It is now the last weekend in July... Fri. 29 - Sun. 30 (I think it was Fri. 28, silly girl)

AKA 'Past Governors Weekend' at the Gerrish Compound. Dad was Governor of the New England district of Kiwanis in 1990 - '91(or was it '91 - '92?). Lordy. Regardless, in the 40 ish years the man has had perfect (weekly) attendance - can you imagine?! - he's made a few friends. The folks who have led the district have a sort of special bond it seems. This is one of the things I miss most about New England & often consider moving back just to be a member of New England Kiwanis. Yeah, really, I like it that much. Anyways...keep in mind that this is my journal entry from the summer & it might not always make a lot of sense to anyone but me given the emotion behind the stories....

Past Governor visit was great. Steve Chamberlin, Rick Miller (no Bambi or Tina ), Glen Cefalo, Pat, Bart, Nick & Justin Stevens, Ed & Elaine Murphy, Jim & Cora Banks came.

Steve hasn't had hugs? He just spent a month in Hawaii with his wife! Hmmm....

Glen & I went to the Kiwanis Auction in town & had a blast. I found a shot glass ($1), a coffee maker for the yellow camp($1). I got a HUGE hanging planter of petunias for mom for $20. Dave Lockwood paid $50 for the same thing because we were bidding against each other & he kept bidding & letting me big against him/drive up the cost. I quit at $50 & he bought it. A few minutes later, I had my own & no-one would bid against me!!! So mine only cost $20, lol. Heck of a deal. GREAT FUN! I also got a small table/bookcase thing for the girls' bedroom($13).

Cora is diabetic & her blood sugars were all fucked up. That was a scary bit. Because Glen & I went to town, we missed the boat rides, the skiing, etc. BUMMER. We did get a blue boat (speedboat vs. antique Anamosa steamboat) tour but the big lake was too rough for Cora especially. Dratly. They all bailed quickly after Sunday brunch. Waaaah.

Molly the housecleaner did, in fact, fuck up the sheets royally. Mom has sheets that she has specified for certain rooms (now you don't wonder why I'M anal retentive, rofl) & they were all scrambled up. Mum was in a TIFF.

Steve's pillow smelled yummy after he'd been there. Heh heh.

A PICTURE.

Can you stand it?? ME??? Posting a PICTURE??? This is a photo of 2 best friends from JUNIOR HIGH. That was a long time ago, folks. That's Dara on the far left & Sandra in the middle. Sandra had this taken shortly after the class reunion when we met for breakfast. We hadn't seen each other in 20 years. When my parents divorced in 6th grade & we (mom, little brother David & I) moved to Dover-Foxcroft, the Principal of the middle school there took me to my new homeroom, introduced me to Sandra & said to have a seat next to her. That was it for the next 7 years. Nifty, eh? I'm only sharing it cuz as far as pics go, it's not a half bad one of me. ;)

Oh my golly, more summer fiascos...

My FIL & his wife *finally* came to camp. My FIL, Mario, never made it there with my MIL & it took 8+ years to get there with his 2nd wife, Carole. They were supposed to arrive at 11 pm July 12th at the Bangor Int'l Airport. This is an hour away. *BIG SIGH*. I made Paul drive so he can learn the way because a week later their departing flight is at 6am. WHY did they schedule these times???? Good LORD. I told Paul I was NOT getting up to take them back. Bitch that I am. ;) Their flight was late, of course & we finally get back to camp at 1am. My parents had gone to Boston so they weren't even there. I was madly cooking in the kitchen so I didn't get much time to visit. Mario's 70th birthday was Thursday July 14th but that was the night of the Heartwise party so we celebrated Wed. 13. He wanted & got lobsters. The girls had piano lessons that morning from my Aunt Mary so I told her & Uncle Gordon to come out & help us eat since mom & dad weren't there to eat their fair share! They did. I bought $300 friggen worth of lobsters. OH MY GOD those dumb bottom feeding crustaceans are expensive. Even in Maine. Anyway...I didn't write any of this down so it's being dragged from my pathetic memory... Umm....I think we had a cake for him. All was very good. Then Thursday happened which has been blogged about.

Friday the rest of the siblings & cousins started piling in....

Saturday there were about 30 - 35 people to cook for. Some wondered why we weren't having a pig. (because we just aren't). Big brother Greg & I decided turkeys would be the best. I bought 6 turkeys. I made a jello salad that usually people turned their nose up at but in reality really like & requested repeatedly. Go figure. I've no idea what else we ate. I shoved 4 turkeys into the huge gas oven that my maniacal parents have & Greg deep fried 2. We ate. Between Sunday & Monday the cousins left. Only about 25 people left. No friggen idea what we ate. Mom & Dad came home from Boston Sunday, so they got to visit w/Mario & Carole for a bit. Unfortunately, after being gone, they had to work instead of taking the week off to visit w/all of us as they had planned.

The week was ok. Mario & Carole left eeeaaarrrlllyyyyyyy Tuesday morning as planned. I honestly don't know the Mario & Carole that were at camp. They are usually chomping at the bit to GO & DO something but they just hung back & relaxed - visited w/my family, fished, did puzzles, HUNG OUT. It was great! They were so relaxed & ate whatever the vittles du jour was w/out any complaints like 'my system doesn't like that' or similar. It was awesome!! I really did figure that they would complain about the weather (but it was the best weather we've had since time began) or the hill, or *something* but NO. It really was fabulous.

Wednesday we had Cinco de Wednesday. heh heh. Mexican grub & margaritas. I was a bit subdued tho because I needed to get up at 4am to head for Boston for Ed's funeral. Mom & Dad weren't expecting me. I set the alarm but if I didn't want to get up, I wasn't going. I went. I'm glad I did. SOBSOBSOB. Then I went back to camp. I don't remember the rest of the week but all the sibs had left by sunday? Monday? Paul left Saturday so he'd have a day to recuperate & get ready for work Monday. Then there was the week of July 25th before the next group of visitors arrived.....

Sing with me!

Think of the song "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer... coming home to our house Christmas Eve. You may say there's no such thing as Santa, but as for me & Grampa we believe...." Got the tune good & stuck? Ok, now replace the words, lol....

Bethie got run over by a BICYCLE, going out to dinner Friday eve. You may say this sounds like total bullshit, but as for me & my leg we believe.

Yep, tis true. I've lived in this crazy city since '92 less 2 years = 11 years. And I get run over by a dude on a BIKE. Lordy, Lordy, Lordy.

The whole story....babysitter was late so I grabbed a cab on the Manhattan side of the ferry. He got me to the Lower East Side (LES) in mighty good time. When I was at the intersection that dh had said to go to, I paid the cabbie & got out. We were 3rd lane from the curb at a red light - nobody was moving. So I climbed out & leaped for the curb. I was just about there when I heard/felt a *CRASH*. I had no flippen clue wtf was going on so I kept going, lol. Got myself out of the way then realized a bike had run into me. The guy took off. I was standing trying to call dh to see where I was supposed to go from there. Some guy walking by held my elbow, caught my attention by LOOKING at me in the eye & asked if I was ok. It was nice that someone cared but I was a little flustered & trying to make my phone call. I had just been in Maine for 2 months, so I didn't automatically take a swing at the guy. I said I was fine. He told me I needed to look both ways when getting out of a car (duh) & mentioned 'a mark on my leg'. Damn, my new pants are ruined!!! Noooo.......there's a big gash & blood running down my leg. I grab a leaf from a tree in a park nearby, say a little prayer that it's not poisonous & wipe my leg off. I got to the bar, Kitchen & Cocktails, slugged down the Mojito dh had waiting for me, used the cool, wet napkin it had been sitting on to wipe my leg & graciously accepted the band aids from the waitresses while ordering another Mojito. 10 days later, there's still a nice scar & plenty of bruising but unless I bump the back of my right calf, I don't know it's there. The twisted part is, if I had pressed the issue, the idiot 'driving' the bike could have gotten a $500 fine!!! Lucky bastard.

BTW, the food was good, the drinks spectacular. The food is cheap, the drinks cost as much as the entrees, $10 - $14.00. The music was quirky - they played whole albums: Synchronicity, Abba, Bat Out of Hell, Talking Heads....

Welcome home, Bethie.