Reading: Commonwealth Avenue by Linda Nevins.

Trip Factoid #3: It is amazing how much coffee a self-styled tea drinker can ingest when the coffee is available in different flavors and the refills are free.

Trip Factoid #4: Maine is not really a state but a small town. No matter where you go in Maine, from southernmost Kittery to "The County" (Aroostook) you are likely to bump in to someone you know.

Trip Factoid #5: In Maine, the word "wicked" is used as an intensifying adverb. Life there is wicked good. Winters are wicked cold. And sometimes things are just wicked.

Small Town

My sister Lori and her family live in Skowhegan, only a few blocks away from my mother's house. This morning, mom, Lori, Lori's nearly 4-year-old foster son, Jasper, and I drove down to Augusta in the "Loser Cruiser," as Lori has dubbed her Lumina minivan.

We stopped for breakfast at Big G's in Fairfield. Mom had told me about this place. It serves huge portions: the toast is made with slices of bread that could double as flotation devices. Big G's has a large selection of omelets, including the "Bill Clinton," made with American cheese and bologna.

One of the nicest things about Big G's was the bottomless cup of gourmet coffee at the self-serve coffee bar. The flavors included hazelnut, French vanilla, Hawaiian macadamia nut, and something called "Cinnamon Sticky Bun."

Then we drove to Augusta to see my sister Monica at work. Last November she was elected to the Maine House of Representatives for her district after a closely contested race. In fact she won by less than 20 votes. This was her third try for the House after losing twice to the incumbent, a septuagenarian Republican who had already served over 20 years total in the House. We were all very proud of her for trying again and tremendously pleased at her success. She worked hard at this campaign and deserved her win.

In my years of living in Maine, I'd never been to the State House. It is an imposing, domed edifice set on top of a small hill. It's not far from Blaine House, the governor's mansion, another place I want to visit.

Monica showed us to the gallery, which overlooks the House chamber and from which we could observe Maine tax dollars at work. Or not at work, as it turned out. An uninteresting labor bill was under discussion; while some representatives rose to speak in favor of or against the bill, others in the half-filled chamber shuffled papers, chatted with their neighbors, or read newspapers. I even saw one reading a Grisham novel.

When the question was called, a chime sounded throughout the building, and Monica went downstairs to vote. We watched the green light appear next to her name on the roll call board as she voted yes. (The bill passed by a landslide, by the way.)

Strolling through the State House corridors, I bumped into someone I used to work with back when I lived in Portland. I haven't seen him since I moved to New Jersey in 1987. After I moved away he got into politics and has been a representative from Portland for the past four terms. He was surprised and pleased to learn that Monica is my sister. It was fun reminiscing with him about old times and mutual acquaintances.

One of the House pages, a recent University of Maine graduate who also assisted Monica in her campaign last year, had a digital camera, and he took pictures of us in the Speaker's office. Here we are. (From left to right: Monica, me, Mom, and Lori.)

On our way back to Skowhegan, we stopped at the "Wicked Good" shop, which deals in old postcards and salt & pepper shakers. Lori and I have just discovered that we are both collecting old postcards of Skowhegan. I've been finding them on eBay, but Lori has this wonderful local source. I picked up 17 today, more than doubling my collection, for an average price of $2 each, far better than I would have done on eBay. The woman who runs the shop told Lori and me that postcards with an undivided back were printed before 1907, something we hadn't known.

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