I have never seen a town more obsessed with a poet

Back home. Thanks to xach and jaq (har har sounds like a chewy candy product) for suggestions of stuff to do in Portland. We did indeed eat at the Sebago brewpub, and tromped around the enormous cemetery. The weather was fine. Pictures later, maybe, as well as the Central Maine report.

The Shipyard brewery tour was fun. Being in the middle of the day on a weekday our tour group was us, an elderly couple, some random beerfan dood and two teenage boys with lacrosse sticks. First we all watched a movie about the brewery's origins and its various ales (and they are all ales, specifically), and then a guide led us around to gawp at fermentation vats and bottling machinery. Took maybe 15 minutes, and then there was some beer sampling. (The lacrosse kids were invited to instead sample some of the soda pop they brew there, and they did.)

I got to look all smart in front of this handful of strangers by answering the tour guide's pop quiz about why India Pale Ale is so called. Then the guide followed us into the gift shop and started reading aloud all the jokey T-shirts to us, in case we had missed them, which seemed a little odd. He cheered and went away when classicaljunkie announced our intention to buy a case of beer. We ended up with three, of all kinds of beverage. Good times!

Delightful new edition of an old book

Yesterday's completely unexpected purchase was this edition of Lady Chatterly's Lover, entirely due to its covers and flaps being covered with delightful comics by Chet Brown, a favorite cartoonist whose distinct style bludgeoned me with its surprising presence as I walked past the "Classics" shelf.

The front cover is an illustrated excerpt from the book, the back cover is a tiny (but complete) cartoon biography of D.H. Lawrence, the front flap has a brief examination of the author's relationship with his wife and the rear flap lists his own possible extramarital affairs. Awesome! I had to buy it, both to own and to encourage more cool crap like this to exist.