Friday Morning, Tomorrow Kelly

I am now in southern Connecticut at a Quality Inn and my camping plans fell apart. I had a nice dinner at the Italian restaurant last night and then walked some before heading into the room. I slept well and when I got up I worked on my novel and have over 2700 words. Yesterday was a decent day but I must say I would be glad to get home. This morning, however, I know I will be back Sunday. I did play golf and ride my bike yesterday and did keep up my novel writing although it was a bit of a struggle. I will have a pretty easy day of driving (4 hours or so) and that should put me about an hour from Kelly. I think I can be a real help to her and Alfredo and it should be fun to see Lucia.

visiting Merrill and Acadia

Next morning, I got up early and showered, did my wash, practiced my sax and then met Merrill at 12:15 at the Maine Grind for lunch. I have known Merrill for many years and she always strikes me as deeply good, deeply concerned, deeply loving (especially with her husband and son Merrin). I admire her. She doesn’t have the histrionics I often end up in. After lunch, we went for a two mile hike at an historic house nearby. We chatted about her family and her nursing aspirations. After leaving Merrill I left for Acadia and went for a long bike ride around Eagle Lake. It was then nap time and after a brief nap I was ready to have dinner, this time treating myself to lobster at the Bar Harbor Lobster Pound. After that I walked around a lot, ending up at a tavern that had internet and writing on my novel. I got back to the campground around 11 and went right to bed since I was very tired. I slept very well and got up around 7, showered, and then drove into Bar Harbor for breakfast at The Two Cats (very good especially the spicy potatoes) and then worked on my story, which is moving along (1500 words). Then it was time for my bike ride (to Witch’s Hole) and then nap time. After that I headed to Two Cats again for a very desired cup of coffee and a blueberry muffin. I worked on a couple of poems (the Vermont poem needs work on the ending) and then it was blog time.

Vermont to Maine

This is going to be a catchup entry since a lot has happened since I left New York. On Friday morning I drove up to Bennington, battling the rain for most of the drive. As I got east of Troy the weather cleared a bit and I was able to play nine holes at a long par 3 course and I shot very well. After that I drove to Bennington and got my fishing license, then headed up to the campground on 9 up by the ski area. I stopped to fish the Walloomsac and it was lovely water and I caught 3 browns. After checking in, I drove back to town for pizza and a walk with my earbuds. The next day was still a bit threatening weather wise, but I did go fishing again in one of the tributaries of the Walloomsac and caught 3 small brook trout. I then drove to Camping on the Battenkill and took a nap, then rode my bike for an hour, then did yoga and practiced my sax. I had dinner at Mulligan’s and then went to the Fault in our Stars, which had me in tears throughout. I walked around Manchester a little and went back to the campground. In the morning I decided to head for Bar Harbor and after checking my GPS I realized that I had underestimated the drive by 3 hours, 7 hours instead of 4. That meant a long day in the truck if I wanted to get to the coast and that was my intention for the first 3 hours. But then after a nap, I decided to not worry about getting there and stopped at Pawtuckaway State Park for a long bike ride through the hilly and forested park roads. After that I drove on, expecting Claire’s e-mailed letter at any point, but luckily not finding it. I stopped to play golf at a first rate links course (where I shot a 45) and then drove on to Ellsworth after talking to Merrill about having lunch and a walk tomorrow. I couldn’t find a place to watch the game (Sunday in Ellsworth is dead) and finally ended up in a Mexican restaurant where the woman kindly fixed me some food and let me watch the first half. The game was out of hand so the second half wasn’t important. What a boring series. After checking in at my campground, I drove back to Denny’s and worked on my novel.

Visit to Gabes and Julian

I had a lovely visit to Gabes on Monday (the big news being that Francesca is pregnant) and my babysitting duties (for 5 hours) went very well. I woke Julian at 5, and cuddled with him while he woke up, then we headed to the park where he rode his wheeled toy and then climbed all over the playground structures, then went swinging for a while. After that we went for pizza at the pizzeria on Colonial, and then a wonderful thing happened. Julian is a little obsessed with the B-9 bus and I asked him if he would like to take a ride on it. (He said he had never been on it, but Gabes said that he had). Anyway, he really liked the idea but when we stood at the bus stop, he wavered a little, said he had changed his mind, but then decided to get on when a B-9 came. The driver was an absolute doll, allowing us to ride for free, giving Julian some peanut butter crackers, allowing him to make the final stop announcement, and letting him play around the bus while she took her ten minute break. When we got back to our stop, Julian thanked her and told her he hoped she had a nice day, so very sweet. Later, as we discussed our adventure, he said that though we didn’t know where we were going the driver did. Very smart. I took him home and cooked him some elbow macaroni and then after reading him a story, it was time for bed, around 8:15. The next day I played with him in the morning, and then I went into town to have lunch with Gabes after a walk through Chinatown and a stroll downtown to 30 Broad Street. It was a lot of fun and Gabe treated. After that I walked over to the memorial and headed back around 4. Julian was funny at dinner noticing each time one of us said shit, and I called him Little Big Brother.

maymester is over

I am finished for the summer and it feels pretty good. I am at Cigars International cigar store and bar near the cabelas at Hamburg and I am smoking a cigar for the first time in 6 years (I assume one won’t hurt me), drinking coffee and listening to my songs with my earbuds. This place has music and internet and I am sitting outside having put in my grades and I am hoping to get to writing in a few minutes. I got off at around 11 after visiting with the campers. I stopped to ride my bike for an hour at JMU and rode to the other side of the campus, which is pretty big. It is amazing how I am breaking so many patterns these days. I played golf with David yesterday and we had a lot of fun and then we met Suzy and Emily at the DQ and had some food and ice cream. Emily was so much fun. It was also great to talk to Suzy again, and she asked if I would send her a couple of my essays.

a quick visit to Charlotte to escape the cold

I decided to head down to Charlotte on Thursday morning (because of the cold) and that turned out to be a good decision. Charlotte was much warmer (about 50) and I played golf at Regent Park and rode my bike there also. I graded some at the pizzeria, and then went to the wingate to do some work and then head to P.F. Chang’s for dinner. It was my usual steamed shrimp dumpling, hot and sour soup, and a mix of eggplant and broccoli. It was excellent. I walked around a little and then pretty beat went back to my room. In the morning I worked a little, then went for an hour walk around the 4th ward and downtown Charlotte. I drove to the New River Trail but the trail had just gotten new gravel and my bike tires sunk too much. I drove on the roads for a half hour and then finished my ride along the river trail in Radford. I watched some TV and then headed home to see the job that Mike had done. He started a bit too high but it looked pretty good and he is going to put half a load further down and put the rest of the 57 in a pile by the pond. He will also be bringing me a load of crusher run and a load of 357. In the morning, I got up and went for a nice hike after working on my paper a little (it is pretty bad but almost done). I finished clearing the asparagus patch and then went back with the compost and fertilized the fruit trees and the asparagus. I emptied the lawn tractor gas and filled that this evening along with another container for the generator. I let the sun charge the batteries up pretty good and then I used the generator to keep charging them. I started at about 1200 in 1 and I got the charging rate down to 7.8-11 so I hope to finish tomorrow. I watched the Virginia game and then the Duke game (they will meet tomorrow at 1) and then took another walk to my gate. I vacuumed the truck of all the trail mix I spilled, washed the plastic in the front and cleaned the front seat. I also brought in the two containers outside the greenhouse and planted my second 8 broccoli plants. We will see how I do. Now I have three trays of lettuce, two of peas and four of broccoli. I spoke with Gloria today and things are a little better but I hope she can quit soon or I am worried she will get sick.

middle of the break

It is Wednesday, March 12th and my break is about half over. I have gotten a good bit of grading done but I still have enough to keep me busy. I will be heading to Charlotte tomorrow for an overnighter and I will have to do some grading down there and start reading for next week also. I have basically finished my road and it is in the best shape it has been in for years. I must have spent ten hours on the tractor and my knee feels it. Coltsfoot came out on the 10th so that is a nice treat, certainly foreshadowing the advent of spring. I used my new Stihl battery chainsaw and it worked very well. I cut up the fallen tree in the pasture and did some clearing along the road and up by the house. It is a little slow but it cut a six inch piece of wood with no real trouble. I planted more in my garden, including 8 broccoli plants and some lettuce mix Rob gave me. The early lettuce and peas are up and I should have some to eat in a few weeks. I have ordered some crusher run and 357 and Mike is coming up tomorrow morning to see where I want it. Yesterday I went up to Barbours creek (which was just stocked) and I fished a very pretty stretch of rocky water but didn’t get a hit on dries or nymphs. I then fished a little of the South Prong and it was lovely water and not completely impossible to fish. There were a few decent pools in the rhododendron and I did bring up a small trout. I went for a walk with Rob in the evening after riding my bike at the Tech campus. Earlier in the break I fished Wolf creek and caught two nice trout (over twelve inches). I have played golf a couple of times at Auburn and after starting well on my second visit, I shot a 9 on the tight, short 5th, making a number of mistakes in judgment. I was playing from the golds but I switched to the reds to see if I could still break 50 and I shot a 6 on the difficult par 5, 4 on the par 3, 5 on the easy par 4 and then a 4 on the final hole, ending up with a 48.