I worked one day last weekend to get a project done on time, and took this Friday off instead. I went in to Israeli dance class with Arlene (it’s her class, not mine, because I’m usually working that time, see) this morning, and was completely tired out after an hour of dancing. After going home and paying some bills, etc, we packed up the car and headed north. We stopped at Charrette in Woburn to get some foamcore board for her prints for open studios next weekend, got on the highway going the wrong way (not because we didn’t know, but because I didn’t know to be in the left lane immediately after turning off Olympia Ave) and doubled back, and finally around 2:15 got off I-95 in Rowley to look for some lunch. We stopped at a general store that I expected would have sandwiches, but all we found (that didn’t look as though it could have been in the cooler for two or three days) was the ice cream section. We got one dove bar each, plus a cup of coffee, and sat down in the car on the side of the store to eat them. Arlene bit on something hard that turned out not to be part of the chocolate coating of the dove bar, but a piece of tooth. She’s got a temporary crown on a rear tooth at the moment, and this seems to be a piece of the tooth from under the temporary. We rummaged around for the dentist’s phone number, called from her cell phone, left a message with my cell phone number (because Arlene’s list of phone numbers includes my cell number but not her own), and waited for the dentist to return the call. After ten minutes with no response we continued north, figuring we could at least stop at the Aububon place at Joppa Flats in Newburyport, where there are bathrooms. Just as we got off I-95 in Newburyport the dentist phoned back. He said that it could probably wait until Monday, unless it started hurting a lot. We turned around and got back on the road towards Maine.
We had been thinking about stopping at the Portland art museum, but by that point it was obvious that the museum would be closing half an hour after we would get there. We opted for the lowbrow solution, shopping in Kittery. The Crate and Barrel outlet had a whole barrel of Marimekko remnants, which they sell by the pound. We took eight pounds. Then we checked out KTP, the Kittery Trading Post, a big outdoor outfitting place with a selection of boots, boats, and fishing gear that’s fair competition with L.L. Bean’s. We got a Thule roof rack system for our Forester so we’ll be able to transport the canoe more reliably and bring the aluminum rowboat up here on our next trip, and Arlene found Muck Boots, slip-on rubber boots that are totally waterproof, washable, and insulated, just what we want for a rainy weekend and wet woods. I also got a book on basic fly tying, that is, making fly-fishing flies. I used to do that when I was a kid, but I haven’t in years and years. I have no idea where any old books or booklets about it that I used to have might be, and the whole craft must be substantially different by now. After stops in Windham at Big Lots and Hannaford’s supermarket, we got to Casco still in daylight.