Weekend Highs and Lows

This past weekend I went down to Chestertown Maryland to relax on my parent's houseboat. It was a mixed weekend.

On Saturday I went into town and walked the quaint brickside walks and then popped into the Compleat Bookseller on 301 High Street. I really like the independent booksellers. I said I wanted "that book on potato peel pie" and the woman ran to the shelf and pulled down a copy for me.

While in town I noticed the fountain in Fountain Park was back!

Fountain Park Chestertown, Maryland
Cast pre-1853
Installed in Fountain Park 1899
Refurbished 1963 and 2009

One of the earliest depictions of the cast-iron fountain found in Chestertown's Fountain Park appeared in the 1853 edition of Godey’s Lady’s Book.


The Fountain was a project of the Ladies Improvement Society. It was dedicated at its current location in 1899. Hebe, goddess of youth and beauty and cup bearer to the gods, stands atop the ornate cast-iron fountain.


Below Hebe are three swans with upturn heads with stretched necks - with water founting from their beaks.


I enjoyed the sound of falling water and the cooling spray of mist when the breeze picked up the splashing water.


Thirsty Lions lapping the water with their pink tongues.

For more pictures and details of the renovation efforts for the fountain (click here).


Back at the wharf, I stood and watched four young children, two boys and two girls, the oldest might have been five years old; splash and play at the edge of the river. They were off a "transient" boat, overnighting after a cruise to the wharf from Annapolis. They were zealously watched and protected by a Black Labrador. Her name was an odd one, I was happy to meet Miss Apple.


After my walk on Saturday, I sat at the stern (rear or back end to you landlubbers) of the boat and read the book selected for Dorkys' book club. Three hours later, I stood up and went inside as darkness was falling.


There is something about the placid calm and stillness along the river at dusk. The old wooden boats bob up and down so gently as the breeze starts to die and the lights starts to come on in the buildings in the distance.

Inside I read my book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, into the evening and was surprised when I hit the back cover. It has been a long time since I've read a book cover to cover essentially non-stop. A marvelous book - easier to follow if one knows a little WWII history (London, Guernsey, France, and a couple grim places in Germany), a little more about classical literature, and a small amount of geography, now I'm all eager to participate in Dorkys' upcoming book club session.


The next day I started to walk up the driveway where I spotted huge mushrooms. here and there, across both sides of the road for two miles were scattered groups of mega-fungi.

I thought to myself, if it keeps raining like it has all summer, this place will turn into a rain forest.


The tree farm is diversifying. They have added 5 or 6 very long rows of grape vines. Someday, in a couple years, I'll do a Cloverly Farms wine review for you all.

Unfortunately, shortly after I took this picture, the new medication I started at the end of last week did me in. I plodded back to the boat and spend the rest of Sunday morning feeling seasick and semi-delirious, not that anyone would ever notice anything different in that regard.

I can laugh now at being "seasick" on a boat that barely ever rocks more than perhaps a quarter inch...and I promise I'll catch up with your entries and emails just as soon as I can.