Clue: Master Detective

We've been up in Lincoln for the last few days, which has been very enjoyable.  Originally Randy and I are were planning on a traverse of Bigelow Mountain, which is in the Rangeley area of Maine.  However the winds were gusting above 100mph and about 18" of snow ended up falling at upper elevations.  So, that idea was smartly scrapped in favor of spending more time with our families :)
Not going on a backpacking trip also allowed me to get out on some wonderful road rides up in the Lincoln area.  Unlike Orono, Lincoln is quite hilly, has more dirt roads, more lakes & rivers, and way more dinosaurs - all of which provide a more enjoyable riding experience.

It rained during all of yesterday's ride, but being clad in Gore-Tex from head to toe kept me comfortable.  Today's ride was another wet one and the Gore was unfortunately no match for the incredible head wind that I (as luck have it) battled the entire way back to the house.

I was damp, cold, hungry, exhausted... and happy!  I'm so glad I met the bicycle.  The one I've been riding lately I've had since I was 17 (the frame at least) - it unfortunately has a very nasty crack growing in a rather critical area...

Thanksgiving this year was impressive: 42 people all in the same small house of Laura's grandparents!  They have a 2.5 car insulated garage with a wood stove (not that we needed it with that many warm bodies) that had been converted into a banquet hall.  The food was for the most part potluck: we contributed roasted carrots, which originated in our backyard.

For desert there were 20 pies, several bowls of cookies, and 1 amazing pot of gingerbread pudding (with no less than 6 sticks of butter!).  Randy, Heather and Grayson (bringers of the much loved pudding) were thankfully in attendance and we all enjoyed a wonderful, and necessary, walk between the main course and desert. 

This was also a Thanksgiving that Mandy, Todd, Samuel and Jeremiah were up North with us (they, like us, alternate families with holidays).  Samuel is one of the most intelligent 4 year old I have ever met.  He must have created 1/2 a dozen solar systems out of construction paper, knows the order and name of all the planets in our solar system, can recite several of the planet's diameters, is familiar with the size and formal names of a dozen different stars (some of which I had never heard, could not pronounce, and cannot even remember now), and after this weekend also understands how the electromagnetic spectrum helps determine the temperature of the star - wow!!  Jeremiah is now walking and has grown into quite the dancer, I only wish I had a video to post of him getting down to some big band music that Sheila was playing!  He doesn't know many words yet but he's rather fond of a certain orange giant star called "Pollux" that he no doubt learned about from his brother.  Here the three of us were watching a video about Pollux and some other great stars presented in scale against Earth and the other planets we're familiar with - the perspective is incredible.

When Samuel isn't studying astrophysics he enjoys (understatement) playing with Wynn, which naturally takes a hand full of work off the shoulders of Laura and I.

Last night Todd, Mandy, Laura and I played a game of Clue, which I had never played before.  I think I was just getting the knack of it when Mandy accused Mrs. Peach of murdering the victim using poison in the studio!  So much for my future as a private eye!

Perhaps it's after this weekend and the endless mouth watering treats that constantly surrounded us that Laura and I now feel compelled to go without refined sugars for at least the next two weeks to see if we might feel better (not that we aren't already feeling great).  For starters, this means that we will no longer be allowed to eat an entire pan of brownies in under 24 hrs (I took the 2nd photo below shortly before polishing off the rest of them - they were good!). 

Instead we will have to "make do" with maple syrup, agave nectar, honey, and other sweet things like homemade fruit leather, which Wynn thought was pretty cool!