Bicycles

I still have my old favorite Raleigh 3 speed bike.
I fondly recall how excited I felt when I had saved
enough money that I earned as an artist while living
in Old Town Marblehead, Massachusetts to purchase it.
The bike it replaced I had since childhood and it
didn't have any speeds and had fat tires. Difficult
to pedal up the hills.

Years later, for one of our anniversaries,
D surprised me with a new bike that had 5 speeds!
I was thrilled. I had been using
that til several years ago.
The brakes were so loud people could
hear me from great distances away!
My niece got a new bike and
gave me her old one which has
many speeds, maybe 18! What a difference!
It makes bicycling to the ocean a breeze,
so to speak!
Today was so mild for a November
day in Maine, that I dusted off the bike
and headed for the ocean with stops
along the way to notice the little things that
are often overlooked when traveling in a car.
Here are some of the sights and things
I noticed along the way.

This sign has always been puzzling..
what do you think it means?


Paused along the way at Mast Cove to take
in the beautiful reflection below.



There's many sign posts in
town, which might help or totally
confuse you! (we still have an
old sign there pointing in the
wrong direction)

Must go and work on my art so I will
post more photos later today.

I'm back with more photos of today's
bicycle journey.

Here I'm approaching the neighborhood of
our old gallery... we used to have a shop in that
building before it had been renovated. Ellie May,
my studio cat, actually lived in the upstairs
apartment as a kitten with the couple who
owned the building. As she grew she became
very adventurous and discovered every nook and
cranny in the neighborhood. Eventually, she moved
into our gallery when we moved our shop into the
building next door and she never left and now resides
in my studio at home.

Ah, I've reached the ocean..
Here's one of the last beach roses
to be blooming in November!
it is a gray day but the color in the foliage
and berries is warming.


Just a little further along are benches by the sea.
A good place to pause.
I'll be back a little later with more from today.

Sorting through the photos I took, I'm overhwhelmed!
I took so many photos...everywhere I looked I saw
something that inspired me to paint later in the studio.

(click to image to see it larger)

On the way back, I stopped at a special spot

behind our old gallery, where the river meets the sea.
Even on a gray day it's a place of beauty and serenity.

(prints are available of this sign post in Dock Square,
Kennebunkport and many other scenes of the Kennebunks,
just click on the sign post painting)

I'm going to jump ahead to my return home
but will fill in later as I find time.