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?