Hidden Maine

Gull Feather in the Wind

It was early December, 28°. Weatherman said temperature’s would drop and it would be windy all day. Waiting for lunch outside on the sidewalk, downtown Portland, I saw this feather. It’s not waves, but watch the video until the end.

The Prettiest Place in Maine

This is one of the prettiest, most accessible places on the coast of Maine, Shore Road in Cape Elizabeth, high tide, 10:30, early November. It’s called Pond Cove on DeLorme maps. When the waves are good, it’s a favorite surfing spot. It is also beautiful in late fall and winter.

I’m filming on a stony bench. The sun is low in the sky. The light on the water is pink and silver. Two gulls are out on the tiny waves. If there is such a thing as a perfect moment this is it. I believe there is so much beauty in the World, we can only stand if briefly, then we must look away or just stay a short time so that we won’t be overwhelmed. Truth is we all go too fast. Slow down to truly enjoy this beautiful world.

Sunrise

Dawn comes slowly. Sun breaks the edge of the sea then rises rapidly. I caught the sun before it disappeared behind a bank of clouds. Notice the pink-orange riding the tops of waves to shore..

The coast look so different any ordinary sunny or cloudy day than it does when the wind blows, the seas rise, and monster waves thrash the shores. Standing on the cliffs for fifteen minutes in the morning before work is like being on a movie set for the opening minutes of an epic film. The French Lieutenant’s woman could be out here this morning. The drama, the sounds, the explosive white spray is so awesome.

This Hidden Maine for Sunday is simple. I’m at Crescent Beach in Cape Elizabeth, near noon, on the first Sunday in November. The Sun is low in the sky, with sparkly light on the water. The air temperature is 52°. A bicyclist with helmet and gear is about to get on his bike and ride off of the peninsula.

Off in the distance you can see waves breaking on the reef off of Richmond’s Island. The bicyclist rolls down the hill past five women, past two trucks belonging to lobstermen, and out into the public parking lot. In the distance, behind the bicyclist you can see waves splashing three peninsulas over. There really are nice days in Maine after the fall colors have faded.

The Maine coast near Portland Headlight, looking south. A good surf running. Sea mist in the air. They say there’s enough energy in a single wave to keep a house warm for a year. I’d like a good wave for the winter.

I think of ships, big wooden ships with sails in the 1800’s. No weather reports, no engines to take over when you get close to shore. Rocks are unforgiving. If you’re the captain, one serious error, one, and it’s over.

Because it rained all night and near dawn the wind was still fierce, I took the truck down to the cliffs. The rain was light, air temperature 48 degrees. In the foreground, at the edge, green Juniper and what in the fall we call “cranberry leaves” (not cranberry, just the color). Waves cresting 10 – 12 feet. This is a 59 second video sweeping from south to east, ending at Ram Island Light house.

• There is magic in blue and green
• There is magic in sunlight
• There is magic in little waves
• There is magic in light on water
• There is magic everywhere

Yes, do listen to the sound of waves coming to shore and the sound of children on the beach a quarter of a mile away.

Summers, I try to go for a row everyday. Do I achieve the daily row? Never! But, I try. This was July 3rd. Caught a Kayaker and five geese heading out to sea. Part of the appeal of the sea is you never know what will pop up. The ocean is a wild place.

Awesome Skies and Nice Waves

The Maine coast. This is Crystal Cove in Cape Elizabeth, 15 minutes from our store, close to Portland Headlight. There are days when the clouds and ocean are so awesome it’s hard to believe it’s real.

When the sun goes down, most people go inside, turn the lights on, and watch television. I will admit to curious behavior; every night, year round, I go out to the porch railing and watch the night sky, the stars, the moon, and the wind in the trees. In the spring, summer, and fall I go for a walk in the dark around the property. The draw always is the night sky.

When the moon is approaching full, in good weather I go into the yard to sit, to watch the moon, and to watch the moonlight on the water. I’m over 65, I’ve never gotten over moonlight on water.

Moonlight’s silver flashes on a black sea are so different from sunlight on a blue sea by day. Moonlight shimmers like big electric silver fish swimming across the waves. Here in the still photo, the camera sees more than the eye. The video shows best as the eyes see it at night in full darkness. The ocean beneath a full moon is pure magic.

Moms are good people. This is a family on paddle boards. A dad on his board, a son on his, and a mom with two little tykes on her board. The river of this saltwater marsh snakes through ten acres of salt marsh grasses. They are a quarter of a mile away. Far enough away that this looks like the opening to a French foreign film: slow motion, no sound until the end when a jet enters the scene.

Happiest Place on Earth

This is my beach every morning before 9. I call it the Happiest Place on Earth. Dogs: big, little. Dogs: brown, black, white. Dogs long fur. Dogs short fut. They all get along perfectly, joyfully 96% of the time. Then that’s what we’ve got people for, to negotiate, suggest they settle down. The people presence is good because we are the time keepers and are there to blow the whistles at 8:59 and say it’s time to go home. Most everyone, if they’ve had a good workout are good sports about reaching 9AM.

Yes, do go some summer day…with or without a dog. My beach is Higgins in Scarborough, Maine.

I love saltwater marshes. They are pure logic and random wild beauty. They naturally occur at a particular level of high tide in ten thousand different shapes.

This one is in pristine condition with natural marsh grasses. It fronts the open ocean at high tide and the Spurwink River at low tide. This is one of numerous tide pools in the area with granite boulders and often little fish swimming in the ponds. I use my 9-foot row boat to make this shore.

No surprise lawns everywhere are watered, even in Maine. I was stopped this morning by this fantail of bowing water, bird songs, and blue sky.

Strawberry Moon

Thursday night we had the first full moon of the summer. This Strawberry Moon was also the last super moon of 2021. A super moon is when the moon is at its closest point to Earth in its orbit, making it look bigger and brighter. Looking out over the sea it did indeed look bigger and brighter casting a vast golden path across the sea right to me.

Alewife Run
May 15 – June 15

Went up country to the shores of Damariscotta to search the paths of ancestors. Had ice cream at Joe’s Ice Cream Shop in Jefferson. Drove down the 13 mile lake to Damariscotta Mills and the falls at the end of the lake where the original peoples of the Americas gathered in May of each year for thousands of years for one of Earth’s great migrations.

In four weeks, a million ten-foot long Alewife fish swim from Salt Bay, leaping rocks and falling water to the lake above. This is a video of the herring gulls gathered at the base of the falls to catch fish.

Rubber duck in my stream waiting his turn to go over the falls. Cattails and ferns surround. Five more falls, passage under the road, fifty feet to the open ocean then freedom. Complete and total freedom.

Saturday, noon, Memorial Day weekend. Strong wind out of the north. Everything, everything is green. Waves and white caps racing down the shore.

While the rest of the country was looking for a blood moon in the west, we in the east were content with a lemon moon.

This is 8:28PM, looking east. Birch tree in the foreground, open Atlantic beneath the moon. Slight wind out of the northwest tossing the branches and leaves of the tree.

Greetings from Maine

God did most of the work: the sun, the ocean, the cliffs, the land. He even arranged for the trees. Thirty years ago they were still too small. I built a twelve foot stone wall and terraced out to it. Fifteen years ago I hung this hammock between two grown trees. God and I work well together. Oh yes, the birds are his too. This was taken at 8:02AM on a recent May morning, 14 minutes south of our store.

Fort Williams Park
Cape Elizabeth and Portland Headlight

A million people a year come. I live a thousand feet away. I would never know they had been here. I feel comfortable inviting all 16,000 of our email friends. We have a lobster roll truck in the park that claims to have the best lobster roll in the state. I’ve waited in line 30 minutes just to order. There’s always a line.

If we could see a dozen, two dozen feet beneath the surface to see who and what was swimming there, if we could see 100 fathoms to the sand and rock below, we would be amazed at the creatures who live there.

This video was taken at 10AM, April 21, 90 feet above the sea, 15 minutes south of the shore. Wind out of the north. Little waves chasing south. Sunlight in stripes across the sea.

Flower Power
Investing in Beauty and Joy
For the Future

Nancy planted twelve daffodils twenty years ago in front of a stone wall in the lower yard. Some years, depending on fertilizer, we’ve had over 500 flowers. This spring, we needed that additional boost of joy as our early spring crop of yellow flowers came alive once again. Investing in beauty is a good thing.

Barefoot on Our Favorite Beach

In less than 60 days, I’ll be back on my Maine sand beach, barefoot walking the shore. On one end of our beach the tide goes out more than a quarter mile. This video opens with me standing in the shallows. You can see a single me reflected in the half-inch of water. Look closely, you can also see a me reflected in the dome of a hundred bubbles. Then suddenly, a wave sweeps in and we’re all gone.

Summer is coming and we will all be barefoot on our favorite beach soon.

Sea Storm in the Night

The wind and rain stopped, replaced by fog and waves. Three hours into the night, I could hear deep guttural sounds of waves on the cliffs. I know that if it were light there would be spray 25′, 30′, 50′ high in the air. The cliffs muffle the sound of surf. When I can hear the growling at low tide, I know the waves are big. The sound is low, like thunder of an approaching storm. The sound is constant because we have a quarter mile of coastline. Even with my eyes closed and in the dark, I know where the sea is because I can feel the sound pressure coming through the walls.

Families at the Shore

Families at the shore. Light breeze, full sun, air temperature 29°. Being with family is a good thing.

Early Engineers at the Shore

So much of our time as kids is spent studying cause and effect. It’s about testing how the world works. Three kids at the shore; the big one found chunks of ice and snow. “How far can I throw it? What kind of a splash will it make?” Both are among the many eternal questions of youth.

Lobstering 101

Someone commented he would like more videos on Hidden Maine in the landscape mode. He felt landscape would fill his desktop screen better. It’s a good suggestion. I have 70,000 photos and 6,000 videos, 98% of them vertical. This is a rare video shot in landscape, looking south east.

This video is from January 1, 2017. How do we celebrate the New Year up here in Maine? We go to the shore to wave watch. This is a lobster boat at Kettle Cove, Crescent Beach, Cape Elizabeth, Maine. The tall stick at the back of the boat is a small mast with a sail that the lobsterman can unfurl. The sail catches the wind and keeps a boat straight to incoming waves as he is hauling traps. Works as long as the wind hasn’t suddenly changed contrary to the direction of the waves. January 1st, sun low in the sky at noon. The ocean and sky are particularly beautiful at this time of year.

Salvador Dali, Melting Windsor Chairs

Gray Toyota truck. Windshield wipers. Wind, rain, waves, rocks, a good sea storm. Pure entertainment venue for two, three, four hours. It is a simple mind that watches. I’m a happy creature when there is a good storm.

America’s Ice Storm

This picture was taken February 17th at 8:02AM at the shore. The nation has been whiplashed with ice, snow, and arctic temperatures. The storm swept east and the ice angels just glazed our state’s bare branches, iced over our streets and walkways. It was simply beautiful. Maine was lucky this time.

This is Stand Up Cave at Crystal Cove, Cape Elizabeth, in thick fog on July 1 at 6:49AM. Fog closes everything in, eliminates all the distractions, allows one to focus on just a few things. A special mystery and beauty can be seen on foggy days. Add to that mystery an alien world landscape, add waves, and add a cave on the shore you can walk into that exists because there is a seam of clear quartz crystals at the center back that runs vertically up the wall. The seam is a weak spot that the ocean keeps working, tunneling the cave deeper into the cliff. The cove is known as Crystal Cove for the veins of quartz crystals that run through the rocks there.

Wind, rain, windshield wipers racing, a pilot boat returns to Portland Harbor fast. It moves quickly appearing, disappearing, swallowed by waves. It looked like they might have been in danger. I’m sure the captain had all the confidence in the world and everything was under control.

Swim at Your Own Risk

Wave watching is Maine’s #3 top sport. With a 3,500 mile coastline, thousands of coves, cliffs, beaches, and islands of every shape and form imaginable, we have an infinite number of opportunities to see how the sea will present the waves. This photo and video are from Fort Williams Beach, where Portland Headlight is located, just twelve minutes from our store. This sporting couple came to the shore at 2:55 on Saturday, January 16, 2021. Watch closely to this 46 second video to see if you can see the lobster trap caught in the waves.

Maine Coast, Spurwink River
Not for Ten Million Dollars…
Would I Move

I was born and brought up here, a few hundred feet away. This is looking at the Cape Elizabeth shore from the Scarborough side of the Spurwink River,

My people came to this Maine beach in the early 1900’s. Both my mother’s people “Cross” and my father’s people “Pride”. They didn’t know each other until their kids met and several years later I came along and joined them all.