"Then we'll lose ourselves...our true selves in the vast wonder of the sky. And the moon like a jewel. In God's Country... from the hood of my car."
My poem "The Hood of My Car" 1988
We used to spend a few weekends with a friend up on Rangeley Lake each summer. This would have been our fifth year, but things change and people change and unfortunately friendships change. It didn't occur to us how much we enjoyed and valued our weekends in Rangeley until summer rolled around. We knew that due to a falling out I had with someone this past December, we wouldn't be extended an invitation this summer. About two weeks ago, Russ and I realized that summer was wizzing by and we hadn't even taken as much as a weekend trip across the street. It's a known fact that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Well imagine what it does to two grown men.
Rangeley was the first place that came to mind, but we also knew that our chances of getting a lakeside cabin any time before October were slim to none. You can imagine how happy we were to find out that Town and Lake Cottages had one available this past weekend. The rate was beyond reasonable so we booked and started watching the weather channel religiously praying for good weather. Mother Nature came through and, according to the locals, we had 3 of the most beautiful days they've had all summer.
We were in cottage number 25, the last one in the row. We were about 20 feet from the lake and our own personal dock. Not to mention a family of ducks. Our dog Jake was in heaven. You might remember me mentioning my boyfriend Gary last winter. He's the guy who posed for my Blackstones poster. Well him, his bf Alex and his dog Abigail joined us the first night. We indulged in tradition number one by having dinner at The Red Onion Pizza Parlor the first night. Their french fries with gravy are the absolute best. Then we had a meat lovers pizza, while our waitress "Schaefer" flirted with the four of us. When deciding who to give the check to, she said Russ and Alex were too sweet and that I was semi-delicious. She gave the check to Gary because he had big arms. Once we got back to the cottage we all relaxed, then built a fire in the wood buring stove and chilled out for a little tv. Alex and I had never met, so we had some fun "dishing the Gary dirt." Two things about Gary that are quite funny is that one, if you put a movie on to watch at home, he will fall asleep within 15 minutes. This is the biggest reason I never let him pick movies when we dated. The other thing is that he's horribly afraid of scary movies and the numbers "666." So of course we had to have a long conversation about the number 666 and our favorite scary movies. I even got to scare Gary before they hit the sack.
The next morning we all noticed what was obviously the footprint of Big Foot. I even posted a pic here to prove it. :) Notice how big it is in relation to Jake's head. For the record, this dry spot was in the grass when we got here. Russ thinks its from a planter that used to be in the yard. (Who has a foot shaped planter??) I choose to believe it was from Big Foot. :-)
On day two we rented a speed boat and spent 4 hours tooling around Rangeley lake. I finally got some color, even if it's pink. It was so nice to just be out on the lake. We had lunch at Laura's Lunch Box and then Russ got to eat his one Banana Split of the year. It's a self-imposed limit. Then back on our dock, we watched Jacob the Border Collie chase the ducks. (See the videos at the end of the blog.) xHe didn't want to eat them, just chase them. Mama duck was having no part of it, she was squawkin' at him like crazy. One time we thought we were going to have to go chase him, but he finally headed for shore. After watching Jacob the Duck Chaser, we returned the boat and Gary and Alex headed home.
I was exhausted, so I took a power nap. That evening Russ and I fulfilled yet another tradition. We had some drinks at Sarge's Pub. Tossed back a few beers, I had a few shots of my buddy Jim and back to the cottage we went.
We built a fire in the outdoor fire pit and I popped open a beer and Russ was sipping red wine. The moon was so beautiful, I tried to photograph it. As you know, it's almost impossible to photograph the moon without a tripod, but low and behold I got a near perfect picture (the one at the very top of the blog). I did not manipulate this photo of the moon in any way.
Later on, a few of our neighbors from cottage 23 joined us by the fire for a little while. Nice people from New Hampshire. We had some good conversation and then everyone hit the sack. Except me. I put on a sweatshirt and grabbed my iPod and headed for the dock. I laid there for almost 2 hours listening to music starting at the stars. I played Kelly Clarkson's "Sober" and "Irvine" over and over and over. I also listened to some of Mandy Moore's "Wild Hope" cd and then some old Maria McKee. It was nirvana. I did feel so absolutely free and alive all at the same time. I finally went back into cottage 25 and hit the sack.
We woke up today and packed up all our stuff and then headed for yet another one of our traditions. Breakfast at the BMC diner. It's always as good as we remember. Then onto another tradition and that's the purchasing of Rangeley t-shirts and hoodies. I chose to sit this one out because I have 2 Rangeley hoodies, a Mooselickmeguntic (the next lake over) sweatshirt and a few Rangeley t-shirts. It was a tough urge to resist because the new color of hoodies this year is maroon. One of my favorite colors. It all worked out though because Russ did get a new t-shirt.
We hit the road and made the beautiful drive home. No sad feelings either because they were due for rain that night and we knew it was raining at home. I also got some two really cool pictures taken out of the car window. They came out pretty cool.
We saw the sign for Brunswick Maine and I remembered that they have an old fashioned drive in restaurant there where the car hops come to your car and put your tray on your window. It's called "Fat Boy" and we stopped and had a GREAT meal. We both had the Whoper Basket (yes, it's spelled with one "P" for obvious reasons), fries and a frappe (which is what New Englanders call a milkshake).
Then we hit the road, got close to home and the rain started coming down. Now we're here, exhausted, but content. It was the perfect weekend away. Enjoy the pics! Have a great week and as always, thanks so much for taking the time to read my blog. Oh yeah, so maybe I did manipulate the "Fat Boy" photo just a little bit. But I also drew them a great picture on my placemat with the crayons, so I'm sure once they saw the placemat art, they did think I rocked the mofo!
William B.
PS: Thank you so much for all the well-wishes and prayers for my mother. I really do have the greatest friends. That was the most and the fastest response I ever got to a blog and I appreciated your amazingly kind and supportive words so much. Gloria Jean goes in for surgery tomorrow at 130pm central standard time. There's a possibility this could remove all the cancer if they caught it early enough. Keep good thoughts for her!
My poem "The Hood of My Car" 1988
We used to spend a few weekends with a friend up on Rangeley Lake each summer. This would have been our fifth year, but things change and people change and unfortunately friendships change. It didn't occur to us how much we enjoyed and valued our weekends in Rangeley until summer rolled around. We knew that due to a falling out I had with someone this past December, we wouldn't be extended an invitation this summer. About two weeks ago, Russ and I realized that summer was wizzing by and we hadn't even taken as much as a weekend trip across the street. It's a known fact that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Well imagine what it does to two grown men.
Rangeley was the first place that came to mind, but we also knew that our chances of getting a lakeside cabin any time before October were slim to none. You can imagine how happy we were to find out that Town and Lake Cottages had one available this past weekend. The rate was beyond reasonable so we booked and started watching the weather channel religiously praying for good weather. Mother Nature came through and, according to the locals, we had 3 of the most beautiful days they've had all summer.
We were in cottage number 25, the last one in the row. We were about 20 feet from the lake and our own personal dock. Not to mention a family of ducks. Our dog Jake was in heaven. You might remember me mentioning my boyfriend Gary last winter. He's the guy who posed for my Blackstones poster. Well him, his bf Alex and his dog Abigail joined us the first night. We indulged in tradition number one by having dinner at The Red Onion Pizza Parlor the first night. Their french fries with gravy are the absolute best. Then we had a meat lovers pizza, while our waitress "Schaefer" flirted with the four of us. When deciding who to give the check to, she said Russ and Alex were too sweet and that I was semi-delicious. She gave the check to Gary because he had big arms. Once we got back to the cottage we all relaxed, then built a fire in the wood buring stove and chilled out for a little tv. Alex and I had never met, so we had some fun "dishing the Gary dirt." Two things about Gary that are quite funny is that one, if you put a movie on to watch at home, he will fall asleep within 15 minutes. This is the biggest reason I never let him pick movies when we dated. The other thing is that he's horribly afraid of scary movies and the numbers "666." So of course we had to have a long conversation about the number 666 and our favorite scary movies. I even got to scare Gary before they hit the sack.
The next morning we all noticed what was obviously the footprint of Big Foot. I even posted a pic here to prove it. :) Notice how big it is in relation to Jake's head. For the record, this dry spot was in the grass when we got here. Russ thinks its from a planter that used to be in the yard. (Who has a foot shaped planter??) I choose to believe it was from Big Foot. :-)On day two we rented a speed boat and spent 4 hours tooling around Rangeley lake. I finally got some color, even if it's pink. It was so nice to just be out on the lake. We had lunch at Laura's Lunch Box and then Russ got to eat his one Banana Split of the year. It's a self-imposed limit. Then back on our dock, we watched Jacob the Border Collie chase the ducks. (See the videos at the end of the blog.) xHe didn't want to eat them, just chase them. Mama duck was having no part of it, she was squawkin' at him like crazy. One time we thought we were going to have to go chase him, but he finally headed for shore. After watching Jacob the Duck Chaser, we returned the boat and Gary and Alex headed home.
I was exhausted, so I took a power nap. That evening Russ and I fulfilled yet another tradition. We had some drinks at Sarge's Pub. Tossed back a few beers, I had a few shots of my buddy Jim and back to the cottage we went.We built a fire in the outdoor fire pit and I popped open a beer and Russ was sipping red wine. The moon was so beautiful, I tried to photograph it. As you know, it's almost impossible to photograph the moon without a tripod, but low and behold I got a near perfect picture (the one at the very top of the blog). I did not manipulate this photo of the moon in any way.
Later on, a few of our neighbors from cottage 23 joined us by the fire for a little while. Nice people from New Hampshire. We had some good conversation and then everyone hit the sack. Except me. I put on a sweatshirt and grabbed my iPod and headed for the dock. I laid there for almost 2 hours listening to music starting at the stars. I played Kelly Clarkson's "Sober" and "Irvine" over and over and over. I also listened to some of Mandy Moore's "Wild Hope" cd and then some old Maria McKee. It was nirvana. I did feel so absolutely free and alive all at the same time. I finally went back into cottage 25 and hit the sack.We woke up today and packed up all our stuff and then headed for yet another one of our traditions. Breakfast at the BMC diner. It's always as good as we remember. Then onto another tradition and that's the purchasing of Rangeley t-shirts and hoodies. I chose to sit this one out because I have 2 Rangeley hoodies, a Mooselickmeguntic (the next lake over) sweatshirt and a few Rangeley t-shirts. It was a tough urge to resist because the new color of hoodies this year is maroon. One of my favorite colors. It all worked out though because Russ did get a new t-shirt.
We hit the road and made the beautiful drive home. No sad feelings either because they were due for rain that night and we knew it was raining at home. I also got some two really cool pictures taken out of the car window. They came out pretty cool.
We saw the sign for Brunswick Maine and I remembered that they have an old fashioned drive in restaurant there where the car hops come to your car and put your tray on your window. It's called "Fat Boy" and we stopped and had a GREAT meal. We both had the Whoper Basket (yes, it's spelled with one "P" for obvious reasons), fries and a frappe (which is what New Englanders call a milkshake).
Then we hit the road, got close to home and the rain started coming down. Now we're here, exhausted, but content. It was the perfect weekend away. Enjoy the pics! Have a great week and as always, thanks so much for taking the time to read my blog. Oh yeah, so maybe I did manipulate the "Fat Boy" photo just a little bit. But I also drew them a great picture on my placemat with the crayons, so I'm sure once they saw the placemat art, they did think I rocked the mofo!William B.
PS: Thank you so much for all the well-wishes and prayers for my mother. I really do have the greatest friends. That was the most and the fastest response I ever got to a blog and I appreciated your amazingly kind and supportive words so much. Gloria Jean goes in for surgery tomorrow at 130pm central standard time. There's a possibility this could remove all the cancer if they caught it early enough. Keep good thoughts for her!
