Lovely rain in the dark tonight-- we had been "promised" rain all weekend but it never did happen and I was sorry for that. We have suffered through a five day spell of heat and humidity greater than that usually felt in Maine although our house has remained comfortable throughout. It is gloomy inside in the summer time but it does stay cool. Horrified to see that I have written nothing for more than two weeks. I guess when the Fitizies are here I am just too distracted and too tired by the time I go to bed. We have done a lot of things-- I took a long bike ride with Liz on the first day she was here-- Perkins, Lower Congress and etc. over to Crocker Road, then Marsh, and over to their house. I rode back alone and it was very pleasant. The hills that used to bother me seem quite manageable now. On another day we finally convinced Liz that she didn't need to work every single day and we all went up to Acadia. Because I had enjoyed the Jordan Cliff/Penobscot Hike so much we decided to redo it. We had another perfect day and added some mileage to the hike by going over to the summit of Sergeant Mountain. It was really lovely. Nearly all above treeline and my favorite kind of hiking. On the 21st John and I went down to Rockland and participated in the "Lobster Ride and Roll". He did 50 miles and I did 30. The 30 really didn't stress me and I am sure I could have done the 50 although I would have been exhausted. That evening we went to the contra dance where we danced almost to the point of dropping. Crissy Fowler had sent out a plea for housing for some of the band "Wild Asparagus" and we hosted David Canteni, his wife Ann Percival and their young son Gus. They were splendid guests and I know they were very happy to be here. Their accomodations the previous night had been uncomfortable. On Sunday we had thought of going on the farm tour and also thought of going to an event at Waterfall Arts but in the end we simply went to the common and listened to the Celtic band. The view out over the harbor was idyllic. On Monday I cut fabric for Dianne Hire and did the same again on Wednesday. She is making kits for students on a cruise and had to cut 50 6 inch squares for each of 40 people and she wanted to give them some options. Because she is going up to Bangor everyday for radiation treatments, the quilt groupers are giving her a hand. Margaret arrived home safely on Wednesday evening and we all three trooped off to the doctor on Thursday. She seems only slightly chagrined by the fact that both parents attend the visits and I think she is pleased "underneath". Our last visit was so dreadful that I was really dreading this one and all the way over I was preparing my angry speeches but they turned out to be unnecessary. Dr. Amidon said that she could start to taper the prednisone (by five milligrams per week) and that she should start taking the 6-MP. She seemed surprised that the taper would take eight weeks but Sybil says that he is right to go very slowly. The 6-MP is supposed to have little or no side effects. On Friday I went to Augusta for the quilt show. Rode with Joan and Ruth Herrick and had an inspiring (and exhausting) day. It is harder to walk around a convention hall looking at things than it is to do physical labor in a garden. There were many quilts that I liked and many more that I did not. I definitely gravitate to the simple classic patches. I bought a book and a fair amount of fabric but didn't find as much red as I had hoped to. On Saturday John went to the boat building challenge (and got his picture in the paper) and M. and I went up to Fort Knox and the Bridge Observatory. Fort Knox was much enhanced by a Civil War encampment going on and we had a good long talk with the army surgeon. He showed us his several medical tools that had been used in the war as well as the replicas that he has collected. On Sunday we had a leisurely morning, then went up to the Full Circle Fair. It was very hot but one was comfortable sitting in the grandstand. The downside of the heat was that the hippie dancing I found so fascinating last year never really got going. Helene Malone was not there and everyone else was cowering in whatever shade they could find. There was a contra dance to end the fair but I was completely uninterested so we came on home. Margaret left this morning-- we went in two cars to the library so that she could get a couple of books on disk for the drive and parted at the circulation desk. She was going to make another stop at Ocean State Job Lots and a few minutes after she had gone I had my usual panic that I would never see her again and thought wildly of dashing up to OSJL. I conquered my foolishness and she arrived safely in Marlborough in good time.