CT

Hello and Howdy and Howyoudoin’.

Our last day in Plymouth was spend with honey-dos for the early part of the day. You know, laundry, shopping, etc. But we could not leave until we experienced an Atlantic beach.  We found one up the road from the rock and got there just as the life guards and parking attendants were getting off so we didn't have to pay for parking. I can't account for all Atlantic coast beaches but this one was pretty rocky.  There were lots of colorful rocks along the shore. The girls and Kyle were the only ones who tried the water.  They all said it was cold, a "different kind of cold".  I don't know what that meant but I wasn't going in to find out what they meant.  The rocky-sandy shore meant body surfing was out.  The waves were pretty small too.  But the seagulls are just as annoying as they are in Cali.  There is a beach side restaurant shack/bar that seemed to cater to the upper crust neighborhood.   Though it was very much a shanty they served lobster, clams, wine, beer and all the traditional fun food and snacks one would find in a bar or a resort food vendor.  The girls had a blast crouching in the water letting the waves rise over their heads.  Kyle tried to have fun but a lifeguard whistled him back when he went about 300 yards out.  He helped the girls and Mami gather stones to make a Jesus heart on the shore.

I am writing this in CT. We arrive here on Friday and decided to spend the holiday weekend quietly here near my cousin and her family. The RV park we found is brand spankin’ new. It is an addition to one of the country’s oldest amusement parks.  The park is trying to become a resort with activities for the kids and family movie nights and that sort of stuff.   Though it is a great place it has a couple of draw backs.  I get the feeling the RV thing is really new to everyone working here and no one on staff has rv camp experience. But they are definitely trying hard.  The place is clean and the staff is kind.  The wi-fi is pretty weak and that might turn some campers from staying since computers, tablets, smart phones, etc. have become appendages to most people these days.  There is in fact a group that is planning on putting together an RV ratings book based on how connected the park is.  Not all rv-ers are vacationing. Many are doing it for work, in the case of mobile workers, some people are doing it for life, since they either can’t buy a house or don’t want to live in a house. Regardless I have found that being connected is vital for us since our biz requires it. Also you would have gotten more blogs from me had the places we stayed had better wi-fi service.

OK, that aside, our week end has been fun.  We are slowly, ever so slowly, working our way to Eureka, MO for the town’s yearly festival. With the trouble in Ferguson, Mo I must admit the prospect of heading to the St. Louis area had me worried.  But we will be in the south part of the area where Ferguson is in the North.  Here at the park. Like I mentioned, the staff has organizes things for the kids to do. They play games and do all kinds of crafts.  The girls won the scavenger hunt on the first day and they have made lots of cool Sunday school style crafts all weekend.   Friday night my cousin, Patsy, and her daughter and her boyfriend, a supper funny nice kid) came out to the park to sup with us. Or is “us supping with them” since they brought the food?   We had a wiennie roast over the camp fire.  Saturday we drove down to Nagatuk, birthplace of Nagahide (no lie), to pick up pizzas from the best pizza makers in the country, Medina’s pizza.  We discovered it 5 years ago when we worked an amusement park near here (no the one we are staying next to now).   The owners remembered us and did a nice thing for us, they made our small and medium pizzas large for no extra charge. Awesome folks.   We had gotten our old favorites and we ordered a couple of new ones we have never had before.  The artichoke heart ricotta cheese pizza was great but the brochetta  (Spelling?) pizza was out of this world!

In the eve we went over to the cousins’ house and supped with them.  My cousin is a fabulous cook and no one walked away with an empty stomach.  The kids watched one of the Smurf movies while my cousin’s husband and I talked. The talk grew into a conversation regarding politics and even a bit of religion. We have differing opinions about a few things but no hot heads were involved so it was more entertaining than anything else.  It strikes me funny that he and I shared closer opinions a few years back but somehow things have changed.

Sunday was a sleep late day and then family church. Jim led music with his guitar and I used a great study from A Body of Divinity by Thomas Watson. We talked about “the meaning of life” or the “purpose of man” as described by the bible. The short answer is to Glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. From there a person can go on to be a good Christian and a better person in the name of God.

Patsy, her daughter and son came out again today.  We snacked a bit and spent a wonderful time talking.

A couple of blogs ago I mentioned my friend having a heart attack. Well, he is doing so much better.  I have talked with him and his wife a couple of times and he is already driving himself to appointments and is still the dynamo I know and love.   Happy you are doing better JC.

Maine and Plymouth Rock.

OK, there are a lot of pictures below to help get caught up on the blog. We have been at locations where I have either no time or no internet and so it goes.
We spent last week in Union, ME performing at the Union Fair and State Blueberry Festival. We have performed here a couple of times in the past (4 and 5 yeas ago). In fact, this is where we met and performed next to the Flying Wallendas those two years.  This year we were the feature family act and set up our larger show.  We rekindled old friendships and made new friends and had a wonderful time. With the exception of one day we had perfect weather. The one day I speak of had rain all night and we had a nice sprinkle through our second show that day. Amazingly the audience stayed and got wet with us. I mean there was over 100 people sitting on the grass and bleachers watching the show in a steady sprinkling. The rain ended five minutes before the show did.

After five days at the fair we relocated to an RV park and played tourist for two days before moving on to MA to play tourist there.   We visited two light houses while in Maine and we had a clam bake as well as a day of Lobster. With lobsters averaging around $5/lb we each got our own full lobster without having to take out a second mortgage.   The clams were likewise dirt cheap but very tasty.  Since we have never worked with clams from the shell before I had to take a steamed one over to the vendor in front of our stage, they sell fried clams, ad ask what parts were edible. We got a quick lesson and then they gave us a free order of fried clams.  You know I promoted them all week, I did!   The popcorn vendor across from us likewise kept us in flavored popcorn all week.  Blueberry Popcorn was the best. Mami got white chocolate flavored.   While in Maine we also had a basket full of wild blueberries, and we also had blueberry pies.  Mami also made home made clam chowder from the before mentioned clams.  

On our date night Mami and I drove into Camden and walked around the harbor and checked out the shops and stores. We were only really just window shopping. There are a lot of artists out there. Since school had started most of the tourists are rich old folks wearing docker shoes, docker shorts, docker long sleeve cotton shirts with the shirt tails out and sleeves rolled up.  The finished the out fit with cardigans on their shoulders and sunglasses on their faces.  Seriously there were a gaggle of folks dressed just as I have described. I felt under dressed in Walmart shorts, white tennies,  and a Berea T-shirt. Mami looked great in the summer dress(see pix below.)

In MA we have settled into an RV camp close to Boston and Plymouth. Today was Plymouth. Plymouth Rock is underwhelmingly small. Part of the reason it is small is that various folks have tried to move the rock from its location to the town square, one eventually got half of it there as it broke in half in transit. The other half remained at the original location. While in the town square various folks took parts off the rock to use as corner stones for their homes. Most of these folks were ancestors of the pilgrims and politicians. Sometimes a piece was given to a local hero. But before it all but vanished it the remaining part of the town square half was returned and cemented back to the other half and a portico was built over it.  The remains (bones) of the early settlers which were found during various excavations and construction were kept in the top of the portico until a crypt was built for them on the center of the burial land (a picture of this is below).   The area has a monument, statue, or dedication rock for one thing or another every ten feet.  One is a rock with a plaque set in 1970 as the spot where native Americans come on Thanksgiving every year to lament the coming of the white man and his plaques and  lies.  The best monument is actuall about a mile from the rock up a hill a bit in a residential neighborhood. It is the Monument to the Founding Fathers .  Kirk Cameron made a documentary about it called "Monumental".  It is very Christian and very moving and very cool.

 Juggling for Massasoit. 

Handcuffed near the Mayflower II

Blueberries in Maine. They are smaller than the store bought ones.  But tasty. 

Everyone got to choose their own lobster. Try that in Cali. 

The kids and fans.  That is the Blueberry Queen in holding Tator-tot.

Balancing a chainsaw in ME....no it was off. 

On the main drag in Plymouth we came across a funny sign for a beer made in our home area. 

Balancing a 100lb log. 

The queen tries to learn the Unicycle. 

Though I choose not to take the tour on board I could not resist a selfie in front of the Mayflower II.

Maximus kills a fair patron. 

Selfie again. 

This musical artist played on the stage near ours. For a promo pix she got Jim to balance her guit-fiddle. 

Balancing bear. 

Jim near the portico that house Plymouth Rock. 

Max meeting kids at the Fair.   (Boy could these pix be any more out of order????)

Jim doing a selfie at Owl's head Light house. 

Date night in Camden. Boats everywhere. Strangely the Atlantic doesn't seem to put a salty smell into the air like I have experienced in Cali. Perhaps the air flowing in from the Pacific and out here the wind was blowing out from the land to the sea. ?????

The Monument of the Forefathers. The statue is a lesson on the principals and values of our founding fathers for a successful and prosperous and peaceful society. Liberty, Law, Education, Morality. 

Bug of the day. (Haven't done one of these for a while This caterpillar was taking a stroll on our cooler. Most fuzzy ones turn out to be moths. I will look up what kind later on. 

This is the crypt I mentioned. It sits on a hill above the rock. The bones of the settlers found over the years buried around and on this hill were gathered and put in here. 

Here is Plymouth Rock. Like I said, underwhelming. But it made live a little better for the pilgrims. They buoyed the Mayflower a way out from the rocky shore and took small boats in. This rock, at high tide stuck out over the edge of a small cliff and was a perfect stepping stone  from the boat to the shore without getting wet. Since it was November, and cold it was certainly a blessing.  Otherwise they might have had to jump in the cold shallows and pull the boat in. 

Mami and the three small ones took the Mayflower tour. It was surprisingly smaller than they thought.  100+ folks crammed into this boat for a nasty voyage.  A real refining fire of a trip. 

The stove of the ship's kitchen.

This was as luxurious as it got. The captains bed. 

The captain was the only one in any kind of "comfort".