2006 more stuff

Linda and I with Jon and Darlene

  A lot more happened in 2006, Linda had back surgery, a knee replacement too.  Her mother, Yvonne, died in March; and there was a family reunion on her side of the family.  Add to that we sold the house in May and moved for a short while to Brewer and I was still working full time until October 4th, I left the day the ad went in the paper for Bell Ringers (yes it was planned).  In November the Brewer City Clerk called an asked me to work at the polls for early voters, so I did that for a week too.
  Now, let's back up to March, Lindas' mother died after her third bout, or fourth, with cancer.  She was a twenty-two year survivor of breast cancer and had come through two bouts of intestinal cancer, matter of fact, she was just worn out.  Yvonne was a wonderful, hardworking and caring person;  a person of French Canadian decent who still had a bit of that accent who loved to travel.  Distance traveling didn't matter; she went on long trips, to Alaska, and short rides and loved every minute of both.
  The Hoffman/Martineau Family get-together was in the early summer, on a hot sunny day.  Rhonda was leaving from Portland that evening but drove Linda's car down, Linda, Hollie and I drove down in my car and Hollie didn't want to go, she wanted to laminate some projects.  I dropped Linda off and said "he" to some of the family, took Hollie and left for a nearby shopping area where the magical Staples had a store.  Hollie calmed down a bit, and we were headed back north and home, about 120 miles north to be exact.  Traffic was heavy, summer in Maine around a huge State Park on Sebago Lake is like that.  We were in stop and go, stop and go kind of stuff, at least all the was to Gray (20 miles), in Gray the Dodge quit, not running, nothing.  The "mechanic" at a service station call a tow truck, the car went to a garage further back down the road.  It was Saturday and they opened on Monday, Hollie and I were stuck.  We went to McDonald's for a lunch, to a store for some drinks to carry, and made a phone call to Hollies home and explained where we were.  We then proceeded down to the Maine Turnpike entrance from Gray to the north.  Our hope was to catch Linda, or her brother Thom, before they got on the highway; I stationed Hollie in the shade of a big sign and stood out by the road, we were about 40 yards from the entrance.  We stood and sat for 7 hours! In the hot, hot sun!  Finally we were hungry, walked back to a sandwich shop, and....as I was ordering Linda drove by.  When she got home, we weren't there so she call Hollies' house and they relayed my story, I had called again to let them know and to tell her we would be a McDonald's (it's easier to find).  She started back, the whole 120 miles, and was stopped for going 94 miles and hour!  She didn't get a ticket....beginners luck.  She arrived well after McDonald's was closed, we were sitting at an outdoor table and happy to be rescued.  Hollie was on the best behavior I've ever seen her on, thankfully.
  Well that sums up 2006, at least what my sun baked brain can remember.

Jon plays with Stuart at Sebago Lake.

A 1994 photo of Yvonne Martineau Hoffman

Linda with her brothers and sisters.