Got some ground to make up

A little ways down the page you will find a picture of where I am sitting as I put together today's inclusion to this delightful little diary. It's an absolutely gorgeous day here in Brooklin. It was foggy and cool this morning, but now it is a perfectly clear day, sunny and about 75. Drew and I got to the boat shop this morning around 7:40--I've been waiting for a long time to say "boat shop" and mean it--and we made good progress on his kayak. The hull is assembled, dookie schmutzed, and glassed. Tomorrow we will do the same with the deck, and Thursday is the day we put it all together. He is doing a great job, and I'm having him do as much work as he can do. I assist whenever he needs help, and I'm doing my fair share, but he will absolutely be able to say that he built this kayak. The guy working next to me today said to me, kind of on the DL, "He's a really good kid, isn't he? He just works, smiles, and never complains." And I said to him, "He definitely is a great kid. He's also a straight-A student, one of the best athletes in his class, and he's popular with the ladies, much to his dismay."

Friday is our last day to work; we can come in on Saturday if we so desire, and we still may depending on how far we get, but we have to be out of the cottage by 11:00. Friday evening is also a lobster bake down at the marina here at the WoodenBoat School, so we're looking forward to that. The fam is driving to Rockland on Saturday because that is the weekend of the Lobster Fest!

OK, I have some ground to make up. I am going to post pictures from 4 days, so I will have to somewhat limit my writing or I'll be here all night. It's about 6:00 as I write, and Drew is off climbing an apple tree because he finished up working about 30 minutes ago.

Friday, July 27; Boston, Massachusetts

On Friday we slept in, had breakfast at a Dunkin Donuts, then the kiddies and Dad swam for about an hour. We spent the rest of the day walking the Freedom Trail in Boston. We took the subway downtown to the Boston Commons, which is evidently a favorite gathering place now just as it was in antiquity. The area was beautiful, and there were lemonade stands and t-shirt shops galore. We bought matching shirts that are green and say Boston in Red Sox script. I have to confess that I also bought a Red Sox hat. It seemed like the thing to do in Boston, and it's comfortable.

This is the Park Street cemetery. There's something a little morbid about including a cemetery, but there are lots and lots of famous dead people buried here that you may have heard of. You know, people like Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, the five men who were killed in the Boston Massacre, people like that. By the way, I need to amend the date I told you about the earliest gravesite at the cemetery in Medford. It was 1725, not 1625. Alex wanted me to make that correction because she was the one who found the stone, and we knew that Uncle Mark would know that 1625 was crazy talk. The Freedom Trail wound for 3 miles around Boston, and the kids all did really good. We hopped back on the subway at 8:00, so they walked for almost 7 hours as we wound our way around.

Saturday, July 28; Boston to Stonington, Maine

Remember the other day when I reported in the blogo that it rained hard as we were driving from Boston to Stonington on Saturday? Well, I wasn't just whistling Dixie. Heck, I don't even know how to whistle Dixie. I do know a lady named Dixie, but that's neither here nor there. The road was like this for about 3 hours as we were driving. It is interesting to note--at least to me, and this is mine--that while there is a semi in this picture, for whatever reason there were virtually zero semis through New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and very few in Maine.

On the way to Stonington we stopped for a rest break, and to urinate, in the delightful little town of Belfast, Maine. We drove the downtown area and found this neat little bookshop, then stopped at a fast food place to go to the bathroom. Braden asked me to include this picture in the posting about Saturday.

This is Grandpa's Cottage. We got into town late enough that the light was fading and the fog was rolling in off the harbor. It's a neat old place, and I need to make sure I include this here and you catch it--everyone is adjusting nicely! The kids really enjoy staying there, I definitely like staying there, and Valerie is feeling much better now that Drew and I have wheels.

Sunday, July 29; Stonington

This is the view from our front porch. We can see directly into the harbor. There wasn't much activity on Sunday, plus the fog didn't lift until almost 10:00, but on normal days these lobster boats run most of the day. I don't know how clear it is from the picture, but we are probably 200 meters or so from the harbor. There isn't a beach area in Stonington proper, because the harbor all the way from the east end of town to the west end of town where we are located is an active fishing harbor. There are three or four docks where the fishermen come in and unload their catch.

As noted before, we did not make it to church on Sunday morning because we did not have hot water to get cleaned up until about 10:30, and the service started at 11:00. We had lunch at this outdoor cafe right on the harbor, which was very nice. There is usually a nice breeze blowing, and the harbor does not usually have the fishy smell I anticipated it would. I may have posted this already, but Valerie and I had the special of crab rolls and blueberry pie, Drew had sausage and sauerkraut, Alex shared chicken nuggets with Braden, and Brenna had a grilled ham and bacon sandwich.

The excellent new camera has a timer feature, so I took this picture of the fam sitting on a rock in the harbor with no hands and no help. Note the Red Sox hat on the mister. Stonington has its name because it was at one of the time a world leader in the granite industry. That was from about 1870 to about 1960 or so. Even now the granite quarries are active and do a brisk business around the world. The countryside reminds me a lot of pictures I have seen of Ireland. Very hilly, very green, and boulders sitting around everywhere. Of course, they are all granite, which is pretty cool. So we've got that going for us.

This is the store at the WoodenBoat School. Right now I'm sitting beside the big window under the porch. The computer is being tempermental with the pictures, and Drew is getting hungry, so rather than chance losing this post after an hour of work I think I will post it and move along. Hope you are enjoying our journey, and thanks much for checking in! Y'all come back now, hear?!