Dad 61: Prison, Moody's Diner, & "White Christmas"

(I do not agree with Dad's evaluation of my dessert.  But enjoy his post anyway!  -- Tracy)

Derf Here!  From the northeast corner of the USA.  A soggy day in Scarborough town could be the call of the day.  Traffic is down (after Labor Day) and Lew arrived home last night saying:  "There is no traffic."  That means winter is on its way.  However, we do have a few weeks left for the leaf peepers.  A beautiful season, indeed!

As mentioned in "Mainely Tracy" last Wednesday, Tracy, Lew and I spent some time in prison last week.  It was a great place to visit, but I don't want to live there.  Sister Jean's son, Robert, is in charge of the industrial program at the prison.  They have 150-180 inmates working in the shop and retail store.  Their products are quite nice.  The workers have the tools and machinery needed to perform all tasks from manufacturing to finishing the products (paintings, wood products, upholstery, etc.).  It was an interesting visit which impressed us.

After the shop visit we went to the retail store a few miles away.  The products were amazing and the workmanship was excellent.  Mementos were purchased to be displayed around our homes.

Anyone who has travelled through the Brunswick to Camden area on Route #1 is familiar with Moody's Diner.  Started in the 1930's, it is a "must stop" every now and then to enjoy the cuisine.  We chose this day to drop in the Diner as we were all very hungry.  Lew had a turkey club sandwich.  The turkey was real turkey and Lew kept saying:  "This is a real turkey club."  Tracy had some sort of a roll-up which she said was very good.  I had the usual burger and fries.  I wanted meatloaf but I missed the special by a day.  Of course we had dessert.  Lew had blueberry pie with ice cream.  Tracy had strawberry rhubarb pie (Yuk!).  I had chocolate cream pie with a very large scoop of chocolate ice cream.  I never had a scoop of ice cream on chocolate cream pie before.  Let me tell you the combination was fantastic.  We didn't eat for the remainder of the day.  A great day was had by all!

Football season is upon us and Josh played at Massabesic.  As I entered the gate and threw down my two-dollar payment, the young lady taking money looked at me kind of like "I know you."  Well, she asked, "Are you Mr. Gowen?"  I responded yes.  She was a former student of mine at Massabesic High School.  She mentioned her name and introduced me to her friend as her former principal.  Then she asked, "Have you sung 'White Christmas' lately?"  I told her not since I left school twenty years ago.  You see, I used to sing "White Christmas" at the Christmas assembly with the band just before dismissing the students for their vacation.  As I was driving home I then recalled why she asked me that question.  I realized that she was a trumpet player in the band.  (Daughter Deb wondered who gave me a hug as I entered the game.)

The game didn't go too well as Josh's eighth-grade team was down 34-0 at halftime.  With the blessing of the opposing coach and team, Josh's team scored 14 points to have a respectable-sounding final score of 34-14.

We'll get a chance to see both Zack and Josh play this weekend.  Looking forward to the games!

Getting ready for our trip to Illinois and attending Heidi's wedding in Indy.  It will be here before we know it.  Probably before Peyton is back on the field.  The last sentence is for Kathy.  Hope he's back soon!

Until next time!

Toodle Pip!

Derf!