5-28-06 (Sunday): I'm sitting on my patio in shorts and a tee shirt (after having the heat on for the past 3 weeks). There's a lovely glass of homemade green tea with honey (iced) in my cup holder, the smell of lilacs is wafting my way from the bush in the corner of my yard, and the sun is shining sweetly through the tender green leaves of the forest behind me. A curious chipmunk just ran directly under my legs--I don't know who was more surprised, me or him (her?)! In other words, life is good!

I just finished my first full day (6 hours) working in the campground store/office. Technically, I don't have to start until June 5, but since we're occupying a campsite, I feel obligated to work at least two days each week to cover the cost of the site. Yesterday I pulled weeds out of the garden all around the camp store and around the rental house. That won't normally be one of my jobs, but they're short-handed, so I volunteered. It was fun--a beautiful day and very attractive gardens.

It's still not full season here (that starts in July), but the campground is full because it's a holiday weekend. I enjoyed working in the store today. I learned how to operate the cash register, answer the phone and run a credit card. I sold firewood, ice, a book and lots of coffee and donuts! I made a couple of mistakes, but they were easily correctible. After I'd only been there an hour, John (who was training me) had to leave for 20 minutes (some sort of emergency), and he had enough confidence to leave me there alone! Of course, he'd no sooner left than someone came in wanting to know if there was an alpaca farm nearby (they'd heard about it from another camper). I had information about lighthouses, cruises, fishing spots and beaches. I had information about museums, doctors and dentists, hiking trails and state parks. But I had no information about alpaca farms. So I checked the list of useful phone numbers and called the Chamber of Commerce! I came out smelling like a rose--they knew of one, gave me the phone number and directions, and I actually found it on a map. One happy camper!

Wiley worked with John this morning mowing, weeding and trimming. Then he sanded and painted our picnic table and raked up the leaves in our yard. Then we took a drive down into Rockland and explored the harbor and downtown shops. There are a lot of interesting looking shops (antiques, art, gourmet food) and restaurants. We’ll have to go back when my in-laws are here. The ladies can shop and the men and kids can fish. Then we can all go have a “lobstah” (lobster) roll for lunch.

By the way, I just realized that I never posted the journal I did for 5/22 when we went to LL Bean. It's out of sequence, but I just posted it. Check it out. Time to get some dinner on the table!