Final Day

It's our last full day in Maine.  Eventually I'll have some pictures to post, but we forgot the cord that attaches the camera to my computer.  We just got back from an overnight visit to Rangeley where Ross' grandpa owns a camp on Little Kennebago Lake.  We spent time there chatting with Ross' Grandpa and his fiance Esther along with another couple.  We biked around part of the lake, got attacked by man-eating mosquitos, and took a canoe onto the lake to try fishing for a little while.  Then the heavens opened and the rain came down with a fury.  We kayaked a little the next morning.  I got made fun of for not wanting to share my boat with daddy long legs.  After two crawled up my leg and one over my shoulder, I decided it would be best to get out and check for any other stowaways.  I didn't care at that point if I looked like a sissy.  I found three more.  They were all big speedy ones.  I drowned them and felt much better about life.  The rest of our time on the lake was enjoyable if a little wet.  On our trip back to Winthrop we saw a Moose.  It was on my list of things to do.  Check.  

I'm sad to leave.  It's been nice meeting all of Ross' family and friends.  On the other hand, I am looking forward to some sun, and I'm anxious to see my family for the Fourth of July too.   

Our last weekend in Maine

More rain.

More mosquitos.

More beautiful scenery.

More new people.

More awkward moments.

More good food. 

More family photos. 

More Ross.  

More later...

I saw the light

It's true, we saw some sun yesterday.  It's gone now.  Severe thunderstorms are in the forecast.  Is this really June 26th?  We took full advantage of the nice weather yesterday and after working outside in the afternoon, we spent the evening with some of Ross' friends playing disc golf in a mosquito infested swamp land.  I don't think the course was supposed to be underwater, but what with the four inches of rain Maine got last week, it was a bit damp.  We trudged through.  We lost two discs on the first hole.  We each doused ourselves in the strongest bug repellent on the planet and escaped with no fewer than four dozen bites each.  We almost lost two more discs.  I heard more incriminating stories about Ross.  We played until it was dusk, and the sun was setting on the eighteenth hole.  Then we ate some delicious BBQ.  And it was good.  :)

Day Something

Boy how time flies.  Everyone who told me two weeks would go fast, well here's where I admit you were right, and I was wrong.  In the past three or so days I have met about a million people and remember exactly five of their names.  Two of those five are Robert and Bob.  I don't know why those two would stick with me. :-p  I have been to Ross' childhood home, have seen the camp where he spent days upon days of fishing as a kid, I met his dad, we climbed a fire tower on top of a "mountain," attended his grandpa's 80th birthday party, walked in the Atlantic Ocean, ate some awesome meals prepared by Ross' mom and step-dad, made dinner for them in return, and without knowing exactly what I was getting into I went to the gym to workout with Ross' mom.  

I have to expound on that last point.  I have been having some great runs on beautiful country roads, however, yesterday I had an opportunity to run on a flat treadmill in a dry gym and to spend a morning with Ross' mom, so I thought I'd better take it.  Following our cardio workouts we would be participating in a pilates class.  "Great," I thought to myself, "I could use a little core workout as well."  So after putting in a good hard 45ish minutes on the treadmill, we headed to class for another hour of workout.  Secretly, I think she was getting the biggest kick out of herself as she watched me in my great display of "coordination" and sweat.  She knew, I'm sure she knew, what my body was going to feel like when I got out of bed this morning.  My quads, hamstrings, butt, back, abs, butt, ribs arms and butt are all very, very, very sore.  It's pretty sweet.  I had a good time.  I'm ready for more.  Bring it.  Just please, please no more butt exercises.  :)  

Day 3

Holy buckets.  Rain buckets that is.  It rained hard and long yesterday.  It didn't stop all day.  Sadly, that meant we had to sleep in, then sit around and relax all...day...long.  I did manage to get a short run in.  By the time I was done, I was able to ring my clothes out.  I should have run with a bar of soap so I wouldn't have had to shower a second time.  Yeah, it was that wet.  All in all, it was nice to just be lazy for a day, and I think we may have finally caught up on our sleep.    

We interrupt this regularly scheduled program...

...to bring you: "The Last Day of School."  Courtesy of Jessica Rockstar Harvey. 

Just keeping things interesting

Day 2:

I slept in until...7:00 (which for you math whiz's out there is actually 4:00 west coast time).  It was Ross and my duty to bring his mom to the gym and then to drop her off at work and in exchange she generously let us borrow her sporty little convertible Saab for the day.  After dropping her at the gym we decided to look around Augusta a little in hunt of a paint sprayer and a pressure washer (we'll be painting the garage in a couple of days).  We found, more or less, what we were looking for and headed to Friendly's Restaurant for an "indulgent breakfast."  That's what they advertised.  Inside we discovered that meant pancakes topped with whipped cream and ice cream, french toast made from doughnuts and cinnamon rolls, and syrup in the chocolate and caramel varieties in addition to the traditional maple.  No wonder why Maine has such a high obesity rate.  They're practically begging for it.  At any rate, we eventually found something a little less "indulgent" on the menu and enjoyed a nice relaxing breakfast.  

The next part of our day called for a 60ish min trip to Portland to meet Ross' sister and her boyfriend and from there, to head down to Boston for the Red Sox game.  The scenery was beautiful, and the two hour drive went by surprisingly fast.  We parked in a garage called Government Center Parking (this became important later on).  Parking in Boston was not cheap, in addition to the half a dozen toll booths on the way down; it might have been less expensive to ride the bus.  We found the subway station and rode for a couple of stops, then got out and found some lunch.  We had a couple of hours to kill and the Freedom Trail started across from the restaurant, so we decided to follow it for a bit.  At this point it was sprinkling a little on and off.  We made it past a sculpture depicting the famine in Ireland and the Irish immigration to America, we saw a building that was the meeting place for some of our founding fathers, we by the site of the Boston Massacre, and on to the Holocaust Memorial where real gas chambers stood.  That was a disturbing and solemn memorial.  At this point the rain wasn't messing around.  We were wet.  We decided to split up for a little while, Ross and I went to a giant Boarders to wait out the weather and by the time it had let up a bit, it was time to head to Fenway Park.  My stomach also told me it was time to eat again, but now we had to try to figure out the subway in order to get to the stadium.  We took a few wrong trains and stared long and hard at the map, but eventually with not too much time lost, we figured it out.  We got to the game and found our seats at the top of the stadium behind right field.  It was a cool atmosphere and a nice view, but I was getting grumpier and less reasonable as I was getting hungrier.  Suddenly baseball was not such a cool sport and the stadium was less than ideal, and the family behind us was more aggravating than fingernails on the chalkboard.  It was sprinkling again, when Liz suggested getting something to eat.  Ross was fine, I was not.  I jumped on the bandwagon, and headed under the stadium ready to pay astronomical sums for less than ideal food.  It was totally worth it.  It tasted delicious.  It made my heart glad.  Suddenly baseball wasn't such a bad sport, the stadium was phenomenal, and the family behind us was still as aggravating as nails on a chalk board.  It began raining harder, the family behind us left.  Things were looking up.  We pulled out the umbrellas.  We saw the dog's namesake, Kevin Youkilis, hit a home run.  We saw the Marlins hit two home runs.  It rained harder.  We got wetter.  At the bottom of the 6th they called a rain delay and covered the field.  We waited about 15 minutes, but with no sign of the rain stopping, we finally decided to leave.  It was 9:15pm.  We found the subway with little effort and crowded on with dozens of other Red Sox fans.  It took us straight back to Government Center.  We thought this was perfect because we were parked somewhere in the vicinity at the Govt. Center parking garage.  As we walked out of the station, Liz asked a security guard if he could tell us where the parking garage was.  "I don't know any parking garages!"  He spat out, as if she had somehow insulted him.  Thanks for the help, Man.  So we began wandering in the general direction we thought we should go, and we walked, and we wandered, and the rain came down harder.  We asked half a dozen people to help us.  None of them knew of the place we were referring to.  We walked and walked and eventually ended up basically back where we started.  We walked into a parking garage and some employees there finally helped us out.  They gave us very detailed directions until we were all confused again because we could only remember bits and pieces of it all.  "Across from the Boston police department" was the best we could remember.  We walked the way we generally thought they were describing, hailed a couple of girls for some more help, and finally sopping wet, frustrated, and tired, found our garage right next to the subway station exit, but in the exact opposite direction that we started out search.  It was around 10:30 now and we were finally headed back up to Maine.  The whole drive it was pouring rain, but Liz got us there in one piece.  We switched into Ross' mom's car and got ready to drive the final leg.  But we got on the freeway going to wrong direction, then when we tried to turn around we got onto the wrong freeway, or at least the one that would be the long way back, but it was going toward Winthrop so we just went with it.  A little after 2AM we rolled up to the house and fell into our beds wiped out.  Then we slept and it was good. :)  

P.S. It is still raining.  I'm feeling right at home.  :-p 

So it begins

Day #1 of Ross and my trip to Maine:

Wake up before the butt-crack of dawn (Bobbi Dawn), and out the door by 4:00AM.  Drive 40min to park the car where a taxi is supposed to meet us at 4:40.  Wait five minutes.  Get a little anxious.  Ross needs a bathroom so bad he's starting to sweat it out.  Give the cab company a call because magically even though he can't remember his own birth year, Ross has memorized the cab phone number after dialing it twice.  Find out from the dispatcher that the cab came at 4:10, which is kind of like 4:40, but not really.  The cabby shows up at 5:00 and swears he was at the house at 4:35.  Funny, we were there at 4:35.  He accused us of over sleeping.  I'll show you over sleep!  Don't mess with the Boucher when she's tired buddy!!  Get to the airport.  The line is longer than tarnation.  (Don't worry if I spelled tarnation wrong, I've been up since 3:35AM.  Don't worry if tarnation isn't even a word, I make things up.)  Try to cut (by accident).  Get sent to the end of the line.  Wait.  Wait.  Wait.  Get checked in, go through security.  Wait.  Wait.  Wait.  Board the plane.  Every seat is full, and despite choosing our seats five months in advanced, they moved us from the exit row to the very last row, aisle seats across from each other - next to the bathrooms.  A bizillion people had to use the bathroom during the flight.  That means, I had a bizillion booties and bellies in my face for the better part of the trip, and-it-stunk-most-of-the-trip.  More impressively, Ross got seated next to the fattest combined couple on the aircraft.  He had to sit sideways the whole flight.  

Arrived in NY without further incidence except for being snubbed one of my complimentary in-flight beverages.  Dang it.  I wanted that beverage.  We waited in NY for our commuter flight to Maine.  Prayed for better seats - got bathroom seats.  This time the bathroom was directly across the aisle.  It stunk.  It stunk real bad.  It's only a 55min flight people.  Did you really have to go that bad?  We sat.  We held our breath.  The captain came over the loud speaker and announced that somebody had a cell phone on, and it was interrupting their communication signal.  I checked my phone.  It was off.  Ross checked his phone.  Guilty.  At long last, we arrived in Maine.  Ross' sis graciously picked us up and drove us the hour or so to his Mom's place where it finally dawned on me that: IT'S SUMMER BREAK!!!!  WOOHOOO!  :)

Here comes the bride...

...And it's about stinkin' time. Just kidding, boys ruin everything. Okay, I'm kind of kidding there too...kind of. Anyway, the point, get back to the point! Right. So my friend, Stacy, is gettin' hitched. It's pretty exciting stuff. She and her fiance' are pretty well made for each other. I think they're happy to be tying the knot and making it official, and everyone is happy for them. Mostly because who doesn't like a good party, right? Stacy and Eric are all about making it a good time. So in lieu of their pending wedding-party, and because she's pretty much the greatest, I made it my mission this last weekend to do things up right for her 'Salem area' bridal shower. I recruited my sister's help because she's the guru, and then we got her husband involved. It was a five star team.

We had decorations.

We had food until we ate ourselves silly.

The menu: mini spinach and mushroom quiches, strawberry-rhubarb crumb cake, cream puffs with lemon mousse, strawberries, antipasti, orange-chocolate truffles rolled in almond meal (made by the big sis'), mimosas with hand squeezed orange and lemon juice (thank you Shae it was delicious), and an assortment of other drinks (props to Ryan for the lattes). Yeah, it's making me want to eat all over again.

Then there was the 'queen.' She looked so cute in one of her grandmother's hand sewn dresses from back in the day. Like the way back day. It was super cute and fit like a glove. Go figure.

There were of course presents. We tried to go with a garden theme. Some did, some didn't, but everything was really nice.

Here is the crew minus mi hermana. She's behind the camera.

All in all, I think it was a success. It was fun to spoil Stacy for the day, and a nice opportunity to meet some of her other friends. Just over a month until the big day. I can't wait. She's going to be a beautiful bride. What bride isn't, right? But really, she is going to be bea-u-tiful. Plus she has a very unique style, and it comes through in the dress she picked - it should be fun...

Foul!

Today was our second to last day of class for the school year.  We decided to let our students play basketball for a while after the final.  One of my co-workers got in on the more competitive basketball game.  About half way through he called a flagrant foul on a kid.  Then he had to step out for a moment to inform me that it was actually a fragrant foul.  Maybe we should have sent them straight to the showers.  Keep your arms down boys!

Here comes the soapbox

So there I was, sitting on the couch, minding my P's and Q's (what are P's and Q's anyway?), when I became slightly engrossed in the PBS special on TV.  Why on earth was I watching PBS to begin with?  The fact is, A) Ross was in control of the remote (go figure), B) we only have three and a half channels to begin with, and C) it was half time during the basketball playoff game.  I digress.  Anyway, there I was watching this mildly fascinating documentary on ant excretion, when a thought occurred to me.  Thoughts come few and far between these days, so you have to celebrate them when they present themselves.  

Consider that these little, fairly insignificant fire ants have an innate ability to communicate complex messages to one another by excreting specific combinations of chemicals.  I mean, that's pretty impressive.  They leak this chemical and  it leads their buddies to a food source.  They leak another chemical and it signals that Great "Ant" Esther just died.  Realizing that God paid so much attention to detail in creating even these tiny little insects, I can only imagine how much more He put into creating us.  That's pretty stinkin' cool and worth giving a little thought.     

I also like that He didn't just stop with attention to the details of his complex plant and animal systems.  He got hog-wild creative with His creation just so we couldn't second guess what He was up to.  I mean platypuses?  Seriously, what are they? 

Here's another good one:

Can you tell me He wasn't laughing just a little when He put this one together?  

The diversity and quantity of creation in itself is impressive.  It makes it easy to believe in God as the ultimate Creator, and rather difficult to believe any of creation was an accident.  It's too complex, too perfect.  

Here's a few more of my favorites:  

Yep, you're strange.  

Nice quills, Mister.

You're a what?  

Yadda, yadda, yadda.

My boyfriend thinks I talk too much.  He hasn't heard anything yet.  Muhahaha.  Really, compared to what my sister and parents put up with, he's got it pretty good.  I'm a lot funnier than he thinks I am too.    I need to tell him just how funny I am so he can do a better job of laughing at my jokes.  I am quite hysterical, and I need an attentive audience.  This is something that will be good for us to practice on our multi-hour plane ride to Maine.  Lucky Ross.  :)

I think I see the light.

5 days. School is out in five days. I'm not counting.

Neard

I'm so full right now.  I think I might pop.  That's just some general information that I thought I'd share.  I still have room for ice cream though if anyone feels like sending some my way.  Hint, hint.  Nudge, nudge.  

I went to Walmart this weekend.  I haven't been there in ages, but I needed to get a fishing license.  I sucked it up and headed to Wally World because it was the closest place I could think of.  I used to love Walmart when I was younger, but it lost all appeal once they super-sized it.  The vast majority of patrons seem to have been super-sized as well.  It really is a great place to people watch.  I'll give it that.  This weekend I saw a man who had a beard growing out of his neck.  I decided to call it his neard.  It wasn't like he just had stray neck hair.  His face was clean, he had nothing on his chin or the roll of sagging skin that connected the underside of his chin to his neck.  However, right above his adam's apple there was a neard - it extended the width of his neck and hung almost to his collar - a long, thin, grey neck curtain.  I should have asked him for an impromptu photo shoot.  It was hot.  

That's my story.  Maybe Ross will grow a neck curtain.  I'll braid it for him.   

Too cool for school

Heaven help us, but I think Harvey and I might be digressing back to our high school years. http://www.jessharvey.net/2009/06/04/7-more-days/

Pot Head

I have a deep dark secret, and I feel that it's time to get it off my chest. For several years my addiction has been escalating to the point of losing control. This week it came to a culmination, and I realized I might need help. I bought a pot this week. A large, expensive pot. A dutch oven, actually. Somebody save me. Wait don't. I love my dishes, and I don't think I really want to be cured. I feel them tugging at my heartstrings. I can't help myself. Quick, I think I need to cook something...

Dog Tired

Is it bad that Youk is so worn out from his weekend in Rogue River that he has barely moved all day?  He wouldn't even lift his head up off the ground to acknowledge me this morning.  He was  splayed out on his side in the hallway and just followed me with his eyes.  If it weren't for that little bit of movement, I might have thought he was dead.  Ross and I brought him down to RR for the weekend, and I think it took him about thirty-five seconds to find and jump in both the pond and the little kiddy pool.  From there he tried to impregnate both of my dad's male dogs.  Boon wasn't very impressed.  Max didn't seem to mind.  Then, it was on to exploring the property, eating all of Max and Boons' food (he is still experiencing some indigestion from that move), and shaking the cotton out of each of Max' toys.  Max ran away at this point.  We're not sure if it was because he was sick of being mauled or if it was because he didn't like sharing his stuffed teddy bear.   Poor Max.  Just wait until we leave him in your kennel for the two weeks we're in Maine.  Muhahahaha.