Ray Charles night in Carmel

Swimmers ready!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The twins moved the stairs to make way for the pool.













We have about 8 feet of garden to move for new pool.












We added barn bling

WTF PIC

Pool ready

I have all these pictures I took tonight and am not able to post them. Pissin me off, so I must sign off. Will try later.

A Day on the Links!

Last Sunday Special O of Maine hosted a day on the links at Bangor Municipal Golf Course. We had a great day at the course and our golf prefessional and instructor, Brian Enman, was great! He spent time with each athelete developing their individual golf swing styles and provided great tips. Here's some views on the day!

It's a cookout!

Last Saturday the Penobscot Area Special Olympics hosted a barbeque and dance honoring the Team Maine athletes who went to National games. The cookout was held at Bangor Mental Health Institution, oops excuse me, it is now called the Dorothea Dix Psychobabble Center. You could call it Disney World and it still looks like an old mental institution to me.
Everyone had a great time and the media were present. It was great to hear the atheletes talk about their experiences in Iowa.

Eat your heart out!

These are the two bronze medals me and Christina each received as unified partners!

My favorite bocce partner

This is me and Christina, my bocce partner. We took a break from bocce and watched a soccer game.

Bloomin

Off to the games

Bocce

Today 26,279 Special Olympics athletes from 93 Special O Programs compete in bocce. Bocce is a very old, yet re-energized game, has grown in popularity with Special Olympics atheltes and fans over the past few years. The game's balance of skill and strategy has been key to its resurgence. The object of the game is for one team to get as many of their balls (boccia) closer to the pallina (the smallest ball) than the opposing team's closest ball. Anywhere from 2 to 4 to 8 players may compete for each team. To start, each player is given two balls. Each player must then take turns rolling the ball toward the pallina ball which has already been thrown onto the field. The players are given points for the balls rolled closest to the pallina ball. Players may also throw on the fly striking the ball to move the point balls. Balls, including the pallina, may also be displaced by the balls of the other player. In Unified Sports bocce, a doubles team would consist of one Special Olympics athlete and one partner. As in all Special O sports, atheltes are grouped in competition divisions according to ability level, age and gender. To see where I played bocce at national games go to www.2006nationalgames.org go to the photo gallery and click on bocce of course.

Off to Iowa

We leave Friday for Portland. Matt is giving us a ride down and staying for the send off dinner at the Embassy Hotel. We spend the night there and take a bus the next morning to Portsmouth where we catch the plane to Iowa. Wish us the best of luck. You can track the games at www.2006nationalgames.org which is supposed to provide daily updates and photos.

Nicely done Bangor International Airport!

One of the athletes on Team Maine has never flown before and is quite anxious about his trip to Iowa. The staff at Bangor International Airport were gracious enough to give him a tour last week to help familiarize him with flying. Heidi our tour guide was incredible! She took us up to the tower where we met Mike, a former pilot who gave us a great explanation of how safe you are while flying. Heidi then took us in a van out on the runway. The TSA guys then provided us with the screening and boarding process. All the staff we met at the airport were gracious, informative, and wished Team Maine the best of luck in Iowa. We are so ready!!!!

Postcards from Carmel

These are the primrose my friend Carol gave me a couple of years ago.
Farmer on break.
Dad, this is the Virginia creeper from Mallett Hall!
The purple flowers are called "cranes bill"

Weekend activities

The weekend was uneventful with the exception of yard work, laundry, a trip to Wal-Mart, and visits from Johnnie and Kim, as well as Matt's daughter, Jennifer. These are the primrose my friend Carol gave me a couple of years ago.

Why do people bitch about the weather?

No matter what it is doing outside, people bitch. It has rained in Maine the entire spring, as it does every year, and people complained about the rain. Now it is sunny and hot and they are still bitchin. When it was raining everyone was saying "will it ever be summah, "when is summah gettin here," and other Maine expressions you hear year after year. Now it sunny and hot and everyone is still bitchin. When it is snowing we complain about the snow saying things like: "how many inches you think we're gettin!" I love this one, "can you believe it's snowing again." Deal with your weather not matter what it is because you have no control over it. Mother Nature is much stronger than all of us, so have a good time in spite of the weather or move to what you think may be a better climate.

Barn raisin!!

This weekend was spent moving into the barn. I feel organized, at least as far as my gardening tools are concerned. Scenes from the weekend:

Nothingness

Our boat rocks!
Rainbow over East Grand Lake
Pink salmon sunset

Yard sale find!

A cobalt blue fish bottle for 50 cents, I love it!

It's a Disney thing!

The theme this year at the Special Olympic State games at UMO was "Disney."
Here's some scenes:

More fishin scenes!

Mark at the helm

Ducks love loves small salmon

Sunset over East Grand Lake

Good shot Matt. Don't you wish you were there!

It's finally here!

This is our new mini-barn which arrived this morning.

Mug shot

For information on National Games in Ames, Iowa click on www.2006nationalgames.org from the home page click on Meet the atheletes, then click on SO Maine and scroll down to unified partners and click on my name to see my mug shot.

Hello ?!?

How come nobody comments on my blog? I'm talkin to you Dad and Jerry. Give it a try and let me know. I think I have enabled anyone to comment, not just bloggers, but I could be wrong. I may need an Emily and Angelo consult on blogging.