Mainly Maine

We just got back yesterday from a 2 week vacation in Rockwood, Maine. The vacation was timely as it helped Andy recover fully from his bout with the parasite.
We left on Saturday, August 13 at 4:40 am and drove straight through with only 1 stop for gas and bathroom. I had made egg salad, so we were able to eat wraps with eggs & bacon for our breakfast. We also had some fruit and snacks that we munched on throughout the day. We made it to Greenville by 2:30 pm so we made really good time. We shopped for fruits and veggies, then picked up our key at the realtor, making it to our house on the lake by 4:00. Christy and family arrived soon after and we had dinner together.

On Sunday we all went to church, then spent the afternoon playing in and on the lake. Christian had brought their canoe.On Monday, we all went over to Kineo. Christian and Andy canoed over with Grace and Aiden. Christy and I took the shuttle over with Naomi and Asher. We hiked up the mountain and ate our lunch at the top. We felt a couple of sprinkles so started down the mountain. We got to the bottom and then it started pouring. Andy and Christian had to canoe back across the lake and the swells on the lake were getting rather high. They took Grace and Naomi and made it back to the house before Christy and I did. We had to wait a long time for the shuttle to come back for us, and by the time it came, the rain was pouring down. We managed to stay somewhat dry because we sat in a golf cart that someone had left near the dock. We would have been soaked to the skin otherwise!

Tuesday was a rainy day, very gray and dreary with a brisk wind whipping up whitecaps on the lake. We stayed indoors all morning, doing puzzles and playing games,but after lunch, we all went into Greenville. I bought a rain jacket with a hood for myself and tie dye shirts for each of the kids. We also bought a few more items at the grocery store.On Wednesday we finally found Moxie Falls. I had heard so many good things about the falls and wanted to go see it last year, but the drive there is somewhat daunting. It's a 20+ mile drive from Greenville on dirt roads. And those dirt roads are full of pot holes and rocks - not a comfortable ride. We stopped too soon at the ATV path, the main trail was a little further on which we didn't discover till afterwards. The ATV trail was quite muddy with many huge puddles that stretched across the whole road. It probably was the kind of road that ATV guys would love, but it was really messy for hikers. Moxie Falls itself was worth it, though, so beautiful. We hiked along the falls and enjoyed the woods a little before heading back.
Christian did a hand stand on some exposed roots, then all the kids had to try it. Of course, Christian was able to do his without help.On Thursday, we stayed at the house all day, sun bathing, reading and relaxing. I even took a nap. Derek and Penny (Christian's parents) came and got the kids and went to Pebble Beach in their motor boat. When they got back, we ate dinner, then had ice cream and watched Andy Griffith reruns.

On Friday, Christian went to town and rented a kayak. The rest of us sat on the dock and soaked in the sun while the kids played in the water.In the evening, we all went to town because Christian had to return the kayak. We ate at a restaurant in Greenville. Afterwards we left Christian and the kids at the place where Derek and Penny had stayed so he could bring back the boat. When we got back to our house, it was pouring rain with thunder and lightning. Funny thing was, it wasn't even raining where Christian was, so it was hard to convince him not to go out on the lake in the boat. We went back to get them and the boat had to wait for another day.

Christy and Christian went to Quebec on Saturday with the kids. They left pretty early and were gone all day. The house was quiet without them, so Andy and I went in to Greenville, walked around the shops, ate lunch at the Black Frog Restaurant, then took a ride in a sea plane. It was interesting to see the surrounding lakes and mountains from the heights! It was a beautiful day with the sun sparkling on the waters. We were up about 40 minutes, but only went up about half the lake. It's that immense - the largest lake in Maine.
Sunday was a quiet day. After church, we just read and played games with the kids. It rained heavily after dinner and the power went out for about 40 minutes.

We decided to find, then hike little Kineo mountain on Monday. We had to drive all the way to Kokadjo (1 hour), then another 20 miles on dirt road to the trail head. At one point the road was all under water, but we made it through. It was a LONG 20 miles because the road was so potholed. The hike itself was great, somewhat strenuous, but quite do-able. All the kids did great with hardly any complaining, even 3 year old Asher. The view at the top was awesome. Then we had the trip back - ugh!We dropped off Andy, Christian and 3 kids to get the boat the Lindsays had left. We were a little apprehensive because the wind was pretty fierce. Christy, Naomi and I stopped at the store in Greenville for some grocery items and to get Naomi some shoes. We took our time so were very surprised when we got back to the house that the others weren't there. It usually only takes about 30 minutes to make the trip by boat. We asked Dick & Elaine (who own the house and live next door) for the number for the coast guard. They were so kind and concerned and went out in their own boat to look for Christian. They found them and came back to tell us they were on their way. The swells on the lake were so high, making it very treacherous, but they finally made it. Everyone was so cold and wet. On top of the bad weather, the boat was acting up, it wouldn't go any faster than first gear. So what should have take 30 minutes actually took 2 hours. Pretty nerve wracking for Christy and me wondering about them, and for Christian and Andy in the experience. The kids did great although they looked pretty frozen!

So the next day we stayed close to the house. I don't think I went outside that whole day. The house was very nice, roomy enough for both our families.
Our second Wednesday in Maine, we hiked Borestone Mountain. The drive there isn't too bad. Although it's somewhat long, at least it's all on paved roads. It's a difficult and challenging hike, but we all made it. Even Asher, who's only 3, and Christy, who's 7 months pregnant, and me who is in the older generation! Getting to the top is worth it, the view is fantastic, the air is cool and there are lots of blueberries. We ate our lunch at the top, then Christian and the kids picked blueberries, which we used in pancakes for our breakfast the next day. I think the hike down was just as tiring. Our legs and joints felt like jelly.
(In case you're wondering: is Asher sticking out his tongue? The answer is YES!)

We had taken both vehicles so on the way back, the men and boys stopped and ordered pizza. The women and girls stopped at the grocery store for more food items.

On Thursday we just relaxed and chilled out!

Friday was our last day. We had talked about trying to hike to Eagle Rock again. We did it last year and it was such a pleasant experience for us. So when we got up on Friday, Andy and I took off immediately without even eating breakfast for our final adventure. It's an obscure trail, not too clearly marked, but well worth the effort. We made it to the top in 1 hour and 10 minutes and down in 1 hour. The trail was very wet and treacherous in spots because it had rained the night before. We got back to the house around 11:30, had lunch, then spent the rest of the day on the dock. It cleared off and was sunny and warm - a very nice end to a lovely vacation.

We took some time on Friday to pack as much as we could and clean up, and it's a good thing we did. We set the alarm clock for 2:00 am, intending to get up then, pack up the car and take off. For some reason, Andy woke up at 2:00 am on his own, then discovered the power was out. Great! We had to finish packing up in the dark. We couldn't shower or brush our teeth. Fortunately, we had a couple of candles and flashlights that helped us get all our things out. We were on our way by 3:15 am.

Maine's motto is "the way life should be." I have to agree that it's a wonderful place. The air is clean and pure, the mountains and lakes are pristine, life seems slower, people are friendly. But as much as I love to vacation in Maine, I don't know that I could live there. After all, my family, church, friends and daily routine is here. And there's no place like home! (even in a hurricane!)

Window Project & The Comcast Center

Yesterday morning, while I cleaned the bathrooms and did laundry, Andy painted around the windows he had replaced in the kitchen. He thought he was matching the paint but either the original paint was greatly faded or he took the wrong can to the store for matching. The new paint is brighter than what was on the walls, so he's thinking now he'll have to repaint the whole kitchen. It's never simple, is it???

The finishing touches on the kitchen window project...
We finished up with our work by 11:00, then drove over to center city Philadelphia for a tour of the Comcast Center. I have a friend at church who works for a big-wig top executive of Comcast. Several weeks ago she had invited Andy and I to join her for lunch at her work and she'd give us a tour of the building. She knows Christy, so I asked her if it would be ok for Christy and the kids to join us and she said it was. So we met Christy at the parking lot right next to the Comcast building, then walked the 1/2 block to the largest building in Philadelphia.
We actually got there before Christy did because she ran into traffic (surprise, surprise). So while we were waiting for her, Andy and I sat in the outdoor park and enjoyed the outdoors.
The Comcast Center is a skyscraper in center city Philadelphia. The 58 story, 974 foot tower is the tallest building in Philadelphia and the fifteenth tallest in the US. It is built over Suburban Station. My friend who works there can take the train from NJ all the way to about a block from where she works, then in winter or rainy weather, can walk the entire block underground. The building is an amazing structure and we learned some interesting tidbits as we toured the building. This building has actually become the third most visited place in Philadelphia for tourists.

Just the lobby itself was quite fascinating. This "man and his son" are looking up at all the possible walks of life that the son could go into.
Then there is the video. The Comcast Experience is a 25.4 feet tall, 83.3 feet wide, 2,000 square feet high-definition LED screen situated on a wall in the winter garden. The screen is composed of 7.8 million, 4.66mm pitch pixels housed in 6,771 LED modules. The video runs eighteen hours each day. The content of the video includes panoramic views of Philadelphia historic sites, images of space, dancers, acrobats and actors moving around a background designed to mimic wood paneling of the walls of the lobby.
The rest of the building is interesting, too. Our friend took us to the Sprout floor where the PBS show originates. The kids sitting in Barney's chair:
We also saw the studio where interviews were being recorded for the Comcast channel.
There are 4 sets of elevators in the building. Most people have to go from floor 1-12 in the first set of elevators, then you have to switch over to another set that goes another set of floors, until you get to where you want to go. However, our friend, whose office is on the 55th floor, is authorized to go in the special elevator that goes from ground floor to the 56th floor in 43 seconds! Talk about tummy ticklers and ears popping! Whew!

The building also has a "green" reputation. The lobby is not air conditioned or heated, but has vents in the floor that has recycled air from either the outside or underground. Our friend said the lobby is always cold. The building was designed to use 40 percent less water than a typical office building, and the plaza was designed to reduce heat-island effect from the pavement by 70 percent. Reducing air conditioning and lighting costs, the low-emissivity glass curtain wall blocks 60 percent of heat while allowing 70 percent of the sun's light inside.

Then to top it off, we had lunch high up in the clouds - literally. The clouds rolled in as we were eating our lunch in the unbelievable, anything you want to eat cafeteria. At one point the clouds were so thick we couldn't even see a block away. Then they blew away and we could see the streets below and surrounding buildings again.

This was really a fun day and I hope we can do it again. We were told that on a clear day you can see all the way to the Delaware Memorial Bridge. We were also told that their video show in December is awesome.

Feeling Better, Cousin Time & Back to Biking

Andy got home from the hospital last Wednesday, stayed home from work both Thursday and Friday, still very weak and exhausted. By Sunday he felt better, enough to go to church to keep an appointment he had made. But that wore him out so that he came home after an hour and fell asleep till I got home at 1:00. On Monday he went to work, but left at 11:30 to eat lunch and while home, took a nap. He did go back to the office for another 2 hours. Every day after that there was definite improvement, when he even went for a bike ride this morning. Wow - great progress, for which we are very grateful.

On Tuesday, Amy had puppies that needed shots, so Andy & I went up to visit her. We also invited Dawn & Christy and all the kids to join us - which they did. We went over and picked up Dawn & Kira then traveled up together to Amy's. We got there around 10:00 am and spent the whole morning outside. It was a beautiful morning, very pleasant in the shade with a nice breeze. The kids had so much fun playing togetherand listening to Poppop tell stories.
We ate lunch together although Naomi was the only one who ate in the tree.
The rest of the week was pretty normal; Andy worked every day, getting a little stronger and better each day. He finished the medicines he was on around Tuesday which really helped. I think sometimes the side effects from drugs are as bad as the sickness.

Because of Andy's foot surgery in May and the recent fight with the babesiosis parasite, he has not been riding his bike. Consequently, his biking buddies have been missing him. This past week, Dawn and a friend of hers who sometimes rides with Andy, planned to get him out this morning. They said they'd only ride 5 miles and they'd ride slowly. Well, anyone who knows Andy knows he always pushes the limit. So they went about 12 miles or so, but the good news is: he said he felt pretty good!

While Andy, Dawn and their friends were biking, I played with Kira. She loves to play piano and dress up. So here's Miss Hollywood tickling the ivories. Some day she might be famous.
I'm enjoying my Saturday with just puttering around the house, although I did go out this morning and do a few errands. That's wasn't so fun because of Saturday traffic. But thankfully, I got it over early enough to enjoy the rest of the day.

Bad Boy Babesiosis

He forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases. (Psalm 103:3)

Last week about this time, Andy and I were in the Emergency Room at the local hospital. That morning, we took his temperature because he was complaining of intermittent chills & sweats. The thermometer read 103.5 degrees. We both had a hard time believing that was accurate, so I shook the thermometer and told him to take his temp again. But it registered the same, so we made the decision to go to the ER.

Andy has a history of urinary tract, bladder, kidney infections and had just finished antibiotics for one several weeks before. So we thought he was experiencing another one. Thursday he had been so sick that he stayed in bed all day, so untypical for him. That evening he got in to see the doctor who prescribed another round of antibiotics. So we were expecting he would start feeling better on Friday. But that didn't happen, he continued with a high fever, chills, dizziness, weakness, exhaustion. Again, he didn't get out of bed all day. Saturday wasn't much better, then on Sunday, with the high fever, decided we better get to the hospital.

I believe it was the Lord directing us that way. Blood work was immediately called for and the results came back fairly quickly. The doctor told us that the lab tech was "sharp" for picking up that there was a parasite involved, which is not what they were looking for. We had still been thinking it was a UTI, so for the lab tech to discover the parasite was providential.

Andy was admitted and assigned to a room and remained till Wednesday afternoon. They pumped into him all kinds of antibiotics, as well as parasite killing drugs. In the meantime, we got an education into the parasite called babesiosis. It is carried by a tick. Most people who are infected feel fine and do not have any symptoms. But there are those rarities where it can be a severe, life-threatening disease. I guess Andy is a rarity - but we already knew that, didn't we???

If interested, you can read more about this parasite by checking out this site.

While Andy was in the hospital, I spent my days driving back and forth to spend time with him there. I also felt it my mission to try to understand the medical care he was getting. Because of Andy's high fever and all the medicine he was on, he was having a hard time focusing. In other words, he was a bit "loopy." I felt bad for him because he would try to hold a conversation, but it was obvious he wasn't "all there." I could tell him something, but the next minute he would ask a question about what I had just told him.

Dawn and her mother-in-law, Pat, came to visit on Sunday afternoon. Dawn was a bit shaken up with her dad in the hospital. I'm not sure the visit helped ease her mind because Andy did not look good while she was there. The next day, Amy came down with her kids to visit her Dad and that wasn't a very good visit either. While she was there, Andy got the chills and was shaking so badly. He had 5 blankets on and wanted us to ask the nurse for more. He lay there most of the time with his eyes closed.

It seemed like such a long time, but finally Wednesday at lunch time, the doctor said he would be going home that day. He's still taking lots of medicine and one in particular, leaves him feeling sick. He's still somewhat jaundiced looking, but every day, he seems to be a bit better.

Sometimes you don't realize how precious life is until that life is threatened, or how wonderful it is to feel good until you're ill. But we are very thankful that God spared his life for a little while longer and that his health is continuing to improve.

This has been a very busy week. I hardly know where to begin.

Last Saturday, July 16
Andy's mom loves family reunions in July. So she invited 70+ people to our house for a picnic on July 16th. People were supposed to arrive at 12:00 noon, then we were going to eat at 1:00. We borrowed tables and chairs from the church and put up tents and canopies. Mom organized it and it was a bit much for her. She says this is the last year she's doing this, but she said that last year, too. So we'll see. It was a very fun and a lovely day for a picnic and just renewing relationships.

The party was supposed to last until 5:00, but people stayed longer, some as long as 8:30! Christy and Dawn and their families joined the party from our immediate family. Christy and Christian stayed until around 6:30.

I was on the schedule for playing my bass guitar as a sub that weekend. So I needed to be at the church by 6:30 for rehearsal, then played in all 3 services on Sunday morning. When we got home from church on Sunday, I fixed lunch for Andy and me. The rest of the afternoon was spent in getting ready for another picnic. That's right - another picnic. I decided Andy's new name should be Mr. Picnic. He loves picnics, although after having 2 in 2 days might have been a little much even for him. The picnic itself is fun, but it's the set up and take down and prep work that makes one question the whole idea. This one involved our older singles group from church. I prepared turkey burgers (from scratch) and deviled eggs. Everyone who came brought either a salad or dessert. It was a fun time with everyone.

We decided to buy a canopy to use in the yard since we do plenty of entertaining. Isn't it pretty?

Along with all this activity, we also had a guest staying in our front room - Mom's cousin, Joan. We set up the futon for her and she slept there Saturday and Sunday nights. Then she and Mom went to the shore on Monday through Wednesday, when she came back and stayed another night.

On Monday, I left work an hour early and drove up to C & C's to get Aiden. His birthday was back in April but it hadn't worked out yet to have him over for his time with Grammy & PopPop. When we got home, he helped us water the flowers. After dinner we watched a movie and had some ice cream.
Andy had to clown around on Aiden's bike.
On Tuesday, we had some more fun together. He enjoyed beating me in 15 games of Uno to my only 3 wins. Then I had to teach him a new game, Tri-ominos, so I could win. He went to the church and rode his bike with PopPop, and we also watched a couple of Veggie Tales episodes. And a visit with the grandkids isn't complete without doing one of our favorite things: reading Uncle Remus stories. By 3:00 pm, we started our trip back to C & C's, getting there in time to visit a little before joining the family for dinner.

On Wednesday afternoon, I left work early and went to Dawn's to babysit Kira while Dawn had a doctor's appointment. She woke up from her nap about 20 minutes after I got there so we played and read books for about 2 1/2 hours till Tommy got home.

I don't know if all this activity contributed to Andy's health deteriorating, but by Thursday morning, he was feeling very sick again. He had alternating chills and fever and stayed home all day from work. He was able to get a doctor appointment for Thursday evening, so I took him to that. He should be feeling better soon since he started on another round of antibiotics.

Whew! I'm looking forward to a Saturday with no agenda. If nothing else, I need to clean my house since I didn't get to it on Tuesday. I guess I really do have an agenda. But at least it's my agenda, no one else has plans for my life. Shhh.