[Journal Entry for August 26, 2006] Harpswell, Maine. Dallas and I drove up last night. In the morning, we walk south on Route 123, from the Auburn Colony to Ruthie Weeks's house. We are joined there by our coursins, John and Jeanine and their two kids, Cecily and Gwendolyn, who accomany us on this morning walk down to the Point. The morning is clear, and the view to Haskell Island is nice. A few lobster boats are about. We look about for seals, for we have spotted one here earlier in the year, but see none today. The tide is pretty low, and the rocks - mostly intensely-folded phylites - of the Point are well-exposed. Several rock faces have rather well-preserved glacial scratches. One outcrop, in a tidal pool, is covered by them. The metamorphics are crossed by a basaltic dike, about a yard wide. Its located on the northwest side of the Point and strikes more or less north-south. I spot a patch of purple bacteria, colonizing some old seaweed near the edge of the little salt marsh that is on the east side of the Point. With all the wet weather this spring, plants are growing well, and there are some nice flowers along the road, and on the Point itself (which is a little nature preserve). Some of these are growing on the sand at the shore, others from cracks in the bedrock. I stop to chat with a kayaker on the way back. About 1:15.