... mike and beth were staying at their villa at evergreen valley in stoneham and i decided i'd give a try at a late season motorcycle ride up into the mountains ... it was a good ride up, even at 50°f with very gusty winds ... after a nice visit i headed back the next day ... in oxford i stopped at "daddy o's" to sample a turkey club sandwich and what ended up being at least a pot of coffee ...
... aaron ouellete, the owner, has been running daddy o's for seven years ... he is obviously quite proud of his business ... carol kimball, my waitress, was as friendly as she was efficient ... first impressions, i recommend this nice little diner ...
... on another day's wanderabout i stopped in at the old mill in mt. vernon to watch the sunset play out across the water pouring over the dam ...
... on the roadside along the little catchment pond a few autumn leaves are autumn persistent ...
... still another little excursion, john invited me to help him close down his camp ... while he fiddled with pipes and the like i explored along the side of the hill overlooking the pond ...
... berries, so red as if somehow they'd collected all the color from the fading foliage ...
... berries, so blue as to be hint of the chill soon to be upon us ...
... in the shed, things of the camp, including a rather ominous looking hook ...
... inside the camp, memory icons ...
... i asked john if i could help, but, canoeist that he is, his response was, "no, it's much easier to do by myself" ... a skill, i imagine, perfected through many a forest trail portage ...
... with her resurrected playstation perched on the back seat ("dad, you're a genius"), yesterday i met up with adrien in portland ... no movies that interested us, so we did a little wander down to the famous "main diner" in wells ... an excellent meal, included pancakes so big that one was a serving, then we cruised up route 9 to the rachael carson national wildlife refuge ... while the tide came in we walked the trails and enjoyed the crisp sea air ...
... from there we took a side trip to the peninsula on the south side of wells pool ... "lifestyles of the rich and famous" land ... in the olden days they clearly didn't want any of their prisoners to escape, adrien snapped a picture of me with the world's biggest ball and chain ...
... at the beach we collected pebbles for liz, skipped flat stones across the surface of the sea, and noticed how almost all of the houses were boarded up for the winter ...
today, john and chad and i explored along the banks of the kennebec river ...
... in gardiner we appreciated breakfast at the a1 diner ...
... on a back road just above merrymeeting bay i found this little gal lost in the leaves ...
... south of hallowell we stopped to marvel at the reflections in the river ...
"Summer ends, and Autumn comes, and he who would have it otherwise
would have high tide always and a full moon every night."
HAL BORLAND