Thanksgiving Getaway

 Since The Family was all going to be elsewhere on Thanksgiving Day, DH and I decided to get outta town for a couple of days.  We headed to Portland, Maine.
There were three attractions we wanted to be sue to see:
The Portland Public Library's exhibit of Edward Gorey drawings
The Portland Museum of Art's exhibit of Winslow Homer paintings (oil and watercolor), and
The Dickey's BBQ franchise at the Maine Mall.

The Gorey exhibit was fascinating and slightly disturbing, as you might expect if you've seen many of his drawings.  At least as fascinating (and slightly disturbing) was this sculpture in the entry way of the Portland Public library.  I think it is a young woman making an offering of water to drink... because the sculpture was installed in honor of Lillian M.N. Stevens, president of the National AND Maine Women's Christian Temperance Union.  The statue was apparently originally installed in 1917.  The irony to me was the abundance of men who looked homeless and NOT particularly temperate... who are so typical to downtown libraries.

Across from the library was Monument Square.It was primarily occupied by the  yet-to-be-lit Municipal Christmas Tree.   Somewhat dwarfed was the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Memorial by Portland Native Franklin Simmons.

Like many coastal towns, there was quite a revitalization of this downtown area about 30 years ago, and there is a photographic history of the area here.

An interesting architectural detail was on the side of "The Fidelity Building" which apparently dates to 1910.

We parked across from a building titled "Portland Market."  Apparently,  the market building has been vacated since 2005 and has been partially re-purposed as offices and cubicles. There are efforts to maintain a "public market" with private vendors and produce stands, but November might not have been "high season."  For a moment I hoped maybe we had time traveled to the West Coast and the "other" Portland's Pike's Market.

Mission accomplished.