Goodfellows52: December 2017

AUBURN, Maine — The Yuletide and New Year force us to reflect on the past 365 days.

Introspection sometimes spurs creativity or serves as a sudden wake-up call. We realize being in the same room with loved ones during the holidays is a blessing — not a sure thing.

We are on the short-term plan. We all have an expiration date, but it is what you do in between life and death that counts.

Family gatherings won’t remain the same as time rushes us past us like a falling star. I often got an elbow in the ribs from anxiety during holiday gatherings.

I worried about those future empty seats at the table, knowing my tribe’s numbers would dwindle each year. But there is not a damn thing I can do about it.

I am not making any resolutions, but I am rooting for Mueller’s probe to straighten out a train wreck caused by inept leadership in the White House. Washington is a mess and I believe our leaders have embarrassed themselves here and around the globe.

I also support women who are standing up to men who have no boundaries or have common sense. No man, and I don’t care if he is a politician, actor, athlete or CEO, has the right to harass women.

Keep your damn hands in pockets, your mouth shut and respect people — especially the sisterhood. Civility makes a nation tick, but common courtesy is eroding — with a lot of help from a mean-spirited leadership at the top in this country.

So I will shake off another banner year and recall the many special moments I shared with the two most important people in my life. Pictures reveal those special moments. I hope enjoy them.

Oh yeah, Happy New Year.

Let’s hope it’s a good one without any fear.

Maple Syrup Sunday

RAYMOND, Maine — If you live long enough in Maine, you will hear of Maple Syrup Sunday, where Mainers come out in droves on a March day to purchase the good stuff. Maine's Maple Syrup is nothing like the syrup purchased in grocery stores. Maine Syrup is worth sinking deep into your pockets to buy this sweet-tasting stuff. It is as expensive as a fine wine, but this golden stuff makes pancakes a treat to eat. You won't leave a drop on your plate. We visited Balsam Ridge, where maple candy and other homemade treats are offered and equally delicious.

These falls are great

AUBURN, Maine — Great Falls offers spectacular views in the spring after the snow melts up north. It is also a great place to walk, with trails along the Androscoggin River. When Anthony is home from school, we walk the trail, talk and bid winter adieu.

Home on the range and a visit to the University of Maine at Farmington

Spring's arrival means it is time to get our big yard ready for planting. We even made time to visit with Anthony at UMF. We love our yard, Did you know enjoying a yard can relieve stress instantly. A walk in the woods does the same thing. That is why I garden and appreciate nature.

Out for a walk

The Paper Mill Trail in Lisbon, Maine features streams and a walking path that removes stress with every step you take. In the fall, nature unleashes a barrage of colors in the crisp air. If you are out of sorts, this is a sanctuary to heal your tormented soul.

Come fly with him

LIMA, Peru — For 24 days, I didn't sleep when my son went galavanting all over Peru. He decided to take a trip and study abroad with the University of Maine at Farmington. There was a 12-hour flight to Lima, a quick journey to the Andes Mountains via a twin-engine prop job, followed by a visit to Machu Picchu and ending with with a execursion to the Amazon basin, where spiders as large as a human hand and poisonus snakes rule the jungle. He made it back in one piece after an adventure that many people only dream about in their short lives. What an enlightened fellow!

Hanging out in the Pine Tree State

WILTON/OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine — While Anthony was away in Peru, we bummed around Maine and found some interesting spots. Wilton features a big lake and hasn't lost that small-town feel. A visit to Old Orchard Beach always does the body good during spring.

Fun in the sun

AUBURN/PORTLAND, Maine — Summertime in the Pine Tree State draws people from all over the world. They come to enjoy Maine's vast open spaces, culture and history. Whether I am out in the garden or visiting the little city that could — Portland — I relish the warm temperatures. It's takes the state's harsh winters for Mainers to appreciate summer, which is way to short for all of us. Each summer, the Old Port Festival in Portland comes alive with food and drink, a parade, music and artisans trying to make a buck.

Vacation is all we ever wanted

NEWPORT, R. I. — We saw how the other half lives and toured one of their stately homes, and along the way, we discovered a piece of history in the Ocean State. Four hours from Maine lies a Rhode Island seacoast town where old, large mansions standout like the Rock of Gibraltar.

Newport is loaded with history and money. We toured the Breakers — the Vanderbilts' 70-room mansion surrounded by a well-manicured yard — for $27 a piece. Was it worth? If you love history and the Gilded Age, then, yeah, I opened my wallet. It was built for $7 million in 1895 and it now worth $150 million in today's market. You won't find any furniture from Walmart. Everything is solid marble. It is said that the Vanderbilts still live on the fourth floor.

Just look at the pictures and marvel at the home's contents.

After the tour, we realized just how poor we really are today.

But then we went back a few hundred years to tour Fort Adams. Here is synopsis of the this old fort:

"The cost of building Fort Adams for three decades was over three million dollars. It was designed to mount 468 guns around a perimeter of over 1700 yards. It used a combination of Maine granite, brick, and shale. During a time of war it could house 2400 men, though a peace time garrison of 200 was sufficient. The result was the design and work of two prominent engineers, Simon Bernard, a former aide to Napoleon and Joseph G. Totten, who later became the first head of the Army Corps of Engineers. Their problem was to defend the location by both sea and land attack and they relied on the classic military science developed by Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban, the engineer for King Louis XIV of France. Depth and redundancy of defense was the key ingredient." — Rhode Island tourism department.

This fort is huge, but is now used for concerts and private celebrations.

I discovered my claustrophobia at Fort Adams. Everybody on the tour was invited to visit an underground listening post 20 feet below the fort. It is dark and dank and as you go deeper into the earth. I am 6-foot-3, and by the time we ended up at the other end, I was nearly squatting as the ceiling lowered to little more than three feet. At that low point, I felt like somebody shoved me into a pine box and was seized by claustrophobia. I yelled to the guide, "Hey, where the hell is the opening." He said, "You are close to it." I responded: "Good, because if it wasn't, I was going to make an frigging hole." Minutes later, I was looking at the sky after feeling like I was entombed for days.

The great and non-stop outdoors

Summer was none-stop for us. There was the Great Falls Balloon Festival and World War II planes descending from the skies and landing at Lewiston-Auburn Airport. A wind storm knocked out power to thousands across the Pine Tree State. We hunted for ancestors at an obscure cemetery and visited the Shakers' Village in Gray-New Gloucester. We hiked every weekend and discovered some great walking trails in Auburn and Lewiston. Anthony and I took in a Shins concert on a cold-and-rainy evening at Thomas Point in Portland.

Holiday happenings

Right now, it -1 degrees in Maine on New Year's Eve. Before this long stretch of cold enveloped the Northeast, the holidays came and went like a summer breeze. We traveled to central Massachusetts and then to Lexington, Mass., for Thanksgiving, but we enjoyed a white Christmas after a classic Nor'easter dropped a foot of snow on the Pine Tree State. The wood stove has been going for the past 15 days, but despite winter's biting cold, I enjoyed another year with my family.