NOLA

Despite a 2 hour delay at Logan, we made our DFW connection and arrived on time last night. A couple of po'boys later, we passed a peaceful night and awoke to a sunny, warm day. It will be in the low 70s while we are here. Eat your hearts out, Maine, while we dine on crawfish etoufee and shrimp 'n grits.

Serenity

Ah, how peaceful to go to sleep at a reasonable hour and not be concerned about how the Eagles' game is going to come out... because we KNOW. And now that we are assured, barring insanity, that there will be a coach next season, the rest of the Sundays are now liberated, too.
Is there one of those brainwashing camps to purge people of pro football compulsions? If so, what is the menu?

Evening

A beautiful evening, calm on the river, fire in the stove, football on the TV -- what more could one wish, with winter ahead?

Do the Twist

We had the boys today, and here is part of the action. Jonas credits the Bowdoin Day Camp for his tutelage. Not sure where Grandma got those moves.
Dance lesson for all of us!

Stealth?

Bath Iron Works is building a Zumwalt Class DDG1000 "stealth" destroyer. It will be wicked expensive and wicked powerful and fast. The Navy does not want anyone to know much about it. Therefore, BIW does not release any information about the construction of this ship. However, our keen local eyes yesterday spotted the 7-story-high deck house of the ship being pulled up the river on a barge. It was majestic as it was slowly towed up by the Winslow tugs. It came from Mississippi, and just possibly others have seen it, too. I sent the pic to the Times-Record, but I'm sure their security is tight.

Four Quartets

Having very briefly touched upon T.S. Eliot's long poem "Four Quartets" in my Midcoast Senior College course, five of us from the course, which ended last week, attended a recital from memory of the poem at the Skidompha (gotta love it) Library in Damariscotta last night. There are about 1000 lines in this poem, and the actor who had memorized them was perfect. He is a nice fella and the display was awesome. He is coming to Philadelphia soon (http://quintessencetheatre.org/?p=906) if folks there would like to check him out. You'd better look at the poem first, as it is not to all tastes.
So much for literature until next fall.

Radon

Having heard about Nancy's house  being flooded with radon gas, we tested our basement with a First Alert kit. The results, 2.7 pCi/L, were OK, but bear watching, and so today I foamed shut the drain in the floor, which has never been used, except by chipmunks (R.I.P.) and will test again. Apparently, radon is worse in Maine than in other places, and it does not, after all, emanate from granite always, as I had thought. Good idea to read this  http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/environmental-health/rad/radon/documents/2011%20tipsheet%201.pdf and to test your house.

Andover

This weekend we went to Andover, where I am now on the Alumni Council. It was an excellent experience, highlighted by talks by Peter Sellars and the new school head, John Palfrey. At the general meeting of the council I found myself at the next-to-oldest buzzard table!
The whole gang stayed in Carlisle and assembled on Saturday for the football game with Exeter, at Andover. It was a beautiful day, and in the 3rd quarter a hugely underdog Andover team led 9-6, but as you can see from the long faces of the faithful spectators to the right, the lead did not hold, and Exeter squeaked out a 35-9 victory. Oh, well.

A new dawn

Angus had a large, enthusiastic party at the Hilton in Freeport. Just the way I like it, the race was called for Angus at 8:18, and he came in to speak about 8:45. Even in my poor cell phone snap to the right, you can see how happy he is. Me, too. Apparently I made a cameo on the Channel 6 newscast, seen by Em and Moll.

It was a grand night, after all.

Election Day

A cold election day, with a large turnout expected in Maine. I will not be at the polls, having voted "absentee" quite a while ago. Apparently lots of people are doing this, although at least in Arrowsic, it makes extra work for the clerks. But since Toby said it was all right, I did it. Grandma is tending the polls at the Town Hall, as always.
Previously, I had thought of leaving the country for election day, but gradually I realized that was a bit extreme. And where to go? One would have to go very far to be out of reach of the media. Newspapers all around the world have sections on the American election, and interest is high. Most of what I read from abroad are expressions of amazement and dismay about the American electorate, so benighted as to give a liar without portfolio a decent shot at becoming president. That, I understand.
So I will take Angus up on his offer and celebrate what what seems a sure win in Freeport.

Beach

A clear early November day, and we had a brisk walk at Reid State Park with the Quattlebaums. Then Molly sprinted the length of the mile beach to find us. Lovely day!
Marnie drove down to Connecticut to help Julie sort out Maryett Cale's possessions. Maryett passed away just two days short of her 100th birthday.
Today Ed, Ruth, and I toured the Farnsworth Museum and lunched well in Rockland.

Arrogance

One of the participants in my Senior College course said to me, "I know this is arrogant, but how can people with any intelligence, or who need government help vote Republican?" No answer from me. I do wonder. I do not know personally anyone except Bruce Poliquin who would support the policies espoused by the present-day "Republican" party. Those policies are mean. Pull up the drawbridge: I've got mine. The really sad thing in this state is to see the racist comments on the side of garages. Well, we get what we are. And, if we don't do something, we deserve it. I can't blame it on Fox News or the pudgy pill-popper on radio. People have to learn to think. That's so hard, isn't it? So what we get is the spineless excrescence to the left. Barf.