But It's A LOT More Than "Marginal"... REALLY!

What do you think of when you think of the word "marginal"?  Of secondary or minor importance? Not central? Narrow? On the edge?

Today we are going to talk about something that is indeed narrow and on the edge, but it is much more than "of secondary importance".  In fact, it is very important!  Today we are going to talk about The Marginal Way which was central and important to my visit to Ogunquit, Maine.

What is The Marginal Way (TMW), you ask?  In simple terms, it is a 1.25 mile long paved pathway that borders the coast of Maine in Ogunquit.  But this pathway is anything but simple.  It is the starting point for an entire travel experience like non-other that I have enjoyed.

It has its own website which can be found here - complete with history, and photos.
There is also a Lighthouse webcam which I will talk more about later.

Starting on the yellow line that is beside the 3 gray bars, The Marginal Way begins on the property of a hotel called The Sparhawk Oceanfront Resort.  In the picture below, the tennis courts and pool at the right, as well as the building at the left by the big tree are part of this hotel complex. 

Here are a few more shots of The Sparhawk and the part of TMW before our hotel property starts:

We stayed at the next hotel to the south of The Sparhawk called Anchorage By The Sea represented on the map above by the 3 gray bars.  We stayed at the beach end of the northern most gray bar.  Our room was very comfortable with the BEST hotel bed I've ever slept in!  Here are some photos of our building, our room at the lower right, as well as the hotel's round restaurant.

Here  is a view looking from our patio area toward the gate (at the left) from our hotel's property onto TMW.

Looking back at the map above, you will notice "Lighthouse" is a little less than halfway down the path.  The lighthouse is a landmark on TMW.  Here are some shots of that:

In the photo below, you will see the webcam that I linked to above.  

This isn't really a true lighthouse in the traditional sense.  

It is actually a pumping station for the city's sewer services,  

but it is an important landmark on TMW.

Here is the plaque that is on the side:

There are 39 benches along the path that have been donated in someone's honor or memory.  Each one has a plaque with someone's name on.   Now, sit back and enjoy some photos of my walks back and forth on TMW:

The photo below also shows the 3rd hotel on TMW - The Beachmere Inn

On a close look at the map at the top of this entry, you may have noticed a small section of TMW at the top that is separated from the rest.  The 2nd photo shows the bridge that goes across the Ogunquit River out to the big beach.   Here are some photos of that section:

Good Night Marginal Way - Sleep well!  

I will be posting more entries about this trip - stay tuned for more photos and commentary!

Thanks for reading!

:)Amy

Way Off Broadway

One of the fun things we got to do in Maine was visit the Ogunquit Playhouse for a fabulous presentation of the musical Anything Goes!  First, let's talk about the theatre, and then I'll tell you about the show!

This is my photo from show night:

Here is a stock photo from the magical internet:

The Ogunquit Playhouse was born in the summer of 1933.  You can read more about its history by clicking here.

Many famous performers have graced the stage.  Here is an internet photo of part of the massive collection of photos in the lobby.  

If you are interested in seeing the names of the entire list of performers, click on this link: Cast of Stars Full List: and select Cast Archive at the lower left of the article.

If you are a lover of Broadway Theatre, and you ever have the chance to attend a show at The Ogunquit Playhouse, grab the chance!  We lucked into 2 tickets on the aisle in the 3rd row for about $75 each.  That is a DEAL for great seats at a B-way quality show!  This is what we saw on Wednesday, June 22:

The lead was Andrea McArdle - most famous as the girl who originated the role of Annie in the Broadway production of Little Orphan Annie in 1977.   She became the youngest star ever to be nominated for a Tony for Best Lead Actress in a Musical.  

Here she is in this production:

Here she is with my FAVORITE performer in the show, Ray DeMattis who played Moonface Martin.  He is an amazing showman.  I was facinated by watching his reactions and facial expressions even when he wasn't directly the focus of a scene.  He is always "in character" which is one thing that my young actors sometimes had trouble understanding the importance of.   He sings, he dances and he acts - that is known as a Triple Threat in theatre!  

Here is a cast photo of the cast we saw:

Noteworthy as well were Sally Struthers and her own cute little dog!  Sally played the matron Evangeline Harcourt who is known for carrying her dog Cheeky around with her.  Sally was absolutely delightful in this role!  Her dog was Little Bradford T. Kenney who Sally adopted 2 years ago in New Hampshire when she was working in another show at The Playhouse.  He is a 4 year old Cairn terrier.  He was rescued from a kill shelter in Kansas and trucked with 59 other dogs to New Hampshire for adoption.  He was the only one left when Sally got there!  This is his stage debut, and the audience loved him every time he was on stage!  

Anything Goes is set on a cruise ship.  There is much singing and dancing, and the whole show is fast and fun.  Here are some photos of the dancers:

I would be remiss if I didn't also mention another actor in the show - Josh Canfield who played the leading role of Billy Crocker.  Josh is probably most famous from the TV show Survivor.  Josh was very good - certainly professional quality, but his performance didn't really excite me as some of the others did.  He has a long list of professional credits, but he both looked and sounded like Matthew Morrison from Glee, and I think that fact distracted me from appreciating him for the performer that he is. 

 Here are some photos of him from this show and Survivor:

So that's it - a fabulous night of entertainment in Ogunquit!  I hope you enjoyed reading all about it!

Thanks for visiting and come back again for more trip highlights as well as Kitchen updates!

:)Amy

To Share or Not To Share....

.... That is the question.

Should I wait until the kitchen remodel is done, or should I share progress as it happens?

Since it probably won't be completely done until the first week of August, I've decided to hold
with my previous renovation progress series, and start sharing today!

Today was Day 1 of the circus that is my Kitchen Renovation Project.  I started planning this project back in January, so at times the wait has seemed looooong, but now it's here!

My day started with a meeting at 8 am with 3 people:  Paul, the head of Handyman Matters; Don, a supervisor; and Keith the main workman on my project.  Paul was very organized with a detailed list of all aspects of the project.  He walked us through the list, item by item and we discussed what needed to be discussed as we went.  I was very impressed with his organization.

About 8:45ish, the cabinets arrived from Jae Company.  My 3 workers then went through the shipping list, and made sure we had what we were supposed to have.  We did get everything that was on the delivery list, but later in the day, we realized that the upper cabinets for the sink side were not here.  Don is working with Jennifer from Jae to sort that out.

By about 10 or so, it was time to begin actual work.  Keith laid plastic and a tarp on the dining room carpet and the kitchen flooring.  He also removed the door from the kitchen into the laundry room.  Then the stove and refrigerator got moved to their temporary home in the dining room.   Next Keith and Don hung a big plastic barrier between the kitchen and the dining room to contain dust because they were going to have to pull off the old backsplash.

They removed the upper cabinets first, and then they did the lowers.  Here are some much-awaited photos:

Old cabinets - 1973 builder-grade with very '70s countertop.  

The old sink evidently had more than one leak.  Hubs and I didn't know this until about 10:30 last night when I opened the cabinet under the sink and pulled up the liner - the plywood underneath was wet.  We had no idea we had any leaks.  Today the guys told me there was more than one!  Good timing to do this!  

After the counter trim was removed, the countertop came off fairly easily in one piece, complete with sink, and was carried out the front door, where it relaxed in the sun of the front yard until quitting time.  It will sleep in the garage tonight before it is put back on temporarily until the quartz comes in (Aug. 1).

Here we have our (almost) blank slate!

All of this demolition was done by about 12:30ish, then installation began immediately.  All of the cabinets were in individual boxes and had to be unpacked.  Keith unpacked them and brought them in one at a time, starting at the far right with the tray/cookie sheet cabinet.  

Next is the set of drawers that are replacing the dishwasher. Then the sink.  The sink needed to be set first so it is centered under the window - then everything else fans out from that.  

Next to the sink is the small 15" cab that will hold my silverware, and finally, we have the larger base cabinet.  This one shows the pull-out shelves which were the main reason for doing this whole thing in the first place!

Here it is at the end of today's workday:

There seems to have been one little snafu in the design/ordering process.  My designer had put one last cabinet at the left that was going to open into the dining room.  It was just a 9" wide end-cap that was supposed to take the place of the open shelves that were there before.  Well, as they started lining things up, we realized there wasn't room for that last end-cap.  Fortunately, everything else works without it, so we can just return it.  I am not sure how this error in design and measuring happened, but it probably has something to do with the fact that Designer #1 left the company after about 90% of my design was done, and a new person took over who didn't come out to the house to double check anything.  Here is the design where you can see that end cabinet:

We can now use the door from that end cabinet as a decorative piece on the end of the whole line, so all the ends will match.  

Work wrapped up today about 4:30 and will begin tomorrow around noon.  It will be interesting to learn if the uppers never made it to the warehouse, or if they just didn't make it on the truck this morning.  

Stay turned for more in the days ahead!

Thanks for visiting - come back again soon!

:)Amy

Similar Differents - My 2016 Vacation Theme

June was a very busy month for me!  I took 2 lovely and long-awaited vacations with only about 10 days in between.  There were many similarities between the two trips, but there were also many differences.

Trip #1 involved Hubby and me driving to Vermilion, Ohio on the coast of Lake Erie where we rented a cabin with a private beach on the lake.  We were there for 4 nights and 5 days.  We stayed in this same house in 2011 and did many of the same things this time as last time.  The main idea of this vacation was to spend some time together doing something we enjoy - exploring Lake Erie - watching the lake and looking for treasures that wash up on the beach.

Our home-away-from-home in Vermilion

One reason we choose the house that we stay in is because it has a private beach and a gorgeous lake view from the back windows.  Many of the vacation rentals in Vermilion are in small neighborhoods where you have to share the beach with others and also walk a block or two or three to get to the beach from a cabin that may not even offer a lake view.

The view from the back deck

Our private beach

Vermilion is a lovely, quiet little town with quaint shops and restaurants and a slow-paced lifestyle.  It is a great place to relax and recharge.

A park in the center of Vermilion

A hallmark of this vacation is getting to watch the sunset over Lake Erie.  The lake is always changing and never fails to delight us!

Sunset over Lake Erie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trip #2 involved me flying to New Hampshire, where I met up with my cousin who then drove us to Ogunquit, Maine.  My cousin had taken a day trip to this town and recommended it for our get-away.  For 4 nights and 5 days, we stayed in a spa/resort hotel called Anchorage By the Sea with incredible views of the Atlantic Ocean.  We chose the hotel we stayed in because of its proximity to something called The Marginal Way (which I will talk more about later), and it's ocean views.

The central building of Anchorage By the Sea is this circular restaurant called Surf Point 360 

where we ate breakfast daily and enjoyed a couple of marvelous dinners as well.  

The rooms are in 2 buildings which stand perpendicular to the ocean.  This was our building.

We were able to get the room at the lower right with our own patio area which gave us a view of the ocean.  

Our Evening View.

Our Day View.

Ogunquit is a lovely little town with quaint shops and restaurants.  It embraces its traditional New England history and heritage and still caters to the many tourists who visit.  While I can't really say the pace of the lifestyle is slow, I can say it is different than my everyday life at home.  Ogunquit has a tourist season which typically starts about the last week of June and runs through Sept or October.  Many of the tourist-related businesses: shops, restaurants and hotels,  are closed in the winter because winter weather there can be brutal.  It was busy even though we were technically there before the official season began.  I can't even imagine how busy it is "in season"!

Harbour Candy Shop is a Must-See for visitors to Ogunquit!

The hallmark of this vacation was getting to watch the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean.  The ocean is always changing and never fails to delight!

Sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean.

Sunrise vs. Sunset. 

A quaint town in Ohio vs. a quaint town in Maine.

4 nights and 5 days in a lovely and comfortable location.

A relaxing change of pace.

A Great Lake vs. A Great Ocean.

Great shopping and great restaurants.  

Bonding time with family. 

Fabulous memories and wonderful photos to treasure and share.

Similar Differents....

Stay tuned for more details of each great vacation in the days ahead!

:)Amy