Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial weekend brought us kids and grandkids from Ipswich to review our house search and to camp in Rockport with us and enjoy some of the grand Maine landscapes, like the one at the left.
They arrived Saturday morning, and in the afternoon, they saw the two place we had picked as potential house purchases, both in Rockland. We decided on the ranch, and wrot an offer Saturday afternoon. By Monday afternoon, we withdrew the contract, as we couldn't get together on a price.

On Sunday, we caught the 11:15 ferry from Rockland to Vinalhaven Island, one or 4 or 5 islands in Penobscot bay that is supported by ferry service. We chose that one because we heard you could walk into town from the ferry landing and have lunch. The ferry ride was about an hour and 15 minutes, and along the way, you get to see the prototypical Maine coast: rocky, lots of pines and firs, shore birds, and million dollar homes set on the rocky cliffs.


Once we landed on the island, we got directions, and walked into town, finding all but one of the restaurants closed. But one was open, and we had lunch there. Vinalhaven seem to be a vacaqtion and fishing community. Commercially, as with nearly all the fishing in New England, it appears to be struggling. The census population is listed at about 1200.


We made the mistake of not bringing a stroller or backpack for Amelia, and the walk into town was about 1/2 mile, but everybody got there OK. After lunch, while Maria, Consuelo, Paul and Liam went over to look at the real estate listings in an office window, Alemia and I sat in front of the restaurant and counted the cars going by. I think we got up to 4 in about 10 minutes.

The return trip gave me great opportunities to catch some pictures of the Rockland breakwater lighthouse. This light, built around 1902, is accessible by walking on the breakwater from the parking lot near Samoset Resort. It's about 8/10 of a mile long. It serves as the iconic image of Rockland on their signs posted at the city limits.

On Monday, Paul and the grandkids and I went to the Owls Head Transportation museum. They have a wonderful collection of antique cars and airplanes, all beautifully restored and polised for presentation. Many of them are unusual, like the Scarab and the Cricket prototype autos, and Milliken's home built airplane, which flew, at least once.

Here Liam and Amelia are posing in front of an award winning 1955 T-Bird which just happened to be parked in the parking lot.

After the museum, we stopped at the Owls Head lighthouse, and walked up to look at the light close up. Our timing was excellent, as while we were walking back to the car, the foghorn started droning across the bay. I'm sure we would have been deafened if we were still at the light when that happened.

Where should we summer in Maine?

Our principal project this spring is to find a good place to spend summers in Maine. We spent a few weeks in the fall, looking in the so-called "Mountains and Lakes" region in western Maine, near the New Hampshire border. We've returned this spring to the so-called "Mid-Coast" region, between Portland and Bangor, to look some more.

Our specifications are pretty simple: 1. a camp or house that can be a comfortable base for us in the summer; 2. within a few miles of the coast; 3. where we can park our motorhome; 4. and where the kids and grandkids can come to enjoy the place and our company; 5. that fits within our budget.

Our search is currently centered around Rockport, Maine, as that's where we found a campground to use as a base. Nearby places that we've searched in include Camden, Rockland, Northport, Waldoboro, Jefferson and Lincolnville. We've looked at places in town in Rockland, and country spots in Waldoboro. This region of Maine has little or no zoning regulations, so unless you're in a community with covenants, you're likely to have a row of mobilehomes parked in the lot next door. While we have a motorhome and want to have it on our property, we don't want to summer in an area that has zero curb appeal.

Maine is a large state (all the other New England states can fit within it), but is the least populous state east of the Mississippi River, only about 1 million statewide. Tourism is a big industry, especially on the coast, so property there is expensive. Fishing and Lobstering are key and colorful. There's islands, with their own communities. Woolen mills gave way to chicken farming, and the latest boom industry has been MBNA building large call cervice centers in the region. We're near the edge of easy access from the Boston area, so away from the coast housing is somewhat inexpensive.

The two places that I've pictured here are currently on the top of our list. The top one is a 50's ranch in Rockland. It's on the edge of the city, has about 1/2 an acre, already has an RV parked next to the garage, so there's space for one. It is ready to move into, but we'd make some interior changes if we buy it. The main bathroom needs a serious makeover, and we'de open up one wall to make a large living space. On the upside, the land is very nice, and there is a wonderful screen porch and deck. It's a 3/4 mile walk to downtown, and only a bit farther to the ocean.

The second one is on 4 acres in Waldeboro, on a quiet road away from most everything. The house is an old farmhouse that we think the former owner planned to flip, but ran out of money and it is now in foreclosure. On the upside, the structure and foundation are in good shape, the layout is pretty good. The downside is that the interior is unfinished... bare sheetrock walls, minimal plumbing, wiring in place, plywood floors. The layout it easily changed, but it's not liveable as it is. At a minimum, the kitchen needs counters and appliances, the floors need to be covered. We have the perfect opportunity to move this place along to be a wonderful home, since we can park our present home on the land and go to work on it. But it will take a lot of work, and money, and we're not sure we want to invest that much to make it work. And while it's only 20 minutes to the shore, it's in the middle of nowhere. Also, the land is quite wet right now. We thought that the heavy rains that drenched us when we got here might have been the cause, but normally dry land is drying out now, and this lot is not. We also want a garage to store toys in the winter, and there's none here.

We still have more places to see, and a pearl might appear in what's left. We've had some great realtors to take us around to see these places, something of a chore for them, I expect, because our price range is about 1/2 of the median house price for this area.

Massachusetts visits, seeing the Coast Guard

We left New York and drove to Wilbraham, Mass, my hometown, and the place where I graduated high school. By random chance, and a search for dealers nearby, we found Redwood RV in Wilbraham who took care of the repairs on our awning. Bob Heywood evaluated our repairs, kept the damaged parts, put together a plan, and ordered what we woudl need for replacement the next week. We stayed one night at Auntie Flo's place in Wilbraham, then went to Ipswich where Paul, Maria, Liam and Amelia were waiting for us.

Liam (5 years old) started playing soccer this year, and his dad is coaching. There was a game on Saturday, which we all attended. Liam looks like a natural to me, but then I'm a proud grandfather. The games for these young players is set up on a small field, with 3 players on each team, boys and girls. I think Paul is getting as much of an education in coaching as the kids are in playing. He told them to guard the goal the previous week, and whenever the opposing team got the ball, all 3 players ran to the front of the goal. It did prevent the opposing team from scoring, but Liam's team never got the ball that way. Paul made some corrections, and Liam's team got to score a couple goals. I think that the exercise was well spent.

Saturday afternoon, we got the boat ready to go into the water, and took it down to the launch ramp for a shakedown cruise. We found the battery to be weak, and the gas needed freshening. Other than that, it ran OK. Liam, who has been fearful of rough water in the past, showed some fear initially, but as he discovered the waves in the bay to be pretty mild, he seemed to actually enjoy the trip. We didn't find any fish, so we started in.

But the Coast Guard found us. As we were the ONLY boat out that day, the Coast Guard needed something to do. So they pulled us over and checked our safety equipment, and found us lacking. We were missing a throw-able life preserver, and an audible signal. We went directly to the ramp, and pulled the boat out and stowed it. On Sunday, we went shopping for a new battery, and the items required by the Coast Guard.

<- Amelia's response to "smile!"

On Monday, Consuelo and I took care of Amelia while Liam went to school. She is a real joy to watch, a sweet and happy child. We watched Happy Feet with her, a fun movie. On Tuesday, we packed a few things off to our storage locker in Danvers. Getting a few things into that space was an engineering miracle. It's time for us to find a place in Maine and empty it out.

Tuesday afternoon, we returned to Wilbraham. On Wednesday, we returned to Redwood RV to get our awning fixed, and that process went exactly as planned. Kudos to Bob and his staff for making that work smoothly.

Thursday and Friday we played Aggravation with Flo, and sometimes Dee Keyes. That is our favorite thing to do with them, they are experts, and we're still trying to crack the code. Wednesday night, my brother Bill cam to Flo's place, and we had a picnic and caught up on our winter vacations. He bought a place and a boat in Arizona, and spent the winter there, and seems much more relaxed and happy since he retired. Thursday night we got together with old friends of mine in the area, the Whites and the Kastens. Like us, they are aging and enjoying life for the most part.

Brooklyn Kids & Grandkids

We stayed at Croton Point Park so we could travel into NY to visit our son, TJ, his wife Jacqui, and the grandkids Luna and Porter. We spent several days doing this, including an overnight at their house.

On Saturday, TJ and the grandkids came out to the campground for a picnic and to play on the swings and go for a walk. It was a nice, sunny day, and we enjoyed all of it.

April 30 is Luna's birthday, and she had a party at Prospect Park in Brooklyn. The carousel in the park provides a space for parties, and tickets for lots of rides on the horses. Most of her preschool class showed up for her party. There was plenty of food and a pinata for the kids to bash.
Here's Luna and her dad behind the carousel having a chat. Luna had a great time with her friends, running around in the grass and playing with the streamers and toys that were available. And of course, riding on the pretty horses in the carousel.

Luna got lots of presents, which sho opened at home. The hit of the loot was flying dolls, a modern adaptation on the propeller-on-a-stick toy of a hundred years ago. We had a great time flying them around their little apartment, into the ceiling fan.

Porter, who is 2 and the personification of the devil in all of us, kept sneaking behind the food table and spiriting cupcakes off the plate, eating the icing off the top, then going for another one. We probably would all have done that if we could, but the slightly repressed memories of our mothers yelling at us kept us in line.

The pinata was a great success. Luna had one for her 3rd birthday, and it was a bit overprotective of its contents, requiring the largest and oldest child to finally crack it. This one was much more receptive to spewing forth it's contents, and after the 4th child swiped it the goodies were on the ground. Luna honored me with a string of purple beads from her loot.


Later in the week, we spent a couple days at home with them, sleeping overnight on an available air mattress. We took the subway into Manhattan to shop and tour. Consuelo and Jacqui shopped in an large arts and crafts store, and TJ and I looked in one of the larger bookstores. Afterward, we picked up Luna at her school, and went home for Brooklyn pizza, the kind that you really do have to fold in half to eat, as it has a soft chewy crust.

After our night seeing the David Letterman show, we stopped in at their house one last time to say goodbye, and left for Massachusetts the next morning.

New York City!

<- Manhattan from Brooklyn

We did a little touring in New York, since we arrived early and the kids were busy until the weekend. We took the train from Croton Point into Grand Central Station, about 40 miles and a fare of around $7.00 each way off peak. Riding the train was fun, an easy way to get into town and not have to worry about parking when we arrive. Once we got to Grand Central, we bought a block-by-block street atlas for Manhattan, and decided to visit Chinatown. We caught the #6 subway down to City Hall and walked over to Chinatown. The City Hall subway stop is right at the end of the Brooklyn Bridge, quite a sight.

Despite Mayor Bloomberg's best efforts, New York has a lot of litter and graffiti everywhere. It seems to me that the city is sliding back into its 1970's look, one of despair and filth. Fringes, like the warehouse district along the East River in Brooklyn, are under heavy development. Warehouses are being torn down and new condo high rises are being built. But these expensive beehives keep the dirt out in the streets, so that the dichotomy gets enlarged. The residents seem to accept the dirt as a way of life. The functional design of the city promotes it, as the canyons of sidewalks consolidate everything that flies in the breeze to street level. Everybody walks through it as if it wasn't there, but I suspect it infects their libidos.

<- Horace Greely's statue near City Hall

Chinatown was fun to look at. The community provides a shopping center for native chinese speaking people to find the goods and wares that they want and expect from their home culture, such as furniture and clothing. Since it attracts bozos like us, there are gift shops mixed in along the blocks, and street hawkers asking "You wanna buy a purse?" every 50 feet.

After Chinatown, we went our separate ways for a while. Consuelo wanted to poke around the Garment District, now called the Fashion District. I found the J&H camera store and wandered there for nearly an hour. I originally thought the store was pretty small, even though it was on 3 floors. Then I walked further down the block, and found that there were 6 or 7 store fronts for the same store, each having a specialty, one was computers, one was appliances. Actually, it was pretty large.

<- The Chrysler Building behind Grand Central

We met back at Grand Central in time to catch the 3:24 express train back to Cron-on-Hudson, which really was an express, only stopping once before our stop. We had fun and were completely worn out by the time we got home.

We spent some time with TJ, Jacqui, Luna and Porter (in another blog segment) and on the last day of our visit, we drove into Brooklyn, caught the subway to 7th Avenue, and went to see a taping of the Late SHow with David Letterman. This too was fun, though it required a lot of waiting. The Ed Sullivan theatre, where the show is taped, seats about 450. They try to fill it every night, and they get everybody together, lined up by number, in the lobby before they open the doors. Throughout this whole time, and before the show starts, everybody is trying to get the audience UP! EXCITED! Then the band comes out, plays a few songs, keep getting everybody UP! UP! Then David comes out and talks with the audience for about 2 minutes, then show time. The show goes straight through, from the announcer's opening to then end. The guests that night were Drew Barrymore, impersonator Mike MacCrae, and musical guest Ken Qweller. We had a good time, got some supper near the theater, then went back to Brooklyn for one last visit with the kids and grandkids.