APPLEDORE ISLAND

This weekend Larry and I went out to Appledore Island with a group from the Seacoast Science Center. This is an annual trip for us, one that we look forward to this pleasure.

Appledore is a tiny island, one of the nine islands that make up the Isles of Shoals.

In the 19th century and early 20th century it was the home of Celia Thaxter, the poet and artist whose family ran a summer hotel and catered to well known artists iof the time such as Childe Hassam.

Now it is owned by the Star Island Corporation and leased to Cornell University which maintains a marine laboraty. It operates from April to September and is buttoned up all winter long. As you can imagine, the accomodations are a bit on the primitive side: dormitory style rooms, single beds, and a walk down the corridor to the 'ladies'.

Appledore is only 9 miles off the coast but it offers a perfect escape: no automobiles or streets, no public lighting, no television, radio or newspapers, no computers or cell phones. Just quiet. Solitude. Relaxation. We walk and hike and hang around with naturalists and soak up new knowledge along with the ambience. Otherwise, we read and rest and re-coup. There is always a lobster dinner on Saturday evening and Sunday brunch before piling onto the Kingsbury, a research vessel for the trip home.

My Newest Postcard Trade

Isn't it just splendid! I love it!

This fabric postcard was made by Francoise of Belgium.
We planned the trade in the early summer but agreed to do it later in the season.

I hope she is as pleased with my postcard as I am with her work.

Oh, the Altered Book!

Well, all the spreads are done. I am working on the binding and cover. The lesson I learned from this project: never, never, never remove the text block from the binding. While working on the pages, I felt quite constrained by their size and lack of flexibility. So. I took the whole thing out in one fell swoop. And boy am I sorry. I have been teaching myself a binding method whereby one creates mountains and valleys, pastes the pages into the valleys and mounts the whole into spine. I will post the completed book soon.

(she said with great optimism)