Isles of Shoals

Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire N 42 58.758 W 70 36.793

The State of Maine is 500 feet away from us, yet already I miss it.

It took 22 hours to sail down here, with the last few hours spent motoring. The weather report was totally wrong. Neigher the forecast wind nor the forecast rain ever appeared. In fact, after midnight when we were supposed to get steady rain, the stars came out. It has been sunny all day.

We had wildlife last night. Both Libby and I saw dolphins and seals and some kind of sea bird that would fly along side us for a while and hitch a ride other times. Regrettably, we never saw puffins or whales during our Maine trip.

Now we are back at Isles of Shoals where we spent a nice with Nancy and Lena last July. This time it is very uncrowded (post Labor Day). Tomorrow morning we'll do some hiking on the island.

There is a very loud fog horn here that sounds every 30 seconds, 24x7. Instead of being annoying, we think that the sound is soothing. It is somewhat like the sound of a railroad at night, part of the normal background that noisy yet reassuring.

This afternoon I listened to President Bush's speech about terrorism and Guantanamo, and then I listened on NPR to a whole string of commentators who attacked everything he said and who reiterated what they have been saying all along totally ignoring what Bush said. I'm afraid that it's true what they say about America today. We are not only polarized, but the poles don't hear anything that the other side says. In theory, a charismatic leader could come along to help us break out of this cycle, but that's hard to imagine. What will happen to us? Will we simply degrade into ineffective impertinence as we spend our resources bickering internally? Will we find a way to effectively divide the USA into two countries, one red and the other blue?

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