Yarmouth Clam Festival and a Family Visit to Maine

My Aunt Betsy, Uncle Bill, and Uncle Tom all came in town and stayed with my Aunt Kap and Uncle Jon. Dan and I drove up to Dunstable this past Fridayto join everyone, and then we all drove to Maine Saturday. We went to the Yarmouth Clam Festival where Jim, Aunt Kap's brother, was playing a set. We missed his band, but the festival was actually really nice and we had some good food and bought some items from the craft section. Then we all went on to Jim's house where we relaxed and hung out. Sunday they went on to Bar Harbor for more adventures, but Dan and I headed back to Boston for work Monday.

Dan met a friend at the festival. Some guy who worked for Dunkin also took Dan's picture, freaking him out slightly.



Once we got to Jim's he had a mission for us - take the recently returned outhouse up the stairs and around the back of the building.


First it was decided to tip the outhouse on its side.


But the end with the seat was considerably heavier, and without handles of any kind it was rather difficult to pick up much less carry.


The next step was hotly debated. Perhaps three scientists and a builder are a few too many cooks in the kitchen...



Finally they agreed upon attaching 2x4s to the outhouse for temporary handles.


Somewhat surprisingly, it worked really well and the outhouse was safely placed behind the house.


Afterwards we all retired inside for conversation and food.


Molly, one of Jim's daughters, and her boyfriend Craig both work at the Rock Garden Inn which is about 6 minutes down the road from Jim's house. On our way out of town Craig took us on a little tour of the resort. Dan was practically drooling and someday we'll hopefully have the ability to come back and stay there a while.

A couple of the cabins you can rent.


Some of the beautiful and almost classic Maine vistas from around the resort.










Dan and me on the rocks


Uncle Tom and Uncle Bill exploring


Uncle Bill and Aunt Betsy relaxing in the shade and enjoying the view


Uncle Jon resting for a moment


The water where we parked the car. Apparently during low tide this drains and you can walk across the mud flats.


Afterwards Dan and I headed back to the city, stopping briefly at Freeport for lunch and a quick walk around. Even though it was just a few days, it was nice to get away and relax for a bit. Now back to the grind...

Haitian Kreyol Class

For those of you who wondered why I dropped off the face of the earth recently, I took a three week Haitian Kreyol course that was great but exhausting. I left the house by 7:30 AM, went to work, left work to go to class, and didn't get home until 10 PM.... talk about a looooong day. But I learned an amazing amount, met some great people, and I hope to do it again next summer.

Here are a few highlights from our last day of class were the students all presented skits to show what they learned.

Sheila and I did a skit about going to the dentist. Sheila is a dental student at Tufts and wanted to learn Haitian in order to speak with a number of the immigrants who visit the dental school.


Some more student presentations.










Dancing, of course. This is Sister Maria and one of the professors.


Group shot of everyone at the institute.



Group shot of most of the beginning class.



The professors. They were awesome!

July 4th

Every year, the Boston Pops play a patriotic themed concert down by the Charles River and the city sets off tons of fireworks. Dan and I went to enjoy the music and fireworks and to hear Neil Diamond, the special guest singer. The whole area erupted in song and applause when he sang "Sweet Caroline" the unofficial Boston Red Sox anthem.

Dan and me relaxing on our picnic blanket before the show.


Fireworks

Hot Dog Safari

Dan and I went to the 2009 Hot Dog Safari at Suffolk Downs (a horse race track.) All the money went to some wonderful cause and we got to eat all the hot dogs, ice cream, cotton candy, etc. that we could.

One of the horses and a jockey were posing for pictures.



They had horse racing that you could bet on and the proceeds went to the same cause. Dan and I both lost our $5 miserably, but we had fun.


Dan insisted on taking a picture of me eating the cotton candy because it took so long to get.


Dan forced me to take this picture because I hate clowns....

Mom and Grandma come for a visit

I know this is quite late in posting, but to be fair I've been really busy with work and my class. Now that I have a few minutes of free time I thought I'd post the pictures from when Mom, Grandma Toy and Uncle Tom came for a visit recently.

We went for a walk near Aunt Kap and Uncle Jon's place. Here is Laura looking lovingly at her dog Indie.



Mom took tons of pictures but managed to look frightened or uncomfortable in every shot I took of her.


Mom, Uncle Tom, Dan and I went to Walden Pond. They recreated Thoreau's house which you can view before hiking along the lake.


The lake was really lovely - you can see the appeal it had for Thoreau


We also went out to a pretty little town along the water where we had some great food and fun walking around.


The brothers chatting by the water


Mom looking cold


Dan and I had been looking for a table to fit into our kitchen, but because the space is so cramped it was hard to find something that worked. We found this cute little table and chairs at an antique shop that was cheaper than most of the "discount" places we'd looked in town.


The unique enamel top