Beautiful Morning Hike

 A very nice hike this morning. It felt very good to get back into the woods.

 It was windy, but very comfortable.

 Artsy:

I am determined to get back among the trees this year.
~MER

A Great Visit to Kittery

 We had an inservice day on Friday and instead of staying in Winslow I went to speak to all of the 6th graders at the Shapleigh Middle School in Kittery. I was invited by MEA member, Lauren Roy, to talk about activism. The students are doing a unit on informational writing, and they have to choose a cause and write essays and build a website to inform people about that cause. The kids were awesome. They had great questions and were very interested in my activities.  
 M-S decided to come with me, which made the day even more special. We had lunch in Portland at the Honey Paw. Its a very funky and fantastic noodle bar. I had a Vietnamese noodle bowl:

 VERY spicy and delicious.

We had a window seat and enjoyed people-watching while enjoying our lunch. I had a great time talking about my activism and I'm grateful for all that it has done for me. Life is good.
~MET

Small Town Presidential Politics

 Last Sunday M-S and I fulfilled our civic duty and participated in Whitefield's Democratic Caucus. This year many of the small towns in Lincoln County convened at the same spot: the elementary school in Wiscasset. The Lincoln County Chair is Whitefield's own Jim Torbert:

 Jim has been an active political figure in town since long before we moved here, and I've never met a man more passionate about the party and local politics. You could see his influence as soon as we walked in the gym as Whitefield's line was the longest in the room:

 Other towns quickly filled up too leading to a pretty big turnout.

 Its really great to see people involved - especially young people - and to see them so fired up. Bernie Sanders won the state, and certainly cleaned up in this caucus location. Perhaps the highlight for me was talking with one of my roommates from college:

 I haven't seen Jeff Slack in about 30 years. He was the funniest man I knew was I was 22 and nothing has changed.

We heard many people speaking on behalf of the candidates (a positive side-effect of a caucus over a primary) and in the above picture State Senator Chris Johnson is addressing the crowd. Because of the long lines and confusion in some places it appears that Maine might go back to the simpler but more costly primary system in the future. I would support that move because more people would be involved, but I will miss the interaction that you get with a small town caucus.
~MET