Blogging on the Powwow

I travel to Maine regularly since my step-daughter, Dorothy, is only about an hour away in southern Maine. For someone who commutes 90 minutes each way to work--through Boston--it is almost a treat to shoot up I-95 into Maine. Easy-peasy. But, every 3 months or so I plan a more extensive trip into Maine, north of Portland, to visit family and friends. I usually cram as many visits as possible into a single day. I'm someone who likes to be busy, so this works very well for me, and I like to think, for others as well. This past Sunday I made stops in Biddeford, Saco (that was for Reny's , I confess), Brunswick, Woolwich, and Topsham (where I got in another stop in at a Reny's) . I knocked off four visits with friends and family, made a drop-off at another friend's house, and hit two Reny's stores. It was a productive day! Here are some of my lessons learned and discoveries made on this quick trip back to my home state.  We've lived in Massachusetts for five ye...

Neil and I love to visit northern New Hampshire. As not only a woman of routine (see my previous blog on this topic), but a couple of routine, we've been staying at the same place for 12-13 years - the Town & Country Motor Inn . We love the T&C - on the Gorham/Shelburn line - modestly priced, reasonably quiet, an aging facility with exercise equipment that is 10 years too old, sink and tub drains that are slow to work, and dining room food that meets Neil's rating of " B-flat."  They also allow pets for a mere $6/night while other competitors charge up to $25/night. From what we can tell, the T&C - a family-run business - has been a staple of the social and economic activity for over 50 years in Coos County. It is the kind of place where generations of families have held weddings, class reunions and other "corporate functions." Neil first learned of the T&C because in the 1990s they hosted the "Kinder Konzerts" of the Portland Symp...