It's diaspora social week in Portland: one north-country friend was here overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, another will be visiting this afternoon, and Son Number 2 returns from his Canadian canoe odyssey this weekend. Plus, it actually in fact no kidding did rain last night! . . . not nearly enough, but something is better than nothing.

Now I'm awake far too early because that damn cat decided to rip some stuff up at 4 a.m., and then got his claw stuck and wailed and yowled and sobbed and carried on until I got up and unhooked him. Lord.

But anyway the coffee tastes good, and a small rain is still raining, and last night Tom and I went out for dinner and then walked in the wet fog along the marinas and made personal comments about boats, and this afternoon my friend and I will take our binoculars to the saltmarsh and look for egrets and ibis.