Thanksgiving Eve

Welcome from sunny Florida (although it has been raining yesterday and today).

There is really very little to report, as we have not been traveling to any extent since we arrived. We did go to Boynton Beach for a weekend to see the grandchildren celebrate Halloween. That turned out to be a lot of fun. In South Florida the weather is still quite warm at the end of October, so most folks sit in lawn chairs in front of their house to hand out candy. Some of the homes a well decorated for Halloween, and an occasional place will have a ghost or a witch inside the house, making the kids, ring the doorbell, and then be scared to death, before receiving their treat. I guess in this case the trick is reversed --- the home-owner does the trick!

We have been spending a lot of time just getting our maintenance up to date. We are almost through washing, and waxing. Carpet cleaning is coming up.

We have also spent time getting ourselves maintained. I went to Mayo Clinic for another chest X-ray. Everything is OK, and that will be the end of the monitoring. I also had a few other minor things taken care of. We also went to Tampa to get a tune-up on the cochlear implants, and I must say, I think I am hearing a little better. In a week or two, Madeline will start the process of getting her cataracts removed.

We have purchased a Jeep, planning to do some fairly serious 4-wheeling in the spring. It is second hand, so we are also doing a little fixing up on the vehicle.

That is about the news. We are having Thanksgiving dinner at my niece's home, and my sister Dona will be there. it will be fun to have a little family affair.

Aeroplanes at Rhinebeck Aerodrome and on to SC. Oct 23, 2009

Here are some pictures that Madeline took of the antique airplanes at the Rhinebeck Aerodrome, a museum of the World War I era and before. Many of the airplanes were reconstructions or only had fragments from the original airplane. However, the motors which been rebuilt, are original.

I wish I had taken notes, so I could recall the names and origins of all we the airplanes saw, but I did not. The airplane shown below is interesting in that there were controls to twist the wings. This, in conjunction with the rudder, helped the airplane in banking. The original Wright Brothers plane had a similar mechanism. The airplane shown below was taxing, but did not fly. The man walking along the plane is helping to prevent the airplane from becoming airborne, as well as helping it turn, and stop!


The airplane shown below is also an early airplane, when designers were still working on making machines that would fly. This plane also just taxied. Note the skids that worked with the wheels to keep the plane off the ground. The very earliest planes had only skids -- no wheels.

I believe, although I am a little unsure the airplane below, is a Spade -- a bulwark of the French and British in World War I. This plane did fly during the airshow.

There was also a Sopworth Camel at the aerodrome, but it did not fly. We were told by one of the pilots, it was tricky to fly, because the setting for the spark advance, choke and accelerator,was never the same from flight to flight, and it toke an experienced pilot to adjust all three at once, while trying to gain speed to take off. The Camel also had a rotary engine -- the whole engine rotated with the propeller on a fixed crankshaft. This lead to the development of a huge amount of torque, and could lead to the plane spinning rather than the propeller --- not a good prescription for a long life of the pilot.

After visiting the Aerodrome, we spend a day at Hyde park, visiting Roosevelt's home. I discussed our visit in our previous blog, but suffice to say, if you plan a visit -- consider taking a day and a half to see everything ( introductory film, Presidential Library, Eleanor's Cottage, FDR's getaway cottage, Vanderbilt Mansion). FDR's and Eleanor Roosevelt's grave is shown in the picture below.

We are now in South Carolina, having just completed servicing our RV. We also visited the nearby Kings Mountain National Battlefield, which is in South Carolina, just over the state line from North Carolina. This was the site of an important Revolutionary War battle, in which the Tories (aka Loyalist), loyal to Great Britain, led by British officers were soundly defeated by Americans, mostly who were quickly recruited from backwoodsmen from North Carolina and Virginia.( The American fighter are now called Patriots, in the brochure describing the battle.) This battle was decisive, because it was the end of any loyalist military support from people living in the colonies, for the British. The Loyalist either decided to support the new Revolutionary government or fled to New Brunswick.

There is always something to be learned from the study of past wars. The battle of King Mountain shows how difficult it is , if not impossible, for an invading troops to win a guerrilla war, even with some support and training of the indigenous population. The invaders are essentially getting involved in a Civil War, which they are powerless to control, unless they are willing to engage in genocide. (Nuf' said --End of lesson for today.)

More Travels, Oct 18, 2009

It has been a while since our last post, so I will try to bring you all up to date. We were disappointed to learn that the the trebuchet practice (Punkin Cunkin) was postponed. Our extended stay to see the event was frustrated. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the extra time in New Hampshire, and had a chance to visit friends and see old sights.

Madeline and I took a pleasant hike through the woods to the old Savage Mill. This is the site of a mill built in the late 1700's or early 1800's, on a stream near, but not on, what is now an abandoned road. The road has been cleared to some extent, for snowmobiles. When I was a kid, living in the area, we used to follow these old roads out in the woods, fairly easily, since most of the original roads were bordered by stone walls. I recalled that we had to leave the old road and traipse off thru the woods, about 400-500 yards, to find the mill. Madeline and I made a number of futile side trips to find the mill. Just when we were ready to give up, I made a last trip into the woods, and there I found the remains of the old mill dam, a line of stone walls about eight feet high. We the found the old walls, where the water wheel must have been. These walls are quite imposing --- two wall, fifteen to twenty feet high and about twelve feet or so apart.

There was a little bridge built across the walls, and a path leading to it -- so obviously there was an easier way, then we took, to get to the old mill. The picture below is of me standing on the little wooden bridge across where the water wheel once stood.

This picture is taken a little further down the stream, but at the same area.

This was fall in New Hampshire, and the trees were beginning to turn. As one travels through the woods, In wet areas, an occasional tree will be seen all in scarlet or yellow colors.

On the way back to our car, we saw very colorful mushrooms, growing on old dead trees.

After the weekend we traveled down to Plymouth Mass, where we visited the Plimoth Plantation. This is a reconstruction of the town of Plymouth as it stood around 1630, approximately 10 years after the Pilgrims arrived. There is also a reconstructed Wampanoag Indian village, a tribe the was present when the settlers first arrive in Plymouth, and helped the early settlers survive during the early years. Indians in the village helped explain how life was in the 1600's. I was interested in the man, shown below making boats out of logs. He said he could complete a boat in about three days.

Below is shown what was a typical Indian dwelling, known to us as a wig warm. it is made of bark attached to lengths of bent saplings, and is quite good, i was told in keeping out snow and rain.

The Plymouth colony has been reconstructed. The village is surrounded with a palisade of logs. The hut have thatched roofs, and the walls are made of a mixture of mud and straw on the inside, and wood on the outside. There were people acting the part some of the colonist, and acting as if they were actually there on a day in 1630. Two interesting characters to me were William Hopkins, and William Bradford. Bradford and I are related, whereas Hopkins and I are not.

We also went to the actual town of Plymouth. There we saw a reconstruction of the Mayflower. The Mayflower was more substantial than I expected, although exceedingly small for the number of passengers. This reconstructed ship at one time actually sailed across the Atlantic Ocean.

We also saw Plymouth Rock. I gather the rock is much smaller than originally, and there is some question, if the first settlers actually stepped on it. However, I gather it was a landmark on a long and predominately sandy beach.

From Plymouth we moved on to Upstate New York where we visited Madeline's brothers and their families, and Madeline did genealogical research --- visiting historical societies, libraries and county court houses. While there we rendezvoused with Madeline's brother. who delivered our Jeep that we purchased from a fellow RVer in California.

After spending sometime in New York, we traveled to Rhinebeck, a small town down in the Catskills, about 50 miles from New York City. There we visited Rhinebeck Aerodrome, site of a museum of World War I and before, airplanes. We also saw an air show. perhaps i will have some pictures in a future posting. There was an old German tri-plane, the type famously flown by the Red Barron, as well as a Spade, and a Sopworth Camel (the type flown by Snoopy. Most of theses planes as well as others are in flying condition, and indeed were flow, while we were there. there are some older planes also, probably in flying condition, but so primitive, that it is doubtful if it is safe to fly them. some of these were taxied up and down the airfield. It was amusing to learn that some of the airplanes did not have brakes, so two men would have to catch them to stop them and to turn them around.

The next day we visited Franklin Roosevelt's birthplace and home in Hyde Park, New York. There is tour through the home, and then an extensive museum at the Roosevelt national Library. There is also a separate 'cottage" that Eleanor Roosevelt lived in, and another one Franklin built, as "get away".

We are now in Virginia visiting our son and his family. Tomorrow, we move on to the Charlotte, NC area to get repairs and maintenance on our rig.

In New Hampshire Again, Sept 3, 2009

We are in Hancock, New Hampshire again.
The leaves are just beginning to change. Around swamps and brooks there are lower story trees. such as grey birches and willows, with lots of red leaves Although there is a lot of color about the bogs and swamps, the setting is usually not conducive to a good photograph. The picture beside this writing, however, gives you an idea of what we see.

Along the roads and at the edges of fields the maples are starting to turn with trees exhibiting scarlet, yellow, and a really beautiful burnt orange (yellowish-red) color. We have delayed leaving for another week, so we should see a better exhibition of color in a few days.


New England is really very picturesque. Nearly every town has a church with a steeple reaching into the sky. One of the more beautiful churches is the old Meeting House/Congregational Church in Hancock, the town in which we are staying.
The building is a combination meeting house and church, and according to a sign next to the church it was built in 1829 and moved in 1854. It is said, that the bell in the tower was cast by Paul Revere.

This combination of church and state, in one form or another, is not too uncommon in New Hampshire towns. In my home town, the town hall was downstairs and the church was upstairs. Te building was owned by the town, and the church rented to the members. Unfortunately, in recent times there has developed animosity between townspeople and the church, and a schism within the church. The members have left the building, so an empty church remains upstairs with a town hall, downstairs used for community functions such as town meetings.






Every town has cemeteries, of course. In New England towns, an old cemetery in the middle of town is a common sight. These are usually kept up fairly well and the old lichen covered marble headstone are quite picturesque. Below I have included a photograph of a cemetery in the center of Hancock.


We have extended our stay another week. The Yankee Siege is going to start their Trebuchet up on Saturday, practicing in anticipation of the Punkin Chunkin contest. See www.yankeeseige.com.

More on Quebec and On to Maine Sept 16, 209

There are quite a few museums in Quebec City, and unfortunately we only had time to visit two of them. One of the most interesting was Discovery Pavilion. Here there was a series of docuramas, with a combination of movies superimposed on a room of furniture, or an outdoor scenes. Most of the docuramas were involved with descriptions of the famous battle between the British invaders, and the French defenders in 1759. General Montcalm for the French and General Wolf for the British were shown outlining their strategic plans. Both were killed in the battle, which only lasted about 20 minutes. A visit to the museum was followed up by a tour of the battlefield on the Plains of Abraham in a bus driven by a man dressed up in a period costume of a farmer living at the time of the battle. The Plains of Abraham, outside the city walls where the battle between the French and British occurred, always had a rather biblical name to me. I was surprised to learn that it was a local name for fields being farmed by a farmer, Abraham Martin.

As discussed in the previous post we went from Quebec to Vermont, across New Hampshire and to Leeds,Maine, which is next to Turner. Turner, Maine is in the area that my mother grew up, and a place where I have numerous relatives --- first, second, and third cousins.

I wanted to pursue further genealogical research with my cousin, Horace (aka as Sonny). We had a nice visit over several days. We also had a chance to visit another cousin, Jim, who I have not seen since I was a child, probably 60 -65 years ago.

The area around Turner is very striking. The roads go over high hills on which there are fields and farms. one can look to the mountains in new Hampshire. Madeline was particularly taken with the farm houses connected to the barns through sheds and extensions of the house, so the farmers could get to their animals in the winter without going out into the cold. A picture of one such farm is shown below.

We are now in New Hampshire, and we will be here for a week or so. The leaves are turning color on the tree around the swamps and the bogs. Occasionally along the road there will be a maple tree with red leaves. We will probably be gone before the peak of the fall colors are here.

Quebec City, and Back to the USA, Sept 14, 2009

Since our last posting, we have driven to a campground near Quebec City. It was about ten miles away on the south side of the Saint Lawrence River, and an easy drive to the old city.

The old city of Quebec City is surrounded by walls, making it, we were told, the only walled city in North America. The picture on the left is of Saint John's Gate. The tower and the rampart give you an idea of the style of the wall.

The city wall is in excellent repair, and quite accessible. In fact, as you can see from the picture below, it is possible to walk on the city walls. That is your correspondent walking toward a fort in the corner of one wall, The fort, the Citadel, was built by the English during the War of 1812, in anticipation of the need to defend against an attack by the United States on Quebec City. (The attack never materialised, so a shot was never fired in anger from the fort.)



Madeline thought the old city was very reminiscent of the streets of cities and small towns in France. The streets were narrow, with two and three story buildings, built with either common walls or with very small spaces between them . The building mostly built with stone and in good repair. With written signs and the predominant conversations in French, it was a very apparent foreign (to us) country, and one would think they were in France --- very picturesque and colorful. The accompanying picture below gives you an example of what I am writing about.




There is quite a bit of street art in front of near many of the buildings The picture below show a statue of a minstrel on the end of a slide from the second floor of a building.

We left Quebec City after a few days and entered the United States through the Vermont border. We traveled on to Burlington, where we camped near Lake Champagne . The lake was very beautiful there, with a view out across islands to mountains in New York State. While in Burlington, we visited with our niece Kathy, who we have not seen for a number of years. it was a nice visit, and we wished we could have stayed longer in Burlington. Unfortunately, Labor Day was upon us, and due to our poor planning on our part, there was no available space in campgrounds in the Burlington area over the Labor Day weekend.

So we moved, driving across the Green Mountains, into Lancaster, New Hampshire. There we visited my cousin, Nancy and my friend, Bob. They took us to a nearby state park,the John Wingate Weeks Estate, which is at the end of a road, atop a nearby Mount Prospect. John Weeks was a wealthy businessman and later a politician from Massachusetts. In his later years he built a home on top of Mount Prospect, which overlooks the town of Lancaster. he built a stone tower, which still stands, and that at one time served a a fire observatory for the Forest Service. From the tower one can get an unparalleled view of the Presidential Range in the White Mountains, and a wonderful view of Mount Washington, the highest mountain in the northeast. I was surprised to learn that one can see the smoke from the cog railroad, when the train approaches the top of Mount Washington.

We were there in a day of singular clear weather. The picture above shows Mount Washington, and if you look closely, you can see a cloud of smoke from the engine of the cog-railroad train, just to the right of the peak of the mountain.

After spending Labor Day weekend in Lancaster, we drove across New Hampshire and part of Maine to Turner, to visit again my cousin, and to pursue more genealogical research.

Moving On, Aug 28, 2009

We stayed at Saint Maxine du Mont Louise, the campground mentioned in our next-to last posting, for a couple of days. The RV Park has quite a few sculptures, made from wood and concrete, throughout the park. I have included pictures of two other sculptures which are artistically superior to the miner, although perhaps less novel. The first is of a horse’s head anchored to a large wooden chain. The second is a life-sized wooden statue depicting a worker cleaning a fish – I suppose in honor of the codfish industry,

Madeline spent a lot of time on the beach – first looking, with little success, for shells, and finally collecting sea glass. Much of the glass was of a greenish hue – from old coke bottles, I think, but who knows? It is quite attractive. There was also some white and clear sea glass. A rarer find was brown and blue. The fact that blue was rare is interesting --- indicating I suppose that little cobalt-blue glass is made any more.

A cold front must have moved in on Tuesday night as it grew very cold and terribly windy. We moved west on Wednesday, having a pretty ride down the coast. ( The posting of Aug 27 was on Wednesday evening.)On Thursday we continued our trip. We made one interesting stop at the small city of Rimouski. There were several museums, there --- one of a famous ship-wreck, The Empress of Ireland that went down in 1914, taking over a thousand lives. There was also a lighthouse with a museum in the light housekeeper’s home, and of all things a beached submarine (sous-marin), The Onondaga. When this boat was decommissioned it was purchased for display. After some difficulty, the vessel was eventually brought on to land where it is now a museum. We took a few pictures, but due to time and cost decided to forgo visiting the museum, and continued on.

The trip down the Saint Lawrence was very nice. Every five to seven miles we would come into a small village, with the requisite church, usually a small grocery store, and perhaps a restaurant or two. The style of the houses seems unique to us. Many of the houses are square. A typical house will have a single dormer right in the middle of the front roof. It is not uncommon to see dormers on three or four sides of the houses, Tall rather narrow window are frequently seen in houses, sometimes paired. Most houses have shutters, frequently painted in bright and cheerful colors. The color of the houses is also unique with many houses of bright colors such as red, yellow, green, or even purple, with brightly colored roofs. The homes tend to be freshly painted, and in general seem in better repair, than we are accustomed to see in the US.

There are many farms, -- small, I suppose, by US standards. We see hay out drying, and cows in the field. It seems at times as though we are back to the 1950’s in the US, with many small, active farms. While I am sure they have their share of problems here in Quebec, one does not see the obvious signs of poverty, to which we have become accustomed --- that is no falling-down barns, trailer-homes in poor repair, nor junk cars in the field.
We are now in the small town of Saint-Roch-des Aulnaies, which is on the Saint Lawrence. We will likely stay here for the weekend, and visit Quebec City next week.

Gaspe Peninsular III, Aug 27, 2009

Yesterday it turned cold with a blustery and strong wind. I guess fall has arrived in this part of Canada. We spent most of the day driving east and are now in the little town of Sainte -Flavie. This town is frequently referred to as the "Gateway to the Gaspe". We are in a small RV Park out of town, but next to a restaurant. I guess the summer tourist "season" is considered over. The people said , "Oh just come in to use the Internet, anytime. We are relaxed now, The season is over."

We are parked facing the Gulf of the Saint Lawrence, making this in some ways an attractive campsite, but perhaps a little primitive.

Two pictures here; One a very nice sunrise, that Madeline took at Perce. The other a gag picture on a day i felt like a king.

Gaspe Peninsular II, Aug 24, 2009

Aug 24, 2009

Since our last posting we have traveled a few miles, viewing the extreme east end of the Gaspe Peninsular. We are now on the north side on the Gulf of the Saint Lawrence River. We have had a few anxious moments. First we were concerned about Hurricane Bill, which seemed to be headed toward us --- due to arrive yesterday. That concern turned out to be unjustified. We had a little light rain on Saturday night, and a somewhat overcast skies yesterday morning, and that was it. The hurricane turned east and pretty much missed us completely. The other concern has been that our levelers are not working. They do not retract properly ,and we have are concerned that we will be stuck with levelers down, unable to move – in a French-speaking town, miles from RV repair facilities, no telephone or Email! We finally did get through via Email to learn how to make temporary repairs. Still it is a source of anxiety and tension every time we set up or get ready to leave.

As mentioned above, we spent a couple of days at the town of Perce. This pretty little town is on the east end of the Peninsular. The most important feature is a long thin rock wall out in sea with a hole at bottom of the wall towards the end. You can see this icon of the Gaspe Peninsular in the first picture, with a second picture taken from the dock at Perce, with a beautiful woman in the foreground.

Perce was, at one time, a fishing village, but it seems now mostly devoted to tourists. There are series of buildings that once were devoted to the cod fishery and the sun-dried cod business, discussed in our last posting. In one of these was a very nice art exhibit featuring two or three local artist. Unfortunately we can’t recall the names of the artist, but I have included a photo of a painting of fishing boats, to give you an idea of the exhibit.

We move on along the peninsula and stayed a couple of nights near the Forillon National Park. This park is on the north side of the Bay of Gaspe. It has mountains hiking trails, beaches, and rocky cliffs overlooking crashing waves. The northern end of the Appalachian Trail ends here. Much of the park is only accessible by hiking or biking. We took a short hike along the cliffs overlooking the sea. We visited a museum that was once a general store serving the residents and fisherman in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The store in many ways reminded me of the general store operated by my family in my youth (the middle 1900’s, now I think if it!) We also visited a museum of what was once the home of a local fisherman. It was an interesting house, with four bedrooms upstairs, as well as a sewing room in an attic, over the kitchen. Of course it was heated with woodstoves, lit with kerosene lamps. There was a barn with room for a few chickens, two or three cows, and a stall for a horse. We were told that food was supplemented in the winter by trapping and hunting. These families survived by fishing and substance farming. The fishing catch was cod, which was then sundried as previously described in an earlier posting. The dried cod not reserved for personal use, was traded at the store for food, clothing and fishing gear. The dried cod traded at the store eventually ended up at one of the large fish export companies that used cod dried by local fisherman to supplement the cod that they processed themselves for export.

As we moved on, we traveled down the Gulf of the Saint Lawrence. At Cape Rosieres we photographed a very handsome light house overlooking the Gulf. The views along the north side of the Peninsular are striking. The road winds along the cliffs and beaches of the sea, and then suddenly swerves up into the mountains, where there are forest and beautiful little lakes, and then suddenly swerves down into little fishing villages, with ever-present church with a steeple. The churches are particularly beautiful --- each church having an individual style – sometimes in architecture sometimes in color. The final picture shows a typical village taken from the top of a hill overlooking the sea. You can see the church, and if you look carefully, in the background, you can see a road winding down out of the mountains.

Yesterday afternoon, we came to Saint Maxime du Mont Louis. We drove down to the dock and watched a boat come in with three fishermen on it. Apparently they came in mostly for more bait. Madeline starting talking to one of the fishermen was given a gift of five sea urchins. She did not know what exactly to do with them, so they were left on the dock. This is a beautiful little town, and today is a beautiful sunny day so we may stay here a day or two.

Along the Southern Coast of the Gaspe Peninsular; Aug 19, 2009; Paspebiac, Quebec

Yesterday we made our way several miles up the southern coast of the Gaspe Peninsular. We made one stop to visit a museum devoted to history of the Arcadians in Quebec. This story has been told in Longfellow’s poem Evangeline (I wonder of kids still read Longfellow’s poem in school?). The Arcadians were emigrants from France and originally lived in New Brunswick. The British fearing the loyalty of these French speaking people, probably also disliking their fierce Catholic religious beliefs, forced a Diaspora of the Arcadians. The Arcadians eventually immigrated to various parts of the world, including the Gaspe peninsular as well as southern Louisiana, where they became the Cajuns. It is interesting to reflect that forced expulsion and attempts to destroy a culture have been going on for centuries.

Our next visit to a museum devoted to the drying of cod fish --- an important industry in this area in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Codfish was most important fishery up until recent times. The process of drying fish was quite primitive. The fish were “headed” and filleted at dock-side. Then the fillets were salted down in tubs for several days. Following this the fillets were placed outdoors on racks for drying in the sun. In some cases a shelter was fashioned over the racks to protect from rain. Every evening the fish were taken of the racks and stored overnight skin side up, and then placed on the racks for drying again the next day. Three or four days were required for drying. Once the fish were dried they were placed in hogshead barrels. A press was applied to maximize the fish in each barrel. The barrels of dried salted fish then were ready to be shipped. The dried salted fish was exported to various markets all over the world, including the Basque region in Spain, Brazil, and curiously enough was the Caribbean, were it was fed to slaves.

The cod fishery, as impossible as it might seem, was essentially fished out in the twentieth century --- ruining the economy of many places including Newfoundland. There is a lesson to be learned -- that a resource – be it fish, timber, oil, or even climate -- can be destroyed. Claims that the economic costs of regulation would be destructive of jobs, etc, etc, prove to be short-sighted --- as an industry disappeared the jobs are lost forever.

From Maine to Canada, Aug 18, 2009

I did not get to tell about the salmon cages we saw in the Bay of Fundy. Farmed salmon is quite widespread in the bays of Canada, near the US border.

We walked on down to the shore of the Bay of Fundy in front of Roosevelt’s cottage. We could see off shore a number, perhaps twenty, large salmon cages grouped together about a quarter of a mile off-shore. (See picture.) There were two groups of cages, about a couple of miles separating the two groups. There is some controversy on whether farming salmon is environmentally friendly. Some say it preserves the fishery, others say, since salmon feed is composed predominantly of fish meal, farming salmon is actually destroying a fishery. Others say that intense farming of salmon in the sea is polluting the ocean, while others say that places such as the Bay of Fundy with extreme tidal flows, are an ideal place for farming, since the waste (salmon feces) are washed out to the ocean, where it is diluted to such a degree that contamination is insignificant. Who know how this argument will play out. As in most such arguments, I suspect the truth is in between the two points of view.

On Saturday we left the most easterly point of Maine (and the United States) and started on our journey to the Gaspe Peninsular, planning to take the trip in easy steps. We drove up Route 1 to Houlton, Maine. Northern Maine is sparsely populated, so the area seems quite wild. I found it reminiscent of Alaska and the Yukon Territory in Canada – lots of trees, few houses, and fairly long distances between towns. The roads seem to alternate between stretches of new pavement and stretches of bumpy pavement in poor repair.

We fueled up in Houlton (fuel being about half the price in the US compared to Canada), and crossed the border into New Brunswick. We continued north on a wonderful four-lane Canadian highway, and spent the evening in New Brunswick. The next day we arrived in the province of Quebec.

We have decided to go around the Gaspe peninsular in a counterclockwise direction, so that we will be on driving on the side of the highway towards the sea. On our first day we stayed at a small village, Nouvelle. The south side of the Gaspe Peninsular is quite flat, and I have read it is warmer than the rest of the Gaspe area. The land here is relatively flat, and the sea quite shallow. Here in Nouvelle there are rather large tidal flats. To the north, towards our backs, when facing the sea, are heavily forested mountains.

Yesterday we visited Parc de Miguash, a museum, which is also a national park. This park was developed about twenty five years ago to preserve and the remains of fossil fish and plants found in a cliff. This cliff holds a unique collection of the remains of fish from the Devonian period. The Devonian period was a time when the species of boney and cartilaginous fish expanded, and was the period just before fish developed into land animals. (Apologies to Creationist, but I just don’t see how you can put the existence of these fossils into the Creationist view of life.) There are many species of fossil fish that were deposited during the Devonian period. Apparently conditions were just right so the fish sank in the mud, which eventually turned into shale. Many of the fossils were preserved intact, to such a degree that fossilized nerves and blood vessels can be seen. I was surprised to learn that the current view is that fish probably developed lungs to breathe air and limbs, long before they emerged on land. The limbs that were developed were used for swimming, initially, not walking or crawling.

More Maine travels

These postings are a little late, as we are now in Quebec and Internet is not readily available.

I mentioned in my last posting that we were having blueberry muffins almost every night, while camping near Bar Harbor, thanks to a low-bush blueberry patch right next to the campground. (Madeline said she had never picked blueberries before.) Please see the picture of the blueberries, just to get an idea how thick they were. I think low-bush wild blueberries are the most flavorful of all blueberries.







We left Mount Desert Island several days ago and started our journey north and east toward Quebec. We changed our plans and decided to go all the way east to Eastport. We reached that area with an easy days driving and stopped to visit the area for a day. We went down to the harbor in Eastport, and were greeted by a statue of and tough looking cod fisherman – see the attached picture. As I said in an earlier post there were a number of people fishing, with the youngster seeming to be catching the most. The catch of the day was mackerel.
















The next day we drove to Lubec, a small fishing town, where my father taught school. He and my mother lived in a rented house there. There is an old brick building that looks as if might have once been a small school. When I have time, I will research this.

Then we dove a short distance over a short bridge over to Franklin Roosevelt’s summer “cottage” on Campobello Island. Campobello Island is actually in New Brunswick, Canada, but is only several hundred yards from the United States. Roosevelt’s summer home is now an international park, on about 2800 acres, mostly a natural area with trails. The house is open to visitors. A picture of the “cottage” is attached. The building itself is quite large, and could only be termed a “cottage” as a term used by the rich and super-rich in the early twentieth century to describe their summer mansions. The Roosevelt cottage, although large, was furnished rather sparsely, and while tastefully furnished, certainly not lavishly. In 1929, while vacationing there Roosevelt came down with polio and left the island on a stretcher, his life changed forever. His recovery and subsequent submission into politics, prevented him from returning for nearly twelve years, and then for only three brief visits.

While in the area,, we drove to West Quoddy Head Light – a handsome red-and-white striped light house in South Lubec and also the eastern most point in the United States ( Of course, we will be travelling up to the Gaspe Peninsular, much further east – so we were only minimally impressed!) See the accompanying picture of this very handsome light house and also a picture of a plate announcing its extreme eastern geographical location

Maine Times, Aug 19, 2009

From New Hampshire, we moved on to the Maine, en route to Quebec Provence. We stopped in Turner, Maine to visit with my cousin, Horace. (Horace, aka as Sonny in much earlier days) is my mother's nephew.) Horace is is an ardent genealogist and has done extensive research on our family tree -- tracing some branches back as far as the Mayflower. Madeline and I spent a day with Horace, visiting cemeteries and various areas where my mother and her parents lived as a child.

The picture on the left, is what was once the Horace True farm on Upper Street Road. My mother visited here frequently when she was a girl, and her aunts used to live here.

This barn was on the farm where Charles Moody lived. It is in Turner, Maine. There is a cellar hole nearby where the house was. This is the farm my where my mother was born, and raised until the family moved to Auburn..

Some of my ancestors moved from Massachusetts in the early 1800's, settling in Minot, Maine. The original house they settled in was on top of a hill and the house and barn have since disappeared.

However one house of an early relative is still standing, and there is a picture of it above. Note the narrow windows and the window over the front door -- characteristics of homes of that early period.

After sending a delightful two days with my cousin we moved on to Arcadia National Park on Mount Desert Island. We camped near Bar Harbor. We had beautiful weather, while we were there. We spent some time examining the rocky shore, and drove up Mount Cadillac Mountain. The harbors, with the fishing boats and pine trees on the rocky shores are beautiful. On the left is a typical scene from Southwest Harbor.

There are a number of lighthouses around the Island. There is a nice picture that Madeline took of the lighthouse at Bass Harbor.

We had to wait to get a new water pump delivered from the RV factory in Alabama. This was a good place to do it, with the beautiful surroundings and nice neighbors. We were parked next to two RVs belonging to fellow Escapees, and met another family, that were just beginning to RV half time. Nearby was a patch of wild, low bush blueberries. We were able to pick enough in about 15 minutes to make blueberry muffins every night! Thanks, Debbie, for the great recipe in your family cookbook.

We are now in a campground near Eastport, Maine. Last evening we went down to the dock at Eastport. the tides are truly high here. The floating docks with the attached boats were probably fifteen feet below the piers. A number of people were fishing with poles off the piers. As is usually the case twelve-to-fifteen-year-old boys were catching most of the fish --- reeling in mackerel three at a time on triple-baited lines.

New England Yankees (meaning "natives" from Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont) have always had a peculiar relationship with out-of staters -- disliking them as a being intrusive, but of course, like any individual out-of stater they know. There was an interesting article in a local paper, The Fisherman's Voice, complaining about having to wait in line at grocery stores, while rich out-of-state people wait for their VISA card to clear. Anyway -- there is a new name for out-of state people --- "picked ears". Read this quote -- it is kind of funny.

"Lo and behold, someone discovered the charge card. Now we get picked ears everywhere. They leave home with a ten dollar bill in their pocket and a clean shirt in a bag. They stay a month and they never change either one. You come in off the water after a hard days fishing and stop at the local store on your way home. There they are, picked ears ten deep at the cash register trying to palm off some kind of charge card that half the time the cashier never heard of.

They stand there, trying one card after another while your beer is getting warm and your temper is getting hot. "

Picked ears -- that is a new one to me. I wonder where it came from.

Greenfield Fun, Aug 11, 2009

Today, I am going to play a little catch-up. Actually we have left Greenfield, N.H (my home-town), and come to Maine -- we are now down east near Bar Harbor. But more about that in my next posting. I want to talk about out time in New Hampshire.

We came across an interesting set of structures, the Yankee Siege, in South Greenfield, across from the Yankee Farmer produce stand. For those who have not been to Greenfield for decades, this set of structures is on the site of the old Robbins home, the once the rather ugly house that was faced with field stones (i.e.rocks).

The Yankee Siege is a name given to a trebuchet, built by a dentist (who owns the produce stand) and his friends. A trebuchet is a type of catapult used in the siege of castles in medieval times. Below, is a picture of a placard on the bulletin board explaining how the trebuchet works. Basically it has a huge arm, to which is attached a sling. The trebuchet is energized with a counter weight.

A picture of the trebuchet (without the sling) is shown below.

The trebuchet is used every fall to sling pumpkins at a target castle. I am not clear how the distance is determined, but I suppose there must be some type of adjustment of the counterweight, or perhaps on the length of the ropes holding sling.

The picture to the left is of the target, a mock castle, some distance (perhaps 500-800 yards) from the trebuchet. Note the pumpkin patch in front of the castle. Late in October, the trebuchet is put in action --- firing pumpkins at and hopefully hitting the castle.

There are number of hobbyist who have built trebuchet, and this has become a competitive event --- the competition is called, Punkin Chunkin. I think the point of the competition is to see who can throw a pumpkin the furthermost. This years Punkin Chunkin is held in Nov 6, 7, and 8, near Bridgeville, Delaware.

For more information on the Yankee Siege, go to http://wwwyankeesiege.com/

There are other postings if you look up Yankee Siege, and Punkin Chunkin.

Another nice time we had in Greenfield was a gathering of the clan at my cousin's, Ginny's home. Some of her family was there, as well as children and grandchildren of my cousin, Muriel, and of course, my cousin, Peter. (Peter is now the volunteer firemen in Greenfield with the most experience in the volunteer fire department.)

To the left is a picture of three formerly deaf, but coclear implanted cousins: Ginny, Dan (me) and Muriel.