How It Is here in Maine/Letter to Alaska

Dear G:

WOW..Karen...college...what more could a mother want? That's very exciting news. Heather is a good wife and mother...while Rob looks around and finds the good job he needs, she can support them....and that's the way it should be, I guess...everybody taking a turn at being breadwinner...

Glad your grands don't have any tattoos...piercing...that seems...almost de rigueur...but the tattoos...ohmygosh...a forever thing ...unless you have some kind of skin surgery.

Robbie is madly going about dismantling this house...it is so wonderful to be finally working at the "elephant in the room"..the beam of destruction in our kitchen in Maine...so the house is open to the elements...SO WHAT!....and it's...get this...almost 90 degrees here in supposedtobecooooooooooollllllmaine. Should be nicer tomorrow. Yikes...the fir trees and the pines seem caught in a state of suspended animation.

And there are chiggers attacking me when I go out to the "other deck"...the one that was so rotten we had to demolish it...so while I rake a bit, shovel a bit, trying to get it level so I can put rocks down there.....I need to go into the house every now and then and wash the affected areas...hope I can work tomorrow at the church breakfast and not look like a leper.

I remember what you said about the church in your life in Alaska...and you know what? It's been a major lifeline up here. The people at Christ Episcopal are so delightful...and so energetic, and so glad to have new congregants...it's amazing. I've made some real friendships....something I didn't fathom happening 'cause of the "Maine Way"..you know...it was supposed to be a place of abrupt, wary, suspicious people. Well, that's more like Long Island...we are much more abrupt and wary.

My neighbors are lovely...just friendly enough ...gee. What can I say? If I could afford losing $8,500 a year in income taxes, I'd stay up here year around. But.......and it's so damn far from everything, including an airport (don't forget, Macarthur is about fifteen minutes away)...and a city...NYC, sixty minutes...gee....

Anyway...thanks for returning my e-mail...take care of all your brood...glad Doug will be home for a while. So much want to see pictures of the cabin up there in the wild...exciting, y'know?