HEADED HOME!!!

On the way to Doug's party, we stopped on the side of the road to let the puppies have a potty break. Sandy pointed out the memorial, as seen below, across the street. It turns out to be a Memorial to the veterans of World War I from the State of Delaware. Just below the inscription on the top of the memorial are all the names of the soldiers who died in that war.

Just across the street, was this beautiful church. Obviously what caught my eye was the red door. Interesting how many churches, offices, and houses now have bright red doors. It's supposed to be a Feng Shui thing, but I think it looks really great and very eye-catching. For churches, just what they need to bring attention to their location.

Last night, Sandy, Dax (the 6 mo. old German short-haired pointer puppy) and I went to the training center. Sandy was dropping off her computer to be repaired. While Dax was supposed to be sitting in the back seat, he often poked his head up front to lay it on either Sandy's or my shoulder. He is such a lover and a very sweet puppy. Smart, too!!! This is the last litter they are going to have and Dax is the son of Ice who is the daughter of Rosie, Sandy's absolute favorite dog. Rosie is the dog who has earned all the MACH titles. Dax follows Rosie around the house all day, learning all her bad habits and then when he gets into trouble, he tries to hide behind her. She seems to tolerate him for the most part, although sometimes he goes too far and she has to reprimand him.

Tomorrow I leave for home. Back to my old stomping grounds. I'll be set up at Sardis Lake from October 1st until about the 10th of November. I'm so looking forward to reconnecting with all my friends and my book club group.

"On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again........"

DOUG'S 40TH CELEBRATION!!!

Last night we had a wonderful time celebrating Doug's 40th birthday, along with his mother-in-law, Lin's, 60th birthday, and his step-aunt, Dawn's, 50th birthday. Here are some of the pictures of the event. Doug's wife, Heather, put together the "island" celebration with a smoked pig and all the fixings.

To the far right is Madison with her Dad, Doug.

Just above is Heather and Doug and to the right is Sandy and Tom, who played "I don't want my picture made" all night. By this time Sandy and I are having a good time trying to catch him, which I finally did, but I did not include the picture in this tale.

Here's my sweet great niece, Madison, entertaining herself at the party. She played the entire time we were there, mostly with her walker, but eventually getting into her wheelchair. She's something else!!!

Then, of course, there's Zachary. Here he's showing off his purple tongue from eating cake icing. What a powerhouse of energy. He never stops, but he's got a great personality, except when he's running trucks over people, or knocking his sister down, which we heard he did once. I guess boys will be boys, but he's definitely a cutie. Doug says he has his hands full and Tom says "it can't be as bad as when you and your brother were little!" Seems to be some disagreement as to who had or has it worse. Let's ask the Moms!!!

Anybody out there, hope you guys are enjoying the pictures and the stories. Love ya!!!

WHERE'S WALDO?????

WHEW!!!!! What a day!! What a trek!! I left Pine Valley RV Park at 6:45 a.m. to begin my journey to my sister's house. After checking out the Garmin and talking to my two experts, my sister and brother-in-law, I decided to travel a "little" out of my way in order to avoid going through the New York City area. If I had traveled the way of the Garmin, I would have arrived at Sandy and Tom's by 3:40 p.m., about an 8.5 hour drive.

So I headed through the State of Massachusettes, a really wide State I might add. Here I am la la la la la, driving down the highway, "on the road again, can't wait to get on the road again...", my favorite Willie Nelson song. Driving through really beautiful wooded land, rolling hills, headed to Albany, New York, looking to connect with an Interstate system that would take me down south of New York City.

Here's the only picture I could get of some of the leaves turning. As you can see, there's not much color yet, but when it happens, it happens in a big way. So I continue my trek.

I have now crossed over into New York State, this bridge takes me across the Hudson River. I'm thinking when I get to Albany, I'll be able to hit the Interstate I'm looking for and be headed south. I even, at one point, pull off the side of the road to look at my road atlas, just to make sure I'm on the right "path". Then I discover in order to get to the road I want I need to drive to Schenectady, New York, about another 75-100 miles further west.

I make the executive decision to get on I-87 to start heading south, and what happens... I end up traveling right through New York City. So the long and the short of it is, I went about 150 miles out of my way to end right back where I started in the first place. So I ended up at Sandy's at 7:15 pm, and had to unpack in the dark. Oh, well!!! Another adventure, and I did get to see some beautiful country, including upstate New York. Came through the Catskills and passed Bear Mountain, which I've been to before. I'm now in Delaware, again!!! At this moment taking a break from life, relaxing in the recliner with my pajamas on!!! Does life get any better than that?!

TWO LIGHTS LOBSTER SHACK!!!

I had been told the view from this particular point in Cape Elizabeth had the absolute view of the Atlantic of any place in Maine.

It's near Two Lights State Park, so named for the two lighthouses in the area. Both can be seen from a place called Two Lights Lobster Shack, known for its spectacular view and the food is very tasty, as well.

Here is one of the lighthouses.

My buddies, Lynn, Judy, Cathy, and Ted. My last get together with all of them. We ordered our meals of lobster rolls, haddock sandwich, clam cakes, and Maine shrimp. Mmmmmm good!!!

Here's the other lighthouse, way in the background. Lynn said they probably are no longer being used, otherwise we'd be seeing lights turning in the top, and we never saw one.

The Portland Lighthouse is just around the bend, also in Cape Elizabeth.

You can see by the sky, we had another gorgeous day in Maine, weather a little cool, but felt wonderful.

Now, you can see the view, with large rocks down below, all of them look just like petrified wood, but I don't know what kind of stone it is. The tide had started to come in while we were sitting at the picnic tables so the waves were crashing into the rocks, sometimes sounding like thunder coming in.

This was a very bittersweet afternoon. When we left the restaurant, we all parted company to go our separate ways. Lynn and Judy did follow me to my camper and stayed to have a shot of Fleur de Cana, a deep, dark rum from Nicaragua.

I'm here, packing and planning to hit the road on Tuesday. I'm headed for Delaware and sister, Sandy's home. So off I go. Back real soon!!! See ya' later, bye!!!!

MORE FROM CUMBERLAND!!!

Just a couple more pictures of Lynn and Judy's new house. To the right is a two car garage with the doors obviously painted yellow. To the left of the garage is the room below, their sunroom. Coley, I thought about you when I saw the sunflowers. I'm like you, I love sunflowers, they always look so "sunny".

Just to the left of the sunroom, as you're looking at the front of the house, is the kitchen/dining room, and off that is the living room, beginning at the yellow door. There's a guest room and bathroom off the living room, and Lynn and Judy have their offices, master bedroom and full bath on the second floor.

This sunroom is where Jacques stays when Lynn and Judy are at work. I must say, Jacques didn't take to me immediately, but then one of my dearest friends, Alpha, didn't take to me immediately either. I guess I take some getting used to. I will say that by the end of my three day stay with L & J, Jacques was getting alot cozier with me.

This is one of my favorite pictures of him. He usually has one ear that stays up and one that flops over. Judy says he only listens half ass, and Lynn says he hears the squirrels and birds, not the ear that flops down is the one he doesn't listen to Lynn with.

When they got Jacques from the rescue group, Mainers pronounce Jacques like Jakes, and Lynn said he couldn't use his name in front of the rescue people because he didn't want to embarrass anyone by pronouncing is the French way. So, anyway, Jacques loves the find the sun and lay down in the middle of it.

And here is Judy and Jacques playing his favorite game, frisbee. Look at that form, the same flowing movement, and this is one time Judy actually threw it straight (ha!, Judy, got ya!!!)

I had an awesome time with this delightful couple. We are all so alike, and so easy to be with. We literally spent the entire time (except for moments when we needed fresh air!) eating, drinking, relaxing, watching old movies, and listening to jazz music. Oops! Except when Lynn was making his most fabulous red sauce and we got inspired by his Dean Martin music!!!

I'm sending Lynn and Judy and Jacques, great BIG HUGS!!! Thanks again for such a great getaway!!! Already looking forward to our next get together!!!

HIKING AGAIN????!!!!

Yesterday, the day started a little on the rocky side, no pun intended. Lynn, Judy and I started our evening of drink off at 3pm (at my suggestion I'll admit). Lynn and I were drinking gin martinis and Judy was having her margaritas.

How many drinks we had, I have no idea, but Lynn said "C, I'm impressed you kept up with me, drink for drink!" Probably not the wisest choice I've made in a long time.

When I "staggered" out of bed at 9:30 am, I was still wobbly. If I bent over to pet Jacques, I nearly fell on my face, that's how bad I still felt. Fortunately, after several cups of coffee, something to eat and a nice, longgggggg hot shower, I was starting to feel human again.

So Lynn says "C, are you up for a hike?" "Sure!!!?", although I wasn't as sure as I expressed. We headed out for Bradbury Mountain State Park, about 15 to 20 minutes from their house. The hike up the mountain was a mile in length and it was a small challenge for me, especially since I had not fully gained my equilibrium from drinking all that gin. But up we went and these are the pictures I took at the top. As you look down towards Cumberland, it looks like there's a vast forest below, and very few houses appeared. We sat up there for about 40 minutes then headed back down. So all in all, I hiked 2 miles yesterday. And, I was exhausted last night.

For dinner, Lynn cooked the most delicious steaks out on the grill and Judy made her famous green bean casserole. She adds a secret ingredient that makes it taste really yummy (I learned from Lynn the secret ingredient is cheddar cheese). We also had lettuce with bleu cheese dressing. The dinner was scrumptious!!! Today, Judy has gone for a 13 mile run, in preparation for a half marathon she's running in October. Lynn and I are doing the brunch food, eggs, bacon, home fries and fruit salad along with champagne to drink.

Hope your Sunday is as delightful as mine!!!!

NOW I'M IN CUMBERLAND, MAINE

I'm finally reconnecting with my friends, Lynn and Judy, shown here with their newest addition to the family, Jacques. This is their new home in the background, purchased last December. They used to live in Portland, and now they are in a place called Cumberland Center, between Yarmouth and Falmouth. I so love this couple and love being in their home. They are both born and raised in the Memphis area, but vacationed in Maine one year, came back about 4 years in a row and one year, about 15 years ago, decided to move up here. They love it, winters and all.

We decided to have our drinks in the back yard, but you can see Judy all wrapped up in her blanket, it was rather on the chilly side. Didn't stop us. We stayed out there having our gin martinis (Lynn and I) while Judy had her margaritas. Our appetizers were kalamata olives, big green olives, two types of cheese, one a bleu and the other manchego, which I love, and two types of crackers. Really wonderful food!!!

Here's Lynn and Jacques working on commands. Jacques is about a year old, but he's really smart. He's part dachsund and part rat terrier. He was in a "kill" shelter in Arkansas and one of the Maine rescue facilities found out they were going to euthanize some of the dogs, Jacques being one of them, so they had them moved up to Maine where Lynn and Judy found him. They had a beautiful dog, Queenie, who died about three years ago, and so they just a few months ago decided to get another dog. Queenie had a lot to do with them picking out their newest family member, he even acts a little bit like her.

I'll be here at their house until Monday, then back to Saco, Maine. Sending love to all of you!!!