Maine 2021 Part Two

Woke up on Sunday after passing out for at least 12 hours still feeling tired but no longer feeling that weird hallucinogen/drunk tired.

Called my cousin Dottie and let her know I was in town.  For those that don’t know, my cousin Dottie is 96 years old and is one of my favorite humans on the planet.  She had a very large hand in raising me when I was a kid and my parents were going through their fighting/separation/get back together/eventually divorce phase.  When I was young, being able to spend the night at Dot’s house was the BEST treat you could ask for and if there was anything lucky that came out of my parents not getting along, it was that they shipped me and my brother off to Dot’s house A LOT so they could fight in private.

She may be 96 years old but she does not act it.  She is sharp as a tack, funny as heck and before COVID, had a busier social calendar than most people I know.

So we called her and as luck would have it she was going to be home all day so we got ready and headed out.  Our first order of business was to pop over to Belgrade and pick up a cheap acoustic guitar for Rob to noodle around on while he is here.  It was a pretty easy drive to a local gas station/market in Belgrade to meet the owner of the guitar and after it passed inspection, we were off.

We headed into Waterville to grab some lunch from Governor’s, swung to pick up her sister Helen at her house and then tooled on over to Dot’s house.

It was a wonderful visit full of great food (oh Haddock Chowder, how I’ve missed you!) and even better conversation.  I am sad that I forgot to take any pictures but I guess that is just a testament to the fact that I was thoroughly enjoying myself.

Several hours later I was getting sleepy so we called it and headed back to Augusta.  Our original plan was to hit the Walmart for all the essentials we didn’t want to pay Target prices for earlier in the trip, but I was running out of steam and really didn’t want to deal with a large store with large crowds so we hit Hannaford’s again to grab some dinner we could just heat up in the room (shepherd’s pie in case you were wondering) and came back to the hotel.

We ate and watched some TV and I think I was in bed by nine or so reading before I dropped off to dreamland.

DAY THREE:

Monday we were up and taking advantage of the free breakfast the hotel offers before nine.

Then we took showers and were ready to face the day by 11:00.  We grabbed some sandwiches from Damon’s again and headed to Waterville.

After a quick stop for the first Dunkin’ of the trip we were off to visit a friend.  Our first non-relative visit of the trip.  🤣🤣

We had a really good visit but they were on a limited time frame so soon we were making our way back to Augusta.  On our way to get on the interstate, we passed by the store that my best friends daughter worked at so we had to stop in and surprise her.  It was very cool, she was happy to see us and she and I chatted for quite a while, while Rob grabbed a basket and went shopping.

After that we hit Walmart in Augusta for whatever we didn’t want to buy/couldn’t find at Target the day before and quickly dropped everything back at the hotel before turning around and going back to downtown to meet a school chum for dinner at Cushnoc Brewery.

I don’t think I had seen her in something like 10 years so it was nice to sit and get caught up with her.  We got the Crab Rangoon pizza and it was every bit as amazing as it sounds.  Soooooo gooooooood!!!!

It was a great dinner with fantastic company and I’m glad we were able to see her (look, I remembered to get a picture!!).

We had forgotten to pick up some more water at Walmart but we were just too tired once dinner was done so we headed straight back to the hotel where we relaxed for a bit and then hit the sack.

DAY THREE:

Tuesday it was up for the free hotel breakfast again and then we putted around the room before getting ready and heading out to Bolley’s Hot Dogs to meet up with my friend Naomi and two of her kids – who are no longer kids.   It was packed because it is a very popular spot for lunchtime but the girls snagged us a table and we had a pretty nice visit.

We bid the girls ado and headed a bit further into Hallowell to see if a local ice cream shop I wanted to try was open but they weren’t so we turned around and tooled over to downtown to see about the Farmers Market that was going on there that day.

We got a goat cheese spread for our English Muffin in the morning, some olive oil and some local honey.

Once we were done we decided to FINALLY get an ATM card for the credit union account I have had for decades.  I started it when I was in my early 20’s.  At the time it was for government workers only and I got in on a technicality because my mother worked for the State and we lived at the same address.  We stopped at the hotel quickly (it’s right along the way) to pee and found out that my brother had dropped of “the goods”.  In other words, he had left my mothers ashes at the front desk for us along with some pictures from her house that he had been holding onto for me.

I wasn’t prepared for one of the items he included, and that was her purse.  The raggedy light blue thing that I have watched her carry around for so many years.  I had to go to the car and compose myself while Rob put “the goods” into our hotel room.

Off to the credit union, we were able to draw out some spending cash, get my ATM card and finally add my husband to the account.  Satisfied, we hopped back in the car and made a stop for the second Dunkin’ of the trip and then to Hannaford’s to pick up the water we kept forgetting to get.

Finally done for the day, we got back to the hotel and I looked through all the things my brother dropped off.

Inside my mothers purse was her phone and charger, several wads of tissues (like mother, like daughter 🤣🤣) and her ID card.  I got a little emotional but managed to keep it kinda reigned in.  There were all the postcards that Rob had sent her through the years from an app on his phone.  Lots of Sears portraits of me when I was a kid and some of the pictures that used to hang on her walls.

I guess I didn’t expect the box that her ashes were in to be so big and heavy.  I mean, I have nothing to really compare it to but I guess I thought they would take up less space.  She was a little bitty thing – couldn’t have been more than 4’6″ in the end, if that.  Anyway, it surprised me.

We didn’t do a whole lot with the rest of the night.  This was our one night we chose to stay in and relax a bit early.  Our dinner was part of the hotel’s “Evening Social” that they do Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  It was chili with corn muffins.  Not too bad.