August Festival and Family

It has been a very busy week in Washburn and at the Cole house. The whole family was home for the festival. With Louise selling and signing books and Gary designing and making the historical society float, everyone was busy. Bob, Gina, Bridget, Meghan and Jessica were riding on the float in 19th century costumes.

Here is Ralph Cole posing with his truck and the float.

The crew on the float: Meghan Cole, Drew Cameron, Hailey Cameron, Jessica Cameron, Mackenzie St. John, Gina, Bridget, and Bob Cole.

Both Ryan and Meghan gave tours of the museum during the August Festival. Here is Ryan in the barn,
We also spent some family time at Portage. Here we have three photos of Bridget at the camp.

Isn't this smile priceless? Bridget also seemed to enjoy the water.

Today we went to the St. John Valley with Jon and Erin. First of all we encountered a tree across the road on the way to St. Agatha.

Finally we have a photo of the view from the Lakeview Restaurant where we had lunch.

The Book has come!

Monday the book arrived. This book is the sesquicentennial production for Washburn that has taken several months of work. Louise and Londa Brown worked for over two months putting this together. There was a lot of excitement about the town office as the truck from Office Max arrived!

There were two pallets of books unloaded.

Here are Londa andLouise getting ready to take a look at it.

And here it is!

Baxter State Park Anniversary

Today the Coles celebrated 45 years of marriage by spending the day in the woods. Driving down through the woods to Patten with a picnic lunch aboard, they entered Baxter State Park at the Mattagamon Gate. Here is a picture taken near there:

We spent three hours driving through the woods, stopping to picnic at the Ledges. Louise finished knitting a sock on the trip. With music from the 60s playing on CDs, it was a lovely day to drive through one of the loveliest spots in Maine. Here we have a collection of pictures taken today for you to enjoy.

The Height of Summer

The rain has returned today to northern Maine. One effect of all this rain is lush flower gardens. Here we share a few pictures of the gardens Gary has worked so hard to cultivate.

And last but not least is another picture of Bridget from last week. She is enjoying the outdoors with Grampy.

A Day in Massachusetts

We came down to Massachusetts two days ago. Louise is free again - the book is done! We are visiting with Bridget, Gina, and Bob. Look at this cute picture of little Bridget. She is a firecracker for sure! She loves books and looks at them a lot.

 Today we visited the Wayside Inn and mill near it, and then went to the Garden in  the Woods. Sponsored by the New England wildflower society, this is quite a place. We actually hiked for about two hours in a wonderful setting with flowers, brooks, fences, and nature. There were a few mosquitoes, but this spot was worth it. Nice trails and such a peaceful, relaxing place.

 The chapel at the Wayside Inn.

 The Wayside Inn in Sudbury. Mass

 Louise at the replica of the old gristmill at the Wayside Inn.

 The entrance to the Garden in the Woods in Framingham.

A lily pond with flowers, water lilies, turtles.

A chipmunk having a lunch.

A butterfly on the cone flowers.

 Gary on one of the garden paths.

July??

The weather is still so wet and cold that is certainly doesn't feel like July. Louise is still working nonstop on the Washburn book. It is coming right along and the end of it is near (we hope!) Gary was just elected president of the Salmon Brook Historical Society. Bob and Gina have brought Bridget for a visit. We share a picture of Bridget, and a couple of the flowers that are growing nicely despite the rain!

This is Bridget at almost 11 months. Notice that she really likes books.

This is a supertunia called Bermuda, a lovely shade of pink.

This is Gary's shade garden.

The return of the paddle boat again, and again....

We have had two afternoons and evenings of severe thunder showers/tornadoes up here. Hearing that the damage was bad in Ashland and Portage, we decided to check out the camp today. As we started down the West Road, Louise spotted a paddle boat that looked like ours near a wharf just beyond the playground. She said to Gary, "I hope that isn't ours." When we reached the camp the water was very high, waves coming in, white caps on the lake, and no paddle boat. Gary and Ryan had used it Sunday.
Gary went down to the camp where we had seen it, and he loaded it on the truck to bring back. Meanwhile, Louise went down to the shore and looked around, spotting the paddle boat two camps down stuck in a little inlet. Gary returned the first one to where he found it, and then dragged the second one up on shore and the two of us got it loaded in the back of the truck and back to the camp. How many times has that paddle boat been rescued? This time it produced a twin! Who would believe two identical paddle boats floating around the same area?

On our way home we took pictures of the storm damage along Route 11 in Ashland. It has been a wild week!