On our way home!

We left Owl's Head at about noon today. I was awake very early and was not able to go back to sleep, so I got a little extra sleep in the later morning. So now it's almost 3 o'clock, and we are in Kittery, at the When Pigs Fly bread shop. We always stop here and get bread. It's great bread.

When Pigs Fly bread outlet ***************************************** On our ride so far today I have been reading aloud from Dostoievsky's Notes from the Underground. I have not read this previously, and it is fascinating. It is clear that this course is going to be quite a trip! And why not? It's titled Uncanny Journeys! We had our class on Kierkegaard last evening. Phil Weinstein, our teacher, focused on an aspect of Kierkegaard that I DO understand, and did not deal very much with the parts of Fear and Trembling that go over my head. He focused on those portions that one can relate to experientially, and largely ignored the heavily philosophical parts. That was ok with me. He essentially asked us to try and call to mind a moment in our lives when we had to make a huge decision the outcome of which was unknown to us, a moment, in other words, of existential fear and trembling. He called to mind his own wedding day! Fair enough! It was a helpful class session, and gave us a sense of how the course will go. We did not get into the issue of gender - of whether Kierkegaard is more for men than for women. There were many thoughtful questions. And the class is pretty big. Over a hundred people. I'm amazed that there are that many people who want to tackle these difficult texts! LATER After When Pigs Fly, we stopped and got take-out at Bob's Clam Hut - just down the road. A Haddock basket with onion rings. It included. some slaw and fries - plenty for both of us. So we did our traditional stops that we almost always make when we come to Maine.

LATERIt is almost 6p.m., and we are in Keene - we've stopped at Michaels so that Ellen can get some colored card stock. We'll be home before 7p.m. - pretty good time considering we will have made three stops along the way. We'll be coming into a VERY cold house. Hopefully we'll be able to get the bed warm enough to sleep in! LATER STILL We are home and getting the house warm. We spent a lot of time first cleaning out the base of the flue where pellets of creosote collect which can eventually block air flow. It is ideal to do that job when the stove is cold, so we did. Unfortunately, the system someone designed to hold the hatch in place is the height of frustration to get back in place. We finally did it, but it was exhausting. Now we have a nice fire!

The frustrating hatch. The tricky part is holding the retaining ring exactly in place while you tighten the screw. It's a two-person job and even that is difficult. Ellen finally thought of using duct tape to hold the ring in place, and that was brilliant.