In Maine

We came over to visit Jim and Mary in Owl's Head on Friday, arriving c. 5:30p.m. We stopped at Bob's Clam Hut along the way, but not at WHen Pigs Fly, for bread. Ellen brought a tasty dinner of Swedish meatballs on noodles, with squash and lignonberry sauce. In the evening we watched a show that they have been watching which they like very much, but we were unaware of. I can't remember the name of the show, but it was fun. Saturday, I slept late, fixed a breakfast of orange juice with Kiefer, scrambled egg and cereal. Then Jim and Mary took us out to lunch at Archers on the waterfront, where I had steamed mussells. Yum! We thought we would go to the Farnsworth Museum afterward, but when we got there, we found they were closing within a half-hour, so we came home and went to the Farnsworth on SUnday. Saturday evening was the TaHeels/Duke MBB game, which I watched on TV. Great game which the Heels won handily. It looks like they could be Final-Four material this year. That would be exciting. They have a very deep bench this year - a large number of real stars, capable of double-doubles (10 or over in both points and rebounds). Hubert Davis does a good job of rotating through them, giving his starters a chance to rest. Sunday we went to the UU church with Jim and Mary. The pastor "preached" on equity and equality - I use quotes around "preached" because I don't think he mentioned God at all. But it was interesting and timely. Then after church (which included sort of a "lunchy" coffee hour), we didgoto the. Farnsworth. Ellen puched me around in a wheelchair and we pretty much saw everything. I got a chance to sit in front of virtually every painting/print in the museum without getting exhausted. That was great. We paid special attention to An exhibit of Wyeth's "botanical" watercolors - trees and shrubs. See below! After the museum we came back to Jim and Mary's, and I rested a bit and we had supper and played Scrabble. I had miserable luck on drawing tiles - all vowels and 1-point consonants. I came in fourth, but witha higher score than I would have expected. We also bought a toilet seat extender - on Sunday, almost too late to use it. It will be useful at home and whereever we visit someone. It's getting harder and harder to "get up." The extra five inches of height makes a big difference. I brought Richard Ford's "Be Mine" with me to read, and I finished it this morning. It is about Frank Branscome abd his son, Paul, who is 47 years old and has ALS. They go to the Mayo Clinic and then make a side-trip to Mount Rushmore, before Paul dies. Paul's symptoms and physical challenges are very siimilar to mine, so the book cut pretty close to the bone. Paul's attitude is different from mine, but 47 is very different from 90! It' a brilliant book in its exploration of the father-son relationahip, which is sort of universal regardless of peculiar individual traits. And now, as I write, we are heading home. We left a little after 11 a.m. It is sunny but cold and windy.

At Archers, having mussels for lunch.

At Rockland UU Church after the service.

Wyeth print.

Wyeth tree.

ANother Wyeth tree.