August 14, 2007  

     Because of Lynn's garden in front of the house, we actually spend time sitting on our front porch.  I think people did this generations ago too.  It's not just the flowers but also the bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and moths that we enjoy viewing.  Here are some pictures of a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth that I captured from 10 feet away (using the Sony Cybershot 300-mm telephoto lens: (1, 2).  I found some better shots on the Web, probably taken from a shorter distance: (1, 2).
    On Friday, July 27 I had a gig with the Anne Thomas Trio in Portland, ME at the Blue Cafe.  It's a very small place, but the audience was appreciative and generous.  Lynn came along, and we stayed overnight at the home of Anne's father, Warren Rohsenow.  He was a professor at MIT but is now retired.  He's a dear man full of fun and joy.  We spent Saturday morning talking about engineering, music (he earned his way through college playing piano), and travels. Here's a picture of the Atlantic from his back yard in Falmouth, ME.  On the way home we stopped at the Lobster Shack on Cape Elizabeth for a lunch of delicious lobster rolls.  The stones on the shore look like petrified wood!
    Sarah and Steve have signed to buy a house in Thetford, VT, which is just across the Connecticut River from their present house in Lyme, NH.  It's just what they've been looking for—a large, old house on 40+ acres with a large pond, apple orchard, gazebo, stone walls, and gardens.  Now they have to hurry to get the Lyme house ready to sell.  Steve has added to the house and renovated it, but a lot of the final details were still to be completed.  Lynn and I went up for two days the end of last week to help.  Lynn planted flowers to give the house "curb appeal" and a lived-in look and helped with the cleaning.  Here are some "before" pictures of the entrance area: (1, 2), and here are some "after" pictures: (1, 2).  I put plates on the new electrical outlets and switches, and put knobs on closet doors.  We got done just in time; some prospective buyers came by while we were there.  Here's another video of their kittens in a ferocious battle.
     Sunday afternoon we went with Alice Alusic to an open house at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough.  This is a camp that invites established artists to come and be creative in a quiet environment.  It's considered by many to be the finest artist colony in the U.S.  The most unusual and noticeable "art" on display was a network of telephones on trees around the property.  From one of these phones you could talk to another tree(!), listen to music or poetry of some of the artists, or talk to past artist-guests that were asked to call in (I talked to playwright Susan Johnston) just by answering a "tree" when it rang.  Here are some pictures from the Colony.
   The neighbors with chickens are away for the weekend again, and I'm feeding not only the chickens, but also a couple young sheep they have recently acquired.

Feature - The International Space Station grows apace.

Quote for the Day -
    “His mother should have thrown him out and kept the stork." Mae West in Belle of the Nineties