"Business is picking up!" says Louise Hardina. In response, the Thrift Shop at the Edgecomb Congregational Church will be open this afternoon and evening, Thursday, Dec. 8, from noon to 8 p.m., and again on Saturday, Dec. 10, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Its regular hours continue to be Tuesdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Introduction to Boat Building is one of four exciting Central Maine Community College courses in the Boothbay region for which registration is now open. It will be taught by Darren McGaw of Washington County Community College on the premises and with the work crew of Boothbay Harbor Shipyard. This course will combine instruction about lofting and safety (required by OSHA). This is preparation for the course to follow, actually building a boat. For registration, start date and times, contact Washington County Community College at 1-800-210-6932 or 454-1013 and ask for Kim Underhill.

Other courses will be 2-D Design (ART 101-L2), College Writing (ENG 101-L2), and Intermediate Algebra (MAT 100-L2). All classes will meet from January until May. For more information, contact Charles Collins, Dean of Students, Central Maine Community College, 755-5253 or ccollins@cmcc.edu.

Intermediate Algebra and Introduction to Psychology (PSY 101-L1) are also being offered at Lincoln Academy. Call Dr. Collins for information about these, as well.

Margot Stiassni-Sieracki is embarking on her second year of producing "Art Bags for Kids." She is asking for volunteers to help create 100 of these bags of age-appro-priate art supplies, designated for the Family Holiday Wishes program which donates Christmas gifts to needy children throughout Lincoln County. Margot says "Thanks" to Beth Langton, who is assisting with collecting the bags and materials, and Sue Meek, Mary Peters and Fran Mague as well as Teresa Hewson of Waldoboro, who have all sewn the bags, and the Edgecomb Congregational Church for sponsoring the project for the second year. If you would prefer to make a tax-deductible donation, please make checks payable to the ECC, earmarked "Art Bags for Kids" and mail it to the Church at P.O. Box 113, Edgecomb, ME 04556. For more info or to share any bright ideas, call Margot at 882-7593.

Grace Goldberg, a member of the Midcoast Cohousing Community, is a volunteer with the Red Cross in Florida, still helping victims of Hurricane Wilma. Grace, an osteopathic physician, has been there for two weeks and will probably serve for one more.

Tired of rushing around? The Morris Farm's Midcoast Slow Food group will meet at Treats on Main Street in Wiscasset on Thursday, December 15 at 6 p.m. An informal meeting is planned, with its ultimate aim, to form an official "convivium," for the meaning of which term, you'd better go to the meeting! Potluck is the menu at this meeting, please bring your own (slow-cooked?) contribution! Call Anne Pfeiffer at 882-4080 for more data.

And consider pre-registration for a number of interesting adult workshops at the Morris Farm in early 2006: Ceramic Dish Making with the Watershed Center, Fresh Bread with Jim Amoral of Borealis Bread, and a two-part workshop, So You Want to Keep Bees... Call Anne Pfeiffer as above for fee and meeting date details.

Amanda Boucher is fund-raising for her People to People Student Ambassador trip this summer to England, Ireland and Wales. You can help her by buying raffle tickets for a lovely Irish Chain lap quilt ($1 each; six for $5) or platters of assorted Christmas cookies (five dozen for $15; 10 dozen for $25, platters included). Call Amanda or her ma, Debbie Boucher, at 882-8402 to order any of these, or to see how else you can help Amanda on her way to this wonderful experience!

Next week, Friday, December 16, come to a Help Amanda Travel bake sale at the new Ames complex outside Wiscasset, from 1 to 4:30 p.m.

Bruce and I sallied forth to the Deck House School Sunday afternoon to see glass-works by their Artist-in-Residence, Nick Repenning and two students, Chandler Ellis and Tom Flood. Superb! Repenning's own work, very Renaissance, tiny human beings in balletic poses, or musing from unlikely perches, put me in mind of Benvenuto Cellini. Both students displayed colorful balls which look like marbles, but are actually the inserting of one kind of glass within another, without cracking the object, a test of technical mastery. Tom Flood also showed an intricately shaped bare winter tree; Chandler Ellis has started blowing glass into tiny perfume flagons or posy vases. A wonderful escape from a gray surly day!

Now it's time to get at the Christmas cards and send the far-flung packages out from 234 River Road, 633-2978, bonesukl@mid coast.com. This column appears in the Boothbay Register, The Lincoln County News, the Wiscasset News-paper, and at www.Edgecomb.org.