On The Green

No, that doesn't mean I've taken up golf (God forbid!), even though I do, in fact, live right next door to Bar Harbor's Golf Course. (I just don't get that game, although I do enjoy golfing movies: Tin Cup, Happy Gilmore, Caddyshack, etc.) What the title refers to is my wandering about the Village Green in town this morning, prior to my eye doctor's appointment. This is a shot of the green, showing off our bandstand gazebo and one of several lamp posts. Wikipedia says: "Traditionally, the village green was often common grass land at the centre [sic; they're British] of a small agricultural settlement, used for grazing and sometimes for community events." The grazing of livestock in town is pretty much frowned upon these days, but there are lots of community events happening here, to be sure.


Here's another angle, with bandstand and fountain. I was going to use this as the opening shot, but the other one shows off the grass better -- hence the green. Get it?


A much better shot of our fountain, which is pretty nice. It wasn't until I was shooting it this morning that I realized the figure is a fisherman-type person. A young Poseidon, perhaps? Well, hang on, folks, 'cause it gets better.


Here we have our fisherman guy in all his glory -- all his glory. Hey, that's pretty racy for New England, don't you think? I'd like to find out just how old this statue is and what its impact was on the community of the day.


And here's a detail shot of one of the fountain's spouts. Good thing the sculptor wasn't a comedian, too, as he could've had a lot of fun with the fisherman guy -- reminiscent of the "peeing cherub" you used to see around. That might've put it over the edge, though.


This fountain's just chock-full of mythology, as here we have a Pan waterspout. I can see I'm going to have to wear my swimsuit next time I come here and do a detailed study of this thing. This is really cool. I can't believe I'm just now seeing all this after all these years, but isn't that the way? You have to look to see these things.


As I still had a good amount of time after shooting the Village Green, I decided to head on down to Sand Beach and take advantage of the morning light to check on the volunteers' work. If you remember from my last entry -- or just scroll down to it -- a few of us trail crew guys went down and moved a bunch of the huge rocks out of the way so folks could get from the steps to the beach without turning an ankle, or worse. I was amazed at the amount of sand that was missing. Here's this morning's shot looking down the beach from the bottom step.


And here's the finished product of our labors. I noticed that the two granite "steps" at the very bottom of the stairs were just above the surface, which makes for a larger-than-normal step. I expected them to be buried and the sand a good deal higher than this, but it's definitely better than it was.


And this is the new lifeguard stand, this one made of wood. It'll probably be a lot easier to tear down than the old steel one was, if this sort of thing ever happens again. We almost set the dunes on fire cutting that old one up. I kept having to run over with shovels of wet sand to put the grass out. I guess it's a good thing I had wildfire training, huh?


As a parting shot, I thought I'd include one of my favorite of the morning's beach shots. As the tide was going out, the water stored in the beach was making its way back home and left these little rivulets in its wake. I was just fascinated with the patterns. I'm like that.

So, that's it for now. My next entry will most likely be from the Owls Head Transportation Museum, as I plan to head down there for their weekend festivities. This weekend: "Rods, Mods & Tuners & Antique Aeroplane Show See 250 hot rods & custom vehicles plus a variety of 60s and 70s muscle cars. Featured exhibitors: Vintage race cars." Does that sound like fun, or what? Woo hoo!!! See ya next time!