Sitting in a cheerful, funky coffee house on India street, right down the block from where I had to pay the state of Maine $70 to get an MMR vaccine – a vaccine I already have, but cannot prove, and no proving, no studying. (They take their communicable diseases very seriously up here.)
There is a blood test that will determine if someone has had the vaccine, but that blood test is $400. The two-shot series of vaccine is $150. In two weeks I will apparently develop a fever of 102 degrees that will last for 24 hours. In 28 days I must go back for another shot, and then the Maine Center for Disease Control will be happy. Ohhhh Center for Disease Control, I don’t like you.
But a coffee and a croissant is a wonderful curative, and hey! HEY! they have organic lip balm! I have big love for balm. My current favorite – and quite frankly, it would be hard to beat – is the Badger lavender & orange balm, made in New Hampshire. I first found it in Vermont, and then found it at Merz Apothecary in Chicago, and since then I’ve been fiercely loyal.
This is the new balm. I’ve given it the lip test and it’s a winner. And, it’s so local it’s made in Westbrook (land of the lost), and it’s got all kinds of yummy ingredients and comes in flavors like blueberry, blackberry and cherry. The picture won’t rotate. I’ve tried. I bought it ’cause of the Moose. Moose Smooch. How very Maine! And how very happy it makes me to be here.
Posted by anne 