Notes from Maine - 2026/07/19

Lilly (16-month-old filly) only has one more week of confinement! She had her final vet visit this week and her condition is perfect. The incision (from her hernia surgery) is completely healed and the abdominal wall seems firm, according to the vet. Her vaccinations are up to date and she has grown at least six inches (13 cm) since her surgery. I can’t wait until next weekend when she can finally run and play in the pasture again. She’s so grown up now, I don’t even know if she remembers how she used to play. It will come back to her.

Albert (dog) is healing as well. He had a foot infection that erupted through the side of his pad. It was his left metatarsal pad, if you know about dog feet. Albert is a very active person and has injured his feet several times in the pursuit of frisbees and guarding the property. A while back, he tore his right carpal pad, and he has worn through his metacarpal pad on both sides over the years. His energy and drive far outpace any sense of self-preservation he might have.

I had my annual checkup this week as well. If I could find a veterinarian who would work on me, I would switch in an instant, but this year my conversation with my primary care physician went okay. When asked about coffee, I mentioned that I quit for a while and I’m on and off right now. They made a strong case for resuming coffee, citing health benefits and assuring me that I shouldn’t think of coffee as a bad thing. I nodded and tried to make the appropriate conversational noises. The notes from the appointment abbreviated the recommendation and simply said, “Continue your current habits regarding coffee and caffeine as you see fit; there is no medical reason to avoid it and it may even have some health benefits.”

I didn’t stop drinking it because of some perceived medical reason to avoid it—I just wanted to reset myself. Aside from the mind-crushing headache that I had for about a week, I think it was a good exercise. When I felt like it was totally flushed out of my system, I started having it again occasionally. The PA mentioned that I wasn’t drinking coffee last July either. I didn’t remember that. I’ll have to go back through my notes. 

Mom comes up tomorrow. She hasn’t been here since May. The gardens that she worked on a couple of months ago are now in full bloom. I’ve restored two more pinball machines that she hasn’t played yet. She’s going to be very busy for at least a day or two and then we’ll have to find a project. 

I am the youngest of three siblings. My sister is 16 months older than I am, so we spent a lot of time playing together until she started school. I remember flipping through board books while my sister read chapter books. We had one scratch-n-sniff book with oranges and lilacs that smelled wonderful. We had several books with lenticular lenses on the cover so you could tilt them this way and that and the picture would change. I don’t remember what my sister was reading. She was always deeply engrossed in this book or that, and then she went to school. 

For that year, I was a drag-along. At the grocery store, I learned how to sound out “corn syrup” on the labels of cans. They thought maybe my brother was allergic to corn syrup, so for a moment in time we had to put the Libby’s Fruit Cocktail back on the shelf. And then I went to nursery school. My sister moved on to kindergarten and I followed her there as well. That could have been the last time I was really connected with my mother, but it turns out it wasn’t. Eventually, I started working from home and her second husband passed away. Now she comes to visit, sometimes staying for a month or more and we often work on projects together. 

I think some children really understand their parents. I never really felt that way. I got good at predicting what my father would say most of the time. I have a decent sense of my mother’s biography and how she grew into the person that she is now. But I was born into a family that already had a full language and established narrative. It wasn’t formed around me, like it might be for some first (or only) children. I learned to navigate waters that were already rushing towards the sea, having missed the snowfall that seeded them, or the melting that overcame their inertia. 

So I look forward to Mom’s visit. Other guests will arrive in August, and that will be even more fun. Summer is a great time to live in Maine. We get a nice mix of weather and we get tons of company. This morning was windy and in the low 60s (15 C). Or, as my brother just texted me, “That was a short summer.”