We picked up Christelle at 9 a.m. and went to Freeport, Maine, to shop at L. L. Bean. Christelle needed to find winter items for Max, and Tom and Lynn needed to pick up items they had monogrammed several days ago. Christelle and Lynn lunched on Lobster Rolls................so very yummy! We saw lots of lobster and moose knicknacks, and lots of postcards for Lynn to send home (whenever time permits!). After collecting Max from school, we were on the road home when we spotted a felled white birch tree. I told Tom to ssttoppp and we got out to retrieve birch bark to .... uh, make stuff with, like containers, post cards, etc. Nearby the fallen tree, Max found a really cool skeleton of the lower spine of some animal - he was so excited. We drove by the home that Will and Amanda Rhem own, on Lovejoy Pond, which is the same lake Kents Hill School borders. They have even canoed from their home to the school.
These New England country roads meander past such lovely property, and charming homesteads. So many stone fences, so many small vegetable gardens, so many pine trees, and huge piles of firewood. And the mailboxes - they don't have just a mailbox, they add to the post corn stalks, or scarecrows, or a large container of flowers. In winter, Lovejoy Pond freezes, and people can ice skate, and run their snow mobiles on it!
We stopped at "Tubby's" , Wayne, Maine, for delicious ice cream. This is a small-town-independent store, that is visited by huge crowds of people in the warm months. Then we deposited Christelle and Max at Kents Hill. We saw Brian for a few moments after he did his cross country run with the track team, and before he needed to attend a faculty meeting.
Max really wanted us to stay and play but we had to return to the motor home to thoroughly clean off the dust of our travels - a long-overdue task, plus lots of clothes needed washing - you know, the usual home duties.
This is such a charming natural area of our country. People are happy, laid-back, polite. We have been so impressed with the lifestyle here ......... content, need-based, and un-stressed.
I've forgotten what it feels like to be unstressed. I'm hoping to regain that feeling when I go to Hawaii. I hear the lifestyle is real laid back there, and that "Hawaii time" is slower paced. Unfortunately when I think of all I'm supposed to accomplish while there I just get more stressed.
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