What a Week...

~ Let's see: Mitch McConnell has not been seen in 4 weeks after a medical emergency call from his DC townhouse. No one is telling what they know so the conspiracies are floating. Many center around the "Weekend at Bernie's" theme that he has passed but the R's are keeping mum until after a magical date that will benefit them in the upcoming elections in November. Also, Trump's Great American State Fair has closed to little fanfare. Pictures online show the cheap canvas shelters falling apart and general sadness. His Reflecting Pool is being drained again and since they could not find a different company to redo it, they have hired the same people (Spray-on truck bed liner applicators) to make the repairs. And they have indicted several "vandals" who they say caused the damage. I don't expect any charges to stick. Also, last week a former girlfriend of Graham Platner, the overwhelming favorite to take on Susan Collins in the Maine race for the US Senate, accused him of rape. Creditable account and all his high-profile support evaporated. His response was a typical big bro take no responsility rhetoric. He finally submitted his official resignation on Friday. Replacement candidates have flooded in - Troy Jackson, Nirav Shah, Shenna Bellows, Jordan Wood are the big names. Dems will have county meetings to determine who that replacement will be. And, finally, I woke up this morning to the news that Lindsay Graham had died last night. Oh, and Trump's new pet projects in DC are re-doing the columns at West Wing entrance and installing a granite heli-pad on hte front lawn. ~ I feel as if the energy is finally shifting away from the MAGAs and am hopeful that we can prevail in November. Of course, I'm well aware that Trump and his minions are working to make sure they prevail. And they would be so proud to win in any manner, legal or otherwise. ~ D. is away in Florida, helping Kelly et al clear out Don's double wide so Kelly can sell it. He said this morning that they filled 11 large bags of trash yesterday. Also, there was some hoarding going on - 12 cases of diet coke, multiple large packs of paper towels, etc. He alredy has his reservation back on Wednesday, this time on Breeze. His Southwest flights on Friday were a nightmare - 3 hours late taking off from Portland which meant he missed his connecting flight in Baltimore but was able to get on a later flight, which got diverted to Ft. Lauderdale to refuel because there was a huge severe storm over Tampa when they were supposed to land. He did eventually get into Tampa and was eating dinner at 11:30. I can only imagine how frustrated he was and I'm guessing he did not handle it well. ~ After I dropped him at the Jetport I grabbed a coffee at Dunkin and checked out Aldi - Some intersting different food and stuff but nothing to get excited about. Then I stopped at Jillson's to buy a hnging basket to augment the humming bird food. Yesterday I took in 2 films at MIFF - "Keeper of the Flame", an oldie with Tracy and Hepburn that is very relevant for today (Fascism etc.) and "The Last Critic" , about Robert Christgau, the noted rock music critic who seemed to delight in writing snide things about every artist I've enjoyed through the years. About the time I'd had enough of the movie nature called and I answered and came home.

The Day After...

...July 4th. Locally, very quiet day. Someone in the immediate neighborhood "treated" us to about 45 minutes of pyrotechnics last night from 9:30 to 10:15. That was it, aside from the distant rumble of displays from neighboring towns - Winslow, Augusta, Belgrade, Oakland? Nationally, the mightily hyped celebration/speech/fireworks on the National Mall along with the Great American Fair, were all delayed by Mother Nature who apparently is a Democrat. Attendees were evacuated ahead of a storm and most sought shelter in the African American Museum (how karmic!). The speech was delayed until after 11, which pushed the fireworks into the 5th of July. From all reports, it appears as if whoever won the no-bid contract for them understood the assignment and simply set up several barges in the Potomac River and set them up to fire syncronized identical dispalys for however long it took to burn up the record number of shells. The smoke eventually obscured the fireworks themselves. The usual poorly executed Trump celebration. This after his speech at Mount Rushmoore the night before was delayed by a severe thunder/hail storm. ~ So the holiday is behind us. Steeling myself for whatever fresh Hell awaits us this week. D. is leaving on Friday for Florida to help Kelly wrap up Don's affairs. Won't be gone long he says. We'll see. Thursday Brenda and I are going to see the High Kings at the Opera House. And next Saturday is the first Society show in Wiscasset. I need soap from Sisters who will be there and want to say hi to Rachel. ~ Had my long-term problem tooth pulled on Thursday and it's taking its sweet time in subsiding. No bleeding after the first day but I have residual soreness and my bite is adjusting to having been off for several months. I cannot say what happened to traumatize it this winter - I do not remember hitting it on anything. Perhaps it was just an age thing. Dr. Berube said one of the roots was broken off, so there's that. I have the tooth, mostly because there was a gold crown appled probably 20 years ago. NOt sure what I can do ithit but I'll research it. ~ Awful spill at Saratoga on Friday - one horse clipped heels and went down and 3 trailers fell over her. One jockey (Javier Castellano) taken to hospital but was back riding Saturday. Other 3 were all released from on-track treatment but one (Dylan Davis) took off the remainder of his mounts for the day. All 4 horses got up and ran off but were coralled by outriders. all seemed okay but it was announced yesterday the the horse that initiated the accident has a fractured hip and will undergo sustained rehab. I was not watching at the time and, as usual in these cases, the video is not available. The garden is growing well. My lettuce and Bright Lights Swiss Chard did not germinate, so I bought some lettuce starts from Ace last week. Trying to keep up withthe watering this past week was difficult but everyone seems happy now.