91 Degrees in Maine, Note from Belfast Co-op

I just stopped here again [let's face it, every chance I get] to get some provisions for the Hurley family's Fourth of July grill/picnic at Moose Point:

• a jar of cold pickles
• tiny local raspberries from Bear's Berries in Montville
• blackberries
• a pint of farm cream from Great Hopes Farm in nearby Brooks
• chorizo
• whole-wheat hotdog buns
• plant-based, compostable cups and spoons [to eat the berries and cream]
• Alba anti-bug spray
• a large whoopie pie, Maine tradition, from Wildflours Bakery [it happens to be gluten-free]
• And for the kids--Annie's graham crackers, organic milk chocolate and vegan marshmallows [this is the health-conscious store]

I also paid my $15 annual co-op membership fee and got Figgy another gift, a nice tube of Alba detox scrub. She loves stuff like that. She is having some friends over in Montclair and they are going to MSU fireworks. She has been so earnest and good, going to calculus [!] class, working, watering thirsty garden and taking poor Sug to the vet [she had plumbing problems, to put it delicately].

Everyone in the family is bringing something and my mother-in-law, Mary, made her beloved potato salad.

I have to do a couple of work emails! My editor has been prodding me, rightly so, about fall issue deadline. I have a nice iced coffee by my side. Then I have to scoot to Moose Point. Dan and brothers already there, others trickling in. It's superhot--even on the coast of Maine. It should be better on a picnic bench by the ocean.

Happy Fourth of July!