With David all packed and off to Saudi Arabia, where he is overseeing the construction of a copper mine and Nellie safe in her new home, I had more time to spend with family and friends.
My mom spends her summers on Moose River in Rockwood and invited us over to spend the night. Dad had never been to that area of Maine and mom thought it would be nice if he got to see it. We arrived in time for dinner on Saturday night. My parents divorced 52 years ago and this is only the second time that we have been a “family unit” in all of that time. I have marvelous memories of our time together…..mom dug out my baby book and we looked at the pictures. It was fun and interesting to hear the stories that each picture brought back. It is a weekend that I will hold very dear to my heart.
Earlier this year, mom discovered that she had a torn meniscus in her knee and needed surgery. She made the appointment for the operation after the Cabbage Island trip. I went to Moosehead that week to help her during her recovery. It was arthroscopic day surgery and she came through with flying colors. Fortunately, my helping her didn’t require much attention to the knee as I am not the best nurses due to my very squeamish stomach. She had to keep the bandage on for four days and then it was remove. Fortunately for both of us, my duties required getting things for her and keeping the ice pack on the knee. 
I was able to sneak off for a couple of hours one afternoon to go sailing with our family friend, Roger. He has been repairing a 27’ sailboat that he and his son bought earlier this summer. It has been such a long time since I have been on the lake. It was gorgeous. What I remember most about that day was how crisp the colors were. The lake was a deep blue, the trees on the shoreline were a deep forest green and the sky was the perfect light blue. We sailed near Mt Kineo. One side of the mountain slopes gently down and the other side a 700 ft slate cliff that drops straight down. On this day, it looked so majestic. It was just a glorious day!
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that David and I bought a house in Hallowell this summer. Hallowell is the town that I grew up in and where my younger brother, Perry is living and selling real estate. A house, on the street that he is currently living on, was put on the market and Perry wanted to buy it. He had his house for sale for three months. David and I decided that we would like to invest in some real estate and bought it. 
I was able to help Perry celebrate his birthday in August. After making a trip to Bangor to visit my stepfather, Paul. We went to our friend’s camp near Augusta. I love Cathy’s camp….it is truly a summer camp with wonderful overstuffed comfortable chairs and couch and a great deck overlooking the lake. We spent the afternoon on the deck with Alan, Austin and Cathy. After going kayaking and swimming, we ended the afternoon with a cookout and birthday cake. 
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make my morning bike rides to Higgins Beach as much as I wanted to. I did get a few in and thoroughly enjoyed starting my day riding my bike, drinking coffee while looking at the waves. My friends, Laura, Laney and I did an early morning yoga class at the beach. It was wonderful. I only wish I had been able to do more…oh well, there is always next year to look forward to!
My final summer excursion was going with dad to the new Penobscot Narrows Bridge that was
built to replace the old bridge. They started construction on it in 2003 and opened it in 2006. It is one of three suspension bridges in the US and is the tallest Bridge Observatory in the world open to the public. I must say, it is quite a sight and the view at the top of the 435 ft tower is incredible. It was another great day in Maine (in general, the weather in Maine was great, great, great this summer) and we could see for miles. The day was topped off with a fried clam feed at the Red Barn restaurant in Augusta, Maine…..yum is all I have to say!