An Evening on the Waterfront

Friday night Geo and I spent some relaxing time in Burlington on the Lake Champlain waterfront. It was one of those absolutely perfect evenings ~ calm, peaceful, mild ~ an evening I did not want to end. Soooo glad I had my camera with me. Here are a few of my favorite photos.

Update: I've rediscovered this post. The lakefront in Burlington is still one of our favorite destinations.

It's beautiful to see the view of the Adirondacks in NY state across the lake. Any time of day is great for photos!

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Our trip to Bridgton, Maine

Geo and I, with Lucy, just returned from our visit with Addie in Bridgton.

Lucy was eager for the adventure of the road trip. Here's Lucy.

Bridgton is a delightful little town and the home of the Rufus Porter Museum. Addie showed us some of the Rufus Porter murals that are on display.



We enjoyed some great meals, especially the local seafood. "Lobstah," anyone?

Truly outstanding was the "Portuguese Seafood Stew" which included LOTS of seafood simmered in a red wine broth, memorably yummy. The Old Mill Restaurant in Harrison rates 5 stars ***** for this dish!

We took a scenic drive from Naples along highway 114. When I saw the reflection of trees in the calm lake water along the road, I just had to pull over and I began snapping lots of photos. Here are just a few:

This was Lucy's opportunity to do a little rock climbing.

And I just relaxed and took in the scenery.

Lucy and I enjoyed our morning walks to Shorey Park in Bridgton.We walked on this bridge with the flowers and watched the waterfall.

Sunday morning we went to Mass at St. Joseph's. There was a beautiful statue of Mary outside of the church. Another "Panasonic Lumix moment."

Then it was on to Ricky's Cafe for breakfast. Here's Geo while we waited outside for our table.

On the way home we stopped in Bath, New Hampshire. There was a busy smokehouse between the buildings.

Here is the town's general store where I had a peanut butter cookie (self-service, leave your money on the counter) ...

and the ice cream shop where Geo enjoyed a banana split. A nice break along the way.

It was a short trip, but so nice to see Addie again and fun to spend a few days in the vacationland of Maine.

The Silver Maple

Shocked, shocked, and dismayed to see this.

The leaves are shriveled. So sad. Closer inspection revealed this.

And then I spotted this little creature climbing the bark.

Yuk!

Whatever this is, I don't want it to spread!

Bye-bye, silver maple!

Who Knew?

Who knew growing eggplant would be so easy? I had steered clear of eggplant because of horror stories I heard about the pests it attracts. So far, no pests and super eggplant!

The eggplant is doing much better than the wimpy pepper plants. Am thinking the heat of the summer really stressed them out before I could keep them supplied with much needed water.

The eggplant skin is very smooth, but I've discovered the ends can be a bit prickly.

Now I can use those eggplant recipes I've collected. Last night it was lasagna with eggplant layered in the middle instead of pasta.

Looks like I'll have more than enough to harvest, slice, blanch and freeze for use during the winter months.

Geo is Back

Geo returned from his conference in DC. Since he had arrived there a day early, he managed to take in some tourist sites.

He enjoyed a one- on- one tour (how about that!) of the Capitol, including the Old Supreme Court. He tells me he actually sat in the Chief Justice chair (but no photo!).

He reports that the Newseum has moved and undergone a major expansion since we were there years ago. It now includes exhibits of the actual Unabomber cabin, sections of the Berlin Wall and, of course, displays of hundreds of current first page editions of the news faxed in from all over the world. There's a stunning view of the Capitol from the open air terrace.

Geo tells me he was really impressed seeing the C-SPAN offices. He met up with Rick, the videotographer from our Presidents and Patriots Tour, who showed him the Washington Journal studio. Geo also met Brian Lamb, the Chairperson of C_SPAN. No real tour is complete without souvenirs, and Rick generously gave Geo a few C-SPAN mugs and two classy tee-shirts.

I'd like to revisit Washington, DC, but ~ please ~ not in August! Geo survived the high heat and humidity and enjoyed a productive conference.

LBJ Day, Continued

This was the Presidential site that many of us were especially eager to see: The Lyndon Baines Johson National Historical Park. Most us us on tour remember President Lyndon Johnson, and seeing where he lived brings back very real memories of the times.

The first stop was at his boyhood home. The small "dogtrot" style residence belonged to the family for many years and was restored during LBJ's time to its appearance in the 1920's. Relatives and friends in the area donated antiques. LBJ himself would lead people on a tour of this home, reminiscing about his boyhood.

This photo of President-to-be was displayed in one of the bedrooms.

I like this wood cooking stove. (My Granmother had one like it.)

Next we visited the Johnson family cemetery. President and Mrs. Johnson are both buried here among many, many other family members.

Driving up to the ranch is very impressive. It's a long drive. Along the way we were looking for deer among the trees. (I recall reading that LBJ had taken President Kennedy deer hunting one time and I wonder whether this was the place,) Before we reached the ranch home, however, we stopped at the pens where the longhorn cattle are kept. These are direct decendents of LBJ's cattle. This is a working ranch, and the National Park Service here are dressed like ranchers.

   

There's a runway at "The Texas White House," too short for the Presidential jet Air Force One, but adequate for a smaller jet or a helicopter landing. On view is the Jetstar LBJ used that he liked to call "Air Force One-Half."

Finally we made our way to the residence itself. We had learned so much about President Johnson this day that when we saw the ranch, I almost expected him to walk out and greet us. We had an extensive tour.

Mrs. Johnson used this ranch as her home up until 2007. She updated it throughout the years. When the home was turned over to the National Park Service to be opened to the public, it was restored to the appearance it had during the LBJ Presidency.

The furnishings seemed quite common. We were told that the grandchildren didn't like the restoration because this was not the home they remembered growing up.

I really enjoyed seeing the office where he worked, and the display of what looked like a Presidential plate collection. ( This reminded me of the collection we have in our dining room.)

The room that made the biggest impression on me, however, was the bedroorm where he died. I hadn't thought about him dying here, so I wasn't expecting to see this. At the time of our tour, this part of the home was undergoing renovations.

The highlight of this day was a BBQ, just for our group, much like the ones given by LBJ years ago. The lawn under the trees near the banks of the Pedernales River was one of his favorite places. This is where he held press conferences and entertained dignitaries. And here we were on a gorgeous early Texan evening.

There couldn't have been a better finale to our exceptional trip with C-SPAN and Presidential historian Richard Norton Smith and a fine group of fellow travelers.

A Few More Photos, LBJ Library

Geo asked, "Where are the pictures of the Johnsons' private quarters at the Museum? These are more important to see than pictures of the Oval Office; everyone knows what the Oval Office looks like."

So these are especially for Geo, photos of the LBJ residence on the upper floor of the Library. This room opens to the balconey in view of the UT - Austin stadium.

Here's a photo of Mrs. Johnson's office. We were told that this is just how it was left on the very last day that she worked here:

I also took a photo of the picture of President Johnson with the news anchor Walter Cronkite. It is often said that when Walter Cronkite publicly began to turn against the Viet Nam war, that was the real turning point of Middle America turning against the war and President Johnson's policies.

Finally, LBJ himself - and his hat, a man called "Bigger than Life."

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Mrs. Johnson's Wildflower Center includes 297 acres of wilflowers, plants and landscaping promoting conservation and sustainable use. Our tour group arrived at the entrance and there we remained for an extended time, enthralled with the beauty of  the waterlily garden.

All cameras were focussed on this little guy, trying to capture a good photo when he was nearing the surface. (I thought this one came out pretty well.)

The Wildflower Center was actually co-founded in 1982 by Mrs. Johnson and the actress Helen Hayes. I recall hearing that Mrs. Johnson visited the gardens at Biltmore before this one was constructed. Since we had visited Biltmore, I wanted to see what the influences may have been. Biltmore conserves original heirloom plantings; Mrs. Johnson's Center also conserves and promotes plants that are natural to the environment.

Here's a cactus flower, ready to open.

From the very first when I found out we were visiting this site, I was eager to see the "Butterfly Garden." I had visions of butterflies flittiing all around, and we would be walking around in their midst. Well, I found the butterfly garden, but it was a challenge to find any butterflies at all! I made it my mission to get at least one photo of a butterfly. Here it is:

In this garden I did meet a woman who showed us where they "cocoon" the caterpillars, then release them when they become butterflies. I tried to capture a photo of the butterfly leaving the cocoon bag, but it was just too quick for me.

Visiting the Wildflower Center was a nice change of pace from our tours of all the Presidential sites. If we lived anywhere near Austin, I would be a frequent visitor here (and maybe a volunteer!).

LBJ Day

Day 9 of our Presidents and Patriots Tour was "LBJ Day."

After breakfast we visited the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Museum, located within site of the University of Texas at Austin, the Longhorns stadium.

We were told that President Lyndon Baines Johnson loved this balcony view from his living quarters not only because he could hear the Longhorn games, but he could get on a loudspeaker to invite all the fans to his museum.

Here are 2 views of the replica of the LBJ Oval Office:

I was impressed by a display of an original newspaper reporting on the assassination of MLK, Jr. The photo of the Lorraine Motel is clearly seen. Since we had just been to the Lorraine Motel, this was especially meaningful.

And who could not be impressed seeing LBJ's own Texan boots!

I'd rank the LBJ Museum and Library as one of the best, really portraying the many facets of a very complicated man, President during extremely turbulent times.