More from My Memorial Day Weekend in Maine

June 7, 2023

More from My Memorial Day Weekend in Maine

There’s so much to do in Maine.

Memorial Day Weekend up at Skylands is always fun and busy. We try to pack in as many activities as we can - hiking, shopping, and touring local gardens and nurseries are often on my list. And of course, spending time with good friends while sharing delicious meals.

Here are a few more photos from my weekend in Maine. I took many of these images, but a large number of pictures were also taken by my guests Kevin Sharkey and Ryan McCallister. Enjoy.

: This is my long table in the entrance foyer of Skylands. I brought the roses up from my Bedford, New York farm, but the miniature classic Edsel station wagon was gifted to me by my daughter, Alexis.

: Skylands is so relaxing – I always enjoy my stays here. This is a window in one of the bedrooms looking out onto Seal Harbor.

: Here is another view looking toward Seal Harbor through the trees. On the right is a row of Rockefeller’s teeth on the top edge of the granite ledge. These teeth were part of Jens Jensen’s design plan for the home and alert passers by that there is likely a drop nearby.

: Just below my large terrace is Aristide Maillol’s ‘La Riviere’ – also known around Skylands as “the lady.”

: This is my large fenced in garden. This time in Maine, all the lilacs are in full bloom.

: We cut lots of them in gorgeous purple, lavender, and white. Here they are in the back of our truck ready to bring to the house.

: Every time I go up to Maine, Kevin Sharkey always creates the most gorgeous flower arrangements. Here he is with all the lilacs cut and ready to arrange – the fragrance of all these blooms is intoxicating.

: One of his arrangements is on this faux bois table between the dining room and my living hall.

: And here is another – each one more beautiful than the last.

: I had seen a video of picked dandelions used for a garland and decided to give it a try. We picked a hat full of these dandelion puffs. In fact, the proper term for them is “dandelion clocks” – the single stem of a dandelion in its post-flowering state with the downy covering of its head still intact. Kevin strung the heads together to create a garland.

: Look how pretty this garland of dandelion is hanging across the window. Simple, yet so charming. English writer A.A. Milne once said, “weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.”

: On this day we also took a short drive to Surry Gardens, in Surry, Maine. I visit this nursery often. It has more than five acres dedicated to growing and selling the area’s largest selection of unusual perennials, classic shrubs, and a huge variety of other favorite plants. There are always many wagons standing by for visitors to use.

: Here are some flowering rhododendrons. It’s hard not to walk away with something from this nursery.

: There’s always time for a hike when we’re in Maine. Here is a view from atop Cadillac Mountain. From this vantage point, one can see many of the offshore islands. Some of them are hosts to fishing communities, some are privately owned, but most serve as protected nesting sites for sea birds and other migratory species.

: Cadillac Mountain features an ancient volcanic landscape. The granite mass was once a magma chamber more than two miles below the earth’s crust. Time has gradually eroded the overlying rock, but the summit still exposes much of the hardened granite.

: These views are majestic – be sure to visit Cadillac Mountain if you’re ever touring Acadia National Park. It is the highest point on the eastern seaboard of the United States, and is worth the climb to see this.

: At night, we played competitive games of gozo – a card game similar to rummy.

: The charming town of Northeast Harbor, near my home in Seal Harbor, Maine, hosts its own Memorial Day Parade every year – I always try to attend. Marching bands from the Mount Desert Island high school and middle school, veterans, and elementary school children participate in the event along with other local first responders and some vintage car drivers.

: One afternoon, our group also went to Beal’s Lobster Pier on Clark Point Road in Southwest Harbor. One couldn’t visit Maine without a delicious lobster roll.