Northern Exposure

The time has come for me to take this show on the road. I'm headed to Maine.

Next Thursday, August 2, I'll be reading at Books Etc., 38 Exchange St., Portland, 7pm. That morning at 8am, I'll be on Steve Hirshon's radio show on WMPG (90.9, Portland) promoting the reading.

And on Saturday, August 4 at 2pm, I'll be at the Fertile Mind Bookshop at 105 Main St. in Belfast.

I have to admit, I'm feeling some apprehension. I love Maine, and I've had some amazing times there. I learned a lot there—how to stack wood, how to recognize the song of a white-throated sparrow, how to drive on snow. And of course my first book came from my Maine experience.

But it is a dark place in my mind, too, where I went off the rails more than once. I haven't been back for three years, since I went to see my grandmother a few days before she died.

So in a way I feel like I'm facing some demons on this trip.

I'm trying not to dwell on the demons, but instead on the old friends I hope will be there the cheer me on. Or at least applaud politely after I'm done reading.

Here I come.

Alan Johnston is Free

Great news today. BBC journalist Alan Johnston has been freed by his captors in Gaza. How fine to have a good outcome in this case. It gives one hope.