A Web site that combines two things I love: projects and the library.

The first step towards selective memory is: getting rid of old photos. Yes! I just ditched 80% (90%?) of my photo album material. This was pretty easy, since I suck at photography. I'd forgotten about that Naval Ball in Annapolis, when M.'s host mom sent me off wearing her $10,000 diamond necklace. Holy moly. And wow, do I look a lot like my mom did when she was my age. As I was tossing photos I was trying to decide which ones needed to be shredded first (fortunately, my life has been pretty tame...) What about the photo of my high school boyfriend trying on my bikini top covered with bunches of plastic grapes? Better shred it, I think he's a doctor now.

All of this is part of a heroic effort at dejunking. The goal is to get rid of 50% of my stuff. (A few weeks ago I got rid of half of my clothes, such as the ones that I've been wearing since eighth grade. Ack.) Lots of work ahead.

I love recital day. It's so fun to see how far students have come since last year. This year I held it in the Environmental Center at the Maine Audubon in Falmouth. It was such a beautiful spot, we had a beautiful day (though very hot and sticky outdoors. It was much nicer in Falmouth, with the ocean breeze, than at my house).

All of the parents were commenting on how much everybody had improved. The thing that struck me this year was that all of my students are now set up with beautiful technique. They all look comfortable and in control.

Biking home afterwards, I thought again about this year's crazy school-and-violin schedule. I know I can't do that again next year. I know I want and need more personal violin time. What to do?

My hair was finally long enough for the requisite 10+ inch ponytail for Locks of Love. Hooray! I forgot that my hair, when shorter, is just wavy enough stick out in a million different directions. Woo!

Imagine my delight when I heard that Nezinscot Farm is at the Market House every Thursday, all day. Finally, I can avoid going to Whole Foods and still get tasty organic eggs! Plus, yesterday I ordered organic liver to pick up next week. I love Maine and Maine farmers.

Ryan said one Christmas, "I don't understand how a Classical violinist can like cheezy '80s pop," as he handed me a Thompson Twins CD. Which is coming to mind right now as I wonder, was it just too ridiculous to quote Erasure at the beginning of this waltz I just arranged for TML? It was too perfect to pass up...

In other cheese news, I'm making the first cream cheese of the season, with buttermilk made from Straw's Farm unpasteurized milk. Wow. Hands down the thickest, most amazing buttermilk I have made yet. And I now have plenty of fresh whey for summer pickling projects!

It was requested that we stop using the term "tango bomb"...so come on over tomorrow evening to join the "tango WMD"! Westbrook River Walk behind Freaky Bean, 5:30-ish.

See, I knew there was a reason I hadn't yet taken all of those maple tree limbs to the "transfer facility". Clearly they were waiting to be a trellis for my cucumber plants! A. came over on Friday and helped with the transformation. The uprights have holes drilled in the bottom, with rebar pounded in, so no digging was necessary...just 2 ladies hanging on pieces of tree branch to get the darn things down in the ground.

A. suggested the use of the forked branches for base supports, with the added benefit of several minutes of "crotch" comments. We finished just as the thunderstorm arrived.

Tonight I had the best Maine lobster ever. And I'm not a lobster fan, generally. It's fine, but I don't go out of my way to get it, and whenever my family takes guests out for seafood, I get fish or scallops or something else instead.

This afternoon I rode the Xtracycle downtown, said hi to Lori and the Beaner, who had just arrived, and then boarded the 3:15 ferry to Peaks Island to play a wedding. Note: good thing I didn't know that the bride and groom were both musicians until afterwards.... After the ceremony I packed up and was happy to see that I would be able to catch the 6:15 ferry back to Portland.

"No, stay! I'll hook you up. I'll bring you a lobster dinner in the bar" said J., who was serving at the wedding. Fast forward to 7:30, still with no dinner, and with the next ferry boat leaving at 7:45. I said goodbye to the folks at the bar, grabbed my violin and dry bag, put on my jacket, and stepped out into the rain. Under the shelter at the dock, I was joined by one of the wedding guests, leaving early to get her car out of a Portland garage before it closed at 9:00. The staff had packed up a dinner for her, and by the time we arrived in Portland, I was carrying her lobster dinner with me to my bicycle and gearing up for a wet ride home.

Actually, riding in the rain is nice in the summer, it's usually warm, and I had already planned to get wet (we've had thunderstorms every day for the last week). I decided to take the [foggy] scenic route, and headed out Commercial Street to the bike path. By the time I was almost in sight of the East End Beach, the rain had slowed to a light drizzle and I was realizing that I hadn't eaten for a long time. I pulled the bike through the bushes and sat on the rocks. High tide. The rain rinsed my toes in my plastic sandals.

When I was cracking a lobster claw between two rocks and then eating the slightly sandy lobster meat while I looked out at the sailboats rocking on their moorings, suddenly lobster tasted very good. And when the rain picked up again and the thunder started I figured, well, I'm probably covered with lobster juice so maybe I'll just rinse off in this downpour and finish the new potatoes and vegetables while I try to make out the shape of Fort Gorges in the fog. Eating gift lobster alone, in the rain, on the rocks of Casco Bay. I really don't think Maine lobster gets better than that.