July Musings

Consider this our version of the famous West End News Dumpster!

--Someone parked their car so that it entirely blocked the driveway across State Street from us, effectively keeping a whole building full of people from getting out this morning, and got towed for their trouble. Ha! About time.

--What was that man doing alongside the pond in Deering Oaks early this morning? Was he putting a note under one of the blocks that makes up the edge of the wall around the pond? Or was he just testing it to see how firmly it was cemented in? Was the cardboard box sitting open on the walk nearby his too? Mysterious, altogether...

--Who was filling the Deering Oaks pond with tiny boats a few weekends ago? Was it our mysterious guerilla artist, rumored to be making another foray into the Oaks as mentioned in the West End News' Dumpster recently, or was Stuart Little having a day out on the water? At any rate, it was a charming scene as the little vessels meandered about the placid waters of the pond, no human hand in sight.

--YES Books has officially changed hands. I reported on this the other week in my personal blog, but didn't put it on Strange Maine as the whole things felt... well, so personal. But the West End News has posted about it, and it looks like the store has actually been bought by local poet and famed book yard sale guy Russ Sargent, and not Carlson-Turner Books, as I had assumed from my conversation with Darlene Murphy on their last day of business under the Murphy family. This seems entirely appropriate, because the first time I ever saw Sargent was during a crazy collaborative performance/poetry reading in the old Danforth Street building that used to house Yes Books, a reading at which Pat Murphy was present for a reading of his poetry as well. My personal favorite Pat Murphy poem is Buddha in My Sandbox. So stop in and say "Hi!" to Russ; when I walked past the other day he had a Grand Re-Opening Sale sign up announcing 25% off all books and prints. I'll be dropping some copies of the Gazette off, myself. If you want to send anything to Pat up at the Veterans Home I can forward it on if any of you like, just drop me a line at michelle.souliere(AT)gmail.com and I'd be happy to play mail carrier.

--Rumors indicate that if enough interest is found, and if things work out with Portland Public Access, a late night movie show might be in the works with a horror host. It's about time Portland had one of their own!!! It would be a shame to let The Mortician have ALL the fun. Stay tuned, folks -- this could get CRAZY!!!