But before we left last Sunday, I went to my Dominican Academy 20th high school reunion. Well, actually, I went to the party at the bar afterwards. It was really great to see all the people I hadn't seen since graduation. Everyone looked really good and pretty much made me feel inadequate. They all had at least 2 kids (and in some cases, 4 or 5!!!) whereas I'm dragging my feet on having just one. Plus, oddly enough, I seemed to be the only person who didn't change their name after they got married. I really couldn't figure that out. My good friend Kelly, who'd come in from St. Louis, convinced me to have a drink (this was pretty much the dynamic between us in school, as well: me saying I didn't want to drink and her saying "Oh come on, you have to have at least one!") So I had an apple martini (the worst apple martini in the history of mankind) from which I got a screaming headache made worse by a rowdy group of Michigan fans coming into the bar to watch a game and chant "Big Blue" (or something like that) to the beat of a cowbell every time Michigan scored a touchdown. As I said at the time, gee, that's not the kind of university I went to.

In any case, I survived the incompetent martini and the football hooligans and left the next day for Maine.

Now, contrary to my last post, I was not totally out of contact. I brought my laptop and checked my email from the road--checked it so often that round about day 3, Mike dubbed me a "mail slut." Thanks, hon. I don't know why I feel the need to look for email so often. It's not like I'm going to get one informing me I've won the lottery (though one can always hope.) Still, my anal compulsive email checking did manage to let me know that I'd sold a story (more about that in a whole separate post) and inform me that another of my stories, "The Sun God at Dawn, Rising from a Lotus Blossom," was reviewed rather favorably over at The Sci Fi Catholic. So you see, sometimes it pays to be a mail slut.

Maine, of course, was beautiful. We usually go in August and rent a house, but this year because of scheduling conflicts, that didn't work out, so we decided to go in October, and luckily, the weather was great (thanks, global warming!) We also stayed at inns, which we haven't done in years. The first three nights we stayed at The Lord Camden Inn. Then we stayed 2 nights at The Limerock. And then just one night in Freeport at a Hilton, which I thought was going to suck, but was actually pretty nice.

And also thanks to global warming, the leaves were still turning so we got some spectacular pictures of cliffs full of bright red trees hovering over beautiful blue Penobscot Bay.

This ended up being mostly an eating and shopping vacation. I left my strict diet at the state border and ate all the things that the rest of the year I don't touch: fried clams, ice cream, carrot cake, creme brule, pasta, toast, clam chowder. I'm getting sick again just thinking about it. We stopped at all our favorite restaurants like Darby's, Chase's Daily, Amalfi, and our new extra special favorite Primo. Eating all that bad stuff was fun and I enjoyed letting myself indulge, but still, I'm happy to go back to whole grains, lettuce and vegetables again. My digestive tract is happy, too.

Mike and I also did some gallery hopping. As we always do, we went to The Parent Gallery in Belfast to say hi to photographer Neal Parent and his daughter, artist Joanne Parent, who we've become friendly with. We first met Neal and Joanne about 3 years ago when we went hunting for a picture of the J & E Riggin, the schooner Mike and I were married on. We ended up buying one of Neal's photos plus one of Joanne's paintings, and we've been dropping in (and buying their photographs and art) ever since.

After that we went to Camden to look at the new paintings by Colin Page and discovered that his work has valued up a great deal since we first started collecting him several years ago. It was pretty weird to realize that just buying an artist we like has actually turned into a lucrative investment. Well, time to get that renters insurance, I suppose.

Then we tracked down and bought a painting by a new (to us) artist named Ted Keller. I'd seen Ted's work a couple of years ago at a gallery that has since closed, and there was one piece there that I absolutely loved called "Blue Gas"and I've been kicking myself ever since for not buying it on the spot. Well, that piece, of course, was long gone, but we're still pretty happy because we ended up buying a painting Ted did of the erstwhile Gothic Cafe in Belfast. The Gothic had the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever eaten (Mike loved the ginger cookies), and it broke our hearts last year when we discovered that they'd closed, so having this painting on our wall is a way for us to remember the wonderful cookies and ambiance at the Gothic.

I also discovered a new artist that I may start buying next year named Michael Fletcher. His work has a creepy, kitschy cuteness about it that I just love.

And, as we do every year, Mike and I talked about moving to Maine. One day, I swear, we're going to actually do it, too. Now, if only we could get Stuy Town to buy us out of our rent stabilized apartment...