Life compressed

It's been quite the spell since returning from vacation. I’d like to chronicle the events of the past two weeks as this period has had times that were: confusing, happy, sad, too busy, interesting, distressing, etc. I think that breaking things up into parts will allow me to make better sense of things. With this blog entry I’ll briefly touch on things in general

The first thing was the Sunday night after I returned home from vacation we received the news that my father-in-law, Alton, had died. The Celebration of his Life ceremony would be delayed until after the following weekend as his grandson Mark (Carol’s nephew) and his fiancé, Megan, were getting married on the coming weekend and then the family members would travel back up north for the ceremony and interment on the following Monday. A following blog will be about Alton.

After returning to work from vacation I found myself wondering if I'm happy to be back or if I should have stayed on vacation. There was a very complex slide presentation for a proposal interview by one of our offices that I help support, being put together which involved a high level of pressure to perform graphics work in a short amount of time. One of my bosses wanted me to work the upcoming weekend but I turned him down without going into details telling him that I had several commitments which I couldn't back out of. Besides the wedding this was a Newsletter Daze weekend with the town newsletter having to remain on a tight schedule to be ready for the publisher on the Monday night of Alton’s Celebration of Life ceremony which put me in the position of not being able to attend which was very disappointing for me as there is a lot that my father-in-law has done for us that I would have like to be present to honored him for the life he led.

Writing this out in an orderly manner is more difficult than I thought it would be.

The week’s work was hectic and challenging. Mark and Megan’s wedding was really good as was the reception. We had a very good time. Afterwards I jumped onto the newsletter work and found it difficult to get rolling on it. The next morning Carol, Ian and Taylor left for the trip north for Monday’s morning ceremony. They would return Tuesday. I finally got up to speed on the town newsletter and managed to have a good draft to send out for the final proof Sunday night. At work Monday I put the last touches I could on the proposal presentations before sending the files to another office near where the interviews would be held so the presenters could make final changes and practice their parts. That night I made the final edits on the newsletter and sent it to the out for the publisher around 11pm. Tuesday night I began finishing off the church’s newsletter and had the final finished Wednesday night after returning from a get together at Lois and Jim’s where Carol and Lois’ brother Greg and his family were staying before leaving for their home in Texas Thursday morning. Thursday night I zoned out, go figure.

Vacation Wrap-up

Vacation is over. I arrived home safe and sound yesterday afternoon. Friday was a good final day. I did a lot of reading lakeside, took a long walk, read some more... I didn't finish reading the "The Brass Man" before leaving for home but I did finish today, this one, like it's predecessors by Neal Asher brought all of the various story lines developed earlier together in an another exciting ending.

It's good to be home with Carol, Ian and the furry beasts.

This is the back yard of the camp.

Here's the view I had to deal with while I read.

It was Patches birthday this week, I think he is eight now.

The view slightly to the right of where I settled in to read.

Not enough of these days in a year.

45 degrees, it can only go up from there

Not easy to step outside the camp wearing shorts this morning. It is clear and beautiful out and until some clouds that today's forecast calls for appear later this afternoon the warmth will return. Yesterday's cloudiness and occasional showers lingered until well after dusk and not much of a sunset. I spent the day reading and writing, visited Margaret in the afternoon and made a couple of adjustments on her computer. So it was a pretty laid back day. This is my last full day here at the camp so I plan to work on the church's newsletter and more reading.

A little work won't kill you...I guess

Wednesday, as forecasted the night before, was cloudy with scattered showers. If it had been a little warmer it would have felt muggy as well. All in all it was a good day to take on the fallen tree clean up. I didn't work continuously, doing some blog writing and reading during snack and lunch breaks but by 5:30 I had the work part done. Stacked the cut lengths for future splitting, dragged the cut up branches into the woods and raked up the scattered remains and made them disappear. The price to be paid was in the lower back and abdominal muscles which were hurting after sitting a bit and still bothersome today. I'm taking some ibuprofen which helps. So, given the weather I made the most of the day. Didn't see a person to talk to all day (did speak with Carol and Ian on the phone), Patches was paid a visit by a neighbor's Labrador retriever, whom he promptly ignored as only Patches can.

Stacked almost artsy.

A clean sweep and almost back to normal.

In yesterday's blog I dismissed the possibility of any sunset photos but late in the afternoon the sun broke through and the sky gradually cleared, the breeze settled down and the clouds pretty much disappeared so I did take some photos after all. Not spectacular but nice nonetheless.

Adventure Day

In the planning of my daily itinerary for my vacation I dubbed Tuesday as "Adventure Day". This is the day of my lakeside respite where I get away from the camp and take in some sights of the region that I do not normally see during family visits to where Carol comes from and the technical college we both attended. So, Patches and I began the day by heading to Aroostook State Park in Presque Isle. In the 35 years I've been driving up through Route 1 in northern Maine I've seen the road sign directing people to the park and at times wondered if there was more to a somewhat unheralded state park than a couple of picnic tables, a half mile unkempt nature trail and a muddy pond shoreline. I did expect more than that and was pleased to find what exceeded those expectations. ASP presents itself immediately on arriving at the entrance. Beautiful trimmed lawns along pristine Echo Lake, gravel roadways and parking lots well maintained. Boat launch area, spacious lakeside picnic area, playground, wooded campsites for tents or camper trailers, swimming access and a nature trail across the twin peaks of Quaggy Jo Mountain which has a short challenging part but is otherwise a nice 2 - 3 hour hike and a nice view on the north peak where on a semi-clear day you can see Mount Katahdin. It was a hike I was hoping for and this was just what I had in mind. It took a couple of hours and on the recommendation of the park ranger we took the approach up the south peak. There is a steep loose rock slide which is part of the trail and though difficult to climb (Patches was less than thrilled) would have been on the nasty side to clamber down. In the first half hour on the hike I had worked up quite a sweat. In a few short steps this put me at the south peak which was woods covered so other than an opening at the top of the rock slide I came up didn't have any view of the surrounding area. A steep descent to start the trail to the north peak then a really nice terrain across to the north peak and a gentle approach to the top where the reward was the view. The remainder of the trail to the base was a very nice finish. Being a Tuesday near the end of summer there weren't very many people in the camping area so I have no idea about if there is a busy period but if you are in the area and need a campsite or picnic location check out the Aroostook State Park.

Photo from the Aroostook State Park website.
North Peak is on the right (rev. 8/17/07).

After leaving APS my plan was to get close to the new wind turbines which overlook the town of Mars Hill. Carol, Ian, Lois, Jim and I have spoken spoken about his new addition to the view driving along Route 1 several times and for some reason I've had a bit of a fascination with wind generated power ever since I first heard of it. I drove over to the ski lodge at the base of Mars Hill Mountain and saw that there was no access there to the wind turbines. Opening my Gazetteer I see that there are several roads forming a rectangle around the mountain and headed to the south to circumvent the 28 turbines that run along the mountain's ridge. This route also brings me back to the road for my next destination, Fort Fairfield. Once I made the turn that brought me along the other side of the ridge I see more clearly the layout of the generators and farm houses that were nestled up against the hill. After making another left to go west I came to the end wind turbine which was only about 200 feet from the road where the service entrance, with a no trespassing sign, which I concluded would lead to the control station of the turbines. Regardless I was close enough to get a good look at it and the relatively low sound it made during it's operation. Curiosity satisfied I move onto Ft. Fairfield, drove through, saw nothing I wanted to stop for, nice looking town though, then headed for Caribou where I stopped in to visit my father-in-law, Alton, at the nursing home after which Patch and I made beeline for the camp. Enough adventure for one day.

This is the rock slide we had to climb, fun factor = 0.

"I've had enough, is it time to go back to the lake?"

Just above the rock slide there was an opening in the trees where I took this photo. I didn't know that when we got to the top of the south peak I wouldn't have any view at all. That's Echo Lake to the left and someplace called Canada over to the horizon.

"Does one of these signs say, shortcut to the camp, on it?"

About ten minutes from the north peak was this scenic picnic table. Not knowing how much
further to the peak we rested a few minutes,
had some water and a photo op. I wanted
lunch at the peak.

"Come on Patch, smile for the camera like you're having a good time!"

The view from the north peak was not disappointing, this is looking out to the northwest.

This is pretty much due north, Presque Isle International Airport in the center and the technical college Carol and I attended is to the right.

Finally, one of my life's goals has been met, looking up at a real wind turbine, how kewl.

A nice touch to the landscape.

Not much for a sunset last night, more gray than anything and not much for cloud patterns. Tonight may not be much better.

If they could see what I see

The sunset business is a little slow so far this week. Again there were clouds about but for my eyes there was still a spectacular evening sky show. The clouds hung snugly along the horizon so I never actually saw the sun setting, this evening it was doing it's work behind the scenes.

This shot was taken further along the shore to the west of the camp yesterday morning. Patches and I did a short walk down to the site where "Stan's" home of the 10¢ coffee, use to be. Still pretty strange to see an empty lot with no sign that a building was ever there.

7:00 pm: I had just finished Patches' fetching the stick from the lake session.

7:42 pm: between all these photos I've taken a variety of others. It's hard to see the changes while constantly watching the sky so I'd read for a few minutes then look again. The changes each time were significant and I'd spent the next few minutes admiring the new view.

7:44 pm: OK, so I didn't read since the last photo.

7:51 pm: as you may have noticed I've anchored the photos with the tree on the left. As one scans the horizon to the south the show is no less spectacular, just difficult to show and time consuming to set up more pictures.

7:56 pm: final shot of the evening, the darkness final sets in. As I was watching the sky show I wonder that with all the camps along the shore that curves to the east of me am I the only one out here watching what to me is an incredible sight. It's quite quiet during this time, no boats out on the water and no sounds of activity from the various camps. The view must become routine to those who are on the lake frequently. Would I stop enjoying this evening view if I spent the entire summer here? Maybe spending only a week here that a little is enough.

Cujo (Patches) and I will be out here again tomorrow night.

Officially ...on vacation

Well I loaded up the truck Saturday night with some stuff then finished yesterday morning and after saying my goodbyes to Carol, Ian, E'owyn, and Scotia, Patches and I headed off to northern Maine for my week of vacation. Beautiful weather and no problems traveling I made stops for gas and coffee, ate a sandwich Carol made for me at the rest area in Medway - more coffee from the Irving in Houlton, stop at the grocery store in Caribou for a few more items then headed for the lake. Margaret was there when I arrived, she came over to turn on the power and the water heater. She showed me the damage to the camp from a tree that fell during a powerful storm that came through the region last month. After she left I set out to unload and unpack my belongings cleaned up some of the fallen tree parts that a local handy man had cut up and had yet to remove. Some of it blocked walking around the side of the camp as well as some that had to be hopped over from the deck stairs to get to the front yard. I then processed some of the pictures I took and uploaded them to the Google photo site for Carol and Lois to see (dial-up, boy I don't miss those days). Grilled up a couple of garlic and cheese sausages for supper, then Patches and I went for a walk and after returning paid Patches for being such a good dog by throwing a stick out into the lake for him to retrieve until he had had enough. after dubbing around the camp for awhile Carol called and we talked about each other's day. So, I'm here and settled in for the week. I miss Carol and Ian but other than the mess from the fallen tree it's nice being here. There was a steady breeze blowing in from the lake and you could hear the water lapping on the shore. With a small campfire I just sat there quietly beginning the process of letting all the pent up mishmash of the working world work it's way out of my system. This is going to take all week.

Here's Patches as we're about to hit the road
again after a lunch break at the Medway Rest Area.

Margaret stands on the deck overlooking the tree
that blew over in front of the camp. It's been cut up in
firewood lengths. Other than clipping the corner
of the porch roof the building is undamaged, not
so lucky is the picnic table (left) which was in
tough shape before finding itself in the wrong place
at the wrong time.

Let's try the choose the best sunset photo of the week
contest again. Sunday night's candidate may not hold
up for the week but this was as good as it got.

Patches finally gets to do what he loves best about being

here. He'd had enough after about a dozen throws. May
be his age is catching up to him but he did spend the day
cooped up in the truck and then did a two mile walk with me.

No matter what the reason I think he enjoyed it, don't you?

5 days and counting

I don't consider myself on vacation until I leave the house on Sunday. The last two days at work are the kind of days that you take vacations because of. Nothing bad happened, just so much coming at me that it feels like my eyes are going to pop out of my head from concentrating on the computer monitor so hard. Then people either stopping by or calling looking to have some quick turnaround graphics thing done. I call it "jobs falling from the ceiling tiles". I worked through lunch today so tonight after supper and a couple tasks I went for a three miler. Feel pretty good now, ready for another go at it tomorrow. My brain is shifting into vacation mode - often I envision what I'll be doing a week from the moment I'm in. One of the best benefits of vacationing at the camp is... no logistics, just pack your stuff and go. No excess transportation arrangements, no sightseeing schedule, this is all about rest and recharging the batteries. I've nothing against a travel vacation, I hope to do some sooner than later but they can have a level of anxiety, feeling rushed at times, needing to be somewhere at a certain time. Funny how at about a year from the last time I spent a week at the camp I'm ready to do it again.

The way to my vacation

One more week of work before my vacation. Just Patches and I are heading to the camp at the lake. As I think I mentioned in an earlier blog, Carol took her vacation on the trip with her sister and mother and Ian is working. I'm definitely due to get away from the office with a change in scenery. If you've seen my blogs from last year you'll pretty much know what I'm planning. I have my book ready, a flexible plan for a couple of excursions. I'll post some blogs and I have some other things I hope to write. I'm be taking more sunset photos, throwing a stick in the lake for Patches to fetch (about a thousand times). My expectations are simple, everyone that works for a living should have such a week once a year. So far this summer I've mentally held back from looking forward to my vacation. I've waited so long for spring and summer to arrive that I make quite an effort to savor each day whether at work or play, rain or shine, humid and muggy, windy and wet it's all summer to me and seldom requires a shovel or snow tires. Now that Carol is home safe and sound from her trip and I've been working through some intense projects at the office plus the monthly newsletter daze I'm ready to indulge myself in lakeside breezes, science fiction trips across the galaxy, live sunset paintings. Check in and see how it's going.