We're in Maine

We are at Jim and Mary's in Owl's Head, ME. We left at about 9am this morning and got here a bit before 6pm. But on the way, we stopped in Portland to visit my friend, Paul Jones. I have known Paul for about 34 years - he started coming to the Guilford Church about 1988. He brought South African Freedom songs to the church from his involvement in Amandla, a chorus in Greenfield, MA which specialized in those songs. For several years we sang together in the Blanche Moyse Chorale. Paul went to medical school and became a child psychiatrist. For some time he lived and worked in Washington, D.C., working with children who had life-threatening illnesses, and also teaching at Georgetown U. He also is a guru in a Japanese form of meditation. He has always had Type 1 diabetes, but a few years ago he was diagnosed with M.S., and that eventually affected him cognitively, and he had to give up his work. He moved to Portland because his mother was there - very elderly and in a nursing home, but she died two weeks after he moved. Nevertheless, he likes it there, has a nice apartment near the ocean and Fort Allen Park, and it means we can visit when we go to Maine. I had not seen him in person for many years, so it was great to see him again. He brought chinese take-out back to his apartment and we had lunch there. He has gotten back into writing poetry, and he read us several of his poems - they are really good! I hope he will publish them. We had about a two-hour visit, and enjoyed it very much. Monday will be his birthday, so it was sort of a birthday party. We liked his neighborhood very much - old Victorian mansions overlooking the park and the ocean.

Paul Jones in his apartment

The view from the car of Fort Hill Park, near Paul's house

Old scene of Fort Hill Park

A more recent view of Fort Hill Park

Strawberry shortcake tonight!

A new painting above the dining table!