ged lots of news of our previous weeks - Rouky at Oceanwood's Horseback Riding Camp, Nancy Shantia and Jonathan and eventually Norma, Kirsten and Nana here and there at the OP house and the beach, doing a puzzle and playing games as well as the usual shopping, cooking, washing up and laundry. Late that night, after I had wisked Norma away to see Piper Shores at midnight (!) as I crawled into bed at 1:30 a.m. I heard sirens - off and again for about 15 minutes. When I had stayed awake long enough to assure that the sky wasn't red, I let myself fall asleep. The next day we heard from the neighbors that it was the state-side home of Jim and Eden Grace, FUM missionaries in Kenya for the past 3 years. They had left Ocean Park and were to be on their way to the airport in two days. Eden and the boys went on. Jim stayed to take care of things in Ocean Park. Throughout the rest of the week several of us were able to lend a hand at the house and we had a couple of good visits with Jim.The next day Mom, Bob and I went on up to Casa Shalom - on
Great Pond, the biggest of the Belgrade Lakes. On the way in we picked up the new shower stall that we had ordered at a local hardware store. That night he was able to complete the removal of the old shower stall. The metal sides and the edges of the base just folded up. The base itself was a pink cement with little oval bits in it. It had to be cracked into bits and the bits removed. The next day Bob started to install the new shower stall. Alan Charles was there every day of a project that took more than twice as long as planned because the model we finally ordered had to be glued to sheet rock instead of just sliding into place!! Well, installing studs and sheetrock, all the time measuring to assure that the stall would fit in the end, was a big project. I ran a couple of errands and Mom and I bought some pizza for lunch and did some things in the house. It was finally agreed that she and I would return to Ocean Park where other family members were gathering and Bob would stay and with Alan's help, finish the job and then meet us there.
We got to Soundings (the Ocean Park house) and were overjoy
ed to spend time with Coumba and Rouky, Marcus Jr, Nancy Shantia and Jonathan and of course, Pippin. We made a trip to LL Bean and went to see the craftswoman who is making a wonderful stained glass window in 3 parts for Soundings. Lupine, leaves, birds and butterflies in many colors are being set into a slightly textured glass that shimmers in mere suggestion of pastel highlights.
Ice cream was a theme of the week. On our way up Bob and I stopped at a Farm at Exit 31 off I-495. At about the same time those in OP were at a sister Farm in Saco or Biddeford. There was homemade sorbet and ice cream. There were a couple of trips to Martens, and some of us got to a place 2 mi south of Exit 20 off I-295 in Freeport that makes a custardy ice cream with eggs. Heavenly creamy.
On Thursday afternoon Mom and I were preparing to go back to the lake to see how Bob was doing and give him some company. To be honest, I was looking for a cuddle too. At about 6:30 he called to say that there had been a BIG thunder storm and then pounding HAIL - stones from the size of mothballs to golf balls. See newspaper photo above taken about 18 hrs after the storm was over. When the power hadn't come back in an hour or so, Bob packed up and went to join us. We had a good evening and slept late the next day, then he headed back to the lake. I had some things to do, so followed a few hours later. What a mess! I didn't really take it in until the next day in the daylight. We had seen that Mom's car was all "dinged" by hailstones, but there was a new carpet of small broken ends of tree branches, leaves and pine needles all over the grounds. There were dings in on the north and west walls of every structure in our compound of about 10 dwellings. All windshields that had been facing north were cracked. At first I was just stunned. I visited with neighbors to learn about a roof that had leaked onto and destroyed a new mattress and springs, every car in the household having a cracked windscreen, and other such challenges. After mymind had absorbed it all I realized that this was a job for super-family! So I called. By now the characters had changed. Then NY folks had returned to be ready for school. And cousins Lynne, Nette and John were at Soundings with Nancy and Jonathan and Mom - and Pippin! Before long they all piled into the van with all the makings for supper and headed to Casa Shalom. Funny thing. When they arrived I had been raking for 20 minutes or so. Cars had passed us on the Crystal Springs Road, and I didn't think much of them. Then I hear a vehicle and I knew that it was super-family! Sure 'nuff. It was. That car rolled in and all the doors opened at least 3 pairs of hands grabbed rakes and started in to work. I don't know how long it took for about 6 of us to clean up our yard and a good part of the condominium area, less than an hour. More pictures. So, after the hailstorm clean-up was done. We had a wonderful meal together at Casa Shalom - spiral cut honey smoked ham to live for! red jewel yams and sweet, tender corn on the cob - followed by those sinful Zippity Polka-dot Squares and pieces of a locally made Moon Pie. Someone requested that Alan Charles sing a song he wrote after the workcamps he went to in New Orleans. I tried to download it here, but it gave me an error message.
We did have a good day on the beach played cards, dipped in the ocean, laughed and slathered on sun lotion. We played games a few evenings at the house. Had an LLBean trip complete with lobster and seafood on the Freeport Town Pier at the Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster. I read a whole book and started another. We got a little extra sleep. Didn't get to Portland Friends Meeting as we had hoped to. That was the day we were finishing up at the lake. It wasn't the vacation we had planned. But the challenges turned out to be manageable, and it sure was a vacation we won't forget. Selection of non-ice pictures here.
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