Christmas in New England - Sebago Lake and Dinner in Gorham

December 26

We slept very late this morning. It's great to be able to sleep in! I started the day with a Captain Eli's blueberry soda, which I found downright tasty. Thank you, Pat and Heather!

We had a quiche brunch at Sue and Jim's, where we discovered Jim camped out on his recliner in the living room, sporting a fetching, brand-new cast on his lower leg and foot! And Sue was at her sewing machine, whipping up a fleece “cast sock” to cover Jim's toes and the cast. What a great idea for keeping his toes warm!

Sebago Lake
Photo by Chris. All rights reserved.

Here's what happened: He was in the woods, feeding deer, when he snagged and wedged his toe under a partially-buried stick or tree root. His momentum brought him down, and the result is that his Achilles tendon is torn. Just how badly, they'll know when he gets the MRI. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, eh?

Jim's a person who absolutely hates to sit around. Since he does all the snowblowing at the main house and at the duplex, which has two driveways, and winter has just begun, who will take over this chore while Jim is incapacitated? I heard a lot of sure-hope-it-doesn't-snow-anymore-type comments. Good luck with that, right?

The railroad tracks by the boat ramp at the lake.
But don't get in the water.
Photo by Chris.
All rights reserved.

We (except for Jim) left to go to Oggie's (Mel's grandmother, Sue's mother), which is by Sebago Lake, about a 45-minute drive away. At 45 square miles, with 105 miles of shoreline, it is the deepest and second largest lake in Maine and is the water supply for the city of Portland. It's beautiful, and I imagine it's pretty busy in the summer. There are signs up that you can't go swimming, but you can go fishing and boating. In the winter, when the lake is frozen over (which hadn't happened yet), you can drive your pickup truck on over to your fishing hut on the ice, presumably driving your pickup truck right back to the shore to find a restroom if you need to relieve yourself. But, whatever you do, don't get in the water. You might pollute it. Things that make you think.

The sun sets behind the pond.
Photo by Chris. All rights reserved.

Oggie lives outside the picturesque town of Gorham, on lots of beautiful, rolling acreage that houses the gentle slopes where Melissa went sledding and the pond where she went skating as a child. And the woods where parties were held when she was a teenager. But maybe I'm getting stories mixed up, and it was someone else having the parties.

Mel's gram has a Pug dog and a Cairn terrier, and those pooches rule the roost. And why not? They are adorable and sweet, and they are great watchdogs. Harry had a good time playing with them, as he has done with Dudley at Sue's.

Where Mel grew up.
Photo by Chris. All rights reserved.

The frozen landscape is so lovely – undulating hills and stands of leafless trees interspersed with evergreens, a country road with only a very few other homes visible (even with the leafless trees). What a great place to be a fearless kid. This is where Melissa grew up, in the house on a knoll across the lane from her grandma and grandpa's. How wonderful is that? Sue still owns most of the land across the lane, having sold the house and a couple of acres.

For dinner, we went to the home of Mel's “Uncles” and wife Robyn for a dinner of lasagna and salad that Sue made and brought along. Robyn had prepared cheese appetizers (and some post-dinner brownies and ice cream!). Robyn's daughter, Andrea, made chocolate chip cookies as well as peanut butter cookies with a mini-Reese's peanut butter cup in the middle for more dessert. Come on! Stuffed, once more! 

We all visited for a while, and again it was hard to pull ourselves away from new friends. What a treat it is to meet all these wonderful people.

Then it was time to head back to do some laundry and pack our bags for the trip home. I can't believe we're leaving tomorrow! These past few days have zipped by so quickly.