A day of excitement and civic duty, here in Central Maine.
First, fortified by coffee and an excellent omelet produced by Steve, we went to the polls. Which were not crowded at 9:00ish, but not deserted, either. We cast our ballots, collected our I Voted Today! stickers, signed the petition for marriage equality (“That means,” said the man guarding the table, “allowing gay and lesbian people to marry. And divorce, too. Please read the petition and assure yourselves that this is not a trick question.”)
After that…we got rid of forty-nine zillion returnables at Joka’s, said Hi to the boss, Joe Karter (JoKa’s, get it? No? Does it help if you know that the pronunciation of the last name, in Mainer, is KAtah?) and zipped up the street to the post office.
Mail collected, we went to Juliet’s Bakery, chatted with the boss-lady, bought some cookies and eventually sailed up the hill to Home Despot. We took on blinds for the window over the kitchen sink, as the blinds that had been covering the window over the kitchen sink did not survive their removal for the painters. Also, AA and AAA batteries. We looked at rugs while we were there, since we’ll need a rug to go under the kitchen table, and located several good candidates. Had to come home and measure, to be sure, so another trip to Home Despot in our near future.
Back down the hill, into town, with a stop at The Framemakers to congratulate Amy on her new house; then to Childrens Book Cellar to exchange /g/o/s/s/i/p industry news with Ellen.
We then ran out to the Waterville Humane Society, in Oakland (Yes, the Waterville Humane Society is in Oakland. It used to be in Waterville, but the facility was inadequate and the land in Oakland was, I believe, donated.) and visited the cats. They have many fine and pleasant cats at the Humane Society at present, though none that stepped forward and made a case for joining the Cat Farm. The most likely candidate was Gabbie, a crazy quilt Maine Coon Cat done all in autumn brown, gold, and black. Miss Gabbie resides in solitary splendor in a cage in the hall, rather than in one of the community rooms. Before coming to the shelter, she had apparently never seen another cat, and did not take well to suddenly being introduced to a dozen at once. Needless to say, a new recruit to the Cat Farm must play well with others, since others we have. So, even though Gabbie immediately crawled into my lap when we (with staff permission) opened the cage, curled up, and commenced in purring, we did not bring her home. I hope that someone else will find and appreciate her, and be able to bring her to a house where she’s an only cat and properly honored.
And I feel terribly bad for her former owner, who turned her in, it said on the info-sheet, because she couldn’t afford to keep her anymore.
. . .
Stopped for lunch at the Weathervane and came on home, where I’ve spent the late afternoon paying bills and assorted whatnot.
I also printed out Dragon Ship, to date, as it has landed on my desk, while “Tinsori Light” has gone over to Steve.
I know some folks have asked for the unused chapters on the Mystery Disk to be posted to Splinter Universe. That’s not a bad idea, but it is complex in execution, and will therefore need to wait. Press of other bidness.
And now, I need to do some more bits of housekeeping before I call it a day.
I hope those reading in the US voted today; and I hope that everyone had a pleasant day.