Ocean park Maine

I've been going to Ocean Park, Maine for over 30 years. It has long been our family's summer vacation destination since Heather was around 2 years old. It has a small town charm with a ice cream shop, a grocery store and of course a wonderful beach. This year's visit was different though. Heather, Brian, Erin and Theresa rented a place just a block from the beach and Susan and I stayed with my sister Shannon for a few days. The first day Heather was there she went for a walk on the beach and found a sand dollar. We used to find them all of the time but in the last few years we hardly ever found any. Heather posted a picture of it on facebook along with a story. It's been almost a year since the kid's mother Bev died. Heather felt that finding a sand dollar on her first day at the beach was like a signal from Bev that she was there. Heather brought Bev's ashes to Maine so that some of them could be left in the ocean. So on Tuesday night we all went down to the beach with Heather carrying Bev's urn in her backpack. It was low tide and we went out to a sandbar to sprinkle some of the ashes in the surf. As soon as we got there, Erin saw an edge of s sand dollar sticking out of the sand. Thinking it was just a piece of one, she picked it up and found out it was a whole sand dollar. Another sign? Maybe. We all took turns spreading some of the ashes in the sand and the surf. We then stood around remembering stories of Bev and Maine. After that, Heather said it would be fitting to go to the ice cream parlor for an ice cream. While we were there, Heather got a lime ricci, which was always Bev's favorite and put it on the table where we were all sitting. It was just like she was there with us, The rest of our time at Ocean Park was very relaxing. Susan and I spent time just sitting on the beach watching the waves come in. I could do that every day! Wednesday night we had a Maine clambake with steamers, lobsters and corn at Shannon's place. It was a fun night with much laughter and good food. I hope we can continue this tradition for many years to come.

Crazy Dream

I have strange and vivid dreams every night but last night's dream was very weird. I was dreaming that I was spending the day with Obama and his family. I was riding in a limo to get to the white house waving at people as we drove along. When I got to the white house I went into a small room that looked like a kitchen and Michelle offered me something to eat. I asked to use the bathroom and when I went in I noticed that there were doughnuts all over the floor. I thought that Obama's dog must have left them there. Then we all went for a walk around Washington with Obama stopping to talk to many people. I was thinking on what a great guy he was to take the time to stop and talk. I then was riding in the limo again going around Washington. It was then I woke up. The dream seems so real and vivid. I could remember many details about it. I guess I must miss Obama as our president. Maybe the dream will continue tonight.

Winter Journy by Diane Armstrong

I really enjoyed this book. It was hard to read at times with the graphic descriptions of things that happened. Being Polish myself and having visited Poland, it was interesting to read about the people and places in Poland. I won't spoil the story for people who haven't read this book yet. I'm going to look for the author's other book. They sound very interesting too.

Our house is a very,very fine house

We don't have two cats in the yard but we do have one dog! We've been in our house since September and we love it. Moving in did have it's problems though. We couldn't get our couch out the door of our old house and we ended up using a sawsall to break it up. I'm still not sure how it got in the house. It must have gained weight in the years we had it. We needed a new couch anyways. Then after we moved in we discovered that the tub was not draining and the toilet was not flushing.  After trying everything to clear the lines, we hired a professional. He found out that tree roots were blocking the line. After much grinding and cutting, the line was opened up. We also had trouble with our electrician. He came in August the work that we needed done but then never came back to finish. I had to hire someone else to come in to finish the work. But now everything seems to be working ok and we're enjoying our new home. There are still a few things that we need to do, like unpacking the many boxes in the basement which we are working on. And our dog Zoey just loves the house and the big back yard.

Sad News

There is some sad news to report this week. My ex wife Beverly was found dead in her apartment on Sunday. She was 65 years old. This was totally unexpected and was a shock to all of us especially her children, Heather, Brian and Erin. We have been divorced for some time now but we were still friendly towards each other. We had our differences in the past by we also has some good times too. It's hard when someone dies suddenly like that. She will be missed by all, especially her children. Rest in peace Bev.

catching up

It's been quite a while since I wrote anything here so I thought I do some catching up.

Susan And I purchased a home in February. It's a 3 bedroom ranch on a half acre of land. It's very nice but is in need of some updating. It was build in 1959 and not much has changed since then. So we decided to gut the kitchen and the bathroom. We're putting in all new cabinets and tearing down a wall between the kitchen and living room. We already had a new roof put on and we're doing a lot of work in the yard. We hope to be moved in by August. We're both very excited.

We added a new member to our family last October when we got a Golden Retriever puppy. Her name is Zoey and she's a great dog. She has lots of energy which is good since it makes us take more walks. She is a true retriever too. She is constantly finding baseballs at the park that is near by. Al last count, she has 24 baseballs in her toy box.

I have come one step closer to true retirement. I retired 4 years ago but I have been working 2 days a week since then. As of the end of June, I will only go into work for special projects. I'm ready for that. Susan also retired this year so we both have time to work on the new house. We also want to travel more in the near future. There are so many places we want to visit!

More to come....

Erin's Wedding

Erin and Greg got married on August 23, 2015. But let me go back a few hours before the wedding. It started as a normal day with me getting up and having breakfast. And since it was a Sunday, I went and got my usual Boston Globe and fresh rye bread from the local bakery. I then settled down to reading my paper and watching "Sunday Morning". All that changed when I received a call from Erin at 10 am. She was at the hairdresser with the rest of the bridal party getting their hair done before the wedding, which was at 3:30 that afternoon. She told me that my other daughter Heather had fainted in the chair and was going to the hospital by ambulance. So off I went to the local hospital to meet Heather at the ER. I was there before the ambulance arrived but it drove in shortly with Heather. By the time I was able to go into the ER to see her, she was doing fine. This has happened before to her and it's always a stressful situation. The ran all sorts of tests and they all came back normal. The ER doctor wanted to admit her but she checked herself out of the ER and came to my house to finish getting ready. It was now 1PM. She got ready and headed to the wedding location which was about 30 minutes away. I finished getting ready and Susan and I headed there too.

We arrived at the wedding site and everything was perfect. Heather was doing fine and Erin just looked beautiful. I escorted her outside to where the ceremony was to take place. The ceremony was very nice and Erin and Greg were married. The reception was perfect too. The food was very good and the "Red Barn" was decorated nice too. I had my father's dance with the bride and Greg had a dance with his mother. After that the fun began. They had a DJ for the music and his choice of songs was great for dancing. He said that he never saw so much dancing at a wedding! Everyone had a great time! Even my mom, who is 92 years old, got up to dance several times. I just wish my dad could have been there with her. Everyone said what a good time they had.  All in all, it was a perfect day!