We're happy to be in Maine. I began writing this in my head as I woke up to the music of the lobster boats leaving the harbor the singing of the crows. It's part of the magic of Maine. We enjoy hearing the Ram Island foghorn when it's singing. We have crows in New Mexico; we do not have lobster boats or foghorns. There seem to be fewer deer and wild turkeys than in the past; however, after a week or so, the usual birds, squirrels, chipmunks, and others have returned to our porch feeders.

September's here, and we've already been in the harbor two months. Visitors have included family and friends from Colorado, New Jersey, and New Mexico. We've had numerous neighbors over for dinner or wine and cheese. These folks have had us to their homes for the same. Dotty, Sean, and I have seen “Oppenheimer” at different times and in different local theaters. I even got on Maine Calling to explain what a Los Alamos resident and physicist knew of Oppie and the film.

As we learned at our annual meeting, there are many new owners in Sprucewold. Many cabins on Birch have new owners; there's a new home well under construction there. There's another new home under construction near ours on Sunset Road. Marylouise Tandy Cowen's cabin on Sunset has a new family who previously ran an Inn in Northern Maine. As someone once said, the only constant in life is change.

We've gone to Damariscotta, Pemaquid, Popham Beach, the Opera House, Hannaford, Pinkham's, the former Co-Op, and a fair selection of the local eateries. New Mexico lacks the selection of fresh seafood that we find here; after all we're almost 1,000 miles from the nearest saltwater. Maine's sweet corn and tomatoes are better than we have in Los Alamos.

Cinnamon, our Sammy-dog, is a good rider and very much at home in our cabin. She quickly learned to chase squirrels from the porch. She'll eat anything such as lobster, scallops, haddock, etc. The only thing she seems not to like are raw oysters.

Maine, Life as it Should Be! We agree and look forward to our time in Maine. Good friends, good neighbors, fresh sea air, different birds; what more could one want.