Field Trip

The most wonderful thing about spending a month in Maine is I feel no compulsion to pack a lot into everyday. This makes this a truly relaxing vacation. But today we took a family field trip we could only do today. In our little neighborhood we noticed this sign for The Old Homestead. It stands in front of a tiny shingled house with no driveway, just a small barn and outhouse in back. Since the sign says it is only open 2-4 on Wednesdays we went on to visit.

There was a car parked on the grass so I just pulled up next to it in the yard. We approached the house and realized we had to go around to the side to get in. As the door was wide open I called out a greeting as we came in so as not to startle the docent. She was an 84 year old woman who never told us her name, as is often the way here in Maine. She told us that the house was built in 1773 and inhabited until 1938. It was a lovely tiny home with four rooms downstairs which we could go in and one big upstairs, which we only saw by looking up the staircase.

The smallest room had an antique rope bed and the docent told me it was the borning room. Since the original family had 13 children I think the room got good use. Russ, Carter and I spent a good amount of time looking at the books they had displayed showing the history of the area, the photos of kids in local schools in the 1950’s and a local cookbook.

Carter and I got quite a kick out of the cookbook. They were recipes submitted by local people with very little editing. Consequently there were multiple recipes for the same thing, like Fruit Salad or chocolate pie. In the case of fruit salad I wouldn’t eat anyone of them, especially since they were essentially all the same recipe, except for the one that wanted you to make your own salad dressing, using flour. Yuck!

Carter’s favorite were the two cream Puff Recipes. One titled, “Cream Puffs” the other “Prize winning Cream Puffs.” Which one would you make?

One chapter on sandwiches was down right scary. How many of you have eaten a fruit sandwich like the one described here.?

Things happen slowly here in Maine. Proof, they were giving away 2008 calendars at the Old Homestead. Since they are only open two hours a week it must be taking a long time to move those calendars. Maybe in a year or two they can give away 2009.

All in all it was a very interesting display and we could have spent a lot more time, but they weren’t opened long enough. So we went home and sat on the porch and enjoyed the view. Happy to do not much.

Field Trip

The most wonderful thing about spending a month in Maine is I feel no compulsion to pack a lot into everyday. This makes this a truly relaxing vacation. But today we took a family field trip we could only do today. In our little neighborhood we noticed this sign for The Old Homestead. It stands in front of a tiny shingled house with no driveway, just a small barn and outhouse in back. Since the sign says it is only open 2-4 on Wednesdays we went on to visit.

There was a car parked on the grass so I just pulled up next to it in the yard. We approached the house and realized we had to go around to the side to get in. As the door was wide open I called out a greeting as we came in so as not to startle the docent. She was an 84 year old woman who never told us her name, as is often the way here in Maine. She told us that the house was built in 1773 and inhabited until 1938. It was a lovely tiny home with four rooms downstairs which we could go in and one big upstairs, which we only saw by looking up the staircase.

The smallest room had an antique rope bed and the docent told me it was the borning room. Since the original family had 13 children I think the room got good use. Russ, Carter and I spent a good amount of time looking at the books they had displayed showing the history of the area, the photos of kids in local schools in the 1950’s and a local cookbook.

Carter and I got quite a kick out of the cookbook. They were recipes submitted by local people with very little editing. Consequently there were multiple recipes for the same thing, like Fruit Salad or chocolate pie. In the case of fruit salad I wouldn’t eat anyone of them, especially since they were essentially all the same recipe, except for the one that wanted you to make your own salad dressing, using flour. Yuck!

Carter’s favorite were the two cream Puff Recipes. One titled, “Cream Puffs” the other “Prize winning Cream Puffs.” Which one would you make?

One chapter on sandwiches was down right scary. How many of you have eaten a fruit sandwich like the one described here.?

Things happen slowly here in Maine. Proof, they were giving away 2008 calendars at the Old Homestead. Since they are only open two hours a week it must be taking a long time to move those calendars. Maybe in a year or two they can give away 2009.

All in all it was a very interesting display and we could have spent a lot more time, but they weren’t opened long enough. So we went home and sat on the porch and enjoyed the view. Happy to do not much.

Carter Comes to Maine

This was the day I have been waiting for. Carter was supposed to arrive in Maine on the 9:40 AM cape air flight. For some unknown reason last night’s flight did not make it back to Boston so she had a two hour delay while the plane flew from Owls Head to Boston to pick up the four passengers. I watched her flight on the flight radar 24 website. Even on the sight they show her plane as a tiny little thing.

I had told her to ask to sit on the right hand side of the plane, but she was too afraid to do that. So she missed the hand colored sign I put out in the yard to greet her. She thought it was sweet when she saw it from the ground.

The best part of Maine for Carter is that Shay Shay is here. They have not been together for nine months, their longest separation. Carter and Russ took Shay hiking this afternoon and afterwards Carter did a little face trimming to clean Shay up. Shay was much happier with a Carter cut.

All four of us went off to Claws for dinner. We always go to Claws as soon as a new guest arrives. I have been slack on reporting our family lobster count. I had lobster stew Saturday night. Russ had lobster in his risotto on Sunday at the causeway Restaurant, which we highly recommend. Carter and I had lobster tonight.

Lobster count: 10 and counting

The Elks Lodge

The last time I went to an Elks Lodge it was in Kent Island, MD when I was catering a girl’s wedding. I had not been hired to cater at the Elks Lodge, but at the Rockville Mansion. When that burned down five weeks before the wedding the back up the Elks as her Mother-in-law to be was the head of the lady elks.

After 35 years between visits today’s trip to the Rockland Elks Lodge was a wholly different feel. First of all this Elks Lodge was not a corrugated tin building and second of all there was not a room full of drunk men smoking in the bar. The reason for my visit was an auction that Warren took me to. I knew the auctioneer as I have bought an antique tall case clock from him. He has a shop in Rockland with beautiful antiques.

Warren and I went to the preview and both found some things we wanted, but we didn’t wasn’t to sit through the auction because then we would over bid. So we left bids and will find out tomorrow if we got anything. Instead Warren took me for ice cream.

I came home to find Russ still working. The idea of taking a month off in Maine has not worked out as far as the being off is concerned. I hope that he can slow down a little and spend more time outside.

We ate leftovers for dinner. Russ enjoyed the last of the blueberry pie. Shay eyed his pie and he shared it with her. Who knew this puppy liked blueberry pie so much.

I cleaned the house in anticipation of Carter’s arrival tomorrow on the first Cape Air flight from Boston. I colored a big sign that I am going to put out on our lawn because I think she will fly right over our house as they are coming in for a landing. I am so excited for her to be here for a week.

Too bad Carter missed the auction. She would have been the youngest one there by many decades, since I was the youngest one there. At least I can take her antiquing while she’s here, but I wish she had seen the Elks lodge.

Exploration Sunday

Russ, Shay and I went on a big exploration today. We jumped in the car and drove over to St. George and down to the marshal Point light house. The lighthouse is the one in Forest Gump. They have a pretty little museum, but sadly it was closed today.

Shay has been a little out of sorts the last few days, but loved going to the light house and seemed to get her appetite back walking by the coast.

We wanted to go the the next peninsula over. That meant we had to go back north and then go down to a Cushing and Friendship. This sight seeing trip made us happy about choosing Owls Head as our home base. Friendship is very remote and not terribly friendly. We stopped at the only place we saw open in and hour and a half, a general store. We got a sandwich to share and ate it on a picnic table out in the parking lot. Not exactly scenic.

It was a beautiful day so it was fun nonetheless. Shay especially liked getting to hang her head out the window as we drove.

Tonight we went to the Causeway restaurant at the Craignair Inn, in Spruce Head. It was the finest meal we have had since we’ve been here. We sat on the porch, which was fine until the bugs found me. It is worth another visit, but will sit inside next time. We should have worn bug spray as the causeway connects Spruce Head to Clark Island, which is a Nature preserve with trails. Russ read that it is too buggy to walk those trails.

We love Maine, but we some parts more than others. We are glad to be near civilization, but still in nature.

Everyday is Dog Day if you are Shay

Yesterday was National Dog day. In our house everyday is National, state, city, world and universe dog day. Russ is the most ardent dog day follower. Everything he does is for Shay, his most beloved. So in honor of Miss Shay Shay I wish to make this a mostly picture blog in homage to Russ’ love of Shay.

Never Enough Time With Friends

It has been a great visit with my friends of 46 years, Nancy and Karen. We became great friends in boarding school, stayed in touch in college, attended each other’s weddings, gone to many reunions together and visited each other’s home through the years. Getting to spend some solid days and nights together here in Maine just makes me miss being around them all the time even more.

There is a wonderful sameness in our senses of humor that only comes with so many shared experiences at critical junctures of our development. We can finish each other’s sentences like old spouses, even though we only see each other occasionally. We can always pick right up where we left off no matter how many years there are between physical visits.

Today was a fun day with the highlight being a lunch at Warren’s house and tour of his HoJo collection. Nancy had been a HoJo girl one summer when she was in high school so she took great glee in seeing all the memorabilia Warren had. The amazing thing is he had the weather vane from the very restaurant where Nancy worked.

Before we could go to Warren’s we had to make the big trip to Beth’s Farm Market to get gifts to take to Warren’s as well as some mementos for Karen and Nancy to take home. We bought so much stuff we pretended we were not together because we didn’t want to be accused of cleaning them out.

With a full car we headed over to Rockport and looked at the beautiful houses and then headed to clam cove and the best tuna melts on earth. Warren welcomed us in his new Howard Johnson’s t-shirt. Everyone got the tour and Nancy paid special attention as so much of his collection was exactly like she used at HoJo’s when she was sixteen.

Before we arrived I had predicted what we would be having to for lunch and like Carnac the Magnificent, I got every item he served right down to the make of Lemonade. I’m not saying Warren is predictable, but just like Howard Johnson’s you are going to get the same great quality product no matter which restaurant you stopped into.

After lunch Warren showed Karen and Nancy the rest of his house including many antiques ready for him to take into 10 Mechanic to sell. I saw a number of things I think Carter might like.

It was a sweet visit of old boarding school friends and Warren waved us good bye as we drove out of his driveway on our way to our owl’s head home. We stayed in tonight and had an easy fried rice for dinner, finally eating our tiny raspberry pie we bought yesterday from the store that had just fruit pies made by a fourth generation pie maker.

Life in Maine feels simpler, sweeter and slower, especially with such wonderful old friends. So glad we decided 46 years ago that we liked each other and we still do now.

Sales Isn’t Everyone’s Thing

There are so many wonderful things we love about Maine. The beauty of the sunrise. The pristine water. The clear blue skies.

The single item stores where you know that the pies have to be wonderful since that is all they sell. Or the cheese is the most delicious so they don’t bother selling anything else.

Then there are the the places that sell two items, not always related. Today Nancy, Karen and I went into one we liked, a popsicle/ apron store. We didn’t buy an $85 apron, but we did get a $6 wild Maine blueberry or a raspberry lemon popsicle.

For the most part Mainers are friendly industrious people who put up with those from away because we help their commerce. I’m not sure how many Mainers are buying $85 aprons.

On my tour of fun Maine places I took Nancy and Karen to Belfast. We had plans to also go to Camden, but Belfast was enough for us. We bought fabric and art supplies at the Fiddlehead Artisan, we admired the Dahlias, bought a fly swatter at the best hardware store, looked at shoes in the oldest shoe store in America and ate the best lunch at Chase Daily.

One stop I raved about on the way to Belfast was a bookstore I love. Not for the books, but for the orange Julius cookies. Warren and I always make a trip there for these special cookies and I wanted to share them with Karen and Nancy.

So after lunch we walked down the hill to the book store. Most years I am helped there by an ex- New Yorker who is gregarious and fun. Today when we entered the store I did not see him behind the counter, but instead was a woman. As she was helping another customer, I went to the back of the store to see if she had any of her famous cookies. I spotted four in the glass fronted case.

As I made my way back to the counter I heard her large dog barking at a rather large man in the store. The dog belonged to the store owner and she calmed him down. I asked if she could come sell me some cookies. Her response was odd. “I can’t go back there and leave my dog here, because she does not like this man.”

I looked at the man, who appeared to not be interested in buying anything and was just hanging around. I asked him, “Are you leaving soon?” He felt no compulsion to answer me, nor leave. The store owner asked him if he would come back to the cookie area with us so that the dog couldn’t see him. He obliged her and together the three of us went to the back.

“I’ll take all four of the cookies,” I announced. The women responded, “I don’t want to sell you all of them. How about you take three?” I am unaccustomed to having to bargain to pay full price for a product that someone is selling. If you have it for sale and I want to give you the asking price then it’s a deal.

“I came all the way from North Carolina, like I do every year, to buy these cookies.”

“If I sell them all to you, there won’t be any for someone else who might come in.”

“I have my two friends with me and my husband back home so I wanted four cookies. Do I need my friend to buy a cookie?”

“Ok, I guess you can have them.”

Have them? I’m buying them.

When I inquired where the nice guy from NY was, she said he had left her years ago. “But I bought cookies from him last year?”

“Oh, he took a long time to leave me.”

I handed her the cash for the cookies and thought the New Yorker couldn’t have gotten away fast enough.

Friends Colliding

It was a busy day at my little Maine Cottage. It was change over day for guests, but with a planned overlap. Suzanne and Oliver spent the night here. We awoke to a foggy day so we had to scrap our morning breakwater walk for a game playing morning. I was finally able to begin to teach them how to play Mah Jongg. Oliver announced that I am his favorite person to play games with and have been his whole life. Granted that life is only 20 years long, but I am taking the compliment nonetheless.

It was no surprise that Oliver caught on very quickly. His Chinese language studies helped him be able to read what some of the tiles were. Suzanne also was a fast learner, but a 60 year old brain just takes long than a 20 year old brain no matter who you are. I was able to at least intrigue them with a bit of the game.

Eventually we had to stop and prepare lunch as our next guests, Nancy and Karen my boarding school friends were arriving in time for a late lunch. Suzanne peeled and sliced the peaches and cut the tomatoes for a yummy fresh ricotta, peach, tomato, mozzarella, basil salad. I make some Mexican chicken melts and we had a good lunch ahead of us.

Nancy and Karen pulled in exactly on the predicted time and I was finally able to introduce my oldest friends from high school and college to each other. Since Karen was from New Hampshire and is moving back there I wanted Suzanne to meet her because I thought they would be good friends and neighbors.

Suzanne and Oliver were having enough fun with us all that they delayed their trip home so they could go walk the Rockland breakwater with us now that the fog had burned off. A good walk with new and old friends is almost the best thing to do.

Sadly after the walk Steve and Oliver had to get on the road, but not until they stopped at Claws to get something eat on the way home. Claws was our plan for dinner too. So Russ and I initiated Nancy and Karen into the claws fan club. Thankfully the line was not too long tonight. The couple behind us asked if this was the line to get inside. As obvious first timers I told them, “No, there is no inside. This is the line to order.”

Claws never disappoints and I tried a new lobster item, the lobster tacos. And Russ had lobster Bisque. So that brings our lobster totals up to six.

Now I have two more friends to play with while Russ is working. They brought sweet gifts, the funniest being a bar of soap. It’s great that my friends read this blog and know what I need.

Lobster totals: six

24 Hour Visit

When I was little one of my favorite books was Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel. Now that I am old I’m much less enamored with Steam shovels. I was awoken early this morning by this loud noise. The barge of rocks had been moved closer to the shore since it was high tide. The Steam shovel, ie: the crane, was up and running off loading rocks and large cement beams into the water where it looks like they are building a rock pier.

The barge was out of our view at least, but now we had noise, where there had once been pristine nature only sounds. I was waiting for Suzanne and her youngest Oliver to come today for a quick 24 hour visit and I wanted it to be lovely for them. Thankfully the tide dictated everything and as soon as the tide started to go out the barge packed up and the tug boat pulled it away. I am certain that it is just refilling with more boulders and will be back. Thankfully by the time Suzanne got here the view and the quiet were back to normal.

Since their visit is so short I wanted to give Suzanne and Oliver the highlight tour. We went immediately to eat a late lunch at Claws, the best food anywhere, even if it is a road side shack. I had my third lobster roll of the trip and by far the best. (I am keeping track of how many lobsters Russ and I eat this month, so my total of for both of us. Of course I have had three and he has had one.)

It was a good time to catch up with Oliver, who I think of as one of my own. As he is going into his third year at Brown it makes my heart happy that he wants to come and visit this old lady.

After lunch we had some shopping to do. I was looking for a special cheese, which no one in town seemed to have. Then we went to the olive oil and Vinegar store. It seems that in Maine you can only buy one kind of thing in one kind of store. While walking to the olive oil store we stopped into Bruce Gamage’s antique store. I reintroduced myself to him since I had bought Russ’ tall case clock from him. He was so welcoming and We all looked around at his antiques. It’s such a shame that people aren’t interested in “brown” furniture these days. It is so much more beautiful and better made than new stuff.

We tasted olive oils at the next store and Suzanne got a big laugh out of my face when I tasted ones I did not like, it was amazing how many that was. I finally settled on a lemon one and then we turned to vinegar. The one we loved the most was a special Maine wild blueberry Balsamic the store had produced in Italy. It was so yummy Suzanne and I both bought big bottles and we had it on our dessert tonight.

Our last stop after going to a second cheese store, was the fish market. We got freshly caught haddock from the sea of Maine. Can’t get more local than that as it is the sea of Maine that we look at outside our house.

Back to the house after spending a lot of time yaking, we made dinner of the haddock, baked in the oven with a little olive oil, Lemmon juice, salt, pepper and fresh sour dough bread crumbs that were on the large size since I had to cut them up myself and some fresh Parmesan. It was pure yumminess.

It was a long drive for Suzanne and Oliver to come up for a day, but when we are just three hours apart me must be together. Sadly she is leaving for a big trip and this day was the last chance we had to see each other. At least we have half of tomorrow.

Lobster total: four

Maine Monday

Even though we are on vacation Russ worked all day. That meant I had to entertain myself. It was not hard. I had a leisurely breakfast looking out on the fog covering the water. Since we were having our friend Warren for dinner I made my shopping list of the last minute items.

While Russ sat at his little desk in our room in front of the window also looking at the fog, I decided I should make some headway on the Maine puzzle Karen gave me. Yesterday I had sorted the pieces so today I worked on the outline and some of the words, in other words, the easiest parts. When my butt got tired of sitting on a hard yankee chair I decided it was time to go do the shopping.

We needed an additional pillowcase, which proved the hardest thing to find. Apparently kids going to college have already bought all the pillowcases. I finally found a set of two that had the word “sleep” embroidered on them. Who cares, I took them.

I then went to the pet store to discover they don’t carry Shay’s special food. I guess I will have to use Chewy. Then to one grocery store and then the health food co-op. I was looking for a Maine farmer cheese that I read about, but could only find one of the varieties I was looking for. I think I will make a visit to this farm later in the trip.

I got home in time to see the fog lift and our view to take a big change. This morning I noticed that there was a back hoe out on the rocks about six houses down from us. They seemed to be moving boulders around. This afternoon a tug boat was pulling a barge with a big crane and a lot of big rocks down the harbor and turned into our cove. The barge drove those big iron poles down into the water to stabilize it and the tug drove up beside the barge and attached itself to the side. The crane then lifted a small John boat off its deck and dropped it in the water. All the men on the tug and the barge got in the small boat and rode off.

This was a lot of excitement. The people in the next two houses to us all came out to watch the goings on. Evelyn, next door said the people down the way were doing rock work. I hope it doesn’t take a month as this barge has totally changed our view, although the whole thing is interesting.

After that excitement I went to working cooking. When I was half way through I realized I had forgotten to eat lunch. This is a never before experience. Perhaps being in Maine is very good for me. I decided to just wait until dinner to eat.

Warren arrived at 5:30 and we got in a good visit before Russ finished working at 6:30. Warren was giving me his list of all the places we needed to visit while we are here. I think we need to stay two or three months to complete his list. I put the dinner on the table, chicken tacos, with homemade pico, guacamole, marinated cabbage, cheese, black beans and sour cream, as well as Mexican street corn on the cob. It was a little adventurous for Warren who is a plain food lover, but he said he liked it.

Warren brought a wild blueberry pie and vanilla ice cream. It was delicious. My next guests are going to be thrilled that we have so much pie left over.

Tomorrow my next guests arrive. I don’t think I am going to have time for a vacation nap for the next few days.

Venturing Out

Last night, as Russ lay sleeping, I went down an internet rabbit hole thanks to my sister Janet. She sent me the links to about ten cool things to do in Maine. I am not sure how long she has been accumulating this list, as I know she loves nothing more than to travel. Janet obviously curated it for me since most of the places are close. From her list I inquired about a sailboat trip and an oyster class, but in typical Maine laidback was I am yet to hear back.

One place she had on her list was a small cafe in Warren, Me called the Saint George River Cafe. Since Russ and I had already planned to go visit the Sweetgrass Winery in Union we added the cafe to our trip. Shay gets to go with us most places so we decided to go for Bruch close to the opening time so we could be sure to get a table outside.

We meandered up to Warren, a town, and I use the word town loosely, we have never visited. As we descended the road towards the river it was hard to miss the cafe, with the word boldly posted on the side of the building. Out front were at least a dozen large motorcycles. I am certain my sister had no idea she had recommended a biker bar.

Russ and Shay got the table on the deck and I went inside, wearing my white capri pants and blue and white French sailor’s shirt. To say I stood out was an understatement. First I was the only one wearing a color other than black and second I was the only one who had room on both my arms of legs for a large tattoo.

The owner, a small Asian man gestured me in. Turns out this is not normally a biker bar. This group had phoned ahead asking if they could seat them as there was a huge wait at Moody’s diner. The bikers occupied all the tables having loud conversations with many expletives, across all the tables.

I joined the line to place our order with the owners teenaged son, who was more than overwhelmed. I thought I was in the line behind a woman about my age with dry bleached blond hair and a particularly ugly tattoo of a woman. It could have been a great tattoo of an ugly woman, but either way it was unattractive. Before I knew it a very large muscular man in a black wife beater and a half removed tattoo of a woman on his shoulder, along with at least 30 other tattoos, butt in front of me.

As I was clearly outnumbered, and not wanting to get any grease on my white outfit I decided not to make a scene of it. The butter made sure not to make eye contact with me since he knew what he was doing. The man behind me saw this happen and started up a conversation with me. They were a biker group out of Wooster, MA and he told me bikers are good tippers. I don’t know if that was supposed to make up for being line cutters, but he was polite if you ignored the ten or so “fucks” he said in our short conversation.

Eventually I was up to the teenaged son and he gave a big sigh of relief as he asked me for our order. Clearly getting the biker orders right was a stressful job.

After ordering I joined Shay and Russ outside and the one man cook didn’t take forever getting us our food. Despite a very limited menu the food was delicious. Shay especially enjoyed the sausage.

Out visit to Sweetgrass was a very different scene. We had been there before when we used to go to family camp. They not only make wine, but distill spirits as well. Russ was going to try their whiskey. He almost didn’t buy it based on the fact that it was aged in barrels after they had blueberries in them first, but decided to try it as we had made such a big trip to get there.

Sweetgrass is a beautiful setting and they even had a whole area devoted to dogs. Shay and I enjoyed the gardens while we waited for Russ. On our way home we stopped at Beth’s farm market in preparation of our first dinner guest tomorrow. No bikers there either.

Slow Down Maine

It certainly did not take long for us to slow down into Maine Mode. I slept until nine and then again at three in the afternoon. It’s not like I did much in between.

Russ made me breakfast and we lazed around until we felt compelled to go to the big grocery and get some staples. We are total dinosaurs because we wanted to buy a bar of soap for the one tiny shower we have and there was none to be had. Probably best as we have very hard well water which has trouble getting soap off of us.

After the regular grocery we stopped at a farm stand near us and was happy to find beautiful tomatoes, corn and cantaloupe. It has been dry here so I hope the farmers are going to make a living this year. We will do out best to buy local where we can. Can’t do more local than lobster.

Since we had a late breakfast our plan was to visit our closest lobster shack at five for dinner. McLoon’s was the closest so we harnessed up Shay and drove on down to South Thomaston. Since they close at seven, five was not too early for dinner. We had to drive through the lobster processing section, as they export the majority of their lobsters, before pulling into the picturesque spot for dinner.

The harbor was filled with lobster boats and there were plenty of picnic tables and Adirondack chairs to sit in while you enjoy your meal. I went to the window and ordered us each a lobster roll and a cup of clam chowder to share. In no time they were calling my name, or the Maine facsimile of my name, and they delivered our tray to our table.

As far as I am concerned I have never had a bad lobster roll. The clam chowder was not anything to write home about, especially when compared to the chowder at Claws, our favorite lobster shack. The atmosphere was delightful, but I think we will have our next lobster at Claws. So far I have been in Maine two days and had lobster both days. I am looking forward to making the truffle lobster Mac and Cheese recipe my sorority sister Janet sent me today.

Shay is getting into the Maine way of life too. She has made use of her bed we brought up here any chance she gets. She did not like being left alone when we went to the store, but other than that she has had Russ time all day. Nothing make a girl happier. I should know.

Lobster count: three

The Third Day’s Drive

I woke up this morning with the sun, despite fully drawn shades. That Yankee summer sun is going to find you. I had slept so soundly in a most comfortable bed at Suzanne’s house, but it was too early to get up. So I did what I almost never can do, I rolled over and went back to sleep.

Eventually I got up and found Steve and Suzanne up drinking their coffee. We disclosed that we all had gotten today’s Wordle in four and then did a deep dive in the Wordle bot, a feature I had never looked at. Turned out my first word was a good choice. That’s just luck.

After Steve left for his office, Suzanne and I took the dogs out for a walk and to explore her new property and discuss plans for a house. The Little Boar neighborhood is glorious, with only one house that seems not to fit in as well as the others. Nothing a few sledgehammers to the statues couldn’t fix. There was not enough time to visit the gardens as we had run out of time.

We packed up my car and with a dog in each of our cars we were off to Kittery, Maine for lunch. Suzanne made our first stop Lil’s bakery so I could buy bread and a devilish cruller. I thought the crullers would be for dessert, but Suzanne had other ideas. After driving through all parts of Kittery we arrived at Bob’s Clam Hut. My first lobster Roll of the summer. (I will be keeping a running Talley of lobsters).

It was too short a visit and we parted ways at the clam hut, with a promise for a future visit. From there Shay and I were off for our last two and a half hours of our three day road trip. They were the longest hours of the week.

Since it is a summer Friday in Maine I drove the highway up state and crossed over to the mid coast. Not my favorite way, not the most scenic, but certainly the traffic was moving the fastest. I got to Warren’s at 3:30 where I found Russ sitting on the front porch, having just finished his last work call. Shay was thrilled to see him – her reward after such a long trip.

Warren was out working and didn’t make it home before we had to leave to come and get into our little rental for the next four weeks. As we were winding our way down to Owl’s head Russ told me he thought he flew right over our house as he was coming in on Cape Air this morning.

Sure enough, as soon as we came in our house a tiny plane flew over head, heading in for a landing. Thankfully there are only five flights a day.

We explored this tiny house with the best view of a tiny island. The temperature is perfect. The house has everything we could need and Shay has settled in nicely. I am not sure how I am going to get her in the car for the ride home. It won’t hold the same allure. Nothing can be more restorative than a month in Maine.

Total lobsters consumed: 1

The Third Day’s Drive

I woke up this morning with the sun, despite fully drawn shades. That Yankee summer sun is going to find you. I had slept so soundly in a most comfortable bed at Suzanne’s house, but it was too early to get up. So I did what I almost never can do, I rolled over and went back to sleep.

Eventually I got up and found Steve and Suzanne up drinking their coffee. We disclosed that we all had gotten today’s Wordle in four and then did a deep dive in the Wordle bot, a feature I had never looked at. Turned out my first word was a good choice. That’s just luck.

After Steve left for his office, Suzanne and I took the dogs out for a walk and to explore her new property and discuss plans for a house. The Little Boar neighborhood is glorious, with only one house that seems not to fit in as well as the others. Nothing a few sledgehammers to the statues couldn’t fix. There was not enough time to visit the gardens as we had run out of time.

We packed up my car and with a dog in each of our cars we were off to Kittery, Maine for lunch. Suzanne made our first stop Lil’s bakery so I could buy bread and a devilish cruller. I thought the crullers would be for dessert, but Suzanne had other ideas. After driving through all parts of Kittery we arrived at Bob’s Clam Hut. My first lobster Roll of the summer. (I will be keeping a running Talley of lobsters).

It was too short a visit and we parted ways at the clam hut, with a promise for a future visit. From there Shay and I were off for our last two and a half hours of our three day road trip. They were the longest hours of the week.

Since it is a summer Friday in Maine I drove the highway up state and crossed over to the mid coast. Not my favorite way, not the most scenic, but certainly the traffic was moving the fastest. I got to Warren’s at 3:30 where I found Russ sitting on the front porch, having just finished his last work call. Shay was thrilled to see him – her reward after such a long trip.

Warren was out working and didn’t make it home before we had to leave to come and get into our little rental for the next four weeks. As we were winding our way down to Owl’s head Russ told me he thought he flew right over our house as he was coming in on Cape Air this morning.

Sure enough, as soon as we came in our house a tiny plane flew over head, heading in for a landing. Thankfully there are only five flights a day.

We explored this tiny house with the best view of a tiny island. The temperature is perfect. The house has everything we could need and Shay has settled in nicely. I am not sure how I am going to get her in the car for the ride home. It won’t hold the same allure. Nothing can be more restorative than a month in Maine.

Total lobsters consumed: 1

Dog Party

Shay is really getting the hang of this road trip thing. This morning she was up early and ready to get her harness on and get on the road. It helped that we were both very excited about getting to our destination. Our friends, Suzanne and Steve and their dog Esme are happily ensconced in a cute house in New Hampshire. Getting here was easy especially the last little way where Shay and I wound our way through some beautiful New Hampshire neighborhoods near the ocean. You know New Hampshire only has about a minute of ocean front so they make the most of it. I don’t know who divided up these states, but New Hampshire got ripped out of more beach.

Suzanne and Esme were here to welcome us and show us around the beautiful carriage house they are living in. It is right across the street from their new property they are going to build on, which is gorgeous.

Esme and Shay had met about five years ago when Esme came to North Carolina to go to Bald Head. Esme only goes to the best beaches. The two dogs got along great after all the initial sniffing was out of the way. Shay was the bigger sniff offender.

Steve and Suzanne took me to their favorite local place for dinner. Things are hopping around here and despite calling a few days ago to get a reservation we still had to go eat at 5:30. I might as well get used to being old.

We had a yummy dinner. The best thing was a starter of ricotta, tomatoes and peaches. The waiter described it as a burratta of ricotta. Not wanting to embarrass the waiter, I still had to ask if it was burratta or ricotta? He said it was ricotta. Not sure he knew what burratta actually was. The best thing about coming to visit Steve and Suzanne is we have been such good friends for our whole adult lives. We can talk deeply about important stuff and never worry what anyone means by anything. We always want the best for each other.

After dinner they drove me around to look at the beautiful houses. I am so excited that they have found this perfect place to live. I can see lots of visits here.

Shay and Esme did a good job holding down the fort. No big dog parties were thrown while we were gone. I think we can trust them together from now on.

Shay’s Big Road Trip

Shay is not a dog who usually travels. She mostly stays home with her friend Mary, but this summer is different. First she got to go to Pawleys Island for the big family reunion. Since her cousins Remley and Snickers were going she got to go too. That was a four hour each way road trip. It was good practice for this trip.

Shay has known something was up for the last few days as Russ and I were packing things. She has been slinking around, despondent that we were going away with out her. Yesterday we dropped Daddy off at the airport so she was a little less suspicious as she thought that was the trip.

Imagine her surprise as I told her to go get in the car early this morning. She put her harness on and was seatbelted into the back with her green bed. Wait, where are we going? Shay and I set off on the first leg of our drive to Maine. She had never been on an eight hour car ride before.

At first she was not so sure. So we stopped at the first rest stop in Virginia and she got to poop in a new state and she was happy. She learned how to sleep with her head on her bed and body on the seat.

We stopped at a Chick-fil-a in Fredericksburg and I got a salad and she got to eat half my chicken. Now this road trip thing is seeming kind of fun, I don’t usually get lunch.

We eventually arrived at Russ’ father’s house and Shay was like, these are my people. Russ’ brother Dave and wife Tasha came over for dinner with us all out on the patio. Shay was impressing them with how close to the house she stayed. Until she came up to Tasha who discovered Shay had rolled in some animal poop the length of her whole body. So we all got up from our dinner and gave Shay two baths with the hose and some old baby shampoo. So much for being an impressive dog guest.

Now she is settled into the twin bed with me. I hope we have a good night’s sleep because we have to get up early in the morning and do it all again when we drive to New Hampshire to stay with Suzanne. No more rolling in anything!

Shay’s Big Road Trip

Shay is not a dog who usually travels. She mostly stays home with her friend Mary, but this summer is different. First she got to go to Pawleys Island for the big family reunion. Since her cousins Remley and Snickers were going she got to go too. That was a four hour each way road trip. It was good practice for this trip.

Shay has known something was up for the last few days as Russ and I were packing things. She has been slinking around, despondent that we were going away with out her. Yesterday we dropped Daddy off at the airport so she was a little less suspicious as she thought that was the trip.

Imagine her surprise as I told her to go get in the car early this morning. She put her harness on and was seatbelted into the back with her green bed. Wait, where are we going? Shay and I set off on the first leg of our drive to Maine. She had never been on an eight hour car ride before.

At first she was not so sure. So we stopped at the first rest stop in Virginia and she got to poop in a new state and she was happy. She learned how to sleep with her head on her bed and body on the seat.

We stopped at a Chick-fil-a in Fredericksburg and I got a salad and she got to eat half my chicken. Now this road trip thing is seeming kind of fun, I don’t usually get lunch.

We eventually arrived at Russ’ father’s house and Shay was like, these are my people. Russ’ brother Dave and wife Tasha came over for dinner with us all out on the patio. Shay was impressing them with how close to the house she stayed. Until she came up to Tasha who discovered Shay had rolled in some animal poop the length of her whole body. So we all got up from our dinner and gave Shay two baths with the hose and some old baby shampoo. So much for being an impressive dog guest.

Now she is settled into the twin bed with me. I hope we have a good night’s sleep because we have to get up early in the morning and do it all again when we drive to New Hampshire to stay with Suzanne. No more rolling in anything!

Med Nightmare

The biggest pain about going away for a long while is trying to get all my prescriptions filled. Today was an extraordinary mess.

Monday my Doctor changed two of my dosages. She then called in my prescriptions. I went to my Pharmacy and they had not listened to their messages from the day before and therefore did not have my prescriptions.

When they did listen the pharmacist said the doctor had only called in the two she had changed and not the two that just needed filling. Another call to the dr. The pharmacy said they would be ready at three.

As soon as I left the store the pharmacy computer system went down. I did not know this. The pharmacy had no way to let me know, my phone number was in the system.

I went back at four expecting to get all my meds. Nope. The pharmacist said that she would fax my prescriptions to another store and they would be readily in 30 minutes.

I know pharmacies. Nothing is ready in 30 minutes. I waited an hour. I went to the new place. They still did not have my meds ready. The pharmacist said that since they just filled one of the scripts he was not going to fill that one. I told him my dosage had changed. He said I had enough. I waited 20 minutes and left with the three meds.

At home I organized all my meds into those old person pill containers. Turns out that Pharmacist was wrong. I did not have enough of that script he did not fill. I called back. They said it would be a problem with my insurance. I asked them to call and tell my insurance I was going on vacation. It was not an issue, except I had to drive all the way back to that store, which is much further from my house.

In total I spent four hours today just trying to make sure I had my medicine for my whole trip. Then the supplement I ordered from Amazon, which was supposed to arrive today did not. Amazon sent a message saying it was delayed. So I canceled that. I can get it in Maine. Managing medication should not be a full time job.

Surprise!

My Ring camera alerted me that there was a young man on my front porch. He didn’t ring the bell, but it looked like he left something on my rocking chair. I went down to the front door, but he was gone. What was left were two beautifully wrapped gifts, tied up with a magazine-worthy green satin bow.

I recognized the bowmanship immediately. It was a surprise from my friend Karen, the best gift-giver and gift-wrapper I know. I carried the presents inside and opened the card. It was all about MAINE! My friends know my love of Maine and my impending trip. The first package were two of Karen’s needlepoint canvases. Both Maine themed, a lobster waders and a lobster LL Bean Bag- so cute! The name of her needlepoint business is Tout Le Monde and her canvases are available at Chapel Hill Needlepoint and all the best Needlepoint Store across the country.

I will be kitting these canvases out and will certainly try and finish them in Maine, along with the Nantucket Basket Pocketbook I am stitching now.

The second gift is a fabulous 1000 piece puzzle that is of a cover of Gourmet Magazine (rest in peace) with a lobster and lobster pot! I had been looking at all my puzzles trying to figure out which one to take since there is nothing better to do on vacation than a puzzle. Well, Karen answered that question in spades.

How thoughtful and generous to celebrate my vacation with the most perfect gifts. I hope that when I grow up I can be as kind as Karen.

Dedication Day

During the height of the pandemic I was quietly working on building Westminster’s new fellowship hall. Very few people were on campus other than the workmen and some staff once in a while. Next to the fellowship hall is the most sacred part of our church campus, the memorial garden.

The memorial garden had a brick wall with missing bricks in the center in the shape of a cross. The wall had small plaques attached to it with the names of the church members whose ashes are interned in the garden. The old wall was failing. There were cracks star stepping to the cross opening. The foundation of the wall was not built deeply enough to hold the wall. If you add a small boy or two who are sometimes drawn to climbing on the wall and bad things could happen.

While working on the fellowship hall I had structural engineers on campus so I asked them to look at the wall. Sure enough, it needed to be replaced. I asked our architects, DTW if they would design us a new wall in the flavor of our old one, but bigger and stronger. So Robert Sontolongo donated a plan for the new wall.

As I was basically working alone on the fellowship hall I was able to find some money and was able to get the wall rebuilt while we had masons on campus working on the building. It was all done quietly in consultation with our Pastor and some of the family members of loved ones interned in the garden. Everyone was in favor of the improvement.

All the name plaques were carefully removed before the replacement was done. The ground where ashes are interned was protected and the old wall was lovingly taken down and the new one went up. It took a while to have the plaques replaced, but now it is done. The wall has new lighting. Betsy Mangum is leading an effort to improve the landscaping and adding more benches. Anyone who is interested in helping her can contact the church.

Today, after the regular church service, we all went out and put our hands on the wall and prayed over it. It makes my heart so happy that this project has been turned over to the loving hands of the whole church. Someday I am certain my name will also be on that wall. A wall built to stand for hundreds of years.

New Digs for Mom

My mother has done the most wonderful thing. She decided all on her own that now is the time for her to move to a retirement community. Five and a half years ago, when my Dad had a bad heart issue and spent 12 days in the hospital I asked my mother if she would go look at places to live. She agreed, but on the condition that she could not go with my father since he refused to go to anyplace that he did not build.

After he passed away in September, she was not ready and no place she had her name on the list was ready to have her. Earlier this summer Croasdaile called and they had a two bedroom unit if she wanted it. It was not exactly what she was looking for, but she took it anyway. “I’m not getting any younger.” Which is rich since she looks about 65.

She closed on her place last week and is going to move in September. Today Russ and I went over to her apartment and delivered a rug she had picked out. My mom had alerted them that we would be coming and asked that security let us into her unit. They could not have been nicer. The man at the gate knew we were coming. A second man at the door closest to her apartment let us in the building and directed us to the elevator and a third man met us when we got to her floor and led us to her apartment and opened it. Such great service. Everyone could not have been nicer.

We unrolled the rug and it was perfect in her living room. I think it is going to look wonderful with the furniture she is bringing. I know she is going to make lots of friends and play lots of games. Having her in a place with other people to look out for her makes me very happy. I know that moving out of your home is not what everyone wants to do, but being alone is worse. Welcome to Durham Mom. I can tell you it is the best place to live!

Catching Up

It is wonderful to go to new places and make new friends, especially at my age, but it means I am not home getting to be with my old friends enough. After three great beach days, being hosted by the always generous and kind Reba I came home for a few days before my big month off. I have a lot to do to get ready to go and today I got none of it done.

I started my day with Physically therapy, which I quite frankly wish I could start everyday with. I followed that up with an Al fresco lunch with Stephanie. A lunch was hardly enough time to catch up, especially since she is filling in for me at garden club while I am away, missing the first meeting. I ran home to meet my Decorator’s assistant Sarah to do some work on some window treatments. As soon as she was out the door I sprinted off to needlepoint to pick up some finishing and a canvas.

I wanted to catch up with Needlepoint Nancy, but before I could do that I go a visit in with Lousie who I have not seen in years. Nancy and I had the shop to ourselves after Lousie left and we thankfully got a lot of ground covered before Christine came in the store and we practically squealed we were so happy to run into each other.

We yakked a good half hour and I eventually said she needed to do her shopping so Nancy could close the store. I figure if I were to sit at Nancy’s one day I could probably see most of my friends without going anywhere else.

Tonight Lynn and I went out to dinner as our husbands were out together. Lynn and I have friends’ birthdays to celebrate, but as I will be gone, Lynn may have to start the celebrations and I will finish them. Including her for birthday.

It was a good day to catch up with so many friends, both planned visits and serendipitous meetings. It was so normal it almost felt like 2019. I never thought a day of so many friends in so many different places would ever come again.

Beat The Teacher Day

After my final Mah Jongg class today I stayed at Coral Bay to enjoy the Mah Jongg Luncheon and game play. There were probably fifty people there. Most had learned Mah Jongg from me, so it was fun to see so many friends. I ate lunch with one table of ten and we laughed about the fact that they secretly played with blank tiles. I continue to encourage people to play standard Mah Jongg and not to make up their own rules. Adding blank tiles to the game makes it a much easier game.

When I explained to them that I wanted them to become expert players and be able to travel anywhere and play with other real Mah Jongg players they agreed that blanks were a handicap. It is a little like riding a bike with training wheels and never taking them off. Also making up your own rules can cause fights because of differing understanding of the fake rules.

After lunch, more people arrived and it was time for game play. Instead of four players at our table we had seven at one time. One was just observing as she had just finished her beginner class. Two were helping other players so they could all try and beat me. As a teacher I want everyone I teach to get good enough that they can beat me. That makes me happy.

We played five hands. Anna Ball and Coles both won a hand. Congratulations to them for such a wonderful accomplishment. They all got a lot of free coaching from me and I hope everyone at my table felt like they went away a better player.

I am thrilled that Mah Jongg continues to be a welcoming and kind game. It makes my heart happy when people cheer for the winners at their table, when they just got beat. Good sportsmanship makes the game more fun for everyone.

Small World Smaller

Day two of Beach Mah Jongg lessons went well. The beginner class is ticking along and the strategy class finished strong today. I appreciate that my students enjoy the classes enough to want to take multiple classes. There are not enough days in the year to satisfy all the requests for classes. I just scheduled three more days in Kinston on October 26-28. I got two requests for Raleigh beginner classes that I will announce as soon as we have a location. I have a request for a Durham/Chapel Hill beginner class so if you are interested in learning this fall please contact me. You can do it through the comments on this blog if you want.

After the whirlwind of Mah Jongg My hostess Reba and I got to go out to dinner with two friends, the sisters, Susan and Gwen, who are past students of mime and now Mah Jongg players. We went to Blue Moon in Beaufort, which is owned by my old neighbor Doug Townsend. He was always an enthusiastic guest at my dinner table so I think being a restaurateur is a wonderful thing for him to be doing. We had a yummy dinner.

As we were being seated I noticed Cynthia and Marvin Barnes at the table behind us so I greeted them. Not long after we ordered old Durham friends, Page and George Littlewood came in the restaurant and we had a fun reunion. They introduced us to their neighbor down here. Her name is Annette Williamson.

Annette looked at me and asked if I knew Shannon Ray. Of course I know Shannon, we are old friends from boarding school. Shannon’s father was Annette’s godfather. Shannon had told Annette about me when Annette was moving to North Carolina from Texas. It’s about time we met, even if it was by happen stance.

It was a very busy dinner getting to see so many friends and friends of friends. The world is just a small place.

Packed Too Much In

It’s official. I may be too old to wake up at five in the morning. Drive three hours. Teach six hours of class – and still remember to pack my tooth brush. Today is the first day of the last of my summer Mah Jongg classes at Coral Bay. Like all things at the end of the summer, things are starting to dwindle down. There are fewer people at the beach. Kids are gearing up to go back to school. Parents are counting the days until they do.

So it is only fitting after being away all last week, I forgot one of my travel cosmetic bags, with my tooth brush, paste, floss, pain killers, etc. Thank goodness I am staying with my friend Reba who stocks he house better than a Ritz Carlton. She promptly found me a tooth brush, which I must say was also a gum massager and better than my own tooth brush.

Reba made me tea, squeezed me lemon juice and has sweet n’ low all ready for my to have my first iced tea in the morning. Then there is the breakfast spread. All I do is take her out to dinner, which is hardly a fair trade for my Ritz Carlton room.

I am so exhausted I know I will pass out quickly tonight and sleep soundly. I need it since I have six hours of class tomorrow and I must ensure that everyone leaves Mah Jongg Class a bonafide player. I may have packed too much in today, except for my tooth brush.

Farewell Olivia Newton John

The summer of 1978 I worked in a printing factory in Stamford. It was a 45 minute drive from my house in my 1972 gold Chevy Impala that got about 12 miles to the gallon. There was a gas crisis and I would wait in gas lines on the odd numbered days to fill my tank’s tank.

The best part about that summer was that the movie Grease came out and my boyfriend Charlie and I went to see it five times. Sometimes our friend Jack would drive us. The benefit to that was he had a car which used less gas and Charlie and I could sit in the back seat and make out.

Olivia Newton John and John Travolta sang us through summer. I had the cassette tape and could sing along in my Chevy, when no one else was in the car with me. I think we ignored the fact that there was a pregnancy scare in the movie. We were just kissing back then so that never crossed our minds.

To us the innocence of Sandy was the best part of the movie. I can remember both Charlie and I did not like when Sandy came out smoking and dressed in black leather at the end of the movie. Still we went back to the movie over and over. Obviously there was not much for us to do in Wilton, Connecticut back then. I also was exhausted from working in the printing factory so sitting in an air conditioned theatre was the best. Everything was a lot simpler then.

So it is with great sadness that I learned of Olivia Newton John’s passing today. She always will be young and beautiful to me. Her voice will forever be stuck in my head singing, “totally devoted to you.” Grease was the soundtrack to that happy and carefree summer.

Two Days Home…Not Enough

Russ and I arrived home from Pawleys yesterday at 3. I promptly took a nap. I guess my extrovertedness saw the empty house and crashed. Russ was happily alone and awake.

Today was no better for me. I did laundry, but that was the extent of my productivity. I am resting up for my next trip in a day. Back to the beach for my final Mah Jongg classes of the season there. Seems like I have packed too much into my summer in anticipation of my month off in Maine.

I have a romantic idea that I will get to read, write, make art and cook a lot of lobster. Russ has even bigger hopes. Preparing for such a big break in our day-to-day life is not easy. Paying the bills in advance, lining up people take care of our house, getting prescriptions are just the easy things.

My list of things to do is growing and I have mere hours to complete it. I should never have taken that nap when we got home, let alone have such an unproductive day today. Sometimes you just have to take everything one day at a time.

Still Has It

Still Has It

When Russ and I started thinking about all the stuff we were taking to the beach, like chairs we never needed up taking out of the car, we decided to drive our 22 year old land cruiser. This car is a tank, but it is still a boss. I stopped driving the land cruiser regularly when I got my hybrid ten years ago. We kept the big car because it was great to take to the hardware store or dump. My dad had given Carter a VW when she got her learners permit, but after her new driver inaugural crash she started driving the land cruiser.

That car took her back and forth to Camp Cheerio all the years she worked there. I felt better knowing she was driving up the mountain in the tank. She and her friends even drove the car far into Tennessee to go to Bonnaroo, a big multi-day music festival where it turned out to be so hot they would go back to the land cruiser and sit in the air conditioning.

Since Carter left for College five years ago the land cruiser mostly sat in the driveway. Workmen would stop at my house and ask if I wanted to sell it. Absolutely not. With only 169,000 miles on it, which is only middle aged in land cruiser world. Yes, the leather seats have seen better days and the paint on the hood is a disaster, but as a work horse it can’t be beat.

On our journey home today I noticed gas prices were anywhere between $3.99 and $3.44 cents all in the state of North Carolina. It did not cost us much more to drive to and from Pawleys in the land cruiser as the price of gas is coming down continually the last two months. It did provide us with a great comfortable drive. The highlight was when we had it in limo mode. I was in the driver’s seat, Russ had the front passenger seat pulled up so he could sit in the back with Shay in her safety harness, but still standing on his lap with her head draped over his shoulder. The comfort level was high for everyone, especially Shay.

If you are ever planning on driving across the Sahara dessert or through the alps I highly recommend a late model land cruiser, if you can find one. People don’t get rid of them once they have one.

Last Dance

The ocean was perfect today. The water was cooler than it had been, making it feel refreshing. The jelly fish were someplace else. The waves were not so thunderous so you did not get thrown to the ocean floor. The temperature on the beach was warm, but not blistering. The breeze was not a land breeze, so it was sweet and pleasant. It was the perfect last day.

I enjoyed one last really good swim. I only had to save one small boy, who got in over his head. Thankfully there was no undertow and I got him to the sandbar easily. I have no idea where his parents were as there were just a few people on the beach. His two “older” sisters, maybe a nine and ten year olds, thanked me for saving him. I suggested they not swim any deeper and kept my eye on them while I swam.

Mary and I got lots of Mah Jongg practice in before we had to start packing things up in preparation for our early morning departure tomorrow. It was already getting to be a little sad that our beach week together was coming to an end. These small branches our our large family tree have never spent this much fun time together.

It was especially nice to get to know grown children who have turned into delightful adults. We are so sorry Carter was not with us and have promised to bring her on the next trip we will certainly have thanks to Meredith who is our official travel planner.

Tonight was our farewell dinner. Everyone who is still here all showed up. It was bittersweet to say goodbye. I love this extended family.

Demanding

For the most part the members of my very extended family have a few traits in common. Most of us love games and we are also very demanding when it comes to customer service. I can remember going to a fancy ladies store with my grandmother, Granettes, and when she was somewhat ignored standing at the front counter, she pounded her foot on the floor and bellowed, “who’s going to wait on me.” That was a very Michie way of acting.

Tonight we all gathered at one house to play some games. I continued my Mah Jongg lessons with the faithful and my cousin Mary won again, setting herself up to be a future shark player. The rest of the family was in another room playing poker. I heard from the young ones that my Sister Margaret cleaned up. I love that since she was always the least interested game player in my family.

After gaming we had no specific dinner plans. This was an oversight on all our parts. Since it is high season here, getting into any restaurant, especially with a group was impossible. We decided we could just go for Pizza and we picked the highest rated place called Rosie’s. Since it has only been open 8 months and four days none of us had ever been there before.

The place had plenty of room for us and we had possibly the best service any of us has had since we arrived, the manager and another waiter took care of us, never letting a glass get empty. We felt like we hit the jackpot as we are all so demanding.

Russ tricked everyone by paying the bill secretly, which was so like him. My mother complimented him on being the only person on earth who ever paid the bill before my father had a chance to do it.

We have one last day of our MichiePalloza and I have to say it has been a most successful family reunion, right down to the unplanned meals.

Some Observations From Large Family Gatherings

This has been a wonderful week of being with many kinds of family members. There are siblings, parents, in-laws, out-laws, first cousins, second cousins, first cousins once removed, second cousins once removed, third cousins and even foreign exchange students and of course pets. We have had a number of EVERYONE all together events and meals. We have had large and small gatherings on the beach or at a pool. We even had fourteen for one table at a dinner out.

Here are some observations from the week and we are only half way done. Not everyone likes the same food and some are not afraid to tell you. Some will come to any meal they are invited to and it never dawns on them to contribute. Some will contribute way more than their share and do it quietly. No matter what, there is always too much food. No one goes hungry and there are even leftover from meals that were made up from leftovers.

Not everyone knows how to put their glass in the dishwasher. There is almost always one person who does the majority of the cleaning out the dishwasher. If you ask someone who you are not a close relative to get up and clean out the dishwasher they will do it.

If everyone stops talking when you walk in the room it is a bad sign. If it happens twice within fifteen minutes you might want to skip the next reunion.

You should really pay attention when someone is telling you a story. If you are not, saying “Isn’t that wonderful,” to a pause in the story might alert the story teller that you were not paying attention to the story about the excruciating pain they were enduring.

It is probably not a good idea to comment on another person’s parenting style, especially if you are not a parent. Everyone should be given the benefit of consideration that this might not be their child’s best day.

If you are invited to participate in an activity you don’t have to, but letting people know before hand gets you lots of points. If you really want points get up and pour people more wine. You get double points for clearing the table and triple for cleaning the kitchen.

In-laws are allowed to slip out of the room and leave a group. Family members must hug and say goodbye before they go.

Rather than speculating about how someone is, ask them about it. Everyone is happy to talk about themselves.

Sharing what is a joy to you is often a joy to others. Listening is the most important thing you can do.

Remember, these are the people who are most likely to show up at your funeral, make sure they have wonderful stories and happy memories to share about you.

The Perfect Goodbye

Twenty something years ago my parents lived in South Litchfield, SC. My Dad had built a house he thought was worthy of visiting. He always wanted to give us a pool and comfortable bedrooms so we would spend our vacations with him. It was a beautiful house over looking the marsh with a dock for boating. We did all visit regularly and loved it.

There was one thing about the house my father found frustrating. In order for us to get to the beach we had to walk down a long road, because there was a canal between us and the beach. So my father took it upon himself to get a bridge over the canal built. It wasn’t easy. He had to enlist other neighbors to lobby the provincial Local government officials who put up as many road blocks as possible. Being turned down, by state and local authorities did not stop him.

My Dad started a campaign to raise money to build the bridge and by hook or by crook got it built. In 2003 the people of the neighborhood, now thrilled to have a fast way to get to the beach, named the bridge in my father’s honor. The funniest part about his doing all this work to get this bridge built is that he never went to the beach himself. He just wanted it to be easier for us and for others.

So it seemed only fitting that today we scattered his ashes from his foot bridge with many of his favorite people together.

We started the service at the house where my sisters and Mom are staying. My sister Margaret was in charge of this memorial and did a beautiful job talking about my Dad. She had gathered some things for us to read and my cousins and our friend Judy, Janet and I all read our parts. Right before the service started Margaret took the reading she had given me, the 23 Psalm, which I knew by heart and said, “No, I want you to read this.” I did not have a chance to look at it before we started.

After Everyone else had done their reading I was last. It was a perfect poem about not feeling sad about someone dying, half way through my reading the tears came and my throat closed up a little bit, but I continued.

We all went to the foot bridge and my Mom and sisters and I opened our little urns and scattered his ashes into the water. We wish that Carter had been with us physically, but she was with us spiritually.

It was the perfect way to say goodbye to my Dad, who always did everything for others.

Camp Pawleys

There is nothing I like better than an adult camp. That is exactly what it was like here with my cousins today. I got up early to drive into Georgetown to go to Independent Seafood to buy freshly caught shrimp for dinner tomorrow. You just can’t beat $6.95 a pound for the most perfect South Carolina shrimp.

I came home to camp in full swing. My cousin Leigh had brought the rock painting equipment and girls were busy painting rocks. I go in on this program and painted three rocks for markers in my vegetable garden.

After rock painting came Mah Jongg lessons. Meredith, Margaret and Mom arrived for their first lesson since I had to catch them up to everyone else. Once they got the basics down the rest of the cousins joined in for the second lesson. Hopefully they will get to playing soon, but we have so many activities it is hard to fit everything in.

After lunch there was a field trip for the teenagers and Mary and I prepped food for the Shrimp Creole I am cooking for 25 people tomorrow night. Then came free swim. One by one we gathered on the beach. It was hot so I went directly in the ocean. Sadly the jelly fish sent us back out of the water.

We had a good fellowship hour on the porch with Janet, Harry, Mason and Meredith, but we realized it was time to clean up for dinner.

Fourteen of us went to Bistro 216 and had a yummy dinner. Now after the exhausting day I am going to try and get to bed early. We have our biggest day tomorrow. I wish everyone had cousins they loved as much as I love mine.