Summer’s here! Don’t forget to write!

School is out; the weather’s warm; it’s time to hit the road, explore old (and new!) favorite places, and share your adventures and travels with friends and family.  Long before Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, postcards were the way to drop a line and keep folks up to date.  We have a wonderful collection of Gardiner-themed postcards in our Community Archives Room.  Many of them depict scenes around town, but there are also quite a few that were more generic, novelty cards into which Anytown, USA, could be inserted — and Gardiner was not to be left out of the fun! …

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Summer Season

Summer is really, yes REALLY, beginning this month!  We have had a very long stretch of odd? Unusual? Strange? Wet? (you choose) weather this Spring, and I for one am ready for the new season. Here in Gardiner we bring in the summer season with the Greater Gardiner River Festival.  This year the festival happens on June 22nd, the second official day of summer. There will be many activities that day – from Ice Cream for Breakfast, to Face Painting, to the Arts and Crafts Fair on Water Street. For us, here at the library, one of the most important …

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Cook Out Time!

One of the many joys of summer is planning and enjoying a meal outside, with or without a BBQ.  One of my favorite dishes is Potato Salad because of the many variations that can be made.  Here is the recipe for Creamy Potato Salad featured in the book “The Great Potluck Cookbook”  from Good Housekeeping.  Come borrow this book or enjoy another one of the many waiting for you at the Gardiner Public Library.   CREAMY POTATO SALAD Makes 10 side-dish servings   4 pounds red potatoes, unpeeled 2 ½ tsp salt 1/3 cup cider vinegar 1 Tbl sugar 1 …

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Peaks Island

My last blog of the summer encourages you to drive to Portland and take the Casco Bay Lines ferry to Peaks Island.  There are several other ferry trips via Casco Bay Lines to other islands off the mainland of Portland, so do investigate those also sometime.  The ferry trip to Peaks is $7.70 round trip.  You can’t beat that for a day’s fun! The ferry ride to Peaks Island takes only about 20 minutes, so it is the perfect choice for a short day trip.  Once you land, you can visit the shops for a short while and perhaps have …

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Great Summer Reads

As you are packing for your vacation, or heading out to camp, don’t forget to take a stack of books with you! Summer is a great time to relax with a good book. Following are some great summer reads you may want to take with you! All Summer Long by Dorothea Benton Frank If you’re a hopeless romantic, then this is the perfect read for you. A young couple from New York finds themselves at odds when a move to South Carolina causes strife in their relationship. A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams Lily’s story unfolds in 1930’s Seaview, Rhode …

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