Monhegan Island Day 3

What a fun day!

Tom showed Randall and me a great running loop this morning. I feel like I'm always traveling through fairy land here because of the lush foliage. 

Riding on a boat out to Monhegan Island, we got a real taste of the ocean and waves.

We were fortunate to have such a gorgeous day. No rain! 

The island is a little artist retreat 12 miles off the coast of Port Clyde. On the way we passed Henry Knox's mansion. He was one of Washington's trusted generals through the Revolution. We had wanted to go there yesterday, but it wasn't open on Wednesdays. 

 We saw some porpoises and these seals on the way out. 

Someone was trying not to get seasick. 

Once we arrived, we walked around the island. These artists are painting by the inn, the largest building on the island. 

Randall has become obsessed with lobsters. This was a great opportunity to have him stand next to a wall of lobster traps. 

One of the majestic views. 

Think this school would hire me?  :-). 

Kids standing on rock with plaque describing how Captain John Smith (yes, of Jamestown) went to the island. 

We hiked to the back of the island and took in incredible views before precariously going down to the rocks, eating lunch, basking in the sun, and enjoying listening to the the waves come up and crash into the rocks. Tom gave us a safety lesson and explained that the large crashing waves are much more prominent out in the ocean, rather than along the coast where all the harbors break them up. It was truly awesome!

The remaining hours were spent walking around the island, checking out the art, and taking in the views. 

Stunning vistas...

Old fog bell

We arrived an hour too late to walk up in the light house. :-( 

I love the charming homes in New England. 

The girls talked to these artists for a bit who are here with a class for a few days. 

My 6 kids for these few days. They had lots of fun together. 

On the trip back we shot through the gap of two private islands. One belongs to the  Wyeth family. The famed artists were N.C. and Andrew Wyeth. They keep much of the family art here and have a museum, but it is only open to the public one day a year. I don't understand this hoarding of beautiful art. 

The Wyeth home. 

The other island had a simple and beautiful Shaker style complex. 

We then made a little jaunt over to the most quintessential Maine lighthouse. 

I love these shots, even with the iPhone. 

Rebecca and I trying to be lighthouses. :-)

Then we went to Waterman's Lobster in South Thomiston for lobster, Maine style. The lobsters were shedding and thus, had soft, easy shells to crack. This was a real treat!

She didn't want to eat a lobster, but had fun playing with one. 

Rockport, Maine

We woke up to torrential rain. There is a polar vortex hitting the region. We are skipping the sea kayaking for another day and doing some museum hopping. We are staying with Tom and Annie Gray. Tom and I were teaching partners in Morocco. Go back to March of 2012 and see our adventures. We got along splendidly, and I took Tom up on an invitation to come see Maine.

The Gray's home is charming. It butts up against the forest. I feel like I'm in the novel Last of the Mohiccans. 

Below is why we are museum hopping. Can't really see the harbor. 

Tom's high school, Camden Hills. It has about the same number of students as Star Valley High School, where I will be teaching next year. 

On the way to the museums we drove through Rockport and Camden, which are absolutely gorgeous little harbor villages. 

Below is a statue of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, commander of of the 20th Maine, who held the flank at Little Round Top in the Battle of Gettysburg. He was a professor who joined the war because he believed in the cause. He was wounded a few times and later was governor of Maine. You can tell by the inscription how the war was viewed in the North. Statues can make great history lessons. 

This is Camden's public library. Right next to it is a beautiful little amphitheater. 

We then visited two museums with a lovely little lunch of local deliciousness at a little bakery in Searsport. 

Lobsters are definitely the rage in Maine. Looking forward to that tomorrow. 

The kids dipped candles at the Penobscot Marine Museum. We saw several boats and learned the difference between skiffs, schooners, ships, brigs, etc.

Tom is demonstrating how lobster fishing works. We decided the dead herring bait would not be a pleasant aspect of the fishing. 

The kids are learning how to band the lobsters. We learned how the lobsters have to be within a certain size and how the breeding females get notched and also have to be left alone. 

Drinking Maine blueberry sodas. 

At the transportation museum in Owls Head. Randall really loved this Ferrari, which was ridden by Shumaccher (sp?).

Randall took photos of many cars on the trip, as you will see.  He likes cars a little. :-)

The above Ferrari was driven by a famous racer. 

Sharolyn quite liked this Valentine on Wheels Rolls Royce, which was silver screen actress Clara Bow's for over a decade. 

And possibly the most gorgeous car in the museum...

This was the same model flown by the Red Baron. 

And the Ford Model T, the car that changed everything. Really, this was a neat little museum. 

We enjoyed a wonderful meal prepared by Annie, and watched a movie. Skunky liked Randall, and this is a cat who apparently doesn't always get along well with others. 

New England Adventure Day 1

Randall and I drove to Utah yesterday and picked up the girls who had been spending a couple of days with their Griffith cousins. Randall drove on the freeway for the first time.

I tried not to stress out over this, and was happy that he did so great. In fact, I look pretty calm and collected, don't you think? It was nice having someone else drive. :-)

We got a little sleep at Uncle Anthon's before having to awake before 4 and head to the airport. Thanks, Uncle Anthon for the drop off!

Having arrived in Boston after one connection in Minneapolis, we grabbed our rental car and took off. 

We stopped at the Lexington green where the first shot of the American Revolution was fired, and then went to the Minute Man Park visitor center. They have the best presentation there. It uses  multiple media and gives a great overview of those first couple of days. Don't miss it if you go. 

The kids on the Lexington Green. 

This monument on the Green was erected in 1799, the year George Washington died. The bodies of those who died on the morning of April 19, 1775 were moved to this spot at that time from a local cemetery. 

This patriot was explaining what happened here in a great Bostonian accent. 

The kids at the Minute Man monument. 

The monument at the Old North Bridge. 

Old North Bridge (a replica, of course). 

I took the kids to an original 18th century colonial inn in Concord to eat, and we then drove up to Rockport, Maine after all of this. Arrived just before 10 p.m. 

Alpine Library/Interconnections 21 Talk on Turkey & the Ottomans

I am pleased to have been invited to speak at the Alpine library this evening, sponsored by Interconnections 21.  I have worked with Susie and Evan and been to events sponsored by them, and have been really impressed.  IC21 also sponsors the Teton County Model UN Conference, which I have been bringing students to.  Check out the organization's website here.

For the presentation tonight, I will be showing an online Prezi.  Mostly it is photographs to accompany my talk.  It may be accessed here.  If you are not familiar with Prezi, it is a web-based presentation program that presents on a wide canvas, rather than on linear slides, like PowerPoints.

For those who would like resources on exploring the Ottomans and/or Turkey and the region, here are some I would recommend:

• Donald Quartaert's The Ottoman Empire:  1700-1922 (Cambridge University Press)
• 15 Minute History podcast episodes.  This is a link to the index.  I would recommend the imperialism ones and the Ottoman empire episodes.  All of them are succinct and excellent.
• If you like historical fiction, the novel Birds without Wings by Louis de Bernieres is a great read about a small village, aptly named Eden, at the end of the Ottoman Empire.  
• I am currently listening to the audio version of Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson.  I am thoroughly enjoying it.  The historiography and writing are excellent, and you will learn a great deal about the botching of the Triple Entente's diplomacy and carving up of the Middle East at the end of World War I.
• For today's Middle East and Turkey, I really like these websites:  Al Monitor, and the Hurriyet Daily News.  Al Monitor has separate sections for different countries/regions.  
• The BBC recently did a program on Turkey, the "New Ottomans."  I have not seen much of it, but it gives you the idea of the changes Turkey is undergoing and its relationship to the past.