June 24, 2006 - Portland, Maine

Education and a chocolate moose

Mandi and I took a jewelry making and metalsmithing course at the Maine College of Art in Portland. (Below is a photo of the class admiring our collective product for the week.) For a good place to stay, the college referred me to a woman with a duplex about a block and a half away from the school. She has 14 cats and volunteers for the local Friends of Feral Felines organization. We shared the apartment with two young women from Vermont, one of them a talented photographer who will be attending the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies this fall.

The whole experience was far beyond my expectations, and Portland proved to be a very good setting for our adventure. Besides learning an amazing variety of metalworking techniques, we got to sample some tasty microbrewed beers, enjoy great food and meet refreshingly friendly people. Our landlady even gave us a walking tour of Portland, and after Mandi had to leave for Miami, a driving tour which took me to eat fried lobster tail on a stick, then along the beautiful coastline past the old captain's houses to the Shipyard brewery, a quick visit to Angela Adams' store, and topped all that off with an eye to eye meeting with Lenny the chocolate moose. Who could ask for more?

posted by Mahi at 5:54 PM  

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