End of July - It's a Wrap!

A bit of this & that this weekend. The humidity on Saturday slowed me down. Elaine had a gathering at her and Steve's as a send off for Greg, Bev and Jonathan as they head back to Texas after a long visit with family here in Maine. As usual, plenty of good stuff to eat. Just before we started to chow down I called Ian's cell phone, we hadn't heard from him since he left for NOAC in Michigan. Caught up to him between activities and found out about how he is doing. Terribly hot there. We hope to hear from him soon. He returns Thursday.

Sunday's weather was the best. Sunny, hardly humid at all. Around midday Carol and I loaded the dogs in the car and took a country drive through some towns north of here that are off the beaten track. Harrison, Waterford, Norway. On the way back home we took Route 26 south which took us pass Oxford Speedway. The traffic was backed up from the south for a couple of miles to get in. The biggest car race in Maine for the year was being held that evening, the Oxford 250. Four NASCAR drivers were participating: Kyle Busch, JJ Yeley, Denny Hamlin and Maine's Ricky Craven. None of them won but Busch made a great run at it until he blew his engine. Well maybe next year. After returning home I got the lawns mowed and just before dusk Carol and I washed the outside of the Camper. We're going to a campground in Berwick this weekend so we got the rig looking sharp.

Some of the future is now

Getting a sneak peak of life when Ian leaves for college. He's in Lansing, MI right now at the National Order of the Arrow Conference. He'll be back on Thursday and the day after he leaves for Camp KV as a staff member at the BSA National Youth Leadership Training program. That lasts thorough the following week afterwhich, with Taylor, we all (dogs included) headout for a week at the camp on Madawaska Lake. The leaves us a week with Ian around the house before his first day at UNH.

The Trail Warriors return

Carol and I met up with the guys tonight after their three day, two night sojourn on the Appalachian Trail. We left a vehicle with them so they could continue to Mt Washington to hike that tomorrow. We hope they make it back here by tomorrow night. We have the camera Ian took pictures with, I'll get the film (?) developed tomorrow so there may be more pictures soon.

A couple members of the family are happy to welcome Ian off the trail.

Jonathan demonstrates how to crash land after a long hike.

Who said hiking was pretty, Greg reminds the novices of the world.

It's all relative

I guess I couldn't deny accusations that I don't maintain a cronologically correct blog. Hey, I writes'm as l get to them. Sunday Carol and I were able to attend step-cousin Donny and his wife Deb's yearly family get together in Pittson. Relatives from his father's and one of my Aunt's side of the families were in attendance on a hot, humid afternoon. Cooling off was not a problem for anyone who wanted to take a dip in the pool. His huge backyard is dotted with shade trees where people were scattered in lawnchairs to stay out of the direct sun. Beside getting to visit with Mom and sister Doreen and her family there was Aunt Arlene and Uncle Gerald, cousin Glady and husband Jimmy, cousin Diane and husband Bill and Donny's dad, Uncle Don. Even snuck in a game of horseshoes with Donny before we had to go. I've missed a few relatives here.

L-R, Glady, Mom, Gerald, Arlene

Doreen and Harris

Harris and Deanna waiting their turn on the slide.

Mark, cruising in the shade.

Mom, enjoying the conversation.

Another piece of the AT

Ian, Greg and Jonathan are on the Appalachian Trail for three days and two nights hiking from Shelburne, New Hampshire to Grafton Notch State Park in Maine. They have already hiked portions of the AT down south. I dropped them off this morning where the trail crosses US Route 2 and Carol and I will meet up with them Wednesday night and leave a vehicle with them before they leave for Mt Washington where they'll meet up with an old aquaintence to hike up Tuckermans Ravine.

On the eve of the hike preparations are made.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho it's onto the trail we go.

The intrepid hikers - Greg, Jonathan and Ian, see you Wednesday guys!

A catch up Saturday

An absolutely beautiful Saturday here. Warm, bright, a little hazy but not humid. A lot to get done. Mostly lawn trimming and mowing that has gotten out of control with time, busy weekends and rain. We had left last Saturday on a long extended holiday weekend, some of which was a previous blog. We took the camper up this time as the camp itself was full up. Most of the time was occupied coming and going of/to family and events. Not a whole lot of quiet time. The weather was varied between sun, rain and windy, nothing that prevented planned events from taking place. The list of main events that took place were: the family gathering that took place Sunday afternoon, Bev's father's birthday celebration which was held Monday night, the Swedish Pancake Breakfast, town parade and family members gathering at the camp for smores - homemade ice cream - viewing the lakeside fireworks on Tuesday the 4th of July. Carol and I left on Wednesday morning. Ian and Taylor came down on Thursday, as did Lois and Jim. Carol and I were back at work Thursday and Friday. On a small disappointing note I managed to lose some good pictures I took of the smores extravaganza. Bummer.

Pretty good picture for Ian and Taylor goofing with the camera.

Patches and his water sports.

Madawaska Lake sunset, never gets old taking this picture.

So back to this wonderful day. After finishing up what I could for yardwork I got cleaned up to attend a Eagle Court of Honor for one of the Scouts from our own Troop. It was an outdoor ceremony at the Scout family's residence on Sebago Lake. A beautiful setting and a nice event with a potluck dinner accompanied by burgers and dogs. Got home early, Ian has gone to Taylor’s and we’re hunkered down to relax and watch a movie.

A fine gathering

It was about 5am, I'd stepped out of the camper for reasons I will not go into details about. I looked out across the lake and there was a bit of a rainbow almost vertical from the woods near the shore for a short distance above the treeline. That's when I noticed the dark cloud overhead. That's the first time I've seen a rainbow that early in the day. After returning to the camper I climbed back into bed and a few minutes later the ping of raindrops hitting the roof of the sleeping compartment gave an indication of what was to come. I checked the forecast online - rain all day. This is the day of the Quist/Abraham family gathering Lois had done the planning for - to be held outdoors at Floyd and Mabel's. As it turned out the rain had stopped by the time things were to begin. People started arriving in a steady stream bringing food, mingling, meeting relatives they hadn't met before. Lots of eating, lots of talking. Everyone had a grand time. Lois had set up panels with old family photos of past generations. She also included pictures of unidentified relatives that guest might recognize and identify. As it turned out the rainy weather held off well past the end of the gathering.

Trying to keep up

Greetings all, thanks for returning. If the first rule of a good blog is frequent posts, I have some work to do.

Office life this week was very busy. No details about that, busy is busy, some good…some not so good. Something of note though, David Jacobs, the marketing assistant at the office I work in had his last day at my company. David was offered a marketing position at another engineering company in this region which he accepted. It is a good move though this field of work is not his first choice. I’ve worked with David for about three years providing graphics support to proposals he was involved in. Great sense of humor, interesting observations of the world around us and good at what he does to boot. He’ll be missed by me and many people in the office.

David and I on his final afternoon at our office.

At the end of this hectic week Carol and I have left for Stockholm, ME and towed the camper to Madawaska Lake where we’ve parked it next to the family camp as have Lois and Jim with their camper. Ian and Taylor will be joining us tomorrow. Also tomorrow with be a family reunion of sorts with members of Margaret’s side of the family, the Abrahams and Quists. Tuesday is the 4^th of July so Carol and Lois will be joining many others to put on the annual Swedish Pancake Breakfast. The proceeds benefit the Aroostock Christian Boys Brigade. It has become quite the tradition around these parts as there are many family with relatives visiting this time of year and attending the breakfast besides providing a great breakfast allows everyone to catch up with a lot of people at one event.

Given time I’ll try to do blogs on things as they happen with a picture thrown in here and there.

By the way, the views around here, especially the lake are great.