children, costumes, leaving Maine

I spent yesterday walking Brooklyn, admiring costumed children celebrating Halloween,

concentrating on painting pumpkins and unwrapping candy,

while their parents picked gourds to decorate tables and Brooklyn stoops,

as the foliage in New York began to look like the Maine leaves of last weekend.

In Camden, Maine for the PopTech 2009 conference, I found it hard not to stop and reflect when the afternoon light outlined edges.

Every street has a brilliant tree, inviting long walks to find more.

Last Sunday, on Ethan and Rachel‘s good advice (they were incredible livebloggers for PopTech 2009), I drove from Camden to Belfast, Maine, about half an hour away.

I passed through Lincolnville Beach, with its blue, blue water and sat in the quiet,

then happened upon raw milk near happy chickens running around a large yard.

Fortified, I arrived in Belfast and ordered a lobster melt (I would recreate with: thick slices of toast, lobster piled high, a dollop of homemade aioli to cook through, slight grating of Parmesan, all broiled for a few minutes with tomatoes, if desired),

then walked the Belfast shops before opening the door of Scoops and Crêpes (I join Ethan and Rachel in highly recommending), filled with families sharing sundaes, walls papered with drawings, and long menus of crêpes, ice cream specials, and flavors.

This is the turtellini, a warm popover with pecans and two scoops (pumpkin ice cream instead of vanilla) under chocolate and butterscotch sauces.

Delighting in the difference between well-preserved and precious towns, I kept pulling over on the way back to see what was shining on the side of the road.

And with a last lobster roll on Monday, I left coastal Maine,

chasing the colors back, that subtle trick played by Fall…