Rock Gardens Inn Blog

Spring is here!

The weather has been beautiful and we have been taking full advantage doing as much outside as we can - gardening, raking, cleaning up the grounds.  Even though it was a very mild winter, there are always fallen branches and leaves to pick up, and repair work to be done.  Randy hired the Hawkes crew to take the middle limb out of the red maple by Idle Hour - not only did they do the job quickly and neatly - but they left us a stack of firewood and mulch to put on the roses.

Painting will start soon, and then the housekeeping crew will start on the cottages.  We are thrilled with the staff we have this summer - there will be some new faces, some that you might remember from a few years ago, and the wonderful group that works every summer.  Ruth, who cleaned at the point for the past 50 plus years, has decided to take the summer off - but I am sure she will be by to say hello to her "regulars".

 

 

Quiet and Peace

Last Sunday I happened upon an article in the New York Times; “The Joy of Quiet” by Pico Iyer.  As I skimmed through it, one line caught my eye – people who are willing to pay over $2000 a night to stay in an Inn specifically where there is no TV or internet.

I read on – and was struck by the tone of the article – how important it is for all of us to “unplug” for a period of time.  It's important for our sanity, our souls, and our ability to re-enter this information packed world we live in.

We have entered the 21^st century at Rock Gardens – there is in fact internet access – but only in the Inn – TV – but only in the Inn – telephone – again only in the Inn – and cell phone reception has improved but isn’t dependable.  We have tried hard to preserve the sense of the coast of Maine as it has always been – beautiful and changeable, mysterious and private, and above all peaceful.  We don’t use gimmicks, our self promotion is low key at best, but we are thrilled that so many guests come back year after year specifically because they do seek that which we work hard to create.

To quote Pico Iyer “But it’s only by having some distance from the world that you can see it whole, and understand what you should be doing with it.”

HAPPY NEW YEAR from all of us at RGI

Preparation and Promulgation

With the Inn closed for the year, things are fairly quiet here.  Most of the focus has been on preparing the property for the winter, and on next season.  Randy has been working all over the property, along with Andrew, getting the grounds ready, and doing minor maintenance.  Ona has been planning workshops, and coordinating all of the literature for next year.

Speaking of workshops, we are excited to introduce two new artists!  Joel Janowicz will be leading a new watercolor workshop this coming summer, and Elizabeth O'Reilly will be joining Lois Dodd for her Outdoor Painting Workshop.  In addition, in 2012 Bjorn Runquist's Painting Plein-Air will be a three day workshop, and Karen O'Neil's Oil Pastel Workshop will also take place over three days.  Below we have included several pictures from our new artists.

Keep checking the blog for more info on the Summer 2012 Art Workshops in the coming months.  Also, keep an eye on our Facebook page for some pictures of the Inn during the quiet season.  All of us here at Rock Gardens Inn hope that you have been having a happy and productive fall, and we look forward to sharing stories from the off-season with everyone next summer!

- Joel Janowicz

- Elizabeth O'Reilly

Harvest Musings

With the season over we've spent much of the last month or so preparing the property for winter.  Of course we didn't expect winter to arrive quite so quickly, but our brief flirtation with a January landscape has melted away over the last few days.  Fortunately we had most of our winterization done before the snowstorm.

One of most significant projects this fall was an unexpected one.  As many of you know our apple tree by the Nineteenth Hole has seen better days.  Understandable, given its approximately hundred years (estimated from the rings).  Well, this August one of the last remaining major limbs began to let go.  Fortunately Randy was able to prop it up and strap the tree back together.  It is stable once again, and full of a ripe bounty of apples!

Which brings to mind an aspect of Rock Gardens that sometimes gets overlooked for the more obvious charms of the Inn.  In addition to our beautiful coastline, cozy cottages, and wonderful staff, Rock Gardens also takes great care to bring you as much local, sustainable food as possible.  Beyond our apple pie we also grow our own herbs and veggies, buy other veggies from local farms, get berries and other fruit from local pickers and growers, and we get our lobsters from about four miles down the road in Westpoint, and they're caught from the very same waters you see from our cottages.  This connection to our community, and the quality and known provenance of the food it provides is very important to us, and we believe that it comes through in the meals that we serve.

In the spirit of the fall harvest we have included below a couple of pictures featuring a small selection of the food we grow right here on the property.  We hope you enjoy them!

Our 100th Closing!

With the onset of fall, Rock Gardens Inn's 100th year has come to a close.  While we are sad to see everyone go (the season went by far too quickly), we have many wonderful memories to carry us through until next year.  It was very exciting seeing so many returning guests, catching up, and participating in RGI traditions both old and new.  Old traditions such as cookouts, cocktail parties, and contra dances, and new traditions such as campfire stories, cookout activities including games and a visiting naturalist, hoola hoop dance, lectures, movies, music in the lobby of the Inn, and bingo, were enjoyed by both guests and staff throughout the summer.  And making these great activities even better was some of the best summer weather we have enjoyed in years!

There is one other component in the making of a amazing summer here at the Inn, and that is the staff.  We had a wonderful staff this summer, both old hands and newcomers, all of whom provided our guests with excellent service.  Not to mention those staff members who pulled double duty and led, or joined in during some of the activities this summer!  As we do every year we held a staff party after closing, and we have included some pictures from it.  We will also be posting a video from a musical interlude during the staff party, so make sure to check our website in the coming weeks!

We hope that you enjoyed our 100th as much as we did.  Now that it's over, we are looking forward to planning a new century on the Maine coast for Rock Gardens Inn.  We hope you'll join us!

Last Cookout of 2011!

This past Friday we held our last cookout of the season!  It was a blustery September day, but we all managed to find sunny spots, tucked away from the wind.  This summer has been especially good for cookouts, with only one cookout being held indoors due to weather.  Some pics from the last cookout below, enjoy!

Ghost Stories!

One of the great traditions of summertime is the campfire.  Atop the rocks leading down to the sea, surrounded by the crash of the waves and the ocean breeze, the fire-pit is ideal for campfires.  Gathered round a fire, outside, in the night we become something more than simply a group of individuals.  The fire draws us in, away from the dark, and we feel simultaneously the safety of the light, and of the group, while also maintaining a corner-of-the-eye awareness of the surrounding shadows.  It's the perfect setting for a round of ghost stories!

This past August that's exactly what happened.  Ellie, Andrew, and a number of our guests gathered around the campfire, armed with sticks and marshmallows...and stories.  Ellie started the night off with a localized variation on "The Return of Hate Evil", an old tale that tells (fictitiously) of the ghost of the original owner of the Inn.  In the story the old ghost was angry and fed of the hate he felt in life.  On nights when there were few guests at the Inn he would appear in parts of the Inn, sometimes in the shadowy corner of a room, sometimes a form half seen from the corner of an eye, footsteps on stairs where no living person walked.  Items would disappear from the Library for months, only to reappear in the exact spot they vanished from.  Guests woke at night to feelings of terror.

Andrew followed with a story about a couple scuba diving off of Popham Beach.  They became separated and, while the woman was on her own, she saw a figure drifting downward through the water.  She swam quickly towards the drowning figure, and as she got closer it became clear it was a young woman sinking down with her back to the diver.  She reached out, turning the woman and flinched backward.  The face of the drowning woman was smooth, empty skin.  As the figure turned it started to fade, disappearing completely as the woman diver watched.  The origin of the ghost is believed to be a young woman who was brutally murdered in the 1800's.  Her blank face is attributed to the removal of her head during the murder. 

Once Ellie and Andrew had told their stories guests began to jump in.  One boy told a story set in the backwoods.  Hikers would hear cries for help coming from the woods off the trail, and would make their way towards the source.  When they got close the cries would cease and they would find a skeleton chained to a tree. 

These and several other stories were shared around the fire, along with the marshmallows.  Everyone enjoyed themselves and, as they left, paid a little more attention to the shadows than they had before.  Below are some pics.  Enjoy!

Women’s Health & Healing Day: Learning the Wisdom of Well Being

Saturday, September 17, 2011:

Rock Gardens Inn is proud to present this day-long workshop of self healing for women lead by Dr. Zhoa Mei.  This is a unique opportunity.

Dr. Mei is a distinguished practitioner and QiGong teacher with more than forty years of experience.  She was a distinguished professor of OB/GYN at Beijing Medical University in China and visiting cancer gene researcher at Austria’s Vienna University.  She has more than forty years of experience in both western and traditional Chinese medicine.   In 1991, she established the Chinese Healing Arts center in Portland.  She has lived in Portland and worked with people who have a variety of health issues for the past twenty years.  In addition to patient work, she has conducted numerous seminars and training sessions.  Dr. Mei is a warm, humble, compassionate and powerful healer.  

The day will begin with a talk about women’s health issues and simple practices one can do to ensure good health.  Dr. Mei will then act as a consultant to the group, answering individual health questions. Lunch prepared according to Dr. Mei’s recipes will be served mid-day.  During the afternoon, Dr. Mei will introduce the ancient principles of Qigong (using traditional practices of movement and breath, working with qi or life energy within the body).  This will conclude the workshop for the day.

Location: Rock Gardens Inn, Sebasco Estates  389-1339

Cost: $200 for the day long workshop and lunch

Add: Friday night (lodging and breakfast Saturday morning) : $115

Add: Saturday night(lodging, dinner and breakfast) : $145

Contact: Ona Barnet  389-1339  ona@rockgardensinn.com

 

What is a Vacation?

One topic that we haven't written much about on our blog is one integral to Rock Gardens Inn, and to all inns, hotels, resorts, etc: the nature of vacation.  People take vacations for all sorts of reasons, but most have a single, underlying purpose, rejuvenation.  Rejuvenation of the mind, the body, the spirit, be it through relaxation, exploration, excitement, or rest, most people take vacations to restore something that can become worn or lost during the rest of the year.  Vacation can allow us to strengthen our connections with our families, our partners, even ourselves, in a place free of the major and minor stresses of everyday life.

Rock Gardens strives to be a haven for rejuvenation.  Our cottages allow you to get away, relax, unplug.  Instead of gathering around a TV, gather around the fireplace, instead of being a slave to your cell, relax on a porch, or in the soft grass outside.  While we do offer TV and internet for those who want it, it is something of a communal experience as well, as there is only one TV in the Inn, and internet only in the Main House.  In addition to the experience of getting away, we also offer therapeutic activities such as yoga and massage, as well as fun and excitement via kayaking, swimming, even hoop dancing classes!

With the speed at which our lives move today, and the hectic nature of many jobs, vacation is more important than ever.  Americans currently fall behind France, Russia, the UK, and Japan in vacation days taken.  And given the current economic situation in America, stress and anxiety levels have surged in the last few years.  Rock Gardens Inn offers both an escape, and a panacea.  We offer a vacation a little removed in time from the present, and beautiful, serene location to experience it in.  And we believe that every guest leaves rejuvenated, and reequipped to handle whatever stresses life brings.

 

Traditions

Friday cookouts are an institution here at Rock Gardens Inn. Those of you who have returned over the years may remember that each cookout (once temperature permits) is traditionally followed by the staff, and sometimes brave guests, taking a swim in the ocean.  While we continue to follow that tradition, we seem to have developed a new one, Cornhole.  Cornhole, or corn toss, is a little like a cross between horseshoes and skeeball, and you can find more about it here.  We have included pictures of the swim, and cornhole below.  And as you can see, we occasionally even have a game of badminton. Enjoy!