Sunday, July 12, 2020

Visit our website at lalamaine.com for additional information about LaLa Land.

Saturday, December 14, 2019

What's this?

 Oh my . . .


(click on image to enlarge)

285 Camden Road, North Appleton, ME 04862

Tipis and Bell Tents. Glamping coming soon in . . . who knows when? Covid put a dent in our planning board. Gardens galore with a farm-stand and U-Pick 'em flowers and vegetables. Come out, visit LaLa Land and take a hike.

P.S. This is not an ad for someone else. This is Stephanie and John at it again!

Thursday, March 21, 2019

1969
Rovena Sanglass motorcycle.
Tossa de Mar, Spain
Near the Cap d'Or Hotel where I stayed for a month.

Hotel Cap d'Or
What a beautiful spot!
I met many people from all over Europe while staying here.


Festival of Corpus Christi, Tossa de Mar, Spain, 1969

The Corpus Christi is a celebration of the Catholic Church meant for the veneration 
of the Eucharist. It is a movable feast of the liturgical calendar, that  takes place on 
the following Thursday of the eighth Pentecost. This medieval fiesta has a marked 
ostentatious character, closer to pagan celebrations than to any religious one.
This character is made evident in Tossa with the flower mats, as an exaltation of the 
vegetation of the month of May.
Corpus Christi is celebrated every year in Tossa on the actual date (and not on the 
following Sunday as other villages do).  The town center streets are adorned with 
flower mats and altars, and in the afternoon there is the mass and the procession, 
that will move along the adorned streets. (Tossa de Mar Tourist Office)

Sunday, February 10, 2019

John worked here in his youth.

-back when the biggest day on Wall Street was thirty million shares in a day-
Built in 1930, 71 story, 927 feet tall.
Tallest building in the world for a month (beat out by Chrysler Bldg.).
Now called The Trump Building.

Thursday, February 7, 2019

My new favorite song:



Adriano Celentano - Prisencolinensinainciusol

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

A fire-base somewhere in Vietnam, I-Corp ~ 1968




John (in beret) playing guitar and singing. Tom Cronon on piano, Mr. C-4, Cornel Yates, singing lead. Fisher DeZavalos, bass guitar, Bill Hutchinson on drums.

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Some Boat Stuff

I used to run Herring Carriers: F/V Western Star could carry one-hundred tons of herring ~ Amaretto could carry about forty tons.

Amaretto (built 1917) in Boothbay Harbor.

In the 70's, I lived on the Fannie W. (formerly Red Witch).

Fannie W. (built 1906) in the pound cove on Green's Island, Vinalhaven. See my laundry hanging out to dry.

Stephanie and I lived aboard the Windermere (built 1914) for three years.

S/V Windermere ~ 78 Gross Tons

While we spent the winter in Portland at DiMillo's Marina, John worked on the Tugboat, Elliot Winslow.  At that time the Winslow tugs put Navy ships in and out of the giant floating drydock in Portland harbor. We also berthed oil tankers in South Portland and up through the "Million Dollar Bridge." We also helped launch Navy ships at Bath Iron Works.



Sometimes John went yachting. Red and I could make a sunny day seem dark and stormy.

John and Red sailing out of Camden in winter. Ben Magro photo.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 One winter I worked on boats like this.


We unloaded crude oil from boats like this...

(68 foot draft)...
130 miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, to boats like this...

(34 foot draft)
...that were small enough to get to refineries in Texas and Louisiana. 
Yes I had a Merry Christmas offshore as we'd spend a month rocking and rolling; just waiting for the next supertanker to arrive.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The M/V INEZ ANDREAS Northbound Mississippi River Near Portage Des Sioux Missouri.

For best results, open video to full screen for full effect.

John worked the Mississippi River for several winters on the M/V Inez Andreas, M/V Sally 

Archer, and the M/V Joyce Hale. Deep snow in St. Louis, T-shirt hot in New Orleans one week later.


M/V Sally Archer and the M/V Joyce Hale

"We traveled up and down the river between St. Louis and New Orleans, 'empties' up-river, and grain, corn and animal feed, down-river." When faced-up to 49 barges, this vessel 

becomes 1365' long by 245' beam. A kick-ass job, to say the least.