Friday, July 9, 2010

We left New Haven and drove a couple of hours up to Lexington, Massachusetts, where we wanted to see the battlefields of the American Revolution. 

The Minuteman Statue on Lexington Green

 The town is similar to 1775 when the shot was heard around the world. The Lexington Green is the same as then except for the paved streets. We toured one of the museums that Sam Adams and John Hancock stayed in the night before the battle of Lexington. What an inspiration to read and see what the founding fathers went through to secure their liberty. It is something that is not taught in the public schools like it once was, sadly.

A Liberty Tree
 
We did not have time to see it all and hope to go back next week and finish the tour which will include Concord as well.

  Mr. Parker's famous admonition



 We then headed to Maine again to visit our friends the Tiners in North Belgrade and report to their church which has supported us for at least 20 years.


 

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Pastor Mike took us over to see some of Yale University and told us some of the history. He said that a man named Yale from the New Haven area bid for establishing the school in the area by promising to bequeath his extensive library to the school. Like several other Ivy League Schools it started as a school to train ministers and lay leaders in Connecticut. The architecture of the oldest buildings reflect that. It is amazing stonework. We went to the Sacred Books Library where on display is an original Gutenburg Bible encased in a special thermo controlled display case. 

We went to another building that is a memorial for former students who have died in service either to their country or while serving as missionaries. There is a monument in a center court to the number of women who were allowed in the school. At first there were none for many years, then gradually they were allowed in. Why were there no women when Yale started? It was a seminary and women could not preach then.

Missionaries to India and Micronesia in the Memorial Hall.


There are currently some 200,000 students and Yale is the area's largest employer. However, there is not a real outreach to the students on campus, according to Pastor Mike. Yale has a rich, Bible-based history, but sadly soon forsook it in favor of modernism.

Wednesday, July l7, 2010

Somewhere along the way I have caught a cold of sorts. Today my voice was very low and it was difficult to speak. I took a nap today which I have not done in months.

We took a short tour of North Haven and New Haven today. It is also a nice, small American town with large well-cared-for yards, plenty of trees and flowers. We went to the evening service at the Pond Hill Baptist Church where we showed the presentation and Henry preached on Philippians 4:19 about God supplying all our needs.


 

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

We left Wiscasset around 10:30 a.m. and headed for Simsbury, CT. I called an internet friend, Lyda Scudder, and we met at a local coffee shop. It is always so good to put a face to a name. We went over to a local quilt shop named Sew Inspired and, of course, and I found some fabric for my next cross quilt and a new pattern for small money purses. We asked the ladies at the store to take our photo to record the event. The website is:  www.sewinspiredquilts.com
We arrived in New Haven about 6:30 p.m. and stayed in the basement of Pastor Carbaugh and family.  They have three children around Sara's age and she got along well with them.  There is also a litter of five puppies of a poodle and cockapoo mix.  So cute at six weeks.  

 

Monday, July 5, 2010

This morning about 10:00 a.m., the West family and we went over to Booth Harbor about 10 miles from here. It is a really quaint littletourist town. John was telling us that during the summer the population really swells, then it drops back down after the season. There were plenty of people out along the docks, on their boats in the water, walking around the shops. We stopped in a little store called The Hutch where Alicia West worked before having children. This is a touristy shop—lots of everything imaginable. We did find a pretty green peasant skirt Sara liked, so I bought it since she does not normally like the choices of clothes available. It was on sale also, so that made it better. I got a couple of Maine magnets and a wind chime in the shape of a light house.  

 

The little West girls were getting fussy, so they returned home and we stayed around the wharf area and decided to take a whale watch tour boat in the afternoon. We ate lunch at a restaurant that served crab cakes and chicken fingers side dishes. Enough for a meal and they were good. I am hankering for some lobster before we leave this area though.

  We took the boat on the tour. As we slowly cruised through the inner harbor the guide pointed out some of the buildings on shore including one that belonged to Billy Burke – the wicked witch of the West in Wizard of Oz. There was also an island whose inhabitants do now have cars on the island; everyone walks and another one that had a Bed and Breakfast you could rent, along with 19 of your closest friends for the bargain price of $35,000 a week. Shall we book that for next spring?


The tour was over 3 hours, but by 4:00 p.m. we did not really see any whales or other swimming mammals, but finally one was spotted when we were about 20 miles out. There were some dolphins swimming also and I did see them and maybe got some photos. I did see the whale blow and breach the water, but maybe not in a photo. So since we were really late, we got back to port about 6:00 p.m.

 After getting off the boat we headed back to the house and found that John had gone out and dug clams, so we were having boiled and fried clams for dinner. His parents came over and we all ate on the deck outside. Those clams were small and very good. Henry said the Japanese ladies should have had this dinner—you can't get that many clams for the price he did—practically nothing. I was very delicious. Sara, however, opted for the mac and cheese.

Sunday, Independence Day 2010, # 234

It was a beautiful Sunday morning here in Maine. The weather was cool and clear at the start. We went to church and set up the display about 9:10 a.m. As Sara and I were putting items on the table, in walks a lady named Cora Owens, 86, who has been writing missionaries from the church since 2000. She is a wonderful, talkative Christian lady and has written some 20,000 poems.. I joined her Sunday School class and found that she was an excellent teacher. The lesson was on consequences of choices and how our decisions affect our family as well as us, sometimes until the third and fourth generations.

 
 Emily, her dad and mom and Olivia





  Pastor had asked us to teach Junior Church, so Henry taught the dozen kids there some kanji, Bible verse in Japanese and a couple of Japanese choruses. They each received a Japanese 5 yen coin with a hole in it. The kids seem to like this little gift whenever I have given them out.

 
After the service we went over to Pastor Martin's house for a lunch of bone-in ham, veges and mashed potatoes then brownies for dessert. Mrs. Martin was not doing well as she had some virus/cold that just flat out put her out. It was going around the church. She could barely talk, so we sent her on back to lie down until we got lunch ready. She hardly ate anything. We then sent her back to lie down again while we cleaned up the dishes. Pastor asked Henry some questions since we had never met and he was new to the church in the last year.


During the evening service Henry showed the presentation, then fielded a few questions and after the offering preached the message on It's Election Time.

  After the service we went to the Edwards' home for a dinner of tacos, both hard shell and soft shell. We have not eaten tacos in a couple of months, it was delicious. We had to finish quickly so we all could drive down to the local ball fields to watch the 9:00 pm fireworks. They were really pretty and loud and about 20 minutes long; a really good show for the size town of about 5,000 people. I videoed the finale and have it posted at 

http://community.webshots.com/user/japanquilter

While we walked back to the car I was singing My Country 'Tis of Thee", a very fitting end to a grand 4^th of July.

We got back to the house before the West family did. When they came home, little Emily was coming up the stairs; I was standing at the top. She said she saw the fireworks and said, "I was scared. Made my chest hurt." They were rather loud at times. She was so cute.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

 
This morning we got over to Mary's about 8:30, just in time for breakfast. Mary met us at the door and gave each other a big hug. The last time we saw each other was at Dad's funeral in 1994. Much too long at this time of our lives. Anyway, the dogs met us, tethered to the leashes Tom was holding ready to take them on their morning walk. John was already cooking turkey bacon and sausages, yumm. Mary got David to make pancakes. We ate breakfast on the back deck amid the trees and butterflies, well one yellow one anyway. Henry went inside later and talked with Geoff while he and John watched the quarter finals of the World Cup. Geoff was a certified referee at one time. 

We had to leave at 10:30, so said our goodbyes and left about 11:00 a.m., heading to Maine.

The drive to the Northeast was really beautiful through the forested areas where it seemed that just the interstate highway cut through the trees in many places going through New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Maine. When we would get off the road to get gas or to eat, we sometimes drove through small towns that were decked out for the Fourth of July.

We got to the Bethesda Baptist Church about 7:00 pm and met Pastor Martin a few minutes later. He led us over to John and Alicia West's home, about 5 minutes from church where we would be staying. John is the grandson of Pastor West whom we met about 20 years ago. He and his wife have two cute little girls named Emily 2, and Olivia about 9 months. Such adorable kids. How I remember what it is like to have two that close in age years ago. That must be why God designed women to have children when they are young when they have plenty of energy and no aches and pains. I cannot get on the floor as easily as I used to.