“One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach: all the damn vampires.”

The Movie: The Lost Boys, 1987 (Jeffrey Boam and Janice Fischer, screenwriters, from a story by Fischer and James Jeremias; Joel Schumacher, dir.)
Who says it: Barnard Hughes as Grandpa
The context: Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam (Corey Haim) have saved themselves, their town and their mother (Dianne Wiest) from a community of vampires in a small California town; they had no idea their grandfather knew anything about it. This is the last line of the movie.
How to use it: Witty commentary on the population of your own small town.

It was too sunny for vampires at Old Hallowell Day yesterday. I didn't stick around for the pie judging, but the lady at the booth was very nice, and did not laugh at my offering. (I tripped on the sidewalk between the car and the pie booth, and was sure I'd put my thumb through the topping, but I hadn't. Whew.) Nobody called me yesterday afternoon, so I figure that 1) I did not win and 2) I did not poison anybody. I'll call that a draw.

The Maine International Film Festival began on Friday night in Waterville, and runs until July 24. Don't laugh, you Hollywood snobs; it's an impressive slate of films, and an excellent event all around. The Bragdons and I went up last night. We saw Bearing Witness, a terrific documentary about women journalists covering the war in Iraq, and The World, a Chinese film that aged us all about 20 years, and whose point completely escaped us. But what are film festivals for?

I just took another pie out of the oven to bring down to the Lechners' this afternoon. Turning my oven on was a true act of friendship, because we're having what passes for a heatwave in Maine (temperature and humidity in the 80s, and I don't have air-conditioning... why is it rolling down on the young and foolish? And if you can name that reference, I'll give you a prize).

Too much to do, too little time, but the most important thing to do today is extend the warmest welcome to Layla Christine Cameron, who breathed her first L.A. air early this morning. Layla, you are already blessed in your choice of parents, and may only happiness await you.