North Norway

NORTH NORWAY — Hope you are all recovered from the holidays and have not succumbed to the flu. All of a sudden all we hear is another epidemic. Dell has a cold (am sure I will soon have one also) but he shows no signs of flu, for which we are thankful.

We had our shots like good little boys and girls last fall. Never know when it is best to get them for maximum effectiveness.

The pool aquatics started again last Monday. After five weeks without that exercise it felt so good to get back but to tell the truth, I went home afterwards, had a cup of coffee and went right to bed for a nap.

The pool is now a salt water pool and we all seem to like it. None of the smelly chemicals and I think it is easier on the skin. My cousin asked me if it was more buoyant but my float bottoms up anyway so cannot tell.

Last Sunday the family and friends attended a birthday party for Brenda Perham, Paul’s wife. About 15 people there when we were. Some had come and left earlier.

It was held at Pat and Charlie’s which seems to be our favorite place for family gatherings. Baby Luke was happy and congenial with everyone. As long as he could sit up. He wants to be part of the action or at least observe it.

We went to Auburn last Wednesday with Pat and Charlie as our BJ’s cards were expiring and we wanted to stock up. We find we can find many things locally at just the same price so will not be renewing our cards unless they come up with an irresistible special.

They do carry a few items Dell has grown fond of but frozen crab legs are now over $17 a pound so he will have to learn to like something else. If I had to go out to sea and get the crab legs I would probably want more than that for them but as it is we had better get to like beans instead.

We have had to change health insurance plans (you do not have to change plans unless you want to, as stated by a person who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty) and I am not amused. We have a wealth of information which even a lawyer might have trouble decoding.

I seem to be missing a crucial card to get my prescriptions refilled. So into battle I wade. I had most of my marbles when this all started but my condition is deteriorating rapidly with every problem I have to tackle and every call I have to make.

I heard a motor idling and looked out one day to see a man facing a tree across the road. I thought he better watch it, there may a pollution tax in his future. Must have been drinking beer to get caught short like that.

To continue Paula’s saga: We headed for Sanford for an early Christmas lunch with Kevin, Karen and Kevin Jr. and Nana Kelly. The baby looked at me and smiled and held his arms out to be picked up as soon as we got in the door. That was my best present so far this season.

The house was nicely decorated and they served a great meal. Had plenty of time to visit and watch baby Kevin open some of his presents. He was quite taken with the pillow pet Mary and Frank had bought for him. Had a couple of stops on the way home so didn’t arrive until supper time.

Met by two cats at the door, one of whom thought he was starving to death as no one had been home to give him canned cat food for 24 hours. That must constitute cat abuse as we heard all about it.

Dana got up at one a.m. to work on a bid due today. He had a short snooze before packing up and heading for Brunswick to check on the progress of the next job, then he had to drive to Bangor and will be there a couple of nights.

With two jobs in progress he’s going to be at one or the other most days. We will be having baby Kevin Jr. from the 28th until January 1 so he will be at the family events.

Next, sister Mary Perham helped me out by sending the following: This is what made our Christmas so great. Tricia, Katri and friend Teagan arrived on Friday and stayed at the Mollyockett Motel. LeeAnn, Zoey and friends arrived Friday also, and stayed with her brother for the night.

Pam and Dylan arrived Friday afternoon and stayed with us. We had supper with them and Tricia, Katri, Teagan, Paul, Brenda, Zach and Luke. Saturday morning Tricia and Pam went shopping for supper. They and Paula had the whole weekend planned. Everyone arrived at our house in the middle of the morning and got ready to to Sunday River and snowboarding.

The six kids took lessons and did quite well I am told. No broken bones. Dylan and Zack had permission to go off by themselves and got lost for awhile.

Saturday night supper was prepared by the girls. After supper the kids wanted to go swimming so they went back to the motel. Sunday morning everyone again congregated here for breakfast, stockings and the tree. We headed for Greenwood to have dinner with the whole family at noon.

The meal was delicious and was prepared with contributions from all of us. Sunday afternoon Pam and Dylan had to get back to Ocean Park and were pleasantly surprised to find their driveway had been plowed by a nice neighbor (think I heard they paid it forward by doing some shoveling for someone).

Monday morning 10 of us congregated at Crosstone’s Restaurant for breakfast and from there everyone went their separate ways. It was a wonderful Christmas and we can thank Paula, Tricia, Pam and Paul for making it that way.

My words of wisdom for the week: Do something instead of killing time, because time is killing you. Even if you are on the right track you will get run over if you just sit there.