A Quiet Day

We slept in a little later this morning and woke to rain and heavy fog. You couldn't see the ocean, or anything beyond the porch. The weather stayed this way through the entire day, with an occassional foghorn sounding in the distance.

Deek had plans to make it a special day as tomorrow is our anniversary, but I learned this morning that my good friend and former employee Bob Hager passed over. This was quite sudden. Bob and his wife Linda often came to our house for Halloween and New Years Eve parties. Not sure what happened yet. He will be missed. They have been on my mind all day.

It is also my son's birthday today, so as a surprise we ordered over $100 of vegetarian Nepalese take out food and had it delivered to him and his husband in Colorado Springs. He was very surprised and got a kick out of it.

So Dietrich took me out to the town of Camden today to look at antiques. He had something special in mind that he wanted to get me as an anniversary present and he finally found it. I was very surprised. He picked out an old painting of a big three masted ship sailing past Pemaquid Point Lighthouse which we visited the other day. It is very old. On the back the artist wrote the date in pencil which is hard to make out but it appears to be August 1877. There is other writing there under a sheet of paper which we didn't remove, plus a name which may be the name of the ship or the name of the artist, but we cant quite make out what it spells. Eru scribble Te Gard? Emerson? Le Gard? Can't tell. Will have to do some research on it. It also needs some restoration and cleaning. I love it. He wanted to give me something to remind me of the wonderful trip we had up here. This certainly does. It's going to go in the dining room.

Went to lunch at the Scottish pub the Drouthy Bear. I give it FIVE STARS! I had a Black Isle beer and a shot of Tomatin which I used to make a toast for Bob. Ordered the Haggis Poutine appetizer, and the Haggis Pie as an entree. Deek had the haddock. Excellent food, best haggis I ever had. They make it right on the premises.

Considered taking a hike around the scenic Camden park but the rangers had just closed the roads to all auto traffic due to the dense fog. So we decided to come back to the condo and listen to the surf and do some reading. We occassionally pop out onto the porch to get blasted by the wind and rain.

Reading. I am now up to the year 2001 in the condo diaries. They start with 1991. Nearly everyone loved it here. Some had some good weather, some had bad. It is fascinating to peer inside their stories. Some spent Christmas here, or New Years eve. Some got caught here during a hurricane. Some of the really memorable entries -

• One couple arrived in the dead of winter and it was -50.
• A boyfriend & girlfriend were flying here and he proposed on the flight and everyone cheered and clapped.
• One wife wrote that her husband went off to buy himself some shoes. Which he did. But when she saw them she realized they were a right and left but from two different sets of shoes! (Dietrich would totally do that.)
• Another wife reported that her husband Howard lost his wallet. They looked everywhere, and even pulled out the refrigerator. Howard was also complaining that one of his feet hurt. Guess what she found when she looked inside his shoe. (Dietrich would totally do that too.)
• One lovesick young man Daniel Parker met a girl at the bar and wrote down his phone number. This was in 1991. I was soooo tempted to call him and ask how things turned out. 
• Another couple had the all time worst memory. They got up at 4am to drive down the coast to take a sailing ship cruise (Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale a tale of a fateful trip...). While out at sea the ship breaks and they are adrift. They finally limp back to shore at 2am, and finally get back to the resort at 3:15am. (...a 3 hour tour...) Oh boy. 

So many great memories. I am recording our time here too, so if you come stay in condo #821 be sure to check it out.