Wednesday, September 26th, 2012
When I first started the kismet Inn bed and breakfast, I would receive emails from Nigerians expressing they have been left with millions and millions of dollars and would like to set up a trust fund for the inn. Then that email extended to people from all over sub-Sahara Africa, then Iraq who had become refugees and did not know what to do with the money that they had left in the banks, then to Yemen, Bahrain and now the latest which I got this morning is from Libya with the subject ATT and it says this: ”
Please i need your help, i am a Libyan citizen, a member of the inner caucus of the last regime in Libya,I have to run out of my country, as the new regime almost killed us all.I want to TRANSFER my funds to you for a safe keep & for an investment for my children before i die.PLEASE EMAIL ME NOW for details;”
I have been thinking how lucky I would have been financially if all these emails were true and I had been given all that money then I could have easily been debt free and do so much more for the inn setting up my vision.
Saturday, September 15th, 2012
I would like to think of the inception of Kismet Inn bed and breakfast as the Labor Day Weekend of 2001 when my husband and I stopped in Camden, Maine for a night on our way back to Queens, New York City from Bar Harbor, Maine. When we started walking around town I thought how lovely it would be to have a bed and breakfast with an open kitchen. We saw a building which looked lovely from outside thus, contacted the realtor who said, would contact the owner to show us the space. The showing was scheduled for Tuesday 9/11/2001 the day of the horrific attack on the ‘Twin Towers’
I left home in Queens at dusk on Tuesday 9/11 so by 8:00 I was close to Kittery, Maine when I turned back on the radio only to hear of the news which at first I thought it was review of a science fiction movie therefore, I kept changing the stations but hearing the same news. Still not being able to really kind of realize what had happened till I heard Peter Jennings say, “Let us hold our breath for a minute, a plane was on its way to the White house….” At this point I pulled aside, took a deep breath then stopped at Kittery resting area to see a crowd gathered to watch the news on T.V., which I could bare to watch only for a minute to see the towers crumbling down.
I drove up to Camden to tell the realtor, I could not possibly look for a bed and breakfast and that I would let her know later if I was still interested. Needless to say, I gave up the idea, continued to work at my husband’s office till January 2003 when I started a master’s program in ‘International Affairs’ at ‘New School University’ I took several courses the first semester, went to Ghana for the summer for 9 weeks and came to Bath, Maine to meet my daughter’s former boyfriend’s family. It was then I thought of a bed and breakfast being just seasonal maybe with couple of rooms. However, when I started looking, I thought of yoga, Japanese style deep soaking tubs and exfoliation a bathing ritual that I use to get with my mother and aunts in public baths back in my native land. I also wanted to definitely be all local, organic, fresh, have an open kitchen and offer better breakfasts than just pancakes and muffins.
I started creating a vision for the inn, saying “I don’t want to set up just a bed and breakfast but a place where people come to restore, to receive yoga, massage and other modalities of healing.” I wanted to offer cooking, knitting, photography classes. I wanted to offer a place of refuge for women to let go of all the pollution of the outside world and just unwind. I put my entire time and effort in setting up the bed and breakfast and the inn which was beginning to show signs of success when in January 2009, I got a call from my husband while I was visiting family in London to immediately fly back home, Maine because a pipe has burst and disaster has struck.
I did fly back immediately and it was a disaster, the entire front of the house had to be renovated only after three years of renovation, the ceilings, floors, walls, the books and….. it was horrific so I spent the entire winter in the kitchen and wanted to close the doors of the inn. It was a sad and difficult ordeal to go through, I felt the contractor, the security company and the heating oil company had betrayed me because each one of them had done something to cause the pipe burst. I had left the thermostats on 60 but the oil company did not deliver fuel on time, the contractor had not done any insulation on that part of the wall, the security company’s phone system had failed so they did not bother to call me even when they knew there was trouble. I felt betrayed by all of them specially after all the money I had paid them.
It was in mid-march the phone rang, a young woman said, she wants to make a reservation and come for a long weekend to try ‘Mother’s Retreat’ I told her I could not accept any guests right now because of the pipe burst, the inn has just been renovated specially the wooden floors need to be out gassed before I can take her. I asked her to give me her phone number so I could call her back. I tried very hard to dissuade her from coming because I just did not have the energy to host her the way I wanted. She insisted on coming and she did and I am so glad she did. Jennifer was my main reason for continuing the bed and breakfast and wanting to set up my vision and dream. Jennifer stayed for three nights, arrived early Wednesday afternoon and left late Saturday afternoon, we shared so much sitting by the fireplace, talking and knitting. She had daily yoga, massage, exfoliation and much more. She didn’t even leave the inn, she was the best thing that happened to me. She reminded me that I should continue, that there are always difficulties in starting a vision. Since then I have made numerous, wonderful friends who have come as guests and we have ended up as very good friends. The latest one with whom again I felt like I connected over the phone said, she will not come if it is only for one night so I rearranged rooms to accommodate her for two nights. She was going to stay at a very well knows inn on the water for 3 nights after staying with me, she called and said, the place is nothing like its website and the fact that she wants to come back and spend her nights here and she did.
Another one bought a summer home in Rockland and asked me to go stay for a night at her place which I did on Sunday night to take a rest in between guests which I did. Her house is fabulous with great view of Rockland harbor, the boardwalk and the lighthouse. We walked, talked and dined at ‘Shepherd’s pie’ a great restaurant in ‘Rockport’ my favorite little town of the three towns, Camden, Rockport and Rockland. Rockport is less busy and more residential.
Here are some photos for you to enjoy of the Rockland, Rockport area and view of the harbor from my friend’s house. My thanks goes to Jennifer, Lauran, Cristina, Catherine, Jeanne and ~~~~
The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority announced Wednesday that two of the five round trips that run daily from Boston to Portland will be extended north to the Freeport and Brunswick stops. One trip will arrive and depart Brunswick around 7 a.m., the other around 6 p.m.
One-way fares between Brunswick and Boston will cost less than $30 per person. Tickets for travel to Freeport and Brunswick will go on sale Oct. 1.
The inn has five beautiful guest rooms each with custom, hand crafted beds and private bathrooms two with Japanese style deep soaking tubs and three with spray jets, pebble rock floors. There is also a library at the inn, a fire place in the living room both parlors overlook the town green enjoying the view of all seasons.
The location of the inn is also the best in town since it faces the town green with Summer Street where the Kismet Inn bed and breakfast is located runs perpendicular to ‘Washington Street’ where all the beautiful architectural homes sit and ‘Front Street’ where all the small boutiques, shops and restaurants are. So the train is just fabulous for a guest who wants to come and spend a few days at the inn without the hassle of driving.
Tuesday, September 11th, 2012
Kismet Inn bed and breakfast in Bath, mid-coast Maine is in a relatively undiscovered area of Maine. The location is ideal if you are looking for both tourist destination as well as less tourist crowded places. One of those less tourist crowded places is called ‘Hermit Island’ tucked away in a peninsula close to ‘Popham Beach’ with campgrounds that are limited and are fully booked by January.
It has a small beach that has only the campers and the locals because it is quite a bit of distance from the main roads. It is ideal for a walk on the beach and the islands around it and ending up the day just gazing the sunset. I went there for a walk on the beach yesterday after the guests left just to smell the sea, walk on the sand and enjoy the sunset. It was a perfect day for just that.
If you are looking for some restorative time the inn is the place to be since the setting of the inn is small, quiet, clean and so close to ‘Hermit Island’ as well as many other quiet and beautiful places.
Wednesday, September 5th, 2012
This summer of 2012, I approached breakfast rather differently at the Kismet Inn Bed and Breakfast, Spa, Wellness, Restorative inn. Came up with different ideas for each breakfast and was able to continue with my oath of no pancakes and muffins or any of the highly sweetened stuff people get served in most places, lodgings from the smallest bed and breakfasts to the largest chains such as the ‘Hampton Inn’
Till this summer I would serve a fruit as starter and the fruit would be what might be in season which would start with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and continue with blueberries throughout the year specially since we get the best wild blueberries right here in Maine. However, come August as I was making Apricot compote and Crescent Dragonwagon the beautiful food and children’s writer was visiting the inn, I decided to serve Crescent and her partner David fresh apricot topped with blueberries. Then I got peaches so I served peaches with blueberries and just this last week I got plums after serving them fresh I decided to make gazpacho so I made plum gazpacho topped it with blueberries and at times with fresh cream that I removed from top of the whole milk I got from ‘Balfour Farm’ the best farm to get the milk, butter and cream.
All of them were very well received and much loved by all the guests and I was honored to serve everyone. I hope you will come for a stay and give me the honor of serving, hosting and meeting you ~