I apologize. Last column I said I'd report on the public hearing on sewers on July 1, but I was not feeling well that night. Just now I'm back from a meeting on the options for zoning, which might be applied to Davis Island. The issue seems to be, shall we enable the developer to build a 40-room hotel, or nix the hotel but let him build 30 dwelling units on the remaining 16 TIF acres, requiring a density change in the zoning?

Try as they would, the selectmen, planning board and ordinance review committee could not prevent the issue of sewage from intruding. It was learned that if necessary, the hotel could arrange its own private sewer disposal system. Although an unscientific consensus seemed to favor leaving the Island alone, the town is obligated to honor the developer's application. However, no decision can be made until a town meeting is called, as it is we, the town of Edgecomb, who are the deciders.

All creatures great and small are welcome to attend the Blessing of the Animals at Edgecomb Congregational Church, United Church of Christ at our 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 14 on the back lawn of 15 Cross Point Road, Edgecomb. The public is invited to bring restrained or caged dogs, cats and other critters to be blessed during the worship service. If your pet cannot attend, bring a photograph with you for the blessing. Stuffed animals are welcome, too. Owners will receive a certificate personalized with their pet's name.

Refreshments will be available after the service for both people and pets. Donations of nonperishable pet food will be accepted for the Lincoln County Animal Shelter. For further information, call the church office at 207-882-4060 or e-mail edgecomb.church@gmail.com.

The Edgecomb Congregational Church has embarked on its fourth annual silent auction. Among the wonderful selection of items on display are an L.L.Bean leather shoulder bag, a 12-foot sailboat, two beautiful handmade quilts, a marble chess set, antiques, power tools, a lobster boat replica, two nights at a Mooselookmeguntic cottage and many certificates to local shops and eateries. More splendid articles are coming in, a great opportunity to re-gift the very fine possessions you have no particular use for!

Bids may be made any time the church is open: Sunday mornings, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. when the thrift shop is open, and on Saturday supper nights, July 20 and August 17. At the final supper, September 28, the winning bids will be announced.

The silent auction, the thrift shop and the summer suppers are major fund raisers to support the local mission and outreach programs of the church. The next supper will be held on Saturday, July 20, to benefit the Boothbay Region Community Resources group which addresses needs on the Boothbay peninsula. Again, for more information visit the church website, www.edgecombchurch.org.

Hurrah's Nest: Amelia Genus and Parker Elkins were among the Center for Teaching and

Learning's 7th and 8th graders who served in the model United Nations Conference at the

University of Southern Maine recently.

It rained every day Daphne and the grandkids were here, until the day they departed. We did not let it get us down. The three of them enjoyed a morning at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, enjoying most the exhibits explaining how ship-building was done. I joined them one trip to Bowdoin, to the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, particularly enjoyed the computer-graphic construction of a dandy firepit in the snow, protected by sealskins over a frame of whale ribs.

We then went to the college's art museum where there is a gorgeous, enormous show of Maurice Prendergast's beach scenes, light-hearted people crowding Old Orchard and other familiar strands, in boils of colorful dots, not quite Impressionist, larger than Pointillist, with a few harder-edged works by his brother Charles. I recommend!

Can we start complaining about the heat and humidity yet? I hate to seem ungrateful, at 234 River Road, 207-633-2978, and jocam@tidewater.net.