Deer Isle Hostel

The Open House came and went in a swirl of popcorn, visitors, friends and family, chilli, cookies, tools and music. The first visitor showed up right after8 am, even though the posters said 10, and the last one didn’t leave til 12 hours later. I lost my counting somewhere around the fifth guest, then the greetings got overwhelming and our yard sale friends (a long story) showed up with a couch and our neighbors with even more dessert and after that the day just flew by, but it’s fair to say that we had at least 70 guests here, some claim the number is even closer to 100. Some we knew since before, some we’d never met. Some came because they’d heard about us from others, some cause they’d read the news paper or seen the posters. And to say the least; we had our egos boosted. Everyone were so amazed and impressed, they liked the work, the building, the frame, the gardens. Some wanted to make a reservation on the spot, some couldn’t wait to tell their friends. MikeJoe kept the kitchen in line and whipped out chilli and pastries and potato salad to feed our visitors, and throughout the day, Okum Bay String Band, Phil Allen with his blues and Russ and his jazz trio filled the building with music. Thanks also to Andrew Donaldson, who co-dreamt about the hostel up until some years ago, and now came out with his hand tools to show interested guests how to cut joints the old fashion way.

   Our visitors were very generous with monetary donations. It all adds up and it seemed like most pitched in with what they could spare and we are deeply grateful for every little dollar bill that turns this into the communal project we want to create, were everyone participates in line with their own ability. And we are of course just as grateful for other contributions, like the furniture, kitchen items and building materials that has been offered to us.

We got the taste for parties though, and I'm already in my head laying out the lines for the Grand Opening. It's less then a year now and after so much time, energy and strength put into this hostel project, that ought to be a party to remember...

   Sunday was our big day off. We went to Stonington and ate ice cream and walked in the jazz parade and on Monday we went back to business again. No time to loose, now when August is closing in on us. We’ll be at the Farmers Market in Stonington on Fridays for all of you who wants to meet us, and Saturday and Mondays we’ll keep our house open for daytime visits. Come and see what we’re doing!

Rained out Farmers Market