Surprise in Maine!

Last week I was honored and lucky enough to be able to see our neighbor from Texas as he was passing through on his way to Iraq for deployment. Maine has one of the best troop greeters program. See more about them on www.mainetroopgreeters.com . They are volunteers that will come to the airport to greet our troops as they leave the US or as they are coming home. It is so surreal to sit at the airport, and be part of the celebration when our troops enter the terminal .. almost like the commercial from Budweiser. I still got tears when I see that one!

Budweiser Commercial

It was so good to see him, at the same time it was strange to see my Texas neighbor in Maine! Memories are posted in the Oasis . Thank you  R and A for your sacrifice, I will be thinking of you.

Last week's Photo Hunt .. Strings

Another picture from the Oasis ..

Italian night in Texas ..

You know summer is here when you cruise down our street and you can see kids on bikes, skate boards, scooters .. adults in chairs holding beverages. Okay .. so here in Texas our "summers" may start in April and last through September ... but truly we don't all come out until school vacation starts. This summer has been a little different ... one of our neighbors had wonderful insight to build an Oasis backyard .. AND share it with all of us! So, this weekend, the theme was Italian ... we all had to bring something Italian to eat ..
Plenty of food and plenty of fun ..

Volleyball is a must ..

and lounge chairs .. ahhh..

Plenty of food ...

And some maybe got carried away????

All in all .. a great day spent with wonderful neighbors, good food and tons of fun that lasted through the night! (T: you are missed!!!!!!)

Thank you R and A for yet another wonderful day in your Oasis backyard!

Happy 4th!

Normally our Fourths have always been celebrated with a parade in down town Bangor, ME .. and then fireworks in Bar Harbor... so this year was quite different .. it even started different! Anthony surprised me with a (PINK)tennis racket, and then challenged me to a game of tennis. We live behind the high school, and every day when we take the dogs for a walk we always make a comment about playing tennis. I played tennis when I was in junior high .. and then maybe again a little when I lived with my sister in the middle eighties ... so needless to say, it's been well over 20 years! So, at 9:30 AM with 86 degree temps .. we played tennis. I remembered again why it was enjoyable to play .. hopefully it is something that will become part of the cardio workout.

We were going to spend the afternoon and evening with our neighbors A & R .. by special request I had to make Jack Daniels Pie .. If you are ever at Texas Land and Cattle, get their Jack Daniel's Pie dessert .. it is sinfully delicious. There they make it in oval "single" serve (more like double serve .. depending on your mood for the day!)bowl with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It is rich and the chocolate comes out all melty (is that a word??) and it is absolutely delicious.

So, for our Fourth, we spent it with good neighbors .. once again T you were missed!! We met a few new people .. all the kids swam in the oasis pool.. margaritas were served ... LOTS of food ... all in all as much as I missed our traditional Fourth celebration, this was a good day!