This is the Boston Temple.  the clouds were wispy and were not about to deliver the pelting rain that the forecaster said was about to descend on us if we went to the Temple.

 Here is the missionary couple in front of the temple.  My good clothes (I only have a few with me) are mainly gold and black and white.  I look like more like a bumble bee than ever with this color combination.

 Bill is so brave - he marched right up to this moose and grabbed an antler.  GO! BILL! I guess this is as close to a Bull Moose that we will ever get since we have no idea where they hang out or the time to go and pursue them.  So a tame one like this one is really the best kind to see and be near.  It is situated in front of the Turnpike Plaza just over the Maine state line at Kennebunk.  On our travels to Boston and back we came across a lot of Native American names of rivers, bridges and towns that defy pronunciation and I feel sorry for any little kid in school that has to learn not only the pronunciation of the name but how to spell it as well.  And I thought Toowoomba was hard to learn to spell when I was a little kid - it is an aboriginal name meaning two watermelons........or so they told us when we were in grade school....and who among that lot of little kids is going to challenge a teacher on that one?

Today we went down to Boston to the temple.  It has been 7 months since we attended the temple and that was because we live 1)so far away 2) the lousy winter weather 3) closer to home places to see first before we made this long of a trip (3 ½ hours).  The ward was making the trip today because it was the last day of the Spring School Vacation.  We took the little kids with us (11yrs and under) with us and while the youth and adults were in the temple, other adults were with the children doing a service project of planting petunias and other flowers in the temple garden.  The kids had a great time.

I was noticing the difference in the availability of flowering plants on the way down.  Close to Augusta, only some trees have started to put out new leaves and they look red.  Further down towards Portland, there are some white blossomed trees that look like wispy clouds among the new green foliage.  Some trees are chartreuse green, some a deeper yellow green, some almost blue green and every shade in between.  I wish I knew the names of all the trees and bushes.  Of course there was the usual forsythia planted near the bridges and further south, there were some trees with pale pink blossoms and even further south towards Boston, there were some deep pink blossom trees among the white blossom trees.  I think that as it warms up we will see more wildflowers along the way. 

We stopped to shop at a Costco – yes, could not pass up the opportunity to go to our favorite “big box” store.  My oh my was it big and the parking lot was jammed full by the time we got there at around 11am.  Masssachusetts has weird laws, said one person that we talked to, and they will not let Costco sell Gas like they do in Prescott and Phoenix etc.  This Costco was jammed with people and the shelves were stocked full.  I have been in some big Costco’s in Phoenix Valley but none are anywhere as big as this one.  Had to use the bathroom after our 4 hour drive from Augusta, and found that as big as this Coscto is, they only have 3 stalls in the women’s bathroom, and one of them is for handicapped.  I guess you only go there to shop, not to use the bathroom.

We found our way to the Temple from the Costco experience and passed many houses sporting all kinds of colors of Azalia plants.  They put on quite a show and it was wonderful.

On the way home I phoned my friend Bobby and also Betty Anne and Kathy.  They live in different time zones and because I am three hours ahead, I have to remember to call when they are awake.  David sometimes calls me and it is 1am here and his questions usually have to do with cooking his favorite foods.  At 1am Maine Time I am not too lucid.

We saw our first Moose today.  Well, it was a fiberglass Moose in front of a plaza on the turnpike.  Hey! A Moose is  a Moose wherever you find one.  At lease he seems to have had a more pleasant journey in life than the two moose who locked horns and died of starvation because they could not unlock their horns and get free.  The two heads, still locked together are in a case at the Maine State Museum. Hormones are what they are and these two definitely had too much of a good thing.