HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!

A special Mothers Day wish for my mom and my daughter Courtney who blessed me with a beautiful grandaughter Rowen...or RoeRoe as she calls herself!  She calls Ruby...RuRu.  So when they get together (they are best buddies)..it's RoeRoe and RuRu on the loose!
Mom, I love you and wish that I could be with you today, on this special day.  Thank you for always being there for me and always teaching me to look for the beautiful things in life.
Courtney, I'm so proud of the woman, wife and mother that you are!  Thank you for always giving me your love and support and watching out for me at times that I needed it most.

In Portland yesterday the weather was as advertised only better.  The 84 degrees was at about 2 o'clock and I think everyone in the city was outside jogging, walking, sunbathing (there are a lot of very pale people here...I think that many are hurting today)!....anything to be outside and soak in the sun in what has been very gloomy and wet period of time. 

I really think that Free Range Lobsters would sell well in California.  Of the 3 nights that I've been here I've had Lobster  twice (I haven't eaten Maine Lobster in at least 5 years, probably more).  Every restaurant serves it and it's....Cheap!  Last night Misty and I had 2- pound and a half Lobsters each, a side dish for...you better be sitting down...$24!!
This place was selling live Lobsters for $5.99 a lb., really nice oysters for $1 each and Haddock for $4.99 a pound.  I eat a ton of seafood on a regular basis and have had good and bad, in all price ranges...in my opinion this is the best seafood value that I have ever seen!  It's amazingly fresh (Lobsters caught the same day) and very inexpensive.
Unless Bill and Misty lived here I would never have come here let alone stayed for a couple days.
This is a cool city!

How come Lobster is so expensive on the west coast when they are virtually giving it away here?
Last nights meal (Misty and mine), would easily have been $100, probably more...at Bristol Farms!

       

Ruby, playing tourist...this monument is dedicated to the men who lost their lives aboard a Navy vessel during WWII.  Their ship was sunk by a German submarine just off the coast here.  I guess I was aware that German submarines were operating off the east coast, but had no idea that they came this far north. 

This lighthouse is about 6 miles away from where Bill and Misty live.
This is the Portland Harbor View lighthouse which was commissoned by George Washington in 1790.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (a great early American poet and writer) would walk from Portland to this lighthouse..about 10 miles!  It's believed that he came here to seek inspiraton and it is  believed that this lighthouse served as his inspiration for his immortal poem...strangly enough..called the" Lighthouse".

Sail on; sail on ye stately ships;
And with your floating bridge
the ocean span;
Be mine to guard this light
from all eclipse;
Be yours to bring man nearer
unto man." 

Beside being an avid tourist, Ruby also serves as a good will ambasador on behalf of the good people of the state of California!
Here she is doing what she does best...making people feel good!

Bill and I also playing tourist!  Bill remarked that he hadn't been to a number of the places he took me to since they moved to Portland 17 years ago!
I think it's funny that no matter where you live that you begin to take your surroundings for granted..I know I have in Orange County.
That statement led me to the thought of whether or not, we after time begin to take our most treasured relationships for granted.  I know that I have and truly regret it.  We have so many wonderful things in this world that we should rush everyday to find them and cherish them.

Meet Julie!
Bill and Misty's neighbor.  Ruby also enjoyed a little "dog" time until Angus snapped at her and she came laid next to me with her sad eyes on full display.
Julie is from Boston, is a staunch Red Sox fan (as are most people in this area).  She and her partner split their time between Portland and Naples Fla.
An extremley animated and entertaining woman.
In Portland neighbors actually talk to each other....

Why does she sit perfectly still for everyone but me...could it be that she is the leader of the pack and I'm one of her followers?

..

I couldn't believe what a perfect shade of blue this is!  Kinda like the color of water we find about 50 miles off the coast.  Oh and they have surfers!  Alot of them!  The waves looked to be pretty well shaped and came in like a freight train at night...but the people here think that their water is to cold for swimming( the surfers all had hoodies).
Personally I don't think that this water is any colder than the Pacific...I think that many of them compare the water here to the water they find in Florida.

The southern Maine Coast!
Tomorrow we will give our thanks to Bill and Misty for their kind hospitality and head north for a couple of days, before heading west and home.