Muscongus Bay Lobster had a huge deck with tables safely spread. It was a cool day and sitting in the sun felt good. They slide right in to third place. The tiny village around it was also a winner, with a great gift store, a coffee shop, and an inviting Inn. Very simple and laid back. Here are the standings:
1. MacLoons in Thomaston.
2. Five Islands in Georgetown.
3. Muscongus Bay in Bristol
4. Robinson's Wharf in Southport
5. Shaw's Wharf in Bristol
I think Thurston's in Bernard would rank high if we could catch them open. We went to Beal's in Southwest Harbor on the Sunday before Labor Day and waited in line for 40 minutes then had bad service.

We are in the thick of negotiations to acquire a building we think would be perfect for a town library. We would be buying 38 School Street from Maine Farmland Trust and here's the thing: non-profits cannot sell a building to a private individual below market value. What they have determined is market value is more than we want to pay. However, MFT really likes the idea of selling it to us for a town library and wants to donate the difference between our offer and their price. I don't know how they can legally do that. With a non-profit attorney, Janis, and our agent, Emily, we are trying to figure that out. The library would be the whole downstairs, and we would use the two suites upstairs as AirBnBs to generate money pay the mortgage and building expenses. This would be simpler if we had already created a library non-profit, but there is no point in doing that until we have a building. 38 School Street is the only.building in town that would work for a library. Hence our chicken and egg problem.

This is the same sunset. I don't know why they are so different. I might have used night sight on one of them. All over the lake and around Maine people were posting pictures of this sunset which bloomed up unexpectedly out of a cloudy gray sky.

On Melissa's last day at work, we celebrated at Meridian's with beautiful cocktails and good food. This one was called "Eve of the Revolution." And I could only hope that it was so. The election will probably be messy with real results delayed about a week because of a lot of voting by mail. The vulgarian anti-christ will probably contest everything. It's a dire moment, so much can happen in the next 60 days, and everyone I know is anxious as hell.

In the microcosm, the thrift shop had its best week ever. I met with the trustees on Saturday morning while Melissa was serving coffee with the candidates (Chip and April) across the street at the gazebo. The gents were grouchy ("why do they have to use the bathroom?"), the women came around. We set up a new financials monitor to replace Deb B. It may be that Deb & Lisa's departure is what it takes to let the old guard evolve. I saw lots of potential for change in that meeting.