Bold Colorful Life Estate
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WHAT'S NEW at the Bold Colorful Life Estate?

The COVID-19 pandemic created opportunities to complete many new projects and maintenance projects to enhance the estate property and houses for our 2021 vacation rental guest groups.

A.  The Projects...more links and pictures coming soon...

 

C.  The Latest Events

 

D.  The New Amenities

  • The New Water Treatment Systems in both buildings
  • The New WiFi system throughout the Site
  • The New Larger, Front-Loading Laundry equipment in the Cape
  • The New Dishwasher in the Farmhouse

E.     The Site Map of the Bold Colorful Life Estate


Key to the Bold Colorful Life Estate Site Map
 
 

1. Farmhouse Guest Rental

2. Cape Guest Rental

3. Owner's Quarters- Private

4. Reception Deck- Private if not rented

5. Firepit-Open to all

6. Softwood pile-Open to all (under brightly colored banners)

7. Sports and Games 'Room'

8. Gallery Barn-sometimes a Gallery, always a Barn and now with a full solar installation!

9. Garden Shed

10. Large Compost Pile

11. Freshwater Pond-home to frogs and Maine painted turtles


12. Woodland Glade with picnic table

13. Stone Bench and Stone Staircase to lower level and riverfront

14. SIX 8.6 foot Eclipse kayaks, THREE children's kayaks on new racks...and mulched path to staircase to water

15. Wooden Bench which marks the end of the property, adjacent to neighbor's driveway

16. Farmhouse Parking

17. Cape Parking

18. Neighbor's Driveway-please avoid trespassing

19. Organic Raised Bed Vegetable Gardens

 

 

 

 

 



The Labyrinth at the Bold Colorful Life Estate and Retreat Center is a double five-circuit classical path marked with smooth stones from the US and Canada for foot massage and reflexology...divided by wildflower channels for sensual enjoyment.

It is a pathway for walking, reflecting and healing…a journey of twists and turns leading to the center bench, to discover something about ourselves, about relaxation and about Mother Nature. 

A Labyrinth is...

-a wondrous pathway that may become a mirror for our own lives and metaphor for our spiritual journey.

-a circle and spiral, each a powerful and ancient symbol of wholeness and transformation.

-a tool of spiritual growth, healing, conversion and transformation of heart, body, mind, and spirit.

-a spiritual discipline of setting one foot in front of the other and following the path.

-a calling forth of our intuitive symbolic mind and creative meandering spirit.

-a grounded yet symbolic space which can awaken us to the eternal and infinite mystery of the divine imprint within all creation.

-a deeply healing container where we can touch our joys and sorrows.*

 *quote from the Labyrinth at Rolling Ridge


Here's the story of the creation of this Labyrinth.

For the last 10 years or so, I felt drawn to have a labyrinth on site, for summer guests, as well as off-season retreat guests. As the estate evolved during that time, other projects took precedence, and I contemplated different sites for the labyrinth. The Fairy Walk was completed and then the Enchanted Trail was extended. The 50 Forest Bathing sites were laid out on the property on both sides of Back River Road.

Last Autumn, I knew that the labyrinth must be placed on a well-drained, centrally visual site and that led me to the middle of the large wildflower field just east of the Back River.

I chose a labyrinth design, and placed two large tarps on a 33 foot area, planning to kill off the grass and wildflowers during 2020 and build the labyrinth in 2021. But that wasn't to be.

When the CoVid-19 pandemic hit in spring of 2020, it became clear that it was time for the Labyrinth to be built...for enjoyment by eventual guests and for my sanity during Maine's state lockdown. |
First, I hired a helper to help me drag a foundation stone into the middle of the tarp circle while the ground was still frozen in March...and we placed the large stone on two support stones and I filled gravel under and around it.

I pulled out the drawing that would guide me for the next 3 months and bought some cement forms online. They were 17" wide, and I decided that the wildflower strips between the walking areas should be 12". That would nicely fill the 33' expanse I'd laid out earlier.

The design layout was first done with ashes from the pellet stove, but it was a rainy (and snowy) spring, so those guide lines didn't last long. 
Out came the fluorescent pink paint can!

And since I wanted the edges firm and straight, it became clear that I'd have to cut turf blocks about 2.5 inches wide and 2 inches deep on both sides of the walking area. I found an excellent machete, just right for my needs and spent HOURS on my knees, cutting the blocks. I put the turf blocks on the wildflower areas so I'd keep them straight in my mind. And things began to get visually clear.

(I ended up putting the turf blocks on a low, easily flooded path into the Glade area, so that walkway was raised.)
 

Once the edges were cut, it was time to rototill the center, which would speed up the process. I had a helper or two along the way, but this was hard labor and they didn't stick it out.
After the rototilling, it was back on my knees for days of cleaning out the interior of the walkway so that the cement forms (bottom right in the picture below) would fit and be level. This was an excellent reason to be outside every day, being productive while the outside world was 'on hold'.
At last, the walkway was ready for the cement stepping stones, to be embedded with smooth stones from the US and Canada.

 But my first visitors were the local deer family...and it dawned on me that I had better seed the middle parts with deer-resistant wildflowers. I had no interest in inviting my deer visitors to tromp on the walkway steps...especially when the cement was curing. So I seeded the other parts of the lawn with wildflowers the deer love...and deer-resistant seeds on the walkway...and I keep my fingers crossed.

The first stepping stones were made according to the form instructions, where you insert the cement through the top of the form, pushing into the corners. This was done on the walkway itself. My wrists grew tired of this quickly and this simply didn't strike me as an efficient way to do this, so I slept on it.

I was lucky to find a neighbor, Rick, whom I could hire to help with this stage of the process and we talked it over and decided to build the forms in the barn, so we wouldn't be dependent on Mother Nature for good weather.

Here's how the steps looked after we built them in the barn. I added the smooth stones before they began to cure, so that they would have a good connection when people walked over them. You can see the forms to the right of the trailer.
But this was still a tedious process, despite sprightly conversation with Rick. And it was heavy for me to drive the full trailer to the walk and then distribute the steps.

Again, I slept on it and woke with a wild idea. Why not fill the forms from the underside and then flip them onto a plastic-covered wooden base and slide the plastic into place on the walkway? Both dubious that this would work, we tried it. AND IT WORKED! It probably saved us half the time...and we began to make good, steady progress.

 

Days later, we had filled all the form-sized areas, and I was filled with gratitude as I said goodbye to Rick. But the forms were designed for straight walkways and, except for the first and last lengths, this labyrinth is continually curved, so I had to dream up a way of making strange-shaped steps to fill in the blank areas. Each night, I had to wet the cement to help it cure, so I could study the challenge up close.

At last, I figured out how to fill all the walkway holes, mixed up the last two mixers-full of the cement and created the strange ones. As they cured, it was time to get the marble stone chips to fill the larger cracks. Altogether, we had mixed up about 6500 pounds of cement to make all the step components.

Once the marble chips had filled the larger cracks between the cement forms, it was time to spread the paver sand...and fill in any areas with dirt where the walkway was too wide for the forms. Below, the marble chips are between steps on the right, and then sand has been added on the left. Altogether, I hauled about 700 pounds of crack fillers to finish the walkway.

 

 

One other thing became clear as the walkway neared completion. If people took off their shoes to enjoy the stone massage, they were NOT going to like the gravel that I had placed around the bench to keep the weeds from growing there. So...time to re-design the seating area was next...using the machete to cut down the grass level, extending the fabric, moving the gravel out to the edge...and then placing these wonderful celestial blue tiles I'd found at the Habitat for Humanity store in Rockland. They mirror the sky, and also evoke and honor the honeybee in all its glorious honeycomb production.

It's complete...it looks ancient from above...something from the age of Stonehenge perhaps....

Clearly, this was a magnificent labor of love...emphasis on labor and emphasis on love. I water the wildflowers every night, urging them to grow and thrive and make this an awesome place for spiritual peace.

Do come and visit and enjoy this bold and soon-to-be-colorful labyrinth!

Addendum-July, 2020: As the wildflowers grow during the summer, the labyrinth becomes more mysterious. And it becomes more attractive to the local wildlife. SO MUCH for ordering special deer-resistant wildflower seeds!

 

 

 

And we have a new neighbor...what I thought was a small porcupine turned out to be a woodchuck!
But thankfully, vacation rental guests are also enjoying the labyrinth...when the wild critters can spare the site.

 

 

 

 

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802 Back River Road, Boothbay, Maine 04537 | Email: boldcolorlife@gmail.com
 

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