Everything is beautiful and calm, as I gaze out over McGrath Pond this morning, Saturday, August 1st. Maine time is running out now, with only 6 days left. Two left with Aunt Dawn and the Beatsons at Kool-Bee, then 4 days with Dad before he needs to get me to Bangor International Airport by 4:50 a.m., Friday (Very Early Morning). It is 6:30 a.m. right now.
Yesterday I got up and packed up and checked out of Days Inn Motel and also cancelled my booking for the four nights next week. I had checked on Vacationland Inn Motel and all was correct for the
booking so I could let go of the other booking I had erroneously made for Days Inn.
Then to Dad's to get my phone, which I had left there Thursday night by mistake.
So, by just after 8 a.m. I was off on I 95 South headed for Oakland and Kool-Bee.
I stopped at Pittsfield on the idea that I would get petrol for the beast and also take a few pictures of Maine Central Institute for Little Lee, as we had both lived and worked there for a few months in 1981, which was the first time we came back to Maine to live for a year. That was two years before Ty was born, to put it into perspective. I was 30 and Little Lee was 28.
I was worried about the automatic transmission fluid in the beast, however, as I could see it running out onto the ground underneath, so I decided not to waste time looking for MCI and just got back on I 95 and continued, after buying a couple quarts of transmission fluid from the local car parts store.
Finally got to Kool-Bee and checked in with Aunt Dawn. We went to get the mail and then went to see Tracy and Chipper Cody's new camp (my cousin Tracy is Aunt Cilla/Uncle Carl's daughter) on Long Pond.
A map of The Belgrade Lakes area.
Aunt Dawn and Kool-Bee are on McGrath Pond/Salmon Lake. Tracy and Chipper on Long Pond.
Day's Country Store is on Great Pond where it intersects with Long Pond.
I lived on two different places on Messalonski Lake when I was growing up. Both on the "Sidney side" of the lake. McGrath Pond is on the Belgrade side of the lake.
Aunt Dawn and I found Tracy's camp after some getting lost time.
A nice camp on Long Pond, quite near the Days Country Store back landing.
Shallow rocky beach in front with a nice new dock to pull the boat up to.
Tracy and Chipper's camp on Long Pond. Belgrade Lakes.
After our visit to the camp and adventure finding it and returning to Kool-Bee successfully,
I headed out to my brother Guy's house on the Garland Road, in Winslow, the "Twin City" to Waterville.
He owns a nice large acreage lot where he has built a beautiful house on what we called "Blueberry Hill" , overlooking the old Pine Hill Farms, where Grampy and Grammie Russell lived and where Guy and I lived for a lot of out teen years working on the farm.
L->R: Debbi, Guy, Sara, Gloria, Jessi Russell, Lance Russell, with Jacki taking the photo; thanks Jacki, you did a great job.
I had a wonderful visit and Guy and Debbi both look great and life for them seems very good. They are "Maine Snowbirds" spending Winter down in their home in Southwestern Florida, and Summers up ta Maine! Best of both worlds, I think.
In Guy's back yard, looking over his vegetable garden. He mows a huge lawn, but has a great tractor and mower to take care of it. He says a 6-foot blade for the mower.
Guy has lots of woods behind his house with lots of different types of trees and lots of visiting wildlife. He has seen Fisher Cats and Eagles, lots of deer, moose, recently has had Raccoon trouble and I think he may have put motion detector cameras out the back to capture photos of visiting animules. Not too sure about that, I may have just imagined I heard him say that.
Guy's veggie garden, he designed as weeding free. He has a huge cucumber crop and is giving them away left and right. Lots of tomatoes and , I think, pumpkins and squash, not sure. He actually has cut the garden back as it was even bigger in past years.
After the family lunch with Guy and family, I headed over to my Cousin Rhonda Poirier's house at 43 Cushman Road, , Winslow. Only a few miles away. I told her I would drop in after my lunch with Guy. She had made a Toutierre Pie, which is a meat pie, made with pork and beef and certain spices, and potato. Very nice. Her mother, My late Aunt Lucy, made a great one, and so did my mother. Both different recipes, however. I believe they were both trying to replicate the one made by my Grandmother Lucienne DesVeaux, but secretly, I think they both made excellent but unique pies.
In Ronnie (Rhonda) Poirier's house with her baby sister Lisa Brown.
They were great and Ronnie is always fun and great to see. When we were young , pre-teen and teens, my mother and Aunt Lucy were great and close friends, being the closest of age of the 14 siblings of my mother. They often visited us, and we visited them. It was fun. Aunt Lucy had 4 daughters, Johnna, Cindy, Rhonda and Lisa, whereas Mom had us three boys, Lance, Guy and Shawn.
It was a great visit, I love Ronnie. Always great to see her and it was a real treat to see Lisa as well.
Ronnie, Lisa and Me.
After our dinner and wine and extended visit and chat I hurried back to Kool-Bee, a little worried because it was past 7 p.m. and I had told Aunt Dawn I would be back at 5 p.m. or so. I didn't have a phone that worked and didn't have my computer so I had no way of contacting her to tell her I was delayed. Anyways, everything was fine except that I did miss Johnny B's visit (John Beatson, Aunt Dawn's eldest son) and I would have liked to chat with him again.
SO! That was Friday July 31st.
Now it is Saturday morning, August 1st at 8:07.
I have a lunch date with my nephew Shawn and my niece Katy and my brother Guy's ex-wife Debbi (Muffin) Russell at Big G's Restaurant on the Fairfield-Winslow Road, set for 1 p.m.
Big G's is famous for huge sandwiches made from huge loves of bread they make themselves.
That will be fun.
On the way over, I need to stop at Walmart in Waterville and get some thumb-drives or pen-drives for the computer to record my set of 2015 photos on and give a copy to Aunt dawn and also get a golf video of Dad and Spencer's golf swing onto them.
Then stop at Guy's house for a minute because they found some old photos from my mother's estate that they offered me but I forgot to bring them when I left.
Blog 36? Done.
Lance (and Ross, in absentia in Toronto now I believe)
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