CHAPTER 12 STARTING NEW ENGLAND

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June 1—This morning I headed out from the camp up to Boston, actually Weston—a suburb of Boston. Arnie's youngest daughter and her family live there and today my oldest grandson on Arnie's side was graduating from high school. I hadn't seen any of them since we had Arnie's memorial service four years ago. That is too long to be away from family, especially grand-kids. They grow up too fast. Jesse, the graduate and his brother Jason really grew up—over six feet tall! Jodie, the youngest, however, is only 4' 11” tall!

I had arranged to park the Rv at the church across the street from Dan and Penny's house for the duration of my stay. When I got there, I got ready for the graduation, which was to be held in the evening outside on the town square. It was a beautiful day, but cool enough to need a sweater.

We got to the grounds early to get good seats, so had a long time to look around. When the ceremony finally started the graduates paraded in, with a lone bag-piper leading the way. I kept moving around so I could get some good pictures. Coming in two by two, the young men wore white-jacket tuxedos with red carnations in their pocket. The young women wore white dresses and carried bouquets of red roses. No caps and gowns for this school! Of course it was over all too fast. Amazing how 12 years is summed up in about an hour, huh? Afterward, with no caps to throw into the air, all the boys lit up cigars—another tradition for this school. After saying goodbye to the proud parents, friends and families, all the new grads were bussed to an unknown destination so celebrate the night away. (The destination turned out to be a ski resort/park.) I thought that was a pretty cool way of keeping the kids out of trouble.

I'm very proud of Jesse and his family, so my readers will have to endure all the pictures of the family and graduation! He does plan to go to college.

One of the couples in Dan and Penny's circle planned a party for the parents. Joy (Arnie's ex and Penny's mother) and I were invited too. Boy was it a spread--at a huge, gorgeous house. We grandmas ate and drank wine and had a good time, but went home early and left the others to finish out the night.

June 2-7 As usual at the Foote house things went like a circus. Everyone always seems to go every which away. We did have another graduation party on Saturday with just the relatives. After celebrating all night and sleeping most of the day, Jesse was ready to open presents (a lot of them—the guy made out like a bandit!) and cut the cake. He spent most of the weekend going to other parties. The rest of us just hung out and visited. Joy and I went shopping, too. On Monday Dan and Penny went back to work and Jason and Jodie went back for their last week of school.

June 8: I decided to make a side trip to Maine and invited Joy to go with me. Our first stop was at York Village where we stopped at a lovely waterfront park and walked around the town. We visited an antique shop on the harbor that had a lot of nautical-themed stuff. It was a fascinating place, but the prices were way too high for my budget. Not that I saw anything I wanted, anyway.

As I walked around I saw some posts with pretty mosaic pictures near the old customs house, now museum. Of course I took pics. I always admire pretty artwork. After walking we sat and watched the boats come and go—mostly power boats and one fishing trawler.

That night we stayed at a very rough campground. By rough, I mean the road to it was full of potholes and the camp was run down. It was on a half dried up lake and was buggy, buggy, buggy. We did have electricity, but that was about all. It was one of the cheapies I found in a book. This time I did get what I paid for! Joy was a good sport about it.

Bootsie--I thought it was a cool place. There were lots of critters running around and I enjoyed watching them, expecially the squirrels and birds. It was interesting to have someone else with us, too. I liked the couch made out into a bed. I slept with Marty's friend a lot. She told Marty it was okay. I think it made Marty a little jealous. Ha! Serves her right for taking that picture of another cat!

June 9: Today we cruised along the very rocky shoreline of York beach headed toward Cape Neddick. There were quite a few people on the beach, in spite of all the rocks. It was a warm day and I'll bet the water felt good. We passed an RV park across the road from the beach and there was one open spot. No, I didn't stop to ask the price, but drove right on by!

We both had wanted to see Kennebunkport, where President Bush has a summer residence. I should have known that it would be packed on the first weekend most of the schools were out! As with most sea-coast towns, the streets were narrow. I drove through it, but sure didn't see anything! There was hardly a place to drive the RV, let alone park it anywhere! That was a white knuckle several moments! Guess I will have to revisit either on a less crowded day or persuade someone to take me in a car!

After getting through Kennebunkport, I stopped for a bit for both of us to recuperate. We happened to spot an estate sale sign. It made a perfect break. The house had some of the best antique furniture and dishes I've seen for a while. I loved an old butcher block table that was in the kitchen. Wouldn't fit in the RV, though!

After leaving the sale we drove on down to Cape Neddick and the Nubble Light House. We talked for awhile with the owners of a little souvenir shop by the lighthouse. We were going to eat lunch at the restaurant right at the lighthouse, but balked at the prices on the menu and had sandwiches out of the refrigerator instead.

June 10: We spent last night at a decent RV park, but both of us got up tired and not feeling well, so we decided to head back to Boston. It was a short trip to Maine, but we had a pretty good time and enjoyed each other's company. I enjoyed being with kids after so long, but they sure lead busy lives!

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