On to Portland!

Next stop on our whirlwind swing through New England --  Portland, Maine.  We traveled up the coast from Boston on through the very tip of New Hampshire and on into Maine.  One of my art buddies is from New Hampshire and knew the area well.  She lives in my hometown now and we paint together.  Sorry, I digress....  Anyway, she had told me that we needed to stop at Nubble  Light, or Cape Neddick Lighthouse.  We deliberately made a stop there to see the lighthouse.  SO glad we did!

Here is as far north as I've ever been, and it was windy and bone-chilling cold!!!  And it was October!   The little town of Cape Neddick or York was almost deserted.  You could really tell it's a summer town with all the cute little cottages and seaside flair~~~~

  

On to our next stop!!!  Now, let me set this up... A secret bloggie friend and I had decided that we should meet up on our trip through New England.  My dear friend chose a lovely place for lunch for Tony and I and   for her and her husband.  I won't tell you where because we like being secretive that way, but it was absolutely PERFECT - a lovely little New England town with churches, cottage homes, and the eatery was located ON the lake!

Oh yeah - and TONS of antique places all along the way throughout New England!!! I tell you what, my daughter and I decided that we should rent us an 18-wheeler and drive up there and make us a HAUL of antiques & junk to bring back home to Texas!

CA-YUTE little Inn below...

Behind the cafe, a beautiful lake - it was kinda foggy and misty, but it was still great!!!

I'll just let you look...

Isn't this a sweet place to eat???  It was so good.  I had a real live Reuben Sandwich - complete with sour kraut!  That's a rare thing in Texas and let me tell ya - I've got a hankerin' for another'n.  Wonder where I could get a real genuine Reuben around here?

Had to get a pic of this little house right next door to the cafe.  I love yellow cottage-style houses - my house is this color.  This looks so cozy~~~

Another shot of the lake - wouldn't you just LOVE to live here!

Now, you wanna know who my bloggie friend is that met up with me???

VEE  ~~~  THAT'S WHO!

Vee, from A Haven for Vee

She and I have been buddies for about 4 years now.  She was one of my first blog friends and has been attentive and faithful to check on me and stay in touch.  If you know her, you know that she's a real sweetheart, a dear Christian woman, wife, mother and Nonni.   Now I get to love her smile, too!  I lost count of how many hugs we gave each other.  Her husband, John, is a dear man - He's so FUNNY!  He and Tony, my husband, really enjoyed visiting with each other, too - together, they solved all the nation's problems and mysteries of the universe.  

I dearly would have loved to spend the whole day with them and I hope they'll get to visit us here in Texas someday!  Vee & John, are you listening???  

I must gush for a minute... Vee is exactly the person she is on her blog - that's the person that became my dear blog friend, and just meeting in the flesh sealed the deal!  You get to know someone online and you fall in love with that personality, that spirit, the essence of that online friend, and so when I met her in person, all I wanted to do was just give her a huge  hug!  So good meeting you, Vee, at last!

She came bearing gifts, too - a beautiful handmade-by-Vee table runner that is perfect for my kitchen - she picked out fabric with apples on it - it's perfect!  My kitchen clock has apples on it and I'm phasing out the pink stuff and bringing in more RED.  I now am the proud owner of one of her hand-stitched-with-love sewing needle keepers, too!  I have a card of needles that belonged to my Nanny, and they are now lovingly protected in the felt-lined interior.  A cute magnet for my fridge that she made, too!  And a couple of items that were totally New England - a balsam filled pillow with a Lobster on the front (smells SOOO good) and TWO HUGE CHOCOLATE WHOOPIE PIES!  Yum!  My new favorite dessert!  Thank you, thank you, thank you, VEE!  Promise to do a post about these little gifts and show you pictures!

Well, I guess I'll end here for now...  spending the night somewhere in Maine!  Next on our agenda, we head west into the White Mountains of New Hampshire!  Absolutely gorgeous!

Keep yer dress down!