Portland Monthly Magazine Winterguide 2008 by portlandmonthlymagazine

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WINTERGUIDE 2008 9 Cover photo by: Konstantin Sutyagin & MacKenzie Rawcliffe Image: With love from Longfellow Square. For 27 ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day around Maine, see “Art & Soul,” page 22. Art & Twenty-sevenSoul creative getaways for the ultimate Valentine’s Day. By Amy Havel Bold Coast Your 2008 portfolio of dream properties for sale, from milliondollar shoreline castles to water front fixer-uppers below $200,000. Sudden Impact Drivers vs. wildlife: everybody loses. By Cathy Genthner Striking a Match Can love can find a way, even without internet access? By Colin Sargent Is It Peanut Butter Time? Rita Yarnold on feast and famine in local real estate. By Colin Sargent New What’sCheernewhere about Chinese New Year. By Amy Louise Barnett Taking It Slow The Slow Food Movement rushes into prominence in Maine. By Judith Gaines New Chestnut Over a spreading Chestnut Street, some urban condos stand. By Brad FavreauOTHEBY’SSGENCYSWCAFAMOLUNTEERHURCHVILLECLEFT:TOPFROMISECLOCKWVFIREDEPARTMENT;THEANANTERNATIONALREALTY;KONSTANTINSUTYAGIN/MACKENZIERAWCLIFFE WG08 8-11 TOC.indd 9 12/17/07 4:04:31 PM

MRB ME REYNOLDSLOUISEAMYRAWCLIFFE;MACKENZIERIVER;SUNDAYRAWCLIFFE;MACKENZIELEFT:TOPFROMCLOCKWISE 10 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE From the Editor ”Old Spice Girl” Portland and the East India ship Grand Turk will be forever entwined. By Colin Sargent Personal Shopper Dark chocolate as health food leads our V-Day assault. By Amy Louise Reynolds Market Watch ‘Magic’ carpets soar at auction. By Sarah Cumming Cecil In Tune Jim Begley stokes the star-maker machinery as engineer at The Studio. By Todd M. Richard Snow KeepingReportyouinthe sknow. LettersWehear from readers about Pulitzer prizewinners, a sweet new kind of snow, Mainers on Broadway, and the tragedy at Long Lake. ChowderAtastyblend of the fabulous, noteworthy, and absurd. Dining RestaurantGuideReviewGreenElephant:Waitaminute.Thatreally does taste like chicken! By Diane Hudson Goings On House of the Month The West Mansion, the former PSO Showcase, hits the market. New HomesEngland&LivingFiction”AfterEveryoneElseHas Left” By Jack Driscoll Flash WG08 8-11 TOC.indd 10 12/14/07 2:46:56 PM

Providing quality craftsmanship since 1987 91 Bell Street • Portland, Maine (207) 797-7534 • fax (207) www.mrbrewer.com797-0973 Commercial & Residential Restoration, Renovation, Cabinets & Millwork MRB ME Home FP-6.07.indd 1 6/22/07 1:39:52 AM REYNOLDSLOUISEAMYRAWCLIFFE;MACKENZIERIVER;SUNDAYRAWCLIFFE;MACKENZIELEFT:TOPFROMCLOCKWISE WG08 8-11 TOC.indd 11 12/12/07 8:30:40 AM

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Old Spice Girl

Whenever you hear that Old Spice jingle, they’re whistling Portland’s tune. That’s because, for many years, the ship on many Old Spice signature products–from shaving cream to cologne–was the East India merchantman Grand Turk. And because the Grand Turk crashed off the coast of Cape Elizabeth in 1798, she and Portland will forever be entwined. “Actually she was a painfully slow ship,” historian John Durward has written, “taking 124 days to sail from St. Petersburg, Russia, to New York. After more slow and difficult voyages, her owner was glad to sell her. Her new owner put her into the China trade, and she continued to set records for slowness. In January of 1798,” while most of her crew was here in the Old Port, toasting the New Year, “she was anchored off Fish Point near the entrance to Portland Harbor when ice floes from the Presumpscot River parted her cables during a northeaster. She struck on Standard’s Ledge near the Cape and ended up bilged on Cushing Island. Saving her proved impossible. Shorelines in the area were littered with pieces of porcelain, chests of tea, and other mementos of the Orient. Many homes of proud Cape Elizabethans featured ‘souvenirs’ from this wreck.” Sort of an 18thcentury version of “it fell off a truck.”

&ROCTORSYCOURTSTSSJEEENBAK;EPGAMBLE

Portland Magazine is published 10 times annually by Sargent Publishing, Inc., 722 Congress Street, Portland, Maine, 04102, with newsstand cover dates of Win terguide, February/March, April, May, Summerguide, July/August, September, October, November, and December.

EDITORIAL Colin Sargent, Editor & Publisher 12 P ORTLAND M ONTHLY MA G AZ IN E

Bringing You the Best of Maine Editorial offices: 722 Congress Street, Portland, Maine 04102 Phone: (207) 775-4339 Fax: (207) 775-2334 E-mail:www.portlandmagazine.comstaff@portlandmonthly.com

The web site www.cr8on.com/ships.htm has been lovingly compiled by Creighton Fricek to list each of the 16 vessels ever to appear on Old Spice bottles, many of which have become collectibles. The Grand Turk, it says, was the first ship ever to sail in those balmy latitudes in 1938 and stayed on the bottles into the 1990s. So when you’re taking the men’s product survey this year, the one that begins, “I think a man who uses Old Spice High Endurance is attractive. Strongly Agree. Agree. Neither Agree Nor Disagree. Disagree. Strongly Disagee,” think of our fair city and the refreshing, spicy, complex afterglow we all share.

Portland Magazine is the winner of NewsStand Resource’s Maggie Zine Cover Contests for three consecutive years, 2004–2006; Portland Magazine is the winner of eight Graphic Design USA’s 2007 American Graphic Design Awards for Excellence in Publication Design for 2007 sponsored by Adobe Systems, Inc.

SARGENT PUBLISHING, INC. EDITOR IN CHIEF Colin Sargent Founding Editor & editor@portlandmonthly.comPublisherART&PRODUCTION Nancy Sargent Art Director Jesse Stenbak Production staff@portlandmonthly.comManager Robert T. Witkowski Design Director ADVERTISING Anna J. Nelson Advertising anna@portlandmonthly.comDirector Jane Stevens Advertising Executive jane@portlandmonthly.com Glenn Reeves Advertising Executive glenn@portlandmonthly.com Amy Moe Reynolds Customer Service Representative/ Graphic portlandadsDesigner@gmail.com Colin S. Sargent EAdvertising/ProductionDITORIAL Amy Louise Barnett Associate barnett@portlandmonthly.comPublisher Jason Hjort Publisher’s Assistant Webmaster Diane Hudson Calendar Flash Reviews Tim Greenway Contributing Photographer ACCOUNTING Alison Hills Controllerah@portlandmonthly.comINTERNS MacKenzie Rawcliffe, Emily K. Sears SUBSCRIPTIONS To subscribe please send your address and a check for $39 (1 yr.), $55 (2 yrs.), or $65 (3 yrs.) to Portland Magazine 722 Congress Street Portland ME 04102 or subscribe online at www.portlandmagazine.com Portland Magazine is published by Sargent Publishing, Inc. All correspondence should be addressed to 722 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04102. Advertising O ce: 722 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04102 (207) 775-4339. Repeat internet rights are understood to be purchased with all stories and artwork. For questions regarding advertising invoicing and payments, call Alison Hills. Newsstand Cover Date: Winterguide 2008, published in December 2007, Vol. 22, No. 10, copyright 2007. Portland Magazine is mailed at third-class mail rates in Portland, ME 04101 (ISSN: 1073-1857). Opinions expressed in articles are those of authors and do not represent editorial positions of Portland Magazine Letters to the editor are welcome and will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication and copyright purposes and as subject to Portland Magazine’s unre stricted right to edit and comment editorially. Responsible only for that portion of any advertisement which is printed incorrectly. Advertisers are responsible for copyrights of materials they submit. Nothing in this issue may be reprinted in whole or in part without written permission from the publishers. Submissions welcome, but we take no responsibility for unsolicited materials.

Jane Croteau, Naples

REMEMBERING RAYE I am writing about the article regarding the crash on Long Lake [“Night of the Shooting Stars,” December 2007]. Raye Trott was my dance partner at Bray’s. He’d swing me around, and we’d dance up a storm. He had very unique dance moves and was really fun to be with. Suzanne had just started working there, and a few nights before this all happened, he shared with me how they actually hooked up for the first time. I hadn’t seen him that happy since I’d known him. Lance and I were on the lake [the day of the crash] in our 22-foot Cape Dory, sailing as we usually do. We race on Saturdays up on the Harrison end. We would’ve been out that night, too–yes, we sail after dark with our running lights on. (In fact, my kids were away that weekend and when they heard about [the crash] in Massachusetts, they were terrified it was us until they called to see if we were okay.) But we’d had company coming, so we came home early [on August 11]. I have a personal interest in this story, and I want to commend you on your writing and what seems to be a fair and impartial evaluation of what happened that night. [Robert LaPointe] was in court today–had bail reduced, pled not guilty, of course. We have seen that boat many times on the lake. It does not belong on our lake. It is too big, too fast, and Long Lake is too congested with campers, swimmers, kayakers, [and so forth]. Thank you so much for doing this piece.

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372 Fore Street Portland, Maine 04101 207 874 www.forestreetgallery.com8084 Fore Street Portland, Winter 20” x 24” Oil on Canvas Paul Black Featuring original works of fine art, photography, and limited edition prints by regional and local artists. GAMBLE&PROCTORCOURTESYSTENBAK;JESSE LETTERS editor@portlandmonthly.com WINTERGUIDE 2008 13

Dale Holman, Malone Commercial Brokers, Portland SNOW, BY ANY OTHER NAME I’d like to suggest “pony snow” as a new word for snow [“White Lies,” December 2007]–the tiny, beady snow that just fills the air, but doesn’t amount to much. Casey N. Swan, Princeton Properties, Falmouth TRUTH WITH CONSEQUENCE When I saw the story by Eric Ellert, “Crash at Redbank” [December 2007], I had to stop everything and read it because, as some of us oldies know, it was a real incident. I remember it since I lived up on the hill on Westbrook Street. I look forward to reading more tales of local interest from this writer and others. Good choice of “fiction”!

• Loader, mower and backhoe options • 2-pedal HST or easy forward and reverse • Spacious operation area • 4-position control valve • Precise 1/4-inching valve • Smooth, comfortable ride TEST DRIVE ONE NOW At your local Kubota dealer! LETTERS editor@portlandmonthly.com 14 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE

PRIZE-WINNING MAINERS

I read with interest your article about Jane Spencer, who has won the Pulitzer for international reporting for the Wall Street Journal with her fellow bureau staff in China [“Orient Express,” December 2007]. Another Mainer won the same prize in 2003–Kevin Sullivan and his wife, Mary Jordan, [shared] the Pulitzer for their series about the Mexican justice system (or lack thereof!) as co-bureau chiefs of the Mexican bureau for the Washington Post Kevin moved to Brunswick in the third grade and graduated from Brunswick High School in 1977. Kevin and his wife are cobureau chiefs in London. [He] comes home to Maine at least once as year as his parents, Marg and Ed, still live [here]. Liz Armstrong, Topsham FINDING FENDI I’ll be giving a retail presentation to 500 colleagues at the Maine Real Estate & Devel opment Association [early in 2008]. I remem ber an article in Portland Magazine regarding why high-end retailers are not coming to Maine [“High End, Schmigh End,” July/Aug ust 2007]. This really hit home with me. Since [returning to] Maine four years ago I’ve been striving to get a Fashion Mall here. With your permission, I’d like to use this article in my presentation and I would repro duce copies as handouts.

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Pat Larrabee, Gray INTRIGUING PEOPLE Got the copies of the mag last week–looks

We love the cover of the November issue of Portland Monthly Magazine! We were wondering if it was possible to get a copy of the photo? We want to use the image for our visitor and member e newsletter. We’d like to showcase the photo with our text on our Copper Beech Tree Lighting event. Jacqueline Richardson, Portland Museum of Art MCGORRILL THE BRUCE

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, MEET IGOR

LETTERS great! [“The 10 Most Intriguing People in Maine,” November 2007, which includes an interview with Patrick Duddy, U. S. Ambassador to Venezuela]. Ambassador Duddy is thrilled to be able to send some to his family. I really appreciate the help, and best of luck with the publication. Makes me want to move to Maine! Ben Ziff, U.S. Embassy, Caracas, Venezuela

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editor@portlandmonthly.com

Enjoyed the [September 2007] issue of Portland magazine, especially your article on 33 Carroll Street [“West End Girl”]. I lived just around the corner. Real estate prices have certainly gone sky high. Bruce McGorrill and I were classmates at Deering, class of 1949. I remember him as a person of great enthusi asm and talent, and am not surprised as to his successful career. Lincoln and Mary Nell King, Carthage, Texas POETIC JUSTICE [Regarding your story] about James Lewisohn [“Where Are They Now?” Winterguide 2004], I studied with Jim at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York in 1956 and knew him and Roslyn quite well. I was wondering: Is he still alive, and could you give me a postage address or an e mail one so that I could be in touch with him? Rabbi Ezra M. Finkelstein, Rabmike@aol.com

I always enjoy your magazine for its beautiful photos and layout and for the interesting articles. I enjoy the ads, too! I found the [November] issue particularly intriguing. Talented stage actor Chris Fitzgerald, from South Portland and now on Broadway, was a fellow student at Rollins College in Florida. Actor Chris O’Donnell’s (also featured in same issue) wife Carolyn Fentress was also a student at Rollins at the same time. Thanks for the alumni updates! K. Scott Andrews, Portland LET IT SHINE

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Constance McCatherin Silver, Deering High ‘58, was born in “a little ‘plumbing-free’ cottage on Sebago Lake.” Now social worker, she and husband Martin, a blood-products executive, have donated $50 million for New York University’s McSilver Institute Policy and Poverty Research, “because it’s the right thing to do.” She’s still a frequent visitor to Portland to visit her mom at the Park Danforth.

Now a Mattel action figure retailing at $14.99: Harpswell’s Patrick Dempsey as Robert Philip, in Disney’s romantic comedy Enchanted Collector’s item? On eBay, the doll is offered with the traditional black suit and khaki trenchcoat for $33 with shipping, though the doll is also available from one seller as “Nude, mint,” for the buy-it-now price of $14.95. No word on what happened to the clothing. Westbrook’s Scotty Too Hotty is another Mainer enshrined in the action-figure pantheon, though the eBay values have slipped below $5 each. If you know of any other Mainer to go plastic, e-mail us dolls-excuseme-actionfigures@portlandmonthly.comat

VintageClothes

Visit maineoutdoors.com for links to unusual excursions, some of which put the wow into bow-wow. For example, slide, for $925 per person, into the “Three-Day Learn-to-Mush package at the Telemark Inn…three half-days of driving a six-dog team, three nights lodging, all meals, snowshoeing, wood-fired sauna, and all the dogs you can pet for three days.” By Skijoringcontrast,isaBYODaffair.

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Constance McCatherin Silver, Deering High ‘58, was born in “a little ‘plumbing-free’ cottage on Sebago Lake.” Now a social worker, she and husband Martin, a blood-products executive, have donated $50 million for New York University’s McSilver Institute for Policy and Poverty Research, “because it’s the right thing to do.” She’s still a frequent visitor to Portland to visit her mom at the Park Danforth.

Recently selling on eBay for $20.49: a uniform cuff button from “the Rumford Falls extension of the Portland and Rumford Falls Railway…inaugurated on Monday morning–August 1, 1892,” an item inherited by Paul Smith of Waterville 25 years ago. Crowds lined the tracks to cheer. BTW, what future relic will you be wearing to attend the groundbreaking of Olympia Pier?

The Hepplewhite showpiece was snapped up “at auction at Christie’s for $5,040,” according to curator Laurie LaBar, a steal “at half the budgeted price” because of a broken leg and a generally weathered aspect. Under closer examination, many secrets were unearthed, including a perfectly comIf you build it, they will slalom. Approved, by the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission: Saddleback’s splashy new year-round resort village which, when completed, will add nine lifts to the already sprawling 8,000-acre attraction. Amenities will include “Indoor pool, spa, and fitness center; tubing park; and tennis courts,” according to SkiRacing, the Journal of Snowsport Competition–everything crafted in an “environmentally conscious” manner. Pictured below is the lovely timber-frame lodge that has already been constructed as a launching pad for the improvements, which may culminate in “continued real estate offerings, two inns, a hotel, village amenities, additional lift and trail systems, and two day lodges,” according to SkiRacing Visit www.saddlebackmaine.com. At Bangor’s UMaine Museum of Art: “Esso,” by Stephen Etnier. “It was in the Vincent A. Hartgen show because it was acquired during his tenure here,” says the museum’s Kathryn Jovanelli. But it was so popular, “we’ve decided to keep it up until our spring shows in April,” she says. Now that’s a gas.

Side by Sideboard

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passed Gothic window etched into the base and a label inside with provenance to “the honorable Thomas Rice of Wiscasset” a former Massachusetts representative from before Maine’s independence. Enter Antiques Roadshow’s Leslie Keno, who tells us the now-fully-restored relic is “powerful in terms of folk expression,” with “the great center section with the tambour slides. The crotch-figured mahogany,” he adds, is “very rare.” –Nial C. DeMena

Thank the Maine State Museum’s Heritage Fund, composed of private donations to collect Maine treasures, for its newest addition for public viewing: an old Federal Period sideboard circa 1795 that’s been gorgeously restored and is now the toast of the Blaine House in Augusta.

Fat Tuesday Since New Orleans’s Cajuns started out as Acadians up here, Mainers share the right to celebrate Fat Tuesday. “Lobsters followed the exiles, too, but they shrunk heading south and turned into crawfish,” legend has it–a perfect tidbit to toss around at the 13th annual WMPG Gumbo Cookoff February 5 at USM’s Woodbury Campus Center.

18 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE CHOWDER a tasty blend of the fabulous, noteworthy, and absurd

MUSEUM;STATEMAINECONGRESS;OFLIBRARYWITKOWSKI;ROBERTRAWCLIFFE;MACKENZIEREYNOLDS;LOUISEAMYART;OFMUSEUMMAINEULEFT:TOPFROMCLOCKWISEN WINTERGUIDE 2008 19

What a blast: A granite cliff was dynamited last summer during construction of the new Penobscot Narrows Bridge , and since then, cars have slowed down as drivers gaze in wonder at the giant footprint (above) previously hidden in the stone. According to Rich Hewitt’s coverage in the Bangor Daily News, “Alvion and Cindy Kimball of Orland have suggested that the footprint is a remnant from an old American Indian legend surrounding the spirit Glooscap and how he tamed the winds around the Penobscot Bay area.” True to form, Glooscap wasn’t the type to take baby steps.

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Not only is Young Frankenstein lighting up Broadway–the two Portland actors starring in it are grabbing the best press. The New York Times’s Ben Brantley writes: “Christopher Fitzgerald [Igor] is a gifted singing comic,” and “Andrea Martin…makes the role of Frau Blucher all her own with artful exaggeration.”

It’s not as though Andy Verzosa’s leading a double life. Think triple or quadruple. “He’s still the owner of the gallery here in Portland; he comes here for openings and is very much involved,” says Aucocisco Gallery director Virginia Sassman. “But he’s also just been named gallery director at Silvermine Guild Art Center in New Canaan, Connecticut, a guild of about 300 artists with changing exhibitions.” Through its 84year history, Silvermine has helped launch talents from Milton Avery to Merce Cunningham. “I do the art gallery here,” Verzosa says from Connecticut. “Our juried show, ‘Out of the Northeast,’ will feature work from Maine to Pennsylvania, so my ties to Maine will be great for Maine artists, some of whom I’ll be encouraging directly to participate. “At Aucocisco, thanks to Hugh French’s [The Tides Institute] and Alden Wilson’s [formerly of the Maine Arts Commission] dream of cross-border initiatives with the Canadian maritimes, we’re doing a Bernard Langlais show in collaboration with the artist’s estate and the Province of New Brunswick–actually launching that program. We’re also doing a book project/exhibition of Todd Webb’s New York and Paris photographs with University of Maine Press and the University of Maine Museum of Art, so it’s all pretty exciting.” E-mail andyverzosa@silvermineart.org.

Where’s Andy?

From Table Wines to Wines for the Connoisseur, we have it all! 432Fore Street ~ Portland, Maine 04101 ~ 772-9463 Quality Service, Wine, and Gifts, the Way Life Should Be! Old Port WineOld Port Wine Walk-In Cigar Humidor CMYCYMYCMYMCK PomBrunCyg-adv-fp.pdf 10/22/07 6:01:35 PM 20 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE CHOWDER a tasty blend of the

They’re Alive!

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)(SMERICACROSSROADWAYBOTTOM:TOTOPBAAEATTLE3NORTHERNOUTDOORS;COURTESYOFSILVERMINEGUILDARTSCENTER W INTER G UIDE 2008 21 fabulous, noteworthy, and absurd How do they groom the trails at the highest snowmobile run in Maine? The old-fashioned way! Pictured: Jim Yearwood of Northern Outdoors, trailmaster at The Forks, winches a Tucker Terra Sno-Cat groomer up the final pitch to the peak of Colburn Mountain, elevation 3,750 feet. Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter says, “Andrea Martin brilliantly camps it up,” and “Christopher Fitzgerald nearly manages the impossible task of erasing memories of Marty Feldman as the humpbacked Igor.” Variety’s David Rooney calls both actors “Standouts.” Well, they always were, in our WG08 16-21 Chowder.indd 21 12/12/07 4:54:34 PM

Okay, these may be the dark ages. But there’s a rosy light at the end of the tunnel–Valentine’s Day–and we’ve had the cupidity to assemble some of the best sweetheart deals around to warm both heart and soul on February 14. Because despite the cold, or blushingly because of it, Maine is for lovers, too. A MY HAVEL

GETAWAYS 22 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE NVISION/CORBISE© & & SSouloul

27 Romantic Getaways for the Ultimate Valentine’s Day!

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27 Romantic Getaways for the Ultimate Valentine’s Day!

20 Milk Street, Portland, 774-4200, theregency.com

“The atmosphere [in this landmark Federal mansion, built in 1812 and host to guests including Vanessa Williams] really lends to romance,” says Deneen Bernier, “with whirlpool tubs for two, luxurious linens, heated marble floors in the baths, and gas fireplaces. There’s a rich three-course breakfast each morning, and a great number of gifts to celebrate a romantic weekend. Our day spa offers Swedish massage, reflexology, and facials in an environment that allows couples to do that together.”

The Couple’s Romantic Getaway includes breakfast in bed, champagne, and chocolates, starting at $199. “A one-hour couple’s Swedish massage can be added to the package for $155,” says Ezben Gerado–worth every penny. Insiders make sure to request the alcove table in the hotel’s restaurant–Twenty Milk Street–for candlelit dining. Manager Jared Laflin says, “We have a special Valentine’s Day menu–we try to change it every year. It feels like you’re at home.”

308 Howe Hill Road, Greenwood, 875-5000, skimtabram.com

220 Warrenton Street, Rockport, 594-2511, samosetresort.com

33 Island Avenue, Peaks Island, 766-5100, innonpeaks.com. “We have $199 specials through the spring: one night for two people, including a $75 voucher to use in The Pub,” says Chris Gordon, general manager and executive chef. “For Valentine’s weekend, our rooms will have chocolate-covered strawberries and champagne. We’ll have dinner specials for two for the weekend, for people who want to come over to celebrate Valentine’s Day.” The inn’s six cottage-style luxury guest rooms feature Jacuzzis, cozy fireplaces, sunny sitting rooms, DVD/TV entertainment centers, Wi-Fi, private decks, and skyline views of Portland ($175-$225). In-room or spa massages cost an additional $45-$140. “It’s beautiful to take the boat over here. Leave all your headaches in Portland, come out, and unwind.”

When you visit the Eastland Park Hotel [built in 1927, with Charles Lindbergh an early guest], dazzle your date with a Valentine’s Day toast on Portland’s highest rooftop lounge, the Top of the East. On V-Day, “our oversized king room or junior suites include champagne, six large chocolate strawberries, and parking (from $139),” says Carol Henigan. Also try out the 157 Café and Bar: “We have a prix-fixe menu as well as the regular menu,” says executive chef Jeff Souter. Celebrity guests include Julia Roberts.

5. 3. 1. 8. 4. 9. 7. WINTERGUIDE 2008 23 (Continued on page 78)NVISION/CORBIS©E

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“Marcel’s is the recipient of Wine Spectator’s award of excel lence–triple-A four-diamond rated–as is the resort.”

Then there’s the extraordinary Engagement Package, “Isn’t It Romantic?” Rose petals are scattered on your bed at turndown. A one-night stay for two in a hot-tub suite, with chilled bottle of champagne, souvenir champagne glasses, dinner for two in Marcel’s, and breakfast for two in Marcel’s starts at $392. 6 Pleasant Street, Kennebunkport, 967-3141, captainlord.com

Some of the hottest spots in Maine can be found on the wintry coast, if romance for two is in the cards. Eric Frederecksen says, “We have brand-new bedding, triple sheeting, and private balconies overlooking the ocean.”

Not only does Hartstone Inn feature elegant rooms and a restau rant run by an international-award-winning chef, they special ize in cuisine-oriented vacation packages, like the two-night Gourmet Getaway ($220-$440) and Cooking Class weekends ($265-$505). Or check out the Food for Foodies getaway: the ultimate treat for the die-hard “Camdengourmet.isagreat place for a romantic winter getaway,” says co-owner Mary Joe Rink. “We always have a big Valentine’s dinner. My husband [chef Michael Salmon] has an extensive collection of antique chocolate molds–he does a display and he uses them the whole month of February. “We just built a new spa, so massage packages are available. We’ve tried to create a property that offers all the amenities so our guests can relax by the fireplace and soak in the jacuzzi, only leaving their room for a delicious dinner. We’ll shake a martini for them and they can just relax.”

The Romance on the Coast Package includes two nights of luxurious accommodations, a candlelight dinner for two, and breakfast for two in Marcel’s overlooking Penobscot Bay.

If one day is simply not enough time to express your undying love, experience V-Day almost every day of February at the Captain Lord Mansion–the Romantic Weekend Package is available all month (except for President’s Day and Valentine’s Day weekends). Goodies include a special welcome gift, a split of champagne, chocolate truffles, heart-shaped soap, and a CD of romantic instrumental music ($249 per night per couple, two-night minimum). All-inclusive Romantic Midweek Packages start at $189 per night per couple. Or buy a Valentine’s Day gift certificate to use “anytime the spirit moves you.”

Jane Smith touts “gourmet dinners each night, a hearty breakfast each morning,” and a gourmet dinner dance Saturday night with the Carl Reppucci Jazz Quartet. The new spa offers a 60-minute couple’s massage for $200. This secluded seaside chateau is the perfect win ter hideaway. “We have a quiet intimate atmosphere with a wood-burning fireplace in the lobby that really makes it quite romantic,” Smith says. But the knock out punch is the line of romantic tables set against the windows with incredible views of the harbor and Boon Island.

8 Stage Neck Road, York Harbor (800) 340-1130, stageneck.com

5092 Access Road, Carrabassett Valley, 237-2000, sugarloaf.com You don’t have to be a skier (or even recent guests Elizabeth Shue or Glenn Close) to love these sweetheart packages–”Even the hotel room colors are kind of like Valentine’s Day,” says Julie Bolduc–with dining at the Shipyard Brewhaus or Double DiamondSki-and-StaySteakhouse.packages start at $69 per person in condos, $79 per person at Sugarloaf Inn, and $89 at Sugarloaf Mountain Hotel. These include lodging, daily lift tickets, health-club privileges for condo/Inn guests or hotel-spa privileges for hotel guests, and a daily complimentary adult Perfect Turn ski clinic.

With a chilled bottle of champagne or fresh fruit plate to complete the picture, the Samoset can be the perfect retreat for loving couples, including frequent guests John Travolta and Kelly Preston. Ocean-view room $416/garden-view room $376.

If your Valentine is part of the sporty set, what better treat than some sweet time on the slopes? Located just five minutes from Bethel, Mt. Abram offers a wide variety of terrain on 44 trails, plus stupendous views of Mt. Washington and the Lakes Region. Lift tickets are 2-for-1 ($36) Thursdays and Fridays. Try the 1325’ tubing park (the longest in Maine) or the crosscountry loop through the woods. 769 Congress Street, Portland, 773-9873, theromacafe.com “Every lady who dines with us receives a flower on the night of February 14,” says Peter Landrigan, owner of “The Most Romantic Restaurant” in Portland, where all six dining rooms of this 1887 brick Victorian palace will be devoted to couples. “We’ll serve three-course meals with a choice of 10 entrées and a choice of desserts,” says Landrigan. He recommends reserv ing in advance. “A week before, we’ll be fully booked [even Bob Dylan has touched down at this sentimental landmark], and we’ll have to turn away about 500 people.” This retreat is perched on a stunning peninsula above the York River as it flows into the sea. On Valentine’s Weekend (February 15-17), enjoy the Lover’s Resort Package ($652-$690 per couple).

41 Elm Street, Camden, www.hartstoneinn.com236-4259, Is your significant other a fabulous foodie or a wannabe chef?

The Eastland Park Hotel 157 High Street, Portland, 775-5411, eastlandparkhotel.com

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WINTERGUIDE 2008 25 From premier properties to bargain bungalows, everything’s up for grabs in a buyer’s market. BY COLIN SARGENTSOTHEBY’GENCYSHETWANASNTERNATIONALREALTY WG08 24-35 Hi-Low.indd 25 12/12/07 7:36:33 PM

26 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE PORTFOLIO WG08 24-35 Hi-Low.indd 26 12/12/07 7:36:41 PM

Taxes are $28,622.

Mars and Cloud, who are spending a lot of time in Florida now, “are so into the Bar Harbor mystique that Seascape is an amalgamation of the best parts of their other properties,” Swan says, “as well as their own hopes to capture the ideal frame for this view.”

Boldly facing the ocean at 10 South Graff Road in Bar Harbor, this 4,632-square-foot landmark has “four generous bedrooms and luxurious bathrooms in the main house, and two bedrooms and bath in the adjacent Carriage House” for guests.

$3.5BarSEASCAPEHarbormillion WINTERGUIDE 2008 27 )(REALTYINTERNATIONALEBY’SSOTHAGENCYSWANTHECOURTESYKIMSWAN,2885818,KIM.SWAN@SWANAGENCY.COM WG08 24-35 Hi-Low.indd 27 12/12/07 7:36:45 PM

Imagine brushing about in your own “Seascape.” Offering startling views of Frenchman Bay and the Porcupine Islands, Seascape is a picture-perfect stone fantasy crafted in 2000 by Balance Rock Inn owners Mike Mars and Nancy Cloud “to hearken back to Bar Harbor’s cottage era,” says listing agent Kim Swan of The Swan Agency, a Sotheby’s International Realty affiliate.

“It’s an entertainment dream,” she says, “with a grand living room, dining room, media room, and library.” But it’s the covered porch defined by picturesque turrets that will knock guests out, because this slice of shoreline between Sol’s Cliff and Compass Harbor absolutely wins the plaid rabbit. Views of the luxury Cunard liners QM2 and QE2 as they shimmer into port here are routine. “It’s like those cruise ships are docked right in front of your house, just hanging out. It’s amazing.” Now that’s curb appeal. “You are very, very close to the ocean, and the sellers wanted to have this feeling that there’s no obstruction between you and the ocean from, say, a hot tub.” Having the covered deck closed off in glass almost bottles the summer for fortunate guests. “They’ve been using it as a weekly rental for the last two or three years. It’s always filled up, and it’s expensive–$8,500 per week at the peak of summer. This is without doubt the best view on the island, looking out at the Porcupines. This is Bar Harbor. I grew up on that side of Bar Harbor, I’ve lived there all my life. You see [Acadia National] Park Land and George P. Dorr’s old summer place. You can go out into this 10 times and you still find yourself stopping short and saying, “Holy moly.”

T he year is 1917, and Starboard Lane, with its sunken rose garden, pergolas, and slate terrace, has just been carved out of York Harbor’s granite seashore above Harbor Beach. Lookout nooks hewn into stone offer views of the harbor’s mouth and beyond it, the Atlantic. With your Stutz Bearcat parked by the pool out front, World War I is a worldNinety-oneaway. years later, it’s the Iraq War that seems far away. And Starboard Lane is for sale, two restorations later, for $8.95 million.

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“It was built for the Reid family; he was a big New York banker on Wall Street,” says listing agent John Scribner, of LandVest’s Portland office. “Members of the Reid family still live in the neighborhood, across the“Chrisstreet. Connors, the seller, a former bond trader on Wall Street who’s lived here four or five years, took out the tennis court–there are plenty of tennis courts available in the immediate area–and put in the granite swimming pool in 2002. He lives in Maine full time now–his wife is from northern Maine–and he loves fixing beautiful places like this. In fact, he’s just bought the old Spencer Estate, a Tudor house in

PORTFOLIO 28 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE

Nobody ever asks for a World War I kitchen. “The kitchen has the latest and greatest of all the stuff, with slate and hard wood floors, marble counters, window seat, Viking stove plus grill with hood and double oven, Viking 48-inch refrigerator, two Viking dishwashers, and a Viking beverage cooler. Accent lighting makes everything seem even more spacious,” Scribner says. “All of the house operating systems are circa 2002.” Taxes are $29,208.

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Boothbay built in the early 1900s, to restore as his primary residence. He also owns some property in Northeast Harbor. But he’s really become part of the community here and been generous with his philanthropy, including getting involved with York Fire/ Rescue as a volunteer. He’s also donated to the police department”–it’s very much noticed in the area that “beyond just head ing to the art museum,” Connors organizes his gifts around the area’s greatest needs. Here at Starboard Lane, “visitors love the stunning wallpaper going up the wind ing staircase” on the main entertaining floor, “and because the house is perched like a cap tain’s home, the wallpaper’s nautical theme captures the sense of early shipping on the York“ButRiver.my favorite place has got to be the stone terrace,” Scribner says. “You walk in the big front door and see the spiral staircase with water views. But then you step onto the blue stone terrace and you’re swept up in all the waterfront activity on the York River, and it’s Therebreathtaking.”areechoesof the mansion’s origi nal owners “in the deep basement, where the stone grotto room has a huge roaring fireplace where the Reid children used to come in from the beach and wash up before coming into the house. You can see where the remnants of the shower used to be.” Throughout the house, fantasy touches like coppered sinks in the butler’s pantry, radiant-floor heat in the sunroom, paneled walls and two fireplaces in the 35-foot-long living room with double glass doors to the stone terrace, and four built-in cedar closets in the master bedroom suite are there to make you feel suitably beautiful and damned. The 1.2-acre lot is bordered by a “13-foot stone wall going around the place.” Adding to the castellated drama, “Chris put some gar goyles out there.” There’s also a garden house with pergola off the swimming pool with “stonewall doorway, slate floor, and a sink.”

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Douglas Green, designer Green Design Furniture Company –the destination for serious collectors of contemporary American Visitfurniture.ourshowroom in Portland’s historic Old Port to experience the innovative design and elegance of our artisancrafted furniture. Browse our virtual showroom on the web or call for a free catalog to discover our entire home and ofﬁce collection.

Picturesque yachting traffic swarms around this hideaway all summer long, while “an underground cable to the mainland” keeps you and your guests eminently plugged-in. First inhabited by Native Americans, Fisherman Island became home to “colonial settlers…in the 1600s as a fishing outpost,” Saint-Amour says, “but it was abandoned in 1675 at the start of King Philip’s war.”

30 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE

With no fewer than 12,000 feet of shorefront surrounding rolling meadows, wild rose bushes, and granite ledges, “this airy retreat has commanding 360-degree views of the mainland, several lighthouses, and the surrounding Atlantic Ocean,” Saint-Amour says.

n 1929, just before the Stock Market plunge, Greystones Hall, styled after a medieval Scottish manor, was constructed on the highest point of 68-acre Fisherman Island off Boothbay with Gatsbyesque elan. Today, the 68-acre island and seven-bedroom stone mansion together are for sale for $7.25Intrigued?million. You’re in good company.

A very early original structure still stands out here, too, an “historic fisherman’s cottage…a wood-frame cape with ell in need of total restoration” that dates to the 1700s. But it is Greystones Hall that captures everyone’s fancy. On the first floor, “the stone ‘chapel entrance’ opens to a large great room…with cathedral ceiling and handhewn beams, a massive stone fireplace, interior stone walls, and many windows providing magnificent views of the sur-

The Fine Living Network recently named Fisherman Island the No. 1 summer destination in “You’reAmerica.right at the mouth of Boothbay Harbor, with incredible views in every direction,” says John Saint-Amour of LandVest Luxury Real Estate’s Portland office.

IPORTFOLIO

GREYSTONES HALL AND ALL FISHERMANOF ISLAND $7.25Boothbaymillion WG08 24-35 Hi-Low.indd 30 12/12/07 7:37:11 PM

• www.greendesigns.com • Portland, ME

Centuries later, Victorian and Edwardian visitors would feel as though they’d discovered the exquisite sand beach out here, as well as The Hypocrites islands to the east, “a small pair of rocky outcroppings which are also part of the parcel, as well as the home to many families of seals.”

Cutting-Edge Classic

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Saint-Amour says, and by now you get the drill. Every airy fishermen’s retreat needs a “gourmet kitchen with a large center island with granite countertop, a professional–grade Viking 6-burner gas range with copper hood, Sub-Zero refrigerator, soapstone sink, a walk-in pantry, and a large built-in china cabinet. The sun-drenched kitchen is also highlighted by two sets of French doors and a rear staircase that provides access to the second level.” This is truly roughing it after the manner of Teddy Roosevelt, or maybe William Randolph Hearst. While the kids play Dungeons & Dragons, you can practice surf casting down the “long center hall, 54 feet in length, which offers entry to the master-bedroom suite…with water views and a master bath that includes a steam shower and an adjoining dressing room withIncludingsauna.”

)(RUBICAMLANDVEST/STEVECOURTESYJOHNSAINTAMOUR,8746160,JSAINTAMOUR@LANDVEST.COM

rounding sea. The great room also features a bay window with diamond-pane leaded-glass windows, a window seat with builtin bookcases, a staircase leading to a small balcony just above the entry, and a powder room. “The dining area has a fieldstone fireplace and a paintedwood-beamed-ceiling,”

the 1998-vintage “guest house or caretaker cottage” (with its own vaulted ceilings) located steps away from the mansion, as well as the estate’s heated saltwater Gunite swimming pool, furnishings in all the buildings, a pier and float fronting deepwater anchorage, a 25-foot Parker cabin fiberglass power boat, a 21-foot Parker, a tractor, and a John Deere riding mower, you’re good to go out here for some wonderful family gatherings–not to mention inviting Sean Connery and the entire League of Extraordinary Gentlemen over for a splash of 18-year-old single-malt Glenfiddich. Taxes are $38,311.

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Nothing says I love you like the perfect waterfront cottage below $200,000 C oast along Main Street through Lubec (pop. 1,652) as it juts into island-studded Johnson Bay at Canada’s doorstep. “Go past the Quick Shop and then continue up the hill,” says United Country Bold Coast Realty broker Debbie Holmes. “When you hit Eureka Street, you’ll know you’ve found it.”

32 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE PORTFOLIO

BY MACKENZIE RAWCLIFFE & EMILY K. SEARS

Heading down the side of a hill, with sweeping views of Cobscook Bay to your left and Campobello Island to your right, this stark red three-bedroom cape, built for a sardine-factory worker “in 1900,” sits pretty with soaring water views, hardwood floors, wood paneling, white shutters, sturdy basement with forced-hot-air furnace, and a screened porch that’s almost dizzy with dazzling views of Johnson Bay and “MostEastport.ofthefactory homes around here don’t have views of the water–they worked on the water every day, so they didn’t care about seeing it,” says Holmes. Now that their business has become our pleasure, the ocean is a more precious commodity. “They don’t make more waterfront,” she deadpans. “The sunsets [see photo] are absolutely spectacular.” Not to mention the cultural resurgence here include Summer Keys performances in the nearby congregational church that are so vibrant “you can probably hear it from the porch.” Taxes are $722.82.

5 Eureka Street, 720 sq. ft. Debbie Holmes, United Country Bold Coast Realty, 733-4344, www.boldcoast.net.

$169,900LUBEC WG08 24-35 Hi-Low.indd 32 12/12/07 7:37:42 PM

“They don’t make more waterfront. The sunsets are absolutely spectacular.”

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Yes this reallyis the view!

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38 Chucks Drive, Andrew F. Mooers, Mooers Realty, 532-6573, mooersrealty.com

Justin King and Paul Iossa, Iossa Real Estate, 497-2818, jonesport.com/iossarealestate.html.

34 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE

$159,900WESTON

P ast the sign that reads “Million Dollar View” on Route 1 in Weston (pop. 198), go down the hill and make a right. That’s Deering Lake out there in front of you. The house is the rustic modified ranch on deadended Chucks Drive with a wraparound deck hanging over the water. “It’s a four-bedroom, one-bath cottage with woodplanked bar and knotty pine cabinets in the kitchen, the perfect place to call home year round,” says Andrew Mooers of Mooers Realty in Houlton. “To me, it’s just rural enough but not Mayberry. People wave at you; you don’t have to lock your doors. Best of all, you’re in the front-row seat. The stars are brilliant and the lake is clear.” Taxes are $1,134.

HYPNOTIC picketjustJonesport,CHARM:$195,000…addthewhitefence. $195,000JONESPORT

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n Jonesport (pop. 1,408), turn left after Stewart Gas Station and left again at the stop sign. Passing Church’s True Value, keep going for another mile, and turn right,” says Justin King of Iossa Realty. A forgotten sardine cannery, now “Commercial Lobster Wharf,” fills the sky to the left. To the right, everything’s coming up blue. Fronting Moosabec Reach is a “small gray cottage originally owned by a gentleman who worked on one of the sardine“That’sboats.Beals Island right in front of you. This is the best spot for watching the World’s Fastest Lobster Boat Race,” King says. The two-bedroom, one-bath abode was built in the 1940s and still has an “old-style kitchen with beadboard cabinets, a window overlooking the water, and pine floors in the living room. It’s right in the heart of town,” says Paul Iossa of Iossa Realty. Not only that, it’s also “in the boating district–you ought to see it at night.” Taxes are $709, with owner-financing possible.

Billy Majors, Water’s Edge Realty, 546-7581, werealty.net

“If you tear down the structure, it would be up to the planning board to find the most desirable area to rebuild–they may recommend the structure moved further back from the water. And there might be shorefront setback issues pertaining to bird migration. If you satisfy all the zoning issues and didn’t enlarge the property, you could probably build on the original footprint.” Hey, don’t hate this place because it’s beautiful. Taxes are $604.80.

T here’s only one main road into Lubec, and only one way out,” broker Debbie Holmes explains. “Now, continue straight up the hill past the Quick Shop, take a right onto Sommersville Avenue, and drive until the pavement ends.” Keep going. “Surrounded by apple trees near the top of the hill, this white clapboard cape with black shutters, built in the late 1800s, is our next stop.”

F rom AddisonsouthFalls,ColumbiaturnontoRoad.

Even if there’s only one way out, once you’ve seen this private historic home on the edge of the world, you may never leave.

The seller, William Herrick of New Hampshire, is an unsuccessful flipper who bought the house six months ago and wants out. “I live virtually in another time zone. This project is for someone else.”

Taxes are $922.12. Hamilton Street, 1,080 sq. ft., .17 acres. Debbie Holmes, United Country Bold Coast Realty, 733- 4344, www.boldcoast.net

Built in 1900, this two-bedroom home off West Main Street in Jonesport on the harbor side of the road–has a bay window, shingle siding, and hardwood floors,” says Bill Milliken of Jonesport Realty. The wraparound deck takes in the view “from the western limits of our harbor, out to the ocean beyond the islands.” There’s a lot of history in here. “One previous resident of the house took advantage of this view to watch for her husband coming home from the sea where he served on Seguin Island Light during World War II and later as a lobsterman,” broker Julie Farris says. Taxes are $1,155.

REALTYMOOERSKENNEDY;CHRISTYREALTY;JONESPORTREALTY;COASTBOLDCOUNTRYUNITEDREALTY;IOSSALEFT:TOPFROMCLOCKWISE

Clam Shell Lane is off this road, to the left,” Billy Majors of Water’s Edge Realty in Machias says. “You can’t miss it…” This one-story white ranch at water’s edge enjoys stunning views of Pleasant River as it spills into Pleasant Bay. “Thirty years ago, this place was a clam shack. You’d come in here to buy and sell clams [wholesale].” He goes silent. “Look–there’s no deck, no dock, there’s indoor/ outdoor carpeting throughout–even in the kitchen and bathroom–just yucky.” He does not elaborate on the “wood paneling and white vinyl siding.” Still, you’ve got to think long and hard about heaven’s half-acre with 95 feet of waterfront for $45,000. Majors says, “There’s no furnace. It’s something you’d have to put in,” but the listing sheet indicates a wood stove and fireplace, with “unknown” insulation.

48 West Main Street, 2 BR, 2 BA, .28 acres. Bill Milliken, Jonesport Realty, 497-5725, jonesportrealty.com

Asked about improvements or a teardown, code enforcement officer John Matzilevich says, “If a home is grandfathered and is nonconforming [as this house is], as long as you’re not adding more than 30 percent square footage or volume to the property you can make modifications.

There’s a sense of cloister here, and privacy, until you see the ocean looking through your“There’swindow.Johnson Bay to the south, and Campobello Island, West Quoddy Head, and Sparkplug Light out in Lubec Channel.” Holmes admires this two-bedroom family homestead for its “hardwood floors and an open floor plan downstairs.” And then there are the bells from one or more of the four churches built up here so close to eternity: “I’ve been [here] at noontime and heard beautiful chimes.”

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JONESPORT$169,500

$45,000ADDISON$98,500LUBEC

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36 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE ON THE R O AD Talk about the horns of a dilemma–those dark silhouettes along Maine’s roads at night may be moose or deer en route to a date with your windshield. BY CATHY GENTHER WG08 36-39 Moose copy.indd 36 12/17/07 8:35:41 AM

DEPARTSTATE,OFSECRETARYOFOFFICEILDLIFE,&ISHERIESOFENTDEPARTWITHCOOPERATIONINUNICATIONSCOOFOFFICEDOTMAINEBYDESIGNEDOFCOURTESYSTATISTICSANDGRAPHS,TABLES,ILLUSTRATION,MMMNLANDFWMENT AUTHORITYTURNPIKEAINETHEANDSAFETY,PUBLICOFM W INTERGUIDE 2008 37

“All I remember seeing was a giant black eye on my windshield,” he says. “I hit the moose; it came into my windshield, bounced up over the cab, and then bounced off my left fender. It was a surreal moment. My windshield was shattered, but it didn’t shatter into a million pieces. It stayed together and encased me. The impact was so hard it blew my stereo on my seat. “I rubbed my face and didn’t remember if I was dead or not. It stunk like moose guts–at that point, I knew I’d hit the animal. My engine was ruined and my truck had come to a stop on the breakdown lane. I remem ber trying to get out almost before I realized I was alive.”

that morning, MADAWASKA ASHLAND HOULTON MEDWAY GREENVILLERANGELEYJACKMAN BAR HARBOR PORTLAND KITTERY 201 201A 20 1 103 26 5 27 16 9 21 161 MILLINOCKET EASTPORT RUMFORD FRYEBURGYEBURGSANFORDSANFORD ELLSWORTH BANGOR AUGUSTA ROCKLAND ANIMAL/VEHICLE CRASHES SINGLE CRASH LOCATION TWO (sameFOUR(sameTHREE(sameCRASHESlocation)CRASHESlocation)ORMORECRASHESlocation) 705030(MPH)SPEED 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750FT REACTION DISTANCE BRAKING DISTANCE Source:AASHTO Geometric Design of Highways and Streets UNDER IDEAL DAYTIME DRIVING CONDITIONS, THE CHART BELOW SHOWS REACTION AND BRAKING DISTANCES AT 30, 50 AND 70 MILES PER HOUR. MADAWASKA ASHLAND HOULTON MEDWAY GREENVILLERANGELEYJACKMAN 201 201 100 11 161 100 19 MILLINOCKET EASTPORT RUMFORD ELLSWORTH BANGOR AUGUSTA ANIMAL/VEHICLE CRASHES SINGLE CRASH LOCATION TWO (sameFOUR(sameTHREE(sameCRASHESlocation)CRASHESlocation)ORMORECRASHESlocation) 705030(MPH)SPEED 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750FT REACTION DISTANCE BRAKING DISTANCE Source:AASHTO Geometric Design of Highways and Streets UNDER IDEAL DAYTIME DRIVING CONDITIONS, THE CHART BELOW SHOWS REACTION AND BRAKING DISTANCES AT 30, 50 AND 70 MILES PER HOUR. WG08 36-39 Moose copy.indd 37 12/17/07 8:37:22 AM

It was 4 a.m. on Memorial Day 1992 as Tim Perry, 18, of Westbrook, was driving to work at Hannaford in Wells. He’d just graduated from high school and had his whole life in front of him. Unfortunately, what flickered in front of his truck now as he passed the Biddeford exit was the shadow of a deadly cow moose.

A state trooper who’d seen the accident started yanking on Perry’s truck door to get him out. Perry and the interior of his truck were bathed in blood and entrails–even his bag cell phone was filled up. “I got in the trooper’s vehicle and called my parents,” Perry said, but not for long. “The trooper was very nice, but as I was sitting in his car he told me I was really grimy and that maybe I could go and stink on the hood of his car instead,” says Perry. Miraculously, “I only suffered a chipped tooth. Earlier

IF A CRASH IS UNAVOIDABLE… • Apply the brakes • Let up on the brake just before impact • Aim to hit the tail end of the animal if possible • Duck to minimize injury MOOSE COLLISIONS WITH VEHICLES YEAR NO. OF CRASHES FATALITIES 2006 643 2 2005 667 1 2004 704 4 2003 618 3 2002 684 2 2001 754 1 2000 636 3 1999 675 1 1998 858 5 1997 648 0 1996 619 3 1995 596 3 DEER COLLISIONS WITH VEHICLES YEAR NO. OF CRASHES FATALITIES 2006 2870 0 2005 2820 1 2004 3234 1 2003 3367 0 2002 3816 1 2001 3967 0 2000 3940 0 1999 4423 2 1998 4517 0 1997 4365 0 1996 3293 0 1995 3203 0 COOPERATIONINCOMMUNICATIONSOFOFFICEDOTBYDESIGNEDOFCOURTESYSTATISTICSANDGRAPHS,TABLES,RAWCLIFFE;MACKENZIEPHOTO:MAINE AUTHORITYTURNPIKEMAINETHEANDSAFETY,PUBLICOFDEPARTMENTSTATE,OFSECRETARYOFOFFICEILDLIFE,&ISHERIESOFDEPARTMENTWITHINLANDFW O N THE RO AD 38 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE WG08 36-39 Moose copy.indd 38 12/17/07 8:38:30 AM

Knowing that moose and deer don’t know any better is a warning to motorists to avoid a crash by being on the lookout for any dark silhouette that lingers near the side of road. “Because what you don’t see can hurt you,” Morris says.

I’d done something that I’d done too rarely before. I got in the truck, put my stereo in, and then I can remember saying to myself, ‘Why am I buckling my seat belt?’ God absolutely made me buckle my seat belt that morning. The trooper told me I’d have been projected tens of feet if I hadn’t worn it.”

The accident had a profound effect on Perry’s life, strengthening his faith and his defensive driving skills. He now drives “to the far right because of what may be in the center of the road, and I never drive faster than 70 mph.” So he was ready eight years later when a deer appeared out of his nightmares and crashed into his car while he was driving on a dark road in Buxton. Again, he was spared from serious inju ries, “although the deer was not so lucky.”

Stories like Perry’s are so common statewide that the Maine Department of Transportation puts out jazzy brochures and posters with informa tion and statistics about collisions. In the two-year period from 2005 to 2006 there were 5,690 recorded deer crashes and 1,310 moose crashes in Maine. The DOT has been keeping records of collisions since 1995. “The one message we want to send is for drivers to be on the lookout no mat ter where you’re driving in Maine,” says Duane Brunell, Safety Performance Analysis Manager for MDOT. “We’re always encour aging people to slow down, especially if you’re driving at night.” That’s because vampire time–between dusk and dawn–is when the majority of col lisions and fatalities occur. It was just after sunrise when Sharon Nichols was driving to her job as the dispatcher for the Maine Warden Service headquarters in Gray when her deer ran into her car. “I saw something brown out of the cor ner of my eye, and the next thing I knew the deer was rolling down the side of my car,” Nichols says, like something out of Night of the Living Dead. “She rolled the entire length of the car on the passenger side. I immedi ately pulled over. I knew she was badly injured, and she kept putting her face down in a puddle of water… It took her a long time to die. I had nothing with me to put her out of herWhenmisery.”thedeer was brought to warden service headquarters in Gray and butch ered for a local soup kitchen, game war dens discovered the doe was pregnant with twin“Thatfawns.made me feel even worse,” says Nichols. “There are so many of these colli sions–especially in southern Maine because of all the traffic and all the people.” But what provokes a deer or a moose to appear to suddenly become suicidal and wander out in front a moving vehicle? “They don’t know any better,” says Karen Morris, wildlife biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. “Think back to when you were a kid. Your parents explained over and over to you not to go in the road.” Morris adds that moose and deer cross the road, naturally, ‘to get to the other side’ for good feeding or bed ding areas. Wanderlust, especially in the fall during the rut, also excites deer and moose to be more active than“Roadusual.kills peak in the fall for both spe cies,” says Morris. “They’re attracted to salt runoff from the road. It is also easier to walk down a road than through the woods.”

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BY COLIN SARGENT

“In the Franco-American community where I grew up, Jesus is the matchmaker,” laughs playwright Susan Poulin [Pardon My French!, French Fries!]. “We all meet at church. That and bean suppahs.”“Doyou mean matching up resources with organizations?” asks Rachel Talbot Ross, Director of Equal Opportunity and Multicultural Affairs for the Cit of Portland by cell phone on the way to a meeting. No, Rachel, you’ve been work ing too hard. We mean people, sweethearts, lovers. “Oh!” she laughs. “I don’t do that kind of hooking up!” Rabbi Harry Sky says, “In some communities, it comes naturally, ‘Look at her, she doesn’t have any one yet, she’s got to find someone.’ But the idea of a Matchmaker is from my father’s time. My father, oh! he was so great at matchmaking! Either the bride got pregnant or the husband died. It’s dangerous to be a matchmaker. Sticking your nose into anybody’s business is danger ous. It’s hard even to give advice anymore. People who used to offer practical tips like ‘don’t use too much, or to little, perfume,’ don’t dare” venture anything like that, because people are now so sensitive they’re conscious of perfume or deodorant as a chemical overdose.

“My guess is that matchmaking depends on conditions that really aren’t present in our society anymore,” says Dr. David Sanford of South Portland, who includes “relationship coach” among his titles. “Matchmaking requires a greater sense of community and familiar ity with groups of people” than we enjoy today. “We’re a society of isolates,” walled from one another by television and the internet, and “things like church, bowling, all kinds of social organizations…” are going the way of eye-to-eye contact. “I tell people to move away from a frame of reference of loneliness toward a congenial atmosphere. If you’re all alone and feel nobody loves you, go to a hospital so you’ll move away from a victim position and into one where you’re provid ing something, cheering somebody up, acting in a warm way.”

Can love triumph over a power failure?

In “here,” a dozen garrulous men are eating lunch, talking, and watching CNN on a ceiling-mounted screen. When I ask is there a matchmaker in the house, heads turn to Mohamed Abdalla, who’s eat ing an aromatic rice-and-chicken-wing lunch. Whatever his position in this restaurant/congregating area that’s a bit shy on signage, he’s accustomed to calling the shots. “The idea of a matchmaker, that’s totally against our religion,” he says. “Why? Number one, there is no such thing as ‘introducing’ because the only way to introduce [a couple] is for them already to be engaged…It’s standard throughout the Muslim world not to have ‘a date.’ If I want to see a girl, I need family permission. I go to where they live, sit and look across the table, and talk.” Okay, is the girl there? “She’s right there.” Before I spiral into circular logic like, how do you know you want to see her if you’re already engaged to her before you’re introduced, he dismisses me, clearly and authoritatively, with, “Thank you.” Behind us, a young man appears and fills his plate again. And against all odds, it strikes me–maybe, in spite of his protestations, I’ve been talking to the matchmaker. “I don’t like match making for a number of reasons,” he insists. “It’s a kind of soliciting of sex, even if a person doesn’t get money for it.” He holds up his hand, gets up, and disappears around a corner behind the kitchen. “No pictures.”

“Shadchan means, literally, matchmaker. If you’re going to go with the version of Fiddler on the Roof, it’s a horrible busybody who always carries a mental or physical notebook and marks things down. The real version is there are some people who are very adept at sizing people up. They just appear in your life.”

Sure, eHarmony’s Neil & Marilyn Warren have plunked down near ly $3 million for new digs off Ocean Avenue in Kennebunkport, right across from Walkers Point. But do we really have to plug in to hook up? Before computers, crystal balls, and even Broadway, weren’t actual matchmakers plying their craft in Maine? Looking for love in (what I’ll soon be told will be) all the wrong places, I visit the restaurant adjoining the halal market on the corner of A Street and St. John. Where are the matchmakers of yesteryear? I ask a man outside. He smiles, and gestures, “Just go in here.”

StrikingStrikingaMatcha

40 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE RO M ANCE

Just don’t call them matchmakers.

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BY COLIN SARGENT

(Continued on page 80) WG08 42-43 80-81 Peanut.indd 43 12/17/07 6:11:53 PM

WITKOWSKI/ISTOCKPHOTOROBERTBYILLUSTRATIONPHOTO W INTERGUIDE 2008 43 VIEW Rita Yarnold on local real estate in times of feast and famine.

W hen I started in real estate in 1985, I worked in Herb Schwartz’s brick commercial building on Danforth Street,“ says Rita Yarnold, the president-elect for 2008 and presi dent for 2009 of the Maine Association of Realtors, “and it was all so glamorous.” Howard Goldenfarb and Pritham Singh were restoring Old Port warehouses into condos. Waitresses in Danskins were serv ing bean sprouts at the Old Port Tavern. Chandler’s Wharf was taking shape on the Portland waterfront. “Everyone wanted to buy a piece of Portland, Maine.” Fast forward to a few years later. “In 1991, I’d still doll up like I do and go to work just like a trooper, but after a while I’d look up from my desk and realize I’ve already done my filing. I’ve already made my one phone call. So I’d get up and make a peanut-butter sandwich. I used to keep peanut butter and bread in my drawer! I love natural, fresh-ground peanut butter, crunchy, not smooth. But I had to resort to Jif at the time. I’d make a sandwich and go to the People’s Heritage foreclosure [office] on Commercial Street, where they had a storefront with all those fallen commercial stores and properties you could buy at a hugely reduced rate and try to sell to a friend, and see what I could do. “You’ll know it’s peanut butter time when you see the Material Objects building with the big glassy windows on Congress Street sells for $35,100 [in 1992], when the fire-damaged Good Egg Café building [now Hot Suppa] sells for $105,000 [1993], and the Hay Building [home to Starbucks at Congress Square] sells for $350,000 [1992]…that’s pea nut butter. I remember a brick two-unit just past Longfellow Square on Congress was listed for $84,000. That would never happen today,” says Yarnold, although she’s quick to admit that the present market is shy of where it was two years ago. “The caviar time was 2004 into 2005. It was go, go, go. Sales were very easy in general, less complicated in general. The problem now is, people are focusing on a downturn from the highest point in 2005 and 2006. Our market today is more like what we had in 2000, 2001, and 2002. And it’s steady. If we talk about appreciation in Greater Portland, it really did remain steady for a 10-year period, 1995-2005. Did you realize that 2007 has been the fourth-best

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Growing crowds of Mainers are expected for the 20th annual Chinese New Year celebration at Catherine McAuley High School February 9. “Our celebration is a community event,” Nancy White, co-chair of the New Year celebration for the Chinese & American Friendship Association of Maine (CAFAM), says. “We’ll have calligraphy and qigong demonstrations, vendors with food

Celebrate Chinese New Year February 9 at Catherine McAuley High School with the increasingly popular Chinese & American Friendship Association of Maine.

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CAFAM

WINTERGUIDE 2008 45 MAI N E LIFE

CheerNewYearoftheRat

Children perform the Dragon Dance at the Chinese & American Friendship Association of Maine’s New Year celebration at Catherine McAuley High School. The rat headlines on February 9, 2008.

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“Some of us were born and raised in China before moving to Maine,” White says of the organization. “Others of us studied and traveled in Asia, and people like me [are on our own sentimental journeys]. My daughter was born in China.”

This year, 4706, the Year of the Rat, begins February 7, so you know the fur will be flying at the McAuley celebration. The rat is known as hard working–people born under this sign are always pursuing their goals, overcoming obstacles as they are encountered.

Appreciation for Maine’s Chinese con nections begins at an early age, thanks to CAFAM’s efforts. “We sponsor the Chinese School for children (from one year old to eighth grade, as well as adult classes), at the Breakwater School,” White says. “I was born in the year of the Pig,” says Ah-Kau Ng, immunology professor at USM. “My grandparents were from China, but our family had immigrated to Malaysia by the time I was born.” Ng came to the United States for graduate school in 1970–State University of New York at Plattsburgh and Temple University in Philadelphia–and moved to Portland in 1988. “Chinese New Year is a very big deal. Family members are expected to come home to celebrate. Some families make dump lings together, and everyone has a big feast on New Year’s Eve. It’s traditional to have fish–a symbol of prosperity–to usher in the coming year. Adults give ‘lucky’ money to the children in brightly decorated envelopes Left: Children perform at CAFAM’s New Year celebration. Right: Panda Garden’s spicy dumplings.

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The first cycle of the Chinese zodiac was introduced in 2600 BC. Each month on the Chinese calendar begins on the darkest day. Legend has it that Buddha asked the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve showed up, so Buddha named one year after each animal–and people born in that year would share that animal’s personality.

The Panda Garden’s Yung Ying says, “We ‘ve catered for the CAFAM celebration the last few years. At home, we’ve got a pretty big family, 20 to 30 people, for our New Year’s Eve dinner. We eat the little rice balls with red beans, black beans, and sesame. We eat fish for good luck. We try to get the whole fish, maybe a haddock. We can’t stretch it out like they do in Taiwan, where they celebrate a week to 10 days.” Panda Garden Restaurant, 1041 Brighton Avenue, Portland, 874-6935. (207) www.mccm.org885-7600

The University of Maine Orono’s Chinese student population gets together each New Year for a meal at the China Buffet in Bangor. For information on this get-together, contact Cheng Zhong at 561-0646.

Andy Kao, executive chef of Panda Express, says the chain offers “an entire menu to celebrate Chinese New Year at home with symbolic foods to bring luck and prosperity. We can also supply instructions on teaching your kids to use chopsticks.” Sounds like a good idea for adults, too. Panda Express, 364 Maine Mall Road, South Portland. 774-1457 or “Thispandaexpress.com.yearwe’llhandout

little bags of Chinese desserts,” says Yee Lin, manager of the Wok Inn South Portland. “One will be the Smiling Jo, a sesame ball cookie, as well as the Kok-Jie, a moon-shaped crescent with peanuts, coconut, and sugar inside.” Of course, the Wok Inn will serve fish. “Probably steamed fish with black bean sauce or ginger–monkfish or flounder. Also, braised mushrooms with baby bok choy as a side dish.” Wok Inn, 818 Main Street, South Portland, 773-7332 or wokinnsp.com.

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“Everyone wants to have a dragon son,” Ng says. “But girls born in the year of the tiger have a tough time finding a husband–they’re very strong personalities.” “A lot of people laugh about the rat,” White smiles. “But the Year of the Rat is an auspicious time in the lives of Chinese people. Rats have all kinds of fabulous features.”

CAFAM 20th annual Chinese New Year, February 9, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at Catherine McAuley High School, 631 Stevens Avenue, Portland. Chinese crafts for children, music and dance, authentic dragon dance, interactive workshops and demonstrations, Chinese food and merchandise. Adults $5/$3 CAFAM members. Children 2+ $3/$2 CAFAM members. Children under 2 free. For more information, contact CAFAM at 799-0684 or visit the website at cafammaine.org.

WINTERGUIDE 2008 47 called hung bao. They put them under children’s pillows while they’re sleeping as a surprise to be opened in the morning.” Tradition also demands that your house be swept clean before New Year’s Day. If it’s done on New Year’s Day, you may sweep your good fortune away.

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CUI SCENE WINTER GUIDE 2008 49

ick Clime is floating on top of his farm. He has come in a small fishing boat to his Dodge Cove Marine Farm, one of the largest oyster producers on the Damariscotta River, to meet about 15 members of Slow Food Portland. In the words of founding member Margaret Hathaway, of Gray, the Slow Food Movement “is all about slowing down our As Maine goes, so goes the Slow Food Nation.

BY JUDITH GAINES

JOURNEY/FOOACDONALMFINNDD WG08 48-51 Cuiscene.indd 50 12/12/07 8:58:43 PM

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The Slow Food Movement calls itself “a nonprofit, eco-gastronomic organization… helping people live slow.” This basically means strengthening connections between food producers and consumers, eating food that is healthy and safe, engaging in fair trade practices, honoring traditional time-con suming recipes and heirloom ingredients, encouraging artisanal production, and pro moting what members call “the pleasures of the table,” such as savoring complex flavors and lingering over a carefully cooked meal with family and friends. The organization was started in 1986 by an Italian named Carlo Petrini, when he and some followers ate pasta at a construction site in Rome to protest yet another fast-food eatery rising there. Since then, the movement has spread around the world, claiming more than 80,000 members in about 100 countries, with 170 chapters, called convivia, in the U.S. Portland’s convivia is a loosely linked group of about 500 people who share ideas and resources and organize a wide range of events. They charge no membership fee, insisting, as Buchanan puts it, “that money should not be a barrier to participation.” All

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CUI SC ENE lives, understanding where food comes from, linking our palates to the place, put ting a face on the food.” Theses 15 folks have just visited the University of Maine’s shellfish lab at the Darling Marine Center in Walpole to learn about oyster biology and research to improve oyster growth and survival. Now they’re bobbing up and down in a skiff rent ed for the occasion to hear first-hand about raising oysters on the Damariscotta. It’s a charming boat-to-boat kind of chitchat: As they sit in their boat, Clime talks with them from“Thishis. river has had natural oyster beds con tinuously for thousands of years,” he says. “It’s long and narrow, with rocky flats and constrictions where the water is warmer and shallower and moves more slowly, so plank ton can grab the nutrients they need and bloom. The salinity of the water, its cleanliness, the water tem perature, and the mix of plankton make a real ban quet for the oysters.”

50 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE

The Slow Foodies are full of questions. When does he harvest oysters, they ask? (May to December. The adage about only eating oysters in the months that have ‘R’s is an old wives’ tale.) To whom does he sell them? (Browne Trading Company in Portland and King Eider’s Pub in Damarisotta, among others.) Out of the water, what’s their shelf life? (About two weeks, if refrigerated.) The conversation flows as easily as the river. Then the Foodies’ boat heads to the Glidden Point Oyster Farm, where owner Barb Scully regales the group with stories of her efforts “to grow the perfect oyster.”

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The tour culminates with a sampling of freshly shucked oysters, served with a choice of tomato-based cocktail sauce or a cham pagne mignonette. “One of our core beliefs and guiding principles,” explains David Buchanan, Slow Food Portland’s leader, “is that events go better accompanied by good food and wine.”

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10/14/20–PASSENGER LIMOS • S EDANS • VANS • S UV s WINTERGUI D E 2008 51 events are open to the public. Despite what its name might suggest, Slow Food Portland is an incredibly dynamic group. During two fall meetings, for instance, members sampled and discussed heirloom vegetables being grown in Maine. Tastings included sliced Amazon Chocolate Tomatoes, Early Blood Beets–a type favored by Thomas Jefferson–roasted with garlic and thyme, Boothby’s Blond and Lemon Cucumbers in a sweet-and-sour salad, and Ground Cherry pie. Members helped to harvest grapes at a Maine winery and then enjoyed a lunch with dishes paired to match the local wines. They walked the fields of a Brunswick farm with several local farmers to discuss challenges they face and then enjoyed a candlelight har vest dinner in a barn. During this same period, they also sup ported a “Twenty-mile Meal” at a Cape Elizabeth farm, where about a dozen res taurant chefs served dishes with ingredients produced within 20 miles of the farm. They attended a “goatstravaganza” at Portland’s Rabelais bookstore, complete with goatcheese tastings and a visiting goat. There Hathaway discussed and signed copies of her book, The Year of the Goat, about her 40,000-mile quest to understand and make goatRecentcheese.e-mail conversations have focused on where to find heritage turkeys for the hol idays, advice for improving school cafeteria lunches, the meeting of a food-oriented book group, starting up a new community-sup ported fishing program, how to use spinach to remove lead from soil, where to find good cooking classes, and a call for volunteers who would be willing to eat nothing but Maine food for a month.

Upcoming events include a food writ ers’ night in January, a spring Fiddlefest exploring ways to prepare fiddleheads and other spring vegetables, a tour of Maine farms with bee hives, a celebration of Maine shrimp involving local restaurants, and much more. As program committee chair Leslie Oster, of Aurora Provisions, explains at the group’s annual meeting, “Pretty much anything anybody wants to do that goes with our principles, we’ll support you if you want to run with it.” Buchanan adds, “We especially like people who want to imple ment ideas.”

For more information or to get involved with Slow Food Portland: contactinfo@slowfoodportland.com

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T he new 37-unit Chestnut Street Lofts on the corner of Chestnut Street and Cumberland Avenue is clad in corrugated steel above a groundfaced block base. With the two materials deftly integrated by architect Scott Teas of TFH Architects in Portland, it’s at once refreshingly contemporary and reassuring ly traditional as it redefines the streetscape of Maine’s largest city. Developer Richard Berman conceived these units as a “value-driven in-town home ownership option” for young professionals with incomes at or near the Maine median level ($45,503). But, to his surprise, the new owners who began arriving in the summer are both just starting out and nearing retire ment; the work they do cuts across the career spectrum, and the amenities they seek are anything but indicative of a low-cost owner

WG08 52-57 Chestnut.indd 52 12/12/07 8:00:49 PM

Over a condossomeChestnutspreadingStreet,urbanstand.

BY BRAD FAVREAU 52 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE INSIDE STORY

WINTERGUIDE 2008 53 A model apartment’s desk holds a great southest view as well as a bust of Shakespeare. The unit also has stained-glass windows. WCLIFFECMAKENZIERA WG08 52-57 Chestnut.indd 53 12/12/07 8:00:54 PM

Clockwise from top left: The Andersons’ kitchen–Ed Anderson enjoys the skyline: “I’m comfort able that it’s not going to change”; the view from Heather Frederick’s balcony looking northeast toward City Hall; looking northeast from Lou Quintal’s loft: “I feel good when I come home to this,” he says; Frederick’s living room.

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54 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE INSIDE STORY

WINTERGUIDE 2008 55 )()(WCCMALEFT:TOPFROMECKWISLOCKENZIERALIFFE2ROBERTWITKOWSKI;MACKENZIERAWCLIFFE2 WG08 52-57 Chestnut.indd 55 12/12/07 8:01:24 PM

Thealternative.challenge, Teas says, was “to make cost-effective design decisions,” the first of which was to begin with a straightforward rectilinear volume with six units per floor and a compact core for the main corridor, elevator shaft, and stairwell–a classic evoca tion of the exposed simplicity of an urban loft Floorsspace. here are sealed concrete, and the ceilings are, Teas says, “expressive of the building’s structural system.” Like mill buildings of old, windows everywhere flood the structure with sunshine. “While all units have a wonderful amount of light, the corner units have an extravagant amount of light,” he says. Stainless steel appliances in the kitchen and cabinets from IKEA complete the metroretro, ‘soft-industrial’ feeling here. Short of a single, sweeping space, parti tions can create a separate living room, din ing room, and bedroom. Teas planned such future modifications into his design. A common-area ‘bicycle garage’ opens to the building’s parking lot, across which is what Ed Gardner, partner of Ocean Gate Realty, calls a “pocket park,” providing resi dents with a grassy respite from their urban lifestyles. Most spectacular are the views from “It’s very New York. You don’t see living spaces like this in Portland–at least, not yet.”

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INSIDE STORY ship

The Chestnut Street Lofts (right side, white-and-tan building) quietly assumes its place in the Portland cityscape. Some penthouse windows afford a view of New Hampshire’s Mt. Washington.

••

Developer: Richard Berman, Developer’s Collaborative, Portland. Broker: Ocean Gate Realty, Portland.

Contractor: Allied/Cook Construction, Scarborough.

WINTERGUIDE 2008

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WSKIWITKOOBERTR the rooftop terrace. Mt. Washington quietly sends greetings from New Hampshire from the west, and Spring Point Light beacons ocean-going travelers into the city on the east, while the bell tower of City Hall stands guard over the entire neighborhood. Residents love it here. Cara Jordan, an an executive with a headhunting firm in Kennebunk, says, “You can’t beat the loca tion. Everything is within walking distance” of her second-floor unit. Heather Frederick, a photograph dealer living on the seventh floor, appreciates the “gorgeous skyline of architecture. It’s very New York. You don’t see living spaces like this in Portland, at least not yet.” Frederick’s downstairs neighbor, Ed Anderson, a semi-retired aviation con sultant, also enjoys the skyline, because, “I’m comfortable that it’s not going to change.” But hasn’t it just changed? Teas admits to concern, given mandated cost constraints, about “how the building [would meet] the sky.” Slightly skewing the penthouse from the main face of the building, and punctu ating the upper floors with an occasional balcony, he’s succeeded in gives the lofts an animated feel. “I’m really quite pleased with how it all came together,” he says. Third-floor resident Lou Quintal, a Subaru technician whose loft is decorated with motorcycles as art, sums it up nicely. “I feel good when I come home to this.” [E ight units remain, from $195,000 to $345,000.]

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Architect: Scott Teas, TFH Architects, Portland.

oes your “best friend” need a specialist?

New England Secrets, 688.4083, 15 Farm View Drive, New Gloucester (martini recipe glasses: $18 with 6 chocolates, large recipe martini glasses: $22 with three fudge bars, candy dishes: $21 with 8 Backgroundchocolates).photo:thetraditionatLenLibby’sgoesbackto1926.

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On Valentine’s Day, why kiss a frog when you can bite one instead? Esmay the Marshmallow Frog ($1.35)–a single puffy marshmallow wrapped inside sheet after sheet of decadent, bittersweet chocolate–is a sheer leap into sinful, eye-closing bliss. As are the aptly named Longfellow Chocolates, Molly Ockett Mice, Abenaki Creams, Robert Frost Caramels, and Heart Berry Truffles at New England Secrets Handmade Confections in the visitors’ center at Pineland Farms in New Gloucester. Owner Amanda Whitney says, “for any special occasion, nothing speaks as sweetly as the gift of fine chocolates.” Before your rendezvous with that chocolatini this year, why not scarf up some actual chocolates first, in hand-painted Martini Recipe Glasses created by Maine artist Kathi Keith? Evil to the core, each glass is filled with six New England Secrets chocolates for just $18. After all, you don’t need a gift in the shape of heart to say “I Love You.” Keith’s acrylic-painted creations–jumping with cherry, chocolate, blueberry, and strawberry motifs–are baked onto “unique glassware,” from large martini glasses to candy dishes. “I like taking something plain and making it beauti-

Now here’s healthchocolateconcept–darkaasfood!

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Dean’s Sweets, deanssweets.com, Harbor Candy Shop, harborcandy.com, Haven’s Candies, havenscandies.com, Len Libby Chocolates, lenlibby.com, Wilburs, wilburs.com.

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ful,” Keith says. For Whitney, it’s making “the chocolates as beautiful as they are delicious.” With drink recipes on the base of each glass, these gifts are functional long after the chocolate perfections have beenOndevoured.Valentine’s Day, some like it hot–they need look no further than Dean’s Sweets on 55 Robert Street in Portland, offering a spicy mix of 16 different truffles in cayenne, cinnamon, hot coffee, and ginger flavors.

“Each year for Valentine’s Day, our crew works through the night, dipping over 30,000 fresh strawberries in chocolate, shipping them so they’re at the peak of freshness,” says Andy Charles, owner of Haven’s Candies in Portland. During last year’s V-Day rush, they added 48,000 custom chocolates into their workload to support the launch of the HBO series Big Love.

Speaking of big love: “I can’t pass a candy store without going in,” says Catherine Carty-Wilbur of Wilbur’s of Maine Chocolate Confections in Freeport. This passion spurred her and husband Tom to open Wilbur’s 24 years ago. They offer one- to 24-inch chocolate hearts as sumptuous valentines. Which brings us to news on–surprise!–the heart-healthy side: “Dark chocolate always was the favorite, and now with [its recently touted] health benefits, we’re seeing a return of people who favor it again,” says Hemond. “Cocoa contains antioxidants and other beneficial compounds, and there are more per serving in dark than milk chocolate,” says Charles. Just think of it–life by chocolate. Could a health regimen by any other name be half as sweet?

Pining for a Maine classic? Maureen Hemond of Len Libby’s in Scarborough, a favorite attraction for travelers on Route 1 since 1926, explains, “In the candy field, Needhams are to chocolate as lobster is to Maine.” Len Libby’s uses luscious, fresh-shaved coconut. In Ogunquit, Jean Foss, president of Harbor Candy Shop on Route 1, says, “Making everything from fundamental ingredients in the same place it’s sold is key.” Just try and pass by his caramallows and coconut snowflakes.

L ast year’s major exhibition “The Great Cover-up: American Rugs on Beds, Tables, and Floors” at New York’s American Folk Art Museum brought new attention to hooked rugs, a craft that allegedly originated in Maine. “There’s been a significant increase over the past 10 years in hooked rugs,” Nancy Druckman, director of the American Folk Art Department at Sotheby’s, notes, “which is surprising to me because in general, textiles haven’t done well.”

The record paid at auction for a hooked rug is held by Northeast Auctions in Portsmouth, where, in August 2004, Pennsylvania dealer Patrick Bell paid $79,500 for one. The rug–well known among rug collectors–was once the property of collector and Johnson & Johnson heir Barbara Johnson, who names all her rugs–she christened this one “Domestic Zoo.” It’s a far cry from the doormat-size we’ve come to associate with hooked rugs. Made in Pennsylvania and attributed to Magdalena Briner in the late nineteenth-century (the hooked-rug’s heyday), its

60 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE MARKET WATCH Sarah C umming C ecil

Above: You know you’ve got a good rug when it has its own name. Attributed to Magdalena Briner of Pennsylvania, “Domestic Zoo,” hooked in the late 1800s, sold in 2004 for $79,500 at Northeast Auctions. Far right: “More reminiscent of Donald Sultan as much as Victoriana,” this hypnotic floral beauty dates to 1850-1860 and sold recently for $27,840.

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room-size scale is unusual and helter-skelter design appealing. Rugs with a recognizable style that associates them with a particular place or craftsperson, and rugs personalized in some way, carry weight at the auction block. While most hooked rugs sell for less than $3,000 at auction, recently Northeast sold several in the $20,000-$40,000 range, includ ing one for $27,840. Its smaller size is more typical of the Victorian period. Hooked-rug aesthetic standards are not different from those held to paintings and–like the record-breaker–this rug’s colors were strong, the condition good, and the design unusual, filling the eye with a bold image of a vase of flowers more reminiscent of Donald Sultan than Victoriana. “The rug show did draw attention to this expressive form,” and “the price shot up,” Lee Kogan, the exhibition’s curator, reports. “For this [auction], we were looking for the best [hooked rugs] of their kind, but also we look for the unique and idiosyncratic.”

This indigenous American art form was performed mostly by women. Early rugs were yarn-sewn, appliquéd, shirred, embroi dered, and generally large in scale to cover beds and tables. By midnineteenth century, hooking was the most popular technique for making handmade rugs. The completed effort resulted in raised loops that could be left as is or clipped to produce a pile. Burlap–the coarse woven fabric made of jute fiber and used for sacks for dry goods–began to be imported from India by about 1850, providing an inexpensive, readily available rug foundation cloth. Designs ranged from repeated geometrics to animal imagery and detailed original pictorials. In the 1860s, Edward Sands Frost, an entrepreneurial tin peddler from Biddeford, introduced pre-printed hooked-rug pat terns on burlap. In 1876, when Frost sold his business, his garden of designs had blossomed to over 180 patterns, many of which survive today. By the turn of the century, rug hooking cooled and modern factory-produced carpets were popular–at least until Depression-era lifestyle changes brought on a revival.

Sarah Cumming Cecil, a principal in the interior design firm Rose Cumming (www.rosecummingdesign.com), writes frequently on art, antiques, and interior design. Her work has appeared in ARTnews, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Connoisseur, and The New York Times Persian rugs may be the stuff of auction legend, but hooked rugs are the flying carpets of today.

chops studying

Engineer Jim Begley earned his jazz percussion. he’s mix.

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62 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE IN TUNE T odd M. Richard

Now,

deeply into the

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Open

Seafaring storyteller, Bridge, brings creativity and dedication to his class at Breakwater School. His stories come alive and entice listeners from all parts of the school community into a world of his creation. Teacher, writer, explorer, and marine enthusiast, Bridge brings balance and inspiration to his students. Teachers make the difference. House: Jan 12th, 10am 12pm Preschool through 8th Grade 207.772.8689 breakwaterschool.org t The Studio on Casco Street, Jim Begley, 34, holds court as engineer of choice for dozens of local bands’ new recordings and live shows. With his services in such demand, he finds himself close to a coterie of emerging talent. So…just how does one get into the catbird seat like this? you get here? In high school at George Stevens Academy [in Blue Hill], I sang and played bass guitar and drums as a hobby. I thought I might become a mechanical or electrical engineer, because I excelled at math and sciences.

How’d

Swim in a Magical Sea

Trunk Show February 22nd & 23rd 10a.m. - 5p.m. 34 Exchange Street, Portland • 207.772.0219 • www.serendipityportland.comTrunkShowFebruary22nd&23rd10a.m.-5p.m.

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64 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE

IN TUNE love of music sort of infringed on that, lead ing to a career path that would combine the left brain and the right brain. I graduated from the University of Massachusetts [Lowell] sound-recordingtechnology program with a Bachelors of Music. Shorter degree programs teach you how to use the gear but rarely teach you how to fix something if it breaks. You must have had to study an instrument. I got to study with the legendary Fred Buda, principal drummer for the Boston Pops and a very well-known and frequently recorded percussionist. I was one of the few guys in my program who wasn’t studying classical concert and orchestral percussion. I was one of those jazz guys. Isn’t all of this very competitive? How’d you catch a break? As part of my degree program, I had to do a full year internship at the studio of my choice; I chose The Studio. By the end, I was running sessions on my own. Now, almost 11 years later, I’m pretty much the main engineer here. What’s your work day like? Anything from audiobooks to radio and television commercials, full-scale sessions with bands of every style and genre, orches tral sessions. Any favorites?

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is winter plan ahead for your spring projects with new windows, cabinet faces, lighting or anything else glass. Be the envy of your neighbors with the ﬁnishing touch of a stained glass panel custom designed for you! Why get some mass produced inserts when you can have a one of a kind original? Take a class and learn a new hobby. Classes coming in January and April Call or come in today to see what we can do for you! Visit us at www.phoenixstudio.com or 630 Forest Ave Portland, Maine to see more! Call 207.774.4154 for an appointment and we’ll come see you.

The Emilia Dahlin record I did, as well as Sontiago’s first record. I’m really proud of the work I did with 6Gig a few years back. I recorded four of the tracks on their first record that later got put out by Ultimatum Records. The engineer mixing the recordings for the label said my tracks sounded amaz ing. The four or five songs in the can when they disbanded might get to see the light of day soon. The Rustic Overtones’ Viva Nueva record was great–I worked tag-team with engineer Steve Drown. I assisted on a session with songwriter Eugene McDaniels; he brought in a bunch of New York heavies, including bassist Ron Carter, who’s been on about four thousand of the best albums I’ve heard in my life. Probably the most fun I’ve had working on a local project is the Beautiful Locals com pilation. Just the concept alone is cool: 16 Portland bands covering their favorite songs by other Portland bands. I probably worked

SCARBOROUGH 207 883 3366 • FREEPORT 207 865 4308Missionwww.chiltons.comAccomplished.This unique blend of Mission and modern design achieves its goal. Form follows function in distinctive double curves and the result is stunning. In solid cherry. STORE 219 COMMERCIAL STREET 207-775-0066PORTLAND Home & Garden AsiaWest Artistic, Handmade, Asian InspiredArtistic, Handmade, Asian Inspired SHOWROOM 125 KENNEBEC 207-774-9300PORTLANDSTREET WINTERGUIDE 2008 65 on about 13 of those 16 tracks. What do you miss? I’d like to be playing more music, but I’ve made a conscious decision to focus more on the engineering aspect of my life. I’ll never give up music. My band, My Disaster, rehearses every couple of weeks and plays a gig every couple of months. We’re all married with kids. The Studio thing happens during the day, and the mixing at clubs and rehears ing and gigging with the band is a night and weekend thing, so it’s definitely tough. You’re the engineer of choice for performing musicians, both in the studio and on stage. What’s your secret? Tim [Tierney, owner of The Studio] said years ago that regardless of how insignificant a ses sion is to you–it may be the easiest or short est session of the day–at that moment, it’s the most important thing for a client. If I’m work ing with a young solo piano player recording a college demo, or recording a high-school garage band’s first demo, it can be the most important thing they’ve ever done. WG08 62-65 Tune.indd 65 12/12/07 2:58:28 PM

207 . 846 . 1176 720 route one yarmouth . maine monday - saturday 10-5 merediths720@verizon.net �eddin��nvitations Louella Press �xquisitely �ngraved e Fantasticks January 18 – February 3 An elaborate plot created by neighboring fathers to deceive their children into falling in love. The World’s Longest Running Musical. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest March 21 – April 6 Based on the bestselling novel of the same name, a second-rate convict declares himself insane, expect ing to have an easier time in a mental institution than in prison. Crazy for YouMay 16 – June 1 Set in 1930s, this Gershwin extravaganza is flled with song, dance, and hilarious dialogue; includes memorable songs “I Got Rhythm” and “Someone To Watch Over Me.” 2007-2008 Season CALL FOR799.7337NOWSEASONTICKETS! 66 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE DINING GUIDE Fine Dining in Maine

The Great Impasta, Premier Italian Restaurant in Brunswick, recognized as one of the “Top 25 Italian Restaurants in all of New England.” Intimate dining room setting, fun and varied wine list, and creative Italian & Mediterranean-inspired dishes at surprisingly reasonable prices. Open for lunch and dinner, Monday through Saturday. 42 Maine Street, Brunswick, (207)729-5858, www.thegreatimpasta.com

Isamax Snacks, home of the world’s most Wicked Whoopie Pies. Twice featured on Oprah, and on Good Morning America and Rachael Ray, Wicked Whoopie Pies are deliciously habitforming and make great gifts. Stop by one of our bake shops: 5 Mechanic Street in Gardiner and 621 Maine Avenue in Farmingdale. Buy a batch online at www.wickedwhoopie.com. Call toll-free 1 (877) 447-2629 Jacqueline’s Tea Room experience authentic Afternoon Tea in an exquisite English setting. Select from over 70 of the finest quality loose-leaf teas to accompany your four-course luncheon of scones with Devon cream, preserves and lemon curd, finger sandwiches of all kinds, and desserts. Great for intimate conversations and parties. 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. TuesdayFriday and alternating weekends. 201 Main Street, Freeport. Reservations only. * (207) 865-2123

Maria’s Ristorante est. 1960, 337 Cumberland Avenue, Portland. Portland’s Finest Italian Cusine. Maine Sunday Telegram’s Four-Star Italian Restaurant. Wonderful Italian wines, with exclusives. Lunch and Dinner Served TuesdaySaturday. Price range $12-$24. Homemade ricotta gnocchi,

Margaritas Mexican Restaurants & Watering Hole! Two locations in Portland, others in Lewiston, Augusta, Orono & Portsmouth, serving oversized meals & colossal drinks. Always free hot chips & salsa, legendary margaritas, & the house specialty, the sizzling fajita. Happy hour M-F, 4-7 p.m., free hot appetizers. In Portland at 242 St. John Street, Union Station Plaza, 874-6444 & 11 Brown Street near the Civic Center, 774-9398.

Great Lost Bear, 540 Forest Avenue in the Woodfords area of Portland. A full bar with over 50 draught beers, predominantly from local micro-breweries, an enormous menu with soups, salads, sandwiches, steaks, a large vegetarian selection, the best nachos & buffalo wings in town. Discover where the natives go when they’re restless! Every day 11:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m. 772-0300 or www.greatlostbear.com

Lucky Thai. Come experience the only Thai cuisine in Gorham, at 25 Elm Street. Serving fresh cuisine and many vegetarian entrées. Our chefs use only fresh herbs and spices that will satisfy your appetite. Beer and wine are available. Dine in or take out. Open 7 days a week. 839-6999.

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Crab Louie, an institution at 127 Commercial Street in Portland, has fried seafood and sandwiches–the best you’ve ever tasted. The owner fished for 15 years and knows how to cook seafood right! Family friendly. Sunday-Wednesday 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursday-Saturday 11a.m.- Midnight. THE place for late-night eating when you’re out in the Old Port. 772-6200. DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant at 25 Long Wharf off Commercial Street. You can’t beat the location for fabulous water views of Portland Harbor. Escape the hustle & bustle of the city. Watch the boats go by. Enjoy fresh Maine lobster yearround, steak, seafood dishes, & more. Serving 7 days from 11:00 a.m. Children’s menu available. For drinks & a lighter menu, try our Portside Lounge. 772-2216. The Dogfish Bar & Grille, 128 Free Street, Portland 7725483, and The Dogfish Café, 953 Congress Street, Portland, 253-5400. “Great food, drink, and service in a casual and unpretentious atmosphere.” The Café (Monday-Saturday lunch and dinner, and now serving Sunday Brunch) offers a more intimate setting while the Bar & Grille (open 7 days a week at 11:30 a.m.) offers live music Wednesday-Saturday nights. For a real local feel, reasonable prices, and great food, check out either one or both! www.thedogfishcompany.com Eve’s At The Garden, 468 Fore Street, Portland, promises a unique experience and a fresh local approach to food. Chef Jeff Landry and his team utilize products from Maine’s coastal waters and farms: jumbo diver-harvested scallops, Maine-raised organic pork, line-caught Atlantic halibut, freerange chicken, and fresh Maine lobster prepared several different ways. Free valet parking. Lunch 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Dinner 5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. 523-2040 Francisco’s Blue House Café serves brunch from a highly extensive menu Wednesday-Sunday 8 a.m.-2 p.m., featuring classic, international, and regional omelets, waffles, salads, sandwiches, and paninis. Dinner WednesdaySaturday from 5:30 p.m. Try the Mongolian hot pot–a coconut-herb broth with Asian-style noodles served in a flaming hot pot–or the caramelized salmon over truffled mushroom risotto. 1081 Brighton Avenue, Portland. 347-6196 www.franciscosportland.com

3 Dollar Dewey’s in the heart of Portland’s Old Port is not to be missed. Pub fare includes chowder, appetizers–including beer-battered shrimp, buffalo wings, and glorious nachos–as well as chili, salads, seafood, hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, and build-your-own pizzas. A beer-lover’s heaven with 36 draft beers and 42 bottled beers. Open every day 11:30 a.m.-1:00 a.m. 241 Commercial Street. 772-3310 www.3dollardeweys.com. Anthony’s Italian Kitchen, 151 Middle Street, lower level, Portland. Voted “Best in Portland” three years in a row. Pizza, pasta, and sandwiches. All homemade recipes including lasagna, chicken parmesan, eggplant parmesan, meatballs, and Italian sausages. No item over $10. Beer and wine. Friday and Saturday night live Broadway review includes five-course dinner for $35/pp. Catering available. * 774-8668 Becky’s at 390 Commercial Street, featured in Esquire and recommended by Rachael Ray, is “a slice of diner heaven,” according to Gourmet Serving classic diner fare within the call of gulls, it’s Maine’s best family-friendly place to keep it real. Open 4 a.m.-9 p.m., 7 days a week. 773-7070 BiBo’s Madd Apple Cafe, 23 Forest Avenue, Portland, in the heart of the Arts District. Focusing on creative, affordable cuisine with an eclectic wine list to match, served in a bright casual atmosphere. Lunch Wed.-Fri. 11:30-2; brunch Sun. 11-2; dinner Wed.-Sat. from 5:30 and Sundays 4-8. Menus change with the local growing season. Menus online at blog.myspace.com/bibosmadapplecafe. * 774-9698 Café Stroudwater has been an award-winning local favorite for many years. Chef Paul L’Heureux features delicious local cuisine using local products based on the season. For a truly unique experience, reserve a “Chef’s Table,” where you and your guest will be seated right in the kitchen while the Chef prepares your six-course meal accompanied by select wines. * 1050 Westbrook Street in the Embassy Suites, Portland. 775-0032 Castine Inn, a perfect getaway in one of the most beautiful villages in New England, overlooking a perennial garden and Castine Harbor. Enjoy Chef Tom Gutow’s unique and refined cuisine in a casually elegant setting. Both á la carte and tasting menus available at one of Food & Wine magazine’s 50 top hotel restaurants in the U.S. June through September. www.castineinn.com or (207) 326-4365 Cinque Terre, Portland’s destination for authentic Italian cuisine, located in the Historic Old Port. Both á la carte and fixed-price menu selections available in a casually elegant setting. Sample hand-made pasta, ravioli, and gelatos. Enjoy the best local fish, meat, and finest Italian wines from our Wine Spectator award-winning list. Summer patio seating, dining room open 7 days from 5 p.m. * 36 Wharf Street, Portland, cinqueterremaine.com or 347-6154. Clayton’s Cafe 447 Route 1, Yarmouth. This family-owned gourmet deli, coffee shop, and bakery specializes in sandwiches for no mean appetite. Enjoy a fresh brewed ice tea and the Famous chicken salad on the outdoor patio. Also featuring soups and salads and a full array of take-home dinners, menu rotating daily. Monday-Friday, 7:00-7:00 & Saturday, 8:30-5:00. www.claytonscafe.com. 846-1117 Costa Vida Fresh Mexican Grill, 209 Western Avenue, South Portland, with distinctly Californian décor. Famous for sweet pork, made-to-order smothered burritos, savory desserts, and chicken salads with creamy tomatillo ranch dressing, Costa Vida prepares everything fresh on the premises–and the food is addicting! Entrées $5-$9. Monday–Saturday 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Catering available. 772-VIDA or take it to go: 772-TOGO. www.CostaVidaNewEngland.com

Jameson Tavern, with a casual bar, lounge & dining room. The building is the site of the signing of the Constitution for the state of Maine when it broke away from Massachusetts. Classic preparations served in a graceful & elegant setting make this a fine retreat from frenzied outlet shopping. 115 Main Street, Freeport. * 865-4196 La Familia–best Latin American cuisine north of the border. Classic appetizers like empañadas and ceviche, and generously plated entrées: jumbo pan-fried shrimp in butter with garlic and onion served with fried plantains and salad, and rotisserie chicken with Latin seasonings. Try homemade flan for dessert. Lunch and dinner MondayThursday noon-8 p.m, Friday noon-10 p.m. Saturday noon.-8 p.m. 906 Brighton Avenue, Portland. 761-5865 Lotus Chinese and Japanese Restaurant, 251 US Rt. 1 Falmouth, Maine (Falmouth Shopping Plaza). We feature full-service bar and lounge area, sushi bar, Chinese traditional food not available outside of Boston, friendly atmosphere and courteous service. 781-3453

Uncle Billy’s is a welcome oasis–a reminder that life is good. Owner/chef Jonathan St. Laurent’s famous barbeque with Quebecois flair: Grilled Skirt Steak with Frites á la Francais, mussels steamed in beer, melt-in-your-mouth beef brisket, and braised lamb with polenta and mushrooms. Blues-age décor, jukebox of funky tunes, live music, full bar, and Happy Hour–beers from Lambics to Schlitz. 653 Congress Street, Tuesday-Saturday 5-close, Sunday 12-close. 761-5930 Walter’s, 15 Exchange Street, Portland. Cuisine with “worldly” influences–casual fine dining with a metropolitan flair. Menu changes seasonally with popular blackboard specials. Bar manager Steven Lovenguth’s wine list complements Chef Jeff Buerhaus’s menu selections. Interesting cocktails and dessert drinks, also. Open Mon-Sat 11:30-2:30 for lunch; dinner from 5:00 seven nights a week. Private room available for up to 26 guests. 871-9258 or www.walterscafe.com

CLIFFERAMACKENZIEUDSON;CLIFFE;RAMACKENZIEUDSON;LEFT:TOPFROMISECLOCKWDIANEHWDIANEHW

Diane

For example, Siamese Dream Curry Noodle ($14) sports unmistakable tofu (small square chunks crisped to a deep golden color), but there are also slices of soy protein that anyone would swear was chicken by its texture and the way it absorbs the delicious coconut curry flavor of the broth. This, along with the lovely rice noodles, snow peas, carrots, red peppers, spinach, fried shallots, and cashew nuts, is, in fact, a dream of a dish that will set a meat lover raving instead of complaining. Which is not to say we skipped the appe tizers. The crisp, non-greasy spring rolls, stuffed generously with vegetables and Shitake mushroom ($5), arrive piping hot. The Roti Canai, an Indian-style pancake topped with fried shallots and served with a terrific vegetable curry dip ($6), is superb, as is the wrap of gorgeous green leaves around mango and herbs ($7). Served with a tasty tamarind dip topped with toasted sesame seeds, these elegant rolls of collard greens, cilantro, sliced carrots, mango, and bamboo sprouts are almost too pretty to eat. An unbelievably tantalizing dish is the veggie-tuna salad, perfectly prepared with mint, lemongrass, cilantro, ginger, bell pep per, scallion, and green leaves ($9). The tex tured soy protein has such a convincing tuna look, feel, and taste, that it’s hard to believe it isn’t tuna. For entrées, we shared the spinach noodle and vegetable ($12) and the addictive peanut curry ($13). The noodle dish, resplendent with garlicky flavors, was stir-fried in shitakeginger sauce with bok choy, snow pea, carrot, and soy protein. The curry, slow cooked with coconut milk, soy protein (for all the world, just like breast of chicken), chickpea, savory sweet potato, carrot, and onion, was tasty indeed. Desserts include tofu cheesecake, banana and coconut milk, and taro ice cream. The wines and beers are thoughtfully select ed; the house Chardonnay, Grove Ridge 2005, California ($5 glass $17 bottle), was a good complement, particularly with the curries.

The Pepperclub is a prize-winning restaurant (“Best Vegetarian” & “Best Value” in Frommer’s Guide to New England) with creative world cuisine. Blackboard menu lists five vegetarian, three fish, & three meat entrées, including an organic beef burger. Relaxed, affordable dining on the edge of the Old Port w/free parking. Open nightly at 5 p.m. 78 Middle Street. 772-0531

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67 New England’s finest veal dishes, Sirloin Pizziola, Zuppa De Pesce, Homemade Gelatos. “Preserving the Authentic Italian Dining Experience.” 772-9232 www.mariasrestaurant.com MJ’s Grille and Tavern, 94 Maine Street, Brunswick, casual fine dining in a comfortable environment, with a variety of dishes–from small plates and seasonal salads to steak and local seafood. Handcrafted wooden bar offers a wide selection of imported beers, local beers, fine wines, and martinis. Private rooms for parties. Downstairs Tavern: Friday, DJ plays dance music; Saturday, local and national bands. 729-6574.

Wells Beach Steakhouse and T-Bone Lounge serves prime steaks, fresh seafood, and delicious salads, featuring Kobe sirloin steaks, stuffed smoked salmon and grilled swordfish in an upscale, plush atmosphere. Enjoy a selection from the highly allocated new world wine list, or a signature 28-ounce Wells Beach martini under the starry ‘sky’ of the lounge. 73 Mile Road, Wells. www.wellsbeachsteakhouse.com. 646-2252 Yosaku at 1 Danforth Street, an authentic Japanese culinary experience, designed by owner Sato Takahiro and lead chef Matsuyama Masahiro. Premium sushi, sashimi, and rolls, including Yosaku roll, spicy scallop roll, Godzilla roll, and traditional cooked Japanese cuisine for the sushi-shy. Enjoy a bento box beside a tranquil Japanese waterfall. Lunch Monday-Friday 11:30-2, Saturday-Sunday 12-3. Dinner 5-9:30, Friday-Saturday 5-10:30. 780-0880 *reservations recommended REVIEW Hudson

SeaGrass Bistro, 30 Forest Falls Drive, Yarmouth, an intimate 40-seat dining room with an open kitchen. Chef Stephanie’s style of American Bistro Cuisine, with Asian, French, and Tuscan influences, uses fresh local ingredients. Menu changes frequently. Music while you dine Thursdays in October & December. Open Wednesday - Saturday for Dinner ~ Reservations starting at 6pm. Visit our Website for Cooking Class Information * 207.846.3885 www.seagrassbistro.com

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N ewly opened Green Elephant, with sensational vegetarian specialties, is likely to generate a mammoth sup ply of greenbacks for its enterprising and engaging young owners, Danai Sriprasert (“Dan,” 29) and Nattasak Wongsaichua (“Bob,” 34), both born in Thailand. This is not your average Thai bistro. You’ll not find meat or fish in any form here. You might not know it, however. The partners laughingly tell a story of how one day a diner held up his fork with a piece of soy meat on it so deliciously authoritative he yelled in dis may, “There’s chicken in my dish!”

608 Congress St. Portland, 347-3111. Monday through Saturday lunch and dinner; closed Sunday.

RESTAURANT

Twenty Milk Street, in the Portland Regency Hotel, is proud to be the only restaurant in Maine to serve exclusively U.S.D.A. prime steaks, combining award-winning classic American Cuisine with fine wines in a warm and inviting atmosphere. Featuring Regency Crab Cakes, Baked Escargo, 20-oz. Porterhouse Steak, Sesame Tuna, homemade breads, and desserts. Dinner seven nights a week; also serving breakfast, lunch and brunch. Complimentary Valet Parking. 207-774-4200 Una Tapas Winebar Lounge Portland’s destination for unique and exciting food, wine, and cocktails. Weekday Happy Hours, interesting and eclectic wines, signature cocktails, flavorful tapas plates, and special music events with live jazz two days a week. “Best Martini Bar”–Press-Herald and Casco Bay Weekly. Near Downtown, the waterfront, and the Old Port at 505 Fore Street. 828-0300 www.unawinebar.com

Wait a minute. That really does taste like chicken!

North Star Music Café, 225 Congress Street, at the base of Munjoy Hill in Portland. A coffee shop and café offering soups, sandwiches, salads, and specials made from scratch. Eat by our sunny windows or take your food to go. A full coffee bar, sodas, beer, and wine available. Music most nights. Check www.northstarcafe.net for calendar and hours. 207-699-2994. O’Naturals serves natural and organic flatbread sandwiches, tossed salads, Asian noodles, soups, and kids’ meals. Quick service, but our leather couches, wireless internet, and comfort able atmosphere will entice you to stay. Flatbread pizza after 4 p.m. and pesto chicken, roast beef, wild bison meatloaf, wild Alaskan salmon, and many vegetarian items–something for everyone. Portland 321-2050 and Falmouth 781-8889

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Maine Sport-Banff Film Festival , February 8 Strom Auditorium, Camden Hills Regional High School, Rockport. 236-7120. Maine Winterfest and Ice D erby , February 22-24, Point Sebago Resort, Casco. Maine’s largest ice- and snow-sculpting event, dragon slide car and motorcycle ice races, balloon rides, fly-in, miniature golf. 655-3821 or pointsebago.com

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Winterguide 2008 A uburn Winter Festival , February 2-4. 333-6600 or www.laarts.org B-52 Memorial Snowmobile R ide , January 19, Greenville. Ride to the site of the wreckage of the B-52 that crashed into Elephant Mountain in January 1963 during a training flight. 695-2702 Can- A m Sled D og R ace , Fort Kent. February 29-March 4. 444-5439 or can-am.sjv.net

68 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE OUTDOORS Winterguide

Caribou Winter Carnival , Snowmobile Festival, February. Activities throughout the month with the main festival February 7-10. Chocolate festi val, snowmobile drag racing, concerts. (800) 722-7648 or cariboumaine.net

Moosehead Lake Region Snofest, Greenville, February 9-17 100-mile sled dog race, chocolate festival, snowmobile parade. 692-2702 or mooseheadlake.org

EE xplorers used to climb a moun tain because it’s there. Today, not only is it there, but there are groomed trails, tots of hot buttered rum, saunas and spas, fried veggies, surviving Jefferson Starship members jam ming in front of a stone fireplace, $6 hot dogs, and prob ably an “ice luge” sluiced with Cosmopolitans waiting for you there, too. Total all of the receipts, and we’re talking about some cool runnings.

Moosehead L ake Ice Fishing D erby With R icky Craven , Greenville, February 26-27. First annual moosehead Lake Togue Ice Fishing Debry, with prizes $375-$1,500. All fish entered qualify for daily prize drawings. 695-2702 or mooseheadlake.org

CarnivalWinterBowlMushers, January 19-27, 647-3472CarnivalwineBroomballBridgton.tournament,tasting,craftfair,Winterdance,dogsledraces.ormushersbowl.com N aples Winter Carnival , February 1617, Naples Town Dock, Route 302. Helicopter rides, children’s activities, fireworks, snowmobile events, food, movies. 318-6965. O xford Hills Snowfest , January 26-27, Norway. Drag racing, chowderfest, antique snowmobile show. 743-6483 or 527-2175. Snofest , February 10-25, Greenville. Sled Dog Race February 10 with Chocolate Festival, bonfire, snowmobile parade, chile and chowder cookoff. 695-2702 Snowmobile Snodeo, January 24-26, Rangeley. Sleigh rides, obstacle course, radar run and fireworks. 864-7336 or

www.rangeleysnowmobile.comOurannual guide to ski resorts, aprés-ski tête-átêtes, getaways, cuisine, downhill races, and otherchallenges.vertical 68

Mahoosuc Guide Service , Newry,. Day trips, weekend overnights, Pimotaau Weekends, Northwoods Trips, Northern Native Cultural Trips. 824-2073 or www.mahoosuc.com

Wine- T asting Fundraiser , February 10, Maine Music Society, Graziano’s Italian Restaurant, Lisbon. 782-1403 or www.mainemusicsociety.org Dogsledding

Maine D ogsledding A dventures at N ahma kanta L ake Camps , Millinocket. Day trips, drive your own team of Alaskan sled dogs. 731-8888 or www.mainedogsledding.com

Moose Country Safaris & D og Sled T rips , Sangerville. Snowshoeing trips for a few hours or a whole day, and ice fishing with Maine guide Ed Mathieu. 876-4907 or www.moosecountrysafaris.com

Mornington Crescent Sled D ogs, Albany Township. Registered Maine Guides, expeditions for the public and for Outward Bound, half-day and full-day tours. 824-7292 or www.sledpets.com

White White World Week, Sugarloaf Mountain, Carrabasset Valley. Downhill Dummy Jump, Silly Slalom. January 20-25. 237-2000 or www.sugarloaf.com

N ew England D ogsledding , Mason Township. Fun and educational dogsledding with 75 athletic Alaskan Huskies. “We take twoto-three-hour cruises covering 10-20 miles from our location near Sunday River, as well as onehour trips based near Attitash Ski Area,” says owner Steve Crone. 836-2703 or www.newenglanddogsledding.com

WINTERGUIDE 2008 69

OUNDATIONCULPTINGSCE&NOSUGARLOAF;SOTEL;ARBORORTLANDSUGARLOAF;SLEFTTOPMFROISECLOCKWUNDAYRIVER;PHHMAINEWIF U.S. N ational T oboggan Championships , Camden. The only recognized National Toboggan Championships in the U.S. feature 400 teams com peting, February 8-10 at Camden Snow Bowl. Chili and chowder contests. 236-3438 or camdensnowbowl.com

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Song in the Woods , Abbot. Short trips, day trips, multi-day trips, Mush Your Own Team option. 876-4736 or www.songinthewoods.com Clockwise from left: snowboarding at Sugarloaf; Sunday River housing; the Ice Bar at Portland Harbor Hotel; creative headgear at Sugarloaf; Maine State Snow Sculpture Championship February 14-16 at L.L. Bean Discovery Park.

Black Mountain , Rumford, 1,150-foot vertical drop, 1 triple chair/1 double chair/1 T bar/2 handle tow, night skiing, cross-country skiing, 90 percent snowmaking, tubing runs, 300-foot halfpipe, lighted trails, novice/intermediate section, lodge. 364-8977 or www.skiblackmtnofme.org

Big Squaw Mountain , Greenville, 1,750-foot vertical drop, 1 triple chair/1double chair/2 sur face lifts, 70percent snowmaking. Overlooking Moosehead Lake, this mountain has “the best views in North America,” says owner Jim Confalone. The resort has been remodeled for this year. 695-1000 or www.bigsquawmountain.com

Carter’s X-C Ski Center and Shops , Oxford (35 kilometers) and Bethel (50 kilometers), beginner to advanced trails, snowshoeing available. “Both of our locations have lodges, snack bars, and warming huts, and we have really nice views of mountain ranges and rivers. We offer both skating and classical terrain,” says

Birches Ski T ouring Center , Rockwood, snowshoeing trails available, with “25-30 miles of well-groomed trails, three warming huts, and hot chocolate as well as a restaurant and lounge at the Birches Main Lodge. There are beautiful views of Moosehead Lake,” says Cathy Ladd. (800) 825-9453 or www.birches.com

Bethel Inn Ski T ouring Center , Bethel, 36 km of cross-country trails groomed daily and 10 km of competition trails, with skating lanes and tracks, child friendly, lunch available. “February 17 we hold a cross-country skier cross race with a sprint elimination format. We also offer daily lessons by professional, certified instructors,” says Nordic director Mike Cooper. 824-6276, www. bethelinn.com or caribourecreation.com

Baker Mountain Ski A rea , Moscow, 460-foot vertical drop, 1 T-bar, night skiing. Volunteer run, with a club operating a ski school. 612-9200 or www.skimaine.com/areas/bakermountain

PROM FULLPROFESSIONALPTSERVICE Auto-fill Program Budget Plan Fixed Price Program 10 Days Same as Cash 883-8096 934-1223 PINE STATE E NERGY – We take the FROST out of winter! Servicing Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth, Gorham, Greater Portland, Saco, Scarborough, Westbrook We Deliver More Than Home Heating Oil, We Deliver Peace of Mind… 70 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE OUTDOORS Winterguide Ski Guide

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10th Mountain Center, Fort Kent, over 40 km of cross-country trails for all levels of difficulty, lodge, night skiing, biathlon facilities, free use of buildings and grounds. Hosting North American Biathlon Championships & U.S. Biathlon Championships March 13-18. 834-6203 or www.10thmtskiclub.org

A Fierce Chase Cross Country Ski T rails , Monson, 20 km of wide-groomed trails for all abili ties, snowshoe trails, instructional and technical support, dog friendly. Owner John Chase says, “We were recognized by the cross-country ski area asso ciation in 2005 for having the best environmental design, operation, and educational programming. We use composting toilets, recycle all materials, and heat the warming hut with local wood.” 997-3971 or www.afiercechase.com

Big R ock Ski A rea , Mars Hill, 980-foot verti cal drop, 1 triple chair/1 double chair/1 poma/1 carpet/1 handle tow, night skiing, cross-country skiing, 80 percent snowmaking. New this year, a snow-tubing park with four new 800-foot lanes, as well as “added improvements to the terrain park with more trails and better features…a new aprés-ski lounge with a vintage look, old lift chairs, and memorabilia,” says Ryan Guerrette, operations manager. 425-6711 or www.bigrockmaine.com

Camden Snow Bowl , Camden, 850-foot verti cal drop, 1 double chair/2 T bars/1 handle tow lift, night skiing, 45 percent snowmaking. “We’ve installed more snowmaking pipes on our trails and tubing runs and added more lighting to improve vision on the trails for our evening ski ers. We have a 400-foot toboggan chute and will be holding the 18th Annual Toboggan Championships February 8-10,” says Beth Ward. General Manager Jeff Kuller says, “We’ll have a weekly racing series every Friday nights, some races open to the public, and on the first Saturday of each month we’re going to stay open later with a special theme, meal, and activities.” 236-3438, 236-4418 (snow info) or www.camdensnowbowl.com

Harris Farm XC Ski Center , Dayton, 40 kilometers of trails, skating lines, snowshoeing available, day lodge, snack bar, dog friendly, for “peace and quiet that you don’t find anywhere else…solitude in the woods,” says Dixie Harris. 499-2678, www.harrisfarm.com

Mt. A bram , Greenwood, 1,150-foot vertical drop, 2 double chairs/1 T bar/1 surface lift/ 1 carpet, night skiing, cross-country skiing, 85 percent snowmaking, longest tubing park in Maine, weekend NASTAR rac ing. “We have revamped our snowmaking system top to bottom, and built a new ‘Magic Carpet’ lift conveyor belt for beginning skiers,” says owner Josh Burns. 875-5000 or www.mtabram.com Mt. Jefferson , Lee, 432-foot vertical drop, 2 T bars/1 rope tow, night skiing, snowboard park, half-pipe, views of Mt. Katahdin. 738-2377.

Skiing. Lodging. Dining. A true winter wonderland. It ’s all up here.

Maine Handicapped Skiing , Newry, “free adaptive recreation for children and adults” in its 26th year. Downhill skiing and snowboarding are taught at Sunday River and weekends at Sugarloaf/ USA. Cross-country skiing and snowshoeing are taught at Sunday RIver Inn and Cross Country Ski Center and Pineland Farms. “MHS works with many people with brain injuries, cerebral palsy, amputees and more,” says public relations director Wendy Iseman. 800-639-7770 or www.skimhs.org

Mc D ougal O rchards Ski T rails , Springvale, 18 kilometers of dog-friendly cross-country trails, a full-moon night ski, with bunkhouse, warming hut, “and hot coffee, cocoa, and homemade cookies,” says Ellen McAdam. 324-5054 or www.mcdougalorchards.com

N ordic Heritage Center , Presque Isle, snow shoeing and mountain biking, world-class crosscountry and biathlon facilities and a state-of-the-art

Five Fields Farm, Bridgton , 30 kilometers of trails, unlimited terrain to the top of Bald Pate Mountain, warming house, rentals, dog friendly. Elizabeth Algeo says, “We’ve added more than 2 km of totally new terrain, which creates our longest closed loop. We host a biathlon meet January 19-20, and the musher’s bowl January 2627. 647-2425 or www.fivefieldsfarmx-cski.com

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N ew Hermon Mountain , Prospect, 350-foot vertical drop, 1 double chair/1 T bar/1 handle tow, night skiing, 100 percent snowmaking, 600+ foot tubing run with lift. 848-5192 or www.skihermonmountain.com

L ost Valley , Auburn, 240-foot vertical drop, 21 trails, 2 double chairs/1 T bar, night skiing, cross country skiing, 100 percent snowmaking, PSIA Certified Ski School, cross-country ski trails, and snowboarding. New expert trails, upgraded water lines to improve snowmaking, and a remodeled and enlarged Ski and Snowboard Shoppe. 784-1561 or www.lostvalleyski.com

L onesome P ine T rails , Fort Kent, 500-foot vertical drop, 1 T bar/1 J bar, night skiing, 60 percent snowmaking, alpine and Nordic skiing on the Canadian border, or Top of the World, with international views from the trails. 834-5202.

WINTERGUIDE 2008 71 Jessica Person. “We’ve widened the trails, and we’ve cut some new snowshoe and backcountry trails.” 539-4848 or www.cartersxcski.com

Dixville Notch, New Hampshire I 866-442- 9762 I TheBalsams.com

Coast Ski and Bike , Alfred, cross-country trails on 100 acres, family oriented with trails for all skill levels, warming barn, snacks, fire pit. 324-8747, www.coastskiandbike.com

Eaton Mountain , Skowhegan, 622-foot vertical drop, 1 double chair, night skiing, 100 percent snowmaking, base lodge, Bear Trap Restaurant & Lounge, camping, disc golf. 474-2666 or www.eatonmountain.com

Millinocket Municipal X-C Ski A rea , Millinocket, 32 kilometers of groomed trails, 20 kilometers of ungroomed trails, views of Mt. Katahdin, snowshoeing and snowmobil ing available. “Bait Hole with the Northern Timbercruises Clubhouse is open on weekends where we serve light breakfasts, lunches, and homemade soups. Our trails are all free–the area is run by volunteers,” says coordinator Don Nodine. 723-4329 or www.katahdinmaine.com

SKI PACKAGEFREE from $89* per person promoSKIFREEcode: Includes accommodations, breakfast and a free daily lift ticket. All at our Condé Nast award-winning resort.

OUTDOORS Winterguide lodge with sauna, kitchen, and fireplace. 762-6972 or www.nordicheritagecenter.org

CARTER’S One of the Best Selections of Quality Cross-Country Equipment In the NorthEast! Over 90K groomed powder skate, classic & snowshoe trails Rentals, Lessons, & Snackbar Lodging & Cabins Carter’s XC Ski Shop & Centers Rt. 26 Oxford (207) www.cartersxcski.comIntervale539-4848Rd.Bethel(207)824-3880 72 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE

overlooking Rangeley Lakes Region. Modern lodge with fieldstone fireplace, pub, food court, coffee bar, day care. “We have three new trails and a new terrain park this year,” says Jane Craig. Live music every Saturday; first Sunday of every month is Maine Day; peewee lollipop races for children every Sunday; Mountain Dew Vertical Challenge January 26; Telemark Invasion February 2; Ski Patrol Torch Light Parade February 21; Ski patrol and Union Live Auction March 8; St. Patrick’s family fun day March 15; Easter egg hunt and parade March 23; annual cardboard box race March 29. 864-5671 or 864-3380 (snow info or www.saddlebackmaine.com

Shawnee Peak , Bridgton, 1,300-foot vertical drop, 1 quad/2 triple chair/1 double chair/1 carpet, night skiing, 98 percent snowmaking, more than 40 trails and glades, 400-foot half-pipe. “It’s our 70th anniversary this year. We converted to 100 percent wind energy, refurbished our triple lift to the summit to make it more roomy and comfortable, and enlarged our beginner area and our

Rangelely Lakes X-C Ski Trails , Rangeley, 60 kilometers of wide trails, unlimited back-country skiing, located at the base of Saddleback Mountain Ski Resort. 864-4309 or www.xcskirangeley.com

Saddleback , Rangeley, 2,000-foot vertical drop, 1 quad/2 double chairs/2 T bars, 85 percent snowmaking, lodge, terrain park, half-pipe, alpine views

Seacoast Snow Park , Windham, 100-foot vertical drop, 2 handle tows/night tubing/100 percent snowmaking. Six lanes of tubing, bar, and arcade, with lights for night tubing, open Friday, Saturday to 9 p.m. with a bonfire, and to 6 on Sunday and later one night a week with a bonfire. 892-5952 or www.seacoastfunparks.com

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Quoggy Jo Ski Center, Presque Isle, 215-foot vertical drop/1 T bar, free Saturday morning lessons, first-time skier area, biathlon center. 764-3248 or www.mainewsc.org

Oxford Plains Snow Tubing , Oxford, 100-foot vertical drop/1 T bar/100 percent snowmaking/4 lanes, snack bar trailer, and the oldest tubing hill in Maine. 539-2454. Pineland Farms , New Gloucester, 26 kilometers of trails, 7 km snowshoe trails shared with skiers, views of Mt. Washington, ski rentals, changing room, wax room, chariot sled rental, retail shop, visitor’s center with restroom facilities, snacks, and ski tuning. “Discover the natural beauty of Pineland Farms–5000 acres of pastoral farmland, rolling hills with remarkable views, and a river valley that meanders through stands of oak, birch, and evergreen forests,” says spokesman Scott. 688-4539 or www.pinelandfarms.org

PRODUCERS OF SLATE FLOOR TILE, FLAGGING, STRUCTURAL SLATE AND ROOFING, MONUMENTS AND SLATE SINKS Monson • Maine 04464 • 207-997-3615 • Middle Granville • New York 12849 • 518-642-1280 • FAX 207-997-2966

Sugarloaf/US A , Carrabassett Valley, 2,820-foot vertical drop, 4 quads (2 high-speed)/1 triple chair/8 double chairs/1 T bar/1 handle tow, cross-country skiing, 94 percent snowmaking, 133 trails and glades, Olympic size SuperPipe, smaller half-pipe for learners, Turbo Tubing, Antigravity Complex with aggressive street-park design, gym, and trampolines. “We have a new marquee terrain park that promises bigger, bet ter, and more features than ever before,” says Bill Swain, communications manager. Entertainment hits the heights here, too–Jefferson Starship has already serenaded skiers this season. 237-2000, 237-6809 (snow info), or www.sugarloaf.com

Smiling Hill Farm , Westbrook, 34 kilometers of trails, snowshoeing, child friendly “with rentals available for small children ages 4+, hot beverages, ice cream, and snacks,” says co-owner Deb Knight. Open weekends and holidays. 775-4818 or www.smilinghill.com

Spruce Mountain , Jay, 300-foot vertical drop, 3 rope tows/night skiing/cross-country skiing/50 per cent snowmaking, ski classes for all ages. 897-4090 or www.jay-maine.org/spruce-mtn.html

WWW.SHELDONSLATE.COM

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SHELDON SLATE is a family-owned business with four generations of experience. We mine and manufacture our own slate products from our own quarries. The range of our colors will complement any kitchen or bath. Our slate is heat-resistant, non-porous and non-fading. It has a polished/honed nish and is very low maintenance. Let us help you design and build a custom sink, countertop, or vanity. Custom inquires are handled through the Monson, Maine, division.

WINTERGUIDE 2008 73 carpet lift,” says Melissa Rock, director of marketing. 647-8444 or www.shawneepeak.com

Sunday R iver , Bethel, 2,340-foot vertical drop, 9 quads (4 high-speed)/4 triple chairs/2 double

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Century Tire Co. & Auto Service Centers 185 Kennebeck St., Portland, ME (207)775-3777 Pine Tree Shopping Center, Portland, ME (207)775-1602 Route 302, North Windham, ME (207)892-7528 “We’ll Keep You Rolling!”

Bates College Museum of A rt , Lewiston. Wildness Within, Wildness Without opens January 18. 786-6158. www.bates.edu/museum.xml

THE

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itcomb Mountain , West Farmington, 340-foot vertical drop, 2 T bars/1 handletow, night skiing, 75 percent snowmaking, alpine, snow boarding, 17 kilometers of groomed Nordic trails. “We have upgraded our terrain park, improved lighting for night skiing, and have a new groomer for our cross-country trails that will work better on thin snow. We are very family oriented, with a snack bar and home-cooked food, and have good trails for beginners,” says manager Karleen Andrews. 778-9031 or www.titcombmountain.com MacKenzie Rawcliffe and skimaine.com contributed to these listings.

12/12/07

The

OUTDOORS Winterguide chairs/3 handle tows, cross-country skiing, 92 percent snowmaking. “We have a new trail of intermediate level skiers called Southpaw,” says Alex Kaufman, communications manager. “Our main aprés-ski bar, Foggy Goggle, has been com pletely redone with seven new flat-screen televi sions.” 824-3000, 824-5200, (800)-2SKI (snow info), or www.sundayriver.com

Bowdoin College Museum of A rt , Walker Art Building, Brunswick. Stephen Hannock to January 13, Traditional and Contemporary Chinese Art in Dialogue to February. 725-3275 or academic.bowdoin.edu/ art-museum Center for Maine Contemporary A rt , 162 Russell Avenue, Rockport. Frances Hodsdon January 6-February 23, Michael Waterman opens January 6. 236-2875 or www.cmcanow.org

Children’s Museum of Maine , 142 Free Street, Portland. Stage Stories, Big Messy Art. 828-1234 or www.childrensmuseumofme.org Colby College Museum of A rt , Mayflower Hill, Waterville. Fall Faculty Exhibition to January 30. 872-3228 or www.colby.edu/museum

A bbe Museum , Bar Harbor. “Layers of Time” continues. 288-3519 or www.abbemuseum.org A cadia N ational P ark Museum , Bar Harbor. Historical treasures housed at park headquarters. 288-3338 A rt Gallery at U NE , Westbrook College Campus, University of New England, 716 Stevens Avenue, Portland. Abelardo Morrell to January 27. 797-7261 or www.une.edu/artgallery A trium A rts Gallery , University of Southern Maine, Lewiston-Auburn College, Lewiston. Educate and Create opens January 21. 753-6500 or http://usm.maine.edu/lac/art/ A ucocisco Gallery , 613 Congress Street, Portland. Richard van Bren, David Moses Bridges January; Gallery Artists February. 775-2222 or www.aucocisco.com

Sunday, January, 27th at 7:00p.m. PIPES, DRUMS, AND HIGHLAND DANCERS OF THE ROYAL SCOTS DRAGOON GUARDS AND THE BAND OF THE COLDSTREAM GUARDS Ticket information: $35, $25, and $18 - All Seats Reserved • $3 off for Seniors 62+ and Youths 12 and under • $5 off for groups of 15 or more Call (207) 775-3481 x 348 for group ticket orders. Tickets are available at the Civic Center Box Ofﬁice, all Ticketmaster outlets, and online, at ticketmaster.com Charge by phone - Civic Center at (207) 775-3458 or Ticketmaster at (207) 775-3331 MasterCard, Visa, Discovercard or American Express • Service charges apply on all phone orders, outlet and online sales. Music Scotland,of England, Ireland, and Wales!

The Music Scotland,of England, Ireland, and Wales!

74 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE

Cooper Jackson Gallery , 70 India Street, Portland. Lori Glavin January 4 -26, Still Life 68-77 74 9:22:32

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Galleries

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Fore Street Gallery , 372 Fore Street, Portland. Paul Black, Sylvia Dyers, Carlton Plummer. 874-8084 or www.forestreetgallery.com

Farnsworth Museum of Art , Main Street, Rockland. Louise Nevelson, Alex Katz to February 17. 596-6457 or www.farnsworthmuseum.org

June Fitzpatrick Gallery , 522 Congress and 112 High streets, Portland. January: From the Inside at Congress/Seven MECA painters 10 Years Later at High; February: Fusion/Encaustic both galleries. 772-1961 or www.junefitzpatrickgallery.com

Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad & Museum , 58 Fore Street, Portland. Valentine’s Day Train February 14. 828-0814 or www.mngrr.org Maine State Museum , 87 State House Station, Augusta. “Maine Gems,” “Made in Maine,” “Reflections of Maine.” 287-2304 or www.state.me.us/museum/ The Museum of African Culture , 13 Brown Street, Portland. Malaga Island of Maine through February; documentary film Amazing Grace shows on Fridays during February. 871-7188 or www.africantribalartmuseum.org

CMYCYMYCMYMCK

CMYCYMYCMYMCK PomBrunCyg-adv-fp.pdf 10/22/07 6:01:35 PM

Filament Gallery , 181 Congress Street, Portland. Jill Dalton, Ernest Paterno. 774-0932 or www.filamentgallery.com

Frost Gully Gallery , 1159 U.S. Route 1, Freeport. Stephen Etnier, Laurence Sisson, and Janet C. Manyan. 865-4505 or www.frostgullygallery.com

Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art , 522 Congress Street, Portland. Winter Exhibition Series opens January 25. 775-3052 or www.meca.edu

Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, Hubbard Hall, Bowdoin College, Brunswick. Robert E. Peary and Donald B. MacMillian WG08 68-77 SkiCal.indd 75 12/12/07 9:22:34 PM

WINTERGUIDE 2008 75 GOINGS ON Events Calendar

Galeyrie Fine Art , 240 US Route 1, Falmouth. Veronica Benning, Richard Garrigus, Jane Woodworth Rotondi through January. 781-3555. Greenhut Gallery , 146 Middle Street, Portland. “Painters Who Teach” opens January 31. 772-2693, or www.greenhutgalleries.com

PomBrunCyg-adv-fp.pdf 10/22/07 6:01:35 PM Freeport’s exclusive Trollbeads merchandiser

Maine Historical Society Museum , 489 Congress Street, Portland. Maine Indian Art forms from the Hudson Museum opens February 15. 774-1822 or www.mainehistory.org

Lincoln County Historical Association , Federal Street, Wiscasset. History of Lincoln County. 882-6817 or www.lincolncountyhistory.org

Jameson Gallery , 305 Commercial Street, Portland. Group Show in January. 772-5522 or www.jamesongallery.com

Floral Group Show February 1-29. 772-2108 or www.cooperjacksongallery.com

Holly Ready Gallery , 146 High Street, Portland. 632-1027 or www.hollyready.com

Eric Hopkins Gallery , North Haven Island. 594-1996 or www.erichopkins.com

Maine Maritime Museum, 243 Washington Street, Bath. “Legacy of Ship: 400 Years of Shipbuilding in Maine.” 443-1316 or www.bathmaine.com/programs.asp

York Street. Portland. Nathan Eldridge, David Ross,

Wiscasset Bay March.

Justin Richel

ortland Ballet ,

Dance P Portland. 842-0800

Whitney A 45 John MCNeil February 1-March Cote, March 5-29.

Susan Maasch Fine A rt , 29 Forest Avenue, Portland. Richard Estes, Richard Haas, David Kapp, Todd

882-7682 or www.wiscassetbaygallery.com

Gallery , 67 Main Street, Wiscasset. Selections of American and European Art from the gallery collection through

Seashore T rolley Museum , Log Cabin Road, Kennebunkport. Mass transit vehicles operated by New England Electric Railway Historical Society. 967-2712 or www.trolleymuseum.org

780-0700. www.whitneyartworks.com

or www.portlandballet.org Maine State Ballet, 348 US Route One, Falmouth. 842-0800 or www.mainestateballet.org Theater P ortland P layers , South Portland. The Fantastics January 18-February 3. www.portlandplayers.org P ortland Stage Company , Forest Avenue, Portland. Fully Committed, January 22-February 1, Much Ado About Nothing, February 26-March 23. 774-0465 or www.portlandstage.com St. L awrence A rts Center , 76 Congress Street, Portland. AIRE, American Irish Repertory Ensemble, presents Eclipsed January 10-19; Good Theater pres ents Judy Garland Songbook January 31, February 1-3 and 7-10; Prelude to A Kiss February 14-March 9. 775-5568 or www.stlawrencearts.org WG08 68-77 SkiCal.indd 76 12/12/07 9:22:36 PM

1; Matt

Watts, Rackstraw Downes, January 4-February 29. 699-2966 or www.susanmaaschfineart.com T om Veilleux Gallery , 75 Market Street, Portland. William and Marguerite Zorach, William Glackens. 828-0784 or www.tomveilleux.com University of Maine Museum of A rt , 40 Harlow Street, Bangor. Berenice Abbot, Marsden Hartley, Winslow Homer, Carl Sprinchorn, Andrew Wyeth. 561-3350 or www.umma.umaine.edu

rt Works P rojects ,

Independent education from Early Childhood through Grade 12 Waynﬂete Students are Artists & Athletes, Scholars & Sculptors, Musicians & Mathematicians... www.waynﬂete.org 119 Mountain Road, Bridgton, Maine Info/snow phoneshawneepeak.com207-647-8444 Join Shawnee Peak Mobile! Text SHAWNEE to 22122 now for up-to-the-minute conditions and exclusive free offers all season long! We promise - this is worth it! Standard text messaging rates apply Big Mountain Skiing Renowned Children’s Programs Luxury IncredibleLodgingSnow Conditions Just one hour from Portland of Skiing and Riding! Celebrating 70 years GOINGS ON Events Calendar 76 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE supplies and artifacts from artic explorations. 725-3062 or www.bowdoin.edu/arctic-museum/ P enobscot Marine Museum , 5 Church Street, Searsport. Artifacts, ship models, paintings, photo graphs, China Trade art, small craft. 548-2529 or www.penobscotmarinemuseum.org P ortland Museum of A rt , 7 Congress Square, Portland. Lola Alvarez Bravo to March 16, John Bisbee opens January 24, New Natural History opens February 23. 773-ARTS, (800) 639-4067 or www.portlandmuseum.com Saco Museum , 371 Main Street, Saco. History of the Saco valley in the 18th and 19th centuries. 283-3861. www.sacomuseum.org Salt Gallery , 110 Exchange Street, Portland. Student Show continues to March. 761-0660 or www.salt.edu/gallery.html

T he Maine Women Writers Collection , Westbrook College Campus, University of New England, Stevens Avenue, Portland. Literary, cul tural, and social history sources by and about Maine women authors open to the public by appointment. 797-7688, ext. 4324 or www.une.edu

–Compiled by Diane Hudson WG08 68-77 SkiCal.indd 77 12/12/07 9:22:39 PM

P ortland Symphony O rchestra , Merrill Auditorium, Portland. Also Sprach Zarathustra February 5, Vocal Valentine February 16, Beethoven Piano Concerto February 24. 842-0800m 842-0812 TTY or www.portlandsymphony.com St. L awrence A rts Center , 76 Congress Street, Portland. Kate Schrock January 3. 775-5568 or www.stlawrencearts.org

Don’t miss Maine A udubon , 20 Gisland Farm Road, Falmouth. Winter Yoga every Monday, weekly bird walk Thursdays, Snow Science family program January 19, Winter Twigs workshop Jnauary 26, Paper Making and Valentine Cards family program February 2 and 9. 781-2330 or www.maineaudubon.org

Corporate & Business Catering, Breakfast Meetings, Lunches, Afternoon Breaks “Let The Good Chef do the cooking” Phone – 207 632-6972 Fax - 207 854-9032 Email – goodchef@verizon.net Ellen Dore – Owner Freshly Prepared & Beautifully Presented We deliver WINTERGUIDE 2008 77 USM T heatre , University of Southern Maine, Russell Hall, Gorham. To Gillian on her 37th Birthday February 14-7. 780-5151. Music Cumberland County Civic Center , Portland. Band of The Cold Stream Guards and the Pipes, Drums and Dancers of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards January 27, Toby Keith February 14. 775-3458, 775-3331 or www.ticketmaster.com or www.theciviccenter.com T he Maine Music Society , 215 Lisbon Street, Lewiston. Wine Tasting with Your Valentine, Graziano’s Casa Mia Restaurant, Route 196, Lisbon, February 10. 782-1403 or www.mainemusicsociety.org PCA Great P erformances , Merrill Auditorium, Portland. Momix January 24, Ingrid Fliter February 6, Limon Dance Company February 27. 773-3150 or www.pcagreatperformances.org P ortland String Quartet , Woodfords Congregational Church, Woodford Street, Portland. Stravinsky, Ravel and Franck, with guest artist Cheryl Tschanz March 2. 761-1522 or www.portlandstringquartet.org

Maine Writers and P ublishers A lliance , 318 Glickman Family Library, University of Southern Maine, 314 Forest Ave, Portland. “Writers Read” the third Wednesday of each month. Workshops in fiction, poetry, creative non fiction, children’s literature, and publishing. 3861400 or www.mainewriters.org

P ortand P ublic L ibrary , Congress Street, Portland. Brown Bag Lectures, Wednesdays noon in the Rines Auditorium; Page to Stage, interactive discussions with Portland Stage Company Tuesdays noon, with Fully Committed, January 29. www.portlandpubliclibrary.com

Portland Harbor Hotel

. Enjoy a breakfast of homemade baked goods and gather your strength before hit ting Freeport’s outlets. The February Is For Romance package ($270-$330) includes two nights for two, with full hot break fasts each day and a $50 certificate for dinner at Azure Café steps away. Co-owner Scott Thomas loves the way shopping and romance go hand in hand here: “There are a thousand things to do!” 150 Main St., Freeport, 865-4121, brewsterhouse.com.

78 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE

PortlandThese?GotPiratesHockey.Well,GoGet‘Em!ThemostexcitingsportinPortland.

Bear Mountain Inn Treat yourself to two nights’ lodging, cheese & fruit tray, dipped chocolate strawberries, and fresh flowers. A massage, a dozen roses, and even a sleigh ride are available here, too: $390 to $770, $70pp for massage. Sample guests (not at the same time): “Glenn Frey of the Eagles, Jane Pauley, and the director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” 364 Waterford Rd., Waterford, 583-4404, bearmtninn.com.

. For a night of Old Port elegance, try Eve’s at the Garden and check out the very cool Ice Bar for a martini–ease into the decadent Chocolate Molt Cake with a liquid center. “The Romantic Bath Turndown for $200 includes deluxe accommodations, champagne, and chocolatecovered strawberries,” says David Davis. Guests (again, not at the same time!) include “Victoria Rowell, Alan Alda, Jerry Seinfeld, and Montel Williams.” 468 Fore St., Portland, 775-9090, portlandharborhotel.com. York Harbor Inn Five separate lodges offer elegant coun try-inn rooms and luxurious guest suites. Book a room for the weekend and enjoy the Jacuzzis, fireplaces, and ocean views. “Our Valentine’s Day gala includes gourmet dinner, dancing to Gerry Adams and the C-Notes, and lodging for one night or two ($318-$638 per night). We also have a romantic dinner in the main dining room on the 14th,” says Jess Stevens. “The lobsterstuffed breast of chicken with a Boursin cheese sauce” has been a mainstay for 25 years, says chef Gerry Bonsey. 1637 Ocean View Restaurant is a lovely way to capture romance by the shore. Route 1A, York Harbor, (800) 343-3869, yorkharborinn.com.

Harraseeket Inn Choose one of the Harraseeket’s great vacation packages ($290-$695), which range from the quick getaway Fireside to the Perfect Gift (an evening of total luxury for two). “It includes champagne, flowers, fruit and cheese, king bed, Jacuzzi, and fireplace, dinner for two, and a $50 cer tificate to L.L. Bean for $475,” says Kathy Hunter. Add fine dining in the Maine Dining Room or the more casual atmo sphere of the Broad Arrow Tavern, and you might choose to forgo the shopping (for one night, anyway). 162 Main St., Freeeport, 865-9377, harraseeketinn.com.

White Barn Inn & Spa “Indulge in a midweek Romantic Getaway Package…two nights with champagne and strawber ries in your room, afternoon tea, spa massage, four-course din ner at the White Barn Inn Restaurant, butler-drawn bath, and continental breakfast,” says manager Stuart Barwise ($1,872 per couple, 2-night stay). “The Valentine’s package is a one-night stay with champagne and strawberries, afternoon tea, fourcourse dinner for two, butler-drawn bath, and a wonderful extended continental breakfast…” Magic in the winter and steps from Gooch’s Beach, the White Barn is a favored retreat for many a romantic, including Spenser for Hire author Robert B. Parker and his wife, Joan. ($511 per person, February 14 only). 37 Beach Ave., K-port, 967-2321, whitebarninn.com.

For Tickets: portlandpirates.com775-3458

Lucerne Inn This 200-year-old inn in a striking Alpine setting offers weeknight, Saturday night, and weekend packages, “including dinner for two, deluxe continental breakfasts (Sunday brunch on the weekend) for $260-$460,” says Sarah Bridges. 2517 Main Rd., Dedham, 843-5123, lucerneinn.com.

GETAWAYS Art & Soul (continued from page 23)

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Oxford House Inn Enjoy the Romantic Two-Night Getaway through April, with Oxford House Chocolate Truffles in your room: three-course candlelit dinner on the night of your choice, waking to a full country breakfast (don’t miss the oatmeal scones) served overlooking the White Mountains–or stay in bed and have it brought up, along with fresh flowers ($415 per couple; add $60pp for an in-room massage). “We have cross-country skiing and snowshoeing,” co-owner Natalie Speak says. Imagine: “Spend the day outside and come back to sit by the fire and have a delicious dinner.” 548 Main St., Fryeburg, 935-3442, oxfordhouseinn.com.

Brewster House Bed & Breakfast

WINTERGUIDE 2008 79 Galen C. Moses House Bed & Breakfast

Captain Fairfield Inn The Valentine’s Day Decadence Package offers two nights’ lodging, a gourmet four-course breakfast each morning, afternoon chocolate-chip cookies, and dinner at starry On the Marsh restaurant ($540-$770). A horse-drawn sleigh ride can be added to personalize your getaway. 8 Pleasant St., K-port, 967-4454, captainfairfield.com.

Kennebunkport Inn

Sunday River Hit the slopes with your sweetie at this favorite Maine resort, and be sure to use one of their Stay and Ski Packages ($69-$269). Alex Kaufman says, “Folks can choose to stay where there’s a lot of nightlife, or they can be miles away, secluded in a mountain lodge at the western end.” Packages include lodging, lift tickets, and free adult Perfect Turn clinics, as well as breakfast. Lodging options include Sunday River Condominiums, the Snow Cap Inn, and the Grand Resort Hotels. Sunday River Rd., Bethel, 824-3000, sundayriver.com

Whether you choose to stay in the romantic Fireplace Cottage Suites or Victorian Inn Suites, “you’ll be treated each morning to a scrumptious New England home-cooked breakfast, either delivered to your door or served in the dining room,” says Susan Lytle. Both the Romantic Spa Getaway and Babymoon packages ($174-$339) also promise Afternoon Tea with sweets and special gifts. 34 Maine St., Kennebunkport, 967-2117 mainestayinn.com. 555 Steve Corry, one of Food and Wine magazine’s top-10 best new chefs, says, “Valentine’s Day we do a fixed-price five-course tasting menu with choices in each course, using in-season ingredients–it’s definitely a little more elegant and romantic than it would be on any other night” ($75-$85 ). This downtown Portland jewel shimmers on February 14. 555 Congress St., Portland, 761-0555, fivefifty-five.com.

Bethel Inn Resort What more could you want than cud dling and snuggling next to your sweetie at the foot of your king-sized bed while listening to the crackling of your own fireplace in your Valentine’s Deluxe Accommodation? This room includes “four-course dinner and a full breakfast,” says Kelly Eastman. “For an additional $50 per person, you can add a lift ticket for the day to Sunday River with free shuttle.” Also, “sleigh rides and free ice skating.” $293 plus lift tickets, sleigh rides, and ice skates. Guests have included Paul Newman. Route 26, Bethel, (800) 654-0125 or 824-2175, bethelinn.com.

Maine Stay Inn & Cottages at the Melville Walker House

The Balsams Take the Gray exit and turn left on Route 26. Then what? That’s it! There’s no Shangri-La more romantic than The Balsams. This hidden mountain enclave, in tiny Dixfield Notch, has world-class amenities, including a grand dining room voted #1 in the U.S. by Conde Nast Traveler for 2007. The Romantic Winter Getaway ($278-$745 per couple) includes breakfast & dinner, downhill & cross-country skiing, and a night-lit rink that’s been the stage for skaters from Tenly Albright to Nancy Kerrigan. Don’t miss their popovers, served with fresh whipped maple butter. 1000 Cold Spring Rd., Dixville Notch, NH, (877) 225-7267 or thebalsams.com. Emily K. Sears and Mackenzie Rawcliffe contributed research for this article. WG08 22-23 78-79 getaways.indd79 79 12/18/07 9:50:37 AM

. Delight in a four-course dinner at the award-winning Port Tavern & Grille, as well as their “Epicurean Adventure of Wines & Valentines” fireside in the afternoon. Ready to pop the question? Manager Terry Kenny says, “Be sure to ask about the Diamond and All Engagement Package ($1,550 without ring, $6,550 with)–one of our most popular!–and Valentine packages ($475-$655).” One Dock Sq., K-port, 967-2621, kennebunkportinn.com. Lake House Bed & Breakfast Stay where screen couple Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland once stayed! Innkeepers Allyson and Donald Johnson celebrate the entire month of February with two guest rooms and two luxury suites. Allyson Johnson says, “Stay any two weekend nights in February, enjoying fresh flowers, Valentine chocolates, break fast for two both mornings, a Lake House gift, and cheese & crackers on arrival ($199-$255).” 686 Waterford Rd., Waterford, 583-4182, lakehousemaine.com.

. On the National Register of Historic Homes, this B&B is the perfect choice for a Valentine’s getaway. The Winter Romance & Honeymoon Package includes two or three nights in one of the four guest rooms (each with private bath), flowers in your room, dinner gift certificate at a local restaurant, complimentary bottle of chilled champagne or wine, and gourmet breakfast each morning ($385-$485). 1009 Washington St., Bath, 442-8771, galenmoses.com.

Forget Me Nots Fun, Fabulous and Unique Clothing and Accessories for Women You’ll look so good, everyone will want to know where you shop. Now accepting seasonal clothing & accessories. 781-8252 190 US Rt. 1, Falmouth, Maine Tues-Fri 10-6 Sat 10-5 Sun 12-5 Quality Consignment Fashions Maine Veterinary Referral Center REFERRAVETERINARYMAINELCENTER NeurologySpecialistsSurgicaland Laurie Cook, D.V.M., D.A.C.V.I.M Board Certified Neurology Located at 1500 Technology Way in the Enterprise Business Park, off Route 1 in Scarborough, Maine • Phone www.maineveterinaryreferralcenter.com207.885.1290 REAL ESTATE TYPE OF TOTAL % OF TOTAL AVERAGE DWELLING UNITS MARKET LIST PRICE SINGLE 461 54% $292,316 CONDO 267 31% $254,332 MULTI 108 13% $364,780 SINGLE 570 55% $287,082 CONDO 315 30% $246,580 MULTI 125 12% $395,353 SINGLE 526 48% $294,221 CONDO 364 33% $257,802 MULTI 178 16% $390,750 SINGLE 564 52% $264,767 CONDO 300 28% $230,694 MULTI 200 18% $385,555 SINGLE 499 53% $231,943 CONDO 250 26% $196,387 MULTI 187 20% $331,227 SINGLE 499 54% $215,475 CONDO 221 24% $170,422 MULTI 183 20% $266,153 SINGLE 475 58% $176,503 CONDO 168 21% $153,835 MULTI 157 19% $214,588 SINGLE 500 55% $160,596 CONDO 175 19% $130,549 MULTI 197 22% $197,103 SINGLE 550 58% $138,144 CONDO 191 20% $102,818 MULTI 173 18% $169,681 SINGLE 509 56% $127,494 CONDO 179 20% $105,565 MULTI 184 20% $150,439 SINGLE 255 60% $123,903 CONDO 82 19% $ 94,166 MULTI 74 18% $136,099 20061998199719992000200120022003200420052007** Portland Real Estate *Maine Real Estate Information Service statistics courtesy of MREIS president for 2009, Michael LePage of ReMax Heritage. 80 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE VIEW real-estate-performing year since 1997? It makes better copy to say it’s the ‘sixth worst,’ but you’d be ignoring the local facts. “Right now, the average time on the mar ket for a single-family home is about 60 days. That’s not bad. I’ll meet people in the gro cery store, and they’ll ask, ‘Oh, Rita, is this a bad time to sell my house?’ I tell them ‘rates are low, the markets are stable, it’s balanced inventory between supply and demand. Is it Peanut Butter Time? (continued from page 43) WG08 42-43 80-81 Peanut.indd 80 12/12/07 8:36:18 PM

FaithSpiritualityLeadership...& in ChristianProgressiveEcumenicalanandCommunity Explore 159 State Street • Portland, ME 04101 207-774-5212 • www.bts.edu For more information on graduate courses and other programs, 800-287-6781 Ext. 126, www.bts.edu/admissions or email enrollment@bts.edu SeminaryTheologicalBangor Bangor • Portland Since 1814 oriental contemporary sisal broadloom appraisals cleaning padding AVG. FINAL AVG. DAYS PERCENT SELLING PRICE ON MARKET LIST/SOLD $282,419 71 96% $246,225 102 96% $349,500 93 96% $276,510 72 97% $240,231 91 98% $378,826 71 97% $286,678 53 100% $252,244 91 98% $380,145 59 98% $258,087 49 98% $228,069 74 95% $369,597 52 97% $225,810 46 98% $193,131 82 98% $320,590 49 99% $209,852 44 98% $166,479 57 98% $260,409 59 99% $173,124 35 100% $151,162 39 97% $208,482 46 96% $157,327 54 98% $126,891 32 98% $187,952 72 96% $134,345 56 99% $101,327 50 99% $163,682 79 97% $123,863 68 98% $102,315 64 98% $145,039 82 96% $119,478 74 98% $ 89,944 86 98% $131,619 93 98% at a Glance: 1997–2007* **Maine Real Estate Information Service statistics reflect information until November 30, 2007. WINTERGUIDE 2008 81 I guess I look at the glass half full. Did you realize property values [not assessments] have gone up 65 percent since 2000?” So if it’s not caviar time, and it’s not pea nut-butter time, what time is it? Salisbury steak“Whytime?not garishly mix caviar with pea nut butter and make it a twist?” she laughs. “That may be a more accurate way of put ting it.” Just close your eyes and bite. WG08 42-43 80-81 Peanut.indd 81 12/12/07 8:36:49 PM

82 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE HOUSE OF THE MONTH Colin Sargent Lush with oak detailing, this view from the grand hallway takes visitors back 100 years. WG08 82-87 House.indd 82 12/12/07 8:11:55 PM

Just three short seasons after wowing crowds as Portland Symphony Orchestra’s Decorator Showcase house, the fabulous West Mansion at 181 Western Promenade is up for sale–again [see Summerguide 2000, when it was listed for $1.5 million]. Asking price this time around for the Frederick Thompson-designed structure built in 1911 for coal, gas, and electricity magnate George Fletcher West (1862-1943) is $2.4 million. Asked why the building Greater Portland Landmarks calls “the largest and most elaborate turn-of-the-century

WG08 82-87 House.indd 83 12/12/07 8:12:00 PM

WINTERGUIDE 2008 83 SKIITKOROBERTWW

The West Mansion, designed in 1911 by Frederick Thompson, is ready for its close-up–again–for $2.4 million.

84 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE HOUSE OF THE MONTH

)(SKIITKOROBERTTOP:ROMISECLOCKWFWW2;PSODESIGNERSSHOWHOUSE2003

Top: The imposing exterior evokes the high society of Newport, Rhode Island, during the gilded age. Right: The upper loggia‘s Olympian view is changing as the new Mercy Hospital takes shape.

WG08 82-87 House.indd 84 12/12/07 8:12:15 PM

Above: Sunshine from Carroll Street bursts into the solarium.

The grand parlor looks even better than it did during the PSO show. If you’re looking for changes, a cheery modern kitchen in sunshiny yellow pastels with granite counters and Sail White cabi netry has been added as proof against the luxuriant gloom that will always haunt this palace (some of the vistas in here are right out of Sunset Boulevard). The new touches have been handled with such aplomb that the kitchen has recently been featured in Better Homes & Gardens. “The original oak cabinets [with leaded glass doors] are still in the house,” kept “so if somebody wanted to

www.simplyhomepage.com LindaBanks, ASID Proprietor 172RouteOne Falmouth,ME Mon-Fri10-5 207.781.5651 Maine'sfinestsourceforhomefurnishings, accessories&interiordesignservices. Ourfavoritepillow.$65 Includesshippinganywhere. For many, the spirit of the holidays is found when friends & family gather in the comfort of a warm &cozy home. HOME CONSTRUCTION, INC. OF MAINE Building ﬁne homes since 1991 258 Main Street, Suite 208 • Yarmouth, Maine info@mainehomeconstruction.com • www.MaineHomeConstruction.com207.846.9019 WINTERGUIDE 2008 85 dwelling” ever built in this city is being repre sented by a commercial broker, listing agent Kate Allen of the Dunham Group says, “The thought process was that our contacts might be larger than a residential broker. Also, Tom Moulton, one of my associates, knows Pete Shevenell of Masonry Preservation Associates, who has done a lot of the restora tion inside and out, including repairing the red tile roof, repointing the yellow [Roman] bricks, and restoring the woodwork” on the lavish first and second floors, much of it ornate quarter-sawn oak. Asked if the sellers, Dr. and Mrs. Marc Shinderman, are motivated, Allen says, “I would say not hugely, but they’re between Chicago and here and…” well, that’s anoth er story.Theoriginal Dr. West was an importer who papered the famous China Room here with the silver linings of tea cartons as a sign of his prosperity. Not only is this silver lin ing (every cloud has one, but they’re harder to come by in antique homes) still inside the West Mansion today, it is in terrific shape, with the original built-in wall étagère, part of the house’s original love affair with the chi noiserie, glowing amid tastefully minimalist antique acquisitions and mouth-watering ori ental carpets. Original hand-crafted Chinese mahogany trims the ceiling as crown mold ings, and four signed Tiffany sconces flicker drama into the scene. The enormous hallway’s woodwork glows in tiger maple that has been renewed with restraint and exactness that is a credit to the work being done here. In the sumptuously paneled dining room, “they’re in the process of trying to restore the original tapestry, as well as restore several of the stenciled panels between the coffered ceilings.”

)(SKIITKOROBERTTOP:ROMISECLOCKWFWW2;PSODESIGNERSSHOWHOUSE2003 WG08 82-87 House.indd 85 12/12/07 8:12:18 PM

pro

86 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE truly

DISTINCTIVE STONE & CABINETRY KITCHEN Concepts { KITCHENS WITH ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES! } (FORMERLY STONE CONCEPTS) 3 EISENHOWER 207-856-7900WESTBROOK,MAINEDRIVE04092 KConcepts_PortMag–Sept ad 9/26/07 10:19 AM Page 1 Massage Therapy Certi cation Program NEW HAMPSHIRE INSTITUTE FOR THERAPEUTIC ARTS Providing Professional Preparation Since 1983 Financial Aid Available to Those Who Qualify Accredited by the Commission on Located only 36 miles from Portland in Bridgton, Maine 207-647-3794 Massagewww.NHITA.comTherapyAccreditation

WG08 82-87 House.indd 86 12/12/07 8:12:29 PM

Heading upstairs along the mammoth central good-morning staircase, with exits unfurling at both sides, guests are knocked out by the stained-glass display in amber and green that lights up the first landing. “I’ve been told it’s Tiffany,” says Tom Moulton.

In all there are seven bedrooms, eight fireplaces, an upper loggia with ionic col umns and Nero-like views of the Portland Jetport and the emerging new Mercy Hospital, a conservatory, and nods to the 21st century including “central-air condi tioning and multiple high-speed internet stations,” Allen says. Our favorite spot here is on the third floor, with catty-cornered oak-manteled fireplace, an inglenook-inspired window seat, china rail, and above it, faded original wallpaper depicting Venice’s grand canal. Also don’t miss the Herry-Hall-Marvin built-in safe on the first floor listing F.O. Bailey, Dealers, Portland, Maine, on the legend below. The property comes with a buildable lot to the left of the house as part of the price. Furniture here “is negotiable” above the sales price, Moulton says.

Above: The modern kitchen, dating to the PSO Showcase, was designed by Jan Raslavsky of New World Kitchen; Hudson Valley Collection cabinets are in Sail White; granite counter tops by Morningstar Marble and Granite. Middle: Coffered ceilings add majesty to the dining room. Bottom: Memories of parties still echo in the grand parlor.

HOUSE OF THE MONTH restore it, these elements [would vide a valuable start].

100 Commercial St., Portland, ME • 207.774.9460 62 Lowell St., Manchester, NH • 603.669.9460 Gauchos serving continuousskewers of beef, lamb, poultry, pork, and salmon. WINTERGUIDE 2008 87 2003HOUSESHODESIGNERSSOSKI;KOROBERTBOTTOM:TOTOPWITWPW WG08 82-87 House.indd 87 12/17/07 12:21:58 PM

TWINBROOK ON BRIDGE STREET- Custom-built postand-beam home on 1½-acre lot with cathedral ceiling and ﬂoor-to-ceiling windows, offering a wonderful view of Sugarloaf Mountain. Fieldstone ﬁreplace, 2-car garage and much, much more. $550,000

WINTERSWAY ON SNUBBER DRIVE - Three-level end unit with terrific Sugarloaf and Bigelow views. Three bedrooms, 3½ baths with full finished basement, large den off the living room with vaulted ceiling, Brazilian cherry flooring, oversized deck with southern exposure. $399,000

SNOWFLOWER - 2-bedroom, 2-bath end townhouse. A great retreat with ﬁreplace, screened porch, window seat, and heated mudroom. Comes completely furnished and includes large TV, DVD, CD player, and gas grill! $255,000 CASTLE CREEK - Recently built and very-well-cared for 3-bedroom, 1½-bath townhouse-style condominium in quiet location just below Snubber base. Forced hot-water baseboard heat, full basement,and nice southern exposure with Mountain view. $245,000 BIRCHWOODIII- Spectacular Sugarloaf view from this love ly 3-bedroom, 2-bath Birchwood penthouse condominium. This excellent location is an easy walk to the Birches ski trail and the Mountain Village. $309,000

BIRCHWOOD III - Three-bedroom condominium with openconcept living area and propane stove. Short walk or ski to mid-station Snubber chair and Sugarloaf Sports and Fitness Center. Great location. $299,000

COPLINPLANTATION ON REEDROAD- Recent partial re modeling in this open-concept 5-bedroom camp on Hunter Hill. Ski, hike, snowmobile, hunt, and ﬁsh from this great rec reational location in Coplin. $159,000

RIVERSIDE-PENOBSCOT CIRCLE - A great home located just off the West Mountain Trail! Ski in and ski out of this beauti ful 4-bedroom, 3-bath home. Spacious living, cathedral ceil ings, ﬁeldstone hearth–a must-see! $525,000

NEW ENGLA N D HOMES & L IVI NG 88 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE WG08 88-102 NEHL.indd 88 12/12/07 9:04:17 AM

SPAULDING COURT - One of a kind! Lovely and unique 2bedroom, 1-bath condominium just a short walk from the Sugarloaf Inn and Birches Trail. This well-cared-for prop erty boasts an expanded “family area” beyond the bright and sunny kitchen, plus a separate living area with a brick ﬁreplace. Great view of Sugarloaf. $235,000

WOODY CREEK ON SPRING STREET- Charming 3-bedroom ski home in Woody Creek development, within walking dis tance to Snubber Chairlift. House boasts a great family room and private, tiled hot tub room on basement level. Furnished, all at BIRCHWOODII$399,000 - Centrally located 2-bedroom unit located just off the Snubber trail and chairlift with the Sugarloaf Sports and Fitness Center just outside your door. $209,000

SNOWFLOWER - 3-bedroom, 3-bath, top-floor, unit with lots of sun. Sugarloaf view, woodburning ﬁreplace, screened porch and in excellent condition. $309,000

Distinctive Real Estate • Exceptional Service The easiest way into your new home is through our website! www.townandshore.com One Union Wharf • Portland 207-773-0262 Foreside ViewsModern CraftsmanContemporary Condo Greater Portland leaders in luxury real estate NEW ENGLA N D HOMES & L IVI NG WINTERGUIDE 2008 89SR Realty_Portland Mag_11_27r1.indd 1 11/28/07 3:16:24 PM WG08 88-102 NEHL.indd 89 12/12/07 9:04:18 AM

Southport, Maine EBENECOOKHARBOR Located on the northwest tip of Southport Island, this desirable summer destination is located just minutes from Boothbay Harbor. The property is set on 2± acres with 345± feet of water frontage. The year-round home features an open ﬂoor plan, 5 bedrooms and views of the harbor. A deepwater dock accessed from a walkway off the lower level of the house completes the offering. $2,600,000 John Scribner 207-874-2057 Falmouth Foreside, Maine

This c1929 English Tudor estate is located on 7.81± acres with elevated views of Casco Bay. The 5bedroom residence features formal living and dining rooms with ﬁreplaces and a screened-in porch. The renovated home offers open and inviting living areas while the historic character of the original structure is carefully retained. Includes a 2-story carriage house for possible conversion to a guest house. $2,900,000 John Saint-Amour 207-874-6160

Falmouth Foreside, Maine THERANDALLESTATE

Falmouth Foreside, Maine FORESIDEESTATE Magnificent 3.2± acre compound with 360± feet of ocean frontage on Casco Bay. Includes main residence, office complex/boat storage, guest house with 2 guest suites and guest cottage at water’s edge. Residence features 6 bedrooms, gourmet kitchen, master suite with his and her baths and indoor pool. Other highlights include deepwater dock, tennis courts and fresh water pond. $5,200,000 John Saint-Amour 207-874-6160 Cape Elizabeth, Maine BOAT COVE This private 4.6± acre setting with 143± feet of sandy and rocky beach frontage is a gem for those seeking solitude or hosting gatherings. The setting of open meadows lined by majestic trees provide sweeping views of the islands of Casco Bay, distant lighthouses and the outer entrance into Portland Harbor. This Shingle-style home has 3 fireplaces, 6 bedrooms and ocean views from most rooms. $3,600,000 John Saint-Amour 207-874-6160 Saco, Maine DEERWOOD Historic Deerwood offers 2+ acres and 270± feet of frontage on 7 miles of sandy beach. The lightinfused residence includes 5 bedrooms, a formal ballroom, 3.5 baths, 5 fireplaces and mature gardens. Panoramic views over the Atlantic Ocean, proximity to nature preserves, parks and the amenities of Greater Portland insure an idyllic Maine retreat. $2,595,000 William H. Davisson 207-228-0170

This classic Shingle-style cottage located on Grindstone Neck has spacious living and formal dining rooms with fireplaces; an entry foyer offers a granite fireplace. The fully-furnished sixbedroom home offers wonderful architectural detail, a secluded deck and three-car garage on 1± acre. Close to yacht, tennis and swim clubs and the shore path. $1,250,000 Story Litchfield 207-276-3840 dock, tennis courts and fresh water pond. $5,200,000

Privately sited at the water’s edge on 1.5± acres of land. Water views over Lower Mark Island and the Atlantic Ocean compliment this offering. This yearround 4-bedroom cottage offers the highest quality construction and details. Southport Island Cottage is part of the Newagen Community offering property owners the use of clay tennis courts, a pool and a deepwater dock with mooring. $2,950,000 John Scribner 207-874-2057Southport, Maine SALT POND COVE Located at the opening of the Sheepscot River to the Atlantic on 2.25± wooded acres and 338± feet of deepwater frontage. Fireplaces, custom cabinetry and imported tile sign the interior spaces. The property enjoys proximity to the anchorage of historic Boothbay Harbor, with Greater Portland and its jetport, business and transportation amenities, one hour by car. $2,800,000 William H. Davisson 207-228-0170

MARKETING

www.landvest.com H EADQUARTERS : T EN P OST O FF ICE S QUARE • B OSTON , M A 02109 • 617-723-1800 R EGIONA L O FF IC ES : M A • M E • N H • N Y • P A • V T • G A Exclusive Affiliate of ME0785 ME0825ME0835 ME0662 ME0820 ME0804 ME0836 ME0826ME0819 Nestled in a secluded setting, this magnifcent Europeaninspired estate sited on 2.7± Cumberland Foreside, Maine GREYHOUSE Nestled in a secluded setting, this Europeaninspired estate sited on 2.7± acres offers distant views with a private right-of-way to Casco Bay. The mature landscaping features formal gardens with stone walls, a pool and tennis court. The residence includes a living room with 18-foot ceilings, formal dining room, 4 fireplaces, exposed hand hewn beams and wide pine floors. $2,475,000 John Saint-Amour 207-874-6160 MARKETING FINE HOMES, LAND & ESTATES VALUATIONOF COMPLEX PROPERTIES CONSERVATION PLANNING TIMBERLAND MANAGEMENT & MARKETING PMWG08JK Falmouth Foreside, Maine FORESIDEESTATE Magnificent 3.2± acre compound with 360± feet of ocean frontage on Casco Bay. Includes main residence, office complex/boat storage, guest house with 2 guest suites and guest cottage at water’s edge. Residence features 6 bedrooms, gourmet kitchen, master suite with his and her baths and indoor pool. Other highlights include deepwater

Southport, Maine SOUTHPORT ISLAND COTTAGE

Nestled in a secluded setting, this magnifcent Europeaninspired estate sited on 2.7± Cumberland Foreside, Maine GREYHOUSE Nestled in a secluded setting, this Europeaninspired estate sited on 2.7± acres offers distant views with a private right-of-way to Casco Bay. The mature landscaping features formal gardens with stone walls, a pool and tennis court. The residence includes a living room with 18-foot ceilings, formal dining room, 4 ﬁreplaces, exposed hand hewn beams and wide pine ﬂoors. $2,475,000 John Saint-Amour 207-874-6160 FINE HOMES, LAND & ESTATES VALUATIONOF COMPLEX PROPERTIES CONSERVATION PLANNING TIMBERLAND MANAGEMENT & MARKETING

John Saint-Amour 207-874-6160

Cape Elizabeth, Maine BOAT COVE

Southport, Maine SOUTHPORT ISLAND COTTAGE

THERANDALLESTATE

Winter Harbor, Maine ROSSCOTTAGE

PMWG08JK

This private 4.6± acre setting with 143± feet of sandy and rocky beach frontage is a gem for those seeking solitude or hosting gatherings. The setting of open meadows lined by majestic trees provide sweeping views of the islands of Casco Bay, distant lighthouses and the outer entrance into Portland Harbor. This Shingle-style home has 3 ﬁreplaces, 6 bedrooms and ocean views from most rooms. $3,600,000 John Saint-Amour 207-874-6160 Saco, Maine DEERWOOD Historic Deerwood offers 2+ acres and 270± feet of frontage on 7 miles of sandy beach. The lightinfused residence includes 5 bedrooms, a formal ballroom, 3.5 baths, 5 ﬁreplaces and mature gardens. Panoramic views over the Atlantic Ocean, proximity to nature preserves, parks and the amenities of Greater Portland insure an idyllic Maine retreat. $2,595,000 William H. Davisson 207-228-0170

e Bangor • Belfast • Camden dover-foxCroft • ellsworth hampden • pittsfield • roCkland skowhegan ELLSWORTH: Paradise awaits! Exquisite waterfront estate on Branch Lake offers every amenity for a luxurious lifestyle. #866647 $1,795,000 Russ Harrington 800-639-4905 rkh@tcreal.com Mountain Brook Farm is located on 17-acres surrounded by conservation lands owned by Appalachian Mountain Club. Timber frame home & cabin too. #868031 $675,000 Matt Young 207-277-3183 info@buckscrossingmaine.com ROCKPORT: Spacious 3-BR home features open kitchen w/granite counters, 1st foor master suite with private deck, separate living & family rooms. #870419 $385,000 Ed Mitchell 800-233-7250 edmitchell@tcreal.com NORRIDGEWOCK: Meticulously restored in-town circa 1811 home features 9 rooms, 6 freplaces, high ceilings, wrap-around porch and 2.5 acres. #868533 $319,000 Nina Pleasants 207-660-1066 ninapleasants@tcreal.com OWLS HEAD – Lovely water views with ROW to Penobscot Bay! Redesigned and renovated one-level home with 3BR, 2 baths. #870864 $349,000 Lorrie Larson 800-310-6371 lorriez@midcoast.com www.tCreal.com/portlandJan2008 SAINT GEORGE – Charming farmhouse, 19+ acres and 4000+ square foot function hall, complete with linens, tables, full kitchen. Pending reservations! $475,000 Lorrie Larson 800-310-6371 lorriez@midcoast.com STEUBEN: Gracious Victorian Lady sits proudly on 2 acres in beautiful village. Formal living room with freplace, 4-BR, charming rooms. #872385 $295,000 Tacy Ridlon 800-487-5754 tacyr@tcreal.com HOLDEN: Richly detailed 4-BR home on 3 acres with magnifcent hilltop views. Two master suites with baths, 3 freplaces. #868134 $975,000 Joan Osler 800-639-4905 joano@tcreal.com BANGOR: This 5-unit Victorian retains much of its original architecture including beautiful freplaces and a stained glass window. #814978 $269,900 Russ Harrington 800-639-4905 rkh@tcreal.com GOULDSBORO: Views of Cadillac Mountain and the harbor from this 4-BR New England farmhouse on 3.6 acres. Attached 2-story barn and sunroom. #832667 $349,000 Diane Gordon 800-487-5754 dgordon@tcreal.com BANGOR: Turn of the century home offers 14 rooms, 5 bedrooms, with its original character intact. Grand living room, cherry cabinets in kitchen, parlor with freplace & built-in bookcase. Carriage house consists of 3 foors plus great offce space. Walk to EMMC. Currently a dental offce. #867632 $899,900 Joan Osler 800-639-4905 joano@tcreal.com Virtual Tour View Virtual Tours when you visit www.TCREAL.com/PortlandJan2008 and enter the MLS# from this ad in the property search. Virtual TourVirtual Tour Virtual Tour Virtual Tour Virtual Tour WG08 88-102 NEHL.indd 91 12/12/07 9:04:29 AM

DAVID BANKS TEAM 207.553.7302 DIRECT 970 Baxter Boulevard Portland, ME 04103 207.773.2345 www.HomesInMaine.comOFFICE

FREEPORT - Picture perfect antique colonial built in 1820 with water views & ROW to Harraseeket River. Home offers high ceil ings, 2 living rooms, gracious dining room, large eat-in kitchen, and 3 ﬁreplaces. Offered at $775,000.

PORTLAND - 2-unit brick federal in historic West End district with period charm & details. 3 fireplaces with tile hearths, kitchen with granite & commercial range, ﬂoor-to-ceiling bay windows, and or nate trim throughout. Offered at $429,000.

SCARBOROUGH - Picture-perfect expanded cape with 3 bed rooms, 1.5 baths, family room with wood stove and cathedral ceil ings, dining room, living room, 1st-ﬂoor laundry, and further expan sion room over garage. Offered at $299,900.

FREEPORT - Quality new construction, offering large open spaces with interesting angles, sunken living room, gas fireplace, hardwood floors, eat-in kitchen, private deck, mudroom, and wet bar. Open finished room over heated garage. Offered at $530,000.

SCARBOROUGH - New construction. Open floor plan w/expan sive views of the Rachel Carson Bird Sanctuary & Spurwink River. Offers walkout lower level that can be expanded, 2nd-floor front room & office plus 2 large bedrooms. Offered at $699,900.

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PORTLAND - Wonderful expanded full-dormered cape with 2-car garage. Formal dining room, hardwood floors, lots of cabinets & closet space. 2 bedrooms on 1st floor, 2 bedrooms on 2nd floor with large computer space. Basement is partially finished. Offered at $289,000.

CAPE ELIZABETH - Charming cape which features a 2-car garage, dining room, living room with fireplace, 2 bedrooms on the 1st floor & master suite on 2nd floor with jacuzzi tub. New shingles and win dows with minimal maintenance. Offered at $259,900.

CUMBERLAND FORESIDE - Absolutely pristine cape situated in a beautiful seaside neighborhood with water views of Broad Cove & deeded ROW to water. Completely renovated with beautiful baths, hardwood ﬂoors, granite and stainless kitchen. Offered at $649,000.

CUMBERLAND - Panoramic water views from every room. Cot tage style 4-bedroom home with 1st-ﬂoor master, situated on an elevated lot with lovely landscaping and privacy. Detailed construc tion, oversized deck, and association pool. Offered at $935,000.

CUMBERLAND - Special extended cape with new oversized master bedroom suite, large closet, beautiful bath, media room, screened porch, and private deck & yard. Home offers 4 ﬁreplaces, cherry kitchen and 2-car garage. Offered at $659,900.

PORTLAND - Great location! This 5-bedroom, 2-bath colonial sits on a well-landscaped lot in Deering Highlands. Qualities include din ing room with built-in & chair rail, large front-to-back living room with ﬁreplace, arched doorways & center hall. Offered at $399,999.

CAPE ELIZABETH - Home offers 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, ideal in-law suite, hardwood ﬂoors, and ﬁnished basement with pergo & corning walls. Family room has skylights, vaulted ceiling & back staircase to kitchen. Offered at $625,000.

WINTERGUIDE 2008 93 SALE Signs Of Success No Wonder You See Them Everywhere! WG08 88-102 NEHL.indd 93 12/12/07 9:08:03 AM

- Beautiful Kennebec River views from this 3-bedroom home overlooking guest cottage on river’s edge. 300 feet frontage, 2-car garage, deck & enclosed porch. 1 of only 2 locations in town w/access to launch your boat from your own yard! $259,900

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SKOWHEGAN$234,900

CHELSEA – Funky & spacious 3-bedroom, 2-bath Cape w/Saltbox features on quiet cul-desac, circular drive. New home w/high-efficiency radiant heating. Open concept w/pine wood cathedral living room w/gas fireplace, 1st-floor bedroom & laundry. Come see this house! $182,500

BRISTOL - OCEANVIEW - Stunning new home w/over 2400 SF. of incredible living space. 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, open concept, vaulted ceilings, 3rd-ﬂoor rooftop deck w/spectacular ocean view, cottage-style contemporary, quality throughout. Still time to pick colors! $695,000

FARMINGDALE - Extremely visible corner lot. Includes land & buildings only. 175' frontage on one street, 71' frontage on another. Ideal for bank, franchise, etc. Room for drive-thru, ample parking. GREAT visibility! $319,900

HALLOWELL - Commercial or residential w/excellent visibility, public utilities & exceptional view of Kennebec River. Bring your building plans & reap the rewards of downtown Hallowell. $324,900

RANDOLPH - Beautiful 4-unit in nice residential area features (1) 2-bedroom, (3) 1-bedroom units, newer roofs, newer boiler, huge yard, large parking area, GREAT income. What a great ﬁnd!

PITTSTON - 3-bay garage w/beautiful 2-bedroom overhead apartment w/oak kitchen, plus 2-bedroom Colonial (unﬁnished) built in 2004. Great setting w/3.29 acres. Finish the house, use the garage & rent the apartment. $174,900

HALLOWELL - A great opportunity! 1st floor consists of 5 booth rentals for hair salon. Each pays $140/week rental. Also, 2nd floor has 2 nice apartments. Large parking lot, vinyl siding, handicapped accessible, great visibility. Tenants all in place! $249,900 WINTHROP - Brick Cape on 5.08 acres w/4 bedrooms, 3 baths, dining room, garage w/living space above, fenced patio w/in-ground pool, storage shed & lots of backyard w/open & wooded space. Town water, septic installed in 1986 +/-. $219,900 AUGUSTA - What a great investment! 5 rental units in 2 updated buildings. Some apartments, some solid commercial tenants. Good boilers, good roofs, solid numbers, great return on investment, high visibility, and ample parking. $249,900 AUGUSTA - WATERFRONT - Private, warm, homey year-round 3-bedroom Gambrel on Three Cornered Pond. All pine floors, open concept, waterside porch & deck, 486' of PRIME waterfront, 1.70+/- acres of land. No neighbors in sight! $279,900

AUGUSTA - Tastefully remodeled 4-bedroom, 3-bath home in one of Augusta’s most desirable neighborhoods. All new vinyl windows, new doors, new paint & trim, new ﬁxtures, kitchen. 2-bay garage, 3-season porch & more. Ideal family home! $239,900

BACK BAY TOWER offers the most comprehensive and professional corporate/ececutive rental options in the area. Call us at (207) 772-7050 for more information BACK TOWER the most and professional rental options the area. Call us at (207) 772-7050 for more information Going fast, call soon From $193,000 to Portland at Your Doorstep Loft-style Condominium Units From $202,000 to $345,000 Open Loft Style • Rooftop Deck • On-Site Parking • City Views Separate Storage Units • Urban Lifestyle Going fast, call soon! Nan Sawyer & Ed Gardner 151 Newbury Street Portland, Maine 04101 Complete207-773-1919brochure available at www.OceanGateRealty.com CHESTNUT STREET LOFTS e Place To Be Only 8 Left • Stunning Westerly lake views • Access To Main Snowmobile/ATV Trail • 5 Minutes from Rangeley Village • 15 Minutes from Saddleback Ski Area • Large Oversized Garages Main Street, Rangeley • (207) www.rangeleylodges.com670-5125 Four Season Condominiums Over Looking Rangeley LakeLodges Lodges TheRANGELEY, MAINE NEW ENGLA N D HOMES & L IVI NG WINTERGUIDE 2008 95 WG08 88-102 NEHL.indd 95 12/12/07 9:08:19 AM

www.tindalandcallahan.com 32 Oak Street, Boothbay Harbor, Maine 04538 • 207-633-6711 Blue Hill Shores Subdivision. Custom cape on 1.05 acres with 68' of deep waterfront on the Damariscotta River. Living room with fireplace. Deck with water view. Private deep-water dock and float. $745,000 Strawberry Hill Farm Subdivision. Custom designed 4-bedroom home on 5 acres offering 224' of deep waterfront with private dock and float. Living room and master suite with fireplace. $825,000 Farnham Point Association. Spectacular elevated views of the Damariscotta River from this 3-bedroom custom home. Cathedral-ceiling living room with views and fireplace. Enclosed porch, office, detached 2-car garage. $725,000 Quarry Farm Subdivision. 3-4 bedroom colonial-style home on 2.1 acres. Private dock and float on 250 ' + deep-water front. Custom cherry kitchen, living room w/fireplace, master suite, expansive deck. $995,000 On Water…The DAMARISCOTTA RIVER EAST BOOTHBAY DAMARISCOTTA RIVER - BOOTHBAY SHEEPSCOT RIVER - WESTPORT SHEEPSCOTEDGECOMBRIVER 970 Baxter Boulevard, Portland, ME 04103 207-773-2345 Each office independently owned & operated SUGARLOAFSHOWCASE Peter Hawkes Direct: 207-553-7310 Cell: www.maineproperties.com207-632-2345 Coastal Maine to Sugarloaf/USA Enjoy the ultimate in entertaining in this brand new 4200-squarefoot home sited high on West Mountain. Gourmet kitchen, 29'-high great room with fieldstone fireplace, custom theater/ sound system, marble bathroom & steam room, and an outdoor hot tub/spa with its own fireplace. A showcase property with stunning mountain views! $925,000 Furnished. WEST MOUNTAIN, SUGARLOAF / USA Wonderful 5-bedroom home on Sandy River Circle featuring open concept with cathedral ceilings, exposed beams & ample woodwork, gas fireplace, family room with pool table, hot tub on deck, and fantastic views! Private, yet convenient. $395,000 Furnished.KINGFIELD - Looking for a unique property & lifestyle? Here is the classic Cape with Barns in a setting of open fields (17 acres) surrounded by magnificent mountain views. Small-town feel close to Sugarloaf/ USA. Residence, Gentleman’s Farm, or B&B–your pick. Don’t miss this rare opportunity. WOODY$479,000.CREEK, SUGARLOAF/USA Wonderful ski home in Woody Creek offering privacy & on-mountain convenience. Architecturally designed open concept with 3 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths & sauna. Daylight basement with woodstove finished as family room and/or additional guest quarters. Fully furnished $525,00. NEW ENGLA N D HOMES & L IVI NG 96 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE WG08 88-102 NEHL.indd 96 12/12/07 9:08:21 AM

BELGRADE LAKES VILLAGE - Fantastic business location in the center of Belgrade Lakes Village. 106+/- feet of water frontage on Great Pond with 3 rental units, paved parking, boathouse, and docks. Permitted for up to 5 uses, 8 dock boat slips. $495,000 FLYING POND - Year-round contemporary log home with 270+/- feet of frontage on Flying Pond. Includes dock, living room with ﬁeldstone ﬁreplace, wood floors, woodstove, full walk-out basement, screened porch, deck, sunroom & fruit trees in a quiet, private location! $469,000 GREAT POND - Cottage at water’s edge, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, spacious kitchen, skylights, living room/family room plus 2-car garage with room above. Dock, boat lift, and pontoon boat with trailer. $449,900

Water Treatment Equipment, Inc. Factory Trained SALES • SERVICE • RENTALS Residential • Commercial • Industrial WATER TESTING Softeners, Filters, Purification Systems for Iron Hardness, Radon, Nitrates, Sulfur/Odor Demineralization, Reverse Osmosis Repairs on all makes 207 846 -5061 800 328-7328 (in Maine) 915 U.S. Rt. 1 Yarmouth A “Young” company since 1964. Financing Available Radon mitagation both Water & Air Repairs on all makes Lakepoint (207) 495-3700 GREAT POND - One-of-akind, private, 6-bedroom Cape featuring custom kitchen, living room with fieldstone fireplace, sunroom, cathedral ceilings & huge deck at water’s edge. Great for summer events on the Eastern shore with outstanding sunsets, expansive views & level lot of 2+/- acres. $1,675,000 CHINA LAKE - China Lake year-round waterfront home, 5+/- acres. Expansive views as you watch the sunrise. Screened porch, master-bedroom suite, spacious kitchen & dock system. Finished family room, wood & tile floors, well landscaped & water views from all 3 floors. $764,200 GREAT POND - Views of the sandy beach and lake are unbelievable from this year-round home on Great Pond. Includes guest cottage, deck, open-concept kitchen/living room/dining room & skylight. Well landscaped. Relax on the lawn or at the water’s edge. $469,000

Gail Rizzo cell: (207) 221gailrizzo@belgradelakepoint.com242-8119MainStreet,BelgradeLakes,Maine04918 Pat Donahue cell: (207) patdonahue@adelphia.net730-23311-888-495-3711 www.belgradelakepoint.com REAL ESTATE Rangeley Lakes Region Morton & Furbish Real Estate The Region’s Oldest and Largest Real Estate Agency Since 1899 Traditional Maine cottage on the shore of Rangeley Lake. Listen to the water as you watch the sunset from this covered porch only 50 feet from the water’s edge. This is truly one of the nicest spots on the lake. Home has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths & guest cot tage! $1,099,000ContactJames Eastlack Today! Cell (207) Eastlack@megalink.net670-5058 For more information, please contact our office at 207-864-5777 www.morton-furbish.com RANGELEY LAKE RANGELEY LAKE Contact Allison Morton Roeder Today! Cell (207) GorgeousAllison@morton-furbish.com890-67282005constructionwithcustom in terior, radiant heat, 2 large stone ﬁreplaces, full ﬁnished walkout basement & two-car at tached garage. Stunning unobstructed views of Rangeley Lake, southern exposure, beauti ful dock system, and private boat mooring. $959,000 2-bedroom guest cottage available, offered at a package price. $1,195,000 WINTERGUIDE 2008 97 NEW EN GLA N D HOMES & L IVI N G WG08 88-102 NEHL.indd 97 12/12/07 11:35:21 AM

240 Maine Street • Brunswick, ME 04011 • (207) 729-1863 For Properties, Open Houses,Visual Tours - www.mainere.com Consummate: adj.1. Complete or perfect in every respect On WESTPORT ISLAND, you’ll find the consummate Maine coastal estate, with 16 acres of lawn, gardens, pasture, farm pond, woods, and 800' of water frontage with dock, forming the setting for this magnificent 6492-square-foot Rockport Post-and-Beam home, 3-bedroom guest cottage, and barn with two box stalls, shop, and additional garage. The 10-room home includes a great room with walls of windows, soaring stone fireplace, and bar, a kitchen for the most particular chef, three bedroom suites, and every special feature you have ever dreamed of. It is priced at $2,999,000. For additional information and pictures, please visit our website, www.mainere.com Custom Audio/Visual Installation by NEW EN GLA N D HOMES & L IVI N G 98 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE WG08 88-102 NEHL.indd 98 12/12/07 8:19:34 PM

www.BlackDuckRealty.com • email: info@blackduckrealty.com Jefferson - 5 fireplaces make this 6-bedroom home one of a kind. Large attached postand-beam barn and waterfront cottage in cluded. $975,000 15 Bunker Hill Road, Jefferson ME 04348 • (207) 549-5657 • FAXWindsor549-5647 - 1 fireplace and a wood stove in this 3-to-4-bedroom capestyle home set off a gravel road with large detached barn and fenced-in fields. $250,000 Jefferson - Fireplace in the dining room and a master suite above the kitchen are in this well-maintained home with barn and work shop. $222,900 Whitefeld - Newer home with fireplace in living room and hearth for a woodstove in the den. Three bedrooms and attached 2-car ga rage. $199,999 Distinctive Real Estate • Exceptional Service The easiest way into your new home is through our website! www.townandshore.com One Union Wharf • Portland 207-773-0262 Foreside ViewsModern CraftsmanContemporary Condo Greater Portland leaders in luxury real estate NEW EN GLA N D HOMES & L IVI N G WINTERGUIDE 2008 99 WG08 88-102 NEHL.indd 99 12/17/07 9:51:34 AM

SPECIALIST : Greater Portland & Coastal Southern Maine SERVICE : the very best client service EXPERIENCE : Over 15 years of real estate expertise SURESELLSERVICES : home improvement, cleaning & staging FULLSERVICE : 1st time buyers, relocations and those buying & selling at the same time ACCESSIBLE : available to show any home at any time, days nights and weekends MARKETING : industry best marketing & advertising RESULTS : 87% of my listings sell in 90 days Why Trust Tom Landry? Tom Landry Broker / Owner Your single source for ALL residential & commercial restoration, renovation, maintenance and improvement needs. Po rt l and, Ma ine (207) 775-9085 www. Co rnerStoneBR.com Portland Ocean View & Elegant Living - Two Eastern Promenade condo’s boasting breathtaking panoramic views of Casco Bay, impeccable period craftsmanship & high-end modern amenities Starting at $699,000 Nathan 650-2487 or Tom 939-0185 Yarmouth Desirable Sandpiper Cove - build your dream home on this 2.7 acre lot with over 225 ft of deep water ocean frontage, utilities at street, large building envelope & brand new dock complete this unique opportunity! NEW PRICE $799,000 THE C HEF ’ S K DREAMMAKEOVERITCHEN CornerStone teams up with Chef/Owner Steve Corry of Restaurant Five Fifty-Five www.fivefiftyfive.com to transform your kitchen. An exclusive offer with limited availability. chef inspired design for discerning pallets Falmouth 2,100 sq/ft Sun drenched contemporary 3BR, 2BTH Cape in private setting minutes to Portland, completely renovated to the highest standards, gourmet kitchen, great room, amazing field stone fire place & much more! NEW PRICE $389,900 Falmouth New construction Colonial with 3,000 sq/ft of amazing detail. Farmers porch, two master bedrooms, gourmet kitchen. Wonderful lot, two car garage, exclusive location and much more! $574,900 NEW ENGLA N D HOMES & L IVI NG 100 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE WG08 88-102 NEHL.indd 100 12/12/07 9:02:57 AM

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It seems another lifetime since he has accepted an invitation any where, and he has requested to be seated early, though he is not sure why. He is all alone, front row center, dressed casually, wearing sensi ble shoes and khaki slacks, no coat or tie, attired, perhaps, as he might be to see a Sunday matinee. He is travel-weary and uncharacteristically unshaven, and within seconds of closing his eyes images begin to unreel slow-motion behind his eyelids: A receding tide, a tidal cove gone to mud, and a girl in a bright pink bathing suit and clamming boots crossing that hundred or so yards to the island where, as she’s been told repeatedly, she must not go by “Nuh-uh,”herself.she says. “It’s not dangerous,” but Clyde and his wife Francine are adamant worriers, a condition, they concur, symptomat ic of middle-aged, single-child parents whose absolution has come in what they refer to as their late-stage miracle of conception, this blonde girl they worship and love. She is their consciousness, and they will escort her, they promise, across on tomorrow morning’s outgoing tide, in search of starfish and horseshoe crabs and those translucent blue mussel shells she sometimes holds up to the sunlight with a smile while calling out, “Okay. Cross your hearts,” and in unison they do.

Sometimes half a day will go by, an elongated evening maybe, when Clyde Laidlaw quiets his thoughts and forgets that drive from northern Michigan to Maine. Maps and Rand McNally road atlas and guide books, those spontaneous family sing-alongs and how, after arriving, the weather stayed indisputably perfect. Early afternoon breezes and cadmium blue sky and stargazing nights so spectacular that Francine is holding her daughter’s thin index finger and pointing into that immensity while enunciating clearly the syllables of stars, the mythic names of constellations: “Cassiopeia. Venus. Orion,” she says, his bow full drawn into an arc of silver light.

WINTERGUIDE 2008 103 FICTION

Jack Driscoll lyde Laidlaw has never attended an execution, has never, one way or another, asserted a conviction–pro or con–concerning capital punishment. He is an ex-husband and the father, still, of one daughter. That daugh ter, Ellie Laidlaw, is the reason, thirteen years after her disappearance, that he is, at this moment, sitting here behind the closed screen.

The physical evidence is scant. Someone has found a dragonfly blue barrette, someone a patch of moss torn up among the tiny scarlet hearts of reindeer lichen. But no weapon or blood-strippled leaves or fern stalks, no handwritten ransom note jackknifed to the trunk of a tree, no blonde swatch or lock of angel hair. No semen. And of course no assailant because in the multiple scenarios of murder and rape and abduction there is always a getaway boat involved, anchored or stashed on the backside of Pickberry Island, which is otherwise unin habited and small, all thick growth and shadow, one of a hundred or more scattered across Penobscot Bay.

Ellie has, earlier this month, July, turned ten, the evening air warm and still, and Clyde Laidlaw has, with a dull, orange pruning saw he found hanging in the unlocked tool shed, just finished butchering two two-by-fours into stubby blocks of kindling. He is yawning, coming, by degrees, fully awake. Francine has driven inland to the Burnt Cove grocery store for the hotdogs and buns and dill pickles he was sup posed to have picked up earlier but forgot, and his counterargument of silence, his only defense, he knows now, here in the stark, white washed world of this observation room, is nothing less than an admission of guilt. The rustic cottage he has rented on the coast for the week seems suddenly to tilt and spin again as he stands alone by the unlit fire pit, staring out at the shimmering horizon of panoramic ocean, those thousands and thousands of brightly col ored buoys nearly blinding him, and he listens, as always, to that distant, low-guttural echo of what he believes to be a single lobster boat throb bing toward the Stonington harbor. It’s all there in the police report, his brief nap in the ham mock, twenty-five minutes truant is all, tops, a dreamless sleep, a mere doze, though he dreams nightly the opposite of every sworn statement he has ever made in his life, every whispered, guilt-ridden prayer of the non-believer, every angry, self-incriminating arrogation.

And, in Clyde’s mind, the lead detective jotting down every detail, his scratch pad filling in shorthand, laser-like, though he is alarmingly nonchalant, careful not to insinuate anything with his questions or his momentary descents into wordlessness, his casual faraway stares. He is young, late thirties, concentrated more than cold, and Clyde can see out the newly installed bay window behind him how the shallowchop tide reversing itself has already risen. Half a dozen deputies are wading crotch-deep in a semi-circle toward him, silhouetted against the streaky sky, heads lowered as if searching for a body that might float by any second, mere inches below that purple-black surface.

Never, over the ensuing years, a single suspect or even a distant lead. Until now, which is why Clyde has awakened early this morn ing in Texas where he has never before been, to come finally face to

and he has been granted temporary paid leave from his job in order to travel to Waco. A guest of the state and stated this way he believes his students might glimpse him differently in the collec tive quorum of their 12-year-old imagina tions. They who believe the whole world is theirs for the taking, the oversized classroom globe spinning and spinning first thing each morning beneath their fingertips. But he has said nothing to them, not one word, nor will he, not ever. He is who he is, nar row-chested, crowding sixty, though much, much older in the false dawns of 2 and 3 a.m. when he wakes shivering and alone, his face opaque and wavering like a jellyfish in the naked, glowering light of the bathroom mir ror. He wonders if Francine, remarried, the stepmother of another daughter and a son, will show, and if she will still recognize him and perhaps sit down close by without any further need for hatefulness or blame. He has not laid eyes on her in over a decade, her exact whereabouts unknown to him. No letters or phone calls, though some times in the deep, uncharted silence of her absence he believes he can hear the papery mouths of those Maine wasps in the eves, chewing and chewing, their gray nests pro tected from the sun and the rain. Yes, the rain, he thinks, which bore down in sheets for a week straight, beginning the day after Ellie disappeared. Downpours flooded the streets and the abandoned granite quarries, the water rising and rising in the blueberry bogs, the steep embankments eroding as if the whole town might spill over into the sea. The number of hooded search party volun teers diminished hourly, without reinforce ments arriving and without any clue or trace of Ellie. Even the bed sheets stayed sodden and clammy. And, in the cramped confines of that fish-tank-sized room Clyde and Francine rented short notice in the cen ter of town, and overstayed–a month in all–they said things too unhealable to ever mollify or “We’veretract.goteach other,” Clyde said, softly spoken and meant to buoy somehow but translated by Francine to mean as in ‘at least,’ and she said, “Don’t you ever threaten me with that. Don’t you dare,” as if he’d already given up all hope of Ellie’s reappearance. “It’s not a threat,” he said. “No, please, that’s not what I meant,” and he says her name again to himself, here on this drizzly gray morning in the Lone Star state. In a whisper, “Francine,” her arm extended full length, a shaky index finger pointed at him, and on the verge, he believes, of squeez ing the trigger of the only handgun she has ever in her life imagined holding, and for no earthly purpose other than this. here is a clock, Clyde assumes, in the execution room, the seconds ticking down. He listens with intense concen tration but when he leans forward, elbows on his knees, it is another kind of time he recognizes, the automatic whir of the Kodak Instamatic rewinding. Is it he or Francine who extracts the film cartridge and hands it to the detective? Clyde cannot remember, though the overexposed front-page snapshot of Ellie–“the missing girl”–in the morning’s newspaper appears to him again like a ghost child vanishing across those miles and miles of endless ocean, and gone again the instant

104 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE FICTION

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“Where?” Francine says, her wide-set aquamarine eyes just inches from Clyde’s and she’s all bone and fascia and sobbing nonstop, arms up-flung, “Where? Where did you see her last? Damn you, where, where, where?” In the eternal time-lapse of those next frantic seconds he sees in the tidal mud two sets of footprints. Side by side, small and large tracks, leading only one way away from the cottage, and it is a furious run they make, Francine in flip-flops, he barefoot and out ahead, hands cupped around his mouth as he screams and screams his daughter’s name. Erupting up the insides of his bare legs and thighs is something akin to squid ink, an expulsion of some dark and pulver ized sea substance that stinks of decay, ashy and cold and wet. He is covered in it, black and doglike and wild with a terror he has never in his mortal being imagined or felt. lyde Laidlaw is a public school teach er, 7th-grade geography. A somewhat tragic figure for those familiar with his past, though most of his students pity more his thinning hair and fallen arches, and the way he shuffles stiff-jointed and takes off his glasses using both hands whenever he turns his back on the class to stare for a few minutes out the second-story window, snow coming down harder and harder like millions and millions of tiny moths. He seems then far gone, both lost and absorbed in some computation so oblique that even he can’t factor in all the variables, the lon gitudes and latitudes of evil, the constantly shifting striations of ice-blue light out there in the godless, grotesque, subarctic fields of theMid-winterLord.

face with one Clifford Lee Valentine who has been convicted in another similar crime. And who is scheduled to die at one minute past midnight, all appeals exhausted. He has confessed just one week ago not only to Ellie’s murder but to two others, one in Rhode Island and the other in Connecticut. A plumber by trade, unemployed, a drifter at the time of his arrest in the spring of 1985, the only son of a father who, as the court records show, routinely branded him with cigarettes, the pocked scars cratered down the backs of his arms and legs. Cruel, Clyde thinks, and yet without remorse–in at least a thousand versions of the same recurring dream–he inserts the lethal injection needle directly into this man’s heart, this killer of kids who might even have paused, not side-eyed but straight on, to watch Clyde sleep. Who might, in fact, have nodded or smirked as he passed close enough to hear Clyde’s open-mouthed breathing, head slightly cocked on a quiet, laid-back late Thursday afternoon. No cooler of beer beneath the hammock, no radio playing. Clyde is a nondrinker, non-smoker, a careful planner, a grind-it-out advocate of small, sustainable desires, a lifelong disciple of modest ambi tions, which is all he has ever coveted or claimed and then fled from into what has become the scattered jigsaw of his life. He has, a second or two ago, imag ined Ellie at twenty-three, another fleeting glimpse. All told it’s all he ever sees of her, obscured by that same unaltered visage of Francine getting out of the car, a bag of gro ceries in her arms, purse strap slung over her shoulder. As always, and within a few steps of Clyde, she’s asking, “Where’s Ellie?” And he’s saying, “She went with you, didn’t she?” and the screen door slapping hard behind them as they check her bedroom, the bath room, and then the two of them back outside shouting her name, waiting a few panicked seconds and shouting it again and again in every possible off-angle direction: behind them down the fire road, into the conifer woods on both sides, the fog horn sounding every thirty seconds in the distance.

What’s left of Clyde’s faith resides nowhere in God’s making, though no doubt the veiled, blank-eyed mourners outside at midnight will sing hymns to Him, the Father, asking forgiveness while inside an endless choir of death-row inmates sits dead-silent in their cells. He thinks not Valentine but Valentino, and that the warden is probably right that it’s all an act, a predictable last-gasp deadman-walking kind of con hastily cut and

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he flinches and opens his eyes. The room, he thinks, is warmer, sweat beading on his lower lip, his heavy breath ing as thick and watery as a gag reflex each time he imagines reclaiming his daughter’s remains. He has appealed by certified let ter to Clifford Lee Valentine for a map, a place name, a single identifiable marker in the maze of this murderer’s unreliable and, until now, recalcitrant recollections. The big sugar, as Clifford says, the final miss ing piece of the puzzle, and he has agreed to lead authorities to each grave site on the condition his sentence be commuted to life without parole. Only then will he offer up the missing coordinates to lust’s dark cun ning and desire. But first a good-faith, upfront carton of Pall Malls, he says, which Clyde has actually packed in his suitcase but left, last minute, on the unmade motel bed where he slept fitfully, if at all. An hour perhaps, two at the most. Outside the prison vigils are already underway. Clyde knows this, having stepped carefully around those few handfuls of bruised velvety rose petals scattered on the sidewalk by the main gate, the two Judas trees just beyond full bloom. Clyde has not yet met the warden, but has talked twice with him on the telephone, the conversations clipped, segmented, played and replayed in Clyde’s mind because off the record, “It’s a no-brainer. Clifford Valentine is lying through his teeth. Out-and-out,” as the warden insisted. “Just stalling for time and nothing more.” He who will lead nobody anywhere except to his own over due extermination on the killing table and, strapped in, whatever he has left to say, if anything, to Clyde or to the attendant priest, to the Almighty himself–not a slobbering sob word of it approximate to any truth beyond the tabloids. “Next thing he’ll swear his abusive daddy told him to do it in a dream. Listen, we’re beyond all that already, and on to God, Mr. Laidlaw.”

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He wonders if Clifford Valentine is this instant eating his last meal and the taste in Clyde’s mouth turns acrid. He wipes his lips. He’s sure he’s going to retch and bends over and dry-heaves, his stomach muscles contracting tighter and tighter and he’s on all fours on the uncut wet grass, his eyes squeezed tiny and black, and the cor neasHeburning.cannotswallow.

106 PORTLAND MONTHLY MAGAZINE FICTION pasted from old news clippings of cases still unsolved. The warden has seen the spectacle played out a hundred times at least, and yet Clyde’s hope–fortified against its own non existence–lies with this murderer who in Clyde’s blurred, closed-eyed image of him has just tipped back his face, his pinched lips drawing hard on a cigarette in the holding cell not fifty yards from where Clyde present ly sits. He can almost see him, no guards or handcuffs, no leg shackles, because Clyde is there, too, blowing out the match he has just struck, Valentine nodding as they size each other up. There is a black plastic ashtray on the card table between them, and Valentine is large or small, six feet perhaps or, in the ocular rush of this moment already fleeting, an oily five-three or four is likely the more accurate version: The timid, cornered preda tor last seen in Louisiana and possibly star ing out from a wanted poster Clyde might have passed without notice while checking his mail, as he does once each week, in his small hometown post office. And here they both are, not quite strang ers anymore, and Clyde says what he has imagined saying to this man forever: “I’m her father. Tell me,” but what he really means is, ‘Spare me.’ Maybe even, ‘Save me,’ and Valentine in mock consideration saying, “Sure. Why not?” but just as abruptly shucks the routine and leans midway across the table, leering, flicking his ash. It is already late afternoon and Valentine, pointing at Clyde’s wristwatch, says nothing else, not a single additional word as he slowly ticks the crystal with his fingernail. lyde needs some air, something to eat, a normal late Saturday afternoon meal at a family diner, where the price of a spaghetti dinner is determined by the num ber of meatballs. That kind of place, a con duit home to the same rear booth at Grady’s where he and Francine and Ellie used to go on Friday nights, idling John Deeres and Farmalls parked among the cars and pick ups. He has not been back there a single time, and he avoids at all cost even driving by it, his mind terrified of trading places with who he was then in the calm, familiar middle years of that life. Outside the sky is colorless, the taxis mustard yellow, and more people–mostly women–have assembled in groups of them or us. They are interrogating one another with placards and whistles and catcalls, and those shiny black nightsticks the cops keep tapping to their palms remind Clyde, oddly, of fat holiday church candles, and altar boys, and in the dense fragrance of burning laven der he breaks into a fervent, stiff-jointed jog toward nowhere but away. He sits alone on a stone bench in a park, evening coming on, and those two wingclipped swans remanded to a pond so small they nearly blot it out with their size and their whiteness, like some lost infini tive to love. They could be happy anywhere together, Clyde believes, slender-necked and their heads cocked and touching like mirror reflections of each other right there beyond the ferns and cattails. He looks away, hands folded, unsure of exactly where he is in proximity to the pris on. It could be a mile, two miles distant, a maze away, and he is not soaked complete ly through but the intermittent drizzle has left him cold and shaking and even hun grier in his present dislocation, though the very thought of food makes him nauseous.

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To steady himself he rocks slowly back and forth and each time he deep breathes he feels the heavy weight of his knees, as if a child were riding on his back, although every actual angle from which he might visualize such a moment has long since died. To observe Clyde Laidlaw in this position for what he’s become, sick and frightened and old, struck down by cir cumstances so obdurate and enduring that he might never again get up. But he does finally. He rises to that logi cal next first step of facing toward and then walking in what must be the direction back to the prison, its chain-link, its glittering halo or razor wire. He wouldn’t swear to it, but yes, he decides, that is after all where he’s headed. Not by way of any acknowledged real hope for what passes as closure, a word he hates, but in lieu of there being an even darker place into which he’ll plummet if he does not see this day through. ot soccer but Kick-the-Can. That’s what Clyde remembers from his childhood, outside at night in the driveway, waiting for his dad to get home, his mom having multiplied times two or three or four the hour he said he’d be away. Or the consecutive days, sometimes, that seemed to bend into or away from one another. There was the wind that flattened the grass, the rain, the undisclosed locations his dad ran off to again and again, the cow ering home, and the weather always wors ening. Like this, Clyde thinks. Just like this: the clouds gathering and the distant rolling thunder and stronger and stronger gusts and nothing but endless black above these in-the-ground floodlights shining upward. And downward and sideways, a ground swell of illumination so out of sync with those muted B-flat, nothing-held-back blues riffs from a saxophone undulating from somewhere deep inside the prison. Clyde enters through the main gate and is searched again, but this time wanded and patted down, legs spread, palms open, arms held out. He does not look the same, grass stains on his knees, his gray hair mat ted flat to his head, his eyes wild and blood shot. When asked for the letter of invitation he slides it from his back pocket and holds it out folded in half, and then in half again, the soggy creases on the verge of separating when the guard takes and carefully opens it. Then asks for some identification, and Clyde, nodding, hands him instead a wallet snapshot of Ellie. “Here,” he says, his mouth twitching. “My daughter,” and before he speaks her name he clears his throat and looks away. To the left and then right as if posing for a mug-shot profile, at which point the guard does recognize him and stands aside to let Clyde pass. Into the men’s room first, where he press es the button on the automatic hand drier, and presses it again before it even stops, its coils blazing orange. Over and over until the forced hot air is swarming in a funnel around him. Clyde feels like a little kid. He’s scared and chilled to the bone, and his nose is running. He’s ten or eleven and yes, he misses his dad something terrible but not that unshakable image of him he suddenly conjures up: carcinogenic cheeks, nose alco hol-pitted and purple, a brain choked stupid by booze. A loner to whom Clyde bore only the slightest physical resemblance growing

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“It’s that time,” the man says, and, after he leaves, Clyde visualizes Valentine already en route, counting not the seconds anymore but the one one-hundredths of. It takes Clyde only a moment to calibrate just how close he is to watching a person die, put down, as the warden said, humanely like a dog or a cat gone suddenly feral in the household. But even in the name of mercy Clyde hes itates to be seated among the aggrieved, and considers returning to his motel instead and in tomorrow’s pre-dawn grab a shuttle to the airport, get some breakfast there, and once airborne see the great state of Texas receding forever away. Gone, and Clyde back in the classroom the very next day, his voice a mere drone in the chloroformed mindscape of his

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FICTION students still lost to their weekend. Clyde turns and walks to the mirror, close up, and he can feel the dull pulse in his fin gertips when he presses them to his cheek bones, which are puffy and bruised. No, not a mirror but a window, and what he hears when he closes his eyes is the powdery thump of a snowball against the glass. He’s in his study just off the kitchen, and he can see Ellie’s red scarf and mittens as he looks up from his desk where he’s been grading papers all evening, detailed map drawings of the world attached. Clyde tap-taps on the pane with his pen tip. Ellie’s laughing and waving and Francine’s face in the flood of sentry lights appears almost golden, her breath blue-white in the cold air and not even their shouts for him to come join them can break this silence. Nothing can, except the amplified click of his shoes on the corridor tiles. He’s late and half running, and by the time he steps inside, the blind has already been opened on the execution chamber. Clifford Lee Valentine is barefoot, strapped down, the cuffs of his green prison-issue pants rolled up just beyond his ankles, as if a major vein has been located down there by where the priest stands, clutching a Bible, head bowed so that Clyde cannot see his face.

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But he can see Valentine’s chest rise and fall, or fall and rise, the IV already in his fore arm, fingers limp. He is clean-shaven, his hair dark and thick and parted neatly on the left side, and he does not appear panicked or pained, his eyes unblinking and almost opaque from where Clyde stands motion less at the back of the room. He is surprised by how few onlookers are present. Six, he counts, not including himself, the inmate witness side numbering exactly one, a small, white-haired woman who every few seconds offers Valentine another mute, confirming nod. He acknowledges in no way that Clyde can detect that she is even there, though he does not take his eyes off her. Standing next to Clyde is the man from the lavatory, pad and pen in hand, not a lawyer after all but a reporter poised to take down a convicted killer’s last statement for a story on dying. But it’s the warden’s voice coming through the ceiling speakers, flat and formal, mere words he’s required by Texas law to recite, and without the slightest hank of pity or hate. The seat Clyde occupied earlier is empty. He makes no move towards it down

Come

Clyde’s lips are dry, his throat constricting and still he does not turn and flee the scene, Valentine’s mouth opening and closing in quick small gasps, and the priest, face upturned, making the sign of the cross. The woman next to Clyde keeps praying, bits of Latin between moans so low they remind him of distant trains or the wind through the stunted pines behind his house those nights when he can’t sleep. He hadn’t before it opened even noticed the door, but there it is, and a doctor has stepped through, the flat silver globe of his stethoscope already pressed to Valentine’s chest, and Clyde’s heart thrumming so hard he can feel it in his eardrums. Ka-doom, ka-doom as the sheet is drawn up over the entire length of Valentine’s body, only the toes exposed, and that is the image Clyde holds onto after the viewing room blind is closed. Why he thinks of the slippers beside his bed he hasn’t a clue, though maybe to remind himself how often he has sat in the dark, his knees up under the covers, waiting for first Everyonelight. except this woman next to him has left, and when she takes his hand and squeezes tightly, he squeezes back. Not a single word is whispered. They stare straight ahead without expression, the two of them here alone, and more remote in their singleness, Clyde believes, than any other truth he could possibly, in this life, ever know.

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the narrow aisle as the warden pauses, takes a few steps closer and addresses Valentine directly, hovering, staring down at the condemned before offering him in the pin-drop silence his unassailable right to speak.

The priest looks up, coaxes, but when Valentine shakes his head no everything stops, the moment on pause, except for the white-haired woman holding a rosary and pressing the backs of both bead-tangled thumbs to her lips. It takes only four or five quiet strides before Clyde slides in next to her. He can almost feel the fire in her hands, and the thin arc of Valentine’s eyes shifting, locking on Clyde now, like two men lost and staring back at each other across an expanding field of snow. A silence so deep that the black wall phone doesn’t ring, though the warden slowly lifts the receiver, not to his ear, but rather just picks it up and lowers it back into the cradle and from somewhere some anonymous someone starts the solution flowing through the clear plastic tube.

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