Question 1 on the ballot on Tuesday was about requiring an id to vote and restricting absentee voting days. It failed statewide 64 to 36. We are old in Maine and need all the absentee voting days we can get. It wasn't broken so it didn't need fixing. The results by town are fascinating; the numbers are a good measure of how liberal or conservative a town is and how educated and wealthy. It failed in Unity 56 to 43. Our results are always close. Across the lake from us in Burnham (trailers and junky yards), it passed 59 to 41. On the map red is liberal and aqua is conservative. The liberal parts of Maine are in the south and along the coast, but there are pockets of liberals in odd places like Madawaska Lake Township (79 voters) way up north that failed it 77 to 23 and Carabasset Valley (362 voters) in the west that failed it 75 to 24. Makes me want to visit those places and see who lives there. I can look up stats on their education and income levels to see how those correlate.

We planned Empty Bowls for months, buying the bowls and having painting parties all summer. We made good money for the food pantry and soup kitchen, but my personal goal was to bring back meals to the community center. It was great to see the room set up with the old tablecloths that I help to hem years ago, and to see people lingering to visit over their simple meal. We plan to do 4 community meals a year. Next project: get the story walk posts in the ground before it freezes.