The One That Got Away

 

Late July 2017 - Work to Be Done

Currently, the camp is receiving some much needed love and a bit of a face lift. My benefactors are as busy as chipmunks lately, and their 'official write-up' for the recent construction became a casualty...

"July 2017    CONNEMARA NORTH Update       Page 1

Sorry…. Lost text when closed computer. Will add it soon.



 
Love and God bless, joan"

So, I'll just leave these pictures for now...

Love, Hula

P.S. Still not too warm for me :)

Connemara North Update - July 2017

Photo by JTW4

July 1, 2017

Good morning from Connemara North and day 10 of Summer in Maine 2017.
It  has been a busy 10 days and I decided today is a good day to check in before Katy and Jere arrive this evening.
As I write this at 5:46 a.m., fog ( or maybe Mainers say “heavy dew) is on the lake and I should be out fishing. But  the frequent rain showers and delightful cool weather keeps my joints a little stiff so here I am at the desk on the porch.

When we arrived late afternoon of June 20, the camp was ready for us, thank you Lord and Jonathon Larrabee who had installed new water heater and restored water service to camp, replaced leaky shower head and slow gizmo in toilet and brought around the dock, put in the boat and brought motor from winter servicing, got it in boat and had battery on porch charging.
Both Lowell and I were not much good for anything after the preparation and trip and then partially unpacking the car Tuesday. Thank God I had made our bed before we left in fall so all we had to do was wipe down the refrigerator and the kitchen shelves and table and etc. and put milk and bread and donuts away until morning. I can’t remember what we ate but I’m sure it was nothing fancy.

Ah, bed felt so good!
The trip to camp was somewhat rainy but uneventful Monday (June 19th) but Tuesday was perfect travel day with blue clouds with many interesting clouds and not too much traffic. We stopped in Fishkill, N.Y. which allowed me to take the Taconic Parkway to Mass. Turnpike in morning. A beautiful route and we think we took it 60 years ago when we heading to StoryTown on our honeymoon. (Yes, 60).
We made a number of rest stops to keep our joints limber and visit the restrooms.
We spent the first two days shopping for essentials at Shaw’s and trying to unload Mat’s bed and sleeping area on porch for his arrival Thursday night. Yes, he did have a bed and place to lay his belongings.
Once Mat got here we began to get serious about getting things ready for Katy and Jere.
Nothing spectacular just trying to remember where we put items when we were closing last fall and finding places to store items we had stacked in the guest bedroom!!?????
Here it is Saturday morning and we are almost ready for the California folks.
Haven’t done much fishing other than three nights off the dock. Mat did take boat out a few times and did catch a beauty of a bass the second day but mostly it was just getting my casting style warmed up. A little bass tugged on my line Thursday night but thought better of the battle and pulled away before I could react. Lots of mosquitos make fishing and gardening interest thus far.
Already I have made two trips to laundry ..mostly with freshing bedding and stuff.
Have to dry everything because of the rain showers throughout the days.
Yesterday, Lowell found that the fishing worms Mat left in porch refrigerator were exploring the bottom of the refrigerator so we had to remove all the soda cans, wash them after retrieving the dear worms and returning them to their container. This time I also placed the container in a plastic bag which I sealed. Haven’t looked yet today.
When we arrived 10 days ago, we found Paul Voyer waiting for us. He had told me he would be back in camp Wednesday but decided to come a day early to be here to help us. What a dear man!

Now it is time to finish preparing the camp for the guests so I will tie this first report.
I am sure I will recall some interesting stuff I forgot and then agin maybe not.
Forgot to mention the male and female ducks were back and the female is a daily visitor for snacks. The male is beautiful with bright colors and the female was obviously with eggs when we first arrived. We have not seen the male for several days but it is obvious the female has laid her eggs. Now let’s hope the birds of prey leave them alone.

Speaking of eggs, something dug holes in the yard outside the side door and we found eggs from some animal destroyed next to the hole. Have no idea who or what was involved but the digging of the holes has stopped. The ground was disturbed when we arrived and Paul was sure it was from animals. I had thought it was from Jonathan parking his truck along side of the house when we was working here. Guess Paul knew what he was talking about.
Monday night we did hear activity in the yard and there was a familiar odor of skunk in the area. Fortunatly no animals were around when we got up.

Oh yes, the chipmucks are back and this time we are feeding them bear the fire circle and not outside the sliding door area. Hopefully the red squirrels will take the hint and stay off the screens.

I really have to get to work. More later, God willing.

Grandma/Aunt Joan

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P.S.Thank you Lord and Mom and Dad Connor for finding this cabin 34 years ago and thank you God for making it possible for us to be able to still enjoy it and welcome so many to do the same. And thank you God for Lowell who continues to amaze me with his support and love after all these years and makes it possible for us to spend the time here.

Photo by JTW4

----------------- The Guests Arrived Safely!---------------------

More Visitors - More Fishing! August 2016

Joanna and kids join Pete to explore the lake and enjoy Maine in late summer. Here are some pics!

The Return of Aunt Marj and Uncle Ron - June 2016

Some say it may have been 10 years since they were there, some say 13, others say less.Well, it happened: Aunt Marj and Uncle Ron Dutilly returned to visit Maine in early June 2016! Aunt Joan and Uncle Lowell hosted  their visit, and Pat came up from North Carolina to spend time while they were there, with great hijinx.

Here are photos and captions from Aunt Marj, to commemorate this historic visit:

 
 Here's me with my "zebco 128" with Aunt Joan on our last day in MaineCamp.

 

Aunt Joan Fishing off the dock. 

 

Sunset from the cove, Memories of going out to watch sunset. 

 

Farrs Cove, Here's looking up into the cove 

Sunset from Beetle Bog Another sunset pic 

Off Bailey’s Point, Heading out to catch sunset 

Here's Aunt Joan working on one of two puzzles we did while we were there...this one was baseball banners...a real challenge...but we got it done late the night before we headed back to Florida.

Maine wouldn't be Maine without seeing Paul Voyer! 

Here are the flock of ducks that have Aunt Joan and Uncle Lowell
trained...they come to Camp 4x's a day for bread! (There are even
loaves of bread in the kitchen that are designated "duck bread"!!)
See the other pic from the day we first saw the ducks and you can
see how much bigger they are in this pic! 

 

Here's Lowell posing in his "cold weather" outfit..

 

There's a blue heron right near the canoe...between the birch and the maple tree 

 

Here's a HUGE turtle on Voyers' rock 

 

A Day in Maine Pops getting tackle ready to fish 

Sun came out for Pat's departure...GREAT VISIT PAT! 

 

A beautiful day for a paddle around the cove 

 

Aunt Joan supervising Here I am moving the canoe into the lake (we took it out twice for nasty weather...) with Aunt Joan's help! 

 

Lobstah dinnah  

 

One of the puzzles we put together...got it done and one piece missing.....Found it the next day on the rug in the living room??? 

 

Here's Pat showing his agility! 

Here's a cool shot of Pops taking me for a ride ...can't see the nifty new motor!  

 

Heading out  

 

Pat setting up photo-shoot with his mouth!? 

 

Pops getting ready to head out to catch "the big one"! 

 

This is Pat putting the registration sticker on the boat. 

 

Pops checking to make sure Pat gets to decal on the boat right.

 

Through the screen Pat checking out the fish off the dock

 

Grilling  

 

Here's me with my "zebco 128" 

 

Here we are catching 3" sunnies off the dock! 

 

Pops is practicing how to get in and out of the boat with his bum knee.

 

See how tiny these ducklings are here a week earlier....they are growing on a healthy diet of duck bread.

And the coup de gras...

Pat’s fish, drawn from memory.