Jonathan took this picture of the Quinoa Salad Nicoise with Mom in the background. It was most tasty, even without the kalamata olives and capers.
This page is truly a reconstruction of memory. I have a few phrases thrown down to try to stimulate my neurons, but I wrote very little, especially after the 10th.
There was a sturdy thunderstorm overnight, resulting in a foggy start of the day. I’ve missed those thunderstorms living in southern California. After breakfast, I picked up sushi grade tuna at Bayleys for the recipe Quinoa Nicoise Salad.
Diane's sister Pam and boyfriend Steve arrived with Chloe the dog in mid-morning. Steve went to the beach, while Diane and Pam played some serious Yahtzee.
As lunch approached, I got an email from Eszter, having to bow out of our lunch. Her company had been given an NIH grant and needed to file the detailed project plan and budget by Thursday - both “kewl!” and “yikes!” So I fed the dish to Mom, Dad, Cindy, Mike, Mason, Nancy, and Jonathan. It was a great success, another keeper in the recipe box even though I was flustered enough by the late cancellation that I forgot to add the kalamata olives and capers to the platter.
I did made arrangements for Jonathan and I to go down to visit Eszter and Chuck Sunday evening at their home in Hampton NH.
Jonathan took this picture of the Quinoa Salad Nicoise with Mom in the background. It was most tasty, even without the kalamata olives and capers.
The spread from a typical cocktail hour: crackers, watermelon, cherries, cheese, olives, and, of course, wine.
These roofs are the lobster pound - the lowest gray roof, the red metal roof, and the upper story with windows. Behind that is a house, a private residence I believe.
The cousins watching video in the evening.
Beach feet.
Out my window on the flight from Portland to DC, the sun was playing between the layers of clouds as it set.
On Saturday morning, Nancy left after breakfast to beat traffic. Cindy, Mike, Mason, Mom, and Dad will continue a tradition of stopping at Nancy’s house in Kingstown RI on the way back from Maine (the following weekend) to have lunch with her. Ellen is usually at work when they drop by, but she leaves her version of clam chowder for lunch.
After a look at the weekend forecast (rain, thunderstorms), the decision was for the Greene Gals and Walter to return to Rhode Island Saturday. There was peace and quiet after all the wonderful chaos of the family and friends coming and going.
We moved Mom and Dad over to the Little House, so that Cindy could begin to clean up the King Cottage for (second) cousin Gail (Berkshire) who would be arriving Monday. Mason moved into the bunk room.
I think this is the day I finished the painting the spindles. The final color was a dark blue, phthalo blue artists’ acrylic paint. Unfortunately, this pigment is transparent, and it’s hard to get an even coat, so I stopped after two coats, the second coat being today. Of course after all that work, I neglected to take a photo of the outcome. I may have to add the picture next year.
We had brunch in Freeport again. As I mentioned earlier I made reservations at the Maine Dining Room in the Harraseeket Inn for brunch. I had used my iPad app OpenTable to make the reservation and I had used it to modify the number of guests as the girls had returned to Rhode Island the day before. Jonathan and I drove Mom and Dad up to Freeport, with Cindy, Mike, and Mason following (and leading) in their rental car (Washington state plates as opposed to Washington DC). We had another very pleasant brunch, I filled Dad’s plate from the buffet line, while Cindy took care of Mom’s plate. The buffet had unlimited half lobsters, a steamship round of beef, a number of interesting dishes, e.g. champagne peach soup, for a reasonable price (about $30 per person). We’ll undoubtably go again next year.
Afterwards, Jonathan and I took Mom and Dad back to Pine Point, while the Moorman-Kings went into Freeport for some shopping.
In the late afternoon, Jonathan and I hit the road for Hampton NH for dinner with Eszter and Chuck. The traffic was easier than I thought on a Sunday evening and we got there about 15 minutes early. We spent some time chatting and getting acquainted with Molly the dog. We then went out to a Thai restaurant and after talking about business and jobs, we chatted about travel and other topics. Most enjoyable!
Monday was a work day - the dryer repairman was due after lunch, and Cindy was working on some paint jobs - the doors to the shed, and the panel where the house numbers are mounted on the front of the house. I started painting the housing the Jonathan built to hide the sewer pipe that goes down the corner of the kitchen cabinets and counter.
Cindy, with my occasional help, had been washing down the siding of the house on the porch that’s protected from the rain and as result collected a fair amount of dust and grime. We had been using a bucket of diluted bleach and soapy water and brush to do the deed, but the task called out for a garden hose. So I went up to the Ace Hardware store on Rte 1 at Dunstan Corner and got a couple of hoses and a nozzle.
I also picked up a bird feeder. Cindy and Mike had picked up one a week or so earlier; painted it; and we put it on the bracket on the fence around the trash and recycle bins. Unfortunately, it was only glued together, and the thunderstorms earlier in the week were threatening to reduce it to it’s component parts as the water soluble glue disappeared. The one I selected was made from recycled plastics and was screwed together and endorsed by the Audubon Society. It should last a few years.
Cindy put the hoses to use scrubbing some mildew from the front of the house - worked quite well.
The dryer repairman came and diagnosed our problem as a clogged vent. The vent that was installed had a hardware cloth screen at the end where the external flap is located, and it was thoroughly clogged. As this was not an appliance issue, we had to shell out $75, and fix the issue ourselves. So I took the screwdriver and pulled the assembly from the wall, and with a pair of pliers pulled off the screen which was glued there. There was a 1-inch plug of lint backed up into the vent that came out with the screen. I then put the assembly back in place, and the drier seems to be working fine now.
Departure day, although our flight didn’t leave Portland until 5 PM. The Moorman-Kings had made plans to go sailing out of Portland Harbor in Casco Bay. Some we said goodbye to Cindy, Mike, and Mason in the morning.
I finished off the painting of the pipe cowling in the kitchen, remounted the house numbers on the front of the house, and with Mom remade the pull-out couch in the living room where Mason spent the night. Afterwards, we took Mom and Dad to the Olive Garden near the Maine Mall for lunch.
Then at 3 PM, we said goodbye to Mom and Dad and headed back to the airport for our flight to IAD/Dulles where we would connect with our flight to Los Angeles. The last photo above was taken on the Portland-Dulles flight using my iPhone as the sun peeked through layers of clouds.
