Getting Ready to Return to Mexico

We are, at last, wrapping up our Maine visit and preparing to head to Gloucester, Massachusetts where my brothers have gathered with their families for a vacation. Then, on Saturday, we’ll fly back to Guadalajara.

The weather in Maine has been almost picture-perfect since our hot and humid stretch in early July. We had fewer days at the Kennebunk beach than I thought we would, but we did have some good beach time watching the surfers and relaxing in the sun.

We noticed, not too surprisingly, that the Maine seafood restaurants down by the harbor were, to say the least, very pricey. Since Pixie, every year, loves to have a fried clam dinner, this presented a challenge. Our friends Ron and Jean, who live here most of the year, helped us by bringing us to a local restaurant frequented by the locals. Pixie’s friend clams were great, while I enjoyed a fish ‘n chips dinner myself.

One of our good friends from Central Maine Community College put on a party one evening at her country home n rural Leeds, Maine, for Pixie and I. They invited many of our good friends for an evening of recollections, updates, and a lot of fun. She has a beautiful home she and Jim build themselves and share with some chickens, sheep, ducks, and quails. They invited us to spend the night so we wouldn’t have to make the trip to Kennebunk late at night. Here is Lucy our host, hamming it up with fabric artist and professor, Don Talbot. At right is Ethel and her new husband, Jeff. Below are our friends Lloyd and Kathy and a photo of Lucy's husband, Jim, watering the ducks and sheep in the morning.

The following night, we joined up with three-fourths of our gourmet dinner group. When we lived in Maine, we gathered every month or two with three other couples to cook a special dinner at one of our homes and had wonderful times. We shared the cooking and some wonderful moments together. We, of course, abandoned the group when we moved to Mexico, as did Marlene and Elliott, when they moved to Aiken, South Carolina. We gathered with the other two couples for a reunion at Kathy and Doug’s home in New Gloucester, Maine. Kathy and Doug visited us last winter in Mexico. Gene and Betty were there, as well, so we had 75% of the group there. After dinner, of course, we put in a conference call to South Carolina so we could include Marlene and Elliott in the fun. From left; Gene, Betty, Kathy, Doug, and Pixie

Every year when I come back to Maine, I get together with by former gym buddies, Don and Larry. This year was no exception, as Larry treated us to a meal at Pat's Pizza.

We revisited our old Unitarian-Universalist Church one Sunday and reconnected and brought greetings from our UU Fellowship in Mexico. It was good to see some more friends that day. We had brought a small bag of Mexican jewelry for them to sell at their Christmas fair to raise money for the church. Then, we spent the rest of the day with our daughter Wendy and her partner Troy at their apartment in Lewiston. We had a wonderful dinner and good conversation. Wendy is in the final stages of finishing her undergraduate degree in Therapeutic Recreation, and plans to complete an MSW degree when she finishes. Troy is also planning to start graduate work in the fall of 2011. They may need to move away from Maine for their studies. We’ll see how that works out.

We were busy last week with some hearing/audiology appointments for me, where we confirmed that I am suffering from some hearing loss and was fitted with hearing aids. Pixie spent a few days with her sister, Liana, and her family in Gray, while I returned to Waldoboro to visit my dad and stepmom again. Pixie’s brother , Tex, and his daughter Jan came by for dinner one evening. It was good to have some one-on-one time with them.

Then, last weekend, Pixie, Wendy and I made the trip to the University of Hartford to attend the art show and dinner honoring this year’s graduates of the MFA Illustration program. This was the first time we had been on campus and met Cassie’s classmates and professors. Amazingly, many of the students are already professional illustrators looking to get the MFA as a teaching credential. The art show was phenomenal. Cassie’s work was the artwork for a children’s book about a Pug named Gertie. It was very complex pen and ink work. Every one of the twenty or so exhibitions were very different from one another and phenomenal, both in terms of their expertise and creativity. We were happy to see that Cassie was loved by everyone who knew her….but of course we were not surprised. Alana, Cassie’s partner was there as well, along with her mom, sister, brother-in-law, and niece. We had never met them before…a very special family. Here Cassie poses with her images from her "Gertie" book, and with Alana and her mom and sister below:

Last Monday, we enjoyed a pizza dinner with Cassie and her partner, Alana. We were able to see their apartment right near the ocean on Portland’s Eastern Promenade, and meet their wonderful puppy, Yo’te.

We even entertained while we were staying at the condo. On one of our last nights there, we had good friends from our UU church for dinner, Kevin and Judy and Mary Kay and Claire. Other UU church friends who own the condo, Mark and Beth Ayotte, also came for dinner one night. Here are Mark and Beth, on left, and Claire, Mary Kay, Pixie, Judy and Kevin on right.

From writing all this it’s easy to see why we didn’t have as much beach time as we had anticipated. We were too busy. Need to return to Mexico to get some rest from our vacation!