A lesson I learn over and over…

…don’t wait too long to blog! The longer I go without writing, the harder it is to get back to it. Fall may be quieter on the island, as far as the population goes, but there was a whole lot that went on in September that I never got around to mentioning after the first day of school. I’ll wait for another post to tell about my studio shenanigans. (And I won’t wait for another month to do it.)  Here’s a (partial) September synopsis of what went on outside the studio:

Lunch on Sutton Island (part of our town, but the next island over) with my new friends Donna and Dave Nussdorfer. I took photos of the island, but none of Donna and Dave?! Donna and I both enjoy making jewelry. Check out her Etsy shop. And it turns out we share the exact same birthday, except I am  2 hours older. Donna made some amazing grilled cheese and fig sandwiches and we talked about the similarities and differences of our islands and of course, about jewelry. Their house has been in Dave’s family for over 90 years. Our family’s house  was built in 1906, so Dave and I compared our summer island childhoods. After lunch we took a walk. As we got ready to head back to Islesford a squall came up:

All was sunny by the time I stepped back on my own island. There are no roads on Sutton, so I felt like I was coming back to a city!

The next day I caught up with my mom and her brother Jim who was visiting from Maryland.

The following week I took the 6:30 a.m. boat off the island twice. Once for an early appointment in Bar Harbor. (The other morning boat leaves Islesford at 8:15, which would have been too late.) Lucky me, I had time to drive through part of Acadia National Park (before the inane government shut down….don’t get me started….) to look out at my island home from the top of Cadillac Mountain. From left to right the islands are: Baker, Little Cranberry (aka Islesford) Great Cranberry and Sutton. To the right of Sutton, but out of the photo is bear Island. 5 islands, one town.

 It was only 45° and very windy. Brrr. I was outside to snap these two photos, but was glad to see the rest of the gorgeous views from inside the car.

Same week, two days later, my sister-in-law Karen and I took the early morning boat off so we could drive a couple hours up the coast to Machiasport to go to Jasper Beach.  Neither of us had been there before, and I had heard the stones were pretty cool, so off we went. We got lost a few times but we didn’t care. The beach was quite pretty and much more reddish brown than our beaches here. I spent an hour sorting through rocks and picking up some to drill for beads. Due to the structure of jasper, it doesn’t “round up” in the waves like granite and some of the others. The nicely rounded pebbles I had in my mind were not what I found. There were enough others that are slightly different in color from what I usually find here, so I still came home with a bit of variety. Karen went off birdwatching and saw a Solitary Vireo, a new bird for her.

That has to be it for now, as I’m headed off the island again to pick up some groceries. I plan to cover some more beach antics tonight then back to the studio. I love this time of year. The sky, everything,  just seems more dramatic.