June 14: Candlelight

candlelit dinner

the doe’s eyes shining

in the headlights

September 3: At the restaurant

family restaurant

small girl at the door says "bye"

to all of us

May 14: In Freedom

We were fortunate enough to eat out tonight at The Lost Kitchen, in a restored mill in Freedom. The historic, countryside setting, alongside the mill falls, enhanced a wonderful, locally sourced, creative spring dining experience. We left three-and-a-half hours later, sated, under a hazy, waxing moon in conjunction with Jupiter, the voices of frogs mingling with the sound of rushing water.

 

an exquisite meal

choruses of spring peepers

escort our drive home

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November 21: Night out with old friends

Moon a frosty blur

we stop and notice

before we share hot sake.

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February 19: Happy hour

Before dinner with friends--

a strong drink shared with you,

snow falling, streetlights.

 

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August 21: Harbor

Dusk, Camden Harbor--

Osprey carries off a fish,

we wait to be seated.

March 23: Dining on the beach

Back in Naples at the Vanderbilt Beach Resort, which features one of Naples more popular fine dining options, the Turtle Club. We dined at an outside table, literally on the sand, within sight and sound of the crashing surf. We learned that the lighting was so dim out there--stars were clear and bright overhead--to conform to rules which govern outside lighting during sea turtle nesting season from May through October. When turtles come up on the beach to lay their eggs (and presumably when the baby turtles hatch), they can be disoriented by bright lights and head for them instead of back into the ocean.

 

Under the moonlight,

line of surf glows offshore

while we eat.

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November 17: Jupiter again

Step out of a Burlington restaurant into the frigid air coming off the lake, reminding me of nights when I was a college student in Vermont. We shiver and rush to the car, while above the streetlights and traffic lights, there's Jupiter again, just like at home.
 
Even here in the past
amid different mountains,
Jupiter looks down on me.

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September 2: Riverside dining

On our way home today from our overnight in the big city (Portland, ME), after stocking up at the only Trader Joe's in our state, we decided to hit our favorite seafood restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner. The Slipway, perched on the scenic St. George River, is only about 20 minutes from our house. Not only does it offer excellent food--we enjoyed tuna tartare, grilled local squid, fried local oysters, corn-on-the-cob, salad, handcut fries, and an amazing piece of coconut cream pie--but the atmosphere is pure Maine. Our table looked out onto the river, where gulls fed as the tidal waters slowly receded, sailboats bobbed on their moorings, and fishing boats waited at dock. To see this view, we had to look through flowering runner beans and other late summer blooms, past the restaurant's pier, where we'd have been dining in warmer weather. Inside, the walls were bedecked with vases of sunflowers and colorful buoys hanging from the ceiling in a way that felt artful, not tacky. Probably even more so than when we were in Portland, we felt like we were on holiday and enjoying every minute.

Gulls probe the flats.
We too enjoy
the fruits of the sea.

September 1: Night out in Portland

My husband and I came down to Portland today to walk around the Old Port and have dinner at Petite Jacqueline, a bistro on Longfellow Square to which we'd been given a gift certificate. As we walked to the restaurant this evening past a gas station, a 7-11 with sketchy characters smoking outside, a Rite Aid drugstore outside of which a man was yelling things to passers-by, etc., we could see the moon rising, hovering over the dirty street and the lights of cars and restaurants and traffic signals, distant but somehow outshining them all.

Full moon shines
just as brightly
over the 7-11.

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