June 20, 2008
Mornings are my time to myself. I manage to sleep as late as 7:30 but no later. The girls are sleeping in John’s downstairs den and stay up late watching t.v. and movies.
We’ve decided to leave tomorrow instead of today, which means tomorrow we drive like hell straight through. We’ve found two Maine Coon kittens and they are coming home with us. Yes, I am out of my mind. I love Maine Coons and we made the mistake of going to a shelter yesterday. They are 12 weeks old and identical twins. And I am a sucker. So….home they come.
June 20, 2008 part 2
Definitely I need to be independently wealthy. We went to back to Bar Harbor today. I love it there. Maine does a great job at welcoming visitors without turning into Gatlinburg. We wandered down streets we did not visit on Tuesday; we went back to my favorite spot on the rocky shore. Paul and the girls dug through the rocks while I found a wonderful flat spot on the warm rocks and nestled myself into their warmth as the cool sea breeze blew over me. It is those moments when I could swear that I feel the presence of God beside me. The fog was much more intense today and you could not see the islands offshore.
I should go back to the kittens…what the hell?! This trip has been a weird one. I have found little nooks and crannies that sooth my soul. So I bring home these little guys and I have a piece of Maine with me. This great breed of cat that originated in the place I was born. They are so funny and so cute.
I finally found the setting for the ring Paul gave me. It’s good to me that I found it in one of my favorite places. It makes it …. I don’t know, it makes it more me and not somebody else’s idea of me. I like that when he gave it to me he said, “This is the ring I should have given you the first time. The stone is the foundation; I want you to pick out the setting.”
I think women should pick their own ring to be married in. I think the ring should say, “This thing is for me a symbol of beauty and harmony, this thing I wear everyday because it reminds me of someone I love.” Not, “I wear this ring each day because someone gave it to me and it would be wrong for me to not wear it.” I know very few women who would have actually picked the ring they wear.
June 24, 2008
The trip is over. Hannah has had her surgery and it was a lot more intense than I remember Kenzie’s. Then again, Kenzie has never really had the full opportunity to be indulged. I have missed my bad girls this whole trip but I have brought every one of them along. It seems I am no longer able to go anywhere without seeing the world through their eyes.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
June 18, 2008
We’ve been in Maine since Monday pretty early afternoon. We decided to head on up and spent some time in Freeport before heading in to Bangor and my uncle John’s place. We arrived to find my aunt Jo, her husband Rick and her kids Tyler and Carly already here, then my cousins Chris and Nick and my uncle Norman and his wife Pat exploded into the house within about 15 minutes of each other. It was wonderful – I could not believe that I could get my hands on them and hug them all I wanted. I was touched that they all showed up for me. I think somewhere I was afraid they would not have the connection to me that I feel for them. Regardless, we were together and noisy and I was on cloud five hundred fifty-three.
The weather has been rainy and cold and if McKenzie says one more time that she’s freezing we may beat her and tie her outside. McKenzie of course did NOT heed my warnings about New England not actually being warm during the month of June and only has shorts and t-shirts to wear. She did bring one pair of jeans, but after a few days those things really needed a wash.
Went up to Bar Harbor yesterday and climbed around one of my favorite spots on the coast. It’s rocky and windy and the view is amazing. It’s also the spot where I sat at about 7 or 8 months pregnant with McKenzie and the first spark of determination that my child would not have the experiences I did began to light. The girls loved climbing around the rocks and looking for sea life trapped in the pools in the rocks created when the tide went out. We found a small crab and some small fish but nothing too big.
We walked around Bar Harbor and I finally had my fix of Maine blueberry ice cream, my most favorite in the whole world. John picked up some mussels and Paul and I grabbed some cheese and bread and wine and we had a pretty light dinner and crashed early. Today we look for the place my uncle Frank is buried. He was the only person in my mother’s family that I was close to and I am very sorry that when he needed me I was not able to save him. Things happen the way they are supposed to I guess and there was some dynamic between he and Judy that I could do nothing about, but it was just tragic.
So today sober, but tonight family will come for dinner and I will see my grandparents and I will celebrate what I have.
We’ve been in Maine since Monday pretty early afternoon. We decided to head on up and spent some time in Freeport before heading in to Bangor and my uncle John’s place. We arrived to find my aunt Jo, her husband Rick and her kids Tyler and Carly already here, then my cousins Chris and Nick and my uncle Norman and his wife Pat exploded into the house within about 15 minutes of each other. It was wonderful – I could not believe that I could get my hands on them and hug them all I wanted. I was touched that they all showed up for me. I think somewhere I was afraid they would not have the connection to me that I feel for them. Regardless, we were together and noisy and I was on cloud five hundred fifty-three.
The weather has been rainy and cold and if McKenzie says one more time that she’s freezing we may beat her and tie her outside. McKenzie of course did NOT heed my warnings about New England not actually being warm during the month of June and only has shorts and t-shirts to wear. She did bring one pair of jeans, but after a few days those things really needed a wash.
Went up to Bar Harbor yesterday and climbed around one of my favorite spots on the coast. It’s rocky and windy and the view is amazing. It’s also the spot where I sat at about 7 or 8 months pregnant with McKenzie and the first spark of determination that my child would not have the experiences I did began to light. The girls loved climbing around the rocks and looking for sea life trapped in the pools in the rocks created when the tide went out. We found a small crab and some small fish but nothing too big.
We walked around Bar Harbor and I finally had my fix of Maine blueberry ice cream, my most favorite in the whole world. John picked up some mussels and Paul and I grabbed some cheese and bread and wine and we had a pretty light dinner and crashed early. Today we look for the place my uncle Frank is buried. He was the only person in my mother’s family that I was close to and I am very sorry that when he needed me I was not able to save him. Things happen the way they are supposed to I guess and there was some dynamic between he and Judy that I could do nothing about, but it was just tragic.
So today sober, but tonight family will come for dinner and I will see my grandparents and I will celebrate what I have.
July 6, 2008
Look, what I want to do is say, “wow…I’ve just been so busy that I haven’t had the chance to post pictures and some profound reflections. Instead, I’ll hang my head in shame and admit…… I forgot my damn password to post more entries. It’s not even that I forgot the freakin’ password, I suddenly became a technical moron.
Anyway….Boston pics, here are a few. I’m still shaky from my recent regression into technical incompetence so I’m taking it slow…..
Look, what I want to do is say, “wow…I’ve just been so busy that I haven’t had the chance to post pictures and some profound reflections. Instead, I’ll hang my head in shame and admit…… I forgot my damn password to post more entries. It’s not even that I forgot the freakin’ password, I suddenly became a technical moron.
Anyway….Boston pics, here are a few. I’m still shaky from my recent regression into technical incompetence so I’m taking it slow…..
Sunday, June 15, 2008
10:00 p.m. June 15, 2008
Spent an amazing day in Boston. I am not coming back. I love this city. I walked around all day and this woman who has absolutely NO internal guidance system knew where she was all the time. There are two places in the world where my whole being seems to be at peace and that is anywhere in New England and Northern California. Go figure. Anyway, this city is just wonderful. It turns out the bed and breakfast we are staying in is right in the very heart of Freedom Trail. Paul Revere’s house is two blocks up, the North Church, Faneuil Hall, I mean for crying out loud it just takes my breath away. These are the places where the world was changed. We spend so much time on the awesome and beautiful places of history that influenced us thousands of years ago but these places are also significant and we are fortunate enough to still be able to touch and feel them. I saw the saw the very window in the Old North Church where Robert Newman lit the lamp for Paul Revere and escaped not out the front door, but out the window. Really the very window…original wood and glass. I stood in the very room where Paul Revere made his decision to be the ultimate traitor or the ultimate patriot and took off in the darkness to begin battle with the British. The entire scope of the world would have been different
I stood in Faneuil Park in the very place where Susan B. Anthony argued for women’s rights, where Frederic Douglass spoke out against slavery, where the very foundation of our nations’ freedoms where formed. I stood there today and saw tourism and shops, but for me the echoes of the dissenters and outcasts and troublemakers that are now are celebrated heroes move through my mind challenging me for what I will do to push the limits of my world and make it a better place.
Spent an amazing day in Boston. I am not coming back. I love this city. I walked around all day and this woman who has absolutely NO internal guidance system knew where she was all the time. There are two places in the world where my whole being seems to be at peace and that is anywhere in New England and Northern California. Go figure. Anyway, this city is just wonderful. It turns out the bed and breakfast we are staying in is right in the very heart of Freedom Trail. Paul Revere’s house is two blocks up, the North Church, Faneuil Hall, I mean for crying out loud it just takes my breath away. These are the places where the world was changed. We spend so much time on the awesome and beautiful places of history that influenced us thousands of years ago but these places are also significant and we are fortunate enough to still be able to touch and feel them. I saw the saw the very window in the Old North Church where Robert Newman lit the lamp for Paul Revere and escaped not out the front door, but out the window. Really the very window…original wood and glass. I stood in the very room where Paul Revere made his decision to be the ultimate traitor or the ultimate patriot and took off in the darkness to begin battle with the British. The entire scope of the world would have been different
I stood in Faneuil Park in the very place where Susan B. Anthony argued for women’s rights, where Frederic Douglass spoke out against slavery, where the very foundation of our nations’ freedoms where formed. I stood there today and saw tourism and shops, but for me the echoes of the dissenters and outcasts and troublemakers that are now are celebrated heroes move through my mind challenging me for what I will do to push the limits of my world and make it a better place.
The Maine Diaries
It’s 8:19 a.m. on Sunday, June 15, 2008. I have officially been on vacation for a day and a half and am only just now starting to come out of the blurr from the last two weeks. We are in Boston now, specifically in the North End in a beautiful bed and breakfast. My view is of roof tops and old architecture. It’s beautiful. The day is rainy and cool in the upper 50’s. Paul and the girls sleep while I sip coffee and type at the writing desk.
Our efforts to leave town on Friday were almost comical. Paul and the girls took my instructions about purchasing fruit for us to snack on to heart and I came home to what looked like ten plastic containers of melon. Two huge coolers were sitting on the floor awaiting their bounty and there still wasn’t enough room. After loading and reloading the coolers and all of the luggage we realized we had to downsize a cooler and Kenzie ended up dumping most of the fruit. Paul’s brother Chad is watching the house and dogs for us and would sooner stab himself in the eye with a pencil than to pass a piece of fruit between his lips.
I did not help matters at all as it seems my brain completely discontinued functioning at approximately 1:30 p.m. What is possibly the best group of Air Force people I have ever had the pleasure of working with was safely departed and I was standing in my kitchen trying to trouble shoot the logistics of the quantity of stuff we had decided we just HAD bring along and the constraints of a mini van and the bodies trying to squeeze into it when I realized the unnerving sound I was hearing was the gears of my mind grinding and slamming like an engine too long driven hard and fast without an oil change. God knows what we really have packed in the depths of that van.
We arrived in Harrisburg Pennsylvania after 1:00 in the morning and paid $254 for a six hour sleep and a shower. Hannah’s one request for this whole trip was to go to Hershey and drive down the streets so she could see the street lamps with Kisses on top and go to Chocolate World to see how the chocolate was made. We got ourselves turned around in Hershey, the Garmin GPS it seems occasionally has mind of her own – we’ve named her Velma and the van the Mystery Machine. We all know that Ray is Scooby but unfortunately we had to leave him behind. Anyway, we finally arrived at Hershey Park, were lined up and trammed like cattle, paid an absolutely UNGODLY amount of money to wander around the park. Paul and Kenzie hit the roller coasters but Hannah wanted the museum and Chocolate World so she and I played a carnival game called wack-a-mole where she won a little stuffed monkey whose hands Velcro together. She’s been wearing it around her neck ever since. His name is, of course, George. She and I hit the museum, which was pretty interesting actually and then met up with Kenzie and Paul to tour Chocolate World. It’s a riding tour and they make it a lot of fun. The expression on Hannah’s face was worth everything. She was so excited and so animated. I would give anything in a heartbeat for her to always look like that.
The drive to Boston…..what the Fuck???! The Garmin must have decided to take us the shortest route, but not necessarily the fastest route. Fucking Velma took us through downtown Jersey and downtown New York. “Paul, looking over your shoulder is a sign of weakness! Don’t put on your signal until you are already half way into the lane – Jesus man, this is no place for manners, practice your “Up Yours Buddy” voice and drive man drive!!” The man was a wreck by the time we got through the city. Oh, and I forgot to mention the freakin’ tsunami that blew in while we navigating our way across the Manhattan Bridge. Oh wait and I also forgot the slight detour when we tried to pull off and get gas at the Jersey service area. Oh man!! We waited in line to get gas only to discover that their credit card machines were down and it was cash only. I had taken the girls inside to go to the bathroom and they got a quick education. We had two people trying to sell us tickets to some show some where; one woman who just wanted to know if we spoke English and she would just give them to us if we wanted them. Another woman was selling, but she wasn’t selling tickets exactly.
Anyway we got the hell out and strapped on the pontoon feature of the Mystery Van and navigated our way towards Boston. The storm was so bad we drove most of it somewhere between 35 and 45 miles an hour. We hit Boston at around 11:00 p.m. We learned two very important things about the Garmin GPS. One, she can’t read the satellite signals underground and when you finally emerged, she’s going to give you the wrong directions or tell you to turn right NOW, NOW, NOW as you sail past it. Two, it is very very very important that you spell out the entire street name. For example; 290 N. St. Boston is NOT going to get you to 290 North Street, Boston. Those would be two entirely different, yet viable Boston locations.
La Capella is the bed and breakfast and it is just lovely. We are on the fifth floor – no elevator. It is not a large room but it is nicely done and cozy. There is a large common kitchen area with a small patio over looking the roof tops. The rain has followed us and our high today is supposed to be in the low 60’s. Kenzie is going to freeze her butt off. She did not heed my advice to bring long sleeves. I’m in a bind for activities for us because everything I have planned involves walking around the city.
Hannah is up and hungry and journal time has expired. I am off to forage for food and figure out what the hell to do with everyone on a rainy Boston day.
It’s 8:19 a.m. on Sunday, June 15, 2008. I have officially been on vacation for a day and a half and am only just now starting to come out of the blurr from the last two weeks. We are in Boston now, specifically in the North End in a beautiful bed and breakfast. My view is of roof tops and old architecture. It’s beautiful. The day is rainy and cool in the upper 50’s. Paul and the girls sleep while I sip coffee and type at the writing desk.
Our efforts to leave town on Friday were almost comical. Paul and the girls took my instructions about purchasing fruit for us to snack on to heart and I came home to what looked like ten plastic containers of melon. Two huge coolers were sitting on the floor awaiting their bounty and there still wasn’t enough room. After loading and reloading the coolers and all of the luggage we realized we had to downsize a cooler and Kenzie ended up dumping most of the fruit. Paul’s brother Chad is watching the house and dogs for us and would sooner stab himself in the eye with a pencil than to pass a piece of fruit between his lips.
I did not help matters at all as it seems my brain completely discontinued functioning at approximately 1:30 p.m. What is possibly the best group of Air Force people I have ever had the pleasure of working with was safely departed and I was standing in my kitchen trying to trouble shoot the logistics of the quantity of stuff we had decided we just HAD bring along and the constraints of a mini van and the bodies trying to squeeze into it when I realized the unnerving sound I was hearing was the gears of my mind grinding and slamming like an engine too long driven hard and fast without an oil change. God knows what we really have packed in the depths of that van.
We arrived in Harrisburg Pennsylvania after 1:00 in the morning and paid $254 for a six hour sleep and a shower. Hannah’s one request for this whole trip was to go to Hershey and drive down the streets so she could see the street lamps with Kisses on top and go to Chocolate World to see how the chocolate was made. We got ourselves turned around in Hershey, the Garmin GPS it seems occasionally has mind of her own – we’ve named her Velma and the van the Mystery Machine. We all know that Ray is Scooby but unfortunately we had to leave him behind. Anyway, we finally arrived at Hershey Park, were lined up and trammed like cattle, paid an absolutely UNGODLY amount of money to wander around the park. Paul and Kenzie hit the roller coasters but Hannah wanted the museum and Chocolate World so she and I played a carnival game called wack-a-mole where she won a little stuffed monkey whose hands Velcro together. She’s been wearing it around her neck ever since. His name is, of course, George. She and I hit the museum, which was pretty interesting actually and then met up with Kenzie and Paul to tour Chocolate World. It’s a riding tour and they make it a lot of fun. The expression on Hannah’s face was worth everything. She was so excited and so animated. I would give anything in a heartbeat for her to always look like that.
The drive to Boston…..what the Fuck???! The Garmin must have decided to take us the shortest route, but not necessarily the fastest route. Fucking Velma took us through downtown Jersey and downtown New York. “Paul, looking over your shoulder is a sign of weakness! Don’t put on your signal until you are already half way into the lane – Jesus man, this is no place for manners, practice your “Up Yours Buddy” voice and drive man drive!!” The man was a wreck by the time we got through the city. Oh, and I forgot to mention the freakin’ tsunami that blew in while we navigating our way across the Manhattan Bridge. Oh wait and I also forgot the slight detour when we tried to pull off and get gas at the Jersey service area. Oh man!! We waited in line to get gas only to discover that their credit card machines were down and it was cash only. I had taken the girls inside to go to the bathroom and they got a quick education. We had two people trying to sell us tickets to some show some where; one woman who just wanted to know if we spoke English and she would just give them to us if we wanted them. Another woman was selling, but she wasn’t selling tickets exactly.
Anyway we got the hell out and strapped on the pontoon feature of the Mystery Van and navigated our way towards Boston. The storm was so bad we drove most of it somewhere between 35 and 45 miles an hour. We hit Boston at around 11:00 p.m. We learned two very important things about the Garmin GPS. One, she can’t read the satellite signals underground and when you finally emerged, she’s going to give you the wrong directions or tell you to turn right NOW, NOW, NOW as you sail past it. Two, it is very very very important that you spell out the entire street name. For example; 290 N. St. Boston is NOT going to get you to 290 North Street, Boston. Those would be two entirely different, yet viable Boston locations.
La Capella is the bed and breakfast and it is just lovely. We are on the fifth floor – no elevator. It is not a large room but it is nicely done and cozy. There is a large common kitchen area with a small patio over looking the roof tops. The rain has followed us and our high today is supposed to be in the low 60’s. Kenzie is going to freeze her butt off. She did not heed my advice to bring long sleeves. I’m in a bind for activities for us because everything I have planned involves walking around the city.
Hannah is up and hungry and journal time has expired. I am off to forage for food and figure out what the hell to do with everyone on a rainy Boston day.
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