The nicest thing about our trip to Grand Mana this summer was the visit to Machias Seal Island to see the puffins. That was really very awesome. We were in bird-viewing blinds and got to view them for an hour (I basically laughed for an hour, moving from window to window. Puffins are impossibly cute–they don’t even seem quite real).

But the next nicest thing was tea with friends. Tea at Harrington Cove from 2-4 each day was the pleasantest way to get caught up, have lovely tea in mismatched cups, with scones and wonderful homemade jams–red currant, wild blueberry, rosehip marmalade, and gooseberry, be-still my heart.

There was a giant elderly labrador on the porch as well, who sighed contentedly every now and again to punctuate the meal. Lovely.

On the occasional foggy days, I had time to color my own Tea Party set (to order your own to color: http://www.pomegranate.com/aa972.html)! I had all the time in the world to be as intricate and noodly as I wanted to, with my new gel pens. And drink tea and eat ginger cookies from the fabulous Grand Manan bakery at the same time. Lovely

Wildflowers on White Head Island

Relaxed me in the front yard of our digs…