An interested audience gathered at the Southport Memorial Library on Sept. 12 to hear author, Matt Cost, talk about his writing life. Matt lives in Brunswick and writes about history and mysteries. He had brought a number of his books for display and for sale. He began writing soon after graduating from college while he was teaching junior high school. Now he is a full-time writer, saying he writes new material almost every morning for about three hours. Then after lunch he edits previous works until dinner time. Some books are set in Brunswick and at least one, “Pirate Trap,” is set in Boothbay Harbor. He manages to publish about three books a year, each usually requiring about nine different edits. One of the writing formats he explained is to have a climax about three-fourth of the way through the story. Even though the height of the
action has then occurred, the rest of the text can be the explanation of why or how this happened. After listening to Matt explain the task of writing a book, I was glad I have only to write this column!

A final gathering for a picnic lunch All Saints by-the-Sea chapel for fellowship and fun will occur on Saturday, Sept. 21 with a rain date the following Saturday, Sept. 28. Progress is being made on repairing the deck and ramp into the building and to the bathroom. Perhaps it will be finished by then.

A special event at the Southport General Store will be the Romanian Community Dinner on Saturday, Sept. 21 from 4 to 6 p.m. You can make your reservation now and pay your $25 dinner cost when you come to the event. Perhaps you can memorize the phrase “buna seara,” which means ‘good evening’ to greet our Romanian friends.

The store also has a job opening. They are looking for people who want to be part of a team, “who like to work hard together and have fun along the way. They offer flexible scheduling, benefits for full-time, year-round employees, and excellent working conditions. The job can be either part-time or full-time year round. Apply online: SouthportGeneralStore.com

As you walk into the store, directly in front of you is the “Farm Stand,” that is local fruits and vegetables for sale. In the glass counters are a variety of prepared foods, much of which is cooked using those fresh food. The goal is to have hearty, rich foods available for us to take home to eat or eat at the tables available at the store.

Thanks to the person who added the pumpkins to the tubs in front of the Southport Post Office. They remind us that fall is almost here.

Posted on the post office bulletin board is the newsletter from the Southport Central School showing pictures of our school children in new winter coats donated by an individual in our community. Many thanks to the donor. Not only are the children now equipped for cold weather and thus able to enjoy their many times outside, but the teaching continues to amaze me with its creativity. For example, noted in the news letter is an assignment for the fifth and sixth graders to write a continuing story of Humpty Dumpty, extending the story to explain what happened after his fall. Then they were asked to think of another nursery rhyme to which they would create an addendum. And some of this writing was done at the beach! What fun! Also you can see pictures of the second and third graders building and running two dimensional robots. Finally on Monday morning a large, colorful sign was spread across the front of the school that said, “Welcome back Shepherd” with Shepherd, wearing his backpack looking very healthy after a serious illness. How lucky we are to have such creative and welcoming teachers and opportunities for our children.

If you are thinking of voting in the national election by absentee ballot, a request for such a ballot will be available from Donna Climo at the town office until the Thursday before Election Day. Ballots themselves will not be available until sometime in October.