Beff's semester finishes today, and she is due home after dark tonight. Tomorrow night we take Big Mike out for Chinese buffet

As of June 24, Mary Worth was still being dramatized after dinner at MacDowell. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

And now back to the regular exercise schedule -- walks downtown and bike rides, when possible. We did the Assabet bike path yesterday. And that's the truth.

I took very few pictures at Yaddo -- indeed, one of the pix below was taken by Grace on Tanya's camera -- Tanya being a performance artist who liked to play piano four hands, and I was the only available partner. The pictures we have below are two views of my back porch at MacDowell, three pictures of and around the Stone Tower studio at Yaddo, Tanya and me playing some Liebeslieder waltzes, Sunny looking very cute on the hammock, and the parts to my wind ensemble piece before I sent them to Peters today (on the left, woodwinds; on the right, brass, percussion, harp and string bass).

JULY 17. Breakfast today was absolutely nothing. Lunch was Buffalo wings and salad at Neighborhood Pizzeria. Dinner last night was pepperoni pizza from Gambino's on State Stret in Bangor. TEMPERATURE EXTREMES THIS LAST WEEK 56.6 and 88.7. MUSIC GOING THROUGH MY HEAD AS I TYPE THIS Jane Child's "Don't Wanna Fall In Love". LARGE EXPENSES THIS LAST WEEK include new shed ca. $2700, new Subara Impreza Outback Sport, $18695 plus various options plus tax, bike rack for said car, $390, router and cable for eventual DSL in Bangor, $90, Corolla routine maintenance $501. POINTLESS NOSTALGIC REMINISCENCE: During my year at Stanford when I lived in a cabin in the Redwoods, Beff was visiting one night, and watching TV after I'd fallen asleep -- in this cabin to sleep two, we had to set up in the living room on the floor, and ditto the TV. At one point I was probably dreaming while Beff was still watching TV, and I muttered something. Beff said, "What?" and I turned over and said, louder, "Roll the cabin down the HILL." THIS WEEK'S MADE-UP WORD: Flurdstock. THINGS I HAVE GROWN WEARY OF Driving in long tunnels of trees, car dealerships. RECENT GASTRONOMIC OBSESSIONS Buffalo wing sauce used for dipping any kind of chips, pouch pickles. DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK keyless entry. THIS WEEK'S NUMBER BETWEEN 1 AND 10: 6.1. REVISIONS TO THIS SITE: This page. NUMBER OF HAIRCUTS I GOT LAST WEEK: 0. DENTIST VISITS SINCE SEPTEMBER: 15. CUTE CAT THINGS TO REPORT: Sunny still is able to open the back screen door in an emergency situation when he is afraid of something. RECOMMENDATION AND PROFESSIONAL LETTERS WRITTEN THIS LAST WEEK: 0. FUN DAVY FACT YOU WON'T READ ANYWHERE ELSE: I once got a "Penny the Poodle" for Christmas. WHAT THE NEXT BIG TREND WOULD BE IF I WERE IN CHARGE: Nobody gets in line for handouts every time a car is sold. PHOTOS IN MY IPHOTO LIBRARY: 10,496. WHAT I PAID FOR GASOLINE THIS WEEK: $2.94 at a Mobil station in Bangor. OTHER INANIMATE OBJECTS THAT WOULD BE A BETTER PRESIDENT THAN THE CURRENT ONE the head of a tick after the body has been pulled out of a cat, turgidness, empathy for short people, the crying game.

In one way it was a lazy eight days; in others it was chock full. Chock full, I say, full of chocks. Or is it "chalk full"?

So of my three eventful days that started the reporting period, all of them happened. First on Monday was the annual physical on which I already reported. On Tuesday morning I had a dentist appointment ostensibly to fix a root cavity in tooth number 15 (the one way back on the top left next to the wisdom tooth, now pulled). I got put into the room with the laser for the special "impossible" procedure, which was deemed actually impossible by the dentist: "there's no way to keep the blood away from the area where we have to clean and fill." So instead I was given a special new brush for that tooth only -- basically a plastic handle with a teeny brush extended at a 90-degree angle, which reaches under the gum to take food out of the little gap that opened up when the wisdom tooth was pulled. Fascinating. I also got some special rinsing solution for that as well. Having used it a few times, I've found it to be essential to good dental hygiene; as after a good brush and floss, I can sometimes still pull more morsels out with the little brush. Mmmm.

Tuesday afternoon, Reeds Ferry Sheds was scheduled to deliver a shed we'd ordered -- we got rid of the skanky, rusty old one, and Door&Window leveled the area with gravel. And they showed up on time, and built the 10x8 shed on site, to our specifications, etc. It's got cedar walls and is guaranteed for 25 years. Meanwhile, we had gotten the idea that a gazebo would be a cool place for lounging and doing wi-fi, and we liked the work these guys did, so we up and ordered a 10x10 octagonal gazebo from them, manufactured by the Amish, which arrives September 7. This two living wages tenured professors thing is SO cool, 'cause you can get these things just because it's a good idea.

And on Tuesday night we had our only possible foursome with Lee and Kate (Hyla and Desjardins) in the North End at a lovely restaurant right around the corner from their house. Lee chose excellent wine, I had the swordfish (woo hoo!), and we got there and back by commuter rail -- after getting a little lost on the way in, since all the landmarks (construction of the big dig, and the elevated green line) are no longer there. On the way out of the restaurant we mentioned we had never been able to find Amaro, and they took us right across the street to a place that sold it. Score. They also said they would take our Camry from us when we were getting rid of it, at the quoted price: Free. It is now ready for them to claim it.

So then on Wednesday morning I had to take the Corolla in to the dealer for its routine 75,000 mile maintenance -- it also needed air conditioning service. And it got fixed, after I took their shuttle home, etc. After lunch, Beff and I started feeling antsy about Beff's new car -- and lemme splain. The Camry turns ten this month, and it has 223,000 miles on it. Still runs like a charm and is still very quiet when it idles, and has marvelous pickup -- but with winter coming, etc., it's time for Beff's next commuting car. She's been talking about getting a Subaru for at least a year -- all-wheel drive, etc. -- and when she had been in Maine, she test drove a Subaru Impreza wagon and a Toyota Matrix (I think) -- we decided I should experience all that, and about an hour before my car was due from the dealer, we showed up and test-drove the Matrix -- nice handling, a little loud, not too bad. Then my car was a little delayed, so we drove to the Subaru dealership in Acton to test drive the Impreza Sport Wagon, which we also liked. Hey, it's got more cargo space AND an mp3 player plug-in. Woo. The dealership kept dropping the price of the 2007 model in order to get us to buy right then and there, and the more we made gestures to leave, the more the price dropped. Finally we got a written quote, talked about it -- the Subaru dealership in Bangor is reputed NOT to do deals, because EVERYBODY wants a Subaru there -- and decided to bite the bullet, buy the car in Mass. and register it in Maine. We strategized that we'd get a dealer plate and drive it to Maine to register it, etc.

Meanwhile, I picked the Corolla up, it was nicely fixed. And the next day Beff went by herself to the dealer, chose a model she liked, and I came down to sign the papers. They don't give out dealer plates in Mass., and they wouldn't release the car until we had various paperwork from Maine, so it sat there a little while. Meantime, we added a bike rack on top (it's pretty sexy actually), and took the paperwork we needed. Beff was to start teaching at the U Maine summer high school music camp Sunday anyway, and I had not much in the way.

So on Friday Beff drove to NYC for an ACA Board meeting, and I took the Boon Lake Bike ride, after getting my blood work done at my thingy dingy (health place). I also got stuff at Trader Joes and BJ's, since they are on the way back, and that included lots of D batteries and toilet paper. Beff got back with what she thought was an insect bite on a toe which was colored and swollen.

So Saturday I was appointed to see Harold Meltzer for lunch at MacDowell, and that I did do -- we ate at Harlow's, I got the Smoked Turkey Thang, Harold paid, and it was a-lovely. Also I saw Sebastian Currier twice on the grounds, which was cool, since I'd been seeing him regularly at Yaddo. And Beff drove to Maine because she had early morning meetings on Sunday for the camp. As to Sunday, John Aylward came over for some canoeing, and that we did -- a mile down the Assabet and back, and twice the canoe fell off the car -- a little bit -- once because the rope snapped, and once a fastener just slipped off -- we won't be canoeing again until we get another canoe carrying kit, obviously. The second one was right on the bottom of our driveway, and I was holding onto the canoe, as I do, to keep it from slipping -- this jammed a little on my left thumb and wrist, which now have bruises. Boo hoo. John and I then went to the Blue Coyote for beer and snacks, I took him to the train station, and then I drove to the place in Maine, arriving in the dark, and after the first two hours of raininess. Beff called to say she was going to bed early because of the insect bite and feeling a fever.

So then for Monday morning, we hopped right into Maine bureaucracy. First we had to get the insurance binder from the Allstate agent, then go to town hall to pay the excise tax, and then line up at the Motor Vehicle registry across town to get the plates and pay the sales tax, plus whatever dumb bureaucratic stuff they had for us. Total time for all three: 45 minutes. But Beff was starting to feel more nauseous and dizzy and hot, so she called her HMO -- half a mile from the motor vehicle registry -- and miraculously, they had a time for her in a mere half hour. So I took her there, walked around in the gorgeous newly dry weather for an hour, came back, and she had prescriptions to buy and blood tests to take. The walk to the blood lab was quite long, down a perfectly straight modern hallway, and then we waited in the greatly overcrowded waiting room while nearly no one got called on, and most everyone was really old. I was sure it was going to be an infinite wait, or at least something like the waiting room scene at the end of Beetle Juice, where Beetle Juice gets the number 4,005,999 or something as the "Now Serving" sign clicks "4". So Beff sent me grocery shopping. And lo and behold, when I returned, she was ready.

So Beff didn't get an insect bite, her fever was 103, and they thought she had both a foot infection and a virus. Eeew. So for the rest of Monday instead of returning Maynardwards, I helped her as I could, making sure the foot was elevated, and that she was comfortable at least, and making sure she took her antibiotics and Tylenol exactly on schedule. Meanwhile, doing any internet or e-mail was EXTREMELY slow on her dial-up, and we negotiated that we would get wi-fi from Verizon for the house -- which I ordered, in a typically LONG event that included page upon page of caveats from Verizon. It is to be activated Friday, and so I drove to Staples and got a router and a networking cable -- and that will be the THIRD time Beff has set up wi-fi this summer.

After some time on the couch with the covers on, I took Beff's temperature, and it came out as 105.4. Thinking that was a software error, I tried again -- still 105.4. So we called her doctor, who told me to make sure she drinks four quarts of water a day (I said, "you mean a gallon?" He said yes) and that she take all covers off, even if she gets chills. So I kept plying her with water in various guises (but always the wet version). I also put a hot wrap on her toe and a cold compress on her forehead. And then waited and waited on dial-up. Around midnight, Beff moved to the couch from the bed and finished the night there. And at 5:30 in the morning, exactly the time for the green pill, I took her temperatur, and it was 96.1. Another go showed 97.1 So the fever broke! And I felt no guilt therefore at coming back to our neglected cats and newspapers and mail piled up, starting at 6:45.

And then after driving home, feeding the cats, bringing in and sorting the mail, and unpacking, I put a Peters score of CANTINA in a mailing bag and mailed it to the Barlow Foundation -- so I can get the other half of the commission, already spent. And drove to the post office and mailed it. And then went to the Subaru dealership (remember them?) with the requisite paperwork and Black Bear Maine plates, paid for the bike rack, made sure they took the E-Z Pass off the Camry for the Subaru, and was ready to walk back later to get the car. Turns out they said they'd drive it to me. So I took the Nature Viewing Area bike ride (3 hills), ate at Village Pizzeria and did a bunch of lawn mowing before they brought the car over. And it's keyless entry -- maybe I'll get used to it, but if you just open the door with a key, it beeps and beeps at you. You have to use the little wireless thingy to unlock stuff. And soon it will be with BEFF, and will transport our bikes for us to Vermont. So there, and there, and there. And there.

Tomorrow I see Karissa again for the Anna Schuleit Landlines project, and before that it will be lunch with super-poet and Rome Prize Fellow Sarah Manguso. Whom I know from Yaddo, last year. I have not decided yet whether to drive the Camry or the Subaru there. Choices, choices! Hey, we are (very) temporarily a 3-car family. And one of the few without at least one of them on blocks in the yard. THEN next Tuesday it's the annual morning beerfest with Lt. Col. Colburn up on Lake Carmi. And in between all of those things and before we leave for Vermont, I hope to grind out at least one more Phillis Levin song. And what it is, too.

Today's pictures begin with a cushion for the Adirondack chairs, very cheap, that Beff ordered online (it's a little small), followed by the new Subaru in the driveway. Next is a toy cedar waxwing with sound that I got at Yaddo. Next follow the new shed as it is constructed, followed by the complete version. Then see the Subaru's butt as the shed looks on. And finally, the current state of the little place I planted the asparagus that Mindy Wagner sent me. Very hard to get a good picture, but there are seven very little ones isolated there. Really.

JULY 27. Breakfast today was rice link sausages, orange juice, and coffee. Dinner last night was chunky chicken soup. Lunch was a clam roll at the Quarterdeck Restaurant and the scallops wrapped in bacon appetizer. TEMPERATURE EXTREMES THIS LAST WEEK 57.9 and 89.8. MUSIC GOING THROUGH MY HEAD AS I TYPE THIS the upward-moving ostinato from the Phillis Levin song I am currently writing. LARGE EXPENSES THIS LAST WEEK include woodchuck removal in Bangor, ca. $300, future woodchuck prevention in Bangor, ca. $900, the usual new car expenses with Registry of Motor Vehicles, etc. POINTLESS NOSTALGIC REMINISCENCE: During a little shopping trip in Burlington, when I was about 10, that for some reason included my great-aunt -- Aunt Dot, my grandmother's sister -- I discovered (probably in Grand Way) the Hot Wheels "splitting image" model for sale, which I had been coveting for some time. Here was when I learned how to "play" Aunt Dot. The little car was $3 and I had probably about a buck, and I spoke directly to my mother within earshot of Aunt Dot, "oh, if I only had a friend who could give me the difference, I could bring this car home and play with it." Right on cue, Aunt Dot said, "I'll be your friend". I got the car. Hee hee hee. THIS WEEK'S MADE-UP WORD: Druit. THINGS I HAVE GROWN WEARY OF Alberto Gonzales, car dealerships. RECENT GASTRONOMIC OBSESSIONS Pickles, olives, lemonade, Edy's lemon and lime bars. DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK the book value of the old Camry. THIS WEEK'S NUMBER BETWEEN 1 AND 10: 8. REVISIONS TO THIS SITE: This page, compositions, lexicon, reviews, home. NUMBER OF HAIRCUTS I GOT LAST WEEK: 0. DENTIST VISITS SINCE SEPTEMBER: 15. CUTE CAT THINGS TO REPORT: Sunny spends much time on a fencepost trolling for mice and chipmunks. Cammy is very needy in the morning, always seeking out my lap when I have one. RECOMMENDATION AND PROFESSIONAL LETTERS WRITTEN THIS LAST WEEK: 1. FUN DAVY FACT YOU WON'T READ ANYWHERE ELSE: I got glasses in the second grade, two years after having German measles. WHAT THE NEXT BIG TREND WOULD BE IF I WERE IN CHARGE: Self-refilling glasses of beer. PHOTOS IN MY IPHOTO LIBRARY: 10,510. WHAT I PAID FOR GASOLINE THIS WEEK: $2.83 at Cumberland Farms in Maynard, $2.97 at a place in Sheldon, Vermont. OTHER INANIMATE OBJECTS THAT WOULD BE A BETTER PRESIDENT THAN THE CURRENT ONE a hotel purchased on "Park Place" on the Monopoly board, a spilled bit of mayonnaise that looks like a cross between the letter "G" and a pumpkin, a slice of tomato at the bottom of my salad, a falling rock that just missed my elbow.

Really.

After I deleted all of last week's text, the last thing left was the paragraph right above. I decided to keep it. Soon you, too, will grow to love it and think of it as your very own.

Thank you. Now I'd like to give you all an opportunity

How could this book not change my life?

So then Sarah came along to Karissa's house, where I was to mentor some more for Anna's MacDowell Centennial project, and she used the lake while Karissa got some serious mentoring. Mid-mentor, I got a call from Beff, whose fever had gone back up to 103, and I committed to coming back to Bangor another day and, oh what the heck, bringing her the Subaru. So Karissa played her tune for Sarah, showed us some of the stuff that kids do to pass the time in boring bus rides, I took Sarah back to MacDowell where of course I saw Sebastian, and home came I. That night dinner was something I don't remember.

So then up to Bangor went I early Thursday morning, and I got used to the Subaru -- which skyrocketed from 35 miles on the odometer to 284 in one swell foop. Light rain gave way to sun during my trip, and I know you don't care about that. Beff's fever actually had gotten much better, so there wasn't a lot for me to do for her. So while I was there, a student arrived for a clarinet lesson -- I, at the same time, was installing the DSL and router, which had arrived. So I connected the modem and router and computer, and the router's setup couldn't find the internet. D'oh, I was supposed to configure the modem first -- so after going through the DSL For Dummies software that Verizon makes you use, we had successful internet connection. Then I moved on to the (linksys) router -- whose setup software continued not to be able to find the internet. So, while the clarinet lesson raged on, I called Linksys customer assistance, got a nice woman in India (who asked me what time it was in Bangor) who baby-stepped me through getting the router to work -- which involved configuring it through IP addresses in Explorer rather than using its own software. She even gave me a password for the network and after 25 minutes or so, wi-fi was achieved. After this, I went to Beff's office to get her clarinet, computer, and a bunch of other stuff she wanted, and she too could use the wi-fi. And use wi-fi we did. Later in the day Chip Farnham came by to talk band stuff -- he's going to DC for the premiere of Cantina (March 2, people, Marine Barracks). And then I was charged with picking up take-out food at the Bangor Japanese restaurant (it took 45 minutes).

Friday Beff was super, and she dismissed me. So I came in the morning to Maynard in the Corolla, and then started my string of progressively more difficult bike rides -- and I now have done the longest and most difficult ones recently, so I am back where I belong. Um, in terms of readiness for more and longer bike rides. As it has gotten summer-like here, I have been taking early morning rides, which is good, since I get to work by about 9.

And oh yes -- Saturday morning some of the tiles above the bathtub up and loosened enough to fall out. I was able to wedge them back, after much effort and mess, but after my morning bike ride I popped by Maynard Door and Window to see if Steve & Janine could spare a few minutes in their Saturday rounds to look at it -- and like magic, at noon there they were. So now the tiles are covered with a garbage bag (so they don't get moister) and they'll take care of that, AND take the falling faux railing structure off the top of the front porch AND sand and paint the bulkhead AND build a little ramp for the shed .... AND AND AND ... replace the big kitchen window on August 7 when we are gone.

So meanwhile, let's see ... you know we promised the old 1998 Camry to Lee and Kate, for free, and they slipped under the radar to do all the stuff they need to own and drive a car in Massachusetts -- including two phone calls with Kate. We figured a 10-year old Camry with 223,000 miles was worth $100 or $200, but Lee had to pay Mass. sales tax on the "book value" -- ludicrously put at $3500. Meanwhile, Kate wanted someone to look it over to make sure it would be safe for the 1000-mile move to Chicago. Yesterday was scheduled as the transfer date -- they came out on the 12:09 commuter rail (arriving at 12:17), we went in two cars (theirs and mine) to Acton Toyota, which also did the state inspection -- during which we went in one car (mine) to the Quarterdeck. Upon returning, we found that the car got a clean bill of health ("great shape", they said) and needed a switch to pass inspection -- of course, another 125 bucks or so. So then Kate took pictures of us in front of the car, and they drove off -- what a weird thing when the first thing you have to do in a new car is negotiate the Concord Rotary on Route 2. But apparently they did -- their names weren't in the obituaries this morning. Or if they were, they were misspelled.

The big event of this week was the yearly beer breakfast with Colonel Michael. Yes, he has dropped the "Lieutenant" from his rank, and he was promoted to full Colonel (especially good for popcorn) in a ceremony that included the upper brass of the Marine Band and the President of the United States of America. In a little office they like to call "Oval". I drove a bit through St. Albans when I first arrived and took some pictures (see below) and hoped to get Chatter Stones at the Science et al store --- and finally Drinkwaters Jewelers is gone! Well, there's another jeweler there, but Drinkwaters is gone, gone the way of Doolins -- a frufru store that sold sewing patterns and Wedgewood and had the vacuum tube thing to transfer little parcels from department to department. And you knew I would say this -- it sucked. So I stopped in Sheldon for gas, and got some freshly picked (as in, that morning) blueberries at the Franklin General Store and brought them to the Colburn camp. And on the docket for this party was Magic Hat beer -- excellent, Vermont-made and everything. Verne -- his dad, my high school band and other music teacher -- had some of his near-beer, and we had the usual make-yer-own sammiches. Now Mike's sister claims that her daughter (as in Mike's niece) "learned about me" in school, and there was an awkward moment wherein I was introduced to her as she was on her way into the Lake -- but I suspect maybe they listened to the Rakoczky March. And Winnie was there as usual (she is, after all, the dedicatee of the 2nd movement of Cantina) and a little less vibraty then usual -- as was another dog named Cinnamon. And both trolled for handouts.