The Portland Logbook
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The Portland Logbook #10

The Portland Logbook #10

This Week in Portland Maine

Jake Newman
April 08, 2025

Art in Bloom: Five Days of Beauty and Then It's Gone Forever

If Art could punch you in the face and smell like roses, this would be it.

When spring finally starts defrosting the snow (and most of our seasonal sadness), we stumble back into a world we haven’t seen in months. We get one warm day, maybe two. Spirits lift. Coats come off. Then boom — snow again. A cold slap to the face. “I swear it was 60 degrees yesterday,” said every person in line at any coffee shop that morning. What happened?

Still, that little taste of warmth is enough to remind me of one of my favorite things that happens in Portland. Something hopeful. Something that smells vaguely like a greenhouse in a fever dream (Half Lilac, half mothballs). It’s the Art in Bloom at the Portland Museum of Art.

Step through the heavy glass doors of the PMA and you’re hit with a wall of color and perfume. Not subtle. Spring, dragged indoors and arranged with purpose by the armful. And not a plastic tulip in sight.

Art in Bloom isn’t just about flower arrangements. It’s art pieces with petals. Local florists like Harmon’s & Barton’s and Broadturn Farm take pieces from the PMA’s collection and build their own versions, mirrored, twisted, exploded—right beside them. A seascape gets paired with curling branches and irises. A Winslow Homer piece is reimagined with hydrangeas and wild grasses. Suddenly, the museum isn’t just a museum. It’s alive.

Oh, and did i mention the smell?! It smells like opening the summer cottage for the first time, sea air through cracked windows, damp pine trees, lilacs freshly cut on the sill.

👉 Planning to go? Preview the florists and events here.

Come early. Walk slow. Linger. Bring your dad. Bring your neighbor. Bring a date if you want to seem emotionally well-adjusted. Just don’t show up thinking you’ll breeze through. These arrangements are fleeting, here for five days, then gone like a snowstorm in April. I’m still mad about the last one.

If you’ve been dragging your feet creatively this winter, this’ll light a fire. There’s something wild about seeing living things interpret dead ones. Something inspiring about people building with stems and petals instead of paint.

Art in Bloom runs April 9–13. Admission is standard, members get a sneak peek, and special events fill the weekend: jazz brunch, family workshops, flower pop-ups, and even a book signing with Cig Harvey.

Portland Museum of Art | 7 Congress Square | April 9–13, 2025

Sunday Town: The Sweetest Little Antique Shop with a Devilish Dealer Tag

Most Fridays, right at 10 a.m., you’ll find me at Open House Antiques in Portland. You’d know it’s me because I’ll have an Another Round Cafe Cortado in one hand and a Notes app of all the things I’m looking for in the other. It’s my weekly ritual. I scan the shelves, trail the aisles, pick up a piece, flip the tag, and there it is again: 666. Dealer number 666. Over and over. Antique rugs, tramp art, small oil paintings, all tagged with that same ominous number. Eventually, I had to ask Ben at the counter, “Who in the world is Dealer 666?”

He didn’t even flinch. Just smiled and said, “That’s Sunday. She runs a shop in South Portland.”

So I drove over. Stopping at Second Rodeo for sneaky Cortado Number 2. Do I have a problem? Probably, but its the fuel I need to find antique treasures.

Sunday Town is a beautifully odd, perfectly edited antique shop tucked into South Portland. It’s run by Sunday herself, whose eye for curation is as sharp as a tack. The shop feels more like a home than a store: shelves stacked with beautiful Americana, delicate enamelware, glassware that catches the light just right, handmade signs, and an old-school warmth that feels impossible to fake.

The place smells like sawdust and lemon oil, thanks in part to the woodshop in the back—her husband’s domain. It’s the kind of smell that reminds you things are still being made, not just found.

There’s great light here. Tall ceilings. Room to think. Sunday herself is always kind, always hunting down things she thinks I’ll love. On my first visit, she tried to give me a six-foot-long framed print of the Last Supper—completely free. Not exactly my style, but the gesture? Unforgettable.

So if you're in South Portland and looking to kill some time in the best way possible, go see Sunday. Just don’t buy the charcoal sketches of horses in the red frames—I’m coming back for them. I’ve already got 1/4. Just have to convince my partner its a good investment!

📍 Sunday Town | 132 Ocean St, South Portland, Maine 04106
📸 Instagram: @sundaytownantiques

🐾 Adoptable Buddies of the Week! 🐾

🐕 June Bug – 45 lbs of pure zoom. June Bug is an adventurous, high-energy pup who’s always down for a hike, run, or game of chase. She’s sweet, smart, and full of potential—but she needs structure and a dog-savvy home (teens and up). Best as your one-and-only pet, though she’s open to dog friends outside the house. If you’ve got an active lifestyle and a good throwing arm, June Bug’s ready to be your ride-or-die.
Meet June Bug →

🐱 Freya – This soft-eyed sweetheart is part of the Tiny Tiger Club—meaning she’s shy, but curious and learning to trust. Freya loves quiet spaces, slow approaches, and a good back scratch (metal scratchers encouraged). She’s looking for a calm, adult-only home and might thrive with a confident cat buddy to show her the ropes. If you’ve got patience and a peaceful place to share, she’s worth it.
Meet Freya →

🐾 Know a local rescue I should feature next? Hit reply and let me know!

🐕 Interested? Check them out here