“THE WAY LIFE SHOULD BE” (1)

That’s the slogan of the State of Maine. It’s the sign that greets travelers crossing the invisible line on I-95 just beyond the bridge separating Portsmouth, NH from Kittery, ME, and it always cheers my spirits when it does. Life really does seem simpler and more appealing up in Maine.

Our recent expedition up north to Portland provided unexpected middle-of-the-night alarums and excursions, but the way up and the way home were peaceful enough. Our first stop was Ogunquit, with its charming setting on the ocean and its not-quite-so-charming multitude of tourists:

But once some way out along the cliffs on the Marginal Walk, we could pretend we had the ocean all to ourselves:

and zooming in close enough the camera brought us alone with the watermen:

It really was a lot more private at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, one of those “little” museums that turn out to be treasures, both in their art and in their ambiance. This is the view from the glass window wall of the musum:

Exuberant gardens bursting with color surround the small white building at the edge of the sea:

And where there’s a garden, there’s a St. Francis to guard over it, in this case, the “Man of Assisi” by John Dirks (looking rather like a praying mantis):

I was more taken with this amiable, although still somewhat formidable, wooden lion by Bernard Langlais:

And to make us thoroughly at home, there was a bear, larger than ours at home in Massachusetts and very long of claw, but in his wooden stillness, much less alarming.

Indeed, the way life should be!