Our next stop was the island of Vinalhaven, 13 miles off the town of Rockland, Maine.  My parents were from there and it's where I spent my summers when I was growing up.  I loved it and couldn't wait to get there every year.  It holds precious memories for me.  Both my grandmothers and my only aunt lived on the island.  It has a permanent population of about 1,200 which swells to probably 3,000 in the summer when the "summer complaints" are there. 

The harbor.  These are all lobster boats as that's one of the main occupations on the island.

This is my grandmother's house where I lived in the summers.  I was so happy to see it in good shape.  She was a widow of very limited means, but she loved this house and kept it painted and repaired.  I would love to have seen the inside.  Even more, I would love to have gone in and seen her sitting in her rocker beside her big black stove working on her quilting.  I loved the smell of her house.

I'll bet you have no idea what this is. It's called a galamander and it was used in the island's granite quarries to move large pieces of granite around.  No one knows the origin of the name.  It's been on the town square ever since I can remember, and I used to climb all over it when I was a kid.  I didn't climb on it this time, but it brought back a host of memories.

This how they hauled the granite. The island has several quarries with excellent quality granite.  Lots of buildings in the big eastern cities have Vinalhaven granite in their construction, including the columns at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.  Both my grandfathers worked in the quarries.

My aunt and uncle willed their house to the town to be used as an assisted living home.  There was no place for island residents to go except the mainland when they needed care.  Now they can stay on the island in their final years.  I won't put pictures of it here because you have to know the "before" of the place to appreciate the "after," but I will say the  town did a magnificent job of transforming it into a first-class care facility.  They redid the whole interior and built a wing for residents' rooms.  Everything was extremely well done.  It meant a lot to me to see it being used in such a worthwhile way.

We laughed at the support for this building - hunks of granite piled up.  Look at the fourth support from the left.

This is my grandparents' headstone.  It's made of black granite from an island quarry and it's in excellent condition for being over a hundred years old. My grandfather carved the top part himself. 

This is near the top.  I have no idea what it stands for.  Does anyone know?  He was a Mason.  Maybe it's a Masonic thing.

Here are some views of the island.  I could put a ton of them up but will restrain myself to a few.

The view from a small mountain.

A lighthouse facing the mainland. The hills in the background are the Camden Hills.  Those of you who have driven up the coast of Maine have probably gone through the town of Camden.

A lobsterman on his way back to the harbor.

I used to swim here. It's low tide (my mother used to say, "It's always low tide").  The tide in this area is 11 feet.  The water was way too cold to stay in long.

I probably will never see Vinalhaven again, but I'm so glad we went this year.  It has a big place in my heart.  If you're ever in that area, be sure to take the ferry over to the island (if it's a good day).  It's well worth the trip.

The first stop on our trip was the Corning Glass Museum in Corning, New York.  Sam and I used to live about two hours south of it and had been there a couple of times, but not for 40 years.  Jerry wanted to see it so we made a side trip.  It was well worth it.

There are several demonstrations, and if you go there be sure to see them all.  This man is a master glass blower and is making a vase.  At the end, there was a raffle to win a piece made the day before and Jerry won it!  Dee was thrilled.

I liked this autumn display.

One of these is the biggest glass pumpkin in the world.  The other one can't be far behind.

This is a Tiffany window.  I had Sam stand beside it so you could get an idea of the size.  It's magnificent!

The collections of glass cover a large area.  It would take weeks to study them all, so we just walked through.  This is but one case among hundreds.

The entire collection covers thousands of years of glass making.

If you're anywhere near Corning, New York, be sure to visit the museum.  We had a great time.

After that, we stopped at the big Wentworth-by-the-Sea resort in New Hampshire.  Dee and Jerry had been to a conference there many years ago and wanted to see it again.

Not a bad place to spend a few days.

Several millions of dollars worth of boats were in the marina.

This the one we bought. 

TOMORROW:  On to Maine

DID ANYONE MISS US?

We're just back from a nine-day trip to the Coast of Maine.  Pictures and stories are coming soon.

David and Catherine are both at Michigan Tech - David a junior and Catherine a freshman.  David has always loved it up there, and from all accounts Catherine is quickly falling in love with it too.  It's a beautiful area, just too far away from here - an eight-hour drive.

I do think there should be a moratorium on calling any group of people Nazis.  The Nazis were uniquely evil, and no group in America comes close to that level of wickedness.  So let's tone it down, folks.  And you know who you are.

This brought tears to my eyes. 

I love proper grammar and spelling, but even I am not quite this bad, contrary to what my grandchildren might think.  (Thanks to Valerie for putting it on her Facebook.)

A CAREER OPPORTUNITY

According to World Magazine, a Dutch company wants to transport four private astronauts on a one-way trip to Mars.  They would create a permanent habitable base on Mars by 2023.  The flight would take seven months.

I'm tempted to apply.  Surely they would seriously consider a 76-year-old woman for this historic journey.  Why would they not?  I'm not crazy about flying these days, but it's only a seven-month trip, after all.  Yeah, I'm in.

Wait a minute.  Did they say "one way"?

USA Today had a blurb about "homeowners' preferred cleaning shortcuts."  Here are the winners:

Close off a room - 46%
Hide items in a closet - 44%
Dust with hand - 28%
Throw away items - 27%
Hide items under the bed - 19%

In my long and checkered career as a housewife, I've been guilty of all five (although I don't see "throw away items" as a sin).  I often say that after I clean a room, I want to stretch a chain across the door to keep anyone from ever using it again.  Hey, it works in museums!

My mother would never let me put things under my bed and to this day I don't.  Dusting with a hand gives quite unsatisfactory results, but I guess it's better than nothing. 

I'm surprised 1 and 2 had such a low percentage.  I would think it was universal.

Another shortcut - my personal favorite - never entertain. 

WHOA!

Just when I thought all the bills for my eye surgery were in, along comes the one from the surgeon.  The surgical center's bill was so high I naively thought it included the doctor's bill.  Not so.  Her bill for the surgery alone comes to $7,200, plus $250 for the pre-surgery exam and $100 for the lense implant.  $7,200 ain't bad for one hour's work, wouldn't you say?  But, of course, she's not getting anywhere near that.  After the write-offs, Medicare paid her $448.05 and I must pay $395.82. So she's actually getting $843.87 for one hour's work (plus several office visits afterwards).  I would work for that.

Of all the wretched excess, the one that puzzles me the most is the one from the surgical center.  They billed $2,297 for the cataract removal and $2,257 for the glaucoma surgery.  For that they provided me with four hours of lying on a bed and operating table, a plastic eye shield with a roll of tape, booties, a hair net, and a half-size garment bag.  Oh, and cookies and juice in the recovery room.  No wonder hospitals are forever in the middle of multi-million dollar building programs.

So the total bills amounted to $12,985, I paid $680.49, and I have to go through the whole thing again on Sep. 25 on the other eye.