Happy Valentine’s Day! We’re having a quiet Friday here. It’s relatively temperate, starting at a chilly 23°F, but with a forecast high of 55°. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving 2024! I took “the girls” out to a Thanksgiving buffet, at the Garden Terrace Café, in the Inverness Hotel, about 20 minutes from here. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner! And no cleanup! No leftovers, either...

55th HS Reunion

My High School classmates got together today for a 55th reunion, at a local park a short distance up in the foothills from my home town. I rode my bike up to that park when I was a teenager, and it felt like an unbelievably long trip, a climb for superhumans, and my first experience with riding a street bike on offroad trails -- fun memories. However, I couldn't see myself traveling 1,000 miles for that event, as I still have memories of feeling like mostly an outsider from the numerous tight-knit cliques at our school. I realize now, that it was just everyone's way of fitting in, to find some kids with shared interests, and hang with them, but that feeling of being excluded still hurts. It was nice to receive a photo from a friend who attended, of a few of those classmates who have later become my Facebook friends over the years.

Maine Trip

Next adventure! Off to visit my cousin in Maine! I always relax a little, after we get the process of packing, getting to the airport, checking our bags, and getting to the gate, out of the way. 

No delays getting to, or going through, the airport, whew… just finished reading the safety card for the A320, my first time on this type aircraft. Nice to have a little extra leg room in the exit row.

After all our concern with the CloudStrike fiasco, our travel day went surprisingly well! The one hiccup was the plugged-up Boston traffic. 

We’re now comfortably ensconced at our vacation lodging near Bath, Maine. We’ve already enjoyed the gorgeous view, and a flyby of the local Heron and Osprey. 

We had a beautiful moonlit view from the living room, just before bed. 

7/21 We awoke to a beautiful Sunday post-travel morning. It was fun to see the uncovered land bridge, from the mainland over to Jenny's Nubble at low tide. Living in Colorado, we don't have much occasion to pay attention to the tides, but here the tidal range is approaching ten feet. Makes a difference!

 

We loved watching the crab boats come pick up their traps, and place new ones, every morning while eating Jennefer's delicious home-cooked breakfasts.

 

The local sailboats also provided us with some fun marine-themed entertainment. This sailor criss-crossed our view of the New Meadows river and Winnegance Bay many times.

 

We spent the day wandering around historic downtown Bath, and exploring the parks, views, and shops, in particular one very fun store named "Now You're Cooking", which is full of interesting kitchen utensils and other delightful gadgets.

 

Close up of the whimsical weathervane on top of the City Hall in the Davenport Memorial Building. Seems appropriate, considering the rich history there, of building sailing ships. 

 

We spent lots of time enjoying the view out of our living room window, especially at sunset.

We tried taking some full moon pictures with our relatively new cameras. The double image was from the two window panes, but I wasn’t venturing outside to do battle with the mosquitoes, just for a better photo.

7/22 We had a delightful breakfast table view of the crab boats managing their traps, at this beautiful place on the Maine shoreline. 

We took a little bit longer Monday walk to the Green Point Preserve, with a fun Barred Owl sighting.

7/23 We enjoyed a cool and rainy, but delightful Puffin viewing cruise! I’m always concerned about the possibility of motion sickness on an ocean cruise, but this went well for me. 

We got well and truly soaked by a widespread rainstorm on our way out to Eastern Egg Rock island, but loved every minute. We sought out a warm local seafood restaurant afterwards to try to dry out a little. 

7/24 We woke up to a wonderfully foggy 69° Wednesday morning, at our rental house in West Bath. This foggy moored sailboat view reminded me of paintings I've seen and loved.

We got back safe, after our winding trip through the Maine back roads, to see the play “Shakespeare’s Will” at the Theater at Monmouth. Beautiful old theater! The actress did such a wonderful job. Man, that theater was cold! Once again, I was thankful to have a good GPS receiver and navigation apps, to guide us safely to a place I’ve never been, and back in the dark of night, with no concerns.

7/25 Beautifully foggy 57° Thursday morning in Maine. Jennefer cooked us all breakfast, for most of the days we were there. We did hop over to Mae's Bakery and Cafe for some different breakfast and take-home dessert choices.

My sister found us a fun afternoon walk at Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park, in the coastal forest a couple of peninsulas over from where we're staying. She said, "It's really different from anything I’ve hiked before. It felt like the old forest - closest thing I can think of is the Black Forest in Germany."

7/26 Pleasant start to our Friday morning. It's always fun for me, to watch the boats, and the local wildlife, including a nearby Cormorant on a buoy, drying their wings. 

We had a humid but delightful Friday afternoon at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, which are pretty amazing, with some good trails for hiking, too. 

7/27 Travel day to Boston. We started with a clear and comfortable 70° Saturday morning on the Maine coast. We’re starting to slow down a little, after our initially frenzied pre-departure housecleaning. 

I’m sad to be leaving this place, but looking forward to seeing my cousin's daughter and her family tomorrow.

Our Boston hotel room, on the other side of the hotel, had not quite as pretty of a Boston city view as we had last year, but still nice. 

We had a delicious dinner at The Daily Catch Waterfront restaurant, a short walk from our hotel on Long Wharf. We sat outside, and had an inquisitive visitor nearby. The girls all love birds, so that kept us busy, through the short wait until our dinner came. 

7/28 We awoke to a hazy 71° Sunday morning at Boston harbor... my sister and I went for a walk to the local coffee shop, and I was able to redeem my free birthday item - cinnamon coffee cake, of course!

We kept ourselves busy for the rest of the morning, with a delightful Trolley tour of Boston. They wandered all over downtown Boston, and inundated us with so many facts, I think we all ran out of brain cells to process it all.

That afternoon, we headed over to my cousin’s “new” home in Melrose. It was new to them two years ago, so I suppose now it's routine to them. We enjoyed seeing them in their own house, instead of their old apartment. After we arrived, and the oldest son had given each visitor their own personal tour, I was treated to a happy birthday party at my cousin’s house. 

We got to see everyone we missed last year, when COVID-19 hit their house when we were in town, and finally met their newest son, who arrived during the pandemic. 

 

The older son was very sure of himself, even with all of us rarely-seen family around. I enjoyed having him tell me all about everything. 

After more than a week of failed daily attempts to find my favorite Entenmann’s crumb coffee cake in the local Maine grocery stores, I was ready to admit defeat, and one day away from heading home without it. My cousin and her husband came to the rescue, presenting me with the only box he could find, on my birthday. What a pleasant surprise! 

Once the party and other fun activities with my cousin and her family were done, we headed back to our hotel, and were treated to a pretty sunset view reflecting off downtown Boston.

7/29 Travel day heading home. It was fun to see the old Constitution sailing ship from our room on this cool moist overcast morning. We had breakfast at the hotel restaurant to keep things simple, then picked up our rental car from the valet, and headed off to find gas for the car, and then the car rental return facility. That wasn’t as easy as expected, as there were quite a few road closures, and we ended up going in a circle around downtown once, before we finally were on our way in the Blue Line Bus to the airport. Glad we left ourselves tons of extra time for this part of the trip. 

Quiet, cool & moist Monday at Boston Logan airport, and a mostly relaxed beginning to our travel experience. We had to wait an extra hour for our flight crew to get here, but that just gave us plenty of time to explore the menu at Legal Seafoods. Their crab cake sandwich and Boston Cream Pie were delicious!

And then we were off! We had some fun cloud views out the window during the climbout. According to the map, we saw Lovells Island, just before we disappeared into the cloud layer. I was able to squeeze in exactly two movies. I didn’t expect to enjoy the end credits music as much, so I found myself still listening to them, as they were shutting down our 737-900 at the gate. Perfect timing!

Home sweet home! The kitties were happy to see us, if a little skittish, after our first extended time away from them. We were glad to receive occasional updates from the cat sitter, which helped us enjoy the trip. 

GO Fest 2024

We had fun participating in the Pokemon GO Fest 2024 global event with my sister and niece, and remotely with Jennefer’s relatives, and some other friends we’ve met around town over the years. Oh, and there was local participation by somewhere around 200 other fellow Pokémon players in Littleton. All in the middle of a 100° heat wave. What a weekend. I’m ready to spend the rest of the week recovering…

Visitor from Switzerland

We were visited on Tuesday and Wednesday by my friend Peter, who went to high school with me, so many years ago. He has been living in Switzerland for some time. He’s here in Denver for the wedding of his niece. We invited him to stay with us for his first night here, before he headed off to visit another friend. 

It was nice to catch up a little, and take Peter for a short walk along the river yesterday, before he headed out to stay with another friend in the area. Here's a view of some of the Fall yellow color we saw along the river.

And here's just a little of the red Fall color in the Staghorn Sumac plants we saw on our walk.

 

Happy Christmas Eve!

Wishing you a warm and comfortable Christmas Eve. a very Merry Christmas day, and a wonderful New Year 2022! Planning a quiet day this year. We're expecting my niece to visit tonight through tomorrow, and hopefully we'll have a video call with her/my family, then in the afternoon, we're invited to Jennefer's friend's home for Christmas dinner. We're not expecting a white Christmas here this year, so I've included a little snowy scene for all our entertainment.

Moderna vaccination #1

We just got home from a fun visit with friends in Strasburg, after getting Moderna shot #1 at the  COVID-19 vaccination clinic in Bennett. They told us to come back in a month, same place, to receive the second vaccination to complete the series. We're very glad a friend told us about this special one-day vaccination clinic, courtesy of the State of Colorado and the Town of Bennett, as we had signed up at a half dozen other places, and heard nothing yet. We got home just in time for a pretty snowfall. Here's a pic of Mandy exploring all the different smells in their front yard.

Big day for Jennefer

Mandy and I are doing the "dog walk around the hospital" thing, as Jennefer gets her feeding tube and port removed. She is so excited. Time to commit to feeding by mouth again! She’ll have to start with blander food, but someday maybe her throat and taste buds will recover enough for her to be eating her favorite spicy foods again. 

Visitors!

I always enjoy having visitors, but during this crazy and disappointing year, I appreciate them even more. My brother in law stopped into Denver for a couple of days, on his "Covid road trip," and I was glad to enjoy some time with him both days. We surprised ourselves by taking my longest walk of the year. Mandy and Mookie did very well!

 

My ex-neighbor's kids drove back to the Denver area from their RV campground in the pacific northwest, going through their storage lockers, picking up some things to share with their relatives, and stopped by to pick up some mail I was holding for them. We have such a long history, it was heartbreaking when they moved away, to go wandering the country in the new trailer RV, so it was a real pleasure to have them visit for a few minutes, before heading out to get more things done.

Thanksgiving in New Hampshire!

We enjoyed a delightful Thanksgiving with my relatives in Portsmouth, New Hampshire! I finally found some time to download the pictures from my phone, so I could post them here. Some of them are modified - I've started using the Waterlogue app to add a little watercolor touch to my stories.

We flew out of Denver, just a few minutes before the beginning of what turned out to be a heavy snowfall, that left nearly two feet of snow on the ground behind us. Lucky us! Here's a pic of the cold threatening sky, while we were having breakfast at my favorite Denver airport restaurant - Pour La France.

Denver snow pics, courtesy of my neighbor, about halfway through the storm.

Portsmouth was cold and breezy. We managed to take some fun, chilly, windy walks around the local neighborhood, to the Hannaford grocery store, and in a few local parks. My cousin gave us several guided tours of the local area, as we were driving around. We visited Odiorne Point State Park, and the Seacoast Science Center, on one of those cold and windy days.

The Science Center in the park included some fun aquariums. There was an interesting story about the birth and migration path of a young whale, and how the sea lanes can have a disastrous effect on the whale population. My niece had never seen a live seahorse before!

The walking path along the shoreline provided some wonderful views of the Piscataqua River, the Whaleback Light observation point, Fort Foster, and many other beautiful points of interest on the opposite shore.

We followed one of Odiorne Park's loop trails out into the local forest for awhile. It was very peaceful, with a few historical monuments to be found.

Thanksgiving day was fun - everyone helped get the food ready, and the dinner was delicious! We enjoyed the meal with my cousins, and their extended family and close friends. It was very pleasant, even for someone like me - out of my element with people I don't see regularly.



We enjoyed a short walk in the Urban Forestry Center, and my cousin discovered a new trail there. I felt privileged to be offered the opportunity to walk their dog Midnight, who was very rambunctious and energetic. Managing her leash took both hands, so I didn't get to take any pictures.

We ventured into downtown Portsmouth for a meal or two, some sightseeing, and window shopping. It's a beautiful New England town! Here's a pic of Portsmouth's Pilot boat, in front of their three very colorful signature tugboats. We visited a pop-up shop nearby. Interesting concept - it's a popular ice cream shop during the warm season, and a venue for local artists to display their wares, during the holiday season.

A big snowstorm hit New England while we were there, starting just a day before we were due to fly back home from Boston Logan airport. It started when we were inside the theater, watching the "Knives Out" movie, which was well done and very entertaining. We were surprised to find it snowing heavily, as we walked out to our car. This is the pretty little snow-covered bench in my cousin's front yard, the next morning.

The snow lightened up, just before we had to drive our rental car to the airport. We were a little concerned about the drive  in the new snow, but the roads were fairly good, and we made it to Logan as easy as pie. The highway was lined with beautiful snow-frosted trees, most of the way down the coast. There were a few slushy slippery adventures in lane 1, and the usual mayhem approaching Boston on I-95 and SR-1. I'm not a fan of relying on shuttle buses to get from the car rental to the terminal, but it is what it is... And the unexpected twist is, we jumped on the blue line bus, settled in for the ride, and then learned, long after it had passed our terminal, that they don’t all stop at every terminal. Luckily, and partly due to my extra-cautious advanced planning, we had lots of time, so we were able to enjoy the extra walking back to our departure terminal.

Continuing our airport experience... we were at our gate with plenty of time, so we were delighted to be able to run off and grab some crab cakes for dinner at Legal Sea Foods. I remembered really enjoying this restaurant, when we were at Logan two years ago, but didn't realize it had moved to a far more convenient location since then.

We were finally aboard our delayed flight home from Boston... and the aircraft’s windows were frozen over. My camera saw through it way better than I could. With that much ice on the vertical window, I wondered how much must have accumulated on the horizontal surfaces of the fuselage and wings. I was a little surprised when a mobile deicing vehicle came to do the job, but so glad that they were ready and able to deice our plane.

Finishing up my story, with a watercolor filtered photo of the tail of a nearby aircraft, as we were pushing back from our gate. We were glad to have an uneventful, albeit late-night, flight home.