Many thanks to Maria Doelp who kept the Southport news flowing last week. If you read the column, you know she posed a puzzle asking of what does Maine have only one that other states have more than one. Answer: one syllable in the name of the state. Husband Kit says also that Maine is the only state in the continental United States to have only one bordering state. Anyone dispute that piece of datum?

Al Azzoni was able to rejoin the Tuesday library group this morning for the first time in many weeks. A fall in his home that damaged his right knee sent him to the St. Andrews Hospital emergency room and then Miles Memorial Hospital for three days with a longer recovery at home. He is grateful to be back to the fun, frivolity and occasionally serious conversation that the library bunch provides.

Al was able to fill me in on daughters, Meg and Kipp, both of whom live in lower Manhattan, Kipp as a writer and Meg an architect and painter. Son, Mike, is an orthopedic surgeon in Massachusetts. Two grandchildren at the University of Colorado, Boulder are supplying Al and Janet with pictures of the devastation there as is Callie and Denis’s daughter Jeanette, who also lives and works in the area.

Word from Aims McGuinness says their house in Littleton is safe, but continues with the following: “Boulder where my office is located is another matter.  The office itself was not flooded but one of our staff members lost her home in Jamestown (north of Boulder) and others are still stranded in outlying and mountain communities because the roads have been washed out.  It was really a strange combination of conditions that contributed to the problem: a longer than normal monsoon season (which usually ends in early August), exceptionally hot weather followed by a sudden cold front. Fourteen inches of rain in one day is as much as we get in a year.  All the rain in the mountains then was funneled down into Boulder. Now it will move along the South Platte River to Nebraska with even more flooding.”

If weather permits, the newly leveled space above the SYC buildings will provide space for dining al fresco more safely than when the area was a hump. The plan eventually is to rent tents so that the outdoor space is comfortable in more varieties of weather. Since the area will have been recently seeded, please use only the front or side doors of the clubhouse, not the kitchen door.

I am perhaps more sensitive to varieties of weather since my week rafting through the Grand Canyon. Knowing that the area is desert and that temperatures were said to range between 97 F during the day to 70 F at night this time of year, I did not expect to be cold. Absolutely necessary was a complete set of rain gear, but being thrifty and wanting to look like Maine, I took a Gore-Tex top that son Andy had worn rafting in high school (Andy is now in his late 40’s) and oil skin bottoms I had also had for some time.

In ordinary rain both items may have kept me dry, but if you read or saw pictures of the violent rains in Colorado, you can guess that the same weather poured upon us, causing not only to-the-skin soaking but also rock slides, chocolate pudding colored, debris filled river water, waterfalls and resulting chasms opening up through the sandy landing places. One night we slept less than 20 feet from a large Grand Canyon rattlesnake who had wound himself into a low Tamarack tree, attempting to keep warm and out of the water. Such snakes are the same pinkish gray color as the sand on which we were camped, so you can imagine we watched each of our foot placements very carefully.

My friend from childhood, Sylvia Faust, and I were by far the oldest of the 16 people on this trip, but we were helped by the younger crowd who were reassured by our participation that old age does not necessarily mean a rocking chair existence. Nonetheless, if I had been offered a dry, warm rocking chair about the evening of Day 2, I would have gladly accepted.

Our last two days on the river were sunny and dry except when dropping through the rapids. Only now the 46 F water was tolerable and even welcome. The scenery, the people, and the food were well worth the struggle to stay warm and in one piece.

Flu season is approaching with thoughts of flu shots. At the Island Store, the post office, and the Southport Town Hall you can sign up for a flu shot program organized by Rite Aid Pharmacy. The shots are $30, and there is a form you can take to send to your insurance carrier for reimbursement. You can also suggest the time you believe best to set up the shot clinic.

The Island Store hours are currently 7 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Sunday.