Busy Weekend

     On Friday, at the usual Friday afternoon Happy Hour, Debra, the campground manager, had a presentation to make. You recall, a couple of blogs ago, I reported the capture of the villainous guinea rooster, and it's transfer to the local constabulary. We decided that it was appropriate to recognize the "great white hunter" that made the capture.

     Richard was presented with a pin that said, "I gave the bird to a cop".

     On Saturday morning we headed south for our 61st and probably last high school reunion. One happy coincidence was that we were able to stop in Richmond, ME to pick up another member of the class of '56 that was visiting her daughter there. We are running out of the few folks in Athol, MA that can host the affair. For the past several years the burden has fallen on the Careys, but more help is needed. Here's our hard working hostess, Claire, in their most accommodating back yard.

     Since it obviously would have been too much to drive back to Maine on Saturday night, Durelle and I spent the night with my sister, Marian. There were posts several years ago with pictures of the expansive, and ideally located, log home they are building. The views and the local wildlife are not what one would expect to find in Massachusetts. Here's a collection of shots from the deck. They are pretty self-explanatory, so there aren't many captions.

     Notice the retro-reflectivity from the eye of a gray fox.

Morning fog in the valleys.

     The bears are so common that their house cat and the bears seem to get along just fine. Below is a shot of the cat stalking the bear.

Cousin Reunion

     Durelle's mother's family comes from central Maine. For the past several years we have managed a "rendezvous for cousins" in Lewiston. The usual venue is the Gridiron Pub and Sports bar. Today we had a party of nine to get reacquainted and swap insults. 

      We have been doing this on an annual basis for several years, and it is wonderful to get the family together. Salty Maine humor and sarcasm seemed prevalent. 

    The meal was informal as would be expected from a sports bar. The lady in the lower left picked up the tab to the dismay of Mark and I. Thanks, Cindy.

Vignettes

     The following narration covers a few days from Saturday afternoon to Wednesday morning. There are no great adventures, just a pleasant sequence of day to day events. We'll start with a lobster boil on Saturday.

     That's Dick Roth, of course, tending to the three pots of lobsters (and a few steamed clams). We had a few extra lobsters. I took an extra and Durelle and I each had a nice lobster roll for supper on Sunday. Dick decided to eat one of the extras on the spot. Here's Dick finishing his second lobster while folks are cleaning the tables around him.

     On Monday evening we had our regular Happy Hour. There are a dozen or so folks with a fairly regular rotation of new blood to freshen up the conversations.

     On Tuesday eight of us made the two hour drive to Brunswick to pay a visit to George Peck. The nine of us then drove down the length of Harpswell Neck to have lunch at the Dolphin, a seasonal restaurant with a long tradition of excellent fresh seafood. The fish pieces in the fish chowder were almost large enough to warrant a knife and fork. I had the "Seafood fra Diavlo". Outstanding, and the warm blueberry muffins made a nice side.  Here's a shot of the table with George at the head.

     Wednesday morning we learned that the great white hunter, Richard Ray, had captured the guinea fowl that had worn out his welcome. He stuffed him in a cardboard box until the appropriate authorities came to get him. A local farmer who keeps a flock of chickens and some guinea hens was happy to add him to his flock.

     The visiting granddaughters of Steve and Pam got a chance to pet the bird.

     Later in the morning, to conclude this ramble, Dick and Eleanor teamed up to repair the broken accordion style window shade for the small front window of our left front slide out. These shades, which seem to be common to many motor homes, are notorious for broken strings. Replacing the string is an intricate process involving several tools, several hands, and a lot of patience. It's one of those jobs you don't want to do for the first time...start with the second time. Then, after the shade is repaired, it must be reinstalled in the valance and the tensioning adjusted. Here's Eleanor hard at work.

     Now, if that hasn't been an eclectic assortment of images, you'll never see one.

A Familiar Day Trip

     Recently a business associate, Marilee Meyer and her husband, spent a week in Camden, ME. He was visiting the well-known, to woodworkers anyway, Lie-Nielsen Tool works in Warren.  We picked them up one morning and spent the day touring. We hit a lot of our favorite spots along the mid coast of Maine. I didn't take a lot of pictures because I've taken them before. Nonetheless, I had to take a few. One of the stops south of Camden is a farm that raises belted Galloway cattle. They are also called the "Oreo cows". I couldn't resist a shot of a scampering calf.

     They certainly enjoy a lush pasture. After a few more stops for photo-ops, including a visit to Andre the seal in Rockport, we ended up on the deck at Shaw's in New Harbor for lunch. Our table included an assortment of lobster rolls, fried clams, clam chowder and a hamburger!. I always like to point out that this is a working harbor for lobstermen (and women). There is no array of moored sailboats with their bobbing masts, just lobster boats pointed at their moorings.

     Also in New Harbor I showed them the Rachel Carson salt pond. Since it was high tide, we had to use a little imagination to see it. While there I captured a nice shot of Long Cove Point.

     From New Harbor it is only a couple of miles to Pemaquid Point and its iconic lighthouse. 

     Looking out to sea toward Monhegan Island there are always a bunch of sailboats. Note that these three are using the same wind to sail in three orthogonal directions.  The one in the center is heading straight at the camera.

     One happy sailor was enjoying a run straight downwind.

     On a totally different note, I have a shot of our resident guinea rooster. He often roosts on the arm of a neighbor's awning. Richard Ray took this shot of his awning.

     He was cute for a while, but he has outlived his welcome by the emanations from both ends of his alimentary canal.
     

One of our better Happy Hours

     At the initiative of Richard Ray a group of us decided to grill some steaks for Happy Hour. There also were baked potatoes, some wonderful corn, and both green and macaroni salads. Dessert was blueberry pie and ice cream. You can see Mr.Motley and his crew in the photo below courtesy of Eleanor Roth.

     After cleaning up from the meal, we circled the chairs into our more usual format for Happy Hour.

     During the multi-variegated conversations a sailboat with black sails and a Canadian (I think) flag sailed into the Belfast harbor.

     As the sun set yet deeper in the sou'west, an almost full moon appeared.

     Everyone seemed to agree that it was, indeed, one of the best Happy Hours ever.

Flag

     Over the last 24 months Jeff Nester, the owner of the Moorings, has poured a bunch of capital into major improvements to the campground...all sites have sewer service...they all have 50Amps...the wifi is ample and dependable...the sites have been realigned and terraced. Now that the crucial infrastructure issues have been attended to, he is now dealing with some of the amenities. Today we all commissioned a new flagpole.

     We gathered at the top of the hill for breakfast pizzas and then assembled at the flagpole to raise the flag. Someone had the appropriate music on their smart phone with an external speaker.

     It wasn't the Marine Corps Drill Team, but we managed to pay the proper respects.

The second flag contains the seals of the five services. There is a fairly large contingent of former military folks here, including our campground general manager. We all appreciate the investment Jeff made in the pole and its accessories. It's a fitting addition to the campground.