the sea.

Speaking of seafood, and lobster in particular, my sister-in-law, Earline, who lives in Virginia, shot me an email after reading my July 18 column, and asked, “So what happened to Larry?” Silly girl, she’s obviously been out of New England too long.

Larry met the fate of all lobsters that have been plucked from Maine’s icy waters. He was steamed and eaten – along with several more of his spiny little friends. I’m guessing I ate about a dozen of the tasty little crustaceans over our two week retreat, including the 18 that we brought home with us. Yup, you heard it right – 18 - eight hard shells, all of which were in the two-pound or above range, and 10 soft shells, each running around a pound-and-a-half. Yum!

We found a great place, Erica’s Seafood [named for the daughter of the owners], located on a commercial fishing wharf in Harpswell where lobsters were selling for $3.50/Lb. for soft shells and $5.00/Lb. for hard shells. Erica’s owners also operate a small seafood shack where we ate many of our meals. Great seafood at amazing prices! And all run by the nicest people you’d ever want to meet – salt of the earth.

We brought home a quart each of the homemade clam and seafood chowder we bought at Erica’s [that’s a half-gallon of chowder for those of you who are measurement-challenged], a pile of steamers freshly dug from the mud flats of Casco Bay and a few home-made Whoopie Pies, one of Maine’s most famous home grown gastronomic treats.

We also managed to procure some first-of-the-season corn at the Farmer’s Market in Brunswick, along with a few pounds of new-potatoes and some sea-salted caramels that we bought at a candy store in downtown Bath. The caramels were for our daughter-in-law, Karre. Apparently those tasty confections are on her ‘cravings’ list – she’s pregnant. Yuh, like that’s an excuse!

Needless to say, we had quite a feast when we got home. No wonder our family was so happy to see us!

So anyway, our vacation has come to an end and I suppose it’s time to get back to writing about more serious issues such as the local , the ever-escalating battle over the adventure camp on , or something really exciting and provocative like the goings-on at the

Yuh, like that’ll ever happen! There’s about as much chance that I’ll write about those things as there is that the last two-pound hard shell lobster sitting in my refrigerator will survive the night.

Talk to you later, I have to melt some butter.

Make it a great week!

Bob Havey is a freelance writer and a consummate trouble-maker. His column, The Way I See It, runs every other Wednesday at Norton Patch. Check out his author’s page on Facebook.