Blogging a Maine Moment


Our six guests have returned to Nebraska. The old cottage sighs and settles into the rhythms of a man, woman, and a very small dog. We are all on the same bed on the second floor, listening to the surf and a sultry Pandora mix based on “The Girl from Ipanema.” Fog hides the horizon. She reads her Kindle, I play with my iPad. The Yorkie tugs at the sheet and snorts. Coffee cools in my mug. I could live here.

I believe in biking. I rode hard each morning this week, usually at 5:30 in the morning, when the streets and roads were mainly clear of vehicles, except for the street cleaner in Old Orchard. I found the East Coast Greenway, which follows an abandoned railroad track through the woods and across a marsh. Sweat is good. Riding the waves with just my body is good. Having the cottage full of young teens is good. Having a lull before the next wave of family arrives is good.

Thomas Cromwell (1485-1540)

I’m reading Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel, a tasty, layered tale set in the reign of Henry VIII. The protagonist is a real person, Thomas Cromwell, portrayed as a sly survivor who is maybe wise, too. I’m reading the novel on several e-readers, to compare them, but I returned the Kindle version because for some reason it didn’t have a table of contents. The nook so far beats the Kobo, because the latter is slow to load the book and has no way to look up words or search. Same with the Sony Reader Pocket Edition, which comes in last, because the screen is too small. You get about the same number of words at a time as on an iPhone book app, but you can’t really put the Sony Reader in your pocket unless you’re Captain Kangaroo. After a couple of gee-whiz days of marveling at the gorgeous e Ink Pearl screen of the new Kindle DX Graphite, I’m not using it much, because it’s too big for my taste. I’ll probably return it within the 30 days that Amazon amazingly provides for free evaluation of the Kindle, and they even pay for shipping it back, no questions asked. I want to see the high-contrast Pearl screen on a new Kindle six-inch, which I bet will be out before I turn 60, on August 30.

The dog is dozing, and the wife is still reading. Is there anything I’ve neglected to tell you about this moment? No doubt, but this will have to do for now.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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