The View From Here, A Maine Focus

Sometimes you have to take time to get to know yourself (again). Take yourself out to dinner, find out what you enjoy doing, discover your hobbies, find out what makes you laugh…

Start spending time with yourself, take time to respect yourself, enjoy your own company, and become someone you genuinely LIKE and RESPECT.

Woke up this morning missing my mom. 😔 Missing her a lot… My mom? She could fix anything. She was a wonderful seamstress. She could ”fix” a dress, pair of jeans, a new wedding dress, my son’s first tuxedo when he was 2 months old, his Toy Story “Woody” costume, a new shirt for my dad out of “Popeye The Sailor Man” material. She could ”fix” a pie, pineapple-upside-down cake, and the best fried chicken. She could “fix” any 4-walled building until it became the PERFECT HOME. Give her some time, when no one’s looking… and she could “fix” the vacuum cleaner, her sewing machine, a new wooden Yahoo Board game, a painting for the wall, the distributor cap on the car, and even a dishwasher.

But above all of that… she ”fixed” ME, the world around her, her loved ones, her family and everyone she cared about. I’m sitting here thinking, how am I going to go forward in the world around me. So many things are changing I have not shared on social media platforms. I wish she was here to tell me how to navigate the waters. As I sipped the last sip of my morning tea, I felt a whisper…”I never said it was going to be easy, only that it would be worth it.”

Was that my mom whispering from Heaven? Probably not…

The mom I had…I was only supposed to have for 5 years max…I had her for over 50. No complaints.

Without going into detail, she more than doubled doubled her life expectancy. Had 2 children after being told not to expect to ever bring any child home because the child would not survive birth…her and Dad didn’t even have a baby blanket to bring home a baby—-and did it twice. Me and my sister, both healthy and sound (one of us, however, has slightly better judgment than the other). Mom lived to watch the birth of her grandson and the marriage of her youngest daughter. She fought daily battles, medication, physical, and emotional struggles. And still “FOCUSED AND FIXED” the world around her, denying her own needs (which was frustrating to her family).

The whisper I heard? It was from the source of her strength…God. Lord, I miss her, but thank You for the 50 plus years I had her in my life, thank You for the example she left. And as a promise to her, I remember her with a smile…just so happens to come with a few tears this morning.

My Son Plays Guitar
(Check out my blog post)
Final revision

My Son Plays Guitar My son is a musician, and plays guitar. Not every guitar player is a musician, but my son is. He is also in a really good band...and I’m saying that with no bias whatsoever. . Tonight I'm watching him and the band play at a local venue, and loving every minute of it. However, less than...

Re-sharing a story that I wrote three years ago about my mom and dad. I forwarded it to John Fogerty, and he shared it to his page. Thank you, Mr. Fogerty, for sharing it!

Today we share beautiful love story in a letter we received last week. We all need this right now.

54 Year Marriage Ended, and Restarts Beneath a Big Red Tree

If you come along with me, we’re gonna look for a Big Red Tree. It’s just up around the bend.*

My mom and dad found it years ago. They first heard about it in April 1970 when the song "Up Around the Bend" was released. Years later they decided to meet there in Heaven. My mother is there now, patiently waiting for my dad, helping God prepare his place beneath a Big Red Tree.

I want you to know the meaning of the Red Tree, and how John Fogerty and his lyrics impacted my family, created a place in Heaven for my parents to unite in Heaven after 54 glorious years of marriage. It will be a place where we will all be united, when our journey on Earth has ended where there will be family picnics, dancing, and togetherness...I will know where to find my parents in the wide expanse of Eternal Heaven. Maybe one day in the future, they will catch a glimpse of John Fogerty cruising by on a Harley Davidson with the engine wide open a "crystal day". After all, it was Mr. Fogerty himself who created this place in Heaven.

The song released over 50 years ago, by a band called Credence Clearwater Revival - April 1970 . (If you skip to the end of the page, I have a link to the song so you can hear it yourself. Better yet, buy the album. My dad has had great taste in music for over 70 years now - he won't steer you wrong!)

My dad wasn’t considered a “fortunate son” by any means. He had the bad boy image that Los Angeles County offered in the mid 50’s through the early 60’s. He relocated to small-town Texas, where married a small-town Texas Catholic School Girl. He always believed he married up and out of his league.

They were married in 1965, April 16th, Good Friday, which fell on April 16th that particular year. As you know, Good Friday is the Friday just before Easter. The day in which Easter is celebrated is based on the moon cycle as opposed to a set Calendar Date, so Good Friday and Easter sort of float around and are different every year. However, my parents never lost that “newly wed bliss”, and celebrated their Wedding Anniversary twice a year – on Good Friday and April 16th. They did this for 54 years.

When someone would ask the secret to keep the bliss in a marriage for 54 years. Dad would tell them, “I don’t know the secret. I just know that when I woke up in morning next to her, I was happy to be married to her. And when I went to bed that night, I looked at her sleeping, I was still glad I was married to her."

My mother died suddenly, very unexpectedly October 24, 2019. Before my mother passed, she stated her wish was to be buried in the same cemetery plot with my dad. My sister, and my dad and I made the funeral arrangements. Dad special ordered the small, and shared headstone for both of them. Every decision at the time seemed “knee-jerk” since we hadn’t prepared for this moment and were still reeling from the shock. I stood by him at the funeral, as we walked in chapel and my mother’s casket came into view, I felt his knees buckle. I was there on one side to hold him up so he could go forward, my sister was on the other. It was all so surreal.

We reflected on memories. One memory my dad shared with me and my sister was a private conversation between him and my mother. Mom had a doctor’s appointment, and Dad arrived to their destination and parked the car. Dad’s favorite song was playing, so he asked Mom is she minded if he finished listening to the song, “Up Around the Bend”. She listened to the lyrics while my dad “bee-bopped” the steering wheel playing the drum part.

All of a sudden, my mom says, “That is where we will meet”.

My dad, in his most articulate manner, said, “Huh?”

She softly smiled and softly leaned towards him, placed her hand on his arm, and softly spoke towards his ear, and said, “When one of us dies before the other, that is where we will meet in Heaven. I will know to find you by the Big Red Tree”. My dad didn’t know that after 44 years of marriage, she could still say something that could make his heart skip a beat. From that moment on, “Up Around the Bend” became their song.

The lyrics for the song go:
Come on the risin’ wind
We’re goin’ up around the bend

Yeah
Ooh

Catch a ride to the end of the highway
And we’ll meet by the Big Red Tree
There’s a place up ahead and I’m goin’
Come along, come along with me *

Dad writes short stories and poems, and even helped his grandson, Jordon, with song lyrics from time to time. He wrote Mom a poem about all the things they would see and do once united under that Big Red Tree in Heaven. The Big Red Tree became a such a happy place for them, and they referred to it daily. Matter of fact, the poem still hangs in the kitchen.

Under the tree there will be picnics, they will watch their 2 (young again) daughters dance in the sunshine while playing Princess. They will hold hands, and they would sit in silence just being together in each other’s arms. The song assured them they will always be together - throughout Eternity.As an aging couple now in their 70’s now, eternity was closer than it used to be.

Dad, over the years, has several copies of Creedence Clearwater Revival, and almost all of John Fogerty’s solo career song-line up. He has the original albums, mix-cassette tapes he recorded, CDs, and now has it all on his iPod. He and Fogerty are about the same age, so every medium the songs were released on…I bet Dad has. He constantly streams music in his car. He still has a love for great Rock & Roll, and Classic Rock even in a "Katie Perry-and-Kanye West" world. Every time the song came up, they would reach for each other’s hand.

Dad designed and ordered the headstone, he designed it with Big Red Tree on it, with a ribbon that says Together Forever. Being buried in the same plot, they will be buried beneath that Red Tree…Together Forever.

Six months after Mom's passing, what would be considered their 55th Wedding Anniversary arrives. Dad got Mom flowers like he always did for 54 years. The only difference is this time he was walking through the cemetery instead of the front door to deliver them.

He arrived to the cemetery, and and did the lonely walk towards her grave. He could hardly believe his eyes. He felt as if he just lost his breath. When the headstone came into sight, he had gasped for breath. Apparently, headstone had been installed the day before.

Prominently displayed was the Big Red Tree, a BRIGHT Big Red Tree. It was a message from my mother to him, arranged by God himself on their 55th Wedding Anniversary. They WILL be together again, and Mom wanted my Dad to remember that...especially on their 55th Anniversary.

As I said earlier, my dad writes short stories, poems, and prose – even a song lyric from time-to-time with his grandson. He understands that a song is emotion... put to words... with sound.

He said writers want to be remembered, they want to touch someone’s heart. He told me if he ever wrote something that touched someone’s heart, and caused ripples in eternity and created an eternal place in Heaven for two people…he would want to know. He would want to know his words had that kind of impact on someone. He said it is a writer’s dream.

Mom and Dad had gone to see John Fogerty twice in concert always hoping to see him signing autographs so they could visit with him. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be, and Mom passed away before she could tell him how much the song meant to her.

Whether it's a sunny day, a windy day, or a rainy day, EVERY red tree I see from now on I will know my parents will there on the back side of it. And when the times comes, I will know where to find my parents and I get to play princess in the sunshine again with my sister.

Here I go, I’m sticking it out there. Hopefully the rising' wind will carry the below message...

Mr. Fogerty, when you get to Heaven, and have that Harley wide open on the Heavenly Highway on a Crystal Day...that beautiful young couple you pass by that are under that "Big Red Tree" that is Up "Around the Bend"? Well, they are my parents.

Thank-you from the bottom of my heart, my dad's heart, and my whole family's heart.
Thank-you for your songs, thank-you for the messages. And thank-you for providing them a place to meet again in Heaven. And like you wrote in the song, please know, that "there WAS an ear for what you had to say"!*- Karen Andrews

To Karen- My goodness what an incredibly wonderful and beautiful story! Thank you so much for sharing this! Way back when I wrote the song I’m not sure I realized how magical that Big Red Tree would be, but I’m sure glad I wrote about it. I am very lucky to share with my Julie the kind of love you have written about. No doubt, one day we will ride by that Tree on our Harley and see you guys!
Sincerely,
John Fogerty

“For I will restore you to health And I will heal you of your wounds,’ declares the Lord, ‘Because they have called you an outcast, saying: “It is Zion; no one cares for her.” Jer 30:17, NASB

God showed this verse to me a few years back…He all but yelled it to me. As my cancer cells were growing…He made me a promise.

7 Days until I start down the “6 month Journey To Healing”

.

🥰🥰🥰

Taking a breather from social media. If anyone needs me, please text.

The heart is a complicated vessel. Out of your heart, flows your passions, your dreams, and your life’s direction. The heart is not logical, never has been. Your brain has to protect it, guide it, and see that it is nurtured so it grows correctly. There are times it must be pruned and trimmed back from a direction that is “not safe” so it can grow and focus in the proper direction.

I’m trying, and do pretty good most if the time. For some reason my heart reaches out to you when I feel vulnerable. Don’t ask me why…I don’t understand it myself. I’m trying to prune back that “rogue” direction of my heart.

I have a new direction, and I need to prune this side back to accommodate the new path and it’s blessings. I’m trying…sometimes I fail and reach out to you. I’m sorry…it’s my weakness and one of my largest vices. I apologize. (not to mention embarrassed).

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”(Proverbs 4:23). Yet today: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9). “For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the LORD of armies; …” (Isa 54:5)

My Son Plays Guitar My son is a musician, and plays guitar. He is also in a band. A really good band, and I’m saying that with no bias whatsoever. . Tonight I'm watching him and the band play at a local venue. Less than halfway through the show, I was suddenly fighting tears, as I was transported back in ...

I wish I could stop, I really do
I know it's not fair to me or to you
There was a place carved out
Yet you never showed

I see forever when I look in your eyes
But you were never there, so how can it be
I don’t understand and I never have
How can you miss what you never had

My Son Plays Guitar…

https://www.amainefocus.com/post/my-son-plays-guitar

My Son Plays Guitar My son is a musician, and plays guitar. He is also in a band. A really good band, and I’m saying that with no bias whatsoever. . Tonight I'm watching him and the band play at a local venue. Less than halfway through the show, I was suddenly fighting tears, as I was transported back in ...

Resharing my parents “Life”. Please enjoy. ❤️

Today we share beautiful love story in a letter we received last week. We all need this right now.

54 Year Marriage Ended, and Restarts Beneath a Big Red Tree

If you come along with me, we’re gonna look for a Big Red Tree. It’s just up around the bend.*

My mom and dad found it years ago. They first heard about it in April 1970 when the song "Up Around the Bend" was released. Years later they decided to meet there in Heaven. My mother is there now, patiently waiting for my dad, helping God prepare his place beneath a Big Red Tree.

I want you to know the meaning of the Red Tree, and how John Fogerty and his lyrics impacted my family, created a place in Heaven for my parents to unite in Heaven after 54 glorious years of marriage. It will be a place where we will all be united, when our journey on Earth has ended where there will be family picnics, dancing, and togetherness...I will know where to find my parents in the wide expanse of Eternal Heaven. Maybe one day in the future, they will catch a glimpse of John Fogerty cruising by on a Harley Davidson with the engine wide open a "crystal day". After all, it was Mr. Fogerty himself who created this place in Heaven.

The song released over 50 years ago, by a band called Credence Clearwater Revival - April 1970 . (If you skip to the end of the page, I have a link to the song so you can hear it yourself. Better yet, buy the album. My dad has had great taste in music for over 70 years now - he won't steer you wrong!)

My dad wasn’t considered a “fortunate son” by any means. He had the bad boy image that Los Angeles County offered in the mid 50’s through the early 60’s. He relocated to small-town Texas, where married a small-town Texas Catholic School Girl. He always believed he married up and out of his league.

They were married in 1965, April 16th, Good Friday, which fell on April 16th that particular year. As you know, Good Friday is the Friday just before Easter. The day in which Easter is celebrated is based on the moon cycle as opposed to a set Calendar Date, so Good Friday and Easter sort of float around and are different every year. However, my parents never lost that “newly wed bliss”, and celebrated their Wedding Anniversary twice a year – on Good Friday and April 16th. They did this for 54 years.

When someone would ask the secret to keep the bliss in a marriage for 54 years. Dad would tell them, “I don’t know the secret. I just know that when I woke up in morning next to her, I was happy to be married to her. And when I went to bed that night, I looked at her sleeping, I was still glad I was married to her."

My mother died suddenly, very unexpectedly October 24, 2019. Before my mother passed, she stated her wish was to be buried in the same cemetery plot with my dad. My sister, and my dad and I made the funeral arrangements. Dad special ordered the small, and shared headstone for both of them. Every decision at the time seemed “knee-jerk” since we hadn’t prepared for this moment and were still reeling from the shock. I stood by him at the funeral, as we walked in chapel and my mother’s casket came into view, I felt his knees buckle. I was there on one side to hold him up so he could go forward, my sister was on the other. It was all so surreal.

We reflected on memories. One memory my dad shared with me and my sister was a private conversation between him and my mother. Mom had a doctor’s appointment, and Dad arrived to their destination and parked the car. Dad’s favorite song was playing, so he asked Mom is she minded if he finished listening to the song, “Up Around the Bend”. She listened to the lyrics while my dad “bee-bopped” the steering wheel playing the drum part.

All of a sudden, my mom says, “That is where we will meet”.

My dad, in his most articulate manner, said, “Huh?”

She softly smiled and softly leaned towards him, placed her hand on his arm, and softly spoke towards his ear, and said, “When one of us dies before the other, that is where we will meet in Heaven. I will know to find you by the Big Red Tree”. My dad didn’t know that after 44 years of marriage, she could still say something that could make his heart skip a beat. From that moment on, “Up Around the Bend” became their song.

The lyrics for the song go:
Come on the risin’ wind
We’re goin’ up around the bend

Yeah
Ooh

Catch a ride to the end of the highway
And we’ll meet by the Big Red Tree
There’s a place up ahead and I’m goin’
Come along, come along with me *

Dad writes short stories and poems, and even helped his grandson, Jordon, with song lyrics from time to time. He wrote Mom a poem about all the things they would see and do once united under that Big Red Tree in Heaven. The Big Red Tree became a such a happy place for them, and they referred to it daily. Matter of fact, the poem still hangs in the kitchen.

Under the tree there will be picnics, they will watch their 2 (young again) daughters dance in the sunshine while playing Princess. They will hold hands, and they would sit in silence just being together in each other’s arms. The song assured them they will always be together - throughout Eternity.As an aging couple now in their 70’s now, eternity was closer than it used to be.

Dad, over the years, has several copies of Creedence Clearwater Revival, and almost all of John Fogerty’s solo career song-line up. He has the original albums, mix-cassette tapes he recorded, CDs, and now has it all on his iPod. He and Fogerty are about the same age, so every medium the songs were released on…I bet Dad has. He constantly streams music in his car. He still has a love for great Rock & Roll, and Classic Rock even in a "Katie Perry-and-Kanye West" world. Every time the song came up, they would reach for each other’s hand.

Dad designed and ordered the headstone, he designed it with Big Red Tree on it, with a ribbon that says Together Forever. Being buried in the same plot, they will be buried beneath that Red Tree…Together Forever.

Six months after Mom's passing, what would be considered their 55th Wedding Anniversary arrives. Dad got Mom flowers like he always did for 54 years. The only difference is this time he was walking through the cemetery instead of the front door to deliver them.

He arrived to the cemetery, and and did the lonely walk towards her grave. He could hardly believe his eyes. He felt as if he just lost his breath. When the headstone came into sight, he had gasped for breath. Apparently, headstone had been installed the day before.

Prominently displayed was the Big Red Tree, a BRIGHT Big Red Tree. It was a message from my mother to him, arranged by God himself on their 55th Wedding Anniversary. They WILL be together again, and Mom wanted my Dad to remember that...especially on their 55th Anniversary.

As I said earlier, my dad writes short stories, poems, and prose – even a song lyric from time-to-time with his grandson. He understands that a song is emotion... put to words... with sound.

He said writers want to be remembered, they want to touch someone’s heart. He told me if he ever wrote something that touched someone’s heart, and caused ripples in eternity and created an eternal place in Heaven for two people…he would want to know. He would want to know his words had that kind of impact on someone. He said it is a writer’s dream.

Mom and Dad had gone to see John Fogerty twice in concert always hoping to see him signing autographs so they could visit with him. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be, and Mom passed away before she could tell him how much the song meant to her.

Whether it's a sunny day, a windy day, or a rainy day, EVERY red tree I see from now on I will know my parents will there on the back side of it. And when the times comes, I will know where to find my parents and I get to play princess in the sunshine again with my sister.

Here I go, I’m sticking it out there. Hopefully the rising' wind will carry the below message...

Mr. Fogerty, when you get to Heaven, and have that Harley wide open on the Heavenly Highway on a Crystal Day...that beautiful young couple you pass by that are under that "Big Red Tree" that is Up "Around the Bend"? Well, they are my parents.

Thank-you from the bottom of my heart, my dad's heart, and my whole family's heart.
Thank-you for your songs, thank-you for the messages. And thank-you for providing them a place to meet again in Heaven. And like you wrote in the song, please know, that "there WAS an ear for what you had to say"!*- Karen Andrews

To Karen- My goodness what an incredibly wonderful and beautiful story! Thank you so much for sharing this! Way back when I wrote the song I’m not sure I realized how magical that Big Red Tree would be, but I’m sure glad I wrote about it. I am very lucky to share with my Julie the kind of love you have written about. No doubt, one day we will ride by that Tree on our Harley and see you guys!
Sincerely,
John Fogerty

I don't usually share music here, but this on is truly amazing!

mercy meal Provided to YouTube by DistroKidmercy meal · Liv N' Brilliantmercy meal℗ Sweet Rain RecordsReleased on: 2021-12-07Auto-generated by YouTube.

❤️🌸❤️

Rainy Fall Day!
❤️🥰❤️

I love a nice fall rain!! 🥰❤️🥰 .lisbon.falls

I love this photo! Reeds in the water with their reflection. (Available for purchase).

If you are interested, just let me know! 😍

One of my favorites! Cape Elizabeth, ME

Some have ask, and now I have some photos available for purchase! If you are interested in purchasing one, just let me know. Message me for pricing and details. I have PayPal.

Sunrise 09/2021.

Lobsterman at Boothbay Harbor, Maine. ,

Maine Strong!

I've entered another photo contest, if you like this photo...please click and vote!
I entered another contest, this one with Down East Magazine.

Vote for This Photo in the Down East Reader Photo Contest! We can’t wait to see Maine through your lens.

Captured a gorgeous sunset. 🤗❤️🤗❤️

Please vote for my photo in the Maine Tourism Association’s “Summer Photo Contest”. If you haven’t voted yet, it would mean a lot to me if you could vote for my photo. Thank-you! 😊❤️😊❤️😊

Vote for my Maine Summer Photo!