August 24th, 2010

Friends in Maine

Recently, I spent nearly a week in Maine and I must say that it was action packed.  I was joined by a team of editors from the magazine and photographers, who worked hard with me creating multiple stories for Martha Stewart Living magazine.  In addition to all of those activities, I hosted a preview party for Friends of Acadia’s annual benefit.  It was a beautiful evening with more than 130 patrons in attendance.  This preview party was a new addition this year so that the “friends” could view the items to be offered later at the auction, hoping to create energy and buzz.  From what I’m told, that is exactly what happened.  In total, the Annual Benefit raised over $608,000, which will help to maintain Acadia’s 47,000-acre national park of mountains and ocean.

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1 One of the stories we photographed for the magazine was riding on horseback through Acadia. Here I am crossing a cobblestone bridge - one of the many gorgeous bridges in the park.

2 Eight of us rode our horses and had a phenomenally good time.

3 A beautiful Icelandic pony named Tina Turner rode with us. Her rider was Lili Pew, Friends of Acadia Board Chairman.

4 Patrick, son of Sem Groenewoud, Mr. Rockefeller's carriage driver. He brought a second horse from their stable for Kevin to ride.

5 A clearer photo of Patrick - he is a superb horseman.

6 James Dowdle, Muffin's husband, looks the part of a gentleman rider. His horse is a six-year-old retired race horse, who he is training for the Bedford trails.

7 Little Miss Muffett, Jillian Dow, my property manager's daughter - Jillian, at eleven, did more work than most adults and we all love her.

8 Betsy Perreten, my stable manager, atop Rutger, one of two of my Friesians she brought to Maine.

9 Jimmy astride his horse, with a view of Little Long Pond in the distance. Beyond that is the sea.

10 Muffin astride her trusted mount, Biscuit - We joked all week about muffins and biscuits.

11 Jillian took Rinze from me after 2-1/2 hours of riding. I had an appointment at the house and she was more than happy to ride the horse to our stable.

12 Betsy and Muffin riding ahead of me on one of the park's trails

13 Kevin, Patrick, and some of the other riders in the park

14 Photographer Paul Costello rode a bike to keep up with the horses.

15 He and his assistant were exhausted!

16 Vanessa Holden, our editor-in-chief also rode a bike. She, too, was exhausted!

17 Gyurme accompanied Betsy to Maine from Bedford. He assisted her with the horses.

18 This is the temporary paddock my two Friesians used while away at 'camp' - very different from the grassy fields in Bedford, but they loved it.

19 Kevin Sharkey in a pensive mood while hiking near Little Long Pond in Acadia National Park

20 Sarah Carey, our food editor, out for a lovely walk during our marathon shoot week at Skylands.

21 One afternoon, David Rockefeller took us out on his newest Hinkley Picnic boat. He drives with a joy stick and is quite the cowboy driving carefully, but fast, at 37 knots!

22 Brian Lindquist works for David Rockefeller. He is enormously knowledgeable about all things having to do with Acadia and the Rockefeller legacy pertaining to the formation of Acadia National Park.

23 Bob Kogod loved the ride. He is one of Seal Harbors's long time summer residents.

24 A good photo of Agnes Gund - one of the founders of the Museum of Modern Art, Kevin, and Brian

25 One evening, I had a party to benefit the Friends of Acadia. More than 130 patrons attended, including David Rockefeller, and France and André Desmarais from Montreal.

26 Our retired board member, Arthur Martinez and his wife Liz, came to the party.

27 My terrace was quite crowded at the height of the event. Lili Pew officiated and gave a little speech of thanks.

28 Lili Pew works very hard for the Friends of Acadia, an organization which raises a lot of money annually to supplement one of the nation's most visited parks.

29 My editorial team - Sarah Carey, Ayesha Patel, Quy Nguyen, Vanessa Holden, and Fritz Karch - attended the party.

30 Sarah and Quy looking very much like a portrait by John Singer Sargent

31 The gang posing for this photo - We worked very hard all week on many stories for the magazine.

32 Vanessa. Edward Lipkin, Quy, Jean Lipkin, Fritz, and Sarah

33 The sunset was spectacular that evening and we were happy it did not rain.

34 The next day, we rode the horses on a trial ride to Seal Harbor town and down to Seal Harbor Beach. We shocked lots of sunbathers.

35 Jillian was invited to attend the big editorial dinner. We had a barbecue.

36 Betsy also came.

37 Jimmy and Muffin

38 The council circle, one of Jens Jensen's most beautiful garden features was put to good use.

39 Pierre, our illustrious chef, had nothing to cook that day, so we took him along for some fun.

40 We don't know who this guy was, but he looked good to us.

41 We were trying to figure out what this boy was doing.

42 And then he jumped into the harbor from the roof of the ferry building!

43 Sarah looking like a movie star

44 Our hike across Baker Island

Posted on August 24th, 2010 in Entertaining, Friends, Gardens, Giving, My Home, My Pets, Photo Gallery, Travel | Permalink |

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