The Wedding

I was without internet for several weeks so it's impossible to catch up totally. But here are pictures that I do have of the wedding. It was wonderful and went off with out a hitch.

Below is Lizzy (Tad's sister), Tad, and Lizzy's daughters, Cathrine (in the foreground) and Caroline.
Tad, Bruce, and the flower girls.
Joice, Manisha, and Susan.
Rachel...the bride!The complete wedding party: l-r - Elizabeth, Manisha, Susan, Joice, Catherine,Rachel, Tad, Caroline, Uncle Jimmy, Mark, Tim, and Forrest.
Tad and Rachel descending from the cottage.Two days of being high on a ladder sewing the material to the wires paid off!! This is the inside of the casino when it was finished for the reception.
The cutting of the cake.
Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Hackett. Don't they look happy!!
Now I am back home and it's all a distant memory. I can't wait to see the photographer's photos!

Mother-Daughter Bonding....

...or Spa Day!

We had a wonderful day!!! We started at Fabu down on Commercial Street. We both had a full body massage. It was my first! (I think there will be a lot of exclamation points in this post. ) It was wonderful. I had Molly. From my feet to the top of my head was oiled an massaged for 45 minutes while soothing music played in the background. The crink is out of my neck. :-)

Then they let us lie on the table a bit and the women who gave the facials came in cleaning, scrubbing, moisturizing with steaming towels in between. I'm sure they did more but I was finding I was dozing off time to time. Another 45 minutes for the facials. My skin is SO soft and smooth.

Then downstairs for our manicures. Another first for me. I chose the squoval shape. (Square ovaled) with a nice neutral colour that hopefully will last until the wedding...or not.

Don't think this day was without excercise. We walked up to the Green Elephant for lunch. It's a vegan restaurant and if I could eat here all the time or cook as well as they do, I could turn vegan. I had the Tikki Masala (since I cook it in Cafe World all the time) and Rachel had the Steamed Assorted Veggies/Peanut sauce and Vietnamese coffee. Yumm! We liked them both so we ended up splitting them.

After lunch we crossed the street to O2 Salon & Spa. Rachel had the works with a trial updo for the wedding. I had my hair blended the front to the back. I was feeling like a cocker spaniel with long fronts and short back but I had Mathew (cousin to Molly at Fabu) and he is a miracle worker. It would almost be worth a trip to Maine just to have him cut my hair.

Rachel was finished at 5:00 and home we went for a change of clothes and then to dinner at Bar Lola. The food was wonderful, eclectic, and filling. With their five courses for $39, they will certainly give 555 some competition.

It was a wonderful day...one I will remember the rest of my life!

Labor Day Weekend Lobster Bake

Yes, we are back on Little Diamond for the annual Labor Day Lobster Bake. This was my first!Rachel...standing on the dock in the bay. Does a song come to mind?
This will be photo instructions to recreate your own bake. First you dig a pit and start a fire. We missed that part but the fire is going and covered (left of center).
They then covered the fire pit with seaweed....
sprayed it down for lots of steam
and then picked up the steamer box....
and set it in place on the fire.
First course is a layer of seaweed.
On the seaweed goes the sweet potatoes....
then the corn followed by a layer of seaweed.
The lobsters are next!
A layer of seaweed separate the crabs that came next.
More seaweed....
then dozens of eggs.....
followed by hot dogs and keilbasa.
The entire box is covered with seaweed....
then sheets of aluminum foil.....
followed by more seaweed.
Then we wait. The eggs are a necessary ingredient. When the eggs are done, the lobster should be done. The cooking process took just over an hour. Now that the time is up, they are placing poles in the handles of the box.
Ready.
Lift.
On the wooden pallet it goes to rest a bit.
The cooks must test the food to make sure it is properly done! If you blow up the photo, you can read the logo on the t-shirts which are worn by members of the island septic committee.
Look at all that lobster!
More taste testing. :-) Then the food makes it's way up to the dock where it's served buffet style. I had my plate in hand not my camera so there's no picture of the line.

Rachel is one happy lobster eater.
Opening the wine with determination.
And just look at my plate!!! Do I have to tell you that I was full after this meal? Lobster is SO low in calories. Even the butter didn't count.
Now, we just wait until next Labor Day!

Lobstah!

We stopped by Ed's Batteries and picked up 6 one pound chicks...those are lobsters with one smaller claw to the uninitiated. I am going to have my first lobster dinner from scratch...and I don't have to cook it! Here's Rachel and Tad in their kitchen hard at work.
Under all that steam is the lobster. All six fit in nicely. I did have a momentary pang before they went in...and then thought of our dinner. The claws all looked the same to me.
Butter for the lobster and corn...three sticks!
The corn is locally grown and it was delicious.
Rachel made a salad with salad dressing from scratch. She makes everything from scratch. She didn't learn it from me - the queen of quick cooking.
The finished meal!! Doesn't it look good?
I learned the proper way of cracking and picking the lobster to get the most meat. Everything was 5 star! All the shells where collected and Rachel boiled them for about an hour and a half for lobster stock.
Tuesday we are having lobster risotto! Yum!! I'm one lucky mama. :-)

DUCKFAT

We went downtown to get Rachel's dress hemmed. Afterwards, we had a brilliant idea. DUCKFAT!! The last two visits to Portland saw me crestfallen when it was closed the first time and jam packed the second. So, off we go.

Oh, oh. Cruise ship is in!We race to DUCKFAT and find plenty of room.
I'm going to have the famous Duckfat Fries with Duckfat gravy...and the homemade creme soda.
Doesn't it look yummy? It was worth the calories. Rachel also tried the cucumber soup. It was delicious, also.

Rangeley

We are back in the car...headed for Rangeley.We stop at a pond where I find something interesting to shoot. I wonder if it's edible.
This is a pond. Yes, a pond. There is something in Maine about it having to be at least 85 feet deep to be a lake. This "pond" is only 65 feet deep.


We get to Rangeley and it's time for lunch! I had the best blue-cheeseburger and french fries with gravy! Everything was good.
Not only is there a lot of hunting and fishing going on, but Rangeley is a big ski resort town. The ski season is bigger than their other seasons.

There's the border patrol. They found us. It's time to head back.
Click on this picture to make it bigger. It's Rangeley Lake. It sort of reminds me of Crater Lake. There are actually houses on that island.

So Tad spent a total of nine hours in a car with us. He's definitely a keeper.