Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Wednesday: A good day for lunch and some random thoughts

Our great weather spell is forecast to continue at least until Saturday. This kind of weather, beautiful sunshine, pleasant temperatures, and especially low humidity, is just what Maine is all about. Those folks who chose this final week of summer for their vacation really picked a great one.

Oh, yes. I fully realize that summer doesn’t officially end for another three weeks or so, but in Maine the summer season has traditionally run between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Labor Day is next Monday so this week through the long weekend, which will include Monday, marks The End. Well, maybe not. Maine is highly known and regarded for its Fall Foliage season which effectively has extended the fun time of summer another six weeks or so. But the traditional summer places will begin shutting down Monday with many moving to a weekend schedule only for another few weeks.

Today is a great day. It’s the last Wednesday of the month and so my retirement group will be meeting for lunch today at the Mall. I mention every four weeks or so we are all retired from the same work place and use this day as a way to socialize a little, get caught up on the latest news, mostly talk sports, and enjoy a meal together. It’s a lively, happy, fun time.

The Democrat convention continues in Denver. The nomination of Barack Obama as the party’s Presidential candidate will take place and Hillary Clinton has officially told her delegates to support Obama so the Party will appear united leaving Denver in another day or so. Reading and watching news out of Denver might give some hints that unity isn’t happening. There are still many Democrats who wonder if Obama can truly lead America. After all, a quick look at his resume shows he doesn’t have much experience at leadership.

One thing about the Convention, though, it is highlighting the news, as it should. As a result the Maine Democrat leadership doesn’t appear to be raising too much havoc with our state and that leaves some of us with little to discuss.

I saw a neat little newly paved, possibly newly created walkway yesterday. I have no idea where it goes or what its purpose is. There were no obvious signs explaining it. It runs right next to I-295 in South Portland across from Pape Chevrolet, or more accurately across the street from the I-295 off ramp next to the dealership. The path appears to have been created during the construction of the new on-ramp.

The path winds up a little hill then disappears as it apparently heads south parallel to the Interstate and the river there. It’s in a very busy traffic area and there are no apparent parking places anywhere nearby. Gator Wife and I opined it was probably part of a walking route through the area where people might get to see the natural habitats along the river, but I’ll have to do some more research before I know for sure. In any event, that little path did cause some interesting discussion between GW and me. Because of its location, there’s a good chance we’ll never get to walk it to find out.

One thing we both agreed upon: if we had little kids, the high volume of traffic within a couple feet of the path would prevent us from ever using it if it is a nature trail.

Another little peeve we had recently was visiting the dealership where she bought her car across from the Maine Mall. The dealership no longer sells Subaru’s. We did find the new Subaru dealership on Broadway in So. Portland, which is why we were driving by that little path. But we would have thought that the old one would have at the very least sent a note to its former customers of the change. We had been there just a few weeks ago and it wasn’t mentioned then, either. That’s a crummy way to do business and even though that dealership across from the Mall still sells popular foreign cars, I doubt it will ever see our presence again.

Such negative thoughts to end this day’s visit. I’m looking forward now to heading over to a lunch time with some very nice folks and former associates of mine at work. It’s one of the better elements of a retirement schedule.

GiM

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