The Botanical Guy

Today's excursion out of the campsite was our visit to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, Maine, well worth the visit for certain. Wonderful layout, interesting features, paths, trails and plenty of plants to admire, learn about and just be around. Carol and I were there for over three hours and only missed walking a couple of the trails but we had seen plenty and I was pretty hungry so we called it a day to return to the campsite for rest and relaxation. Here are a few of the photos I took today.











It's back home tomorrow. Tonight I'll grill hotdogs and sausage burgers, Carol's cooking up corn on the cob and we'll finish off the evening with a campfire.

Memorial Day Weekend in the Boothbay Harbor region

Finally made it to our first camping outing of the year. Three nights at Shore Hills Campground in Boothbay, Maine where we are staying while today visiting Boothbay Harbor and tomorrow the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, maybe a few other places as well.

The entrance to the campground - our site is nearby behind the office/store. Close enough to the roadway to hear the traffic but as far as Carol and I are concerned the layout of the campsite makes up for it. There are a lot of nicely wooded campsites here and a large open area for rigs with satellite TV setups.

Some wood decking, crushed stone base and enough trees for shade.

A few harbor shots.

This is Cross River, the view at the far end of the campground.

Commencement Weekend

My son Ian's commencement graduation is taking place this weekend. Yesterday was his college's Honors Convacation ceremony where he received recognition as a University Honors Program Scholar at the University of New Hampshire. Carol, her mother and I traveled to the campus in Durham yesterday afternoon. There was a large group receiving 4 levels of Honors and must have been over 5,000 family and friends attending the proceedings. Today is the Commencement itself, in addition to Carol and Margaret Lois Jim and Elaine will becoming with us. Carol rented a minivan so we could all travel together. The ceremony is outside and the weather forecast is warm and sunny.

Ian with his grandmother and Carol.

Happy Mothers Day!

As another Mothers day comes to a close I'd like to wish any mothers visiting this blog a Happy Mothers Day. Carol and I were able to visit with my mother yesterday at my sister Kathy and Jay's camp. Kathy's daughter Lindsey had her college graduation yesterday so the family gathering was kind of a combination graduation-Mothers Day celebration all rolled up into one. Lindsey's fiance was there and brother Dennis and his fiance Deb who had together earlier been to Debby's daughter's college graduation. Jay, always quite the cook had shrimp appetizers ready, then steamed lobsters and clams as well grilling some excellent steaks all with corn on cob and Kathy's potato salad. All this on what was a dark and rainy day which didn't seem to matter to any of us. We was a great time.

Happy Mothers Day Mom!
(photo taken at Easter)

People moving on

Friday was a unique day at my office, two retirees were honored at the same time as the staff gathered around the obligatory giant sheet cake as the honorees shared stories were from projects past and then expressed genuine appreciation of the people they'd worked with for so many years. Ralph, an engineer and Charlie, a project assistant both of whom for the last twelve years have occupied spots close by my own neck of the cube farm since we've been in our current location. Ralph as a very focused professional always enjoyed the give and take of office kidding around while maintaining a high level work. Charlie was very detailed orientated particular in regards to record keeping when tracking the progress of the projects he was involved with. In the present day and age of computers on everyone's desk and in spite of both being highly intelligent people they had to come to terms to develop a truce of sorts with the technology which our jobs revolved around that caused many moments of humor itself. As an example of "old school",a week before the retirement date I invited Ralph to Friday lunch with my cube neighbor Michelle and I to the nearby diner we frequent (Marcy's). He replied that if he did join us we couldn't pay for his meal as he could allow someone making less than himself to pay his way. I said however you'd like to do would be fine. Late Friday morning he checked in with me to see if going out for lunch was still on and of course I said it was. The three of us cut out a little before noon, had a great time, Ralph told a couple of stories of his life we hadn't heard about before, talked a little politics then as I had excused myself to go to the restroom he paid for all three meals telling us how much he appreciated the assistance we had provided to him over the years. Charlie had been out of the office on disability for well over a year before finally declaring retirement. For a number of years leading up to his departure he'd been struggling with the effects of illnesses from his younger years catching up with the aging process making mobility a problem so he spent the last 10 plus years before leaving utilizing an electric chair scooter around the office often adored with a pole for the visibility of staff as he motored about the aisles of cubicles and such. Between his health and some family issues his appearance began to show the signs of the wear and tear of such things and he took some vacation time and never came back to the office until Friday's event. He looked great, relaxed, good color as he greeted people he had missed and collected a few items from his cubical. I stopped by for a farewell chat with him and he thanked me for suggesting he acquire the scooter which he said made it possible to work for several more years than he might have given his physical condition. I'll be pretty surprised if Charlie stops into the office again, it's pretty rare seeing most of our retirees dropping by and I don't think it's Charlie's style. Ralph after taking a long travel vacation with his wife will be back on a part-time basis to help out on projects, always a worker even on his off-time.