Back At It.... Is It #17 or 18?

    Meet Forest..

 

 He's number 17..or 18..or.. (One loses count after 15)

  9 week old Forest came to us on Dec 23rd.  A sturdy and rugged member of the most recent Guiding Eyes For The Blind F Litter, and next in line after our black lab Dixon moved on to college in October.  He, Dixon, is doing very well with his formal training and hopefully will become a life changing Guide Dog.

We had to delay taking on a new puppy because of surgery.  But that's past us  and we are now happily watching Forest getting more and more comfortable with us and Kiwi..his new family.

He has already begun learning the very early stuff.. name recall..sit..stay.. basic but important commands. One week down..15 months to go. And it will go..fast..

So his and our new journey has begun...

He's going to do great..

A WALK IN THE PARK..A BELFAST GEM

     Living in Belfast has become quite trendy, at least compared to the old days of shoe factories and poultry plants. Belfast has become known as a cruise ship destination, a boutique town, artsy, ... cultivated. 

     Of course it wasn't always that way, far from it. But one constant that was here through the "bad" times and now during the "enlightened" times, was and is The Belfast City Park. 

     I can say this because I've lived it.  I've been a Belfast resident for 63 of my 67 years. (The "away" years being devoted to earning a degree in Massachusetts.)  So I think I can speak with some authority on the subject.                                  

     Being situated on High St., which is actually old U.S. Rt. 1, (BBP..before the by-pass),  the park was established in 1904 and consists of 17.5 acres of land that gently drops down to the shore of Belfast Bay. The first things that you'll see going thru the wrought iron gates is a memorial dedicated to our veterans and the old baseball field that has seen many a Little League Game.

Along the gravel driveway and dirt paths there are signs describing many of the trees in the arboretum that have been planted by future thinking citizens (both past and present),  including this venerable horse chestnut.

    The tennis courts, swimming pool and playground are not far away and are very actively used.

     To the left is a common ground once home to the Annual Belfast Broiler Festival. Over the years many thousands of festival goers were served up delicious chicken, grilled over tons of charcoal that was enclosed in cinder block pits. A grand time was had by all.

     To the right is a parking lot and horseshoe pit area that was the location of the old park pool. I spent many a summer day swimming and playing in the old pool and lounging on beach towels with my friends on the banked lawns overlooking it and the bay.

     Speaking of which..often times we would search for shade in the pavilion or head down to the shore for a swim.  Many kids would walk the shoreline back to town to their homes on Bayview or Union Streets. Which in those days may not have been an easy task given the slicks of chicken fat that layered the rocks after the tide had dropped. But we took it all in stride...it was just the way it was..

     Coming back up the looped, park road you'll pass the basketball and pickle ball courts as well as some newly installed outdoors fitness benches.  Years ago there was some discussion about paving the road but it never happened as a lot of people were concerned that a paved road would encourage drivers to go too fast. 

 Personally I'm glad the gravel has stayed as a reminder, at least to me, of the slower paced days of my childhood.

So if you're in town attending one of the many festivities that we now celebrate, take a tour of our park. Stretch your legs, stroll in the shade of the old trees on one of the walking paths, sit on a bench, get a bite to eat at the concession stand,  take a walk along the shore.  

Or maybe use one of the charcoal grills and throw on some chicken...

If you do I think you'll agree that Belfast City Park is one of the gems of our little city.

It's a Harbor Happening..

In order to kick off this years Belfast Harbor Fest, the town received some visitors, who it seems to me,  puts us on the yachting world map.

The tide was low but spirits high as we strolled past the boat ramp..

With pennants flying against a beautiful blue sky,

The New York Yacht Club had arrived..

A good contingency had tied up or moored in Belfast Bay, consequently making the Public Landing a very busy spot to be..

A happening...

Motor yachts, sailboats, dories and dinghies, all contributed to the hustle and bustle of a very busy waterfront...

What a change from the "Smaltz Port" notoriety that was Belfast's reputation years ago when the bay was used for convenient disposal of raw sewerage and chicken offal.

But those days are long gone and now Belfast has become A Destination for cruise ships, boats and yachts of all shapes and sizes..

And it is so very nice to see..

Mid Summer Belfast Bay Cruise

With a very light SW-rly breeze, an incoming tide and flat water, conditions were just about as good as they can get for a small boat on Penobscot Bay, a very small portion of which is considered Belfast Bay.  One advantage of small boating is that is can be done quicker than you can say "red on right returning" . A simple hookup to the trailer..a short hop to the boat ramp and soon you find yourself under Rt. 1 looking to Little River Dam...

 

Moving down shore we were soon abreast of the summer community of Bayside..

 

with the many upturned, small  boats looking much like sunning harbor seals...

 

As I said before, flat water, and that means a quick, full throttled hop to Islesboro and Grindle Point Lighthouse and base of operations for the Islesboro Ferry..

 

Working our way toward Broad Cove, there's no mistaking what this harbor is about (other than transporting flat-landers to their summer places on the island).. And for those of you flat-landery, touristy folks who don't know what this is..

 

Here are a couple of clues...

this..

 

and this..

 

We were soon back into Belfast for some observations of the busy goings on in our now bustling inner harbor.

I wonder if this is where the above is heading (the lobster not the lobsterman) for its  date with the cooker?

 

The inner harbor is packed with mostly pleasure craft of all sizes, types and shapes..

 

But fortunately Belfast still retains a portion of it's old, working harbor nature..we haven't given up the ghost totally to the Thurston Howell III types..yet..

 

And that's it..

Back to the ramp and quickly loading the boat back onto the trailer..

a great cruise was had by all... small boating at it's finest..

Retrieve? I think not..

Retrieve? I think not..

Deciding to get out and about before the hiking trail got busy and before the heat started to build, Big Ray and I took an early morning walk yesterday on The Little River Upper Reservoir Trail.

Labradors are of course known for their affinity to retrieving and consequently,  swimming. 

But try as I might Big Ray decided on a simple belly chill down. As you can see at the end he was rewarded for his independent thinking…

And now that his little brother Bailey is back from his working vacation, and who does stay true to his retrieving instincts, perhaps the friendly competition that develops between them will result in some actual swimming for Raymond..my big marshmallow puppy..

Lunch Cruise On The Passy

It was a mid July in the summer of 2012 and it was decided to take advantage of such a beautiful day. 

Our destination was The Head Of Tide / City Point in Belfast. With an incoming tide working in our favor we packed up a lunch and trailered the Lund down to the public boat ramp. All aboard...and we were heading up river.

Passing under two bridges

we found ourselves in the wide expanse of the Passagassawakeag River.  But looks can be deceiving.  At high tide she is an impressive sight with what seems to be plenty of water.

But once the tide starts to fall she is quickly relegated  to her true nature, a shallow mud flat with a narrow and twisting channel.

And even with a GPS one must pay strict attention to your navigating.

Not far up river we came to the narrowest portion where long ago stood an old wooden bridge with only a few pilings remaining.

This is where the old timers had to come in order to get to East Belfast, before the modern convenience of The Veteran's Memorial Bridge which opened up in 1921.

The B&ML Railroad trestle at City Point was the end of our upstream motoring. Past this part of the river in a motorboat? I guess not...

With the tide starting to drop and it, combined with the slow current of the river toward the sea, we cut the motor and unpacked our lunch, lazily drifting down stream.  It is such a joy just to drift, without the sound of an outboard. Past the tranquility that surrounded us,

with just the sights and sounds of nature for us to enjoy. Birds singing and others looking for a meal, a harbor seal poking its head up to check us out or even a small waterfall to serenade us.

We were quietly moving down stream to the ocean which was steadily drawing us, like a powerful unseen, but not unfelt, magnet.

All too soon we were back at the boat landing. But we'll go back again this coming summer to enjoy more quiet times on The Passy..

Belfast's Old Man Of The Mtn..With Apologies To New Hampshire

Big Ray and I found ourselves taking a short hike this morning along the Little River Community Trail in our hometown of Belfast. A layer of the first real frost coating fallen leaves and pine quills awaited us on our path, making the footing just a bit slick. Well at least for me since I don't have A4PD, all 4 paw drive. 

The trail we used begins near the upper dam on the Perkins Road and ends up at the lower dam on Route 1 near Little River Cove. However we only went half way, just to the section of river that starts backing up into a reservoir, once used for Belfast's water supply.

The morning was quiet and the sky was bright. Being so close to the ocean, the changing leaves still have some changing to do but it was a lovely view just the same. 

Big Ray, who usually finds this spot particularly inviting for a swim, refused to partake in the activity this morning.  And instead kept staring at me in amazement that I had forgotten to bring along his treats.

 My apologies go out to my hiking companion.

On our way back we took a short off shoot trail that overlooks the river. As I came upon the overhang

 it struck me that it looked much like the Old Man Of The Mountain (now a pile of rubble), located in our sister state of New Hamshire.

Call me nuts but I definitely see a face

and I think that we Belfast should now make the claim to fame.

Looking back up river from beneath the old man's chin

I began to wonder about the implications of such a claim but soon dismissed my concerns.

Back to the road we came upon some contented and unfazed, grazing alpacas which are in fact our neighbors.

And soon we were home, with Ray headed immediately to his biscuit tin. I think I've been forgiven....