last blast....

this post is probably boring to most except some far away family.....with only a few days until amtrak whisks me back to maryland, we scheduled a seaside family cookout with more.....you guessed it...

once again we visited our favorite lobster boat fisherman...these are what they call culls, which can have only one claw but in this case there are 2 claws, one being smaller.  they cannot be sold as regular 2-claw lobsters and are a bit less money but taste exactly the same...the price of regulars is $5.50 per pound and these were $4.50...wednesday we trekked to downeast machias to visit the ancestral home and take a look at a shrub my mother planted on her parents' graves.   she pruned it severely before i moved to maryland thinking it would be her last visit.  happy to say this year like last it is blooming abundantly and thriving very nicely, helped immensely by pruning a nearby apple tree that provided too much shade.  half the small cemetery holds her relatives....

the cemetery is located within a huge blueberry barren (field) which had not been picked, probably allowing it to go fallow....and we of course stopped at a local dome-shaped tourist hut painted blue for blueberry...and had our photo snapped for posterity....

tuesday out to lunch at yet another seafood shack type restaurant with dear sister....it's a local uber-favorite and was bustling from the time it opened until we left....the local national guard members visit often...and large take-out orders for businesses and elderly residences are common.

still a few things on the list before the rental is returned, leaving time for a thorough rest before departure.  once again the time has flown far too fast but already planning for next year's visit and preparing to temporarily say goodby to my dear family members....a heart wrenching task....