Good for the gay marriage repealers!

Kudos, big time.

Gay marriage repeal effort on track

Stand for Marriage Maine, a coalition of groups hoping to repeal the state’s gay-marriage law, said today they have collected more than enough signatures to get the issue on the November ballot. The group, which includes the Catholic Diocese of Portland and the Maine Jeremiah Project, said they have collected more than the 55,087 signatures needed. The groups have until early August to turn them in to the state for certification.

“In just four weeks, we’ve gathered more than 55,000 signatures from Mainers who believe they, not the Legislature and governor, should have the final say on the definition of marriage,” said Marc Mutty, chairman of the coalition.

On the other side, supporters of gay marriage have formed Maine Freedom to Marry, a coalition that includes EqualityMaine, Maine Civil Liberties Union and Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders. Gov. John Baldacci signed the bill into law in May.

Still waters at Lubec

Your dinghy awaits.

Taken in the Lubec, Maine, harbor where the tides sweep in and out to the Bay of Fundy so high (and so low).

This is why I left Maine

Reason 2,043 why I left Maine. The cabin I used to live in, on Crystal Lake

I miss the beach!

I miss the beach! Lubec, Maine, the prettiest place in New England. I love the beautiful sunsets, and charming waves, and the soaring gulls, as much as anyone. But I also love the kelp and the low tide mud, and the rocks, and the bleached out shells.

A tour of my nook

I spend a great deal of time at my laptop, at the dining room table. All my work and most of my entertainment comes through the computer, so it's important to me that I have nice surroundings to look at if I am going to sit here 8 hours a day.

The wall in front of me contained a nice triptych of black and white palm trees that I received from an internet trade. But last week I took them down and put up my own photos of low tide at Lubec, Maine Bay of Fundy area, from my previous vacations.

However, the problem was, I could not see them as well as the black and whites, because the graphical element in the internet photos was so close up and stark: palm leaves. The graphical element in my own photos was more fine. I needed to take them down. So I did some pondering about what the next change should be. I am not a fan of change, but of course we have to deal with it on a daily basis in the world. That's why I like my home to remain as unchanged as possible. Putting up a new picture in the spot at which I look all day long would take a great deal of thinking. Once up, I didn't want to change it again. And it had to be pleasing.

I love watercolors so I decided to put up my Winslow Homer, "Hurricane, Bahamas" and as a bonus there were palm trees in the picture. Now to fill the empty spot, behind me where the Homer was.

I took a cue from the design shows and experimented with arrangements of my three low-tide photos on the floor, first. I decided to put the kelp underwater on top and the two close ups of wet sand and polished stone on the bottom. The sticks on the wall are actually a table runner I had bought in Maine long ago, but never used it for its intended purpose. It makes the white wall of my apartment warm and visually interesting. When the light is on the wood glows.

On the bookcase are some interesting items. The lamp on the left is lighted by a gentle touch and has three illumination levels. I always keep it on low for a nightlight. Next to that, the cactus in a blue mug is a transplanted baby that an 83 year old friend gave me. The terrarium-cactus next to that was a Freecycle giveaway. When I got it, the cactus was below the top edge. It has a mirror on the back wall of the octagon shaped container. It is doing really well in that spot! The courting candle holder is an antique from New England.

Description: "The candle sits inside the spiral and can be moved up and down within. When a young gentleman came a-courtin', the candle would be lit. When the candle burned down to the holder, it was time for the gentleman to excuse himself and go home. Depending on how much Father liked the young man, he could move the candle up or down, either giving the couple more time to visit or signalling that he didn't care for the fella and shortening his visit."

So that's what's around me as I write stuff for the paper or the blog or my book or work on photos or read movie reviews or download old Columbo episodes...

Language matters

For those of you who know me, I've often spoken about and editorialized about the importance of constructive and informative language in the political arena, language that is precise and not evasive, and language that solves, not destroys. With anonymous blogging, those qualities are all too often abandoned as a first resort and the lowest linguistic denominator is used instead.

I found this clip on the Maine political forum As Maine Goes, where its Administrator, Scott K. Fish, posed the entry entitled "Why Language Used on AMG Matters". It's a short clip from C-Span that demonstrates once again that what we say shows us who we are.