A few answers.

1. 1. Counterclockwise. Really, you don't want to be going up those hills at the north end.
2. 2. Because the Amish understand the marketing value of scarcity.
3. 3. It's impossible to say because our species does a lot of weird stuff.
4. 4. Well, ok if it's going to be multiple choice, I have to go with religion, weirder than sleep, dreaming, food allergies.
5. 5. Incremental progress. Because Joe doesn't need it anymore.
6. 6. Martin. Because they feel buttery. The Galli hurt my fingers.
7. 7. Fibonacci is the Richard Thompson of number series. The others are wannabees.
8. 8. Labor Day by a long shot because there's no church, no parades, no special meals. You just get the day off.
9. 9. It's all gospel music.
10. 10. Tomatoes. Because it takes all summer to make them.

How many meals in a row can we eat outside? Saturday was that sweet locavore church supper on the lawn in Monroe, the essence of the thing really, and Sunday was a little cookout in our party zone. Monday we had a packed lunch on an honest-to-god beach where I could walk in the surf. Seawall Beach is on the same stretch of shore as Poppam Beach in Phippsburg, but to get to it you walk a long two miles over a short mountain through a conserved area. A vigilant set of flies on the mountain protects it from the general public. If you make it through you get cool ocean breezes, surf, mica-flecked sand and happy toes.

I am in denial about the geese honking onto the lake at dusk, about it being apple season already, about the earlier sunsets and cooler nights. Labor Day is not a real seasonal marker, it's just when people go back to school. And September is the new August, right?

I can't believe we actually talked about 3-D printing and gigabit internet at last night's comp plan meeting. Life intersecting with Rifkin who sees industrial revolutions as energy/communications matrices coming into being with the first industrial revolution being coal/steam/printing, the second being oil/trains/telecommunications and the third being renewable energy/the internet of things/3-D Printing. A short synopsis from him here. Most interesting is what it portends for the future of capitalism as the marginal cost of making stuff approaches zero: "A half century from now, our grandchildren are likely to look back at the era of mass employment in the market with the same sense of utter disbelief as we look upon slavery and serfdom in former times. The very idea that a human being's worth was measured almost exclusively by his or her productive output of goods and services and material wealth will seem primitive, even barbaric, and be regarded as a terrible loss of human value to our progeny living in a highly automated world where much of life is lived on the Collaborative Commons."

For Melissa's birthday we took new routes to go new places. The route took us through Dresden where this episcopal church was sporting a handsome paint job like I've never seen before on a church in Maine. I wonder about their process for deciding on that color scheme. It was built in 1832 and look how straight those lines are. Must be sitting on ledge.

The Bontanical Gardens in Boothbay were spectacular. Tons of activities for children and lots of water features, trails, kayak rentals, and it's open all year. We will certainly be taking our visitors there. In Boothbay we stopped for a blueberry mohito with the Sullivans on the deck at Rock Tide Inn where John is the general manager.

Still reading Rifkin's book about the future of "distributed, collaborative, laterally scaled power networks, rather than vertically integrated businesses in the capitalist market." And close to home I am reading about how sustainable farming in Maine will grow in the next 50 years to feed all of New England because food from away will continue to increase in cost and because Maine is the only New England state with enough reclaimable farm land to meet the coming needs. In think the idea that Unity is uniquely primed (MOFGA, Unity College, MFT are all here) to be part of the thriving food economy described in A New England Food Vision is driving our thinking in comprehensive planning. Now if we can just work that into a logo, slogan, and tag line...

Summer tables are set outside or with a view of outside and have plates loaded with fresh local stuff. If there is paddling a canoe down a lake to get to it, even better.

There is a bit too much civic engagement on my summer plate and it is making me a little crazy. By next summer many things will be done and I will have stepped back a bit. These things still to be finished include the comprehensive plan and ordinance update, the branding initiative, the institutionalizing of comp plan's transparency goals into a move of the town website onto a content management platform, the transition of Unity Barn Raisers into its next iteration. There is no shortage of potential pitfalls and confrontations on the way to getting it all done.

This week I saw The Forgotten Kingdom, the film that was voted best at MIFF. Amazing casting. Those faces, where did they find actors like that? And a story that borders on magic but doesn't need to really go there. One of the best films I have ever seen. The soundtrack was also great but I can't find a song listing for it anywhere. I wish I had thought to snap a cell phone picture of the music credits.

How one thing leads to another. I dug a hole and filled it with granite gravel for our little fire pit. Had to do something with the dirt from the hole, so I made a flower bed by the shed. Needed some flowers for it, so we went to the fancy lily place. Bought several including one called "Summer Giggles."