Freedom Trail day and also our 27th Anniversary. We boarded the Boston subway and rode to Boston Commons, 44 acres of original land from 1775 much as it was then. It is a beautiful place. We opted to take a self-guided tour instead of a guided one because I wanted to stop and get plenty of photos to peruse later. It is a 2.5 mile trail marked with red lines or a line of two red bricks winding through Boston.
We walked through Quincy Market and came upon this noodle. Spiffy, huh?
Several of the buildings we passed were from that time period. We saw the graves of Sam Adams and John Hancock and the house of Paul Revere, one of the still-standing original buildings in Boston.
We started about 10:00 am and ended about 4:00 pm, walking and taking in everything of history. The statue of Paul Revere in front of the North Church was inspiring. We wanted to go see the USS Constitution, but you had to go through a security check like at the airports and the line was rather long and it was late in the day. Photos will have to do.
We took a cab ride to Bunker Hill, our last stop on the Freedom Trail. Normally you could ride to the top and see the scenic view, but the monument was under renovation for a few months. It is a smaller version of the Washington Monument in DC, but was built first. I collected all sorts of info for future history lessons this fall. Sara was mostly bored after an hour, but was a real trooper and walked with us all the way.
We rode the train back to our hotel, changed and went to dinner at Bertlucci's Italian Restaurant. Tomorrow we get to take Sara to an aquarium and do something she wants to do.
Sara wanted to go to the VBS at Victory BC, so we took her over there in the morning. She has not experienced an English one yet. There were about 40 kids attending plus the teen helpers and adults. It was a lively group. Pastor got into it also leading singing and Bible verse memory. The kids were in three teams, Sara was on the blue team. They first broke up into grades and did a craft. Next was a short snack time and then outside to the field where they played some games and threw raw eggs and water balloons. Sara got smacked with an egg on her shirt. I had to get her a change of clothes from the car and wash out her messy stuff. She enjoyed it, though.
Henry and I ended up staying the morning while he resized our prayer card for their display and I helped in the kitchen and where I could.
When we were done, we left Londonderry and rode to Lexington where we finished our tour of three key taverns in the Battle of Lexington. We did not get to see the archeological dig behind the Munroe Tavern as we got out after 4:00 pm. Our guide for that tour of the British point of view, was a young college student from Colby College in Maine, where Mrs. Tiner works. Found out he was born in Chile and adopted by Americans and is Catholic. After the tour I gave him a gospel tract to read and told him of my salvation experience. Please pray that Andrew J. will get saved.
After our tour we drove through the Minute Man park and stopped at the Old North Bridge where there is a famous statue of a Minuteman; took some pictures of the area, then went on toward Cambridge where we found a hotel. Tomorrow we are going to walk the Freedom Trail in downtown Boston.
We left Maine after going to the bank and the shoe store. I found a pair of good dress Docker sandals that feel good on the feet as well as a pair of Stretcher running shoes which will help on the long walk we will take when we go to Boston.
We arrived at Victory Baptist Church in Londonderry about 4:30 pm and the Pastor Messer led us to his house for dinner. Their two teenage sons are really sharp looking and talented musically. They both played either the piano and organ in the evening service.
Mrs. Messer is a quilter as well as her mom, Mrs. Fuller. She showed me a paper pieced Mariner's Compass and a Bear Claw quilt she did. We got along famously.
We met many people who have been praying for us for years and that is always good to know. I probably won't remember names, but they have remembered ours. We stayed with a newlywed couple in their townhome. Chrissy and David were married the end of May. His parents are missionaries in the Czech Republic.
Today we stayed home and I caught up on some writing; Henry did the prayer letter then Sara and I did a project for Mrs. LaBelle. It was a cute pig design in a modified "quilting" technique. Just a matter of pushing the cloth into slits in the Styrofoam with a dull knife. It did turn out really cute. It was really nice not to have to go somewhere today; I even got a short nap.
We ate fresh lobster for dinner; that was an experience and a very delicious one. Sara did not care for them so she ate mac and cheese. We had soft-shell one probably a couple of pounds each. Yummy.
Today Jackie went to work and Terry took us up north toward Jackman, ME, near the Canadian border to go moose watching. He took Muffin along and she hung her head out the window a lot. It took a couple hours to get up there at least and we saw two moose in the woods; I did manage to get a close up of one. About 5:00 pm, Sara was asking if we could return home. It was really about as exciting as the whale watching.
On the way back we stopped at a marshy area and recorded some bull frogs croaking an odd sound they made. We returned home after 10:00 pm.
Church this morning was right across the street, so we just walked over. While the adults had Sunday School, I went downstairs with Jackie and taught the four kids that came. This was mostly me explaining what Japan is like and answering some questions. Henry preached in the morning service, but, honestly, I do not remember what he preached about. It was a new sermon, though.
For the evening service Henry showed the DVD and then fielded questions. We were invited out for ice cream by an elderly couple who have been in the church for many years. The LaBelles treated us to some of the best ice cream and sandwiches. They are in their 80's and very faithful Christians.
Lord's Prayer carved from one piece of wood.
The Tiners took us down to Booth Bay, ME, so we could see the Maine State Aquarium. It is really small, just a few aquariums, but they did have a terrific touching pool with all sorts of critters from anemone, starfish, sea cucumber, oysters, clams, and something else that had a roundish hard shell and a long pointed tail as in the photo below.
A very old lobster
We stopped for lobster roll for lunch that was rather tasty. Sara had a tuna sandwich. On the drive back to North Belgrade, Jackie ordered Chinese takeout and we ate that at home. Good chicken, rice, and beef.
The Tiners have a three year old Schnauzer named Muffin. She's a cute dog, Sara took to her, as well as Henry and me.
