It has been a riotous few days. Uncle Joe died on Wednesday, so Emil went down to Youngstown on Thursday. From what he said when he got home yesterday, it sounds as though, overall, although Betty and Carl are very sad, Joe's death may turn out to be ultimately freeing for them. They're talking about going down to Florida this fall, which makes all kinds of sense for both of them.

Anyhow, I stayed home and held the fort down. On Thursday night Em and I visited Charlie, went to Fitzgerald Park in Grand Ledge, bought a wireless router, and so forth. Yesterday I cleaned the house and waited for the cable guy, then last night I configured the modem and the router. We seem to have internet connectivity after a fashion at the moment; the connection drops quite regularly and is very slow. The guy who came out yesterday reported that the Comcast phone lines were down and when I finally got hold of tech support later in the day (yes, this required a lot of tech support, which annoyed me), they told me that their internet connections were running at about 50% capacity. I'm debating whether to call them to find out if this is a seasonal glitch because of the influx of students (each season brings its own inefficiencies to Lansing) or whether Comcast service here is just ordinarily dismal. If we want to switch, we have to do it fast . . .

Here's how the living room looked in the afternoon:



The major project, though, was getting my study set up. My study, to which I had been referring as the Mackinac Room, took a decided turn down east when Emma and I went to Pier One to replace the cushion for my loveseat. I'd wanted a navy blue but I ended up with a dark teal. You can see it here, in this picture of the only corner of the room that's even approaching being done:



Of course the digital camera doesn't do it justice, but still. It's a much richer color and interacts much more interestingly with the other colors in the room than navy would have done. And that's how the colors in Maine struck me when we moved there; when we came back, the colors in the midwest struck me as gaudy. (That year, especially, I noticed it in preppy clothing, which was all the rage at the time and based on New England clothing that was never designed for fashion . . . Duck boots? Oh, come on.) So the room has become the Wiscasset Room.

As you can see from the photo, the polyurethaned bookshelves are looking good . . . at least, I'm pleased with how they're coming along. The ocean print on the floor, there, is really growing on me; at first I thought it was dorky but I like the ocean, and there are some interesting colors in there if you look hard enough. One of the nice things about the new cushion is that it brings out some of the subtler colors:



Tomorrow I get to put books on the shelves and that will be a pleasure!

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I've been thinking a lot about Maine lately because Rob has moved to Augusta. When we lived in Maine (25 years ago, now), we absolutely loved Augusta. It was an hour from Boothbay Harbor and it seemed like the big city because it was the state capitol and had the state library, as well as a university campus (of sorts). I applied for a job at the YMCA in Augusta (and was driven to the interview by my brother, sister-in-law, baby niece Andrea and Cheryl's brother Bob), didn't get it, then applied for and got the Boothbay Harbor job. I mapped Rob's address and discovered that I remember the layout of Augusta quite well.



The YMCA used to be somewhere on Winthrop Street, at the top of a huge honkin' hill. (Midwestern readers beware: Those streets may look like they're laid out on a grid, but that doesn't mean they're not hilly.) Route 27 south is the road to Bath. It runs along the Kennebec and into Hallowell before hitting the city, and rates among the finest stretches of road anywhere on the planet. This time of year, as the leaves turn, it is exquisite.

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Well, I better put this connectivity, such as it is, to good use. The online school week starts today so I have to post my materials . . . more to follow, including a picture of Milo.